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
Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news





Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Bubsa Jan 7th 2010 9:55PM
Because you're fighting Bronjahm (James Brown) Godfather of Souls (The Godfather of Soul)
It's an attempt to recreate the sensation of hearing BADA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-GET UP-A!
Raze Jan 7th 2010 10:02PM
Clearly, your average WoW nerd has no idea who James friggin' Brown is.
For shame.
Fairlane Jan 7th 2010 11:14PM
I'd love to replace Blizzard's version with Eddie Murphy's.
martin Jan 8th 2010 4:50PM
@ Fair
James Brown does not equal Rick James. Ever.
Syme Jan 8th 2010 10:58AM
That's not a pipe organ. It's an electronic organ. It's hard to tell if it's a real Hammond B3, but that's what it is intended to sound like. It was a staple of the sound in that era.
Puntable Jan 8th 2010 1:59PM
What does Bronjham say as he dies? I have never figured that out.
Moo Jan 8th 2010 3:40PM
@Martin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-FcNSDGKw
jbodar Jan 8th 2010 6:23PM
@Puntable
From the wiki I posted above, it sounds like the 2nd part is as incoherent as James Brown was at times:
Death
* My soul for you, master.
* Singing sounds, passing into dying sounds.
Sleutel Jan 7th 2010 8:20PM
"If you have an enchanter that hasn't finished leveling the tradeskill, you might be able to disenchant greens but not blues or epics."
Fun fact: It's possible to have an enchanter in your group who can DE the blues but not the greens.
Starsmore Jan 7th 2010 9:09PM
As the enchanter in a group, this pisses me off. Why can I DE a blue, yet I can't DE a lower-ilvl green? TELL ME WHY, BLIZZ!
Hal Jan 8th 2010 12:01AM
If an enchanter is in the group and people are rolling Disenchant, does the character in question get skill points for the disenchanting?
Sleutel Jan 8th 2010 12:48AM
Good question. I would assume so... Are there any instances that drop low-enough-level items that a chanter with skill low enough to get points from DEing gear could even DE any of it, though?
Bronwyn Jan 8th 2010 12:50AM
@Hal- No. You also only get skill from disenchanting up to a very low level initially, so even if you *did* get skill for the d/e, it wouldn't matter past the first few lower level instances because you'd not get skill from d/e at that point anyway.
Shale Jan 7th 2010 8:27PM
This question has been asked a gazillion times before so here's to make it a gazillion and one. When is Patches of Yesteryear returning if ever?
The first and so far only edition was such a nostalgic piece to read I'd hate to see it fall into jaws of Neltharion.
Pemberton Jan 7th 2010 8:28PM
"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. "
Which is a real shock when you ARE an enchanter of high skill and start running things on your non-enchanter alt. "WTF... this button doesn't work!"
Snuzzle Jan 8th 2010 12:03AM
It just annoys me frankly that people don't even know that it's because I took the time to level my enchanting that they can click a button to get shards. Always thank your enchanter in PuGs, folks!
Tom Jan 7th 2010 8:28PM
I've had a number of situations where I have been unable to roll for gear in instances:
The simplest was on my hunter where a leather item dropped which was an upgrade for my Leather quest reward chest. Being that I was a hunter I wasn't able to need it (I'm a mail user doncha know?) and so Blizz doesn't want me ninja'ing gear. Obviously the Mage, Warrior, Warlock and Priest didn't want it either so some nice gear got disenchanted.
More recently I was trying to roll for some level 58 green cloth gloves that dropped for my Mage in Hellfire Ramparts. Neither myself nor the Priest could roll on the gloves and so they were lost in greed rolls. Now the Priest was 57 which sort of explains it, but is still a shame - you could hang onto them for a level or so after all.
I on the other hand was level 62. Was this a bug? Or is there some real reason why a level 62 mage wouldn't be able to roll need on level 58 cloth gloves?
Is there any news from Blizzard of upcoming tweaks to the roll restriction system?
Kole Jan 7th 2010 8:49PM
...and it sucks when a druid tank rolls need on a shield and wins it...(over a pally.)
It WAS in SFK so maybe it "doesn't count" at that level...sigh...shrug.
jbodar Jan 7th 2010 10:06PM
@Kole
You could have just asked him to trade it to you, assuming you couldn't resist the urge to say "WTF, faildruid?!" Loot drops can be traded cross-realm.
Someone in my PUG once rolled Need on a set of boots that were a (slight) upgrade to me, but he was already wearing them, enchanted and all, so I simply asked if he'd trade them to me, and he did.
That's also assuming this Druid wasn't just being a wanton douchebag.
Fairlane Jan 7th 2010 11:17PM
I advise my partymates that if they want something that Blizzard won't let them roll on, they'd better speak up - and we'll be happy to /roll after I Need it.