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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: The grand melee
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 18th 2009 at 8:00PM
For no discernable reason, the WoW.com Twitter account is asking who would win in a three-way grand melee between the Queue writers -- Alex Ziebart, Adam Holisky, and me, the inimitable Mike Sacco. Whoever wins has to face Matthew Rossi in single combat, which, of course, means that they lose. So whoever wins, Rossi wins.
Before we all fall to the cruel burly forearms of Rossi, though, we can probably answer some reader questions. Or at least I can, given that it's my day to do it.
Edge asked...
When a cross realm group wipes and has to get back to the instance from outside, which version of the "outside" are we in? What I mean is, outside the instance, are we all together on one of the servers, or does each person go back out to their own servers "outside" area, and then come back into the same instance? Or is this a whole new area just for these 5 particular people?
When you zone out of a cross-realm instance, the "outside" is your particular realm.
Mr Shinra asked...
This probably is a bit presumptuous to ask at this point in time, but the 5-level question has me wondering: Since Deathwing's been built up to be all big bad and with a very high power level (+9k), what are the estimated chances that the (eventual) fight against him, will be a return to the old-style 40-person raids that the game hasn't seen since the days of Ahn'Qiraj?
Considering that the mere act of him ENTERING THE WORLD caused half the world to explode, I don't think 25 people will be enough; and that's assuming he would fight a bunch of tiny mortal insects (from his point of view) alone.
Blizzard recently stated that there would likely never be a return to the 40-man style of raiding, and I for one sincerely appreciate that. 40-man raids were just like 25-man raids except 15 people weren't pulling their weight.
At least in my opinion, and in Blizzard's, it doesn't matter how many people are participating in the encounter so long as the "epic" feel is still there.
Metatron asked...
Are there any plans of expanding the WoW enterprise to other consoles such as Playstation, X-Box. I've heard that Warcraft 2 was made avaiable for PS, but I don't think any other Warcraft game had it. If there aren't any plans like this is there any particular reason Blizzard doesn't want to move into this lucrative market?
Blizzard's console division, which was working on StarCraft: Ghost, closed down back when I first started working there -- 2006 -- and every interview since then has stated that their particular development model doesn't lend itself well to console games. Thus, they're unlikely to ever produce for consoles.
Can you imagine the headaches involved with trying to get an emergency maintenance patch for WoW over XBox Live? It took something like two months for a patch to get deployed that fixed a crippling bug with Castle Crashers.
Sead asked...
Does the "Raid Browser" Tool work in the same way the new Dungeon Finder Tool work? i.e. can you port into the raid directly?
Nope, the Raid Browser is just a browser. It's a retooled version of the old LFG pane. It doesn't assemble groups or allow porting.
Daniel asked...
Since Cataclysm was announced, one new feature has stood out to me, the Path of the Titan, basically a glyph system on top of the existing one from what I can tell. What I was wondering is, will it focus more on class skills like increased crit damage on a warrior's MS, or more passive bonus like increased overall damage by 2%?
It'll give broad, class-unspecific bonuses. Examples are -5% bleed damage taken, +10% bandage healing, +1% haste, etc. You won't see any damage increases for Fireball or anything like that.
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!
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Argojax Dec 18th 2009 8:23PM
@Avan: That may be fine for the dps rotation, but what about all your little utility things... I'm an Arcane Mage... so let's say three keys for ABlast, AMissiles, and ABarrage. But what about when I need to decurse, use my gem, use my lock cookie, use my potion, counterspell, arcane torrent, evocate, mirror image... Developing for the console would mean significantly dumbing down the game play I would think.
Ascudgamin Dec 18th 2009 8:25PM
Lol... 5 buttons for a rotation, you have obviously never played a feral dps character.. our rotation is so complex that we would need at least two XBox controllers....
Jeff Dec 18th 2009 8:29PM
@Avan
That's true about basic rotations. A controller might work fine for levelling, where the need for quick thinking and special utility buttons is pretty lax. As soon as you enter a raid though, a controller just won't cut it unless you happen to be fighting a very simple boss that only requires your basic rotation.
In other words, a console version of the game could be called World of Warcraft: Patchwerk.
