The Queue: I'm back. It's me, DP.
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 9th 2009 at 4:00PM
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.
Today I am pleased to announce something even bigger than a new WoW expansion. In fact, it has nothing to do with WoW at all, but it's still something every single person reading this blog will want to know about. It's something that will bring excitement to all of our lives. Our inner children will burst forth in joy at this announcement. This is something that's 17 years in the making, folks. That's probably longer than some of you have been alive.
Yes, that's right. Don't Copy That Floppy is getting a sequel.
Naix asked...
"Will we ever see each faction get their own special class again like the Paladin and Shaman?"
Probably not. The reason they ended up giving the Horde Paladins and the Alliance Shaman is that it was balance hell to have them separate. It was more of a problem before they started making sure buffs weren't exclusive to one class, but back in the day, it was pretty hellish to balance what Paladins offered to the Alliance and what Shaman offered to the Horde when designing endgame content. Still, the threat is there... and if the new faction-specific classes all offer the same advantages and disadvantages (via homogenizing buffs/debuffs), they're pretty much the same class, aren't they?
Vyle asked...
"What new races for Horde and Alliance do you think will make their debut (if any) in the next expansion. I personally see Goblins for Horde and maybe (just maybe) Furbolgs for Alliance."
In all honesty, I don't think we'll see any new races. If we did get them, though... based on Tom Chilton's recent comments that they'll be attempting to seed new races in the game world ahead of time rather than dropping a bomb on players like the Draenei, I'd go with races we've met in Wrath of the Lich King or The Burning Crusade. I would pay good money to have playable High Elves, Ethereals or Vrykul on the Alliance, though all three are incredibly unlikely.
Maybe we'll see Taunka skin options open up for Tauren, or something crazy like that!
Alden asked...
"You're in a heroic. You are healing on a toon that is 425 inscription. A book of glyph mastery drops. No one else in the group is a scribe. Should you be expected to need, or greed the item (assuming you have not learned all 50 books yet)? Essentially books of glyph mastery are "patterns" for a scribe. Is it okay to need?"
Depending on who you ask, you'll get many different answers to this question. The only 'right' answer is to establish loot rules with your group at the beginning of the run so you don't find yourself in Guildwatch one day.
I will say that in any group my guild/guild alliance runs, yeah, we tell the Scribes to roll need if there are still recipes they don't know. The item is for their profession, after all. But I've been in PUGs that don't work that way, so it's always good to establish rules and intent at the beginning of a run, rather than waiting for something to drop and then getting upset when things go in an unexpected direction.
Jon Do asked...
"With Brewfest on the horizon, my question would be whether the Violet Proto-Drake will really go live at 310%.
Blizz has pulled other 310 achievement mount achievements because they claimed to want to "keep them rare". But if the Violet Proto-Drake goes live as a 310 mount, then 310 mounts won't be rare anymore - for example, no one in my guild has a 310 mount, but several people in my guild will get a Violet Proto-Drake. Of course the flip side of that will be if they decide to make 310 mounts more accessible overall -- Blizz has been flip-flopping big-time on mount level requirements and speeds in Wrath."
Getting the Violet Proto-Drake will have taken an entire year's worth of participation and dedication. Taking that time period into consideration, there is no single goal in the game that takes nearly as much time. Sure, it can be done through casual play, but it takes a year's worth of casual play. It takes not ever missing holiday content, not once, or you're set back by a year.
I think a mount that takes that long to acquire qualifies as an achievement worthy of a 310% movement speed mount. If you can think of another item in the game that takes an entire year to get (and isn't something random/anecdotal like drop rates), please let me know.
Abbadon asked...
"Ummm... Have I been blind, or did this statue to the side of the north bank of Archmage Antonidas just come out of nowhere?"
Blindness! It has always been there. At least, it's always been there since Wrath launched. It wasn't always there in beta.
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 Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Robert M Jul 9th 2009 4:07PM
1st What is the viability of dual wield frost tanking in 3.2? I am a big fan of the 2 hander tanking, but the idea of a fallen night elf tanking with 2 of the Teldrassil Protectors has me wanting to try dual wielding when I get to 80. It’s purely cosmetic because the titansteel destroyer and the claymore of the prophet seem to be good starter tanking weapons for a DK, but they are visually lacking for a night elf. I have seen the threads on EJ and tankspot on parry gib being overrated, but was curious if anyone else had any advice or comments after playing on the PTR.
