The Queue: 92 128 154 200 251 264
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 8th 2010 at 11:00AM
If you understand what those numbers mean... then, well... it's time for a drink -- no matter what time of day it is.
Zaak asked...
"How do you think the new Cataclysm mobs while leveling to 85 will be affected by all the people who are getting geared through ICC? I mean there gonna have to make it a little easy for the new people hitting 80 once it hits, because they won't be wearing 264 pieces instead most of it under 200."
If I was designing the mob strength in Cataclysm, I'd make it so a level 80 in quest greens wouldn't have too hard of a time taking them down. Blizzard has not tuned mob difficulty for the top tier of content in the previous expansions, but instead tunes difficulty (in my opinion) somewhere around dungeons blues or the first tier of raiding. That makes it slightly more challenging for people in quest greens, but not ungodly difficult, while still allowing people who have worked for gear to feel like they have a leg up with the level curve.
When Wrath hit I had a warrior tank in T6.5 gear and a mix of T6/6.5 DPS gear -- I absolutely plowed through all the content; it was a joke. I've since leveled toons through Wrath that have had outland greens through T5 -- all haven't been overly challenging, but it wasn't a wash either.
Blizzard could implement internal mob strength variables that overtuend the mob's difficulty at Cataclysm's release, and then backed the difficulty down after a while -- but I doubt they'd do that. They want people to level their alts, and I know that as soon as my paladin (or hunter, haven't decided which I'll level first) hits 85 I'll begin immediately leveling other toons.
I also think that 251/264 gear will probably be enough for the first tier of raid content. My tier 6/6.5 gear let me go into Naxx without any trouble, and I would expect the same thing in Cataclysm. Blizzard said a BlizzCon 2009 that Icecrown Citadel gear will keep you happy through the initial level 85 content; to me that means the first raiding tier at 85.
Deweymaverick asked...
"I know, based on the articles posted over the past few weeks that soon PvP currencies are going away. But do Stone Keeper Shards count as a PvP currency? Have they been removed on the PTR, or is it just the Marks of Honor that are being eliminated?"
Stone Keeper Shards are still around. I doubt Blizzard will be removing them given that you can buy heirloom items with them, and they'll still be relatively easily obtainable in Cataclysm through the weekly PvE-like quests in Wintergrasp.
Chris asked...
"Since the 4.0 patch will likely contain all the data that we need for Cataclysm do you think Blizzard will give people the option of not buying a disk and buying just the activation code? I would certainly prefer to have an email sent to me at 12:01 AM on the day Cataclysm comes out with an activation code than to stand in line for hours waiting for the physical game."
I wish they would do this. They won't be, however. The press that Blizzard gets for having millions of nerds stand outside in lines at midnight around the country is something they won't let go of.
Make me eat my words though, please. I'll even make a promise. If they let Cataclysm be purchased, downloaded, and activated entirely online at release in addition to or in replace of all the midnight store pickups, I'll give away something cool on the site. Maybe a pizza or something fun like that, so you can eat it while you sit in front of the computer on release night.
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 9)
Tremelizzer Mar 8th 2010 11:04AM
Those Hellboars in Hellfire Peninsula and some other creatures in Northrend have been pain in the arse, difficulty wise, for 58 level or 68 level character. Personally I found Borean Tundra easier to start as Alliance and for Horde Howling Fjord is easier.
Tremelizzer Mar 8th 2010 11:06AM
Oh and those numbers, they are itemlevels of items, aren't they? :P
Burning Crusade lowest "tier", middle tier and best, same with Wrath of the Lich King :p
busuan Mar 8th 2010 11:15AM
IMO, it's not the trash mobs difficulty settings, it's their aggro range vs density.
In Borean tundra, I don't quite remember I aggroed more than 2 mobs at the same time and I can always single target by careful position myself. But in Hellfire peninsula, the mobs are too tightly packed, especially the boars. Their aggro never stops until you clear out a fairly large area or...die.
(cutaia) Mar 8th 2010 11:19AM
Damn it all. I thought for sure I was gonna hit the lottery. Thanks for ruining it Trem. :(
Mike Mar 8th 2010 11:47AM
@busuan Having just levelled my first toon that wasn't a plate wearer through Outland and Northrend (first Paladin then DK, now Shaman), I can say that Hellfire is the absolutely worst zone in the game for mob density and frustration. I really hope that's on the shortlist for post-Cata zone fixups. Borean Tundra isn't bad at all, it's quite doable, though Howling Fjord has similar, but nowhere near as intense, frustration issues as Hellfire. I think part of it is that (if you're not levelling your first character anyway) you can fly in Northrend right out of the gate at 68, but in Outland you have to do two whole levels before you can fly.
Heilig Mar 8th 2010 12:02PM
"Burning Crusade lowest "tier", middle tier and best, same with Wrath of the Lich King "
Close, but not quite.
Naxx 40
T5
SWP
New Naxx 10
ICC10
ICC 25
Arkhill Mar 8th 2010 12:27PM
I started leveling my T4 geared Mage the night WotLK dropped, and it was a huge pain in BT because the way Blizzard designs mob spawns. The more people in the area, the more mobs.
