The Queue: Grey guilds
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 12th 2009 at 3:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.
I'm just going to let that video speak for itself today, and get started on the questions.
@sammagher asked...
"Why do grey items even exist, if only to be sold to vendors or occasionally used as RP gear?"
You hit on two important points right there. The first is for vendor trash. Who doesn't like vendoring a grey sword and getting a couple gold? Don't po-po that gold, it can add up quickly.
And while RP might not be in your bag of things you enjoy doing, it is for some people -- and Blizzard has made sure there's stuff for them to enjoy.
@wuhtehtuh asked...
"How can I find a raiding guild that's efficient yet willing to bring in someone who is just now starting to raid in Wrath?"
You're going to run into two types of guilds. Those who are willing to accept newbies, and those who are not. The key thing you want to do is to keep looking, and don't give up. Look for guilds that advertise they're made of adults and cater to those with jobs, families, etc... They're going to be the most mature people you can find (hopefully). They're also more likely to let you run with them after a few heroics.
If you're looking for a mega-raiding guild that allows in inexperienced people, well, you unfortunately won't find that. The top raiding guilds are at the top because they have very high standards and require serious experience, skill, and gear to get into. Be honest with yourself, right now you don't have that. But in a year? You'll probably have those things if you keep at it.
Baby steps, always baby steps.
@glennadjrussel asked...
"Any information on when race change will be available?"
None yet. The blues answer this question just about every day, and it's always the same. "Soon, but we don't have a date to tell everyone right now." There's already an icon for it in your account admin page, although that's likely there just for marketing and to cut down on the number of mistakenly processed faction changes (people don't read the FAQ where it says the faction transfer is not a racial transfer). My guess is that we'll see it before the end of the year.
@codemonkey asked...
"Do most raid groups use 2 or 3 healers in ToC 10 man?"
It varies. If the two healers are really strong either in gear and/or skill, then they can probably do it. If they're lacking in skill and/or gear, they probably will need a third. Of course there are a lot of other factors as well -- tank gear, DPS skill, etc... Whatever works for your raid works, don't worry about it if you're getting the kill. I've ran ToC 10 with as many as 4 healers on a particularly poor healing night.
@iamthebiscotti asked...
"Why have they not increased the size of some doorways in Ironforge in-order to accommodate the larger mounts?"
Why do you want to be on your mount inside Ironforge? I don't think the dwarves appreciate that.
Besides dwarven anger, redesigning an entire city's doorways is a major major task, one that their resources probably could be put to better use on.
@quetzi asked...
"I heard a rumour that the guild levelling system was going to be included in patch 3.3. Am I going mad?"
Yes, you are. There is no indication it will be introduced in patch 3.3. It will likely be introduced in patch 4.0/4.02, which will be the huge Cataclysm patch.
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
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
kololo Oct 12th 2009 3:01PM
Grey Items = level weapon skills without buying expensive items :)
Elmo Oct 12th 2009 3:14PM
I think I must pull this question on really.
Why do White items exist, I mean the vendor sold armor and weapons.
They are just expensive and useless, are they a noob fly-trap?
Balmer Oct 12th 2009 3:39PM
Other than the obvious reasons listed above, there is a very simple reason for grey and white items to exist. The name of the game is World of Warcraft, the key word is World.
Blizzard put a lot of effort into creating an entire world that has details. Sure they could have just put items in that game that were useful, but what is the fun in that?
busuan Oct 12th 2009 3:39PM
White vendor items, if you haven't noticed, are usually Indestructible.
If you are willing to enchant them with highest choices possible, you may end up with pretty good Green quality items (at least close).
If you use them to level your alts, it could save you a Gold or two.
And the repair bills add up, as we all know...
gurgle Oct 12th 2009 4:00PM
This isn't true of ALL white items, but some (the ones sold in Dalaran anyhow, like the Dalaran Hammer, a 2h mace with a 2.0s swing speed, or the Dalaran Greatsword, a 2h sword with a 2.1s swing speed) are great for leveling weapon skills -- they aren't supremo-dps so your target stays alive longer, and they have the fastest swing speeds available for the weapon class (thereby raising your skill faster).
Eternauta Oct 12th 2009 4:40PM
I always wanted to ask the same question. Now I know quite a few uses for white weapons...
P.S: Leveling weapon skills is an old mechanic Blizz, please get rid of it.
Syme Oct 12th 2009 4:59PM
Gray items were sometimes the only thing available when I was playing my first character at lower levels. I imagine that would be the case for some people who start the game now without having friends already playing to send them good stuff. I saw someone around level 10 last week with a maybe two greens, some whites, and a pair of gray boots.
Terethall Oct 12th 2009 5:09PM
Everyone's missing the single biggest reason for grays. They serve as cash drops from mobs that don't drop cash. For instance, it doesn't make much sense for a tiger prowling around Stranglethorn to carry 83 copper, does it? No. But does it make sense that if you loot it you might get a tuft of tiger hair that some mystic would pay 83 copper for? Yes. So in order to create parity between the cash value of the drops from humanoid mobs and mobs that don't drop coin, they provide vendor trash grays.
