The Queue: They're watching you
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 8th 2008 at 7:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.
The weekend was nice and slow as usual, so our Monday Q&A will be brief. I fully expect a busy morning tomorrow, so get your questions in now! Let's get started, shall we?
The weekend was nice and slow as usual, so our Monday Q&A will be brief. I fully expect a busy morning tomorrow, so get your questions in now! Let's get started, shall we?
Why are there shades all over major and minor cities in Azeroth, Outland, and Northrend? Has there been an explanation? I originally thought they would only be there for the WotLK launch event but they haven't gone away.
As other mentioned, those Shades are from the Haunted Mementos that dropped during the event. As long as people keep those Mementos, they will have a Shade following them. Amusingly, they move very, very slowly and take their sweet time despawning, so you tend to find a lot of them gathered around places like flightmasters or slowly tottering their way after their owner, about a hundred yards behind their epic mount.
You're probably going to be seeing them forever, assuming Blizzard doesn't take away our Mementos.
OSDeath asked...
Question about Tailoring. Did Tailoring get a bit short changed in WotLK? I see Alchemy with their weekly discover, I see Jewelcrafters with Perfect cut procs, Engineers can make BoE Motorcycles and I see Leatherworking being able to buy patters with leathers and furs. And then I look at Tailoring that is paying 3G a thread, specialty cloth that is hard to make and aside from a virtual BoP Flying Carpet nothing much fun for them. Is there anything coming down the pipe for them to make it a fun profession?
We have no idea about that until Blizzard starts dropping hints about patch 3.1, but Tailoring isn't exactly useless in its current state. Not fun is pretty valid, but the BOE epics you can craft are very, very useful. The Ebonweave stuff, like I mentioned in Spiritual Guidance today, is great for casters gearing up for raids.
So, is Tailoring fun? Ehh, I guess not. Is it useful? Until everyone is deep into raiding, yes, yes it is.
thejavster asked...
I just hit 80 and was wondering where is a good place to do dailies?
Readers suggested some great spots for you, so I highly recommend going back to yesterday's post and reading through that. Personally, I say go for the Sons of Hodir and the Ebon Blade quests right away. They take some unlocking, but those two have the most concentrated, useful-beyond-gold quests. Especially the Sons of Hodir. Get thee to Icecrown and/or Storm Peaks!
Muse asked...
I'm still trying to figure out why there's a stalker in the Dalaran fountain that shows up on Sense Undead.
There's stuff like this all over the world, some of them are just hidden a little better. These 'stalkers' are all invisible, and are used to trigger something, usually a script they can't just have appear in thin air. The game uses the stalker as the object/NPC to play off of. This might be a camera change, or a particle effect, or some spell or other action. Maybe it's a hidden camera to watch you fish! Gasp! But no, probably not.
The most recently infamous one is the invisible stalker in the Mage Tower in Stormwind. They didn't hide it very well, so a lot of people randomly clicked it on accident and scoured the internet to figure out what it was. It just does work behind the scenes. Nothing huge. Nothing as creepy as we could hope.
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, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Posi Dec 8th 2008 7:11PM
Tailoring got short changed? Gimme a break. Just look at what a BoE epic tailored item is going for in Ah these days. Not to mention spellthread and being able to make yourself a magic carpet. Tailoring is the last profession to be short changed.
RipeTomatoe Dec 8th 2008 7:33PM
Actually I think Black Smithing is short changed, like always, we never get anything cool, we can only make some cool epics that will be replaced by heroic gear, sure we can socket our own bracers and gloves, but really it's not that cool as a motorcycle, a flying carpet, amazing trinkets and gems, and so much more. I want something cool for my blacksmith to make, something I'll be able to keep.
Firestride Dec 8th 2008 7:47PM
At Ripe:
Are you aware for the Belt Buckles? It's fine if you don't think that's enough, but you don't actually mention them.
offday Dec 8th 2008 8:39PM
I think it's easy for someone to say their profession got shortchanged when they count all the things that the other professions can make and they can't. But then again, you could do that with literally any profession. I think the problem is that some people are just never satisfied.
OSDeath Dec 8th 2008 8:49PM
It's not so much that Tailoring got short-changed as it is not fun. As an alchemist I get chances for procs, I get a cool way to discover new recipes and what not. Leatherworkers can change in their excess leather for patterns. Engineers can make Gnomish Army Knives. Jewelcrafters make those cool light beam generators. All of these make those professions "fun".
Tailoring on the other hand gets to find cloth and pay ridiculous amounts to level. When it takes me over 70 pieces of cloth and 125G in thread to make junk to vendor just to gain 5 tailoring points, that is not fun.
Tailoring is useful, has some great items to get into raiding, but it is a profession that grinds out stupid useless items just for skill points and to me does not have that "WOW, this is cool" factor.
vazhkatsi Dec 9th 2008 2:51AM
1. tailoring got the loremaster cloaks.
2. right i'm so lucky, us engineers got a mount that 75% of us will probably never actually make for ourselves. the mats alone cost at least 12500g. at least your carpet was easy to make.
Saraceni Dec 9th 2008 11:06AM
I definitely think tailoring got short changed. The boe epics (including the cloak recipes gained through achievements) are easily replaced in Naxx10 and not worth a second glance if you're raiding Naxx25. Even heroics have on-par items for certain slots.
Granted, I wouldn't expect the tailoring sets we got in BC which were viable until T6, but still, it would be great to have items that still look good next to raid gear.
