The Queue: Snorkelplex
by Basil Berntsen 
Sep 15th 2010 at 11:00AM
I can't get enough of you guys. Answering emails for my regular columns, as well as in both of my podcasts, hasn't sated my voracious addiction for questions with easy answers! Alex is what you would call "an enabler" and thus insisted that I do the Queue today.
Burnaphatone asked:
Any idea of what the total time played of every account in the World of Warcraft amounts to? Has this ever been looked into?
I don't think so, but I'd bet a stiff drink that it's not pretty. I'm fairly casual as far as playing goes, and my number is disgustingly large. If these hours were spent on, say, my day job, I'd be out of debt chilling on a yacht (probably with Goatcrawler), and I'd be able to hire my driver a driver for when he wasn't driving me around to various charitable benefits and Slayer concerts. Assuming I'm a fairly average member of a representative sample, that means that the 11+ million people who have an active account have collectively spent so much time on the game that we'd have to make up a number to express the value. I'd vote for snorkelplex, but nobody ever asks me these things.
As for Grovinofdarkesthour's comment that we could have cured all sorts of diseases by now, I'd like to say in our defense that very few of us are able to use our spare time toward the betterment of humanity. I
Hal asked:
Has anybody ever grabbed a large group of players (i.e. multiple raids' worth) and just taken over an opposing faction city?
Gosh, yes! Every chance I get! In fact, city PvP was one of the reasons I started PvPing on my hunter. The best I've personally seen so far was taking the trade district of some smaller cities, though. Auctioneers need more health, in my opinion. At least they respawn quickly ...
The most inventive use of faction PvP I've seen is from a while ago before flight masters had been trained to leash when they got kited too far away; some random guild took a mid-level flight master hostage.
Chris asked:
Any news on the overhaul of the banking system? At one point, I read that the personal banks were going to have tabs like the guild banks and that all toons were going to share the same bank. Any news on if this has appeared in the beta?
Last I heard, the personal banking system was the same as it is in live. I wish I didn't need a guild bank to hold all my junk ... It'd let me keep my bank alts somewhere they would benefit from company and (in Cataclysm) guild perks. Like many of the nice-to-have features, they're something I'm not holding my breath for. I imagine they're on a list of stuff that'll get looked at again after launch and tuning is done.
Niiru asked:
Does WoW.com keep track of just how much comments get upvoted and downvoted? I think it would be neat to see which comments have been the most upvoted and the most downvoted!
We have a super-secret database that we all have to check each morning. ... Just kidding. No. It'd be cool to have reputation attached to our comment system, but it would be too much stress for the chewing gum.
Scotepi asked:
What is the best way to powerlevel to 85? I'd like to try for realm first; if I tank randoms, would that be faster then questing?
Yup, it's pretty well a design point that dungeons are better experience per hour than questing -- especially as a tank, assuming the ratio of tank-to-everything-else remains where it is, allowing you to chain queue without ever having to stop except to sleep. My advice, though? Spend as much time as possible with a strong healer and a strong DPS, queuing together. You'll waste less time if you can carry the odd terribad player.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? We're 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)
razion Sep 15th 2010 11:02AM
What news have we of ye olde Spirit Walkers in Cataclysm--what of their hideout and leader, have we seen any traces of them?
Josin Sep 15th 2010 1:09PM
"What is the best way to powerlevel to 85? I'd like to try for realm first; if I tank randoms, would that be faster then questing?"
If you're planning to be ahead of everyone else, you're going to have a hard time finding players who can run dungeons with you, don'tcha think?
Josin Sep 15th 2010 1:14PM
Bah. Durned comment system. Sorry for tacking on to your comment.
AltairAntares Sep 15th 2010 1:41PM
Not if you grouped up with friends to do it together (which would be more fun imo then just questing anway).
Also has the advantage that you avoid the massive crowd that'll be trying to quest the first little while after launch.
Docseuzz Sep 15th 2010 2:13PM
You would have to fly around and 'find' the instance entrances - and hopefully the dungeon rewards would upgrade your gearscore to make you eligible for the next one....
Eric Escalante Sep 15th 2010 11:06AM
Are there any new JC trainers in new cities?
Knob Sep 15th 2010 1:32PM
What new cities?
Eric Escalante Sep 15th 2010 2:18PM
A JC in a new city, not an actual NEW city. Like a JC trainer in IF, it would be new to the city.
Sithril Sep 15th 2010 3:18PM
Or better sayed "Do other/more cities have -new JW trainer- ?"
RedMosquito Sep 15th 2010 4:32PM
Yes; I actually stumbled upon a JC shop in Stormwind by accident a few days ago. It's in The Canals, and it's called "Denman Family Jewelers". I haven't checked other cities yet.
Screenie: http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae283/johangai/familyjewelers.jpg
RedMosquito Sep 15th 2010 4:49PM
There you go, found the one in Orgrimmar (Red Canyon Mining, Valley of Honor):
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae283/johangai/lugrah.jpg
And a better look at the SW one:
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae283/johangai/jctrainer.jpg
RogueJedi86 Sep 16th 2010 1:45AM
Kinda weak how the SW JC people aren't even inside their own shop. They have a fancy sign and everything, but the door is shut. What is this, a yard sale?
Neyssa Sep 16th 2010 7:30AM
@RougeJedi86
No, they just put out some cheap stuff in front of the shop. They store the expensive materials inside, and lock the door. The lock is hidden, to prevent rouges from picking it and pickpocketing their stuff.
Nawaf Sep 15th 2010 11:06AM
Are the Draenei and gnomes doing anything in Cataclysm (beside moving to Gnomeregan)?
Mike Sep 15th 2010 11:21AM
With the Earthen Ring stepping into the spotlight, I bet you'll see plenty of Draenei Shaman NPCs around.
Other than that, like me you're going to have to wait until the Argus expansion to see the Draenei do any real work.
wdm+hall Sep 15th 2010 3:26PM
"you're going to have to wait until the Argus expansion"
Thanks for the loregasm! I hope this happens, new planet > new continent, at least creativity wise.
Nawaf Sep 15th 2010 9:35PM
The Argus expansion will be totally cool. That will give developers to unleash their creativity. It's literally a whole new world. Just look at what they did with deepholm.
I just hope Mac'Aree is gonna be a neutral city, not a dungeon.
MikeLive Sep 16th 2010 4:31PM
I came up with a full story behind an Argus expansion a while ago. Mac'Aree was the neutral city, where a group of Naaru protect and hide a group of completely uncorrupted Eredar from the Legion that occupies the rest of the planet. I've been fleshing out details and plan to post it on the forums soon.
Moorit Sep 15th 2010 11:12AM
My husband's work is related to finding a cure for Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. It isn't a question of "well I could raid, or I could finish this thing and save hundreds of thousands of people." There's only so much work a person can do in a day.
bui Sep 15th 2010 11:18AM
Hes not out in the middle of the ocean on an old WW2 sub station experimenting with sharks is he ?