Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have cooked up over the past week. Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.

Tank Talk -- the first kill You gotta love the enthusiasm of PvE raiders for their playstyle of choice. While many players enjoy delving into the numbers behind a certain spec or gear set, raid leaders sometimes develop a more artistic perception of their activities. Neke rhapsodizes over the innate beauty of the teamwork behind an epic raid encounter: "It absolutely is an orchestra. I'm Rossi's raid leader and the thought that Kael (in particular) was an orchestra went through my mind many times. At first, people were running around trying their best to figure out what was needed to be done. I spent the vast majority of the fights calling out on vent each new kill target, directions for each player, where to run, where not to run, what abilities to be ready for. "Eventually, people got it. I got to just sit back and watch as stuff died in the right order, people got their weapons, people got shields to tanks that couldn't otherwise get there in time, people didn't die in Flamestrikes, Phoenix eggs got killed (though we actually had two Phoenixes at one point on our first kill, but the raid managed to handle that too!), Pyros were interrupted, and Nether Vapors were avoided. "I typically compare boss fights to a dance. Position, position, position, position. But Kael truly was an orchestra at work. And as the conductor I felt fantastic when I was able to sit back and focus entirely on my own job rather than 24 people's jobs. It really is an amazing feeling to see everything flowing perfectly and getting the work done."

	Get your motor runnin' The prospect of racing across the hills on a Gnomish motorcycle has quite a few readers all revved up this week. News of the bikes sparked a call for leather jackets – and BillDoor has already thought out the perfect design: "Anyone who doesn't get 'Born to Rune' on the back of their jacket is wrong."
	Simple pleasures 'Tis a gift to be simple – and simple pleasures make the game for many of our readers. Jeffro reminisces about a moment that reminded him what makes WoW enjoyable: "I got invited to a group by a guy in Shatt -- he asked in rather broken English if I had a flying mount. I said yes, and asked what he wanted. He said 'We could fly together'. I realized he had just gotten his flying mount and wanted to share it with someone. I joined his group and spent a few minutes flying over Shattrath with him. It was a nice reminder to keep the game fun."
	Wrath's fetch ball lets you play with your pets Playing fetch with your pet in Wrath – come on, everybody say it together: "Awwwwww ..." But Harmun doesn't want to play ball with his pet in Wrath unless it's on his own terms: "Unless I can play fetch with that new massive tamable devilsaur, I'm not interested. Also, I demand that instead of a ball, I throw Gnomes for it to retrieve."
	Healing now with 100 more spell power What's this about +healing converting over to spell power? Readers who get a little fuzzy over numbers will appreciate JDM's concise explanation: "I honestly don't see how the new spell power is any different than the current system, only unified. If you take a look around at the current gear's spell damage / healing system, you'll notice that most of the higher-up healers have at least +2000 healing, while DPS sits somewhere a bit lower, say at least +1000 spell damage. The ratio isn't 2:1, but it's in that neighborhood. "With the new system of spell power, people seem to be worried about how it translates, and I do assume it is not 100% the same as it is now, but will be fairly close. If you look at the example in the article, the pants with +62 healing are now +33 spell power - very close to a 2:1 ratio - and the other pants with +49 spell damage, have the equivalent in spell power. "These numbers show (for those items, mind you) that 1 spell power = 1 spell damage / 1.88 healing. 1.88:1 ratio is very similar to what you see on the live servers. "Because of this, even though healers will gasp when they see how "low" the number is, that should be the only change - you'll still heal for about the same amount as you always have, and have a whole slew of new gear to choose from! While some of the current DPS gear might actually be better for healing than the current healing gear when WotLK hits, you'll likely be replacing them by the time you get to 80, anyhow."
	Alterac Valley: The battle-less Battleground Do you like the Alterac Valley charge to PvE victory strategy, or do you pine for the old days of epic battles? Harywilke shares his own perspective: "I farmed about 20k honor each day this AV weekend, grinding for post-Kara PvE DPS Warrior gear. Thursday-Friday I was DPS spec, Saturday-Sunday-Monday I was Prot spec. Thursday-Friday, I'd start by capping the mine; Saturday-Monday I was tanking Drek. But after the opening move, I'd sit myself in a tower 'defending' it. Nine out of 10 times, I'd surf the web and listen for combat. Even with the shortened timers, it gets boring. "I had one enjoyable AV the entire weekend, a total bloodbath between IB GY and FW GY, 80 people in one place. AV actually felt crowded. The game ended on reinforcements, but for 15 minutes, I got to relive the glory that was AV. It was a zerg to remember. Ganking the one or two random people in Field of Strife or at one of the choke points can be amusing but is nothing like the real bloodbath you get when two armies of 40 people go head to head grinding themselves to a pulp on the front line. Getting pushed back to IB GY, pushing them back to FW GY ... That is fun. That is what I miss in AV. "Whether it's the lack of NPCs, the 'rush' tactics, or the single-minded 'must get honor for my next shiney' attitude, AV is a watered-down version of what it once was. I'd love an option to hop in an 'old AV' if it gave the same honor per hour than the current one gives. Things that could fix it: normalize the amount of honor earned so that all BGs give the same honor, remove the honor/marks system of free epix."
	Missed that one Remember Gnomeregan? At level? Really, you did Gnomer at an appropriate level? Not many readers have, anymore, but Zali did – and he remembers one reason why Gnomeregan seems to have missed out on being a player pre-BC favorite: "It wouldn't be so bad if the device that cleaned off those gunk-covered items you pick up could clean five or ten at a time. I always spend 20 minutes just jerkin' on that damn handle like a retired blue-haired librarian at the slots in Vegas. Man, I hated that."

Update: Mike Schramm here, and I have one more /salute to everyone who commented on the "Zone Level Page updated" post. And yes, I did mean the expansion after Wrath.

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