Breakfast Topic: Who knew?

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
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 14)
MisterRik Aug 13th 2010 1:02PM
It's actually the most amazing shoe shine ever, because *it carries over to all of your shoes!* Yup, change your shoes, and the new pair will also be shiny. Even if they were in your bank when you got the shoeshine.
Zebbedee Apr 22nd 2010 8:18AM
For the longest time I thought you HAD to put the the same color gem in that colored slot in your armor, didn't know that you just lost the bonus if you didn't.
andoring Apr 22nd 2010 8:43AM
Really!? I did not know that! (Seriously). : )
Moorit Apr 22nd 2010 8:56AM
Half the people in my guild found that all at once after somebody made a silly comment in Vent. Something like, "silly RAWR is putting red gems in blue sockets!"
I was like... of course...
And then several other people went "wait, what?" Now my guildies are rocking way more stamina or spellpower or attack power instead of going for every silly socket bonus. :)
Leigh Apr 22nd 2010 10:20AM
Really?? Wow, I had no idea! Thanks!
Terrorbyt3 Apr 22nd 2010 8:19AM
Actually, it took me until about level 50ish with my second character, a Paladin, to figure out you can eat and drink at the same time. In my defense, my first character was a rogue, so I never had to deal with drinking before.
Swifteye Apr 22nd 2010 8:25AM
I actually didn't know that you could open all of your bags at once with Shift+B; I had to learn that one from those stupid loading screen tips after I'd already made it to Nothrend (about three months into the game on my first toon).
Probably the *biggest* "..... I am such an idiot" move I ever made was on my Hunter, after it was already level 80! I was helping a guildie with a Coilfang Reserve run, targeting the tank's target and burning everything down individually. My guildie said "Just Volley down the trash; it'll be a lot faster". And I said "... what's that mean?"
*slaps self repeatedly*
I was a level 80 Hunter who didn't know about Volley!! Oh sure, I had picked it up and dutifully trained all the ranks, but the first time I saw it I thought "This is stupid; if my cat is tanking six mobs and I hit all of them at once, five of them are gonna peel off and kill me!"... so I just never put it on my bar and subsequently forgot it even existed.
I've had a whole lot of "Huntard" moments in my WoW career, but that one probably takes the cake, heh.
Cale Apr 22nd 2010 9:54AM
One of my huntard moments also came at level 80. In HoS, a pug jokingly accused me of being a selfish hunter, using Aspect of the Cheetah and not sharing. Come to find out, Aspect of the Pact is *not* a talented BM ability. Who knew!?
Yup...onto the toolbar it went.
jims2321 Apr 22nd 2010 1:21PM
Another Huntard moment.
Back in vanilla WoW, at level 60 you got Tranq Shot. Well, I was just starting to raid, and my first run thru MC, we get to Magdamar fight. The RL calls out the tranq shot rotation, and pipe up,"Tranq Shot?" I then get whispers from the other hunters laughing their butts off, and the RL whispers, 'Are you kidding?" Safe to say, I got Tranq shot right after that.
Shrike Apr 22nd 2010 1:29PM
I did precisely the same thing for the exact same reason. In my defense, pet AoE tanking was largely non-existent when I leveled my hunter.
Dragonrose Aug 13th 2010 9:59AM
@jims
Well, in your defense, Tranq shot is an ability that has very much a situational use. I've taken up the habit of trying it on every boss' "enrage" type abilities ever since DBm told me to tranq shot Jaraxxus. O_O Fortuntaely I ahd it in my action bars because I'm a sucker for having ALL abilties accessible. You never know...
Tim Apr 22nd 2010 8:27AM
Same as Zebbedee. I've been playing for over 3 years and just LAST WEEK found out u can put a gem in any socket but you won't get the bonus for it is all. And also last week I found out if you press the delete button/or insert button on the five/six button area on your keyboard as you are flying you can fly in a loop. If you release the delete/insert key you can fly upside down. Pretty cool fun if you're bored.
Joerendous Apr 22nd 2010 8:59AM
I.. I did not know that! I was staring at someone doing that thinking it was a glitch -_-
Sir Broose Apr 22nd 2010 10:53AM
For Mac users, you have to have an extended keyboard to loop, but you can use the [help] key to loop up and the [delete] key right below it to loop down.
Rylka Apr 22nd 2010 2:32PM
I did not know that either! Thanks. :)
I have been doing loops on my carpet for 15 minutes now. :)
Matteaus Apr 22nd 2010 8:28AM
When I first started Tanking - I had no idea what Taunting was. (seriously) I spent over a month just relying on Righteous Fury.
Luci Apr 22nd 2010 9:13AM
Ha, I remember leveling up my druid (vanilla and my first toon and being new to PC gaming) and I got taunt and I thought, "Why would I want something to attack me?!" XD
Spriesty Apr 22nd 2010 12:50PM
I think I did a heroic with you....
several times lol
Degoat Apr 22nd 2010 2:21PM
Ha, i had the opposite problem. I knew how to use my pally taunts, but did not know i should have righteous fury on....... guess thats why i couldn't keep aggro.
VentiMachiatto Apr 22nd 2010 8:27AM
Didn't realize toward the end of BC that there was a druid trainer in Moonglade. Would always have made my life easier at times if I had known this!