Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Locke
by Adam Holisky 
May 7th 2009 at 5:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.And with, let's throw a little social philosophy in your faces.
Adoisin commented...
"I hate people telling me how to change my spec and how to play. I'm a mage who puts out between 2-3k dps, depending on how bad my lag may be at the time. Sure, I may not have the cookie cutter spec. But it's my game, I am paying for it, and I will play how I want. Want me to change? Fine. Start paying my fee and you can tell me how to play."
That's a very common feeling amongst players. I've heard that often while I was running my raiding guild, especially from new recruits. The best way I can go about explaining to people why we want them to change their spec, and why we are okay with asking is this:
Think of WoW as a social game above all else. Killing monsters, doing DPS, tanking, and healing are all learned behaviors that become easy after repetition, just like anything else in life. Handling boss strategies, leveling characters, and everything else in the game is nothing a well developed AI couldn't do. So what's special about the game? The game is a social game in which the real challenge lies in communicating and cooperating with other people in order to accomplish a common goal. In this regards there is no difference between WoW and any other cooperative team sport, like Baseball or Football (insert obligatory lol @ packers here).
As part of this social game, you sign a social contract with other players when you join up with them in a guild. This social contract is a metaphysical conception that basically says you all agree to play by and act under certain guidelines. For some guilds, those guidelines might mean no swearing in gchat and being really nice to everyone. For other guilds, those guidelines might mean speccing the way your class officer wants, showing up 15 minutes before raids, and farming 300g a day for consumables.
I've ran or been an officer in both types of guilds. Either one, the casual or the hard core guild, is a lot of fun for those members that enjoy the results of the social contract. And if a member doesn't enjoy those results, or thinks the guidelines set out by the social contract are making him have a bad time, then the member is free to leave and find another guild.
What it comes down to, is if you don't like the players or officers telling you to respec, then find another group that doesn't have those rules. It's not your fault that you don't like the guild's rules, and it's not the guild's fault or the fault of the other people that they want to enforce those rules. It's just a different style of socially playing the game.
And with 12 million people playing WoW, there are definitely some that agree with you no matter what you think. Find them and you'll be quite happy!
Seanfury asked...
"Will the Bone Witch's Fate Runes be usable in Icecrown Citadel?"
My guess is yes. They'll probably act just like the old flasks out in Blade's Edge Mountain. Although a disclaimer here is important in that we don't know for sure yet.
Endless asked...
"Did anybody in the EU get the free day they promised us? Looking into that tread, I'm not the only one who expected a free day and got ogre poo instead."
Check your transaction / billing history and see if you were credited a day yet. If you weren't, then Blizzard probably hasn't gotten to your account yet. It would be very bad of Blizzard to forget about giving out a promised free day.
Matthew asked...
"I'm a new level 80 warrior and when I open my character sheet and look at my damage, it's shown as red. All my other stats are green. Any idea what this means, and how I can fix it?"
If you're in defensive stance your damage will be reduced, and that reduction is highlighted in red via the character window. If you change to arms or zerker stance, it'll go back to green. You could also be specd into Titan's Grip.
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 7 of 7)
Richard May 8th 2009 1:04AM
I don't think that the defensive stance gives red damage stats anymore since they reduced it to a 5% damage reduction, mine always shows 'x 104%' when it used to display 'x 99%'.
Sojourner May 8th 2009 4:48AM
"Want me to change? Fine. Start paying my fee and you can tell me how to play."
More appropriately I won't invite you to raid. Shrug. The contract between you and the raid is to do as much damage as you can. That attitude shows that you do not care to abide by your end of the contract.
Raiding is about a group effort. I don't necessarily want to be off-tanking in Ulduar, but I don't mind doing it for our team.
The word you are iconifying is 'selfish'.
DanG May 8th 2009 5:28AM
Its all well and good you paying for your own account, and not wanting to spec in a certain way or what have you.
Maybe you remember that next time the Titans Grip warrior who is tanking in your group doesnt perform as well, or the deep feral healer lets you die. I bet you would have something to say if this was the case, eh?
Charlie May 8th 2009 6:19AM
@ the first question.