Of course, grays are also useful for very low-level characters, and are also occasional flavor items, like the Stoppable Force or certain quest reward extras.
Neofox Oct 12th 2009 10:57PM
Gray items are meant to be vendored for a small payout, or kept as alternate gear for whatever reason (e.g. RP, maybe it looks cool, or funny, etc.) as was already answered. There are even full "sets" of gray gear. One of the old level 60 cloth sets (not really 60, but obtained in level 50+ zones and instances) was called Twill. For my 80 mage, I'm currently collecting pieces to a cloth set called Frost-Rimed, which looks to be a white/light-bluish variation of the Twill set. I don't really know why, just to look different from everyone else once in a while I suppose.
White items, on the other hand, are meant mainly for the same reasons you might keep gray items. They're also meant to be "money sinks", which help take some money out of the economy when people just have too much money (e.g. the high prices on the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, or the Dalaran teleport rings, or that vendor on the second floor of the Threads of Fate shop that sells only two white hats, one of which costs about 100g). Before Wrath, I bought a white 1h sword that I thought looked cool called the Dreanic Sparing Blade, found at various weapon vendors in Outland. It cost 12g. I had the money so I figured why not? There's now even a new white sword in Dalaran that looks just like it, but has a slightly more purple handle, rather than blue like the Draenic one; and it costs even more if I remember correctly.
Marculus Oct 13th 2009 5:15AM
Imagine a world with epics only. They would not be special. Now add some blues and greens, and suddenly epics have a value, because they are better. Add greys and whites, and a lvl 10 feels special when acquiring a green. To appreciate something, the opposite of it must exist. Without darkness, light means nothing. Without rain and clouds, sunshine means nothing. For me, that is the reason greys exist. It’s like yin and yang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
Dandak Oct 13th 2009 12:45PM
I think Blizz could remove grey items and replace them with cash. That way it doesn't take up bag space to get the cash. I also agree that leveling weapons needs to go away. It is annoying and time consuming to level.
Rin Oct 12th 2009 3:06PM
I don't understand how Cataclysm will work. Blizz has said that the actual Cataclysm itself will be held in a patch (4.0 presumably), but then why would we buy the expansion for $40? I mean, after this patch, will EVERYONE have access to the new zones and quests, expansion-installed or not? All I can see that would benefit you buying the expansion is the level cap being raised and the new races. Does this mean the expansion itself will be cheaper? Because I don't know if 5 more levels and two new races really constitutes as a viable way to spend $40.
thebrock25 Oct 12th 2009 3:15PM
Everyone will have access to the redesigned Azeroth and quests but not the new zones (Deathholme, Uldum, Hyjal, etc).
Lasher Oct 12th 2009 3:16PM
The same way it worked so far. Changes made to already existing content is available to everyone ( regardless of how small or drastic those changes are ), while the new content ( in this case, 80+ areas, all of the new dungeons and raids and some other more or less important stuff ) is only available to people that buy the expansion.
deweymaverick Oct 12th 2009 3:17PM
Nope, everyone will not. Everyone will have access to the redesigned zones in the Eastern Kingdoms, but you won't have access to the elemental planes, the new racial stater zones, etc.
Most of the newer cooler quests will require access to those zones.
Bronwyn Oct 12th 2009 3:17PM
As has happened in the past there are a lot of things that you don't get access to with the new expansion, even though things have changed in the world before the expansion.
For example, Naxxramas and Dalaran. They both still moved to northrend for everyone who doesn't have the expansion- but if you don't have the expansion, you can't get there to see either of them.
You wouldn't be able to get into the new zones with Cataclysm unless you had cataclysm. You won't be able to create the new races. I don't think the new low-level quests and changes to vanilla wow zones are the motivation for buying the expansion for most people.
Hendrata Oct 12th 2009 3:18PM
You can not buy the expansion and stay at level 80. But you won't find people to run heroics and raids with you. Wow has always been geared towards end-game, so they can charge $40 simply for "the new level cap", even if they don't have new races nor classes.
JoeHelfrich Oct 12th 2009 3:19PM
At a bare minimum:
Level Cap
New Professions (Archaeology)
New Profession skill levels (451-525)
New Races
New Dungeons and Raids
Spiraea Oct 12th 2009 3:39PM
It wouldn't surprise me if the new race classes will be locked for anyone who doesn't buy the expansion. So no Tauren Paladin, etc. for anyone that doesn't have Cataclysm
MazokuRanma Oct 12th 2009 4:44PM
Actually, I'd be surprised if the new race/class combinations were locked without the expansion. Allowing those seems to be an even better way to get more people started in the game, who can then buy the expansion down the road.
What you probably won't get is Worgen or Goblins. You couldn't make a Blood Elf or a Paladin without Burning Crusade after all.