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: Shoo fly, don't bother me
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 6th 2009 at 1:00PM
To kick things off today, I actually wanted to add something to one of Adam's responses yesterday. Spiraea was looking for a title that would fit their Priest. Adam suggested The Immortal, but me? I'm all about the Hallowed. You can't get it until October, which makes getting your hands on it tough... but it'll be worth the wait! It's my favorite title on my Priest. When I get a new raid title I switch to that for awhile, but always go back to Hallowed.
realt asked...
I have a question regarding in-game voice chat (or Ventrilo). Our guild has never used voice-chat when raiding. So far we have done pretty well with clearing all 10man content, including Sartharion+1D, without it. Now we are progressing into 25man. At which point do we really need starting using voice chat you think or isn't required at all? I haven't been in many other raiding guilds besides this one so I am curious how others are handling their communication.
My raid alliance didn't use Ventrilo or other voice chat for a very, very long time. It was kind of a running joke on our server, we were one of the only groups that ran the 40 man raids regularly without using voice chat. It was never really an issue until we were deep into AQ40 and midway through Naxx-40. That's when just typing and using macros to call out important details simply wasn't enough.
In the Burning Crusade, we didn't need it for Karazhan. We didn't need it for most of SSC and TK, but we used it anyway because we had the server already. I'm glad we had it for Kael'thas and Vashj, and I'm glad we had it for the latter half of Black Temple and I think we would've failed horribly if we didn't have it for Sunwell Plateau.
In Wrath of the Lich King, I don't think anything really needs it yet except for Sartharion 3D. It's all fairly easy, and even the slightly more challenging fights aren't so tight that you need to call everything out vocally. Sartharion 3D is the only thing that comes close to that right now. You might want to look into getting a Ventrilo server for Ulduar, though we don't really know the difficulty of it yet.
Personally, I'm glad my raid uses voice chat. The key to making it fun was training everyone on when it was a good time to joke, and when it's time to buckle down. We goof around and make fun of each other and yap about the news all we want in between bosses, but when we're getting ready to pull the boss it's time to quiet down. It's a good system and pretty laid back, so don't be afraid of using it. Just make sure everyone is on the same page with it.
Amethyst asked...
Has there been any news on the Warcraft movie?
Nope.
Medros asked...
If they got rid of the quake causing exotic beasts, why does Dalaran shake like it's being attacked every so often?
I believe that this is from players getting the No Fly Zone debuff within Dalaran. It plays the Fel Reaver noise and shakes a bit to alert the flier that they're about to get tossed out of their mount, and it seems to be an area effect rather than a client-side screen shake like it probably should be. Generally, the people that get the No Fly Zone debuff are out of range of people on the ground in the city, so it's not an issue.
Oftentimes when the entire city sees it it's due to someone picking up an Underbelly Elixir, getting the Wasp debuff, then going up to the surface with it. The wasp form gets gibbed by the No Fly Zone deal, too.
It's either that or the Kirin Tor's float spell is failing and Dalaran is going to fall out of the sky and kill us all. You know, either/or.
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, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Cyrus Feb 6th 2009 2:05PM
As others have said, the best thing about Ventrilo (or TeamSpeak, I guess) is that you can use it while on an alt, stuck waiting in the queue, lagging out or in other situations where you need to communicate with people but you aren't logged in on your main right that second. Lag may be better today than it was a few weeks ago, but it still happens now and then.
W01ph Feb 6th 2009 2:11PM
it all boils down to this, sadly, in game voice chat is ass. vent has much better sound quality, vent allows communication when not in party, logged in, etc. With my guild, we have several (including me) that are logged into vent pretty much 24/7, assuming that I'm at home and within earshot of my pc, guildies can ask me a question anytime
Erika Feb 6th 2009 2:16PM
I use ugt servers. 18$ for a 75 slot server. Its really nice. They also have guild pay so you can have members chip in a buck or two.
Xioyn Feb 6th 2009 2:26PM
Here is a question does any one know of a mod that will keep track of my profession cool downs?
Eddie Feb 6th 2009 2:56PM
I use Titan bar, it has a little addon to it that does that for me.
