Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Elephants
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 12th 2010 at 5:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.
Re: the title -- unlike them, I do forget. To write The Queue.
Wil asked...
"Is Blizzard considering making emblems bind-to-account? For someone who's got multiple alts (and intends to level more), this would be a godsend. What would be the pros and cons of such a change?"
Blizzard has said that they intend for emblems to be an endgame, character-specific reward. Heirlooms, purchasable with said emblems, are a secondary reward to help your alts get to the point of being able to get their own badges.
Will this change for Cataclysm, though? Do we ever really know the answer to that?
Guitarwolf asked...
"Do you think that with the revamping of quest rewards and items around Cataclysm will bring gear with gem slots to pre-level 60 items? I know that JC requires Burning Crusade to train, but Blizz adding minimum level requirements to equippable gems would make use of all the cruddy BC gems, as well as give people a chance to learn how to gem earlier in the game."
Blizzard has said that they made a mistake making leveling gear gemmable at all in BC, and you'll notice that they fixed it for Wrath. You end up with weird item level problems and gear that shouldn't be as good as it is (remember the blue armor that bears wore in BC because it had three red sockets in it). I don't anticipate that this particular design philosophy will change, but nothing's set in stone.
Zalvi24 asked...
"Question: do you think with the simplification of stats and reforging system that is gonna come with cataclysm that we're gonna see the return of the beloved/hated shockadins with a 31/0/45?"
Yes and no. I think we'll be seeing builds that are a lot more "fun", like shockadins, but it's important to remember that talent trees are changing a lot in Cataclysm and the general structure of your trees might or might not be quite different depending on what you play. Ghostcrawler has said that the intention of the talent tree changes is to make talents more fun. I hope he's right.
Grinton asked...
"It seems all the good PvP gear needs either Arena participation or VoA drops. The other alternative is the daily BG quest for arena points but those are so measly. So for someone who loves PvP in BG but despises arenas, are there any other ways to get arena points? I know lower Ilevel stuff only need honour but the weapons need points. Do I have any alternatives other than arena or raiding?"
In Wrath? Unfortunately, not at the moment. In Cataclysm, though, the new rated Battlegrounds will give arena points for victories. Yes, that's right! You'll be able to get the best PVP gear by doing the type of PVP that you like. What a crazy world.
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)
Mattimus Feb 12th 2010 5:37PM
They will make a new Ask A Beta Tester column, presumably, when the Cataclysm beta comes out.
Silversol Feb 12th 2010 5:53PM
Assuming they aren't under a non-disclosure contract.
Ringo Flinthammer Feb 12th 2010 11:36PM
Blizzard doesn't do betas with NDAs, just F&F Alpha, and even those expire when alpha ends.
Possum Feb 12th 2010 5:19PM
Question: The Darkspear trolls have been living with the Orcs very closely for 7-8? years now. The majority seem to live in Orgrimmar while a small number live in a fishing village on the coast of Durotar. What are the cultural impacts of this on the trolls? The Darkspear are supposed to be jungle trolls but there are little trolls growing up in Orgrimmar now who’ve never been out of it’s walls and the closest thing they’ve seen to a jungle are the few palm trees in the Valley of Spirits.
If we were to compare this to real life examples this would make these children second generation immigrants, they only speak troll at home and Orcish everywhere else.
As these are the last of the Darkspear trolls will their culture survive? In a few generations will trolls greet you with Lok’tar Ogar friend?
Irem Feb 12th 2010 5:34PM
My troll character (I play on an RP server) is deeply concerned about exactly those issues. :P
I really hope Cataclysm gives the Darkspear some of their cultural identity back, enough to feel like they're not just shadowing the orcs constantly. Even if one of the devs thinks lacking that identity is part of their charm.
Nazgûl Feb 12th 2010 6:17PM
Stranglethorn is listed as having a "huge" overhaul on the maps we've seen, so I'm holding out hope that we see - at the very least - a huge Troll outpost (larger than Grom'gol) for Vol'jin and his Darkspears, especially since they've been kicked out of Orgrimmar.
coagulator13 Feb 12th 2010 5:21PM
One of the issues WoW has always had has been related to it's "engine". Cataclysm will no doubt bring more/better graphics, but do you think it will be brought up to date in regards to technology? Or is the splitting of the factions just the easy way of reducing lag in the capital cities?
Daniel Feb 12th 2010 5:34PM
Blizzard has stated that they would like to see more competition between the factions, not less. Go back and look at the original WoW trailer (on Youtube) and its entire focus is on Horde vs Alliance. I think they have a genuine interest in retuning to that as a focus for the game. It's not about lag at all.
Samutz Feb 12th 2010 5:25PM
Personally, I think emblems should never be BoA. Earning them with each class/spec forces the player to learn how to play their part in the heroics. You don't want a fresh 80 to skip all the heroics and go straight to raiding.
