Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: From Hell's heart I stab at thee...
by Adam Holisky 
Feb 12th 2009 at 8:00PM
To the last, I will grapple with thee...
From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!
For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!
Iceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Stooooooone!
Dyluck asked...
"I was wondering, do the EULA and TOS really change each patch?"
It doesn't. The last change to the End User License Agreement (EULA) and the Terms of Use Agreement (TOS/TOU) happened back on July 29, 2008. Grelk mentioned in reply to your question that Blizzard has released a new product, essentially, and that they need you to accept all that stuff for the new version – which makes sense.
We'll have to take a look the next time a change in the agreements comes around, probably after a major (3.1, 3.2, etc...) patch or closer to the next expansion.
Chris asked...
"Is there any way to reorder your list of characters on any given realm?"
Nope. And I wish there was too. I just picked up an iPod touch today and I'm having fun playing with various apps. Lots of dragging and dropping, something that Apple has been all about for 15+ years now. Too bad WoW doesn't emulate this.
Delshay asked...
"What are the best money making dailies for level 80s to do? They don't seem to pay out as well as the Isle of Quel'Danans dailies and the others we had at level 70."
There are two ways to look at doing daily quests. Which are the quickiest, and which reward the most money? I've found that the proper balance occurs in the daily quests out in Sholazar Basin with the Oracles.
I can knock off 3 of those in about 30 minutes, which is quite fast and get around 50 gold in the process. Some people are having a lot of luck out with the Sons of Hodir daily quests, and they get so quick at them it only takes about an hour to do them all – netting around 100g or so.
The important thing to remember is that each server is going to be different. Some will be more populated at certain times of the day than others. Test around a bit and try to figure out what works where you play. Don't be afraid to experiment! Once you find a quiet time to daily work, you'll be making money very very quickly.
Sae asked...
"Any word regarding when/if/how our gold ol' Riding Crops will be making a return?"
None, and I wouldn't expect any either. Plans for the riding crop seem to have fallen by the wayside. I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of inscription that ups riding speed, or some sort of potion/flask, but that's really all I see in the future. By all accounts Blizzard really wants to get away from "must have" craftable items and the like, and this is just part of that.
Finally...
Let's go off-WoW for a minute and talk about an offhand comment I made yesterday about EVE Online's crafting system.
EVE Online is a space based MMORPG. It's a huge game, all on one server with about 250,000 to 300,000 subscribers. There are anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 connected at any one time. The game takes place in a gigantic universe, where you explore, mine for goods, wage epic battles, and fight against the evils of the galaxy. The learning curve is horrendous. While I think to really understand and be successful at WoW theory crafting you need a grasp of basic calculus, in EVE it is doubly so. It's not a game for kids or people who's interests change every day. It is a serious, hard core, real consequences game. Make one mistake and you'll find yourself set back months or years of gameplay. And I'm not kidding either.
Nearly everything in the EVE universe is crafted by players. You learn things to make by gaining patterns, or blueprints, and then farm the materials needed to make the item. Rinse and repeat a few million times and you've got yourself a shiny new starship. The difference between WoW's and EVE's profession system lies in how the crafting systems actually work. It might take a few days to farm up mats a new shield you want made, and then it's just a matter of clicking one button. In EVE (and to be honest, in EQ2 as well), crafting anything beyond the most basic item requires tons of planning and farming. We're talking weeks and months here, not days.
Many players who become familiar with different MMOs point to EVE and EQ2 as prime examples of what a fun and challenging crafting system can be like. It would be amazing to see some sort of advanced crafting system come to WoW, but chances are slim since the mindset of EVE (hard core is great, buh-bye noobs) and the mindset of WoW (we have room for everyone) is pretty different.
Oh, and by the way, I was not part of Band of Brothers, I was just being silly and referencing their destruction. Massively had some excellent coverage of it if you're interested in learning more.
Tomorrow I'll be doing a special edition of The Queue, tackling a single question left by a U.S. Marine in Iraq, asking how the game has changed in the year he's been deployed. Should be a good 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: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
ash Feb 13th 2009 2:02AM
Didn't Blizz at one time say that they might possibly introduce another hero class during this expansion? If not do ou think we will have to wait for one class per expansion?
John Feb 13th 2009 3:50AM
This guy in the pic looks gay.
Elfbane Feb 13th 2009 5:59AM
"Tomorrow I'll be doing a special edition of The Queue, tackling a single question left by a U.S. Marine in Iraq, asking how the game has changed in the year he's been deployed. Should be a good one."
OORAH!
Olicon Feb 13th 2009 6:01AM
Talk about being gone a long time..
I used to WoW for a while, and haven't played in about a year. (The fact that I'm reading up on WoWinsider should show that I do want to return one day, when the internet god smiles on me and give me latency under 1000ms.)