No, you can play the game you want to.
But I doubt your officers will take you to Ulduar with a sub-par spec.
;)
Malkatron May 8th 2009 7:17AM
Sorry,
This whole spec thing is just silly.
If you want to raid and you are a dps, you are obligated to push the max dps you possible can.
I run a 10man guild and I've allowed people to experiment with specs, however if I see sub standard dps they will be forced to respec for next try/boss.
Spec how you like in pvp/solo nobody cares, but turning up with stupid specs and doing sub-standard dps because its "how you like to play" is the sign of a fail player.
Monthly fee or not, fail is fail.
fool May 8th 2009 8:20AM
The thing is, raiding is a complete package: it is not just about rocking up and spending 24 other peoples time throwing yourself at a boss with minimal effort, its about being prepared, working together to do your best as a team to achieve something. As a raider, you enjoy the feeling of progressing as a team, of improving your performance, of being the best you can be, and finally downing the boss, if it took you a day, a week, or a month of learning.
If members of your group went afk half way through a boss fight, you would get irritated at them for wasteing your time. If a healer in your group short on mana refused to use a potion (or forgot to bring one), you would be irritated at them for wasteing your time. In both cases, your irritation is verymuch valid. In the same respect, you should understand that people will be irritated at you if you are wasteing their time, be it by not paying attention, standing in the fire, not useing appropriate consumables, or not putting a little preparation into an appropriate pve spec and rotation. If you rock up to a raid with a pvp spec (for example), you are wasteing everyones time, and they have every right to be irritated at you.
Being the best you can be is fun. There is still room for individuality: most classes have at least a few strong configurations that are close enough to each other that you won't be wasteing anyones time, and even if you have the same setup as someone else in your group, you can demonstrate your individuality by your performance: be at the top of your game, pay attention to your surroundings, put out strong damage, don't take any avoidable damage, help your group in whatever way possible. You will find that it is immensely fun to be able to look back on a night and think "I was awesome" or "I improved since last week".
If all else fails, and you really must be individual, play a healer or tank. There is far more room for style and individuality in healing and tanking, many more situational tradeoffs, more cusomizing yourself to your playstyle, your group, and the encounter. That being said, in the end it still comes down to performing your best, and enjoying it.
Calophi May 8th 2009 8:25AM
This is the reason I like dual spec so much. I can still do all my questing, but now if someone asks me to go Holy for an instance (or raid, if I ever get to that point) I can just flip a switch and do it instead of being bitter that I have to pay to respec again.
Nobody wants to go on a raid just to wipe over and over again. This is why people get asked to respec. If you aren't willing to fit the needs of the group so things will get done efficiently, then you aren't going to get asked to go at all.
breaklance May 8th 2009 10:01AM
"The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!"
Gentlemen, practise these words in front of the mirror: Although we are constantly exploring the subject, currently there is no direct evidence that links cellphone usage to brain cancer.
Naix May 8th 2009 10:10AM
"As part of this social game, you sign a social contract with other players when you join up with them in a guild. "
Ummmm no. Are you serious? No one thinks of a game this way. You invited to join a guild based on how you play. Not on if they can change how you play. 99% of the players out there would quit if someone were telling them how to play. There is no contracts in wow just play time. People like you are the reason why I stopped playing wow in the first place.
Elitists who think someone owes them something just for joining a guild.
oh btw. The characters on lost are not all dead.
Wulfkin May 8th 2009 10:26AM
"The characters on lost are not all dead."
No they're not, but it *was* a popular theory amongst viewers during the first season, which is probably what the author was going for.
Bobblehead May 8th 2009 10:36AM
@Naix
/sigh
Go look up John Locke's social contract, you git.
SilentBob May 8th 2009 11:00AM
I understand one's desire to play the game their own way, and yes that is your prerogative. However, if you are talking in the context of a 25-man raid, then you shouldn't be surprised if a veteran player is offering tips to help you maximize your DPS, 2-3k is really kinda meh for Ulduar and if you're stubborn and / or obstinate about taking advice don't be suprised if your spot gets filled with a rookie that IS willing to take that advice. Many times players don't understand the math or the hows-and-whys of full-DPS specs and that lack in output can at times really hurt the overall performance of the raid. Why waste space with a sub-par DPS when you can fill it with someone who knows their rotation and is spec'd for melting faces? Sure, play the game your own way but when you step into a raid it becomes less about you and more about the group.
