The Queue: Judgement of Light & Day
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 24th 2009 at 1:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.
Today's music comes from a viewing of Scrubs I was, at the time, forced to watch by the girlfriend Katie. They had this great band playing at the end called The Polyphonic Spree. Today's featured reading music is the aforementioned band performing Light & Day ("Reach for the Sun").
It really doesn't have anything to do with anything, but they're hippies and jump around a lot while making some rather cool and unique music. Plus they have this cultish vibe to them. The Leader is good, The Leader is great, we surrender our will as of this date.
Hey look! World of Warcraft related things coming up now...
Many people asked...
"The PTR you download from the official WoW site is still 3.1! How are people getting on the Patch 3.2 PTR?"
The official WoW site will have you download a client that will install version 3.1.8874. After that client is installed, run the PTR launcher. You'll then be prompted to upgrade to the Patch 3.2 PTR via a normal (albeit PTR client only) update process.
AareDub asked...
"If you transfer servers, does your /played time carry over?"
Yes.
Michael asked...
"I recently bought a mechano-hog. How do I find out how many other people on the server already have mechano-hogs?"
None of the sites really provide a way to do that. But why would you want to? Be happy that you are a special, beautiful, and unique snowflake.
James asked...
"Do we know yet if Heirloom items will scale upwards come the next expansion (assuming the level cap is raised)?"
One would assume Heirloom items will scale in future expansions. The mechanic works great at lower levels, and I don't see any reason why Blizzard would change it. However, I could see them turning off the XP bonus if you're above level 79. That would help make the leveling experience more equal for those that don't have the shoulders or chest (come patch 3.2).
Masarah asked...
"Does the XP bonus from the chest stack with the bonus from the shoulders?"
Yes, the shoulders and chest will stack to deliver a 20% XP bonus to all XP received from killing mobs and completing quests.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com 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, Patches, Items, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Leveling, Guides
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Abel.Cass Jun 24th 2009 1:10PM
Do the heirloom experience bonuses stack with recruit-a-friend?
epsilon343 Jun 24th 2009 1:14PM
Yep... If you searched the site this was covered just a few days ago when they announced new Heirlooms would be coming out.
elstor Jun 24th 2009 1:14PM
Yes
Xirifus Jun 25th 2009 4:22AM
Okay, - Heirloom chest and shoulders + RaF + (like next year or some other event) Midsummer Pole buff...? [ + a person who is fast leveler] =
Holy hell.
Nick Jun 24th 2009 1:10PM
What does it mean when I look in the combat log, and on some of my hits it says "Glancing".
kozom Jun 24th 2009 1:15PM
via wowwiki
Glancing blows (= glancing) are combat events that can occur when fighting a mob of equal or higher level.
These occur only on white damage and result in the attack having it's damage reduced in proportion to the difference between the attacker's weapon skill (capped at the attacker's level * 5), and the target's defense skill.
At current Glancing blows occur at about 20% of the time versus mobs that are above your level. These attacks only do 70% of their normal damage versus a mob that is 3 levels above you. (10% per mob level). Bosses are counted as "your level+3".
Against mobs with defense roughly equal to or higher than your Attack Rating (i.e. your weapon skill), you will have a chance to land a glancing blow instead of a normal hit. A glancing blow only occurs on white melee damage and does less damage than a normal blow. If the attacker's weapon skill is less than his level * 5, the damage reduction will be proportional to the difference between the attacker's weapon skill and the target's defense. Weapon skill above your level * 5, as from gear or racial bonuses, affects neither the damage reduction nor the chances of landing a glancing blow.
Siddaru Jun 24th 2009 1:19PM
A glancing blow is sort of the opposite of a crit, it's where your attack does half damage. Their chance to occur depends on your chance to miss, so they can be eliminated with enough hit rating.
saxamaphone Jun 24th 2009 2:02PM
"A glancing blow is sort of the opposite of a crit, it's where your attack does half damage. Their chance to occur depends on your chance to miss, so they can be eliminated with enough hit rating."
This is false as far as I know. Hit only reduces your chance to miss...Not your chance to get a glancing blow. You should always see ~20% glancing blows for white damage.
Alexran Jun 24th 2009 1:11PM
I just started playing. What's the best and fastest leveling class that will let me see the endgame the soonest?
Tauran Jun 24th 2009 1:18PM
A priest will let you see the majority of the endgame the easiest. A hunter, warlock or pally could level faster but will not help with raid spots like a Priest could. I really recommend looking at wow wiki and trying something you think is fun. It won't matter how long it takes if you have fun playing the class, but being a priest will get you in raids.
Krikket Jun 24th 2009 1:25PM
I'm going to disagree with the person above me & say, without question, paladin.
Paladins can fill the role of tank, healer, or DPS. They're practically indestructible while leveling, and not terribly difficult to play at lower levels (unlike priests, who have a tendency towards the squishy). They bring great buffs in any spec, so are frequently sought out by end game raid groups.
ChiperSoft Jun 24th 2009 1:28PM
While priests will always be guaranteed raid spots, it's still one of the squishiest classes to level up and doesn't have much killing power until you get shadowform.
