Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Strategery
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 2nd 2009 at 4:00PM
Good afternoon, everybody! I apologize for missing yesterday's edition of The Queue, I sort of forgot about it in my rush to get our April Fool's joke pieced together. The entire team got together to bring that little joke to life. Getting it all put together was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Fun, but it took awhile! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. If not, oh well! We had a good time bringing it to life.
I don't think you want to listen to me ramble about that, though. Onto the Q&A!
Ghola asked...
"Why would the Argent Tournament set up camp in Icecrown, at the back end of the glacier? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Crystal Song seems way better: no quests there, plenty of space, and much better weather!"
The Argent Crusade already has a presence in Icecrown, and tournament or not, their goal is to fight the Scourge. Some of Tournament dailies still involve suppressing Scourge activity, and the purpose of the tournament is to rally the major players to Icecrown. Story-wise, it absolutely belongs in Icecrown. Crystalsong definitely needs something going on there, but the Argent Tournament is not what should be there. Although the Argent Tourney does send you on some daily quests down there.
I think they rather enjoy Crystalsong being quiet and serene despite all the little odd things going on in there. Maybe we'll see something else in there later.
Pequod asked...
"What's the consensus on attacking opposite faction players who come to our capital to fish? Both Horde and Alliance have locations where this occurs and it seems there is a daily discussion when someone decides those anglers need to be eliminated."
I suspect the folks who protest the most are themselves fishermen trying to keep things safe when they run off to enemy territory to bag that big fishing achievement. I don't see that as a bad thing but is it truly wrong to attack the enemy when he/she makes themselves available for slaughter? What's your take?"
I leave fishermen alone, personally. I don't expect the other side would extend the same courtesy to me when I go to Orgrimmar, but I do try to leave fishermen alone in Ironforge so they can get their achievement. If they try to go exploring, they're gonna die. If they keep themselves by that little lake in the back of the city? I'll leave them alone.
I don't throw a hissy fit if someone else kills people in Ironforge (I'm Alliance, if you haven't noticed) but it does bother me a little. They're just fishing, you know? There is the whole... the factions are at war thing going on, though. I'm not going to be one of those people that pretends PvP doesn't belong in WoW, because it absolutely does.
I don't kill them while they're fishing, I don't like other people killing them, but I won't crucify someone for doing it.
Solas asked...
"With the ammo stacking change in 3.1 and haste being added to the hunter skill Auto-Shot, what happens to existing quivers and ammo pouches? Do they automatically disappear from inventory? As a Leatherworker, I am especially curious about unsold quivers and pouches I have sitting in the bank. Is there a WoW precedent for this kind of change? Thanks."
They're just going to become oversized bags that you can only put ammo in. They won't be totally useless if you want to carry unholy amounts of ammunition with you all of the time, but for the regular person they're not something you'll keep around. They won't disappear, though. They'll still be around. Just less useful.
Sheppard asked...
"I ve been asking around and getting mixed answers from different people. Does jumping up and down during a boss fight effect your chance to dodge,block, parry, etc?"
As long as you're facing the mob(s) and continuing to do everything you would normally do, then no. It shouldn't have an impact on any of those things. Movement, jumping, all of that stuff has no impact on your avoidance as long as you're still in the right place positionally. If you end up exposing your back to a mob when you're jumping around like a kangaroo, then you might have a problem. Otherwise? You're fine. I bunnyhop constantly when I'm tanking Keristrasza in the Nexus. No problems.
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 Queue
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
elvendude Apr 2nd 2009 4:20PM
Sometimes, I really wish I could gank my own faction. (Mostly when I'm mining, which is a completely different issue. ) Your post has made me want to go stand outside the War Room and bathe in the blood of the semi-innocents.