2nd Does anyone really know how dual specs have impacted the servers. It still seems that my leveling DK and shaman can join LFG and before I even close the interface I am asked to tank or heal, where as my hunter, lock, and mage who are all in the 75 range as well can quest all night and never be invited. Though there are some of us who have taken advantage of dual specs, I get the impression that those that did were the ones healing and tanking already. Those hybrids who were DPS before don’t seem to have any motivation dual spec and give healing or tanking a try. I was curious if anyone has really noticed more healers and tanks since dual specs went live.
3rd Blizzard spends a lot of time destroying trolls…ZF, ZG, ZA, ZD and yet little time giving the Darkspears a real story and feel of redemption. Is there any particular reason? Both the trolls and the gnomes have always felt a little like the step children of their respective factions. No capital cities and rarely any story (it took until Wrath for them to tackle gnomes) so what gives? Even the storylines for the Draenei and BE are better implemented and executed. Will we ever see trolls or gnomes rebuild capitals? An island capital to access the Maelstrom for the Horde? The Alliance retaking and cleansing Gnomer? World events that could lead us into the next expansion? Probably not, but a gnome can dream I guess.
Dracula Jones Jul 9th 2009 4:59PM
I actually really like the idea of troll and gnome capitals in the Maelstrom. Very easily explainable in-lore, and I'd really like to see Alliance and Horde separated in the next expansion. They're ramping up the aggression between the factions again in 3.2, how can they expect us to do our banking together again?!
DragonFireKai Jul 9th 2009 5:05PM
1) It would reduce the damage your strikes hit for, and parry haste is still an issue, particularly with hard hitting monstrosities in Ulduar. However, for Heroics, it's merely a slight disadvantage, and not the gamebreaker it is in raids. That said, the only legitimate reason to DW tank is if you won two Slayers of the Lifeless. Then you'd look to cool to care.
2) I've noticed a significant upswing in the amount of healers on my server, and I'm a prot pally, so I really never cared about the tank shortage.
3) The Darkspear trolls are a tribe that needed Thrall himself to come save them from extinction at the hands of Murlocs. Murlocs. Then they let their homeland be taken over by a level 11 non elite mob. The wouldn't last a day against Hogger. The Darkspear's redemption comes every time you kick a murloc.
ash Jul 9th 2009 5:07PM
Some positive game developments for trolls in maelstrom expansion would definitely be cool. If I remember right, it was some island right off the maelstrom that Thrall met the Darkspears, so there is an in right there.
thebitterfig Jul 9th 2009 5:49PM
one major benefit of troll/gnome capitals in the maelstrom is that they could replace a lag-fest combined capital such as dalaran or shattrath at their worst.
devilsei Jul 9th 2009 4:08PM
"I think a mount that takes that long to acquire qualifies as an achievement worthy of a 310% movement speed mount. If you can think of another item in the game that takes an entire year to get (and isn't something random/anecdotal like drop rates), please let me know."
You know, technically wouldn't some of the achievement items under the "Holiday Meta" achievements count under that? Because if you miss them on the first holiday, you'll have to wait til next year to try and get that item.
johnthediver Jul 9th 2009 4:20PM
Heck I would even go so far as to say the holiday mount could be even more than a 310% mount. I think it is very difficult to get all the achievements in a single year. I lost out after hallows end, when I couldn't get that freekin squashling to drop for me. Then when Love is in the air rolled around, silly me took the wife to Vegas for a little romantic get away to see the show "Love". Missed that whole holiday because i took a 4 day weekend.
It is not easy to have a life outside of wow and get "What a long strange trip".
So I would say a 320% or even more would be appropriate.
Skraps
www.sham-wows.blogspot.com
Steven Jul 9th 2009 4:58PM
Actually, we will never get the violet proto drake.
They will continue putting in new holidays (Thanksgiving feast whateveryoucallit, I'm looking at you).
