The Queue: Your pathetic puppies betraaaaaaaay you!
by Matthew Rossi 
Mar 24th 2010 at 1:00PM
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. They shot Matthew Rossi with a dart while he was eating a mysterious ham sandwich provided by Holisky, and the last thing he remembers is hearing something about plans coming together. Now he must answer your questions if he ever hopes to escape.
These are my cats. They're named after Alpha Flight characters, not major WoW lore figures, but the little one (her name is Puck) used to heal Karazhan for me when I was on my resto shaman. No, seriously. She loved the Earth Shield animation, and so I would go on follow, target the tank, and go take a bio or get a drink and she would repeatedly smash her paw down on my keyboard, triggering Earth Shield and Chain Heal (next button over). I once stopped to have a conversation with my wife and came back to find Attumen dead and folks complimenting me on my healing. Since Gray keeps dropping the puppy bomb, I felt they deserved equal representation.
Tina asked:
"Is there anything Blizzard can do to stop tanks afking (not moving or doing anything) after joining the random dungeon finder groups, and thereby griefing other players? "
At present, not much more than they've done. They've made various changes to the Dungeon Finder in patch 3.3.3 but there still is a delay on vote kicking a player who is in the run and not disconnected, so any player (not just a tank) can decide to just squat in a group and do nothing for whatever reason, whether to grief the run or in hopes that they'll try and four man it and get him free emblems for no work. Vote kicking is still basically the only real recourse.
We know Blizzard is keeping track of vote kicks and other stats for LFD now, though, so who knows what the future will bring?
These are my cats. They're named after Alpha Flight characters, not major WoW lore figures, but the little one (her name is Puck) used to heal Karazhan for me when I was on my resto shaman. No, seriously. She loved the Earth Shield animation, and so I would go on follow, target the tank, and go take a bio or get a drink and she would repeatedly smash her paw down on my keyboard, triggering Earth Shield and Chain Heal (next button over). I once stopped to have a conversation with my wife and came back to find Attumen dead and folks complimenting me on my healing. Since Gray keeps dropping the puppy bomb, I felt they deserved equal representation.
Tina asked:
"Is there anything Blizzard can do to stop tanks afking (not moving or doing anything) after joining the random dungeon finder groups, and thereby griefing other players? "
At present, not much more than they've done. They've made various changes to the Dungeon Finder in patch 3.3.3 but there still is a delay on vote kicking a player who is in the run and not disconnected, so any player (not just a tank) can decide to just squat in a group and do nothing for whatever reason, whether to grief the run or in hopes that they'll try and four man it and get him free emblems for no work. Vote kicking is still basically the only real recourse.
We know Blizzard is keeping track of vote kicks and other stats for LFD now, though, so who knows what the future will bring?
Hal asks:
"I've stuck with the default game UI for the last year and a half (with the exception of a few "mandatory" addons, such as DBM and healbot). I've raided everything but ICC in the current expansion with it and never had any problems. Still, my vanilla UI was cited to me as a reason for a guild application rejection. I wasn't given any explanation besides that it "needed work."...My question is, what is wrong with the default UI that it would be considered untenable for raiding? Are these people just elitists, or am I missing out on some magical functionality that will bring my game to a whole new level? "
Confession time here: my raiding UI is as unmodified as I can make it. I use a lot of mods... Bigwigs, DBM, Skada, Event Alert to name a few... but I am not currently using a HuD (I did for a while but patch 3.3.3 doesn't like my current one) or a bar mod. I have most of my big moves macro'd so I can hit them easily and keep my mouse free for movement. But I'm a tanking warrior, not a ranged caster or healer. A lot of tanks love having a bar mod or HuD to free up the maximum amount of screen space to avoid stepping in things or what have you. I've experimented with various UI mods (a HuD can be very useful for a tank as it puts your health and resources right in front of you so you don't have to take your eyes off of the prize, which in this case is usually some gigantic monster's nether regions) and often browse No Stock UI for ideas for how to improve mine, but I'm a big fan of keeping everything as patch resistant as possible. (That being said, I still have Taeo's UI suite in my addon's folder.)
In your case I wouldn't worry about it: if they'd bothered to give you a specific thing they didn't like you could choose to address it or not (I intend to get another HuD as soon as I find one I like, but I don't really need Grid or Healbot on any of my currently played alts) but if they can't be bothered to tell you what they want you don't need the hassle of trying to figure it out.
I'm sure your fellow readers have already given you some ideas for useful addons/UI mods (I miss you, IceHUD) but hopefully they'll come back with more today.
Vladeon asks:
"So here's a question, when are they going to fix the bug where, when you zone into a dungeon, your group mates are in their skivvies? I'm assuming this is a minor issue since it's only graphical, but I don't really want to see anymore naked DK Dwarfs, no matter how funny it is. I guess a better question would be, when do you expect them to fix this bug if at all?"
That's not a bug, that's a feature.
Alexander asks:
"Is there any lore-based explanation for a Rogue's Stealth other than suspension of disbelief? Surely, Rogues can be crafty and hide out of sight, but is there any lore to explain why they can wander around near-invisible in the middle of the day?"
Any time you notice something like that, a wizard did it.
