The Queue: A plea for help
Somewhere along the line, I've picked up this habit of discussing games I've been playing (besides WoW) as my introduction to The Queue. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's fun. Unfortunately, I'm currently playing Bayonetta and I'm not sure I can really talk about that one here. Just look it up on Youtube, you'll know what I'm talking about. Now before I shame myself any more, let's get to the Q&A.
Reuben asked...
"How does the disenchanting option work? I find that sometimes I can choose disenchant, and other times I can't. What determines the availability of that option?"
You need an enchanter of appropriate skill in your party to disenchant things. If you have no enchanter at all, you can't disenchant anything. If you have an enchanter that hasn't finished leveling the tradeskill, you might be able to disenchant greens but not blues or epics. If they have skilled it up high enough, you'll be able to disenchant anything that drops.
Many people asked...
"Why do people hate the Oculus so much? It's really easy since the nerfs, but people keep dropping group."
I don't think it has anything to do with the difficulty at all. The problem is that the Oculus is completely absent of tried-and-true methods of guiding players through a playing field. It isn't often that bosses wipe raids (besides Eregos), but rather the inability to keep your party going in one direction if someone that's never been there before decides to wander off by themself. They go in a different direction because they're not sure where they're supposed to go, they get jumped by drakes. They cry for help, everyone goes looking for them, people get split up and eventually the mobs pick them off one by one and everyone is falling to their doom.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Blizzard used some very basic visual cues as to where you're supposed to be going, this would not be a problem. Even in games where you're given the illusion of wide open exploration, there are cues guiding you in the direction the game thinks you should be going. The dragon GPS simply saying "kill all robots" is not helpful. The purple glow on the robots themselves? Also not helpful, since you begin this phase of the instance underneath all of those platforms. If you don't know ahead of time what you should be killing, there is nothing guiding you toward them. This isn't a problem in an instance where you're on the ground. In those cases, you go down a hallway or a path or whatever else. In Oculus, you're in a wide open area where you can move in any direction. Players need more direction.
Everyone has been in a group where that scenario I outlined at the beginning of this answer plays out. Nobody has fun in those runs. Some people have more patience for it than others. People with no patience for it drop group. I usually stick it out, but make it very clear that the group should follow whoever has a mark over their head. If they can't follow the person with the mark around when we're all on our drakes, that's a problem and we deal with it when it happens. But dropping group as soon as you get in wastes the time of too many people.
Velleekwitay asked...
"Why are most WoW videos, such as recordings of raids, on Youtube accompanied by bad music? Is there a rule against using the original soundtrack?"
There's no rule against using the original soundtrack, but it's pretty hard to get it out of the game files if you don't know how ahead of time (which actually is against the TOS, isn't it?). Plus, maybe those people like that so-called bad music and are perfectly happy with it. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean nobody likes it. People who have watched my videos here on WoW.com know I like to stick to the game's soundtrack, but now and then I mix it up with some crazy jazz. Not everybody likes it, but I do. I made it, so that's what counts.
Ending with a question for you...
Hey, dear readers! In the near future (not this week, probably not next week) we're going to try to restart our ancient Pimp My Profile feature. If you haven't been reading us long enough to know about it, we essentially take "bad" armory profiles and help people fix them up. Poor gear choices? We'll help you fix that. Bad talent spec? We'll recommend better ones. Same thing with your glyphs, enchants, the whole deal. The problem is that this is a user driven feature dependent on submissions, so we can't start it until you give us something to work with. So if you want our expert opinions on how to fix your character, email us your armory link! Until we have a mailbox set up dedicated to this feature, send your armory submissions to alex @ wow . com, just remove the spaces. Please only submit your own characters, not some random schmuck you found in Ironforge.
In addition, give us as much information about your playstyle as possible. Are you a player that has time to run a single heroic per play period at most? Are you an aspiring raider? Do you have a ton of time on your hands to grind things out? They more you tell us, the more we can tailor our advice to you personally!
Filed under: Enchanting, Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
Puntable Jan 8th 2010 1:45PM
There has been no news of Cataclysm since Blizzcon, and most predictions say it won't come until June at the earliest. You know Blizzard always has delays. Do you think Icecrown will keep us satisfied until late summer? I am doubtful.
Velzak Jan 7th 2010 8:17PM
Are you guys going to ever have the Patches of Yesteryear return? If so, any time on when it will start up again because i loved that column even if there was only one of them!
Ser Jan 8th 2010 3:23AM
Speaking of MIA columns any plans to rez Tank Talk?
