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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: I am 25 minutes older than Alex
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 25th 2010 at 11:00AM
On January 24th, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. central I was officially welcomed into the WoW Insider family. At 9:52 p.m. central that same evening Alex Ziebart was brought on board. Between the 25 minutes that I was on staff and Alex wasn't, I had already leaked three Blizzard secrets, pissed off Blizzard PR four times, got an angry email from Ghostcrawler about calling warriors the redheaded step children of WoW, and was fired and rehired at least five separate times by Liz Harper.
Alex, my friend, you have a lot of catching up to do. Get crackin' you whipper snapper!
In all seriousness, between my first post and this one, the two years I've spent writing here have been awesome. It's a job that I never thought I'd have, and definitely one that I never thought I'd stay in this long. And out of all the columns I write, penning The Queue twice a week for you all is some of the most fun I have. So let's get to it!
Justin asked...
"What's Frostmourne doing in the armory?"
It was a demo item at BlizzCon a few years ago, which is why it's named Frostmourne Art Demo. It's not the real thing.
Outlier asked...
"Are mobs tougher to tank now in 3.3? They seem to be harder to position."
There was a bug with positioning just as patch 3.3 came out, but that was hotfixed a couple days later. Everything should be fine now, and I haven't noticed any troubles in my daily heroic tanking.
DarkSide asked...
"What's the best tanking shield I can get from running heroics?"
You'll want to get the Splintered Door of the Citadel from killing Marwyn in regular Halls of Reflection. Have fun farming it, it's only got a 15% drop rate and never seems to come up for tanks that need it.
Mrs. Rossi lamented...
"Do you guys have That Guy in your guild who reads the guild apps and immediately turns everyone down?"
During the time I spent as an officer in a big high end raiding guild, we had several people who fit that bill exactly. I never really appreciated their input. Often times they'd pass up exceptional candidates because they'd misspell a complicated word, or forget to list that they cleared Kara even though they were five bosses into Sunwell. Those silly things never do anyone any good. And they never got a chance to even comment on the applications that were just down right bad -- like the rogue in all greens claiming he can do 2000 dps.
One got so bad that I had to talk with him about it, and gently ask him not to post on applications for a bit. He didn't take it too well, but the rest of the guild was getting pretty angry about it. Eventually he gquit and left the game, but it was pretty obvious from the get go he wasn't happy with it anymore.
The moral of the story here, if there is one, is that people in general need to have a level head and be calm when reading over guild applications. Hot heads and quick decisions never do anyone any good.
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 Queue
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 7)
daan.leijen Jan 25th 2010 11:20AM
I guess so if you're talking normal modes, something like Anub'Arak HC will defo not be possible.
Kershalock Jan 25th 2010 11:17AM
Still looking for an answer to the kodo mystery - warm blooded mammals, cold blooded giant riding lizards?
Anyone point me at a resource for Azerothian Zoology?
Ray Jan 25th 2010 11:20AM
Cold-blooded riding lizards
http://www.wowwiki.com/Kodo
jealouspirate Jan 25th 2010 11:30AM
According to WoWWiki, they're "massive reptiles".
Consistent with that, I believe there are some mobs in the Barrens called something like "Thunder Lizard" that has a kodo skin.
maniraptor Jan 25th 2010 11:36AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantothermy
Kershalock Jan 25th 2010 11:59AM
The Gigantothermy link is really helpful, thanks.
So common consensus suggests that husband was right (Damn! he's going to say 'I told you so' a lot)
I guess we've never seen a kodo nest with eggs, and I'm a bit surprised that there are woolly reptiles running around Mulgore and the Barrens, but apparently my Kodo is a lizard after all. I guess I'll just have to start thinking of him more as an Iguana than as a modified rhino or elephant :(
Ruhig Jan 25th 2010 11:18AM
How reasonable is it to level up in PvP Battlegrounds now? I'm considering rolling a rogue just for this purpose.
Jamin Jan 25th 2010 11:43AM
"How reasonable is it to level up in PvP Battlegrounds now? I'm considering rolling a rogue just for this purpose."