If you want the most flexibility a paladin is a great way to go because you can play any roll (damage, dps or tank). Druids are even more flexible and have some very nice features that no other class can offer, but the first 20 levels really suck.
Hunter is the easiest to level up since the pet takes most of the beating, but in terms of speed I think nothing beats an enhancement shaman. They kill things very quickly and have little recharge time between combat sessions. Once you get to the end game you can go either caster melee or healer and there is likely to be a spot open for you. All three shaman talent trees being something useful to the raid.
Cyrus Jun 24th 2009 1:29PM
I'd say a druid, especially feral specced. (That is, putting all or most of your talent points in the Feral talent tree.) There are movement speed increasing talents to make everything go quicker, at least in cat form. You get travel form a few levels before you can learn to ride a mount. You can heal yourself after fights, so you don't need to waste time eating or bandaging. And if you want to go to a dungeon it will be relatively easy to find a group because you can tank and dps as well as anyone, and probably even heal well enough for a leveling instance.
Other possibilities, for some of the same reasons: hunters and paladins.
Crash Jun 24th 2009 1:33PM
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n151/lag22/pallyftw.jpg - best reason to play a paladin.
Ancro Jun 24th 2009 2:28PM
While some classes are going to be easier to level than others, and some perform different end game tasks differently than others, there is no substitute for playing the class of your own choosing. Check out the Newbie posts that WoWInsider her put together. Some of them are a little outdated, but they'll give you a feel for the class that you might most like to play. Another suggestion I might make is to give all of the classes a try until around level 10 or even 20, until you find one that you really like the feel of.
Joey Jun 24th 2009 2:50PM
Having played a Druid, Shaman, Priest, Hunter and Mage, I'd have to say that the priest was by far the slowest to level. At the early levels damage is low, fights are long and death is never too far away. Shadow form does change this dynamic significantly, making you a great single target dps, but you'll still find yourself healing through (and thus not experiencing) most instances. As such I'd say a priest is sub-par until end game.
The mage wasn't much better to level. You can be quite squishy (especially as you learn the class) and once you reach end game you might find your casting rotations to be a little dull. On the other hand the Shaman and Druid were quite easy to level and offered multiple play styles with the same character. Druids can melee dps, range dps, tank and heal depending on spec. Meanwhile shaman can melee dps, range dps and heal. Depending on specs there's little downtime (feral and enhancement respectively) and you'll likely bring quite a lot of utility along with your damage. Can't recommend these classes enough, really.
All that said, the hunter was probably the king of quick leveling. Spec'd in Beast Mastery I could literally sit and let my pet rip through mobs while I read quest details on WowHead. That's not to say there's no skill involved in mastering the class, but I'd argue that the learning curve is significantly smaller here as far as leveling goes.
Eternauta Jun 24th 2009 3:09PM
My advice: Read a lot about the classes before choosing one, and choose the one you feel you'll like the most when playing, not the "flavor of the month" class or the best/fastest/most desired tank/healer/dps/pvp class/whatever.
Why? Because those things change. Paladins were a pain in the @ss to lvl up before 3.0, and now they're über awesome. My point is: classes are buffed and nerfed constantly. And no class is always the best at anything (or the fastest, or whatever).
Choose what you feel you'll enjoy playing, and be well informed when you choose.
jamesoya Jun 25th 2009 4:58AM
I have a priest main, a rogue and dk that I raid with and a balance druid that I used to play at 70. The priest was by far the more painful to level. Of those four classes the druid is by far the most versatile in terms of choice of playstyle - you can play tank, healer, caster dps or melee dps, the only class that offers all four roles. Levelling feral is definitely the way to go and then you can pick your raiding spec(s) at 80. If you have no interest in playing a caster then go with a Paladin as they're also very flexible and tough to boot.
jindynasty Jun 25th 2009 5:10AM
Crash, that link is Epic Win :D
Blizz now made it so that leveling up is easy mode now, especially right now with the midsummer exp buff, heirlooms, recruit a friend, and rest. The fastest classes imo to level as of 3.1 are hunter, warlock, druid, shaman, warrior, priest, rogue, paladin, mage, (no DKs, cause they would obviously be fastest since they get a BIG head start in levels, and it doesn't look like you can create one yet). So basically, they're all pretty fast if you spec into the specs that are fastest for leveling, BM, enhancement, affliction, shadow, combat, etc.
What i'm trying to say is that blizz has made leveling easy for all classes, and it should be what kind of play style you like. Do you like getting raped by a warrior's overpowers? Or do you like to get raped by any melee class that catches you?
Gothia Jun 25th 2009 5:49AM
Priests are my favorite class to level, but word of the wise they are not easy and have major mana problems until mid 60's. It is hard to answer what class is easier to level or more versatile. You 1st have to know the class and its play style to see if you enjoy it or not. I have seen many Priest, Shaman, Druid, Paladin players refuse to use every aspect of what their class has to offer and simply refuse to heal or tank or dps regardless of the classes ability. Any one of those classes can heal all lower level instances regardless of spec until Northrend. I healed with a Enhancement Shaman through Brd and then went elemental through BC. Now that we have dual specs you can pick your poison. I highly recommend that if you have a healing and tanking class stick it out and learn how to heal and tank because it pays off in end game ten fold.