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: Trial and error
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 13th 2008 at 4:00PM
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.
Hello, everyone! Did you all grieve for me yesterday when The Queue never showed up? Yes, I apologize. My internet connection going down for 14 hours sort of caused some problems. But I'm back and better than ever! Well, I'm back at least. That second part is still up for debate.
Hello, everyone! Did you all grieve for me yesterday when The Queue never showed up? Yes, I apologize. My internet connection going down for 14 hours sort of caused some problems. But I'm back and better than ever! Well, I'm back at least. That second part is still up for debate.
I have been hearing that the price for epic flying mount is going to drop to around 2500g, have you heard anything about this?
This is a rumor that shows up for every patch. Patch 2.3, 2.4, Wrath's release/3.0.1, and now with patch 3.0.8/3.1 it's back again. It's just a rumor that goes around, nothing from Blizzard lends any weight to it. Could it happen eventually? Yeah, probably. It wouldn't surprise me if the price came down one day in the future, like they ended up doing with ground mounts. Blizzard hasn't said anything about that, though.
Ian R. asked...
What ever happened to WoWInsider's weekly AddOn column? Having The Queue daily has ruined my paitence for all the other columns.
I think The Queue's absence yesterday foiled half of this question, but oh well! AddOn Spotlight has been spotty for a little while, but it'll be back full time in the near future. Keep an eye out for it.
actodd asked...
Which instances and raids have the most badges in them? I loved Kara's 23 (22?) and running heroic Bot for that extra boss kill. What are their equivalents in Northrend?
Naxxramas has 16 or 17 badges, and is a pretty quick jaunt once you've got the fights down. There's surprisingly little trash, so it's pretty much boss after boss after boss. The 5-mans in Wrath are shorter in general, so that one extra badge probably won't even really be a consideration. You can get three badges in twenty minutes in Heroic Azjol-Nerub. I think that beats anything The Burning Crusade had to offer.
HunterFromTheStart asked...
What about Fishing Lures, is there an improved one yet? And is there a fishing daily hidden away somewhere? I was kind of hoping for a new Fishing Daily, so that I could keep up my supply of fish hooks.
No new lures, no new dailies. It would take some puttering in the old world/on an alt, but if you absolutely need the 100 Skill lures rather than the 75s that you can buy on a vendor, you could always commission an engineer to make you a bazillion Aquadynamic Fish Attractors. They're the same as the Sharpened Fish Hooks, except they're crafted. Tedious? Yeah, but at least you can get a whole load of them made in an afternoon rather than a daily quest giving you 5-6 at a time.
Vjax asked...
Are there any daily quests that provide the opportunity for the new badges to drop like the SSO bags that had a chance to drop a BoJ?
I haven't noticed any and Wowhead doesn't list anything like that. BC didn't start handing out badges like that until very late in the game, so I imagine Wrath will be similar. Maybe not as late as in The Burning Crusade, but not for awhile at least, if they do it at all.
Healem asked...
I'm a priest (Disc/Holy) and want to start getting involved into Arena play. I own all the Season 2 gear for my class and most items that can be purchased with Honor points only. Coming next week, should i be doing Arena in my Season 2 gear or my lvl 80 Epics (Naxx/crafted/heroics epics)? Is S2 gear still viable?
The arena is one of those things where you don't really know until you try. You can math out PvE encounters to some extent, but not so much PvP. My gut says level 80 PvE epics will trump Season 2, but something like Season 4 would trump the 80 PvE gear. If you have the time, queue up for some skirmish rounds trying out different gearsets before the season starts. For a Healer, you'll pretty much want to see what lets you survive a focus fire.
Season 2 has a lot of stamina and resilience, but compare your HP in that to your HP in level 80 epics. I imagine there's a hefty difference, but does the Resilience you're missing make up for that and the load of spell power you gain? We just don't know yet. It might, or it might not. Like I said, run some skirmishes. It won't be the same as coordinated arenas, but just make a note of what kind of damage you have being thrown at you.
If you're getting 2-shot, that particular gearset isn't working. If a disorganized skirmish is tearing you apart, an organized team will kill you so hard Blizzard will delete your account and pre-emptively ban you from battle.net for Diablo III.
I would be doing much the same thing, skirmishing to test gear, but I lucked out and cheesed my Deadly Gladiator gear out of Archavon. I actually kind of feel bad about it.
Also, have you looked into the crafted PvP gear from Tailoring? Just search for Frostsavage on Wowhead and it'll bring up the full list. A little expensive to make, but it might be worth it to start the arena season off on the right foot.
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 2 of 3)
Tenchan Dec 13th 2008 5:33PM
There is a little fenced in and guarded spot in front of Orgrimmar now. It's not connected to the path to the Zep tower, and no one I asked had any idea what it's doing there. What's this little area for/involved in?
Blackthorn Dec 13th 2008 5:34PM
Isn't that the pig farm? I think it's always been there.
Malkavos Dec 13th 2008 5:52PM
I know the spot you're talking about, directly on the right as you exit Orgrimmar, and it definitely isn't the pig farm (which is just behind it). It used to be just a large rock hill, but was changed with the 3.0 patch. When I saw it in the beta, I thought at first that it was the new spot for the zeppelin, until I found the new tower beyond it. I really don't know what its purpose is. The only thing I can think is that it was made smaller so that the hill didn't obscure the view of the new zeppelin tower from the entrance to Orgrimmar. Otherwise, I've got nothing.
