Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsThe Queue: Earthquake bonanza
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 2nd 2010 at 2:00PM
Today we're going to skip the wacky shenanigans that usually plague the intros to the Queue. Instead, I'm going to blow your minds with the news that Chile's recent earthquake was large enough that it has potentially moved the Earth's axis and an Earth day is now shorter because of it.
dav103id asked...
"When running Shadowfang Keep during Love is in the Air, did anyone else notice Arugal on the other side of the courthouse gate when you first enter the instance? Has he always been there at that location or was he added for the Love is in the Air boss event?"
That's always been there, but it's incredibly easy to miss. That little event starts up as soon as you take a few steps into the instance, so if you take a right to get started instead of running straight ahead up to the gate, you can miss it completely. I ran Shadowfang Keep dozens of times before I even noticed it the first time. I was amazed that I managed to miss it for so long.
Kragragh asked...
"I am about to install WoW on a new computer. Do I have to swap out all 11 discs then patch? What's the quickest way to install the full set with both expansions from scratch?"
The Wrath of the Lich King installer can install the whole thing, you don't need to start from Vanilla and work your way up. Pop the Wrath disc(s) in and you're good to go.
Suzanne Flowers asked...
"In TBC we were able to fly in and out of anywhere in Shattrath City. Why are we not allowed to use flying mounts inside of Dalaran? Why the change? I can't remember any issues with people being mounted in Shatt."
Like other readers mentioned in the comments yesterday, the primary reason given is that they want Dalaran to feel more like a city. They wanted people on the ground and in the streets, running around and mingling together. In Shattrath people could float around wherever they pleased and zoom from point A to point B on their epic flying mount. They didn't like that. It's also a much smaller city that is far more laggy than Shattrath ever was. If everyone could sit around on their flying mounts, the streets of Dalaran would be completely hidden by the sparkly wings of dragons. That's no good.
Personally, I thought Shattrath felt a lot more like a city than Dalaran. Dalaran is far too small and compact. It kind of feels like I'm doing my trading and banking in Barbie's Magical Dollhouse.
Faith Trust asked...
"Is there a reason why caster heirloom trinkets don't give you mana back when you are healing in a group? ...is it a bug?"
It's not a bug. Those trinkets require killing blows. They're not for healing, they're for murder. Heirlooms are aimed at making solo leveling as quick and painless as possible and aren't really aimed at roles like healing or tanking.
Harsesis asked...
"What is the purpose of the 1 hour wait time to get your money from auctions? I remember that it wasn't always this way, I believe a patch during BC implemented this, but I never understood the change. I guess the same question could be asked about the purpose of the 1 hour wait time to mail stuff to other characters, where it is instantaneous to mail between alts."
I believe that when this was all implemented, the reason given was that it slowed down the money laundering process that gold sellers will use to distribute sold, stolen and purchased gold. It makes it harder to move funds around, and the gold seller doesn't have instant gratification when they sell off the entire contents of a stolen account. There's a waiting period involved, and that slows things down and makes it all a bit more risky for the hacker.
Those concerns aren't really there when you're mailing items from one character on your account to another on the same account.
Elish asked...
"Why is it that the Titans couldn't kill the Old Gods, but we can? So far the world hasn't fallen apart due to their destruction and while it will (thanks Deathwing), it's not because of the whole roots of corruption. Everywhere it says that the Titans could only contain the Old Gods to allow order to blossom, yet we just walk into their prisons and execute them. So if we keep killing Old Gods will Azeroth be torn apart?"
We certainly don't know for sure what the consequences will be, but Chris Metzen mentioned at BlizzCon 09 that we'll see the ill effects of what we've done sometime down the road. Somewhere, sometime, there will be ramifications.
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: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 9)
Teront Mar 2nd 2010 2:22PM
I just reinstalled wow for my 60th time, it seems. My board has been giving me lots of problems.
I had heard you could just put the files on external drive then copy them over. So i gave it a go, saved my whole 18GB installation directory onto an external drive. Wow launched just fine and I lost none of my add on settings ( my real goal) No patching or anything.
zhaharik Mar 2nd 2010 3:23PM
If you don't have space to transfer the whole 18GB, you might still want to reinstall from the WotLK disk, then copy your downloaded patch files from your previous installation and run them again to avoid having to download the post-release patches.
Mine seem to be scattered around a bit randomly. Most are in the "Program Files/World of Warcraft" folder (the patch files look like "WoW-3.2.0.10314-to-3.2.2.10482-enGB-patch.exe" - I assume different regions would have enUS instead of enGB, for example), with a few updates to be found in "World of Warcraft/Patches" and "World of Warcraft/Updates".
