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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: How do you make that weird U thing?
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 20th 2009 at 4:00PM
Adam called yesterday's edition of The Queue 'the Extreme edition,' but I'm of the opinion he didn't quite follow through. So I'm posting something extreme to make up for it, which you can see in the video above. Extreme. If you don't feel it's extreme enough, feel free to post your extreme links in the comments below with your usual questions, as long as the links are safe for work (and sanity.)
Eternauta asked...
I have a question, too. I know it's pretty stupid and obvious, but here I go: Why is everybody DPS and why is it so hard to find healers or tanks?
Heh, come on over to my server. We have a glut of Tanks and Healers and I can never find any freakin' DPS for my Heroic groups. I leveled up my Prot Paladin because I wanted to do some level 80 tanking, and DPS simply do not exist on my server. It's horrible.
My server certainly isn't typical of all servers, though. I think the Tank shortage is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but there definitely is a Healer shortage on many servers. It's been that way for a very, very long time, I think. It's not just Wrath of the Lich King. Healing has always been a 'dedicated few' sort of deal, there has never been a lot of Healers. The ones that are around tend to be doing something almost nonstop, because they're so badly needed. As long as they're not awful, they never need to wait long to find a group.
My personal thought is that the next expansion is going to need a Healer Hero class like Wrath brought in a Tank. Death Knights helped the Tank shortage dramatically (when people aren't being stupid and running them off because they're not all Frost), and Healing will need the same treatment. Buff the crap out of the current Healers all you want, that won't attract players to the classes/specs more than adding in something wholly new and exciting. We're going to need new adopters, not people respeccing en masse to help the shortage.
DPSing is just less stress, and more fun for many people. Note that I said many. Not all (or even most), but many. We can hope that Dual Spec will help with this (people more willing to switch to Healing just for one instance or two) but we'll see.
aman asked...
Since Kaplan is stepping down, who is going to be the new head honcho? GC?
While Kaplan is gone from WoW, the team still has Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack. Kaplan refers to them as his partners in crime, and they really are pretty important fellows. If they add a third to regain their triumvirate, we don't really know who it would be, I don't think. I don't suspect it would be Greg Street, but there's a possibility that it could be, I suppose. He seems more of a numbers kind of guy, but he's been a Lead Designer with his previous companies, so it's possible.
Cyno01 asked...
Are they ever going to get Blizzard Authenticators back in stock?
The stock goes up and down a lot. They just sell out really, really quickly. Quickly as in within a few hours quickly. You need to check their store religiously or you can easily miss your chance. Just check frequently and hope that you get lucky.
david asked...
How did the Scourge in Duskwood get so faraway from Northrend and Lordaeron?
Actually, those Undead aren't really Scourge at all. They're simply Undead. There are many horrible things going on in that zone, from the Scythe of Elune to the corruption of Karazhan and the energies of the Nightmare seeping out through the Portal there. Oh, and that Necromancer guy, Morbent Fel. I would guess he has something to do with it!
Morbent Fel is the source of the Undead in Duskwood, primarily. If they have any ties to the Scourge, it's not an obvious one. The Dark Riders of Deadwing Pass tie into all of it somehow, but we don't actually know who they serve. It could be the Scourge, but it could also be the Legion or some other force we haven't seen yet. They could also be serving nobody in particular and were just thrown in because a nod to the Nazgûl would be cool. Who knows?
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: Fishing, Analysis / Opinion, Lore, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Palatel Feb 20th 2009 5:21PM
Yeah, what I mean is, if it is asked in the title, why didn't they answer it?
AyaJulia Feb 20th 2009 6:01PM
I can only imagine it was a reference video? I didn't watch it at all, never do.
turtlehead Feb 20th 2009 5:25PM
"I have a question, too. I know it's pretty stupid and obvious, but here I go: Why is everybody DPS and why is it so hard to find healers or tanks?"
[Three paragraphs about two other topics deleted]
"DPSing is just less stress, and more fun for many people."
