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: Going to a party party
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 17th 2009 at 6:00PM
It's my little brother's birthday today -- fourteen years old, what the heck -- so today's Queue is quick and dirty so I can get the caking and presenting done.
Lochlorien asked...
Will we be able to wield Frostmourne after we defeat Arthas?
Nope, the developers opted not to make Frostmourne an equippable weapon, replacing it as the Icecrown legendary weapon with Shadowmourne.
Shabala asked...
With Deathwing's cataclysm and the reconstruction of the old world, will we be getting new music and a soundtrack for the altered zones?
No indication yet, but we should have more info when Blizzard actually releases some new Cataclysm information. Three months without an update to the Cataclysm site, guys! I know what a slow PR drip is, but that's a little much!
F3rrat asked...
Burning lore question (pun incoming) about Titans, Old Gods, and the Burning Crusade: Where are the first two in the third? Azeroth has Titan strongholds, Draenor has none. Azeroth has eevil old gods, Draenor has none. Come to think of it, does Draenor even have Dragon Aspects?
It's still up in the air whether the Titans were the driving force behind the creation of planets besides Azeroth specifically, so until we hear otherwise, it's safe to assume that Draenor is separate completely from Azeroth's pantheon of good and evil.
Strictly speaking, Draenor could probably use a few Aspects to keep the place duct-taped together, but knowing what's been happening with Aspects lately, maybe that's not such a good idea.
Mooma asked...
Now that we can ignore cross-realm players (if I read the patch notes right), I would like to know whether ignoring a player means you won't get put in a random PuG with them?
Correct -- you will not be placed in a group with anyone on your ignore list, even if they're from a different server.
Darthregis asked...
I don't know if this has been asked yet, but why are we only getting 5 more levels with Cataclysm as opposed to 10 like the last two expansions?
Blizzard's response to this question was (paraphrased):
"We wanted to improve the early game and the endgame significantly, and having half the normal extra expansion levels to deal with meant that much more development time could be placed into those two specific areas of the expansion."
The questing experience to endgame in each expansion has historically been a race to get to max level anyway, and we anticipate that 80-85 will take about as long as 70-80 anyway. It's just numbers.
JoJa asked...
For the Queue: When are we going to get to meet the new Priest and Hunter columnists? Deadline was a week ago people, I got faces to melt!
Patience, grasshopper. We got a ton of applications for each position and it'll be a little bit before we can come to a decision on who's the best fit for the site.
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 Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
Angus Dec 18th 2009 2:10AM
Thrall's flaw is not being too patient or too trusting.
He's not willing to kill people until they try to kill him or some innocent. He's a pacifist.
This isn't a good flaw in a faction with the leader called "Warchief." In fact time and time again you see how bad this is.
Escaping from prison he knocked out a guard. A human forced him to fight 11 battles in a row, beat him when he lost, refused to allow healers to help him, and then had a line form of people that lost money betting on him in match 11 so they could beat him. When he attacked, he laid siege and asked to negotiate. The man threw the head of the woman he loved at his feet. Only then did he demolish the place.
He allowed the Banshee Queen to run her Alchemist Society without supervision and only when he lost a major force in his army and UC fell did he act to reign her in, AFTER dealing with a Demon that was her right hand man.
He allows close to open warfare because if he wanted to crack down on it he'd have to make a real war to end it.
Garrosh challenged him and because he didn't want to cheat he was getting demolished prior to the Scourge breaking up the fight. (Note: Elemental Shaman vs Arms Warrior means a dead Shaman) Considering that in the battle for UC he was 1-shotting demons with ease, had elementals the size of houses and his wolves would likely tear up Garrosh while he giggled, it is safe to say he didn't really want to kill Garrosh.
Thrall is not too trusting, naive, or patient. Thrall just doesn't like killing people and for a former arena warrior that's just silly. If he doesn't shape up soon his lack of a killer instinct is going to hurt Azeroth more than anything else can.
Hansbo Dec 18th 2009 4:34AM
We like him because he's the underdog. Which is quite ironic seeing as he is the leader of half the world.
RogueJedi86 Dec 18th 2009 4:47AM
Hansbo, how is he the underdog when all of the Horde and half of the Alliance worship the very ground he walks on? To me it's more like Varian is the underdog in regards to popularity with players.
And Angus, I see Cataclysm as partly trying to de-Mary Sue Thrall since a lot of players have noticed how goody goody perfect he is. Moving him out and having a new challenger is a way of dethroning him, though I'm sure the Thrall fanatics will still love him. "He left Orgrimmar to go save the world, and Orgrimmar is terrible under Garrosh because he's no Thrall!"
Meijnrr Dec 17th 2009 6:17PM
Does ignoring a player have the same effect as friending a ninja so you know who they are except with cross-realm capabilities?
aelador Dec 17th 2009 6:22PM
You think that it will ever be possible for ppl (Like me) to get end game gear without relying on 24 other ppl? I mean they are making it so you can get the best pvp gear from BG's right? Why not have tierd 5 mans or even Epic heroics and Legendary Heroics instead of just heroic..uh heroics. Dont get me wrong I know this is a social game but I just wish I could do more on my own. Anything pointing towards the game going this way?
Vitos Dec 17th 2009 6:34PM
Have you noticed the new 5-mans? They drop t9 level gear- thats pretty close to endgame. Admittedly its not ICC stuff, but still...
Elmo Dec 17th 2009 6:39PM
And if you really want it you could farm a T9 piece a day with badges from heroics.
