The Queue: So much awesome it hurts. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
by Basil Berntsen 
Feb 16th 2010 at 5:00PM
I asked to write today's edition because you guys are all awesome.
Valorum asked...
"Why do you have to be in a raid to zone into a raid zone? If I can get one other person to join a group, convert it to a raid, and have that person log out and still be able to get into a raid zone, what's the purpose in not letting anyone into one, like anyone can enter any 5-man zone?"
It's a bit of a relic. It's an old design that probably could be changed without significantly affecting the game, but I don't see Blizzard making a change for this.
Transit asked...
"You know that picture of Deathwing over the ruined building with a city burning in the background? The one they released as a wallpaper? Well, is that image to scale? Is Deathwing really that big? If so, how do you think tanking that monster will play out when it seems like it could crush someone with out even noticing they are there."
Deathwing's hit box is so big, it has its own zip code. He's so enormous, he has his own gravity well. When you're fighting him, not only will the ranged be out of range of the healers, they'll need to zone twice to get back in range! You know that graphics setting where you specify the maximum range of object to render? It's going to have to be increased. That's why Blizzard is increasing the minimum system requirements, actually!
Noid asked...
"Will Alliance and Horde actually have to work together on something other than Arthas? Against Deathwing?"
Nope. Blizzard was pretty clear that any de-facto partnership we had during the fight against Arthas will dissolve when we get back home and see how much less resources there are to go around. I, for one, am looking forward to the change. The ideology of the two factions always seemed too opposite to really work together for long, and I think that was part of the initial appeal of the game to many people.
Victor asked...
"Is Blizz going to do the Spirit of Competition holiday like they did two years ago for Winter Olympics?"
Not that we've heard of. Considering that there's already two holidays overlapping now, I doubt it though.
Andrew R. asked...
"Why are the Paladin blessings only 10 minutes save for the greater blessings but mark of the wild and arcane intellect are 30 minutes?"
Young'uns these days! Don't complain... I remember when they were 5 minutes. Actually, as far as I know, the original design of paladins called for them to have to micromanage these short term buffs, however they distanced themselves from that mechanic in patch 2.2. Also, as Banndit pointed out in the comments, at least you're not warriors refreshing shouts!
Gamer am I asked...
"I've always been curious: how does WoW.com pick the questions for The Queue each day"
There's a complex algorithm where whoever gets picked to answer the questions does it completely arbitrarily. Personally, I like to throw darts at my laptop. Speak of which, WoW.com editors, where do I expense a new laptop? I keep having to scroll past the dart holes to read the next question.
Vacasta asked...
"Have gold farmers caused blizzard to lower gold's utility? It seems that there are fewer and fewer BoE items as time goes on"
It certainly seems that way, but it's not just farmers. There's a growing segment of players who view accumulating gold as an end game in and of itself (including yours truly). It's not really fair to let some market genius with hundreds of thousands of gold achieve the same PvE and PvP rewards as someone who really spends the time and gets their skill to the point where they can earn them.
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 1 of 7)
Dustin Feb 16th 2010 5:09PM
I never got the zoning-in to raids deal either.. more of an annoyance than anything. Especially when you just wanna farm ZG or something.
evangelisiti Feb 16th 2010 5:16PM
I think the reason Blizz makes you have to be in a raid to zone in to a raid zone is to limit the number of raid instances created. Imagine if you attempted to zone in to do ICC hardmodes and you got the "additional raid instances could not be created" message from too many people checking out the armor vendors inside?
Help me! Feb 16th 2010 5:48PM
It's a good basic sanity check too
Imagine if you had 5-10 people accidentally zone into their own copy of Icecrown every Tuesday for every raid because they didn't notice that they weren't in the raid group yet (or they're hiding from the 10v1 pvp superstars outside)
SoundScape Feb 16th 2010 5:50PM
@evangelisiti
They could just put the vendors outside the instance? :O
Neirin Feb 16th 2010 6:09PM
The armor merchants in dal actually have t10. Not the emblem vendors, the actual armor vendors (i.e. have the tag "Plate Armor Merchant").
flawless Feb 16th 2010 6:55PM
@SoundScape
They did. All items can be obtained, bar Ashen Verdict rep items, from vendors in Dalaran. Including T10.
