Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: You are slightly more prepared than you were
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 1st 2009 at 5:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com'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.
That's a trailer we haven't seen in awhile, huh? It's relevant today, I promise! Besides, a little nostalgia is always fun. If I have one grievance with Wrath of the Lich King's cinematic, it's that they didn't give us an incredibly corny catchphrase to spout for nearly two years.
Discolando asked...
"Is there any substance to the rumor I've recently read that patch 3.3 will contain another yet unknown raid instance, and patch 3.4 will contain Icecrown Citadel? It does seem more logical to 'finish' the expansion with the advertised antagonist instead of a deux ex machina like patch 2.4 gave us."
Patch 2.4 was the result of a few things going not-quite-right with The Burning Crusade. First, Wrath of the Lich King was taking longer than their original time tables said they would, especially considering how rapidly they put out Burning Crusade's raid content. They front-loaded all of it. Black Temple, the raid zone that was supposed to be the pinnacle of 25-man raiding in BC, came out in patch 2.1 just a few months after the launch of the expansion. It was almost a full year between the release of Black Temple and the release of Sunwell Plateau. That's a pretty long time with no new 25 man content. If they didn't do Patch 2.4's raid, it would have been almost a year and a half between Black Temple and Wrath of the Lich King.
Another issue is that, given the theme of the expansion (The Burning Crusade), ending on a raid that didn't have anything at all to do with the Burning Crusade is somewhat silly. Sure, Illidan had pet demons, but he wasn't actually a part of the Burning Legion anymore, which is what the Crusade is named for. It's somewhat like if Wrath of the Lich King gave us Yogg-Saron last and skipped Arthas. Sure, Yogg-Saron was a villain, and a pretty big one! Entire zones dedicated to his influence! But he wasn't in the title of the game. As much as they hyped Illidan, the title of the expansion simply wasn't about him. It was about the Burning Legion.
Wrath of the Lich King feels much more on-pace, though we were spoiled by how much raid content was available at launch with The Burning Crusade. The Lich King will definitely be in patch 3.3 and will probably be the final raid boss of Wrath. If he's not, it's because their next expansion is taking longer than they'd hoped, and the filler content (the potential patch 3.4) will be a good thing for us players because it'll give us something to do while we wait.
Mark asked...
"Is there a good guide anywhere to the differences between the Ulduar-10 and Ulduar-25 encounters? I usually raid with a 10-man, but we're teaming up with a few other 10-man teams this week while a bunch of our teammates are taking vacations. It'd be really helpful to find a list of what's different."
As was mentioned in the comments yesterday, Wowwiki is a pretty good resource for this. If there are significant differences, it'll be noted on the boss's tactics page. Most of the differences between 10 and 25 man come down to numbers, rather than new abilities. The 25 man version makes healing and damage requirements much tighter, as in your tank is much more likely to get 2-shot in Ulduar 25 than Ulduar 10 and there'll be significantly larger amounts of environmental damage going around. New abilities between Normal and Heroic are few and far between.
kscribby asked...
"Just courious about RaF... if I want to recruit myself, i.e. buy another account for myself, does that mean that I also have to buy all new games as well, and then own two of every game? Or can I have two accounts on the same game?"
You need an authentication code/CD-Key for each account, and you get those buy buying the base game and expansions. So... yes, you need two copies of everything if you want two accounts. If you don't want the actual boxes laying around your house, remember that you can get the original game and the expansions on the Blizzard Store digitally. If you have a Battle.net account, you can attach both accounts to one login and have all of your game information stored on Battle.net. It's actually a pretty convenient service for multiboxers!
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: Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Jack Spicer Jul 1st 2009 6:14PM
When does everyone expect a new expansion pack will come out? I guess we'll find out more details at Blizzcon, but do you think it will be less than a year from now? If not, then how could you possibly think 3.3 would be the final tier of Wrath raiding content? 1 year+ is a long time to wait, especially considering how fast its felt from 3.1 to 3.2.
Clbull Jul 1st 2009 8:01PM
I see your point, but then again, there was a massive wait between Black Temple/Hyjal and Sunwell Plateau (A wait over several major patches too.) However, I don't think Blizz will do a wait that long.
Perhaps Blizzard are focusing on releasing patches earlier now (considering the short wait between 3.1 and 3.2), yet I understand that Blizz might not cause a wait as long as BT to SWP was.
