Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: A message from the past
by Alex Ziebart 
Aug 31st 2009 at 3:00PM
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday afternoon. I know I am! Well, actually, I don't know that. I'm writing this Sunday night, and I don't have a time machine powerful enough to show me what's happening tomorrow afternoon. Ideally, though? I'm having a wonderful time. Ask me tomorrow (which is today), and maybe I'll have a different answer.
Ryael asked...
"I was watching the BlizzCon feed online and there was a short interview with a man that was advertising how you could purchase a sizeable poster with one of our characters on it. Any idea what site that was from?"
That interview was most likely talking about PrintWarcraft, which isn't fully open to the public yet. They had a booth set up at BlizzCon, but I don't think any of us on on staff realized it was anything beyond regular ol' Warcraft posters. When I first saw it I just sort of went, "Oh, those look like the wallpapers from the official site. That's neat." And then I kept walking.
That was incredibly dumb, because it probably would have been very cool to show people! It looks like it's going to be a cheaper alternative to FigurePrints, if you don't want to shell out over $100 for a statue. Of course, I'm notoriously bad with posters. Anytime I buy one, I'm accidentally ripping it off the wall within a day or two and screwing up all of the corners. I've started making trips to Target for cheap frames anytime I buy a poster so I don't ruin the thing. For me, it will probably just be cheaper to shell out for the FigurePrints.
impurezero asked...
"Was the problem of accidental mislootings really large enough to warrant the new two-hour trade rule?"
I know you supplied some examples of your experiences under the new rule, but I snipped them to prevent that whole "Alex's answer is shorter than the question, wtf!" thing. For anybody interested, here's the direct link to his full comment.
From what I understand, the answer is a colossal yes. I'm not a GM and I've never been a GM, but from the bits and pieces I've heard and put together, a significant number of GM issues come from three sources: Players mislooting items, players buying the wrong items with badges/tokens, and hacked accounts. All three are essentially user error. They're not really bugs that the developers can patch out later, and they're not really things you can tackle in advance. The 2-hour rule handles those first two, and trying to make authenticators as available as possible tries to take care of that last one.
People will make mistakes, and I guess WoW players make a lot of mistakes. The only real 'fix' for that is giving players some power to handle their own mistakes. Sure, some people will abuse it, but it will give players a better experience overall.
Tess asked...
"When do we get a new Warlock columnist? I kept hoping to see a lock perspective on BlizzCon, but no luck. Can you give us an estimated date of arrival?"
We're going through the last stages of looking through the many applications right now, and our choice will be hearing from us pretty soon. Not soon as in today, but soon as in really freaking soon. After that, it depends on how quickly they fill out the necessary paperwork and fax it in.
Moepunk asked...
"Will anyone from WoW.com be at PAX this year?"
Our network will have a small presence, but WoW.com itself will not. That's something we're going to try to push for next year, though. We definitely want to try to go to more conventions. It all depends on what sort of presence Blizzard has at PAX, so we'll be keeping an eye on that this year. You guys can help us with that, too. If you see any awesome WoW stuff at PAX, tell us about it! If this year has a lot of great WoW material, that makes it much more likely that we'll try to go next year. If there's nothing at all, then it's probably something we'll need to leave to Joystiq and/or Massively.
BladedDingo asked...
"Since Trolls and Worgen can be druids, will we be getting brand spanking new Druid forms for them?"
Yes.
spamofchaz asked...
"Is there any hope that Blizzard will move BlizzCon to other cities? I understand their HQ is in SoCal, but I think they'd get a great boost by having it in, say Chicago one year, New York the next, then Dallas, etc. and letting folks who can't get to the left coast."
It would be very cool, but I suspect it would be incredibly difficult for them. A hefty amount of the BlizzCon staff is made up of Blizzard employees. Support staff, QA staff, that whole thing. If they held the convention elsewhere, they would either need to fly all of those people out to that other city (which would be ludicrously expensive) or hire locals to man the convention which would make the thing a whole lot less personal. Less Blizzardy and less friendly to everyone that actually gets to go to the convention. If I had to guess, the only other workable options would be Austin, Texas or holding another Worldwide Invitational in/around Paris.
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: Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, BlizzCon, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 7)
037 Aug 31st 2009 4:58PM
Some of the articles about increased experience factored in rest and recruit a friend. Maybe you are thinking of those?
