The Queue: Item level, attunements, and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 20th 2009 at 11:00AM
Good morning/afternoon/generic time of day, everyone! I don't have anything funny or interesting to say here, so let's skip that part and pretend that I did it! Yay! Now imagine there's a silly poll for you to vote in! Exclamation points! More exclamation points! Not enough exclamation points yet! We need more!
Okay, that's enough of them.
Erogroth asked...
"How exactly does item level work? From what I gather its almost like talent points for an item. So any item that is the same level should be about equal in how good it is. However often items of the same item level are no where near equal. So what's the deal?"
This is one of those questions that could have a really, really long answer that potentially includes a lot of numbers and formulas. For my sanity (and possibly yours) I'm going to simplify it.
No, not all items are made equal. This is because not all stats have the same 'cost' on items. One really big example here is Stamina. Stamina costs less than any other pure stat on gear. You can get a fairly large amount of it for a relatively low cost, compared to something like Strength. Moreover, the rating conversions are not the same across all stats, which could cause even more strange item results. The Armor Penetration rating required to get 1% penetration would cost more of the item budget than the crit rating required to get 1% crit. Note, those stats and numbers are just examples that I pulled out of thin air, so please don't take them as law.
On top of that, stats on items have a sort of diminishing return. The higher a single stat stacks on an item, the higher the cost of that stat. So an item that has only Agility on it would have fewer total stat points on it than an item with Agility and Strength, for example.
So there are a lot of factors that can determine what item is the 'best' for its iLevel. A lot of different things come into play when itemizing. Wowwiki has a pretty good guide to the whole spiel if you want to dig deeper. If you want even more than that, just search around Elitist Jerks. You'll find more on it than you could ever possibly want, most likely.
Bob Dewane asked...
"Has ther been any word as to whether or not Blizz will use the "gate" system again in Ulduar to control raid progression? I know it caused a ton of controversy in Sunwell."
We've seen no indication of this on the PTR. This doesn't mean it can't be plugged in at the last minute without anybody knowing, but I quite seriously doubt that they would pull something like that. I don't think we'll be seeing anything like those gates in Ulduar.
JPheenix asked...
"What happens if you queue for a battleground as a group, does everyone appear post-BG back where they were when they went in, or back where the leader was when he/she went in?"
They go back where they were when they entered the battleground, no matter who queued them up or where the party leader is in the world. Everyone goes back to their own original location.
Laynne asked...
"Are we ever going to see 'Know Your Lore' again?"
Yes, absolutely. I got burned out writing it while trying to keep up with all of the new revelations and bits of info that Wrath of the Lich King was providing, so I just took a break from it for awhile. I know I disappointed a lot of people by doing so, but I think some cases no column is better than a bad column, and I personally think this was one of those cases.
I'm going to be working with a couple of the other writers to bring it back soon.
ScytheNoire asked...
"Did Blizzard ever actually remove the requirements for old instances, like the Seal to get into UBRS or the Aqual Quintessence for Molten Core, etc?"
In most cases, yes, those things were removed. You don't need a Seal for UBRS anymore, and it can be solo'd. The Quintessence isn't needed for Molten Core, either. The runes by each boss are extinguished automatically when a boss is killed, you don't need to touch it.
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: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
gundamxzero Mar 20th 2009 11:07AM
Good morning to you as well.
ching Mar 20th 2009 12:03PM
I remember in Storm Peaks there is a quest area in which characters are turned into female valkiyre. (the place where we get the white bear mount)
Why? what turned me in to that, and for what and why?
Ircasha Mar 20th 2009 12:14PM
@ching
Don't read quest text much, eh?
vanye111 Mar 20th 2009 12:16PM
You had to have talked to the valkyr witch Lok'lira, where she casts a spell on you so that you are concealed in an illusion.
You do remember that, right?
Tremelizzer Mar 20th 2009 5:41PM
@vanye111: not Val'kyr but Vrykul. Val'kyr are angel-like flying things when Lok'lira is a frost vrykul (ie hyldnir).
Foxfyr Mar 20th 2009 11:08AM
You don't need the Quintessence any more but you can still complete the quest for the Feat of Strength: The Fifth Element.
Gnosh Mar 20th 2009 11:16AM
Which, in case anyone is wondering, is not a movie reference. The term Quintessence originally referred to Aether, and was literally viewed as the Fifth Element (along with Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire) in greek and roman times (and a lot of other ancient cultures, as well). What's interesting is that ancient descriptions of Aether are pretty close to our current view of Dark Matter.
It's there in the word, too, Quint-Essence.
And then there's the term Quintessential, Adj, "representing the perfect example of a class or quality".
hold up Mar 20th 2009 11:44AM
@Gnosh
I would assume that Aether and Dark Matter are two completely different things. It was my understanding that the Aether theory was largely dismissed by the scientific community whereas we are still studying Dark Matter.
This is a question for The Queue!
What is the difference between Aether and Dark Matter?
bmiller Mar 20th 2009 12:04PM
Space is expanding differently than scientist's models predict from what we can observe (stars, galaxies, etc). One of the ways to get the model to work is to assume there's something we can't observe directly, but has an effect on the Universe's expansion (i.e. Dark Matter).
The Aether was the substance that scientists thought was between the planets and stars. They thought that light needed a medium to travel in, like sound waves do. Because they can't measure it's effect, they determined there was no (A)ether.
daltonist_bull Mar 20th 2009 12:12PM
@hold up:
Aether was invented by scientists trying to explain the duality of light: particle and wave. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether
Dark matter is postulated to exist because the observed gravity in certain areas of space is higher than normal. This could be caused by matter which we aren't able to see, ie. dark matter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter.
Marc Sadowski Mar 20th 2009 1:26PM
Best thread ever!
Omestes Mar 20th 2009 2:05PM
@daltonist_bull
Nope, Aether is much older than that. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_%28classical_element%29). Aether, originally, is the stuff which the celestial spheres were made of (According to Aristotle). Hence being the first element, when luminferous aether was a theory, we already had some idea of elements, so calling it "quint essence" or the fifth element would have been very simple.
Omestes Mar 20th 2009 2:08PM
Appearently I need much more coffee this morning;
Omestes11
3-20-2009 @ 2:05PM
Omestes said...
@daltonist_bull
"...Hence being the fifth element..."
"....so calling it "quint essence" or the fifth element would have been very strange...."
Steve Mar 20th 2009 11:12AM
What happens if you queue for a battleground while in flight? Hopefully it will put you back on your flying mount. What if you are on a flight path?
h8rain Mar 20th 2009 11:43AM
That would be a bad glitch. Glad I could Flight Form on my druid, and levitate on my priest.
Punjab Mar 20th 2009 12:25PM
They'll probably just not let you enter the BG until you land, like how you can't accept a summon while in combat.
On a flight path though, that would be trickier.
rosencratz Mar 20th 2009 12:34PM
They'll probably just dump you back on your bird... just like they do if you log out and log back in on one.
Laynne Mar 20th 2009 11:14AM
Thank you for answering. Now I feel slightly famous ;)
Palatel Mar 20th 2009 11:15AM
Any idea on how the leader of a BG is determined?
Also, any news on dance studios?
Gnosh Mar 20th 2009 11:17AM
Same way as normal- first person to enter the battleground, or the first group leader to enter.