I know when I leveled my Prot Pally a few months ago, there were maybe 2 other people in the area, and I couldn't pull enough mobs.
Melvyl Mar 8th 2010 2:17PM
On my first toon to reach HP, a mis-geared Holy Paladin, I still remember a battle with a lvl62 or 63 Fel Orc that I barely eeked out. My other toons, DKs and heirloomed Priest, have had a much easier time.
My Resto/Balance Druid (currently 73) still levels a lot in LFG. I wonder how many people will choose to level all or part just by running dungeons?
TR Mar 8th 2010 1:55PM
Damn (pun intended) those things!!! The Starving Helboars were the first mobs in WoW I absolutely /hated/ with a passion beyond anything in any MMO I've ever played. I'm convinced they serve no purpose other than to mark the presence of whatever ever quest item you've been sent out to gather. Their aggro zone are so close to each other that you cannot avoid one without aggroing at least 2 others. I understand the idea behind these large zones is because they're starving. Well, they're not eating each other or any of the other densely packed mobs in the zone are they?
One helboar I killed dropped a sharp stiletto, and while it was described as a dagger weapon, it may have actually been a shoe. This would explain what the Sisters of Grief in Hellfire Peninsula do in their spare time, why there are so many helboars in the zone, and why they seem to respawn so quickly.
Ok, rant's over. I feel better now.
windstalker668 Mar 8th 2010 2:20PM
I never had a problem with the boars, but those first couple Forge Camps sucked, hard. I mean it was terrible, even as a hunter. I couldn't single pull anything and when one would aggro it would aggro a cannon and then some waling mob would come by and when I thought I might have it under control one that I had killed before the pull had respawned, it was horrible. But after the first couple quests and once you are out of Thrallmar, Hellfire gets a little better, although still densely populated in some places.
Jabbaprime Mar 8th 2010 3:45PM
You do know Hellboars are the murlocs of outlands right?
Yes HFP is full of murlocs *shudder*
Qot Mar 8th 2010 4:37PM
Hellboars never bothered me (I originally leveled as a priest, so the art of the single-pull was the first thing I learned), but those freaking buzzards.... Kill one, the next one aggros immediately. Oh, and here comes another. Both are dead, need mana- Oh, wait, another one spawned and immediately smelled the corpse and aggro'd. Can't fear it until my potion's off cooldown because it'll go at mach five into every other group, so I guess it's time to wand it to death.
The only good story I had from those things was when a guildies account got hacked. You see, back in those days they'd hack someone, turn on the bot and set him on the buzzard killing circuit (no mining hacks back then). As it turns out, those bots will follow those buzzards through anything and fear didn't break quite as easily. I had that bot running through swarms of mobs, dying and running back, dying and running back.
Eventually I had a Chinese farmer swear at me and then log off right there in the middle of HFP. It was glorious.
Faulken S Wulf Mar 8th 2010 5:49PM
Hellfire Boars never bothered me.
Murlocks on the other hand...
(cutaia) Mar 8th 2010 6:07PM
Oh my God! I just remembered something from last week's edition of The Queue! They really ARE lottery numbers!
http://www.wow.com/2010/03/05/the-queue-you-know-this-because-you-are-psychic/comments/25994855/
Now I just need to figure out what intergalactic lottery has this many balls in the machine.
Gothia Mar 9th 2010 5:32AM
Hopefully the gear / mob difficulty will be more like the transition from Vanilla to BC since Cataclysm is only a 5 level difference to cap. How fun would it be to have guildies group up in T10 and head straight into the 85 zone grinding out the highest level of quests and mobs? This is the problem of having 5 levels from level cap because they will either have to make the content so difficult that an person in quest gear will have a hard time getting through the zone or the zones will be so easy that players wearing T9/10 gear will trivialize the content. They might as well have an option for player to pay 5K gold per level instead of boring a majority of the player base to death.
spamofchaz Mar 8th 2010 11:10AM
I gotta thing that their past experience with buying BlizCon tickets online has also made them shy away from online downloads.
Imagine if instead of all those millions of nerds standing in line at midnight were instead overloading and crashing server after server. Perhaps they could allow downloads after the first week of release or something along those lines. After the initial rush.
tgrhwke Mar 8th 2010 11:27AM
Downloading Cataclysm would be the same as downloading any patch is now. Most of it would be done prior to the release date in the background while you are playing the game.
The original and both expansions are currently available as digital downloads in Blizzard's online store so there's no reason why Cataclysm couldn't be done the same way.
galestrom Mar 8th 2010 11:37AM
I'm confused.
I'm pretty sure I bought Vanilla, BC, and Wrath online. Are you guys saying this won't be possible when Cata drops? What year is it again?
Dreamstorm Mar 8th 2010 11:49AM
First Ghostcrawler promises us a pony and now Adam promises us a pizza!
o.0
bob Mar 8th 2010 12:07PM
They want to buy Cata and download it on release day without purchasing a physical disc, not just order the game online.