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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: A vote has been initiated to kick your dog
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 10th 2009 at 6:00PM
Patch 3.3, the Fall of the Lich King, is finally here, and you know what that means! Well, I mean, hopefully it means questions for the Queue that haven't been asked a million times before, or questions about new content.
Haha, just kidding. Today's Queue, like most other Queues, has nearly nothing to do with current events.
Khrono asked...
Why is it that my Paladin can wield a two handed and one handed sword, but for some reason he can't hold a dagger? Is there some lore out there that tells the tale of a Knight of the Silver Hand that insulted the dagger gods, so now we can't use daggers?
Cause there are some nicely itemized casting daggers out there I wouldn't mind getting my hand on.
It's all about flavor.
A dagger doesn't fit the "kit" of a paladin in Blizzard's eyes -- much like you don't see rogues using staves or priests using swords. There's no discernable "lore" reason for it, or even a gameplay reason. It just doesn't fit with the profile of a paladin to use a tiny dagger while lugging around a 50-lb shield and tossing holy magic around.
Elish asked...
I still love this column. but seriously were did ask a lore nerd go? I have some weird questions that a lore guy might not be able to awnser. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LORE!?
Ask a Lord Nerd has been rolled into The Queue. You can ask lore-related questions here if it floats your boat.
Drennick asked...
How will grouping for Maraudon via the 3.3 Dungeon System work? I know it's all one instance, but there's three different entrances. The purple side, the orange side, and the inner portal. Will you be able to choose which entrance you take when you get a group, or will it automatically take you to one specific entrance?
You can choose the specific "side" of Maraudon you want to run in the Dungeon Finder tool as of today. This should make getting a level-specific group much easier. It also means you don't have to find the damn entrance. Somebody up there loves you.
Slash asked...
Will Blizzard ever do anything about the amount of names that are available on a realm? as it is, it's virtually impossible to aquire a decent name as literally they are all mostly gone now, but what annoys me is these names are usually taken by people who havent logged in for for like 3-5 years and are reserved probably on level one alts, it will only get worse as time goes on and i seriously think Blizz should free these names up for those who actually play the game.
I get where you're coming from -- my rogue's name was originally Ash, and I had to do some serious finagling to get that name on a server to which I transferred. The issue here, though, isn't necessarily that Blizzard is trying to keep the names from you, but keep them for someone who may come back to the game (or that character) at some point, and would be a little miffed to see that their name was gone.
There are certain rules in place in the Support department in regard to "releasing" names, though; I'm not really at liberty to discuss them in detail, but if you have a specific name you want and you can't find that person on the Armory, it might be worth a GM ticket to inquire about it.
Blondie asked...
What is up with the fog/smoke by entrance to the Argent Stand in Zul'Drak?
I believe the intention of the effect is that lightning has just struck the ground in front of you. You can see the lightning strike the first time you walk up the Argent Stand.
Condor asked...
Who drops the T10 gear? What kind of Armor Token are we looking at? I assume one piece off each wing-end-boss and another off the LK?
Tier 10 gear must first be purchased with Emblems of Frost. The purchaseable sets are item level 251. Once you have a piece of the badge set, you can upgrade it to level 264 with a token that drops off of bosses in the Icecrown Citadel raid. The bosses will drop a better token on their specific Heroic modes, which can be used to upgrade your 264 set to a 277 set.
We don't know which bosses drop tokens yet, but it's very safe to assume that it's the final boss of each wing and then one off of Arthas.
Nerfduken said...
One thing I hope they fix is the ability to skip the intro for Halls of Reflection. Just like TOC, it's cool the first time, then after that it gets pretty irritating.
Readers tell me that as long as everyone in the group has completed the quest for Halls of the Reflection, there's a dialogue option for Jaina that'll skip right to the action.
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 3 of 9)
Jahz Dec 10th 2009 7:02PM
I believe it was Little John who used a staff to fight with Robin Hood, and subsequently ended up in the river. Friar Tuck wielded a cup/mug/jug with great enthusiasm and certainly qualifies as a weapon that all classes could brandish.
GamingShinobi Dec 10th 2009 7:26PM
I believe that it was Little John, not Friar Tuck.
Thesandman Dec 10th 2009 7:47PM
Just so you know, it was actually little John who beat robin hood in a quarterstaff fight, but the principle remains the same. You can also think of the xiolin monks for example with their Bo staffs and long spears as well
Spriesty Dec 10th 2009 6:16PM
I have a question. Is the new looting system working as intended? I was surprised to see in a grp the other night a person win DE mats over a person Greeding for an off-spec. So what, we all have to need now, even if it's off-spec, and then trade if needed??
spamofchaz Dec 10th 2009 6:21PM
I've noticed the same thing, but I think the system is counting greed/DE rolls as the same. The person who won the roll as greed over the DE rollers had the actual highest roll of all.
Need rolls were won outright over the other two.
tatsumasa Dec 10th 2009 6:22PM
need is first. greed and d/e are on the same roll. if you picked d/e it will be d/e'd. if you picked greed you get the item. notice the buttons are side by side.
