Breakfast Topic: Who knew?
by Sandra McIlveen 
Apr 22nd 2010 at 8:00AM
Did you know that there is a secret room in Dalaran that you can access only if you complete the achievement Higher Learning? I just found out about it myself. And while this piece of information is practically useless, it made me think ... What other things don't I know about? And then I started remembering all the times when I learned something so basic about the game that I said to myself, "How could I not have known that?"
There was the time before The Burning Crusade was released when I was happily making my mooncloth every four days and traveling to Darnassus or Darkshore to do so, when a guildie informed me that there was a moonwell in Stormwind. "Doh!" Then there was the time that I was grouped with a friend, happily traipsing around Eastern Plaguelands (so yes, I was almost level 60), and I would stop running every time I had to respond to an in-game whisper. My friend asked me what I was doing, and I explained that I had to stop running to type a response. He then informed me that I could use the mouse to auto-run and keep my hands free to type. "Doh!" More recently, I was in Dalaran exchanging Emblems of Triumph for Emblems of Conquest for Emblems of Valor for Emblems of Heroism ... (big gulp of air) ... in order to purchase Reins of the Wooly Mammoth. I needed 200 Emblems of Heroism, and I was exchanging all of my emblems one at a time. My guild was waiting for me to do a raid and asked what was taking so long. So I told them. And then they told me I could simply shift-right click on an emblem and pick the amount I wanted to exchange. "Doh!"
Why didn't I know these simple things? How could I have been playing this game for five years and not know these things? I used to laugh when I saw the tips on the loading screen. The one that informs the player that she can eat and drink at the same time always elicits a mental response from me that goes something like, "Who the heck doesn't know that? What a dumb tip." But recently I have begun to realize that there are many people just like me who let the simplest nuances of the game escape them for some reason or another.
So what things are you embarrassed to admit that you didn't know until you were well entrenched in the game? Don't worry, we'll never tell (wink, wink).
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 14)
blindlinus Apr 22nd 2010 8:03AM
focus target.
blindlinus Apr 22nd 2010 8:03AM
*focus target *frame*
Szass Apr 22nd 2010 10:21AM
For the Longest time I had no clue about the Invisible ghosts above the Undercity.
I guess you can go through the whole song of the banshee and watch the ghosts go through the final moment when Arthas killed his father.
I had no Idea that the ghosts existed until about 6 months ago.
Just ask a warlock to cast see invisibility on you.
Eternauta Apr 22nd 2010 11:43AM
Wait, wait, wait.... there's ghosts on Undercity?
ZOMG
brb, calling warlock friend
Edge Apr 22nd 2010 1:24PM
There's lots of ghosts in game, not just in the Undercity. There is a quest in Ironforge that eventually gives you an item to see a "dead" person and get a quest from him at the entrance to Stratholme. Once you have that item you can use it to look at ghosts as well.
Dahy Apr 22nd 2010 1:58PM
I remember back in the nOOb days when my wife and I were questing. We didn’t know how to break down stacks of things, so when I needed a potion(she is an Alch.) she would trade me a stack. I would then drink one and have to trade the rest back. Lol nOOb5 FTW
Killik Aug 13th 2010 4:21AM
The ghosts around Scholomance are my favourite, with the 'secret' vendors and repairs.
Zalvi24 Apr 22nd 2010 8:03AM
i didnt know that we had a mature filter in the game for like 4 months back in 06
Gamer am I Apr 22nd 2010 8:05AM
I had no idea how to swim when I first started playing. In order to do the Buzzbox 411 (the Thrasher Eyes one), I repeatedly jumped off of a boat until I was submerged enough to see underwater while still high enough to breath. I also had no idea that the auction house existed and sold my ores and skins to vendors, thinking that was how I made money with those professions. *facepalm*
Bikhai Apr 22nd 2010 3:23PM
I never had quite that problem with swimming since you submerge in the water immediately, but the first time I died while underwater I had some real issues trying to get back to my body -- I didn't realize that even though you run on water while dead you can still get underwater by aiming yourself downward.
Draelan Apr 22nd 2010 4:39PM
This is actually a fairly common problem. I've been in PuG groups (before the dungeon finder) for both Sunken Temple and Underbog where we wiped, then members of the group complained that we couldn't complete the instance because "You can't go underwater as a ghost". Despite attempts to explain to them that, yes, it IS possible (Look at me! I'm already back in the instance and rezzed), and attempts to explain how to do it, it actually killed that Sunken Temple group I was in. >.>
Robdamage Apr 22nd 2010 8:06AM
For the longest time, I didn't know you could replace your gems once you had socketed them.
Rob
beaubruno1 Apr 22nd 2010 10:36AM
For the longest time (all of BC, never raided til LK), I thought that you HAD to place the right color gems in the right sockets or they wouldn't work. Silly trade-chat trolls. =)
Magma Apr 22nd 2010 8:07AM
I knew this from the moment I started, but I would never play an mmo without auto run. Num Lock=my best friend
Magma Apr 22nd 2010 8:09AM
Also, After you shift click and the # box pops up (for emblem exchange for example), you can actually type inside that numerical box instead of clicking the left/right arrows 500 times.
Kyte Midnight Apr 22nd 2010 8:07AM
Sort of a reverse, for the longest time, I thought the pool in the Mystic Ward of Ironforge WAS a moonwell, like the one in the park. I never spent time in Ironforge, due to lag back in the day, but once when I was on a friend's uber-powered supercomputer, and it was time to craft me some mooncloth, I stood there in the pool for quite a while trying to figure out why I was getting "Requires: Moonwell" over and over.
Ashinigami Apr 22nd 2010 8:10AM
only found out halfway through BC that pressing 'X" while flying will make you fly down... and then it took me another month to realise it worked while swimming too...
actnmoviheroboy Apr 22nd 2010 8:22AM
You know you can hold down the right mouse button and rotate 360 degrees?
Osmide Apr 22nd 2010 10:28AM
If I remember right, the pressing 'x' to fly or swim down was not in the game until a few patches into BC.
NecDW4 Apr 22nd 2010 5:18PM
A while ago i found out you can use the inserd and delete keys to "angle" up or down also, and those angle go beyond the mouselook boundaries, so you can do fun stuff like loops, or flying entirely upside down.