It keeps track for all your characters and tells you when you can do what.
Popesicle Feb 6th 2009 3:05PM
I havent used it since way before Wrath, but I see GroupCalendar is available and it appears to track your CD's. I saw it on Curse, but wowace may have it too.
Back in the day, I used this and it showed me when my profession CD's were up. I dont know if it worked very well across alts (with all the new CD's I would like to be able to have the reminder show up on all my alts, at least on that one server), but it was nice to have.
mk Feb 6th 2009 2:45PM
trying again since my question didn't get answered before.
has there been any news about fixing tenacity? it's woefully inadequate when a full raid with tenacity x 6 or 7 is still incapable of winning. i'm just wondering if the wintergrasp numbers imbalance problem is at all on blizzard's radar.
silverdragon Feb 6th 2009 2:53PM
I'm going to be hitting lvl 80 soon and i want to start running heroics and stuff. but i also wanna get some good rep gear. what would be a good rep to start farming for a ret pally as soon as i hit 80?
Gubbi Feb 6th 2009 7:36PM
I'd say make Ebon Blade rep a priority for the head enchant and the plate boots which should serve you well with some +16 str gems for a while. There's also a decent 2H sword available which should last until you can save the mats for a Titansteel Destroyer or get something from Naxx.
There's not much ret-specific gear from the Argent Crusade apart from an acceptable 2H mace, but there's a fair bit of servicable holy gear (leggings, two helms and an epic ring), plus a fitting Paladin title if/when exalted with the Argent Dawn) for dual specs or if you want or need to spec holy.
Personally I was able to save up for the Titansteel Destroyer before even getting honoured with the Ebon Blade, yet started questing in Icecrown quite late and the price of titansteel has really sunk over the past few weeks, at least on my server. There's also the very cheap Titanforged helm and boots available via Wintergrasp although the Spiked Titansteel Helm is very good for the mat cost (for PvE) if you can afford it.
Athinah Feb 6th 2009 11:26PM
As a feral druid, what should i look for in armor? I'm not entirly sure what buffs i should look for on my armor, Whats good for tanking and whats good for dps?
Lemons Feb 6th 2009 3:21PM
Most every guild I've ever been in has basically made vent required. If you raid you should be on vent.
Sometimes I feel that it's not really needed for certain fights because there doesn't really need to be a whole lot of communication, but I think the idea is: if it could possibly help you do it.
Jason Feb 6th 2009 3:33PM
What's the deal with the crashed Necropoli around Northrend? Were they brought down by the Horde or Alliance? Is there something else the Scourge is battling that took them down (Yogg-Saron?) or are the Scourge just really bad pilots? It seems odd that there are a few crashed Necropoli in seemingly random places.
Suzaku Feb 8th 2009 3:11PM
There are only two crashed Necropoles in Northrend, Talramas in Borean Tundra and Kolramas in Zul'drak. I can't remember if an explanation was given for the one in Borean, but I'm pretty sure the one in Zul'drak was either brought down by trolls or the Argent Crusade.
ash Feb 6th 2009 4:02PM
Don't know if this question should go here, but I was wondering if anyone knows of a good mod that helps with boss strats. I would like something I can open up in game that way I dont always have to alt screen out to check the boss strat on the internet. With all the heroics and all it gets annoying having to remember how exactly everything goes, and being able to pop something open in game to refresh my memory would be nice.
Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo Feb 6th 2009 4:10PM
Whats with the voices coming from the ore in Whisper Gulch? I did all the quests that take you in there, and they didn't explain what it was. Does it have something to do with Loken, because in the quest The Delicate Sound of Thunder, his image says that "The three fissures opened by the mortals of this region must be silenced" or is it a secret to everybody?
Rijthul Feb 6th 2009 4:29PM
Yogg-Saron, another Old God of Azeroth. It's pretty much established that his blood forms Saronite, and there are references to it being a "living" metal, even when forged into something as massive as the Wrath Gate.