Never. They will keep putting in new holidays so that we will return. Carrot on a stick.
ash Jul 9th 2009 5:15PM
Yeah, I know I missed getting the Winter holiday meta because of bad planning and just being busy during the break visiting friend, family, whatever. Getting Its been a long strange trip is definitely an achievement.
thebitterfig Jul 9th 2009 5:48PM
here is why i think violet proto drake is earned: because it takes several different kinds of things. it takes pvp for a lot of the achievements, as well as heroic instances. sure, none of those are as hard as being on the cutting edge of raiding, but there is a lot to do, and a fair amount it is non-trivial.
AlmtyBob Jul 9th 2009 6:33PM
Gentlemen, for your consideration http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2537 .
Ok so it MIGHT not take you a year to get 100 mounts but the amount of time and effort required is very easily twice that of the Violet Proto-Drake. The holiday ones truly are trivial, most of them can be done and finished the morning the holiday starts. Getting 100 mounts almost requires PvP'ing, instance running (and running and running), many rep grinds, and tens of thousands of gold. I'm only at 60 mounts and I've put an ungodly amount of time into it. What does the 100 mounts get you? A regular speed craptacular dragonhawk mount. For having gotten 100 mounts having something you'd actually like to ride over the 40-50 flying mounts you'll have by then would be nice.
For very, very, very long achievements see: http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2336 . It might be a feat of strength but still rewards a title. Also, Battlemaster.
There's two problems I see with the Violet Proto-Drake. #1 It might have taken a year but I'd imagine at least 30% of the active population will have one and that number will only climb as time goes on. #2 Once you have a 310% mount why would you ever ride anything else? Pretty soon the game will be full of them unless they remove the mount from the achievement later which will only cause a QQsplosion.
Wither Jul 9th 2009 8:37PM
The common misconception here is that the quality of the reward depends on how hard it is to obtain or how long it takes to get it.
You have to start by asking how many players are likely to obtain the item. From that, you can figure out how rare it will be and therefore how valuable it should be. It's got nothing to do with rewarding "hard work" or time spent, it simply about managing the "curve". By which I mean there is a curve of achievement, the better items are obtained by fewer and fewer players - that way everyone keeps coming back for more in order to get the next best item. (If everyone got the best items, there would be no incentive).
Yes, the two concepts are related - "harder" or more time-consuming achievements are achieved by less players. However Blizzard do not set the item quality based on this subjective measure, they base it on the objective measure of the anticipated number who will complete it.
Obeah Jul 10th 2009 3:35AM
AlmtyBob you beat me to it ;)
The Holiday achievement does take a whole year to achieve but less then a week full of play time to complete. The Mount achievement takes loads of money and time to grind for rep and rares.
I will be on 91 by this weekend and I started actively collecting more then a year ago (end of May last year) – I have worked out that I will only reach 100 by September if I am not lucky with rare drops. – that’s 16 months to complete.
The dragonhawk should really be a 310% mount if you are basing the achievements on effort or difficulty.
Isolater Jul 11th 2009 5:29AM
Just like to point out that 'long strange trip' takes one year at a minimum.
Whenever you start, it won't be complete until two brew fests have passed, as you have to wait a year for those brews. So start in November and it will take you 23 months!
grimmeld Jul 9th 2009 4:14PM
Will 2 more glyph slots appear in the new expansion set?
Jack Spicer Jul 9th 2009 5:54PM
I think it might just be one glyph slot. If the trajectory remains the same, as far as what level toons get what glyph slot, we'll get a new minor glyph slot at level 90.
crusherkid Jul 9th 2009 4:13PM
I've read reports that because of the servers going down in China that World of Warcraft has dropped down to only 5 million subscribers. Is that correct?
impurezero Jul 9th 2009 4:25PM
I'm not sure why, but this just sounds like a mildly racist joke...except without a punchline.
crusherkid Jul 9th 2009 8:26PM
Oh no no no it's not racism I read it here http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.123859
and here
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18326615777&sid=1
both listing their source as:
http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2009/07/wow-subscriptions-down-to-5-million.html
So i was wondering if it was true that the subscribers were down to 5 million as these sources claim
Fairlane Jul 9th 2009 10:08PM
Tobolds.blogspot.com - a journalistic tradition since last Tuesday.