I like the idea of professions offering a trainable item that is best in slot, or raid drop patterns that make competitive gear. (Belt and Boots of Blasting, Mantle and Bracers of Nimble Though, and the Sunwell patterns - whether I could get them or not)
Barring gear, there's the issue of the embroideries. Every other trade skill offers the ability to improve their stats with enchants/gems/sockets/passive bonuses that are far superior than what can be gained without that profession. The embroideries, however, are already inferior to available cloak enchants for all classes.
Lastly, there's the flying carpet. I thought this was really cool and was willing to overlook the other issues to get such a cool mount. I crafted it as soon as possible (which was expensive with early expac AH prices). Then I found out that it works as a vehicle and is bugged as all hell.
The mount and dismount animations are cool the first few times, and then an annoyance every time after (that little jump will mean your death if you're getting ganked). Furthermore, if you logout or dc while mounted on the carpet, you'll come back online to find yourself smeared across the plains of Northrend.
I'm now back to using my drake and stocking my cloth in case tailoring doesn't change and I pick up something as simple as skinning that actually has a decent buff.
Gormaggus Dec 9th 2008 6:20PM
Engineering got short changed: Nothing for us except for a bike whos mats cost at least 12500g and goggles that're replaced in Naxx-10.
Turtlehead Dec 10th 2008 7:47AM
Short version: tailoring was too strong in BC and is too weak in Wrath.
Long version:
Tailoring was massively overpowered in BC. The crafted gear you got as a new 70 wasn't replaced until specific drops at the very end of T5 or in ZA. Took one mage to 80 *still wearing the hat he made the week he turned 70 when BC was new*. My lock's day-she-turned-70 full set didn't last that long, but most of Wrath leveling.
Tailoring in Wrath makes gear nowhere near as crazygood (entirely proper!), but all the gear is BoE, and even the gear you make leveling the prof is worse than going back and making the BoP set from 70 for most casters.
More importantly, tailoring offers nothing once you've geared in Wrath. A novelty carpet and more cloth pickups. That's it. The cloaks are very nice but are BoE AND tied to achievements. Alch gets four hour flasks and more, JCs get better BoP gems, enchanting gets ring enchants, etc. For a caster or healer who wants to raid it's currently useless. The BoP stuff is the same as the BoE stuff, just cheaper to craft.
Got waaaaay too much invested in tailoring on my two mages (one has almost every pattern in the game other than the Sunwell ones) but my 'lock will be dropping it for something useful...just not chosen yet. Either a prof for DPS (thinking of making her the main) or engineering to farm mote 2.0.
Turtlehead Dec 10th 2008 7:46AM
@RipeTomatoe:
Blacksmithing got a sweet deal in Wrath.
Those extra sockets are fantastic. Combine it with JC and they're even better. I'll trade you my useless flying carpet in a heartbeat.
Etcee Dec 8th 2008 7:11PM
Can you explain exactly how rare spawns in northrend work?
I've heard multiple theories - from "Every 20 or so hours for spawn" to "Only one rare mob is alive at a time, and the next one doesnt spawn until that one dies" etc...
Thanks :)
Etcee Dec 8th 2008 7:15PM
Oh, and 1 more -
Do you get skill ups for Mine-able or Engineer-able corpses? We've seen Mine-able corpses since BC and i saw some Engineer-able corpses pop up in Borean Tundra - is it a viable way to level a skill?
Thanks again
Tanglebones Dec 8th 2008 7:23PM
You do not get skill-ups from mining/engineering corpses. At least, I've dismantled a hundred or so corpses (I guess I was the only miner/engineer around the pumping station in Borean Tundra at the time) which were orange and yellow at the time without ever getting a point.
Ludeitz Dec 8th 2008 10:04PM
the skill ups off herbing/mining and engineerable corpses was removed in 2.4.## or 3.0 i believe. so you cant get skill ups from any off them, not just the wrath ones.
Draelan Dec 8th 2008 7:13PM
Hahaha. I noticed the fountain stalker last week. Woot for track undead. =)
zedwards Dec 9th 2008 6:24AM
My guild was doing an RP Hallows End event in Darkshire when one of the warlocks aoe'ed for some reason and suddenly started gradually taking damage and dying. We all thought this was a joke when she said she was dying but I saw her health go down and nothing was there.
Then I healed her and then suddenly I started taking damage. This happened to a few people and people were wondering what the heck was happening. I had noting targeting me but then I looked in the combat log and noticed I was getting hit by a mob I could not target it as it was invisible.
Finally warlock casts detect invisibility and is able to kill the mob. It was a great gag, but really freaked people out.
AlmtyBob Dec 8th 2008 7:17PM
fail?
Tanglebones Dec 8th 2008 7:28PM
Claiming "first" is pretty silly. It doesn't matter if you're first if you don't have anything to say.
That said, WoWInsider is a very popular site, with lots of people reading and posting (especially on a new article) if you absolutely must post "first" you might wanna hit the refresh button at the top of your browser before submitting. Just to make sure you're actually "first".
Otherwise you just look like (more of) an idiot...
Dylan Dec 8th 2008 7:36PM
I WAS SO CREPED OUT ONE TIME
i was trainign in SW
and all of the suddon i was being attacked by a guy named like jack creeper or something and no matter hwat i did it wouldnt go away.
i was so creeped out
i loggged out for a while and it went away tho
Hurode Dec 8th 2008 8:04PM
That reminds me one time I was watching Freakazoid and it was the episode with Candlejack, I felt like there wa--