Anyway, someone clearly got into my account and activated WotLK trial (I found out from a bliz e-mail sent to my e-mail). There's no credit card info on the account anymore--in fact, I'm not even in the US anymore. Should I bother doing anything about it? It's not like I have anything to steal from. (almost 4 years of playing, and the best I have to show is a level 55 druid. Sad, I know)
Murtoon Feb 13th 2009 7:34AM
Im a total noob, post BC to be exact, but why do they call original WoW, "Vanilla" wow? Its probably something silly and obvious, so please begin flaming.
Mauxe Feb 13th 2009 10:32AM
Vanilla is used in reference to an original.. before adding any other flavors.. the base.
The original game was just called WoW when it came out - that's all there was. As soon as TBC came out 'WoW' became this whole new entity and it could be assumed that if you played 'WoW' you were referring to TBC. If you wanted to reference original content you would use the term Vanilla.
Here is an UD reference:
17. vanilla 91 up, 43 down
It's the original of something, like the original Ice Cream flavour. In computergames the original game is called classic or vanilla when the expansion comes out.
Murtoon Feb 13th 2009 11:15AM
ah, makes total sense, thanks.
Heist Feb 13th 2009 8:02AM
You wanna see a tough crafting system that takes literally years to master ... try on Star Wars Galaxies. As any good Master Armorsmith in that game will tell you, it's TOUGH.
Erogroth Feb 13th 2009 11:50AM
Ya. I really liked SWG's crafting system. The coolest part about it was that the actual materials had there own set of stats. Depending on the overall quality of the materials the item you made with them would be better or worse. So if Player A and Player B both could make the same gun, Player A's gun may be better because he used better mats. Also the mats had several stats so depending on which of the individual stats of the mats the crafted item would have different properties.
Even farming mats was neat cause the location of the best mats would change on a biweekly basis (I think it was Bi-weekly, its hard to remember 4 years ago). So farming the mats meant going out to different worlds and searching all over the world to find the best mats. You would then stockpile them till you had the best of the best mats that you needed to make great items. It was pretty crazy.
xnn Feb 13th 2009 8:14AM
It would be nice if there was more you could do with professions.. but I dunno about the other part. Months? Years? I already felt like shooting myself in the face after a few hours of grinding mats.. just so I could see that little number go up by 2 or 3.
Considering the amount of mats one already has to farm, it really feels like you are wasting your time... or like going to work or something.
Lets face it, WoW is a waste of time, but a fun waste of time... I don't want it to feel like a second job.
Ugh... speaking of that I've wasted enough time and have to go to work. /sigh
Zane Feb 13th 2009 9:20AM
BoB finally died? I stopped playing after being hunted by a few alliances and got tired of killing just get popped (google eve terminologies for ref.). I stopped playing seriously after m3g4 corp and after dying at the hands of Tank CEO. Loose 3 battleships in a day (back when they were the definitive) and tell me you would stay sane.
oh, and be sure to INSURE your ships...
(weeps bitterly)
Lunk Feb 13th 2009 10:40AM
You can actually reorder your character list. It's just kind of expensive. You transfer your characters off and transfer them back. Each time you move a character it ends up at the bottom of the list of available characters. So if you want to waste a bunch of hard earned cash and some cooldowns, then send your toons to a different server and then send them back in the order you want them. Stupid imo, but possible.
Evi Feb 13th 2009 10:55AM
LOL. I don't think I'm smart enough or possess enough patience for EVE. ;)
Blake Feb 13th 2009 11:00AM
I've always wanted to try, but never jumped in. It just seems like the learning curve is so high and you'd just be so far behind everyone else if you started now that it has put me off from even the free trial.
Takuwind Feb 13th 2009 11:30AM
The defense cap for warriors has been established as 540. My question is: what does def above that cap do? Is 600 def better than 541 def? I am assuming that once you push crits off the table, extra def does nothing.
Leejin Feb 13th 2009 11:32AM
EVE sounds totally NOT fun at all....
Why would someone spend so much time and what not, only to have a group of retarded e-peens dismantle the game from within.
Imagine if a WOW Dev was creating items/patterns/content that only his guild would get. There would be a pitchfork and torch brigade headed to Irvine ASAP. EVE deserves to be taken offline, and that DEV to rot in hell.
Marksweep Feb 17th 2009 1:56AM
He is kinda playing up how hard it is to make stuff. It is hard for one player to have a vertically integrated production process for Tech I items and it's nye impossible for Tech II items. EVE makes up for this by have a much better market system than WoW, so you can buy the materials or specialize in making the materials.
FifthDream Feb 13th 2009 2:07PM
Hope there was some endorsement money involved in that Apple/iPod comment, because it had jack all to do with WoW. Talk about random and unrelated...
Adam Holisky Feb 13th 2009 2:29PM
Red Bull - A gamers best friend!
FifthDream Feb 13th 2009 4:40PM
Hah,, now i feel compelled to buy some. ;p