Turbokid Feb 16th 2010 8:49PM
I guess you never played Everquest? The bosses werent zoned so only one group got to fight them at a time. Sound like fun?
mattsmash Feb 16th 2010 5:12PM
"Blizzard is increasing the minimum system requirements" Oh man, any guesses as to what?
Felix_rew Feb 17th 2010 12:57PM
I think it was a joke...
Question for the queue:
Now Arthas is dead, will Ymijar and the other vrykrul be free?
king_tiesto Feb 16th 2010 7:11PM
I think it was mentioned that Blizzard were increasing minimum system requirements due to Cataclysm being much more demanding for the Graphics.
Nathanyel Feb 17th 2010 4:52AM
Felix_rew: I strongly doubt it. Most of the undead Vrykul actually chose to become servants of the Lich King, to achieve immortality slash to not "degrade" into Azotha because of the Curse of Flesh http://www.wowwiki.com/Azotha
Al Feb 17th 2010 6:07AM
But the Lich King's only been around 20 years or so.
Gnosh Feb 17th 2010 9:20AM
More like 8-10. Four years between WCIII:FC and WoW vanilla, three-ish years elapsed in-game last I checked.
Give or take the time he spent as only ner'zul, gathering followers. When, specifically, was the War of the Spider? Does anyone know?
Joey2250 Feb 17th 2010 2:38PM
I hope they do, I would prefer to have my world graphics to be post 2004 quality.
carlfike Feb 16th 2010 5:14PM
I completely disagree with this:
"It's not really fair to let some market genius with hundreds of thousands of gold achieve the same PvE and PvP rewards as someone who really spends the time and gets their skill to the point where they can earn them."
Those people who play the market and pwn the AH are putting in a pretty good amount of time. You know how much ore you need to farm or herbs you need to gather to get a couple a thousand gold? It's a ton.
Lemons Feb 16th 2010 5:23PM
Blizz wants you to get together with 24 other people and actually play their content to get the best gear, not sit in IF and solo the AH boss.
carlfike Feb 16th 2010 5:30PM
Once again this comes down to a simple statement: Who are you to tell someone how they should play a game? Blizzard doesn't give a rats behind what you do in game as long as you don't break TOS and pay your $15 a month.
galestrom Feb 16th 2010 5:32PM
It's worth noting that none of the time spent playing the AH is helping to improve that player's skill when it comes to playing the game.
I've certainly come across it in my travels. Consider the player who has nothing but time to mine Saronite -- and does, to the tune of 2k+ gold per day. He then goes and equips the best money can buy, and *looks* like he's ready for most any raid. Sadly, once the 'Ready Check' has come and gone, it quickly becomes clear that he doesn't know what he's doing. His time played far exceeds most, and yet he doesn't have the basics of his class down.
Kudos to those who can manage both aspects of the game, but in my opinion, playing the AH should not be a suitable replacement to doing the hard work necessary to earn the gear. :)
Sylvaine Feb 16th 2010 5:36PM
You would be surprised how much gold you can make with a lot less effort than farming.
A guildy simply buys out all the ore/herbs/whatever on the AH during the week, and then sells it for twice as much on the weekend.
Another guildy makes a ton by buying up epic patterns and mats and then selling the crafted items for a bunch more than he paid for the mats alone.
Neither of them puts much time into this, except to click Buy, Buy, Buy and then creating new auctions.
Nicholas Tam Feb 16th 2010 5:50PM
Playing the AH takes a lot less time than grinding rep on Icecrown trash, and probably more skill. If you want to restrict the best raiding gear to people who raid or the best PVP gear to people who PVP, that's all well and good, but there should at least be some rate of exchange between "grindables" (emblems/rep) and hard cash. This currently exists on the Orbs/Primordial Saronite market, but not really anywhere else.
Moreover, Blizzard needs more exciting gold dumps for serious market players, at least to keep rampant inflation under control. The Traveller's Tundra Mammoth was a good start (it's fun to show off AND it's uniquely useful), as are the Portable Holes and Kirin Tor rings, but what we really need is a six-figure gold dump that is otherwise out of reach.