Best of WoW.com: November 2009
by Allison Robert 
Dec 30th 2009 at 8:00PM
November saw the celebration of WoW's fifth anniversary, the introduction of the pet store, and a steady avalanche of news from the patch 3.3 PTR.
Drama Mamas: When a partner wanders astray: The Drama Mamas answer one of their hardest and most unsettling questions.
Cataclysm: The exhaustive list of old-world changes (so far): Sacco goes over all the known information concerning upcoming zone and dungeon changes in Cataclysm with a fine-tooth comb.
Blizzard: Arenas were a mistake: Blizzard's VP of game design says that arenas as they were implemented were probably not the best idea. Let a thousand comments bloom.
Blizzard launches real-money in-game pet store: The destination for data-mined pets we'd seen earlier that had never materialized in-game is finally revealed -- Blizzard's selling them. The march to micro-transactions continues apace, and not everyone is happy about it.
Patch 3.3 PTR: Get a pug when you PUG: The destination for the Perky Pug is also revealed, and players are somewhat happier about that, particularly after finding some of the pug's more interesting animations.
Arcane Brilliance: Mage leveling guide, the thrilling conclusion: All of our class columnists were asked to update our leveling guides for Wrath, and Christian Belt accomplishes it with his usual aplomb (although, as he notes, six months from his conclusion here, he'll probably be at it again).
Create a Battle.net account or don't play anymore: The rollover to Battle.net is complete this month; Sacco goes bare-bones with the title.
Encrypted Text: Armor penetration and the crit cap demystified: Chase gets pelted with questions concerning +armor pen for rogues, and goes back on the theorycrafting warpath to unravel and explain one of the most complicated of WoW's current mechanics.
The OverAchiever: Twenty-five tabards: Tabards are one of the few ways players can directly customize their look in the age of gear consolidation (well, apart from...wearing something different, though raid leaders rarely encourage this). We show you how to get another tabard option by completing the Twenty-Five Tabards achievement.
Scientists study how the brain thinks about personal avatars: Dartmouth researchers discover what many WoW players already knew -- "You think about your avatar the same way you think about yourself."
Totem Talk: Shaman itemization resists a clever title: Rossi starts to analyze upcoming gear drops and stat allocation for shamans. Admits, "I hate doing gear lists."
Breakfast Topic: Would you ninja the Onyxia mount?: Most say no. The rest? Well, now we have their names.
Scrubby McDouche and his army of excuses: C. Christian Moore has had it with the players he keeps running across in PvP whose unifying characteristic is that nothing is ever their fault.
15 Minutes of Fame: Vive la resistance: Another fantastic installment of 15 Minutes. Not only was Lisa's talk with Aleksey of US Cho'gall-A a great interview in itself, but it also brought some much-needed attention to the problems created by crushing faction imbalance.
The OverAchiever: One of our most popular non-holiday OverAchievers, covering the supposedly "past glories of Azeroth" that aren't really past at all.
Ready Check: You're fired: Solid Ready Check on how to do a very, very difficult thing. Forget L2P -- it's how to manage people competently that distinguishes a great raid leader from a passable one.
Blood Pact: Meet the minions, part 3: Hobbs has been schooling readers on the many abilities of the different warlock pets, and in this outing players were surprised to learn just how many options are available with a little elbow grease and a few macros.
WoW's 5th anniversary: Our writers' memories: 5 years of WoW, and for many of our writers, 5 years of memories.
WoW Moviewatch: Among the Badger Men: One of Moviewatch's best and funniest features all year, indirectly confirming my internal rule that, if anyone from The Grind is involved, it's going to be hilarious.
2009's drawing to a close, and we're wrapping up the most interesting articles we've published all year, one day at a time. Join us every day for the next twelve days with this year's best of WoW.com!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ghostroo Dec 30th 2009 8:30PM
"OMG! The raid isn't going to make it!"
"How do you know?"
"The pug just wiped."