I like the column but that was one heck of a long way to partially answer the question.
Here are some reasons:
DPS is (mostly) easier to level and solo.
Blowing up monsters is fun.
Seeing big crit numbers is fun.
DPS is (mostly, and I'm skipping arenas here) better in PvP.
DPS has to be awful to kill everyone. A minor tank or healer screwup can be a blinking neon sign over 'em.
The game has considerably more DPS classes/specs than tank or healer.
Tanks require a certain level of gear; DPS does not.
Tanks and healers often do only guild/friend runs to preserve their sanity--there are more around than you see.
People love collecting pets. Don't discount the Lure of the Hunter.
DPS sees cool looking monsters. Tanks see the inside of the monsters' giant feet and healers see lots of health bars. (Okay, melee DPS see cool looking monster butts)
Eternauta Feb 20th 2009 7:43PM
Thank you, turtlehead.
You make very good points, including some I didn't even cosiderate.
And thanks Alex Ziebart, for posting my question.
Humpp56 Feb 20th 2009 5:31PM
I've got a question,
Is blizz planning on giving us new patterns for lw, tailoring, bs etc in patch 3.1? It's no use spamming 450 lw lfw anymore since nobody needs or wants anything :(
-Humpo
80 Rogue (lolmut)
037 Feb 20th 2009 5:35PM
What if...
As a kid I was always a fan of the What If comic books from Marvel. The basic premise, for those not in the know, is to take a quick peek at what the world would be like if one thing happened differently.
That said, what are some things that were dropped in Alpha or Beta WoW Vanilla that would have changed the game significantly?
I always go back to the rumor I heard about Warlocks wearing leather and the Forsaken having Paladins (but they were called Death Knights).
Derek Feb 20th 2009 7:51PM
Samantha Swifthoof would still have a job instead of being the unemployed wanderer she is. ;-)
She's the Tauren who walks up and down the main road in Stranglethorn Vale, with no loot for Alliance and nothing to say to Horde. But she HAD one: She was the trainer for Plainsrunning, the ability Taurens would have had instead of riding Kodos around. Basically, you'd hit 40 as a Tauren, go find Samantha at some point in her endless patrol, and she'd teach you to run as fast as your wolf and raptor-riding friends. Alas! Blizz gave her the pink slip, so she wanders the jungle, her only purpose being to create a sense of mystery for noobs of both factions. ;_;
J Feb 20th 2009 6:00PM
Probably been said above, but just in case...
Healer / tank shortage is due to a number of things:
1) They've been very hard to level in the past.
2) They're still a bit tougher to level now than dps is.
3) Healing, for most people, is just not fun. You're staring at green bars and playing whack-a-mole instead of experiencing the raid content.
4) Healing is stressful. You have to be a bit of a twitch gamer and a bit of a psychic to do it well. And it's still not fun. Especially since many immature groups tend to blame the heals first when something goes wrong.
5) Tanking is even more stressful. Most gear-dependent role in the game, gotta always focus on cooldowns, health, mana/rage/runic power, gotta know positioning of yourself, the boss, and the rest of the raid/party. Plus many groups expect the tank to do the marking, set the pace, make the decisions, and be the de facto leader of any group just by default. A lot of tanks end up feeling like it's a job, not a game.
6) DPS is fun as heck, and is by far the lowest stress role. For many fights/groups, noone cares or notices if you're undergeared, don't know the optimal spell rotations, or even have an emergency afk mid-fight. None of that is even an option for a tank or healer unless they're okay with wiping the group. DPS gets to see the boss (for some classes, you don't even have to stare at the bosses' shins the whole time), see the environment, etc. All you have to do is whack on the boss and enjoy the game.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen dps in greens in successful heroic groups. Conversely, I can't think of a single time when the healer or tank was in greens and a heroic run was successful. That alone speaks volumes of the dedication and effort required of healers and tanks relative to dps. Without extra rewards that correspond to that extra effort, of course a disproportionately small number of players are going to be willing to do it. And the only reward I can think of, unless you happen to find healing or tanking inherently more fun, is that you have an easier time finding groups. Which honestly for most people is not enough.
elvendude Feb 20th 2009 7:11PM
QFT
Les Feb 20th 2009 6:11PM
It's been said twice already, but it bears repeating. DPS is simply more fun and less stressful.
