Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Feasting and Fishing
by Alex Ziebart 
Nov 25th 2008 at 3:15PM
Welcome back! Since yesterday's picture of Malygos was so awful, I decided to give up on his righteous beard and take a picture of his lightning breath instead. Yeah, see that up there? It hurts. It hurts a lot. Just trust me on that. Let's get into the Q&A now, eh?
Goorguy asked...
Why is it that tanks are always the group leaders? Why are we always expected to mark mobs? Every time I get in a group to tank for it I will always get thrown the leader. I don't really mind, but at least once I want to get in a group where someone else was willing to mark for me, instead of the other way around.
It's usually the tank's job to set the pace of combat. Not always, but usually. The tank knows what they want to tank, the tank knows what they tend to have trouble with and want crowd controlled, and the tank is the first one into combat and should be ahead of the pack. The tank should know exactly where each mob needs to be when a pull starts. What will she/he be tanking, and what will be sapped/kittened/feared? It's more important for the tank to know where each individual mob is. The Mage or Rogue or whatever doesn't need to know all of that. It's better for the tank to do it in most cases.
Zoidberg asked...
What's with the cooking daily quest? It seems to give out cooking currency, but I can't spend the currency in a useful way until I hit 400 cooking. Should I level my cooking to 400 on [Feast]?
Feasts or green recipes. Tradeskills overall take a little more effort now than they did in The Burning Crusade. Rather than your last 10-15 points in a tradeskill being back-breakingly expensive, the whole leveling process is a bit more difficult to make a better curve. So yes, you can either skill up on Feasts or the wide variety of green recipes you have at that level. If you're a raider, Feasts are actually very useful and mass producing those will be nice to keep costs down on individual raiders. It's more 'efficient' to mass produce feasts, if not the best food in the game for min-maxing If you like Fishing, you can skill fishing at the same time since a lot of your current green recipes are fish. Be warned, you'll be fishing for a long time.
Terethall asked...
How much gnome could the Lich King punt if the Lich King could punt gnomes?
All of them, plus a Dwarf.
Darkwind asked...
Have any of the WoW Insiders come across any Tailoring dailies? I've seen JC, LW and Cooking dailies for tokens, but nothing evident for Tailoring.
Only certain professions have dailies like that right now, not all of them. Tailoring doesn't have any, neither does Blacksmithing or Engineering or a few other ones. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw more of those types of things in a future patch, because they add some nice flavor to otherwise boring profession work. I don't really know that for sure, though.
Algathar asked...
I want to ask a question about Naxxramas concerning the final wing of the raid, the Frostwyrm Wing. I know that the first four wings must be cleared in order to access it, but will this be something you need to do each time the raid resets, or is it a one-off unlock and that's it? Also, does everyone in the raid group have to have cleared the first four wings in order to access the final wing, or does just one person need to be able to access it in order for everyone to enter? Thanks.
It just opens up after the four wings have been cleared, like a gate... except it's a teleportation device. You don't attune to it or anything like that, so you need to clear the entirety of Naxx every reset. As long as you're in a raid with a raid ID that has this area opened up, you can go to it, even if only one of the people in your raid originally cleared up to that point. Just make sure that one person isn't stealing the Raid ID from its original group, eh?
Clasifyd asked...
What's the deal with 'The Sunreavers' faction? I'm neutral with them now, and as far as I can see, there's no way to gain rep with them, and they don't have a quartermaster so far as I can see. Will these guys be 'used' with or after Uludar, or are they just hanging out to make a blood elf presence?
The other day we had a Wrath 101 post that goes into all of that stuff in some detail, so you might want to give that a look. It has a basic look at all of the factions and reputations in Wrath, including that one.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Factions, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Fyreman Nov 25th 2008 3:47PM
The tailoring trainer in Dalaran has a pattern to teach me but he's saying I need the "Loremaster" achievement before I can learn it, any idea how epic this mysterious pattern is?
Glamdr1ng Nov 25th 2008 4:01PM
After getting the Northrend Loremaster achievement you can learn how to make Deathchill Cloak at 420 skill.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41610
After getting the Northrend Dungeonmaster achievement you can learn how to make Wispcloak at 420 skill.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41609
boo Nov 25th 2008 3:50PM
My mains are casters and I'll mark when needed. I marked a lot teaching people in my guild dungeons and heroics...and in ZA our 2 mages or a hunter did most of the marking as we pulled because of the pacing. A cc-mark macro is invaluable in situations like that...as long as you're not overwriting each other's marks and ccs.
But most of the time I prefer tanks mark. Its my job as cc/healer/dps to help control things once a pull is made and I'd rather react to a tank's strategy than go about sheeping or burning or interrupting a mob and having it be for naught. Also, we're using 5 mans and 10 mans to help prepare tanks for larger responsibilities later...I have no problem with a tank hesistant to mark in a heroic...but if they don't pick it up quickly I'd be hesitant to put them in a critical position in a 25.
Michael Nov 25th 2008 4:55PM
Tanks should mark, it makes thing so much easier. When I am tanking I will mark on the fly as long as everyone else keeps up ie. mana for casters and healers and health is near full. As dps I just wanna kill the stuff.
So as dps I need to know which ones the tank is focusing his/her threat on and will dps that one. Although with the new AOE tanking style it hardly matters anymore, since the patch a vast majority of my pug groups don't even mark.