/facepalm
Pemberton Dec 30th 2009 8:37PM
I remember all this as if it was last month.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Dec 30th 2009 9:36PM
Ha. Ha ha. Hahaha.
/facepalm
Mihn Dec 30th 2009 10:50PM
Something I have noticed, since most PvE pet and acheivement whores have gotten their pugs, the queues have gone up. Leaving me waiting a long time to get into a cross server group, again.
Is that all there is to this game to some people, Beanie-Baby-collect-em-all mentality?
Im glad I still have PvP, something worthwhile to do while I wait for the PvEers to stop waving around thier latest acquisition in front of the Dal bank.
Remember, whoever dies with the most toys wins!
Jen Dec 31st 2009 12:25AM
I think it's less about the pet and more that lots of folks already farmed enough Triumph badges for their full T9 and now they just do one random per day for the Frost badges.
Docp Dec 31st 2009 9:05AM
I should think it's also because it was new, so many people were chain running dungeons because they could, but they're used to it they've filtered back into other activities such as pvp, dailies, etc.
Ed Dec 31st 2009 12:16AM
You guys should be real meta and feature "Best of WoW.Com" as one of December's featured articles, and clicking the link to it only refreshes the page.
Drakkenfyre Dec 31st 2009 8:29AM
That would be funny, but I could see the complaints about "It doesn't do anything".
Angrycelt Dec 31st 2009 3:28AM
Aah, the "arena mistake" argument. Such a good example of "Let's agree to disagree... no, screw you, I hate you and everything you believe in. You're wrong, I'm right, graaaaaah!"
That being said, and an honest question here, how hard would it be to make PvP versions of the talent trees and then balance away to their little gladiator hearts' content?
They already have the 'only twinks in frozen XP BGs'... would it be that big of a coding change to expand that to trees?
talkingmike Dec 31st 2009 11:50AM
Stop. Just stop. Can we put a moratorium on the "Srsly, how hard can it be guys??" question?
Take this approach: every time you ask yourself that, assume that the engineers that have to actually plan, design, implement, and test your seemingly simple change have thought about it and concluded that it is not worth the time and energy.
If it really was as easy as you believe it to be, it would already be in the game.
Docp Dec 31st 2009 7:45AM
I like the constant balancing act to be honest, Every major patch I know my game is going to change slightly which keeps playing the same character and role interesting over long periods. If I was still stuck playing the same rotation with the same skills for pretty much the same effect I would get bored of each character relatively quickly. As it is I've been playing a rogue for over four years now and still find it interesting.
Clearly not all balance changes are to do with PVP, and it does suck when you get a nerf, but it often adds a whole new dimension to gameplay with each major patch. For example due to the recent change in deadly poison I no longer use rupture in my cycle, so now I find that I'm a lot more aware of raid composition, keeping tabs on where my cat druid friends and warriors are so I know where to grab a bleed effect for hunger for blood, it's changed my playstyle a reasonable amount making it feel completely fresh again (and yet strangely familiar)
Rotties67 Dec 31st 2009 8:15AM
I *hate* that pug pet. With a passion. It has worms, and the worst part, after it....drags, it sniffs the ground it just drags on. Sorry, had to get that out.
If I tank, my queue is instant, if I am DPS, it takes anywhere from 12-18 mins on avg to get into a random. I tank for my guild and I enjoy it, but I do that in the evenings, during the day, I like a break from tanking. It is interesting though, I thought that with Winter Break for all the kids, my queue would have dropped for DPS (along with the quality of conversation in the pugs). Turned out queues are still high, and there really is no conversation.
csarcops Dec 31st 2009 12:52PM
FYI, dogs drag their butts on the ground for several reasons, not just worms. Could be his anal glands are full, could be his butt just itches. And the sniffing thing, that's just how dogs are.
Indra Dec 31st 2009 9:06AM
I have a Pug in real life that looks just like this - and his name is Tank. Looks like I am going to make him a version of that harness for Halloween. Geek crafts meet doggy coutre!