I tried playing a healing priest for awhile and not only is it boring as hell, but if the party is wiped out then your ass is the first one that gets chewed off eight times out of ten.
Tanking isn't much better and the pressure to get geared up to do it well is so overwhelming that it removes what little fun is to be had with the class.
Two big reasons I love playing a hunter is because I can go solo anytime I want to and when I'm in a group I don't have to worry too much about what everyone else is doing. I trap if extra CC is called for and I pull mobs off the healer if he manages to get aggro. Other than that it's pew-pew-pew with an occasional glance at the threat meter to make sure I'm not pulling aggro myself. And even if I do I've got options to deal with it.
Though I will say that I am enjoying playing a Death Knight as the Unholy tree makes them into a pseudo-hunter tank that fits my play style pretty well.
thundrcrackr Feb 20th 2009 6:19PM
Why are there so few tanks? Oh man, where do i start. There are so many reasons, lol. My server has a huge tank shortage (as bad as healers if not worse) and as a former BC pally tank, I can think of a few reasons.
1) You're expected to lead and set the pace.
While the DPS gets to sit and leisurely eat and drink as needed between pulls, the tank as no such luxury. He's expected to be up and running to the next group, getting everything marked and ready for the next pull. As a pally tank, i found this difficult as i was often running low on mana. Some people start whining and getting impatient if tank is going too slow and increases chances someone might quit the group and leave early.
2) You're expected to know EVERY pull of EVERY dungeon, since you're the one leading and marking.
This means you have to actually pay attention as you're doing a dungeon for the first time and memorize all the pulls/fights etc. and hope you're with a patient group that first time. DPS doesn't have to pay attention to how to mark the pulls at all, they just wait for the tank to do it then start DPSing. (i know this isnt as bad in WotLK with most trash being AOEable now, but in BC it was, and you had to learn what CC every class had so you could mark accordingly.)
3) Its a just lot of work.
Since you're out in front, making the pulls, you have to be watching out for pats, know when to face the mob a certain way, keep your threat up, get agro back when DPS steals it, know when to LoS pull, make sure you don't break CC, etc, etc.
All DPS has to do is move out of AOE once in a while or, if they pull agro, just stand there and *gasp* stop doing anything while the tank busts his butt to get it off of you.
3) Repair bills are a LOT higher.
Tanks wear plate (cept druids) and take the most damage so we've got huge repair bills. And whenever there is a wipe, we ALWAYS die, we can't feign death or go invisible or anything like that.
4) Soloing and farming sucks as tank spec.
As prot pally it was ok in BC, as you could AOE farm in a few good spots, but there doesn't seem to be many of those spots in WotLK and the other tank specs have never been good at this from what i've read. (Duel specs will help this, but we don't have those yet.)
5.) Most Death Knights are DPS.
Idk why anyone thought making a badass melee DPS class (that also could happen to spec as tank) would suddenly fix the tank shortage. Most DKs on my server are DPS. (again, duel specs may help here, but they aren't available yet)
Some people love tanking for the challenge, (I admit it can be very rewarding at times) but it can also be very frustrating, and my hat is off to all those hard core tanks out there who do it.
I prefer my games (unless i'm getting paid to play them, lol) to be more fun and less work. It seems the majority of other players do too.
Eternauta Feb 20th 2009 7:51PM
Totally true.
I'm a prot pally, and I'm tired of dpsers telling me "it was teh tankz fault lolz kikc him" every time we wipe, when I'm putting the 110% of me in the fight and they just stand still at range and spam pewpew while watching tv.
I'm sure it's the same for healers.
Twothing Feb 20th 2009 6:26PM
I have a qustion.
