Boat crews return in the Wrath beta
by Natalie Mootz 
Sep 9th 2008 at 9:00AM
In today's Ask a Beta Tester post, there was some discussion about the boat/zeppelin crews on the Northrend boats. I'm here to report that transportation crews in Azeroth are back in the current Wrath beta build! I really liked the idea of the boat crews when they were so briefly implemented before. It was nice to be able to repair or get supplies en route without having to wander all over tarnation to get them, especially if the boat was headed to a discombobulated destination like Booty Bay. And when you'd never been to the boat's destination before, it saved a lot of time. Plus, the goblin crews were just hilarious and I liked watching their banter. So I was very disappointed when they went poof on the live realms.
You can also stay mounted on the boats and zeps now, which is quite convenient. (And, by the way, you can stay mounted in Booty Bay now too!) The crews are level 40 which makes them easily raidable. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that the goblins on the Horde boats are there for the humor but it seems like the humans on the Alliance boats are very serious about their jobs. We've seen some legacy testing items in the Wrath beta -- like the materials quartermasters from 2006 which are still in the beta but not in the live game -- so I hope the crews aren't just leftovers from previous beta builds that Blizzard has no intention of rolling out in Wrath (or in the upcoming patch). We'll just have to wait and see.
Filed under: Patches, Expansions, NPCs, Galleries
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Skarlet Sep 9th 2008 9:13AM
Captain Placeholder?!
Dinnerbone Sep 9th 2008 9:41AM
There are actually a few Captain Placeholder-like NPCs in beta. The turtle boats that connect Dragonblight, Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord has a dockmaster at each port; talking to him lets you teleport straight to the connecting port, skipping the boat ride altogether (Although who would want to; turtle boats FTW!)
d00mzy Sep 9th 2008 9:48AM
i think the material quartermasters are there because on some servers they may still be up. If I recall correctly some servers have opened in the semi recent past who's gates were not already opened at launch. A way to check to see if the boat/zeppelin crews are there as part of a legacy check the new boats/zeppelins are they on them? Also one would think that if they were testing a game they would not include portions of the game that had cause problems before, just a thought.
ryuzaki90 Sep 9th 2008 10:59AM
They just forgot to flag the server as having the gates open whenthey created it, or just didn't care. I'm personally still trying to rally the people to get them opened =]
Thijz Sep 9th 2008 11:05AM
Oh come on guys. I knew this allready and I haven't played the beta for 2 weeks... This is really old news...
dan Sep 9th 2008 5:27PM
It was my understanding that they only come in recently and haven't been around for two weeks or whatever.
Anyhow, good money is on blizz still not getting it right and peeling them out yet again.
Blackhorn Sep 9th 2008 11:14AM
Which exactly are the "horde boats" -- you don't think that the boat between Booty Bay and Ratchet is a "horde boat" do you?
Perhaps you should rework that to say "the Goblins on the Goblin boats are there for humor."
Horde doesn't have its own boats. The Zeppelins belong to the goblins too.
Balius Sep 9th 2008 11:53AM
Horde may not own them, but the goblins will attack even the most BB exalted Alliance who try to ride.
Drakkenfyre Sep 9th 2008 2:58PM
No, they don't. You can ride safely between Booty Bay and Ratchet on the boats. What the Horde do to you when you get there, however, is another thing, lol.
Balius Sep 9th 2008 7:10PM
@Drakkenfyre: I was talking about the Zeppelins, not the boat between Booty Bay and Ratchet.
Vivimord Sep 17th 2008 1:50AM
Balius:
I believe the crews of the zeppelins are not associated with the Horde, and will not attack Alliance... The guards of the zeppelin towers, however, will.
Birdfall Sep 9th 2008 11:36AM
I can't remember -- do crews prevent on-boat PVP? It's a pain to try and get from Ratchet to Booty Bay and have a level 70 salivating for you to step on the boat.
Gimmlette Sep 9th 2008 12:08PM
I hope they stay. When they showed up the first time, it made the game just a bit more fun. With the crews gone, the zeps and boats seem akin to those rides you hop on and the boat skims along a track around a circle. I'm waiting for the expansion that takes you by the vortex in the sea and you have a percentage chance to get sucked down. Or maybe that's where Godzilla lives?
Drakkenfyre Sep 9th 2008 3:00PM
Oh, and there is a little trick you can do with all boats, if they haven't fixed it.
If a Shaman casts Water Walking on you, jump down to the water, then run up to the boat, so you are touching it. Watch as you go along with the boat as it pulls off, lol.
wiper Sep 9th 2008 4:39PM
The same time they added those NPC's the first time, they also added ship motion...with one problem...
They made the ships lean into turns like an aircraft or boat. However, due to their hull design and lack of power plant, a sailing ship actually leans out of turns so a ship turning to port would lean to starboard and vice versa. Just one of those little things that sticks in my head every time I see it.
TypicalJeff Sep 9th 2008 7:03PM
But no! He needs to CALL DOWN THE THUNDER.