RogueJedi86 Dec 18th 2009 9:15PM
What do all these button spec comments have to do with Colin's FFXI on 360 remark?
On topic to Colin, I have heard Square Enix may not put FFXIV on 360, just because of all the red tape they've had to clear to put out patches on it.
Kadamon Dec 18th 2009 9:37PM
Having played with a 360 PC controller, it's really no that bad, outside of a raid that is. Or if you're using a non-complex casting sequence like say...Frost Mage.
However, there's 8 useable buttons on a controller not counting start and select (er, back sorry). Though that really translates into your 4 back buttons becoming something like a 'shift macro' for your front four.
On a 360 controller you can up to 64 different button combinations using your Triggers and Bumbers and just using the letters on the front for abilities and such. Don't say it's hard without trying and any console gamer will tell you that holding down several buttons at once isn't exactly hard.
Also, that's not even counting the d-pad which could add whole different set of buttons to use...or something like that. Probably would be better use as the 'mouse' though.
If you think controls need to be dumbed down you might just need a bit of an Int boost to look at the various, and easy, combinations. Though, yes, pressing LT+LB+RT+X to cast your portal to Dalaran might just be a pain in the ass. :P
Bjern Fita Dec 18th 2009 10:04PM
while I don't believe it'll ever happen....
using the 4 shoulder buttons as a 'shift' key gives you 16 macoes/casts/abilities on the 4 face buttons.
workable.. yes
but personally I can't think of a worse experience than playing WoW on a console...
RogueJedi86 Dec 18th 2009 10:05PM
As for controls, I remember with FFXI on PS2(and I assume 360), you would hold a bumper/trigger and scroll left and right over each 1-10 row of abilities. I think you could scroll up to different rows too. With that, you could control your abilities easily. Place them on the bars, then Say hit Right Bumper and Scroll over to Frostbolt or whatever. With practice, you could easily be as quick as you are with a keyboard.
jbodar Dec 18th 2009 10:35PM
@RogueJedi86
How is this scrolling method any faster than clicking abilities, which is not nearly as fast as pressing a keybind?
Julian Dec 19th 2009 2:06AM
Not that it would be pleasant, but Dragon Age: Origins has a (sort of) workable solution to this in the radial menu, accessed with LT on the XBox - you obviously wouldn't put your combat/healing spells in it, but all the "I don't have to access this when a rogue is stabbing my head" spells/abilities would be fine in such a position. Um, annoying, but fine.
Not sure how other platforms would do it, but there you go.
Bodrake Dec 18th 2009 8:13PM
If by "no discernable reason" you mean "who will now host the WoWInsider podcast"....does that mean we can have Rossi as the host?
Bonksy Dec 18th 2009 9:54PM
I think The T will.
Suinimtao Dec 18th 2009 8:20PM
Any hunters out there noticed the cooldon on "Call stabled pet" has increased from 30 mins to 21 days! Any answers appreciated.
Aaron Dec 18th 2009 8:29PM
It's 5 minutes for me..submit a bug report
qoa Dec 18th 2009 10:12PM
Do an arena, it'll reset your cooldown. It's because you used it in a cross server instance. Bugs...
Nick Dec 18th 2009 8:27PM
Any word on the Creative headsets?
I was looking to buy one for Christmas, but it's not looking possible.
Thanks.
PvtDeth Dec 18th 2009 8:56PM
What I was saying in response to the original question is that the interface thing is a big obstacle but not nearly the biggest. I wouldn't be able to play on a controller. I use 4 or so buttons 90% of the time, but on Jaraxxus the other day I used spellsteal more than I have in the last year put together. I blew the dust off my fire ward for Onyxia yesterday and nearly wore the key out. It's good to have keys you can go to when you need them. Not to mention that tab targeting is sometimes much less efficient than simply clicking; also mouseover has specific uses.
That's not the real point though. You can connect a keyboard and mouse to a console; it doesn't change that Blizzard's business model doesn't include console games. It's a very lucrative market but an inherently restrictive one. You're constrained by many factors, not the least of which is console life-cycle. You have to plan your product release to coincide with a good point in the lifetime of a platform that is likely to only last 5 years. There are no guarantees that when the next console is released, there will be backwards compatibility with old games. It was once a given, but the idea is eroding constantly. Playstation 2 has proven that people are still willing to pay for obsolete technology, but you don't want to be dependent on such a paradox. At any moment, Sony or Microsoft could release a new version that no longer supports backwards compatibility (it's already been done with the current generation.) They could also stop selling new copies of their old console. You would have no way to get new people into your game at that point.