` I ask this with the thought in mind abought a post i have read from one of the GMs. Somthing to the effect of (We got rid of down ranking spells becouse the new spells wernt as mana effecent and a lot of players were using the old ones.) I just wonder as i am leveling some alts would it be worth doing some reshurch on what is the best option, and thin not traning any ranks above it?
` Thanks
elvendude Feb 20th 2009 7:03PM
The next rank up is always going to give you a larger effect on a spell unless something is bugged.
So, you could use a rank 2 version of a spell all the way up, but it's only going to do that 200-300 damage, and never scale up to 2000-3000 damage as you would get from rank 12.
I also don't know when the mana cost on a spell goes up. It's very possible that the cost goes up at particular levels and *not* when you train the next rank. But I do not know that for sure.
Dez Feb 20th 2009 7:15PM
Back in the lv60 era, it was often the case with enough bonus healing, you'd get better mana efficiency using lower-ranked spells. This was also helped by low rank spells having a short cast time (this is well before the time of spell haste).
Blizzard changed the way their Enigma machine works, so now if you cast a low-rank spell you get bugger-all out of it, and with WLK nearly all mana costs were made into percentages, so the benefit of casting low-rank spells has been almost completely eliminated.
The mana cost of spells is decided by your BASE mana, so it excludes any +intellect gear items or other mana-increasing effects (buffs, enchants, elixirs, anything). This means mana cost basically just scales with level, since this is practically the only time your base mana will increase.
AyaJulia Feb 21st 2009 12:12AM
The change to downranking was as follows: Spells now cost a set PERCENTAGE of your base mana (that is, your mana before any contributions from intellect). For an example, look at the Priest spell Greater Heal. It costs 32% of your base mana at ranks 7-9. A level 80 priest with rank 9 greater heal will heal for a base ~4k before contribution from spellpower, for 1390 mana. If that same level 80 priest decided to try to use rank 8 greater heal, s/he would heal for ~3.5k for... 1390 mana still. Seems silly, right? This is what they mean by lower ranks being less mana efficient.
Richwarf Feb 20th 2009 6:59PM
i thinking of doing a mass killing on world boss just for fun with my guild at some time.
What is the lroe befind each one and where are they?
P.S. i know taking lv 80 to kill lv 60 world boss is over kill but still, there under the number of raid needed :(
elvendude Feb 20th 2009 7:00PM
I've been wondering when, precisely, a spell's damage or healing is calculated.
Say, for example, I'm playing a frost mage. My Fingers of Frost has procced and I only have two and a half seconds left on it...long enough to get off a frostbolt, but not long enough for the frostbolt to reach the enemy. If I cast that frostbolt, will it gain the benefit of FoF?
To state it another way, is a spell's total effect calculated at the time you begin to cast it (I'm almost certain this is *not* the case), when you finish casting it, or when the animation resolves (the spell hits the target)?
Dez Feb 20th 2009 7:19PM
Spell damage is calculated when the spell is successfully cast, i.e. when you fill up the cast bar. Damage however is not applied until the bolt (if there is one) reaches the target, and will be ignored if the target dies before the bolt reaches impact.
turtlehead Feb 20th 2009 10:26PM
Dez mostly covered it. To expand a bit, for procs and other effects, it depends if it is a buff (on you) or a debuff/status effect (on the target). [It's mostly consistent but some are a bit weird or bug. Been problems in the past.]
For example: your frostbite froze Mob Fred. Four other people hitting Fred break the freeze after your second frostbite is in flight but before it hits Fred. You don't get the benefit of shatter. That's how the shatter combo works: icelance is instant and has a quick travel time, so you can land it at the same time as the bolt and both shatter and break the freeze.
The opposite example: your trinket procs to buff you for +80,000,000 damage on next cast within five seconds. The +80,000,000 is figured when casting finishes and the spell goes flying. If the five seconds ends while it is in flight, it'll still one shot whatever it touches. :)
(Btw, want to buy your trinket!)