Shardrell Apr 2nd 2009 4:56PM
Heh, reminds me of the time I was in Ironforge with my bank alt and some kid was berating everyone in Local Defence because he'd been trying to gank two tauren who were fishing there, but the tauren kept kicking his ass and then going back to fishing. Nobody cared to help him, so he started calling us all losers for failing to defend our city and even accused me of being a Horde alt when I remarked, "I may only be a level 2 bank alt, but I'm not too worried about a couple cows with fishing poles." We had way too much fun with the poor kid.
Lesson: If you can't handle the ganking of peaceful fisherfolk, do not complain to Local Defence or you will be mocked by bank alts.
John Apr 2nd 2009 5:13PM
"Gentlemen, GENTLEMEN! You can't fight in here; it's the War Room!"
Draelan Apr 2nd 2009 6:44PM
@Elvendude
I share your sentiments. And I actually, much to my glee, actually got to kill a member of my own faction for being an ass just before Wrath came out. Some gnome mage was causing trouble for a couple horde who were trying to fish up Ironjaw. They weren't even fighting back. The priest got killed a few times, but the pally would just bubble and heal himself. I told the mage that he should stop bothering them, afterall, they were just trying to fish. Now, if he had ignored me, or simply said "If I see flagged horde, I kill them." I would have left it at that, but the mage was incredibly rude to me. Annoyed, I continued my fishing while he continued harassing the horde. Well... this all happened during the zombie plague event, so not long later, said mage managed to get infected and turned into a Ghoul. Seconds after that I finished turning him into a pincusion and happily went back to my fishing. ^_^ After all... just as it was his duty to attack any flagged horde he saw, it was my duty to keep our city streets zombie-free, right?? ;)
Succulent Apr 2nd 2009 11:02PM
There used to be a bug or an exploit I suppose, where the horde could gank their own faction.
There's a quest in stonetalon where you're asked some questions about a book you're given to read. If you answer incorrectly, you're given the mark of shame (or something), which originally made you hostile with your home cities. I don't think players could attack you, just NPCs. Anyway, people would go to the Battlemaster Room in Orgrimmar, jump up on top of those cloth bits going around the room and ranged the battlemasters. The battlemasters when they go nuts and started attacking everyone around them and back in the lvl 60 days, this'd be pretty much certain death.
It was fixed a long time ago, so don't go trying it.
rosencratz Apr 3rd 2009 3:15AM
Meh! people fishing in cities are only trying to get an achievement, personally everytime i go to ironforge i head past that pool in the Warlock area just to double check for them.
What's the difference between them getting a fishing achievement and me getting the city defender achievement?
Manatank Apr 3rd 2009 1:23PM
I don't care about achievements, so it never occurred to me that's what they were there for. At least not at first. I saw a group of 3 T6 geared 70 horde fishing in IF shortly after the achievement system went live (Before Wrath went live). It never occurred to me there would be an achievement as inane as fishing in opposing cities, so I assumed they were there looking for a fight. So I killed them. All. 3 or 4 times (after all, they were well geared, but only in PvE gear).
Achievements suck.
Croe Apr 2nd 2009 4:19PM
Personally, I leave players of the opposite faction alone when they're fishing in a major town. Mainly because there is no real personal honor in killing someone who only has a fishing pole for a weapon.
Wulfkin Apr 2nd 2009 4:27PM
^^This^^
Jhestor Apr 2nd 2009 4:36PM
Seconded.
I agree with the stance on fishing. I leave them alone because there isn't any point to doing it other than inconveniencing some other human being.
The minute they leave the fishing area, though... pfft.
RogueJedi86 Apr 2nd 2009 4:46PM
"Mainly because there is no real personal honor in killing someone who only has a fishing pole for a weapon."
You think they bank their real weapons when they decide to fish in the enemy capitals? He has other things for weapons, that he can quickly change to in combat. All that fancy armor they have on ain't just for looking pretty(usually), they can smah face if push comes to shove.
Indeed, when one goes to fish in an enemy capital, they fully expect to be attacked a few times. I figure they fish with a finger on their weapon to equip it at a moment's notice. They're not that harmless.
Croe Apr 2nd 2009 4:50PM
Yeah, you're right. A dozen of us on one is fair. Let the blood run free!
