The Queue: Windows 7 and the Kalu'ak
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 27th 2009 at 2:00PM
Patrick Stewart doesn't look good in glasses.
Many of you asked...
"How am I going to do the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby when I raid at 8pm on Wednesday night?"
Unfortunately unless your raid cancels or you sit, you're not going to be able to do it. Yes, it's not the ideal situation for you. But think of the people who are never able make Sunday's fishing contest down in Booty Bay; hopefully Wednesday night will work for them. Either way, both events are optional, and having two events means people have greater choices.
The selection of 8pm on Wednesday wasn't a slight on you, it was to help others out. Remember that around 12 million people play the game, only a handful of those raiding every week at 8pm on Wednesday (even if that handful is loud and proud).
Zetathran asked...
"In battlegrounds I see a (*) after people's name/guild name. What's up with that?"
You see that when you're in a battleground, arena, or the soon-to-come cross server instances. It means you're viewing a person from a different server.
Orkchop asked...
"Do you know how well WoW will run on Windows 7? Should I wait before upgrading from Vista?"
Windows 7 runs great with WoW. I've been using it since the free release candidate version a few months ago, and I've never had anything but a great experience. It is miles beyond what Vista was on its best days. You should upgrade, and there's really no reason not to upgrade now.
Some people will claim that you should wait a few patch cycles before making the switch, and while that might have been true for other iterations of Windows, it's not for Windows 7.
I've also written earlier about my experiences with WoW and Windows 7, which offers a bit more insight into this.
Abandon asked...
"What's the deal lately with all the bogus comments with links? Can someone post a link to a keylogging site like this?"
We get a ton of comments. When we see something or have it reported by you all (click the little "!" button in the comment), we take care of it. I enjoy swinging my banhammer at those sites.
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: Fishing, Analysis / Opinion, Events, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
JPN Oct 27th 2009 2:05PM
"You see that when you're in a battleground, arena, or the soon-to-come cross server instances. It means you're viewing a person from a different server."
Oh I never knew what that was. I've just been ignoring it for years I guess lol
psycho42 Oct 27th 2009 2:25PM
"You see that when you're in a battleground, arena, or the soon-to-come cross server instances. It means you're viewing a person from a different server."
More specifically, when cross server battlegrounds first began it would show the player's title, name and server all on one line, which made for some awfully long names like "Knight-Lieutenant Hexzerosix The Forgotten Coast". The asterisk was added later to take the place of the server name.
Cleverly disguised as normal Oct 27th 2009 10:02PM
Some more Battleground questions:
1 Does the Heirloom xp bonus work in BGs?
2 Does weapon skill improve in Bgs, now that you can earn XP?
Thank you.
Cleverly disguised as normal Oct 28th 2009 11:09PM
Also don't you think "The Queue" should replace "Ask WoW insider" in the features tab?
Erogroth Oct 27th 2009 2:11PM
WoW + Windows 7 = Awesome Sauce! I too had been running the Release Canidate for a while it it was great. Then a couple of weeks ago, thanks to my work's technet account I got the full Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and installed it. I have had 0 issues. Everything including WoW run great. I highly recommend an upgrade as soon as you can. NOTE: instead of the "public" folder that Vista had you install stuff to Windows 7 uses a folder called Program Files (x86) that you will install WoW to. So when you install Wrath and it recommends you move it to a Public folder you can skip that step. It should default to the Program Files (x86) folder.
jrizutko Oct 27th 2009 2:59PM
But teevee said not to trust PC because he's not a hipster!
Tom Oct 27th 2009 3:05PM
"Program Files (x86)" is the standard Program files folder for 32 bit apps on 64 bit Windows. This goes back a few Windows versions to Windows Server 2000 64 bit. I'm not sure of the UAC mess has been fixed for MMOs installed in Program Files with 7, so Blizzards suggestion of using the Public folder might be worth following.
Jamesisgreat Oct 27th 2009 4:02PM
If I upgrade from Vista to Win 7 (for $30 - yay being a student!) does that mean I will have to reinstall all my programs and such? That's the only thing putting me off from upgrading at the moment.
RogueJedi86 Oct 27th 2009 4:14PM
Is Windows 7 64-bit less unwieldy than XP 64-bit? I use XP 64-bit and it's the red-headed stepchild in the Windows Family, with even Microsoft dropping support for it(seriously, I had to find a workaround to get Windows Live/MSN Messenger to work on 64-bit a few weeks back).
I recognize the x86 structure, it's the same on my XP 64-bit.
And jrizutko, I HATE those Mac commercials. My opinion with Macs is pretty neutral(the OS looks pretty), but I HATE the commercials! They're so condescending and ignorant of Mac's own flaws, whilst resorting to petty mudslinging that no one else(not the least Microsoft) would stoop to. It makes me wonder why Apple hasn't been sued for slander. They already have 3 commercials attacking Windows 7, and Windows 7 has been out less than a week! Feeling threatened much? And one of them implies every Windows operating system has been broken as hell and never fixed any of the previous bugs, which leaves me wondering why Mac has a 5% market share if Windows is just SO damn broken. Okay I'm stopping now before I derail this even further.