KJS Nov 25th 2008 3:53PM
I thought I heard Blizz say they were going to put a vendor in Dalaran that sold some old-school tabards and keys. I have looked/asked around, but couldn't get any info. Does this vendor exist?
Glamdr1ng Nov 25th 2008 4:04PM
All tabard vendors have most old tabards available to buy. There is one in the IF and Dalaran visitor's center that I've seen. I was able to get my Key to Searing Gorge back too.
Note: You can only buy tabards that you have the rep for. This is merely a time-saving vendor, not a 'all tabards for everyone' thing.
Maana Nov 25th 2008 4:41PM
There is a lost key "vendor" in the sewers of Dalaran.
I'm interested in these Leatherworking "dailies" I know you can turn in leather ( arctic and heavy) for patterns but that isn't a daily. Nor is the enchanting turn in. So where can I find these mysterious "dailies"
Zeral Nov 25th 2008 10:29PM
Our main healer actually does all the marking for pulls.
DM7000 Nov 25th 2008 4:12PM
So has anyone figured out a nice easy way to level up weapon skill? My druid just picked up a new shiny mace and I'd really like to be able to do at least minimal damage with it just in case I go OOM (doesn't happen very often but just in case)
Flint Nov 25th 2008 4:40PM
Leatherworking dailies? Where?
Maana Nov 25th 2008 4:45PM
Maybe wow wiki is incorrect but the only profession dailies they show are cooking and fishing. 1 cooking in Dalaran and 1 cooking and 1 fishing in/near Shatt.
I think the player was misinformed about dailies.
Tristina Nov 26th 2008 2:00AM
For some reason Jewelcrafting has a daily quest as well. Enchanting and Leatherworking have mats turn-ins for recipes. Not sure about the other profs.
Which begs the question, why is Jewelcrafting the only main profession with a daily?
Khirzask Nov 25th 2008 4:58PM
"How much gnome could the Lich King punt if the Lich King could punt gnomes?"
Got a guffaw out of me and a few awkward glances from my co-workers.
Aaron Sherman Nov 26th 2008 2:28PM
Why tanks are typically the leader: In WoW, tanks are typically the leader because they're the puller. Only rarely in WoW is anyone but the tank pulling. In a game like EQ, the puller was often a monk or ranger who selected a mob and pulled it for the tank to then take agro from. In that sort of a situation, it's the puller, not the tank who typically paces the party and selects which targets to pull next.
In WoW, we're just not used to there being a distinction for the most part.
Flint Nov 25th 2008 5:24PM
Question:
The Argent Vanguard has a flightpoint in Icecrown, but when I'm trying to fly from anywhere else to the Vanguard, I can't seem to do it. I understand that I probably need to activate another flightpoint somewhere to get access to the Vanguard one, but which one?
Spiffyman Nov 25th 2008 6:06PM
I know there's a new series on dailies, but I think this is more fitting to ask here:
From what I've seen, many of the WotLK dailies cap out around 10g, and they're spread across Northrend. Do IQD dailies not reward as much gold at 80 as they did at 70? If they reward the same amount, is it more profitable (per hour) to do a standard IQD circuit and then do only a few of the most rewarding NR dailies? It seems like the travel time alone might be reason to consider that.
Llaewynn Nov 26th 2008 1:13PM
It depends largely on the level and difficulty of the quest. The quests for the Kal'uak or whatever those walrus people are called, cap at 5g, however most dailies cap out at 13g and change. I haven't finished questing in Icecrown yet - I keep getting sidetracked - but I hear there is a larger quest hub of dailies there. Otherwise, I would have to say that the current circuit of dailies is a little annoying. If you're just doing it for money, those would seem like the ones to do. The rep from the others is nice, though.
For rep, I make a circuit starting in Storm Peaks (for the polar bear and Sons of Hodir) then to Dragonblight for the temple quest and wolvar pups, on to the Fjord for baskets of food and the other two Wyrmrest dailies in Coldarra, and finally up to Sholazar Basin for the Oracles quests. I know there is another Walrus-people daily, but it wasn't worth the time it took to do, imo, especially not being neatly in the path of the others.
Breck Nov 25th 2008 6:12PM
Your tank isn't necessarily going to be the most experienced person on the team. If your tank only has 20 hours /played time and your Mage has a tank alt that has seen all of the content in the game, then you should probably let the Mage mark (assuming you want the most efficient run possible). Likewise, if your Rogue has been farming the respective instance for 2 months but your tank has never stepped foot in the door, then you might want to let the Rogue mark. If you want the best person for the job, you base your decision on the experience of the player, not the role of the class.
Gareth Nov 26th 2008 9:17AM
Yep, as a tank myself when its the first time in the instance I don't mind if someone else eager to do it takes over marking, or at the very least I ask if there are any nasty surprises etc from the more experienced players.
But after that I do prefer to do the marking, its mainly because every tank has their own style and preferred way of doing things. Some people want to sneak past mobs, pull to certain places or neutralise the damage from a particular class. Personally I tend
to be fairly cautious when there is the risk of a wipe.
Besides, half the fun of being a tank is leading the fights, after the strategy is planned the rest of the fight you are kind of a slave to events, whereas the DPS are the ones free to improvise. Another good reason to mark since a bad start to a pull is always painful.
Dudegar Nov 25th 2008 6:19PM
Are there any tailoring recipes in Wrath that require Spellcloth? Should I keep coming back to Netherstorm every few days to make it or can I forget it already?