Halokon Dec 13th 2008 7:55PM
As far as I know, it's involved in a very awesome quest which involves some refugees coming to Org, and that raised platform is one of the areas they congregate in. Whether or not that is it's only purpose or not, I don't know. I'd love to tell more, but it'd be unfair to those who haven't did it. But trust me, you'll know it when you do it.
Oxymoronic Dec 13th 2008 5:44PM
Here's a question for you-
I've taken a look at the lvl 80 tailoring BoE sets, each based off a separate cloth.
First, do you think the Ebonweave or Spellweave sets will be better for a mage? Ebonweave has hit and much more int and stamina, but does the haste of spellweave counter that?
Secondly, which cloth (Ebonweave, Spellweave, Moonshroud) do you expect to sell best? I remember in BC the markets were different for all three, and was wondering which specialization offered the best profit.
Zeedash Dec 13th 2008 6:15PM
I think Blizz put it there to have a nice ring for all the duels.
theorchunter Dec 13th 2008 6:38PM
Me and my brother want to start on a new realm with a new reroll. Blizzard has thus far always opened up a couple new realms every January to accommodate the new christmasers.
Do you think they will this year even though they opened up new realms for wrath in November?
Frago Dec 13th 2008 6:55PM
Grid or Healbot?
Avery Dec 13th 2008 9:30PM
I (holy priest) personally use Grid simply because I love being able to look at my whole raid group and seeing the little health bars tick down at once (so I know when I need to start kicking out my aoe heals or if I can stick with my single target heals). It also shows you what debuffs everyone has (time to mass dispel or single target dispel), plus it's highly compact.
I know a holy pally that swears by healbot though. I tried it out and wasn't too impressed. I liked that it ranked the order of who needed heals and allowed you to select several different heals based on what button you click, but it didn't do what I wanted/needed it to do. Sorry, I'll just stick to my normal keybindings for now.
Then again, I know several healers in my guild that use BOTH. They use Grid to help them keep track of overall raid health and healbot to actually do the healing. Never tried both at once so I'm not sure how I'd feel about it or if I'd even suggest it. Try them both and see how you feel.
smcn Dec 13th 2008 9:39PM
Healbot is a lot easier to set up for the layman, Grid has more customization for those knowledgeable with lua or willing to spend a little extra time. Healbot has click-casting built in, but Grid requires use of a separate click-casting mod such as Clique.
Hesston Dec 13th 2008 7:17PM
Violet Hold is quick and easy if everyone knows what they are doing.
3 or 4 badges easy. And bonus if you're a skinner...dragonkin galore.
Bloodmanus Dec 13th 2008 7:22PM
I've got a question about shadow priests in Wrath; with spell haste does my Mind Flay lose ticks because the lesser cast time or are the ticks just faster within the shorter time? Also, are my DoTs affected by spell power?
GreatLich Dec 13th 2008 7:54PM
Just faster and yes.
No offense intended, but that is some pretty basic stuff. You might want to head over to wowwiki or a similar resource and get yourself acquainted with the mechanics behind shadow priests. (and casters in general)
Benito Dec 13th 2008 9:00PM
What could be considered the easiest/easier Heroic(s) of Wrath of the Lich King? My guild has finally caught up to me at 80, and I wanted to start them off in endgame slowly by tackling the less tough instances. I have run most of them and know which are by far the hardest. I'm just having a hard time deciding which are the more simpler.
Thanks!
Faulk_Wulf Dec 13th 2008 9:57PM
Q: Any new news about Ateish in Wrath?
I know they said: "No" and then that they were weighing the options in various Blue posts.
Its just as it stands now, there are only 4 Legendary weapons in the game: Illidan's twin blades, Kil'Jaden's bow, Thunderfury, and ... that mace...
(The Kael'Thas ones don't count, nor does Andronis-- they're temp. And Ashbringer isn't obtainable atm.)
Specialis Dec 13th 2008 10:17PM
I was curious what the Enchanted Anvil in Dalaran is for?
Magma Dec 13th 2008 10:21PM
Stop asking about dropping epic flight price you IDIOTS. Oh my God it get's asked every little patch. It's NOT happening. Stop asking.
Vinnice Dec 13th 2008 11:11PM
I was wondering if you knew when inscription was getting some love? The glyphs are great, the shoulder enchants are great, the darkmoon cards are great, but I've noticed that end-game, inscription is really falling behind. Other professions at least have patterns that they can skill up to 450 with (and more with the new patch). We have no vendors to buy new glyphs or anything from, all we can basically skill with 430 up is the Darkmoon Cards. So I ask, any news on inscription getting an update?
camf1991 Dec 13th 2008 11:17PM
I am sure this has been asked before, but are the 10 and 25 man raids on separate lockouts? (i.e. if I do a 10 man naxx can I turn around and do the 25 man the next day?)
Bethany Dec 14th 2008 12:10AM
They are separate. My guild does 25 person Archavon, then breaks into 2 10-person groups.