You'll need to work out exactly which version you're at after the disk install, then apply the remaining patches in sequence. Obviously, if you've a decent speed connection then it might be less hassle just to download them again.
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2010 2:23PM
Add-ons are not platform specific.
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2010 2:24PM
Damn reply fail. Meant for Grundy.
D-back Mar 2nd 2010 2:24PM
The Earth's axis is never constant and will always wobble due to cosmic and gravitational forces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles
Also a millionth of a second per day is not going exactly disrupt anything over say the next 1000 years...
I've read scientific articles that the Earth has actually been slowing since Cretaceous time due to the radio active decay process and mantle convection reducing the spin of the earth.
Will any of us really ever notice any of this probably not but I just wanted to point out that was a terrible article and I had several people calling at ask me if it's true or we should worry. Let me re-assure you, I think we will manage through this one...
Derrek Mar 2nd 2010 3:09PM
Exactly.
Also see my reply to tyler above.
Nar Mar 2nd 2010 2:26PM
"So if we keep killing Old Gods will Azeroth be torn apart?"
Isn't that kinda happening in Cataclysm?
galestrom Mar 2nd 2010 2:26PM
If you'd like to make the WoW install process go a lot faster, copy out all of the patch exe's from the old wow directory. If you drop them into a freshly installed wow folder before you run it, it will notice they're already there, and save you the time involved with downloading them all again.
Andrew R. Mar 2nd 2010 2:28PM
I recently bought a new laptop with Windows 7 on it. Where is the Addons folder for WoW in Windows 7? I've searched high and low but with no luck. The setup is different from XP which I run on my older desktop.
tgrhwke Mar 2nd 2010 2:53PM
By default, under WIn Vista and 7, WoW is installed in C:\Users\Public\Games\.
staffan.johansson Mar 2nd 2010 2:30PM
I'm pretty sure we haven't KILLED any old gods. We've just slapped them around enough for them to go slinking back to wherever they were kept imprisoned.
Shevek Mar 2nd 2010 2:35PM
/face palm
Tethra Mar 2nd 2010 2:35PM
How come Alexstrasza has a unique model but poor Krasus is stuck looking like a stock Blood Elf NPC?
Jafari Mar 2nd 2010 3:08PM
... because it is more fun to design a crazy hot girl character than to redo a guy character just for kicks.
Grae Mar 2nd 2010 4:30PM
Alexstrasza's humanoid model is not exactly as unique as you might think it is.
Alexstrasza
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=26917#screenshots:id=99628
Sylvanas Windrunner
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=10181#screenshots:id=98249
tatsumasa Mar 2nd 2010 3:40PM
what kind of processors you running there? how much ram you got? on a quad-core with a few gigs of ram and an extra gig on the graphics card itself i have no lag at all anywhere with all graphics settings turned all the way up.
have you ever considered that maybe it's your computer and not the servers causing the lag that you experience and others don't?
jessie Mar 2nd 2010 2:36PM
Who is the orc in the posters that have been put up on the Auction House and Bank in Orgrimmar? It looks a little like Thrall, but the hair is a little off, isn't it? Are they just lunar festival decorations? If so, why an orc and not, say, a tauren?
cendrekai Mar 2nd 2010 2:41PM
You noticed those too? I thought I was going insane and had never seen them. There are also troll posters posted around Orgrimmar too.
Therresa of Akama Mar 2nd 2010 2:48PM
I *think* they are supposed to be pictures of the elders for lunar festival
Glaras Mar 2nd 2010 2:36PM
"Personally, I thought Shattrath felt a lot more like a city than Dalaran. Dalaran is far too small and compact."
I completely agree. But there's one thing about Shat that always bugged me: no residences. It's a "city" where nobody lived, like a giant office building. NPCs clocked in for work, did their thing... and that's it. There's no place that *looks* like it was intended to be an apartment building, say.
It's a complaint I could easily level at Darnassus, Exodar, Undercity, even Orgrimmar and Silvermoon to a certain degree. Ironforge and Stormwind both have many places that are clearly intended to represent housing used by "residents" of the city, and that's always been something I liked. I generally use IF as "home", regardless of the race of toon I'm playing. For awhile, I even "moved in" to the space above Barim Jurgenstaad's reagent shop (on the outer rim, just north of the Commons). No furniture, but it had a balcony with a view of courtyard. I don't RP, but it was nice to have a place to "park" my toons where I didn't have elekks on top of me when I came back.
I'd love to see more of that kind of thing in the cities when Cataclysm hits.