There are numerous other factors, these are just some of the biggest. If it were just the interface factor I would expect a console version of Diablo 3 to ship about the same time as the pc one. The main thing is that it's more trouble than it's worth. If Blizzard thought they could make significantly more profit form consoles, they would. I just don't think they see it as worth the effort.
PvtDeth Dec 18th 2009 8:59PM
This was supposed to be under Colin's post.
A Disgruntled Healer Dec 18th 2009 9:20PM
(If anyone wants to answer this in the Queue, feel free to paraphrase.)
tl;dr version: Why does everyone in 5 mans seem so quick to blame the healer for every death, even when one could see that sometimes, it isn't the healer's fault and is often a tank unable to hold aggro?
Why do so many people in WoW (even more prevalent now in the cross-realm instancing) seem to have this love/hatred of the group healer? I play a dual-spec Ret/Holy paladin and I've used the dungeon finder quite often, and am always picked to heal even though I have DPS selected as a role as well. I don't mind this, on my pally I like instance healing much more than instance DPSing (remembering the horrors of trying to level and run instances before dual-specs were available.)
In a perfect world (and in the rare perfect run) all I'd have to do was keep Beacon of Light and Sacred Shield on the tank, spam Flash of Light, and refresh buffs as needed. The tank would never drop below 75% health, he'd keep aggro off of me and the DPS, I'd rarely have to drink for mana, and the tank would check to make sure everyone had mana before charging the next pull. Sadly, this is such a rarity that there is a better chance of being mauled by a baboon that magically fell from the sky than getting one of those groups. That's not to say most of my groups have been bad either, I don't have a problem handling a less than perfect tank, as long as they can do their job at least reasonably well. On my server people knew me as a pretty good healer and would usually defend me when a bad tank would blame wipes on me. However with the cross-realm instancing, this is no longer the case. Usually healing is still no problem and troublesome members quickly find themselves on the receiving end of a votekick.
But not always, and quite often I'll be grouped with a horrible tank or DPS who likes to blame every single wipe on the healer even when it's obvious that the tank isn't holding aggro. I'll usually point out that if the tank were doing his job, then the DPS wouldn't be dying in less than two seconds, especially not all three at the same time. Usually after seeing that groupies won't listen to reason, I leave. However this has started happening much more frequently with the introduction of cross-realm dungeons, and I'm just wondering why so many people are so quick to blame the healer for everything? Yes, there are bad healers, but there are just as many bad tanks and stupid DPS that cause wipes. So then why, are we as healers, almost always the ones to face the firing squad when the group wipes, even when it's obviously the fault of someone else?
Holly Dec 18th 2009 9:33PM
I know exactly what you mean. I ran CoS with a bear tank the other day, and he kept yelling at me for "letting his health drop below 50%," when the reason was that he kept switching to cat form and dashing from one wave to the next. By the time I caught up with him, he'd have 6 or 7 mobs on him, and he'd be screaming for heals. The propensity for blaming the healer when stuff goes wrong is part of why it took me a long time to get into raiding: I don't like being yelled at by 4 people when we wipe, so the idea of being yelled at by 9 or 24 isn't exactly appealing.
PvtDeth Dec 18th 2009 10:11PM
Since you are the only one who **can** save them from dying they automatically assume that you always **should** save them.
When I'm speed running Heroics and just blindly AoEing packs with one eye on the tv, sometimes a healer will save my butt from my own carelessness. When it happens, I'm grateful, but I know it was my fault; I have aggro management tools for a reason. The point is, I don't expect the healer to save me from my own absentmindedness. he's there to keep the tank alive, and throw some health my way when AoE damage is flying around.
All that being said, a good dps should always know when to use a bandage or a potion. Some people are happier lying dead on the ground "knowing" it wasn't their fault than stepping two inches outside their normal duties to keep themselves alive and preventing a wipe.