Throughout Northrend, Yogg-Saron has a few "appearances," primarily as a corrupting force. There's one massive Saronite mine in Icecrown that...well, if you haven't been, I don't want to drop even minor spoilers.
Given the way WoW works, it's likely that we'll see Yogg-Saron pop up as a raid boss at some point - my money is on Ulduar, but who knows.
lownwolf Feb 6th 2009 4:20PM
Question: Are the daily dungeon quests the same on every server? Is there some way to find out what the daily heroic is without logging on?
Answer for Athinah: there used to be? (haven't seen one in a while) a very good column on this site called "Shifting Perspectives" You can find it in the class links at the top of the page. When I originally hit 70 and decided to go fully tank I learned everything I needed to know about tanking from that column. Although the frequency and relevancy of the column seems to be diminishing.
Ravingsockmonkey Feb 6th 2009 5:10PM
Do non-hunter classes gain anything from having an ammo pouch equipped since they don't have auto-shot?
FawDaHawd Feb 6th 2009 5:27PM
I have less of a question and more of a request:
Is it possible for the writers at WoWi to do an editorial on some of the minor changes in the expansion/patches related to RP? I'm talking about things that might make the game a little easier for players yet actually make the game less, well, immersive for RP?
For example, going-ammoless for hunters or not requiring rogues to make their poisons anymore. Even doing away with the totems carried by shamans or the reagents to a lot of spells and abilities.
I mean, what do you suspect Blizzard's motivation was behind these things? Are players really so inconvenienced by these things that add little details to the game and make it intricate and enjoyable for those of us who actually do appreciate the effort the designers had originally put forth? Is this another sign of Blizzard's new direction away from creating a World of Warcraft and just turning it into Warcraft?
The thing is: I've never played on an RP realm, and given how much I have on my mind IRL, I probably won't likely commit to it anyhow. But that doesn't stop me from noticing that RP players might feel a little disconnected from their personas post-3.1 (or already are feeling that way post-WOTLK). And, I must say, even having raided a bit and PvPed a bit and even gone casual for a bit, these small details that add life to the actual World, are being lost and sacrificed. And I'm not really sure why.
Do I get annoyed when a hunter forgets to stock ammo and has to run back to town? Sure, but the good hunters rarely did such things. Did I ever feel like I was spending time making poisons when I could be out leveling or skilling-up a profession? Sure, but when I rolled a class that depends on stealth I did so with a certain caveat of patience. Was I annoyed that in order cast all my totems I needed to walk around with 4 less bag slots? Sure, but most shamans would tell you that the Shaman's totem quests are some of the most memorable quests they've ever taken, a real spirit-walk separating shamans from mages or fury warriors. Death knights need corpse dust (but not if you get a glyph)? What about warlocks and shards? Why some sweeping changes here, but not elsewhere? If the motivation is to make bag space, why not increase bag space? Why delete things from the game? Clams... I won't even say it.
I feel like the game is losing its character and its charm. Things are being sacrificed that attract players to not just its mechanic, but also to its history, its genre and its potential to stir the imagination of a mind. And even then, these tiny little details made sense to me and grounded the imaginary World in reality, about as much as it would make sense that you can't channel a spell while moving or bandage yourself while in combat (without being interrupted).
As I said, I don't RP, but I enjoy reading All the World's a Stage. I even enjoy the occasional RPer on a non-RP realm. They bring something to the game that I never found inhibitory of my own gameplay or the ability of a hardcore raid to continue unimpeded.
A while back I read an article written by one of your authors that pointed out gameplay should dictate game design, not lore or not RP. Maybe that's true for a profiting corporation, but it seems to me like as class differences fade and abilites blur, the nuances of tiny, immersive elements that connect a player to the World [of Warcraft] are all that would have been left of a now-homogeneous FPS. MMORPG? or MMOG?
What do you all think? With all these bombs Blizzard's been dropping about fixes, patches and server moves, is anybody even interested in the World and Universe of Warcraft? or is it now just the Game of Warcraft?
Alex Feb 6th 2009 5:52PM
I got a question:
How soon do you think we'll see the ability to create any character at a higher level, not necessarily 55?
Those early 60 levels are rough.