Prissa Dec 17th 2009 6:39PM
As Vitos point out, the latest 5mans have some freaking sweet gear in them.
And as per the last question "Anything pointing towards the game going this way?", we've already had gear made so much more accessible with the heroic grind for triumphs introduced. If end game became anymore single-player-ish than it already is, it wouldn't be an MMO anymore.
Admittedly, I have gripes about finding a raid group some days, but that's the point of the game :) It's like when you ask someone 'k how do you play?' 'Well, you roll the dice and move your piece the spaces it counts...' well, how do you play endgame WoW? 'you find a group and go and kill awesome bosses.'
Edge Dec 17th 2009 6:40PM
You cannot get the best PvP gear from just BGs. You can either get two seasons old main gear with honor, one season old trinks/rings/backs with honor, or everything else with honor arena points, and an arena rating. Those arena points are worthless without an arena rating. Unless I'm wrong, but I just haven't seen anywhere to spend arena points without a rating (I would love it if I could).
Vitos Dec 17th 2009 6:45PM
Edge- you can A) trade arena points for honor (I think at a 1::10) and B) its possible to get two season old gear with arena points + honor at the vendors under Dal
Manadar Dec 17th 2009 6:46PM
The 5-mans drop gear for the 5-mans, just like the 10-mans drop gear for the 10-mans etc.. And you already got several "tiers" of heroics, starting of with the ones that came with the game, advancing to ToC5 and finally The Frozen Halls. And you do have tier-gear, it's called T9. Heck, you can even get T10 from heroics alone if you play long enough.
Don't really see your problem.
Reps Dec 17th 2009 10:18PM
Your suggestion would destroy WoW endgame. To continue Prissa's analogy, what you're asking for is like playing Monopoly and instead of rolling the dice, you just move your pieces to whichever spot you would like.
World of Warcraft endgame was built around raiding, not solo/5 man content.
Bronwyn Dec 18th 2009 1:46AM
@Edge: I believe when he says they are making it so you can get the best pvp gear from doing bgs, he was referring to when Cataclysm comes out and BG combat becomes rated.
Now on to the original question, I don't see Blizzard taking this much further than they have already. I like the current setup of progression, with a soft gear reset for people like me who maybe got out of raiding for one tier and would like to get back in without having to spend too much time farming the old stuff. And the new instances drop some pretty sweet stuff.
Currently Blizzard has tried to make it clear that they award gear based on difficulty; a 25 man raid is going to automatically have a higher "difficulty" (even though some may argue things are easier on 25-man, the fact is the monsters ARE tuned to be more powerful), so it should drop better gear than a 5-man that is tuned to a lower power level.
You just have to accept that you're never going to be able to get the best and the most current gear simply by soloing and doing 5-mans. As much as I might *like* to have the best gear without stepping into a raid, I recognize that it's better for the game overall if you still have to raid to get the absolute best.
And I think it will be likely that you'll still have to do Arena to get the *absolute* best PvP gear, even after BGs become rated. The fact of the matter is that while not everyone does endgame raiding, arena, or even bgs, there are people who get a large amount of enjoyment from doing these things and it would be really silly to just throw that to the wayside so that everyone would have the same uber-high level gear (that they don't even *need* if they aren't raiding/arena-ing). Just the way the game works.
kinotu Dec 17th 2009 6:24PM
Question about the gear checking from the Dungeon finder: I know it checks my whole inventory, but does it compare versus your chosen role? For instance- I have all tier 9 in my DPS set but only the cobalt set for tanking. Both are in my inventory and I got to specific dungeon with "DPS" and "Tanking" selected as roles. Am I locked out of dungeons or put to tank a dungeon I'm woefully undergeared for?
Thanks
Janaa Dec 17th 2009 6:49PM
Test it! :) Put on your tanking set, select only TANK in the tool, and see what dungeons are available to you. If H FOS is available, it suggests it looks at the gear in your inventory as well. If it's not, it means it only looks at the gear you're wearing.
Minq Dec 17th 2009 6:27PM
@ Aelador
God I hope not
Dave Dec 17th 2009 6:32PM
Is there any kind of 3.0->3.3 super-patch out there somewhere? Going from the Wrath DVD install, I'd rather have to only worry about installing one patch instead of about 6 (main patch + mini patches) to get to the current running version.
jealouspirate Dec 17th 2009 6:41PM
I don't think that's necessary.
In September I bought a new computer. I put in my Wrath CD and had to download only one patch. Installation of Wrath + 1 patch gave me all of Vanilla, BC, and up to date WotLK.
Janaa Dec 17th 2009 6:55PM
I recently reinstalled a fresh Vanilla copy. DVDs put me to 3.0. I then only had to run the Blizzard updater twice to get to 3.2.whatever. Once for 3.0 > 3.2 and once for a 3.2 minipatch.
Likely, if you run the Blizzard Launcher, it should update you straight to 3.3, and then possibly download the 3.3a minipatch separately. You don't need to download each patch separately beforehand and run them consecutively.
bdew Dec 18th 2009 3:07AM
Judging from the Patch Sequence File there is currently no 3.0=>3.3 cumulative patch. Once you run the game you will get to download:
1) 3.x.x.x-3.2.0.10192 (This will update you to 3.2 from any earlier version)
2) 3.2.0.10192-3.3.0.10958 (This is the actual 3.3 patch)
3) 3.3.0.10958-3.3.0.11159 (This is a mini-patch released a few days ago)