Very reasonable depending on your battlegroup and how quickly you want to level. I've been leveling a warlock almost exclusively in the battlegrounds and went 1-58 in about 3 weeks of playing in my down time (most of my game time spent on my main raiding).
Depending on your BG you may experience frustating queue times or brackets where your faction is horrible compared to the enemy. For me, Arathi Basin has been the best BG so far. Horde nearly always win and often we 5 cap within a couple minutes. WSG on the other hand has been almost worthless. 25 minutes of turtling and pain for almost no XP.
Alterac Valley is awesome XP once you reach level 51 *if* your side does well. A win is something like 33% of my total XP for the level, so about 3 wins to ding. On the other hand, if the queue times suck or your side just isn't doing well it can be not worth it.
The gear you can obtain with BG marks is nice as well. Personally I would say, give it a shot, but be prepared to break from BGs and quest from time to time when it's not going so well.
Questing is almost certainly going to be faster, but I love being able to queue from anywhere and I find questing to be a grind compared to battlegrounds.
Valt Jan 25th 2010 11:19AM
I just watched my characters armory and it said that 2 of my characters had undergone sex change from female to male...according to model and icon on top.
Is this bug in armory or whats going on? I cannot check my account because my time ended, and it still says its ended when I try to log so it cant be hacked or anything.
Funny that day after it ended and I was suppos to have break from wow. I checked armory, as addicted I am, I noticed this. Makes me want to pay time and log in to check.. seems like conspiracy to me..maybe not but :I
Valt Jan 25th 2010 12:52PM
Nvm its prolly cos I logged out wearing ogre costume and other deviate fish from ironboot flask (flask -> fish -> male pirate). Thats weirdest shiz I've encountered so far..
Dragundam Jan 25th 2010 12:53PM
There are a couple of bugs in the armory where if you're under the influence of potions or an buff that changes your look (brunnhildar I guess would be one), and log out, it will change your gender in the armory. I know pygmy oil does it. I know some of my guildies were playing with it when it first came out.
Cygnis Jan 25th 2010 11:20AM
What's up with Balgarde Keep? It's just sitting there with all those closed doors out in west Icecrown and a big horn on the top.
Yet another in the things that might have been?
Valt Jan 25th 2010 11:33AM
It is involved in quest chain from "bone witch". I dont go in further details but.. go check it out. Its pretty epic.
Ray Jan 25th 2010 11:31AM
Why will wow.com not let me change my password or any other information even?!
Shade Jan 25th 2010 11:37AM
I've got one I just noticed the other day.
Why is there an ammo vendor in ebon hold?
Dragundam Jan 25th 2010 12:57PM
Because us hunters do quests for the Ebon Blade too. There's an ammo vendor in almost every quest-hub.
Shade Jan 25th 2010 1:07PM
I ment in the area only dk's can get to. Arch - something
Eddy Jan 25th 2010 2:20PM
Convenience? I mean, this is a bit of a stretch and not something I've needed to do since Jeeves, but I know sometimes during a raid that had taken way, way more wipes than anyone had expected, the group would nominate one person to make a reagent run (or say, one person needed candles and they'd grab some ammo for the hunters.) I guess it makes sense to just scatter vendors around that have items that people might need.
dawnseven Jan 25th 2010 3:05PM
Sorry, but I think it's a little weird too. They'll put an ammo vendor in Ebon Hold just in case some ill-equipped hunter (or other ranged weapon toting class) runs out of bullets and/or arrows during a run as a convenience, but they don't include other far more useful conveniences like a mailbox?
Artificial Jan 25th 2010 5:31PM
@Slade: It's "Archerus", although "The Ebon Hold" is an equally valid name for the place. Dragundam had no idea what he's talking about, particularly given that the place is not in any way, shape, or form, a "quest hub". I believe the non-instanced version offers, what, precisely zero quests if I'm not mistaken? Even the "starting zone" version doesn't offer many quests (the "quest hub" in the DK starting zone is the encampment below), and it certainly doesn't offer any at all to hunters.