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
Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news





Reader Comments (Page 7 of 14)
Samuel Apr 22nd 2010 3:49PM
First, free bank space.
Second, because this toon will be parked in a capitol, he can hit the AH, guild vault or vendors that might not be where you are, and mail the stuff to you. No more having, to leave Dalaran to hit the AH. No more having to fly back to the capitol if you're off in Tanaris/UnGoro and need that mithril cylinder.
There are more subtle reasons - like people not knowing it's you selling or buying, but for most people that's not important.
Samuel Apr 22nd 2010 4:11PM
By the way - if you have just one toon you may not know - mail is instant between your own toons.
Llaewynn Apr 22nd 2010 4:27PM
For me, it's just that I don't want to use up the character slots in case a race/class combo comes out that I want to play someday. I almost always have at least one alt logged out in a capital city, so if I must grab something off the AH, I log into one of them and COD the item back to the character who needed it (yes, I keep all my toons' money separate and proprietary.. I don't know why, and my husband teases me about it all the time.) My bags are sufficiently large that I don't feel the need to go to the AH constantly to sell, so that isn't really a problem either. As for bank space, my lower-level and non-raiding alts have a guild of their own with two tabs in it that holds everything they need and then some. I've just never felt the need for a dedicated bank toon.
BigBadGooz Apr 22nd 2010 9:37AM
ive been playing this game so long i cant recall a nub moment but i could name plenty of people in those moments
travist120 Apr 22nd 2010 9:41AM
I leveled to 30~ish on my Druid putting talent points in all three trees. I was wearing a mixture of spell power cloth, attack power leather, and some grey items until I talked to a real life friend. He looked over my character, proceeded to inform me I was fail, and corrected me. The thing is, because I was a druid and I could do healing, ranged, and rogue like damage, I just assumed that the point of a Druid was to do all three of those. At once.
Also, when I turned level 80, I refused to buy a meta gem because I thought that the gem requirement meant that you had to 'socket' the meta (just as you would 'socket' a piece of armor)
ledinnebeil Apr 22nd 2010 9:47AM
I was in a raid and in vent and during the boss fights all I could hear was the in game fight, I kept missing important messages from the raid leaders. I was dying at stupid times and someone in vent told me to Ctrl-S to mute in-game sounds which do not affect add-on sounds, vent and raid warnings.
Game changing.
Sazaaru Apr 22nd 2010 9:54AM
I love you.
Hal Apr 22nd 2010 11:27AM
If you go into the sound settings (and you have the right microphone for it), you can also set it so that game sounds come from your speakers while other stuff (such as Vent) comes from the headset. This way you don't miss audio cues from DBM, for example.
Kamerina Apr 22nd 2010 12:46PM
OH!! ty ty ty ty
kebosangar Apr 22nd 2010 12:51PM
ctrl+m also toggles the music
ctrl+r shows the frame rate at the bottom center. If you have bartender, your bar can cover it. But it will always show when you open your map.
Quanzar Apr 22nd 2010 9:52AM
I just learned like 2 weeks ago that arcane dust stacks are 100. I have been playing a mage for 2 years now and had been refilling my 20 stack every day. I just never looked at the stack size.
dawnseven Apr 22nd 2010 10:09AM
Crap, I didn't know that. :D Thank you for the 8 or so bank slots I'll gain when I get online and consolidate the dust that I've been storing.
Brad Apr 22nd 2010 10:58AM
Back in Burning Crusade, arcane powder (which I assume is what you're talking about instead of arcane dust) only stacked to 20. When Wrath was released (or shortly after), they changed the stacking to 100. You can always check how high something can stack to by shift-clicking and holding down the right arrow until it won't go any more.
cai Apr 22nd 2010 9:54AM
I remember when I first started playing wow 4 years ago and was what people would call a "noobmage". Leveling in Barrens I was invited to Wailing Caverns with a group. I had no clue about aggro and elites. Never understood why I was getting kicked till later on. Now when I see people that seem new I love helping them out. Making the whole experience more welcoming and easier for them!
Matt Apr 22nd 2010 11:53AM
Thank you! I've been playing for about two years and for the most part I wouldn't consider myself a noob but when I am levelling a new character with a new class there can be a lot of stuff that I don't know yet and people like you make playing in dungeons WAY funner then the people that yell at you and call you "huntard"!
:)
Ben Apr 22nd 2010 10:04AM
Been healing as a druid for about 10 months now and just found out I can swiftmend people who have another druids HOTs.
Lieke Apr 23rd 2010 12:49AM
OH I did not know this. Granted I'm generally the only resto druid in my raids but still. Good to know! :D
Rankol Apr 22nd 2010 10:05AM
A great one that I learned was when trying to empty your mailbox. If you have a letter that has multiple items in it, you can shift+left mouse click and it will move all of the items from your letter to your bag with just that click. I found that to be amazing. And I found it last week. Been playing for 3 years now.
Idaelus Apr 22nd 2010 10:12AM
My bank alt loves you.
(Kisses!)
Kal Apr 22nd 2010 10:13AM
Holy crap that is simply amazing I love you.
Um... I mean.. Thanks for the tip! *cough*