Maybe 3.4 could be a lower difficulty raid (like i predicted) or maybe a 80 raid that ties into the next expansion that will be harder than Icecrown.
andy Jul 2nd 2009 6:40AM
stop pushing the Gun'Drak raid
not
going
to
happen
Bubsa Jul 1st 2009 6:00PM
Whether 10 or 25 man, PuGing or on a guild run, I find bosskillers.com to be the ultimate source for boss encounters in WoW.
Go bookmark it. Now.
Leviathann Jul 1st 2009 6:12PM
I'd like to know how smaller developers run circles around Blizzard in developing content. How long does Blizzard think people will be sated by daily quests, rep grinds, and "hard modes x4"?
matt Jul 1st 2009 6:23PM
Seriously dude? What other developers, large or small, are coding anything like WoW?
tatsumasa Jul 1st 2009 6:26PM
maybe it's not that blizz is taking a long time on content, but rather that the content is so easy that it doesn't take time to progress through, and it gets stale faster.
Chris Anthony Jul 1st 2009 7:21PM
"How long does Blizzard think people will be sated by daily quests, rep grinds, and "hard modes x4"?"
Two and a half years and counting.
andy Jul 2nd 2009 6:43AM
link to a toon with "alone in the darkness" please.
no?
well, that means the current content is still satisfying raiders.
Cyrus Jul 1st 2009 6:12PM
Do we even know if there's going to be a 3.4? Has Blizzard announced it, or are people assuming it just based on the number of content patches in BC? Maybe progression will just go OS, Naxx, EoE, Ulduar, Argent Coliseum and Icecrown.
Derek Jul 1st 2009 7:56PM
It's a guess. It's based on the assumed proximity of 3.2, followed by an even more assumed proximity of 3.3, combined with the fact that there was more than a year between the announcement of Wrath and it's launch, leading to the conclusion that 3.3 will be released many months before World of Warcraft: The Next Expansion, during which raiders will get bored. Therefore, they postulate, Icecrown either won't be 3.3, but more like 3.4, or else something else will have to come after Icecrown to keep the raiders happy until The Next Expansion.
As for the next expansion, I'm going to randomly hope that there are new races, preferably with at least one new class that fits the new races in some cool lore-related way. Also, the the love of Pete, please give us more character slots, Blizz, or else those of us with one of each class on a single server will have to break with tradition and create our new whatever on another one. That would be a cause of much sorrow. ;_;
ash Jul 1st 2009 6:59PM
Seeing the cinematic for BC and reading about it again makes me wonder/hope if we are going to have an assault on Ice Crown Citadel (at least one larger than what's currently happening) somewhat like what we had with the attack on the Isle of Quel Danas. Going back and looking at some of that content reminds me how cool the whole concept was, especially those bombing runs.
Dvorkin Jul 1st 2009 7:30PM
Try http://www.dual-boxing.com
Dvorkin Jul 1st 2009 7:32PM
That was an answer to Michael's question about multi-boxing resources, BTW
Werik Jul 1st 2009 7:57PM
Other than Arena Junkies, what are good websites/resources for someone just getting into arena?
Frank Jul 1st 2009 8:07PM
what about "May your nets always be fuulllllllll!" or "Travel the wastes with care!" or "Stay warm!" ?
the tuskarr's sayings are my favorite in-game saying in WOTLK.
Pelle W Jul 2nd 2009 4:18AM
Agreed, the Tuskarr lines always make me smile. For some reason, I especially love "Your coin in valuable, even out here."...
Ayiano Jul 1st 2009 9:41PM
New question:
I just spent all day writing a reply on the US suggestion forum regarding Racial Weapons (under the toon of Ayiana, if you want to check it out). In other words, weapons limited to a single race. Obviously, the most common request is Tauren totems (not the Shaman totems, but the held, giant, telephone-pole-sized totems seen in War3 and the cinematic). I was just wondering if you guys had any cool, yet serious and feasible ideas for other racial items (not necessarily weapons)? And if so, do you think Blizzard would implement them?
Ayiano Jul 1st 2009 9:46PM
I should clarify that I wasn't (my toon, Ayiana) the original thread poster, just a reply. So if you try looking for Ayiana under thread starters, you're not going to find it. :P
daemeonkin Jul 1st 2009 9:41PM
So this question has nothing to do with anything recently, but I'm wondering if someone knows.
Why is it that in some instances, Demons must be summoned to Azeroth? It appeared that in Warcraft III, Kil'Jaeden was able to come on his own accord to meet with Illidan and give him the Skull of Gul'dan.
However, Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden (at Sunwell) needed to be summoned to Azeroth. What is stopping demons from just coming here on their own volition?