The Queue: Battle.net
by Alex Ziebart 
May 20th 2009 at 6:00PM
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.
So we said that we would have a special edition of The Queue this past Saturday. It never happened. Why? Well, the intent was for it to be entertainment while we all sat in the queue for BlizzCon tickets. Yammer about BlizzCon, get excited, all of that sort of thing. Adam and I put ourselves in the ticket queue, were getting ready to push the post out, and then... ticket sales were over. It was kind of a pointless post at that point! So it never happened. We apologize for that.
The ticket sales went surprisingly smoothly. We're always going to find something to gripe about (holy crap why don't they have more tickets) but the whole thing didn't come tumbling down this year, and that's such a massive improvement over last year. It was a good thing.
Dusseldorf asked...
"Is there any benefit to converting my account to a Battle.net account? I see problems with Battle.net users logging in all the time, and was just wondering the point of converting."
The big advantage to using a Battle.net account is the fact that you can link your Blizzard games together, and download all of the games you've registered digitally whenever you need to do so. New computer? No problem, your 'copy' of the game is stored on Battle.net! This will come into play a lot more of people who pick up StarCraft II or Diablo III or whatever new games Blizzard puts out. It'll all be linked together via Battle.net. Kind of a web-based Blizzard-specific Steam in a way.
Everyone will need to convert to a Battle.net account eventually if I remember correctly, so it's really a decision of whether you want to be an early adopter or not. You'll need to adopt at some point, it's just a question of when.
Garinow asked...
"If Blizzard announces a new WoW expansion at the upcoming Blizzcon, based on previous expansion announcements, how much detail can we expect to receive about this new expansion?"
Not a lot. Do you remember the first trailer for Wrath of the Lich King? It was machinima with some voiceover from the Lich King, setting the stage for the expansion. We were going to Northrend, and there would be Death Knights. Then it flashed a bunch of white text listing some of the upcoming features, and that was the end of it. They discussed it at some of the panels, but the first real, concrete information didn't really come out until the alpha and beta testing phases of the expansion.
If they announce a new expansion, don't expect a deluge of information right off the bat. They'll set the tone for us, hint at some features, and they'll leave it at that.
"Is it possible for a Horde player to acquire a gryphon or an Alliance player to acquire a windrider?"
As far as I know... no. It isn't currently possible.
Valilor asked...
"Is there a definitive list of all the boss loot tables from Ulduar available? I've checked wowhead and some bosses don't have all the info.
Also, where does this info come from? Does Blizzard hand it out or is it only updated as people do the bosses and report back what dropped?"
Items are stored server-side in World of Warcraft, unlike most of the data that places like Wowhead get ahold of. What this means is that until an item drops, it might as well not exist. The information isn't part of your WoW client, the client pulls the information from the server. Until an item has been 'seen' on a realm, DB sites can't get ahold of the data, you can't link the items in trade for comedic effect, or any of that.
If an item isn't on Wowhead, it's because nobody running the Wowhead client has seen that item. That'll happen often with new raids, the items aren't going to appear on Wowhead until the bosses are being killed and the drops are being revealed. Blizzard doesn't hand out any of the information you see on database sites. All of that data is gathered by those using the DB site's client.
Final note: If any of you guys are using our Profiles portion of the site, feel free to follow me if you'd like! I'll try not to spam you too much.
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 1 of 3)
Alerexis May 20th 2009 6:18PM
Now that they buffed Northrend food and drinks, which one is the most cost effective?
I carry around Honeymint Tea for snacks, but is that still the best?
Boy do I miss you Naaru Rations.
kobaiashi May 21st 2009 9:26AM
If you miss Naaru rations just cook http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34761 Sauteed Goby.
Danta May 20th 2009 6:16PM
Also, when you upgrade to a Battle.net account, you can add multiple WoW accounts and use the one log-in for both accounts. You don't have to change log-ins and remember two passwords for multiple WoW accounts.
Slaytanic May 21st 2009 10:58AM
One logon and password for multiple accounts? Wouldn't that increase the risk of hacking?
Burix May 21st 2009 11:31AM
Technically, it wouldn't increase the RISK of hacking, just what you would lose if you get hacked. That guy still has the same chance to get hacked, whether he's got one account or he's a multiboxer with ten.
Token May 20th 2009 6:16PM
WoWInsider Meets Twitter... oh my
Xanwryn May 21st 2009 12:17AM
That's exactly the thing I thought when I saw the things. Which is why I refuse to use the damn thing.
Twitter is a nice idea, but I don't feel the need to know all the little details about everybody's day. And I bet they don't want to hear about mine either (unless I'm famous, and I'm not).
SNYDER.TIMOTHY May 20th 2009 6:17PM
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45725
Not quite what you might be looking for, but any (80) hordie can get one.