Wild Colors Dec 10th 2009 6:23PM
Yeah, "greed" and "disenchant" share the same priority.
The quickest way to do it is simply to let people need for main and offspecs, since these are 5-mans that are easy to run repeatedly (this wouldn't work in a raid, obviously...). Alternatively, if everyone agrees ahead of time you can let people call main/off/g and do it that way, like the old player-driven n/g system. But I'm not sure it's worth the trouble, given how little time most of the 5-man things take to run.
Delmonico Dec 10th 2009 6:25PM
Greed rolls and DE rolls are the same. If someone gets a Greed roll of 67 and someone else gets a DE roll of 68, poof the item is gone.
Del
Jay Dec 11th 2009 3:25AM
We tested it last night (my normal duo partner is a disenchanter) and found what is said above; that greed and DE are effectively the same thing. If you win a DE then you get the shards while the greed people miss out. Think of your DE roll just like a greed roll, but instead of vendor trashing the item you get the shards.
As an aside... Thanks to the wonderful and experienced (raid level) people from other servers who were conscripted to a random regular 5 man and who stayed on to tutor me in my first run of CoS. You were amazing people and have made my day many times over. What I saw today proves beyond a doubt that WoW really does have so many nice helpful people.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 11th 2009 9:39AM
I guess if you're rolling for something you need as an off-set roll need otherwise there's a good chance it'll get D/E if someone else rolls for de mats if you greed it.
spamofchaz Dec 10th 2009 6:18PM
If I cast a spell that has a travel time to target, and I cast an instant spell before it lands, does the instant spell impact the traveling spell?
For example, if I cast wrath at a mob to open combat, and cast Faerie Fire on the mob while wrath is traveling, will my wrath gain the benefit of the armor reduction?
Ametrine Dec 10th 2009 6:23PM
setting aside the fact that spells ignore armor... how are you able to pop off spells that fast? Wouldn't global cooldown mean the cast-time spell hits before you can cast the instant, in the majority of cases?
Wild Colors Dec 10th 2009 6:27PM
Based on the game visuals, I'd guess that your hit/miss is determined at the time of casting, and damage is determined at the time of impact. Thus, if you friend casts wrath you cast improved faerie fire immediately afterward, I do not think the added hit chance given by IFF would save your friend's wrath if it had already been determined to miss. But if you're earth and moon effect landed on the target after your friend's wrath was cast but before it hit, I would guess that it would deal the extra damage. Just guesses though.
Wild Colors Dec 10th 2009 6:29PM
Sorry, there were around 17 typos in that message. The corrected version is below:
Based on the game visuals, I'd guess that your hit/miss is determined at the time of casting, and damage is determined at the time of impact. Thus, if your friend casts wrath and you then cast improved faerie fire immediately afterward, I do not think the added hit chance given by IFF would save your friend's wrath if it had already been determined to miss. But if your earth and moon effect landed on the target after your friend's wrath was cast but before it hit, I would guess that it would deal the extra damage. Just guesses though.
IrishWoW Dec 10th 2009 6:32PM
@spamofchaz
No. The travelling spell does not gain the benefit of the instant cast. I tried this out many times to see if i could cast lava burst, then flame shock in order to prevent priests/palas dispelling the dot. I could not :)
However if an instant cast spell efftect wears off a target while another spell is in flight then that spell Does gain the benefit from the instant cast effect
Lokasenna Dec 10th 2009 6:38PM
Some spells take a while to float over to the enemy. A warlock's Haunt, for instance - at max range, I've been able to get two instants off before it landed.
I've always assumed that Haunt won't affect anything I cast until it actually lands, simply because that's when it starts ticking. If it worked while the spell was in-flight, I'd be getting bonus time on the debuff the farther back I stand.
Lugos Dec 10th 2009 6:40PM
This is the same concept as a mage's "shatter combo." A spell gets the stats and bonuses that are current when it is released from your hands, not when it hits the target. That's why both the Frostbolt and Icelance will generally crit even if the freeze debuff is broken from the first spell. So to answer your question if you put a debuff on a target while another spell is in mid flight, the flying spell will not recieve any benefit.
A better example would be a Chaos Bolt and curse of elements combo. The Chaos bolt will not receive any benefit from the curse.
Camreth Dec 10th 2009 7:08PM
I normally play a enhancement shaman, but on the occasions i switch to elemental I've noticed that if I cast lava burst and then apply flame shock while the spell is traveling it don't get the 100% crit chance. I think I've also read somewhere that all spells use the status of the mob and caster at the time of casting (but this might be incorrect).
CDave Dec 10th 2009 7:37PM
@Ametrine: Any spell that has a cast time longer than your global cooldown will allow a next instant cast spell to be cast immediately.
This also can occur when you see proc effects, like effect-on-crit abilities. You'll see the proc effect in your combat log or combat text even before the projectile lands.
InsaneAssault Dec 10th 2009 6:17PM
More about the dagger question. A dagger is stereotypically seen as a weapon of treachery. Its easily concealable, and commonly wielded by thieves and vagrants. So of course the high and mighty Paladin cannot be seen using such a thing.