Philomene May 8th 2009 1:30PM
WoW as Purgatory? Oh yes, I would concur. (That was one of the central arguments of my masters thesis.) Chthonic poetics FTW!
joozu May 8th 2009 3:28PM
I don't know if this has been asked before but, does blizzard plan on, or has even thought of the possibility of letting players redo major storyline quests? I would love to be able to play through the Wrathgate questline over and over.
Shade May 8th 2009 3:40PM
Okay this may be a dumb question but what, exactly, is 'keyboard turning'? I'm relatively certain I'm not guilty of this as my keyboard stays rather firmly in one place when I am playing, but I keep hearing people use the phrase. While it presents the most delightful mental images of people swinging their keyboards around wildly, like those dudes on street corners advertising for cell phone stores and the like, a real definition would be appreciated.
Aubrecia May 9th 2009 2:55AM
It means, basically, using the arrow keys to move instead of using a mouse. I've never gotten all the animosity toward keyboard turners, but maybe this is because I went through the first 60-70 levels of the game on a mouse-less laptop.
Draelan May 8th 2009 4:43PM
Wow. Looking at just the first two pages of responses to the respec question makes me cringe. Most are saying "spec how you want for solo. But if you want to raid, you better spec exactly how the raid leader tells you, or risk not being taken and/or being /gkicked!" It's precisely that kind of attitude I can't stand. Even if that IS your guild's attitude, you'd be much better served to put a more positive spin on it than the "my way or the highway" attitude. Explain that, as much as you'd like to take the person in, their performance just isn't competitive enough with others. But you'd like to help, if they're willing! It's, essentially, the same thing, but far less confrontational and far less likely to but the person in defensive mode, meaning they'll be more open to suggestions. That's how a GOOD class leader should work. They should be your guide, your mentor, not your slave-driving boss.
And the whole "spec how we want or be gkicked" thing is one of the many reasons I wouldn't like a "hardcore" guild. My guild's attitude is, essentially, "we don't care how you're specced. So long as you do the job well in a role we need to fill, we'll take you." (Though we do try to take the same people who started a run, unless they came in with the understanding they were to get a chance at early boss loot to gear up, then let our better geared players in for progression.)
But the point is, you don't NEED to be the "flavor of the moment" spec to do well. If I wanted, I could raid in my MM spec (a 200 DPS difference from my surv spec with only self buffs, but I'd still be one of the top DPS.) but I choose to raid survival because I want to push my DPS. Some guilds will be fine with this, some will not. All I can say is, if you really cannot come to an agreement with your guild, then it is probably best to find a guild that is better suited to you.
Aubrecia May 9th 2009 2:54AM
While I can agree that your guild and people you group with routinely can have a certain say over your spec, as it affects how they perform in a raid or heroic as much as you do, Random Player #34326 should have no right to nose into my talents and then send me a rude tell about how horribly I'm specced when all I'm doing is idling in Dalaran.
Random other players have no idea what my spec might be for. Maybe I decided to play around with a new talent tree. Maybe I just respecced and followed advice of a friend. Maybe I'm soloing, not raiding or running heroics. Maybe I'm just having fun doing random stuff in the world.
I have had no less than three tells from players I don't even know sassing me about my spec. Players I have never run with, ever. Not regs, not heroics, not raids. All of them were right after I respecced and dove all-points into my new tree to try and figure out what I liked and what I didn't.
That's just as much a part of the social contract as "agreeing to help out your guild and respect their opinions." Don't be a nosy nancy. If I've never run with you, or I've pugged with you all of once, your opinion means roughly less than mud to me and you nosing in and being an absolute jerk about how you think I should spec just earns you a nice big spot on my ignore list.
raful May 9th 2009 4:43PM
are there any way to see how much you benefit from resilence in low levels (to my 29 twink)?