Though I don´t know where an ally might pick up a windrider.
xel May 20th 2009 6:26PM
Gryphon =/= Hippogryph
SNYDER.TIMOTHY May 20th 2009 7:13PM
The Hippogryph is traditionally the offspring of a mare (female horse) and a gryphon (which in turn is part eagle).
Which is why I said ´Not quite what you might be looking for.´
http://www.wowwiki.com/Hippogryph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippogryph
elvendude May 20th 2009 7:14PM
/agree with xel
What I really want is for my Undead priest to fly around on a snowy gryphon. =D
But I might have to settle for a hippogryph.
Kemikalkadet May 20th 2009 7:38PM
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44690
Wind rider available to alliance. Pricey though.
Kemikalkadet May 20th 2009 7:41PM
nevermind i fail, downrank that comment.. i was thrown by the lack of "classes:" text on the item :P
Finnicks May 20th 2009 6:17PM
People are also hoping for a cross-game achievement system, wherein completeing Diablo III on "Hell" mode without dying could earn you a special title in WoW, or completeing all possible "side quests" in the StarCraft II Zerg campaign on Hard mode w/o cheats would earn you a mini-kerrigan pet.
It has potential, anyway.
blindlinus May 20th 2009 7:04PM
i think achievements/rewards that cross from one game into another is a terrible idea. yes, some people will be overjoyed with this, but the reality is that a lot of people are going to feel like blizz is trying to force them into buying and playing other games. i have NO interest in Diablo III or Starcraft II. the reasons? i feel like the Diablo franchise is an old dinosaur, one big LFG interface if you will. no PvP, no large scale competition or coordination. probably just a lot of magic find gear (lol). and... well.. Starcraft just isn't my thing. i think the theme is great, but i'm just not a fan of RTS. i play WoW and Call of Duty:World at War. that's it. not only do i not have the time to pick up *another* game, but i have no desire to either. and i would feel slighted if someone was walking around in WoW with some achieves or rewards that i could only get through another game. i choose to play WoW, so reward me in WoW. if you play Diablo or SC the things you get should be in those games only. end.
Finnicks May 20th 2009 7:11PM
Ok. So riddle me this: If you aren't interested in StarCraft, why would you be pissed off that you can't get an achievement that nets you a mini-Kerrigan companion? Kerrigan is from StarCraft. You aren't interested in StarCraft, remember? :)
And while we're at it, all achievements that require raiding or PvP should also be removed by your logic, because I have no interest whatsoever in PvP and it's not fair that I have to PvP to get a certain achievement. :)
No one is bending your arm to play StarCraft III, just like no one is bending my arm to PvP. You and I just won't get those achievements.
eddie May 20th 2009 6:20PM
Okay dumb question, but I can't help myself. I am level 78 right now. I plan on hiting 80, and start running the Heroic's asap. The thing is when I finally yet 70 the last time the expansion came out a month later, so I never got to get any of the tier gear (which sucks). So after I get desent gear, were do I start at. I know Kara use to be the starting point, but I would be 8 levels above it or so, and the gear would be weaker then 80 heroic gear. So what is the starting point these days???
Jimson May 20th 2009 6:33PM
If you are asking where to begin at lvl 80, heroics are the place. But before you ding 80, step into some regular versions of the instances so you get a feel for the place (and some gear to use in those heroics). I would run heroic UK a few times to get going. It is quick and rather easy.
Once you have some heroic gear, the raid progression is probably something like this (10-man), in order of easiest to hardest:
VoA (Arch) --> OS (no drakes) --> Naxx --> Maly
Be sure to get tabards for the useful reps (you did not mention your class, so I don't know what you would need) and wear them into instances. "Lvl 80" regular dungeons will also grant rep (HoL comes to mind), so don't forget them there.
Good luck!
jbodar May 20th 2009 6:47PM
You are probably DPS spec, but just in case, please don't jump into Heroics as healer or tank if you don't have the requisite gear, for example lvl78+ blue drops or crafted blues. No one wants to run a Heroic with a tank who doesn't have at least 535 Defense unless the healer totally outgears Heroics. If you can't afford AH gear, then try to get some Regular runs of the lvl80 dungeons -- HoL, CoS, Oculus, and UP -- if possible on your server.
Angus May 20th 2009 7:19PM
Don't bother with level 70 gear. Kara gear was being replaced early in Northrend.
Start doing the argent tournament. The moment you hit 80 you have the ability to grab a weapon with those tokens.
Normal level 80 instances can be gotten into even now, so start doing them for smaller upgrades. Look up faction rep and wear a tabard, do dailies, and any quests you can for the ones with good gear for your class/spec.