No, seriously, I have no idea: as far as I can tell there's no specific lore about rogues tapping into anything aside from their inherent sneakiness to account for any of their nigh mystical abilities. Then again, I have no idea why my warrior can dual wield 2h weapons and scream so loud people can't run away as fast, or spend a couple of seconds and forget how to do that stuff but suddenly remember how to stamp my foot so hard that a cone of stunning force erupts forward.
I hope I'm stomping my foot there, anyway. The alternatives are not as pleasant.
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 12)
fwylo Mar 24th 2010 1:04PM
Cats are amazing, mine rang the doorbell once because he wanted to come inside and no one could hear him at the door.
Resident Horrible Mar 24th 2010 1:23PM
If Slyvannas had been there, your cat wouldn't have made it to the doorbell to ring in the first place. Dogs > Cats
lemur Mar 24th 2010 1:32PM
Wait, really? You have one smart cat. I would be afraid if you ever take it to the vet/kick it off the bed/change its food.
Bronwyn Mar 24th 2010 2:47PM
My cat likes to leap at light switches to turn them on/off- I think it's because he thinks the changes in light are interesting.
He also will get into things I've put away because he's smart enough to notice where I put things that he likes (Toys, treats, etc). It's insane.
Kaid Mar 24th 2010 3:35PM
I have a cat who is somehow aware of when I am going into a raid, as opposed to doing dailies or running 5 mans, and assumes a post near my keyboard. She used to have a thing for hitting the heroism hotkey but she has got over that, fortunately (because she isn't smart enough to know not to hit it on trash).
Brodi Mar 24th 2010 3:46PM
Kitties! Good to see them getting some love. My cat's favorite thing to do is curl up in my lap while I'm at the computer, so she watches me play WoW a lot. I don't let her touch the keyboard, though. :P
Ringo Flinthammer Mar 24th 2010 3:54PM
One of our cats, if he gets locked out of the house, goes around to the study (where our computers are) and leaps up to hit the glass over and over until we go to the front door and let him back inside.
If they had opposable thumbs, they would rule the world.
foxish.sunrise Mar 24th 2010 5:01PM
Mine routinely turn on the electric blanket when it gets chilly. I have to unplug the silly thing, or I'll come home to find it's been on high for who knows how long.
Dreyja Mar 24th 2010 5:22PM
Well... I used to think my cat was pretty smart.
Thanks so much you guys! ;-p
Velina Mar 24th 2010 5:42PM
My boyfriend's cat is deaf, yet he knows that if he knocks something on the floor, hoomins will be drawn to the sound. He also knows how to open cupboards to take his treats out.
Darasen Mar 25th 2010 12:41AM
I had a very smart and slightly psychotic cat that could open doors. He used to to open the front door and let the dog out hoping she wouldn't return.
Tai Mar 24th 2010 6:47PM
Our cat Ziggi used to love the Marli fight in ZG. When the spiders came she would sit on top of the monitor and bat them with her paws. She also has been caught trying to turn doorknobs with her paws and head, to get the door open. No cupboard is safe from her!
blizzardsprules Mar 24th 2010 7:25PM
If I go to sleep on my bed and my cat is on the opposite end asleep, during the middle of the night when the door is closed, they will just jump to pull the lever, then open the crack of the door with their paws, its fricking crazy!
jasonkidd1234 Mar 24th 2010 10:36PM
Our smartest cat could simply open up cupboards.
The odd thing was, there was usually nothing he would want, mainly bread. Aside from that, he was also very good at dropping dead animals into the most annoying spots.
Several times he would wait for everybody to be calm and sitting down, before sneaking a dead groundhog baby or dead rabbit and plopping it down right in between two people on the couch.
That thing was hell for the groundhogs. The babies were killed, and the adults were harassed.
Zahira Mar 24th 2010 9:13PM
Your cats are beautiful, and way better then some stinky old puppies.
My cat is currently learning to operate door knobs, I'm a bit worried about this one.
Eli Mar 24th 2010 11:33PM
I have four cats. One old one, missing a leg, he's about 10 or 11 i think. the three other ones are 5, 6, and 7.
The youngest one is the fattest. He's kind of the 'gang leader' of the two others.
When he gets hungry, he steals food. Usually the oldest cats food. One cat will distract him, while he crawls on his belly and drags it away with a paw.
Or sometimes they try and attack him so they can be scolded at and put outside (because they want to get put outside; my parents fall for it every time). One cat will be chasing him down a hallway, and at the corner is another cat waiting to sideswipe him.
Sinthar Mar 25th 2010 9:07AM
My old (sadly passed away) cat didnt like me playing wow. During two raids he actually turned my pc off - whilst i was playing! (My pc has a remote control he used). He also jumped on the keyboard and sat down if i was paying too much attention to wow and not enough to him. He also opened the back door - and brought a lot of live and dead 'gifts' for me. He once brought back a full grown pigeon - completely unhurt and alive!
Meadow Mar 25th 2010 11:13AM
My cat walked across my keyboard once and flipped the screen display 90 degrees to vertical. I had to go 5 menus deep to fix it, I have no idea how she did it. Cats are hackers.
Snuzzle Mar 25th 2010 2:50PM
My cat once figured out how to make our alarm clock go off at 3 in the morning because he wanted his breakfast. Cats are scarily smart.
Xandari Mar 24th 2010 1:07PM
You named your cats after Alpha Flight characters! That is AWESOME. What's the other one named, Sasquatch? (I'm more of a Northstar fan, but hey.)