Kat Aug 31st 2009 4:58PM
There are only two experience-boosting heirlooms (chest and shoulder), but there's also heirloom weapons that add no exp.
VioletPheonix Aug 31st 2009 4:59PM
There are only two +exp heirlooms. You might be thinking of the heirloom staff which also levels with your toon. While awesome, it does not give +exp like the other items. :D
My mage has all three and they rock.
Ayiano Aug 31st 2009 5:26PM
Awesome, thanks. I was beginning to think there was an Internet-wide conspiracy against me! :D
Now I just need to earn enough Seals to get two heirlooms. I think I know of the staff you're talking about (Staff of Jordan?). If I remember right, that can be bought at Wintergrasp.
Michi Aug 31st 2009 9:41PM
BlizzCon can always move down to SanDiego and use the Convention Center that Comi-Con uses (SDCC) Still not too far but SDCC space > ACC space. Just as long as they don't move it to LA Con Center.
That would be terrible! :(
PvtDeth Aug 31st 2009 6:00PM
Every year a bunch of people suggest moving Blizzcon to San Diego. They're not even filling the Anaheim center all the way so more space is irrelevant. Also, it's much, much easier to host something this huge right around the corner from your office as opposed to packing up the whole crew and driving them an hour and a half south. It may not seem like a big deal but Blizzcon is mostly just a fanservice event; it doesn't make a big profit. They've said many times before it's not even a sure thing they'll do one every year.
Kat Aug 31st 2009 4:58PM
I have a question!
...how the heck do I change my picture here?
Alja Aug 31st 2009 5:32PM
I've often wondered that as well
Taladan Aug 31st 2009 7:27PM
Click your name in a comment, see your profile page and click the "Edit Picture" option.
It may be broken, though. It's been a long time since I changed mine and, to be honest, it doesn't work every so often (e.g., I get the ogre icon instead of my real icon.)
Kat Aug 31st 2009 7:28PM
Yeah, tried that, it's broken.
Taladan Aug 31st 2009 7:30PM
Well, then it looks everyone was right: This is the worst commenting system in any website. ;)
Gorehorn Aug 31st 2009 5:03PM
I'm baffled! No one seems to have posted the most pressing question at the moment...
Alex, how's your monday afternoon?
I sure hope it's wonderful ;)
tackl Aug 31st 2009 5:04PM
Before the first blizzcon they had a survey if people were interested in what cities. There were only like 3 cities on the survey. Anaheim, chicago and somewhere out east.
Andrew R. Aug 31st 2009 5:06PM
I have a question in regards to purchasing Blizzcon tickets. My girlfriend and I plan on going next year but aren't sure about tickets. Can you buy more than one ticket when it's your turn in line or is it one per person?
Michi Aug 31st 2009 5:08PM
You can buy up to 4 tickets I believe, but don't quote me on it. :3
Nazgûl Aug 31st 2009 5:53PM
Would the absolutely fantastically benevolent and omniscient beings behind The Queue please bestow upon us the following knowledge:
Has there been any confirmation on whether Battle.net 2.0 integration will launch with Cataclysm or with a future patch?
Thundrcrackr Aug 31st 2009 6:02PM
I think Christian should write the new (ihate)Warlock(s) column! =P
fearthefireblade Aug 31st 2009 6:09PM
I've heard a lot about paid faction change, but seen a lot less. So my two part question is-
When (generally) will we see this feature? Patch 3.2.2? Patch 3.3? Tomorrow? Not until the expansion?
And will the new race/class combos be available? Well, I guess I can't make my Nelf Druid a Troll if there's no models in the game for them... I kinda answered my own question.
Thanks anyway and keep up the good work!
soatari Aug 31st 2009 9:08PM
They won't implement the new race/class combos early as that is a Cataclysm feature, which causes me to worry that faction change system they announced won't be out until Cataclysm, which is just far too long a wait for a service they announced back in July.
Ringo Flinthammer Aug 31st 2009 6:40PM
"Blizzcon would get a big boost?" Hall D could barely contain the thousands of people crowding in for WoW panels. If the convention got a big boost, few convention centers could comfortably hold it.
Even San Diego, where Comic-Con International is held, has a hard time comfortably accommodating thousands of people in one panel room, which they have to do whenever Neil Gaiman is the subject of one, for instance.
With the video stream as good as it is, Blizzard needs to make the convention smaller again, not larger.