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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What we don't know
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 20th 2009 at 8:00AM
I found myself without much to do last weekend, so I spent most of my time in Azeroth. My paladin, who's been extremely slow to level lately, went on a burst of XP gathering, and I got him from around 67 up to about 73, finishing up Outland and making some solid gains in Northrend. At 68, I logged out to my level 80 hunter, picked up the Tome of Cold Weather Flight, and passed it back to my pally, so as soon as he stepped on the northern shore, he could take to the skies in his flying machine (yes, he's an engineer, and he's headed for a chopper as soon as I can make it).
But then something strange happened (I mentioned this on last week's podcast as well): not one, not two, but three different people sent me tells in the same evening, all of them asking just how I was flying around Northrend at level 68. I feel like we covered the topic pretty well here on WoW.com, and of course Blizzard had the information listed in the official patch notes. But somehow, news of the Tome had flown (sorry) under these players' radar.
But then something strange happened (I mentioned this on last week's podcast as well): not one, not two, but three different people sent me tells in the same evening, all of them asking just how I was flying around Northrend at level 68. I feel like we covered the topic pretty well here on WoW.com, and of course Blizzard had the information listed in the official patch notes. But somehow, news of the Tome had flown (sorry) under these players' radar.
And it got me thinking about what else many players don't know or have heard about the game yet: I mentioned voice chat the other day, and sure enough, many people didn't know there was in-game voice chat at all. Obviously, we bloggers here at WoW.com read and learn about this stuff every day, and there's even things that we don't know or don't remember exactly (just listen to me on any given podcast, and you'll hear me forget exact information about old patches or raids I haven't thought about in a long time).
So today's question is a tough one: what don't we know? What kind of stuff, even though it's working and out there on live realms, still hasn't been found or realized by a lot of different players? What in-game features or items aren't used by lots of people, just because they aren't necessarily aware they're out there?
And of course the corollary to that is: why don't we know it? Is Blizzard not doing enough to make players aware of these things (they send a note when epic riding becomes available at 70, but I never got a note at 68 saying I could buy a Tome and go flying), or are community sites like ours not doing something we should? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 12 of 12)
alan Oct 21st 2009 6:53PM
I love getting whispers from people asking for invites to the Wintergrasp raid.
Kangi Oct 20th 2009 4:21PM
After many months of playing, a Paladin tank in my guild just recently discovered Divine Protection (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=498).
Not knowing of things like rare mounts is understandable, but not knowing of something that is right there on your trainer...
artifex Oct 20th 2009 4:37PM
Honestly, it makes no sense to invest over $100 in the game and all expansions, then pay the monthly fee, possibly even upgrade your computer, and then NOT find a website like WoWWiki or WowHead to look up stuff :)
The very first time someone googles they should find these sites, so they must not even be doing that.
Dightkuz Oct 20th 2009 4:39PM
Has happened 2 or 3 times when flying around on my Black Proto Drake that I've been asked where I got it. For those who don't know it was removed in a patch, 3.2 I think.
Fatamorgana Oct 20th 2009 4:56PM
I love wandering around wearing my Ogre costume!
I get asked where I got it and usually send them to start the Ograla quest chain. ^_^
It's good excersize for them, anyway! XD
Scotter Oct 20th 2009 5:26PM
Sad to say, from my experience there are some people who play WoW who prefer to be willfully ignorant or think that reading up on the game is too much like homework or a second job.
One late night in trade, a level 60 was asking some very specific questions about pre-BC raids. After they asked 3 or 4 times with no responses, I answered trade with "check wowwiki.com or wowhead.com".
Their reply was "lol noob, I work all day, when I get home I want to play the game and not read about it, lol"
My response was "Well then, you can tab out to your browser, check one of those websites and probably get the answer in 2 minutes. Or you can keep spamming trade for the next 30 minutes and hope that someone online knows the correct answer to your obscure questions and feels like answering."
Which then started them on a long tirade of "omg, lvl 80s think they're so smart", "never have time to help new players", etc. which a couple of other lowbies joined in on, agreeing with the guy.
/sigh
/logout
/take a break from the idiots who play WoW for a bit
Elseer Radak Oct 20th 2009 5:43PM
This is wow, there will be no READING! One MUST over react but there will be no Cognition here :>
mike Oct 20th 2009 6:29PM
Damn karma and all its wily ways.
That's my punishment for calling people ignorant.
Rudzy Oct 20th 2009 7:17PM
I took a break from WoW for a few months. I skimmed over some of the patch notes to get a general idea of what I had missed, but I missed out on the Cold Weather flying note.
Back in the days of BC, I had a friend who decided to join us in WoW. He'd recently lost his job and most of us were casuals, so while we were still mid 60s, he'd already gotten to 70. Anyways, he saw some of the black versions of the mounts and wanted to know how to get one. Someone mentioned battlegrounds and he had no idea they existed. We had to spend a while explaining then.
I've found a few players don't understand how threat works, nor how it impacts them. Doing the gauntlet in H CoS and while the Paladin Tank was grouping the mobs the healer decided to top everyone up. One dead Shaman and complaints about the "poor tanking". ~_~
Terrë Oct 20th 2009 7:47PM
I always get asked where I got my Arcanite Ripper when I set it off. Seems to be a very rare object on my server as I've only ever seen one other.
TalbuksForever Oct 20th 2009 7:52PM
I get talbuks on all my characters because they are the prettiest mounts, and I constantly get tells from lowbies and 80s alike asking where I got them. I don't blame people for not knowing; they're fairly obscure, unlocked only after completely a massive quest chain in Nagrand which includes multiple group quests, and even after finishing the quests, you need to grind rep with warbeads to get the rest of the way to exalted.