One minor note though: in real life, the 20-something hipster portraying Mac would be playing a PC if he wanted to play (non-Blizzard) games on a computer. I guess that's why the Mac commercials never bring up gaming.
Oteo Oct 27th 2009 4:39PM
Jamesisgreat: I upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista the day I could download it. I uninstalled nothing--just left my computer running while I went to lab--and I've had no problems so far. It might recommend that you uninstall some programs, but it's in the league of "This program might not work with Windows 7 yet, so you might want to uninstall it." Nothing like reinstalling every program... it just suggested I uninstall my graphics card driver, deauthorize the computer from iTunes, and uninstall Skype.
TBH I didn't even do it and I've still had no problems. @_@
ZakuraX Oct 27th 2009 4:59PM
@RogueJedi86
I don't like the looks of the Mac computers. And not really the one for windows 7 either.
But I think it is rubbish if you want to find files in it for one. And I have some other stuff that makes me stick to PC.
Mac might have been first with a lot, they might get less viruses (But a test showed that because of that Mac computers had a gigantic hole in their security that hackers could sneak around for quite some while. It's just that there are to few macs for them to care.)
But Microsoft has made things more availble for everyone. And they are cheaper.
And the upgrade from vista or XP to 7 is not that difficult. If you have a computer you get to keep your own files. But if you do as the commercials tell you to. And decides to buy a mac instead of a computer running with windows or linux that is fine. If you got the extra money to pay for the computer then be my guest. I did not want to pay what equals almost 500$ for a computer that has the same things as mine.
Ted Oct 27th 2009 5:04PM
@Jamesisgreat that's the nice thing about WoW, as long as you have a working installation, it doesn't need to be "installed." I took my Vista-era WoW install, backed it up, installed Windows 7, and then copied the installation folder back to my hard drive. Everything worked perfectly, and I've been getting better performance to boot.
@RogueJedi86 it is not unwieldly at all. The 64 bit drivers were given some level of priority with Vista and it's only gotten better. I've had zero issues with 64 bit (I was running 32 bit Vista previously).
Jamesisgreat Oct 27th 2009 6:33PM
Thanks for the advice guys - it's not just WoW i was worried about reinstalling but the massive pain in the butt to reinstall all the other junk I have on here as well :)
As for those Mac commercials - I gotta agree with you guys. They don't actually tell you a thing about Macs themselves, just slag off PC's shortcomings and hence smugly imply that a Mac is better.
Neofox Oct 27th 2009 8:13PM
I have a friend who just upgraded to Windows 7, and he says he actually gets higher frame rates in WoW than he did with Vista.
Byron Oct 28th 2009 12:40AM
@Ted: /second everything. Handles alt-tabbing b/t fullscreen WoW and browser/desktop much better too.
@NeoFox: same. Higher, smoother framerates in Win7 x64 Ultimate than WinXP SP3 32bit.
pot Oct 28th 2009 3:35AM
WoW is running great for me as well in Win 7. 7 is similar to Vista and does use UAC so I would still recommend moving the game install into the public folder as it suggests during the install of Wrath. At least until Blizz themselves says it isn't needed for Win7.
vazhkatsi Oct 28th 2009 3:36PM
well, the commercials have mainly attacked this entity called a PC a personal computer (which is a category mac is a part of..) whereas microsoft is an operating system supported ona number of different platforms, MAC is an operating system exclusive to one. those commercials don't single out any one company (dell, HP, IBM, etc...) so its not exactly slander.
Tim Oct 27th 2009 2:11PM
Question!
The two xpacs have fleshed out stories that I understand to some extent, especially WOTLK. This has led me to ask myself "What is the story off vanilla wow?" I have a level 80 and some alts. the highest of which is lvl45. I still am not too sure what is going on overall.
Jonathan Oct 27th 2009 2:17PM
I didn't start until a couple of months before Wrath dropped, but from what I gather, there's no specific "arc" to vanilla since that was the period where everyone was acclimating to the game. There were some minor threads like the opening of Ahn'Qiraj, fighting Quel'thuzad in Naxxramas and, for Alliance at least, the lengthy arc dealing with Onyxia.
Kaz Oct 27th 2009 2:25PM
The goal/Story of Vannila WoW depended on where you started. Overall it was to defend Azeroth from various malefactors. In the early game: Humans took on the Defias, Dwarfs and Gnomes faced Troggs, Undead fought the Scarlet Crusade, etc. In the mid-game many races defended the land from ancient evils, bad trolls, and the opposite faction. In the end game it was the Scourge, Silithid, Dark Iron Dwarves and Ragnaros, and the Black Dragon Flight.
TL:DR version: Various threats, from various zones, at various times. Kill the mobs with their names in red and get epic loots.