Ikarus Jan 8th 2010 1:03PM
And Build Shop too please
Zalvi24 Jan 7th 2010 8:17PM
Question is it just me or do other WoW player have a hard time picking a so call "main" when u got 3 to 4 lvl 80?, i have a elemental shaman, ret/prot paladin, combat rogue and arcane/frost mage i have different thing accomplished with all of them and i find it hard to stick with one
Rowan Jan 7th 2010 8:25PM
*raises hand*
I played a Warlock since launch and up until a year ago he was my only toon. However, within the last year I've leveled a Druid and a Hunter, and am working on my 4th 80; a Priest. I guess my main right now would be my Priest since the vast majority of my time is spent on him. However, once he's at 80...that's a toughie.
mercer_drew Jan 7th 2010 10:12PM
When i got my druid to 80 i started leveling up a priest to 80 slowly. When he finally hit 80 i played him for like two weeks then went back to my druid because it's too fun and when i get bored i just switch specs for a little bit
Zalvi24 Jan 7th 2010 11:16PM
another question, i usually get around 45 FPS(around 20 in dalaran) and all of the sudden my fps drop to 2 fps, i really have no idea what could be causing this, it happens everytime i play more than once per session
PrymalDark Jan 8th 2010 2:16AM
Quote: "another question, i usually get around 45 FPS(around 20 in dalaran) and all of the sudden my fps drop to 2 fps, i really have no idea what could be causing this, it happens everytime i play more than once per session"
Zalvi, try running WoW in 'windowed mode' (from the video settings), and keep a little screen space available to watch your processor, memory, and internet activity meters. Look for changes on these monitors to see if another program is taking more of your computer's resources when your framerate plummets.
Mr Shinra Jan 8th 2010 5:00AM
I've got a question for the Queue: Has there been any word from Blizzard recently, as to what their next Hero Class (ala Death Knight) might be?
Jen Jan 8th 2010 6:43AM
I get that too, but I don't know whether to blame my game, my video card or my overheating laptop. To be precise, I play at decent fps most of the time (50 tops, 15-20 in 25-mans with lots of spells), except from time to time (randomly it seems to me) it drops to 2-4fps for a couple of seconds. I'm not 100% sure but I think it started in the last patch. When that happens, everything moves in slow motions, Vent sounds like a broken record... then bam, fps goes up and all's well. Nothing like that happens to me when I'm not playing Wow. What gfx card do you have? Nvidia don't tend to play nice with WoW, and mine's an Nvidia...
dawnseven Jan 8th 2010 9:19AM
@Zalvi
I have 8 80s, but I have a main. My main is my main because she gets leveled first when the cap is raised, she gets the best stuff (enchants, gems, etc.) first, and she's the one that has the most achievements, the most pets, the most mounts, the most exalted reps, etc. I work on these things with my alts, but not at all to the same degree. You don't have to have a "main" though. It's a personal thing, and it may depend on how much play time you have. Unless I quit my job and someone hiked up the amount of hours in a day by 50% or so I'd never have the time to get all of my alts in the same position as my main. That's just me. Before I settled on her though I did have 2 or 3 that I considered "co-main"s. :D
Nazgûl Jan 7th 2010 8:18PM
Taking the music out of the game files is perfectly fine within the ToS, but modifying the files is against it.
kia Jan 7th 2010 8:57PM
Asides from the fact they're talking about the music used on youtube wow videos - not ingame - that's actually incorrect. .
To quote Bornakk:
While we are currently allowing Add-Ons that remove or replace existing sound files, keep in mind that it is illegal to distribute copyrighted materials, in this case in-game music and audio files, without authorization. One of the primary goals of the user interface is to allow players to customize their game experience and we hope to avoid making any modifications in the future that will prevent this.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18358913632&sid=1
Nazgûl Jan 7th 2010 9:16PM
It's illegal to distribute, not to remove.
zweitblom Jan 8th 2010 3:11AM
And putting that music into a video and uploading that to Youtube does not count as 'distributing'?
Nazgûl Jan 8th 2010 4:50PM
I never said that, I was replying to the note in the article that said that taking the files out is against the ToS, which is not.
Cogswick Jan 7th 2010 8:18PM
Whats up with the music in Forge of Souls? Its part pipe organ, part odd Jack White music mash up, part amazing-ness. But it doesn't fit! Why?
Merus Jan 7th 2010 9:36PM
It's soul music. Hence the Bronjham, Godfather of Souls fight - a play on James Brown, the Godfather of Soul.
jbodar Jan 7th 2010 9:54PM
It does fit actually, since Bronjahm, The Godfather of Souls is a (bizarre) reference to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown
"# Bronjahm's combat sounds (e.g., while attacking, being critically hit) evoke the grunts and shouts often used by James Brown.[1]
# His name, title, loot, the constant singing, and the music that plays in the room he's in are obvious references to the musician James Brown, who was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul".
# The music file which plays during Bronjahm's encounter is titled "Bronze Jam," and can be heard here."
http://www.wowwiki.com/Bronjahm,_the_Godfather_of_Souls