Irshalthra Apr 2nd 2009 4:53PM
Agreed, I haven't completed the fishing quests at the enemy, but I decided I would not even fight back if ganked.
If I fight and win, they will just come back "with friends". If I fight and lose, I will probably get camped.
Id I do not fight at all - what fun would that be for them - so goes my theory :).
Oteo Apr 2nd 2009 8:00PM
Sometimes I go to enemy cities to fish when I get bored. I usually get left alone. Sometimes I make friends with fellow fishermen of the opposite faction.
I don't think I look too threatening, considering once I get to my fishing spot I usually put on a fishing outfit.
Liltimmy Apr 2nd 2009 4:18PM
RE: jumping
I read something interesting, I believe on WI, that said WOW does not recognize your position while you are in the air. The consequence that the article cautioned was in fights such as Heigan, where your position determines whether or not you get pwned by some fight mechanic. Apparently the game remembers your position from the place you jumped from, and while you're in mid air you're still there.
ANYWAY...I was just thinking that if you do happen to be facing away from the boss while in the air, but return to face him by the time you hit the ground (pretty unlikely), the game may not ever know that you turned around.
Not sure about this.
Draelan Apr 2nd 2009 7:00PM
I'm going to take a stab at this and say your theory is false. In order to be true, it would require that your character's forward orientation (mehcanics-wise) not be updated while in mid-air. Ignoring the graphical side of things, this would mean that, in mid-air, you could turn 180 degrees, but the game wouldn't register this until you land.
This is not how it works, however. Case and point: One hunter kiting tactic involved jumping, turning in mid-air and firing a shot, then continuing running away once you hit the ground. This was developed because Hunters can't shoot behind them, and would otherwise have to stop completely as they turned around to shoot. Jumping allows for some continued forward motion while still getting in that shot at the mob/player. The only way for this to be possible is to have forward orientation update in mid-air, otherwise it wouldn't matter how quickly the Hunter turns in mid-air, they wouldn't be able to shoot until they landed.
So I'm afraid there will be no twirling tanks mid-battle. It was an interesting thought, though. :)
Pål Apr 3rd 2009 4:48AM
Actually it might work. WoW does a lot of calculation clientside, this reduces the workload of the servers, and thus increases their stability and capacity. Also, if the two have different information about something related to the player (for example position), the server will often trust the client to have the right numbers. This is to reduce the effects of latency; if the client's numbers were thrown out in favor of those of the server, you would see yourself skipping back and forth while moving, the way you can often see other people do. Similarly, if you turn to face a mob and fire at it, you will never get an error saying you are not facing the mob because the server doesn't know you are yet. It can happen if it's the -mob's- position that hasn't been correctly relayed to -you-, but that's a different problem.
Basically, this will work if the server treats facing while jumping the way it treats moving while jumping, that is it doesn't update until you land. We don't know if it does, and being able to turn and fire midjump just means the client knows what way you're facing, not that the server does.
Hansbo Apr 3rd 2009 12:51PM
Yes, it's client side.
Remember that bug where you see the mob in one place but the server says it's somewhere else? Well, then, so long as you face where the mob SEEMS to be placed, you can fire at him even if he's really behind you
(range is calculated server wide though, to prevent exploits.)
Lyraat Apr 2nd 2009 4:18PM
The fishing achievement is an achievement because of the pain of fishing in enemy territory. If I see a Hordie fishing in IF, he dies. When I head over to get that achievement, I will allot an entire day to doing it because I fully expect to be ganked. A lot.
Scott Apr 3rd 2009 11:43PM
I too typically leave the opposing faction alone when fishing, crossing my fingers that others will be as chill when I walk into IF to fish. As for the Arygos server, there's been a slight truce on both sides to ease the day long process of catching the fish. When I see Hordies killing Alliance, I casually mention that there's a truce re fishing, but I won't stop them from getting an easy kill if they desire to "wipe the pond clean."