So when people ask me where I got my talbuk, I don't mock them. I do, however, respond with the gravity and reverence the subject deserves, even though I play on a PvP, non-RP server where in-character chat is about as rare as a black unicorn. A typical conversation goes something like this:
Stranger: where u get talbuk
Me: The reins of this talbuk were entrusted to me by the Mag'har of Nagrand, after I won their respect and admiration.
Stranger: wut did u need to do
Me: I brokered a truce between the Mag'har orcs and a group of invading ogres; I destroyed a Burning Legion invasion force, turning their own foul demonic armaments against hem; and, perhaps most importantly, I restored the confidence of Garrosh Hellscream, son of Grom, by persuading Thrall himself to visit Nagrand with me to convince the wayward son of the heroism of his absent father.
Stranger: ... how long did it take u?
Me: Earning the trust of the Mag'har took several weeks of dedicated labour, slaying thousands of ogres for their cause, collecting endless warbeads from the corpses of the fallen to submit as proof of my valor. The end result, though, was well worth it: talbuks are swift, tireless, and noble steeds, possessed of unsurpassed grace.
Stranger: ok thx
[Two minutes later, in trade chat]
Trade: [Stranger] were i can buy talbuk??
SoundScape Oct 20th 2009 7:57PM
I found out last night that you can now get Sons of Hodir rep from doing the normal daily dungeon quest. Needless to say it blew my mind.
Gothia Oct 21st 2009 4:01AM
Because most of them don't bother to research items and end up wearing subpar gear, or what enchants and gems to use so they end up chanting or gemming gear wrong, or what addons to use so they end up wasting time...etc
These people just don't care and this guy that asked you about northrend flying probably doesn't have enough gold for his regular flyer anyway = Morons and Slackers
Sarabande Oct 21st 2009 5:06AM
A lot of people don't seem to know that mage portals take Reagents. :P
(Actually, there are some who truly don't - one thought he was "helping" me when I sent him to buy one so I could port him and he had the audacity of imply that since he had "helped" me, perhaps I could help out since he had only 4G. I informed him that I often got 1 or 2 g per port - back in those days anyway - and that he actually got off cheap).
Some people don't know how much mats go into making a fish feast (or that must be the reason they asked that one be dropped when HE was the only one that died in a fight in an instance. :P)
But really, I think most of us have gaps in our knowledge. Not everyone even knows WHERE to look. While there are tons of sites, they are not all equal and with so many patch notes (and the changes that come so often) it's not surprising that many of us miss things. Even those of us who read WoW.com everyday, and know about other sites, could easily miss or forget bits of information. So we can't assume someone who doesn't know some particular item that we do, must be a noob.
And new players level so fast, they can get to 80 without doing a single group quest, or even seeing much of the game, especially if their whole aim is to simply get to 80 and do what all the other 80s are doing - even if they have no clue how to go about it. That has caused many to not know where to find resources, how group dynamics works, etc. I generally point out great sites for people to visit (if they are friends, guildies or if they ask) and encourage doing group content with people their own lvl, taking up professions and seeing as much as they can. Not that they listen - they just want to get to 80 and run Heroics with YOU. :)
Amalthea Oct 21st 2009 8:19PM
You can convert your higher level badges to lower ones in stacks, not just clicking one at a time.
*grin*
I think we have all sat there at the vendor at least once or twice...
Farthing Oct 21st 2009 2:05PM
My favorite part of WoW is the feeling you get when you discover something new and interesting. When I first started playing my favorite part of WoW was discovering the deep secrets in the world, searching for the unusual and intriguing. Northrend is roughly the size of Eastern Kingdoms according to Blizzard, but feels a good deal smaller because we can fly all over with little to no limitation.
Secrets and exploration are part of what drive a game for me, simply documenting or telling a player all the answers removes half the fun, and allowing instant travel to all the locations in a game can greatly reduce how the scenery is looked at. If the scenery isn't really looked at, then development doesn't need to care what it looks like and the quality diminishes, secrets and exploration disappear.
When Cataclysm gets here, I hope the new azeroth will be just as interesting and if possible even bigger than before, with more unknowns and hidden secrets than ever before.
Murdock Oct 21st 2009 6:08PM
How about you should gem for basic stats, like AG/STR over AP because those are affected by Blessing of Kings while AP is not.
So if I gem for +8 str instead of +16AP and get BoK I actually get 8.8 strx2 for warriors=17 AP. Thats one extra AP, times how ever many gems I have.
Shadowknight__17 Oct 21st 2009 8:13PM
Im suprised how little people actually know anything about aggro.
They just assume that as a tank your some allmightly aggro machine that no matter how much skills or spells they use you will always be holding the mob.
Warriors taunting away my targets.. hunters pulling in another 20 mobs when all skills are on cooldown etc.
And when you ask them all they say is "but your a tank".
True i have no real right to complain being a paladin tank, but i notice this happening all the time when dpsing aswell.
Just suprises me, i guess its related to how fast you can level nowadays.
Oskjable Oct 22nd 2009 3:01PM
I got the heirloom axe for my pally pretty fast, like 2 weeks into WOTLK, and I could go nowhere without having everyone ask about it, I even had to bind a macro telling them how I got it. (I don't like to ignore people =P )
Sitting with my friends next to me was pretty fun trying to guess what would happen when I ran pass someone in Goldshire, like "that guy will in around 10 secs, because he can't write that fast write something like, "kool axe, how u get?". Many times we guessed right...