Sort of on the topic of BoA, what I would like to see is shared professions across my characters, at least the secondary ones (mainly cooking and fishing). Fishing takes a lot of time and patience, and professions are mostly the same no matter what class/race/faction you are.
This is just something I've been thinking about while I'm leveling fishing and cooking on my 2nd salty chef.
Jack Spicer Feb 12th 2010 5:28PM
I would love it if alts shared reputations.
Tethra Feb 12th 2010 5:51PM
Instead of making badges BoA, they should make the old badge gear BoA. That way, we can finally find some use for all those Badges of Justice we have lying around.
Hrothgar Feb 12th 2010 5:56PM
I see your point, but let me counter with this very real scenerio:
I have 4 lvl 80 toons. All four of them no longer have upgrades available from EoT or lower. But, I run all of them, every day, in the heroics to get Frost badges. This means that each of them now have Triumph badges that are useless, except for downgrading them to Honor badges to buy heirlooms.
Why would you want to prevent me from sharing those badges to make the prospect of buying heirlooms easier? I'm not talking about sharing Frost badges, at least not until the next level of badge comes along.
I raid with all four toons and keep them all current with gems and enchants and I use RAWR and spreadsheets to keep them viable. I'll have every piece of heirloom gear by the time Cata comes along so in the long run, I guess it doesn't make any difference. But it seems pointless to force a player to grind for emblems on each toon.
Other scenerios to consider... Maybe I only want to raid on one toon. Maybe I have a DK that I want to turn in to my bank alt with mining/herbalism. If I can get him well geared with emblems, he doesn't get killed as often mining saronite in the bombardment.
Kyle Feb 12th 2010 7:21PM
The only real bonus I see to making badges BOA would be that I could chain run heroics on my tank to get my alts gear. This would speed up the wait as people grind gear in heal/tank spec for their DPS alts.
Im sure their would be a way to exploit this though so i know it will never happen.
slythwolf Feb 12th 2010 8:17PM
I like Jack's suggestion about alts sharing rep, but I think it would make more sense lore-wise if your alts shared *partial* rep--maybe they earn 2/3 of the rep you get with each faction and have to grind up the rest on their own. Then it would be like, oh, we know you, you're Bob's friend, we love Bob! Here, have a revered-level shoulder enchant!
Hal Feb 12th 2010 9:29PM
My thought has always been that the emblems from the previous expansion ought to be BoA, or at least the gear from said emblem purchases. I solo BC heroics with my tank all the time, but the badges are practically worthless. Even for crafting gear with the primal nethers, most of that gear is BoP, so I can't even make that for up and coming alts.
Wil Feb 13th 2010 5:27AM
@Hrothgar
I am in the exact same situation. I have in excess of 1000 Emblems of Triumph across 3 toons. Like you, I do the Frost Random Dungeon each day, and also have no real need for the Triumph Badges to purchase upgrades for my current gear. I don't even need those Triumphs to downgrade to buy heirlooms; I have Champion Seals for that. Someone suggested that I redeem them for orbs and such to sell, but again, I'm not that hard up on cash. I'd really like Blizzard to look at a way we can liquidate these emblems to benefit our up and coming alts.
@Samutz
Personally, I wouldn't even consider skipping heroics if Blizzard made Triumph Badges bind-to-account. Not while they're offering Frosts as incentives, anyway.
@slythwolf
Enchants that require revered reputation with NR factions are all heirlooms already, if I'm not mistaken.
Jack Spicer Feb 12th 2010 5:27PM
As a JC, the change in Wrath that I hated the most was the fact that leveling gear no longer had sockets in it.
Gems have never really lived up to their promise, IMO. They were supposed to be a way to customize our gear, but how many viable gems choices do you really have?
supracom Feb 12th 2010 5:32PM
But leveling gear does have sockets!
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=2:3;cr=131:80:18;crs=1:5:1;crv=0:0:0#0+1
I've a leveling priest rocking Alystros's Plume Cinch
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37937
Tooay Feb 12th 2010 7:03PM
@Supracom:
You'll notice that all the items in that listing are Icecrown and Storm Peaks quest rewards, which are the end leveling zones for that last rush to 80. These items are more like very early end-game gear to tackle your first heroics than actual leveling gear.
When people think "leveling", most of them have in mind, say level 30 to 80, rather than level 75 to 80.
Terestria Feb 13th 2010 10:15AM
I have to agree with sentiment here. I understand that having leveling items with sockets can make them overpowered with the highest level of gems, but it also makes common cut gems practically worthless. We essentially leveled 40+ JC levels making a whole slew of common cut gems that many 80s wouldn't touch in favor of rare quality (prior to epic gems released). The only true market for them was