The Queue: I was right edition

Welp. Pack your bags, ladies and gentlemen, I was right. Straight from the woman herself. Victory dance.
Cetha asked:
Has there been any mention on the size of the download if you get the digital copy of Cata? I'm trying to figure out if it would just be easier to get the discs and install it than to try and download another 16GB of info again, which didn't go so well the last time.
After doing the little trick to grab the pre-download preorder data, I checked to see the amount of data actually coming in. It was somewhere around 700mb, so I'm assuming that much plus whatever they patch in after the game goes gold.
Bourne asked:
How do I go about finding a girlfriend who also plays WoW?
Trade chat.
Moghar asked:
A lore question. I just finished reading Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, and despite the fact that 90% of the novel is retelling the story of Warcraft 3, in the epilogue, Arthas backstabbed Ner'Zhul and ... that's it ... Does this mean that Arthas is (was) the one calling the shots for the Scourge all these years of WoW?
Yes, Arthas took complete control and ended Ner'Zhul's influence. The Arthas side of the Lich King won out completely, and Ner'Zhul's story is over.
steelvoltage asked:
I heard a rumor that Blizzard is going to make it so epic (purple) items are much rarer. Is this true?
Second, there's been a lot of talk going around that instances are going to be so much harder and you will need to learn to crowd control. I played during vanilla and The Burning Crusade so I know how to do that. It wasn't hard, you just had to pay attention. However, I remember when Wrath launched, heroic dungeons were hard then too. Would it be safe to say that they are going to be "hard" because of epic quality gear not going to being readily available, or is it because Blizzard is making them more a challenge gameplay-wise? Will we be steamrolling over the dungeons in a year or so just as we are now?
Gear is a huge factor in difficulty, and as we progress through the expansion, heroics and dungeons will become easier just by virtue of better gear. That will always happen. However, as to your first question, while epics are becoming rarer and really only available in the first tier of raiding and up, the heroic blues you get will still be heroic-quality loot. Their color is just changing to give the purple color meaning again.
As for whether dungeons and heroics are harder because of gear or mechanics, it's a lot of both. The mechanics are more difficult and less forgiving, as well as the fact that crowd control and really paying attention are vital. Pickup groups will have a rougher time, I'd say. So yeah, things are getting harder, and people are going to have to relearn a lot of what was forgotten during the Wrath of the Lich King days. Heroic dungeons were difficult in Wrath when we first tackled them, but the AoE mentality combined with the lack of crowd control and more forgiving scenarios made it so plowing through the content went from hard to easy in too few steps.
Filed under: The Queue






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Elunr Oct 30th 2010 2:08PM
"Yes, Arthas took complete control and ended Ner'Zhul's influence. The Arthas side of the Lich King won out completely, and Ner'Zhul's story is over."
I'm confused. Is this sarcasm or not?
Mayhew Oct 30th 2010 2:13PM
No, I don't think it is sarcasm. In the Quests and Lore panel at BlizzCon, I believe it was definitively stated that Ner'Zhul's story was over and done with.
Darky Oct 30th 2010 2:13PM
No sarcasm.
Bernie Roscoe Oct 30th 2010 2:19PM
Didn't a GM say Ner'Zhul's story wasn't over yet?
Herman Oct 30th 2010 2:26PM
nope, in the final scene in the book, he kills him.
in the prologue he had been having an argument with his younger innocent self, and nerzhul. presumably over who was to control the body. a violent inner dialogue if you will.
then in the epilogue he concludes it by killing nerzhul and his innocent younger self and taking control of the lich king himsel, no longer under the guidance of another. i think he might say something as well.
sorry if i got some detail wrong its been a year or so since i read it.
Jeff Oct 30th 2010 2:49PM
Indeed, Ner'zhul is done. By the time we players kill the Lich King, Arthas is entirely in control.
Tremelizzer Oct 30th 2010 3:35PM
So, if there's not a tiny bit of Ner'zhul left in the armor of Lich King and we also killed Arthas himself, how is Bolvar supposed to be the next Lich King if he can't even control his "lackeys". The Fall of the Lich King cinematic made sense before but now I'm confused.
Tremelizzer Oct 30th 2010 3:37PM
Well provided that it was the Ner'zhul's spirit which enabled the control over the scourge monsters. I can't say.
Skarn Oct 30th 2010 4:07PM
Sarcasm? Now I'M confused. Why did you think that? The statement seems pretty clear to me. Ner'zhul is gone. So is Arthas' humanity, by the way.
Diavola Oct 30th 2010 4:45PM
Metzen confirmed it at Blizzcon. Ner'zhul is done. Finito.
Al Oct 30th 2010 4:58PM
He was, then he wasn't, and now he is. For now.
At least they didn't have Rhonin kill him.
Starsmore Oct 30th 2010 5:03PM
That epilogue was only a setback!
Joker Oct 30th 2010 5:04PM
So does this mean Bolvar is not going to turn evil while wearing the LK helm?
What are the chances that Tirion will wake him up as a major weapon against the Burning Legion for the next Xpac that they show up in?
Iirdan Oct 30th 2010 5:04PM
@Tremelizzer: The power to control the Scourge lies in the Helm of Dominion (the Lich King's helm). Ner'zhul had almost nothing; most of "his" power was in Frostmourne and the armor encased within the throne. When Arthas put it on and killed Ner'zhul, he was in full control of the armor's powers.
Ner'zhul never really had the powers; they were in the armor, which his spirit was bound to.
Zanathos Oct 30th 2010 5:09PM
No fictional character is more than a retcon or a resurrection away from reappearing, but as well as we know, Ner'Zhul is gone.
JP Oct 30th 2010 5:29PM
Blizz contradicting themselves again :S
In a quest in Howling Fjord (Alliance only), you enter the spirit world and an event happens.
The Lich King grins.
The Lich King says: Shamanism has brought you here... Its scent permeates the air. *The Lich King laughs* I was once a shaman.
Josho Oct 30th 2010 6:33PM
Really quite disappointed if Ner'zhul got kicked out in a book, rather than the game. Especially since there is a reference that he was still around in the Alliance Howling Fjord shaman-esque quest when you get the whisper from the Lich King, "I was once a shaman."
Artificial Oct 30th 2010 6:40PM
@JP: That's not a contradiction. The Lich King was once Ner'Zhul. Even if he is no longer, it remains true that he once was, and as Ner'Zhul was a shaman, it follows that the Lich King was once a shaman.
More importantly, it's a quote from an in-game character. This tells you what an in-game character wants you to believe. It hints at what an in-game character believes. It does not, however, necessarily indicate what is truth. Just because a character is an NPC does not make them an infallible god of everlasting truth. Some lie, and some are just wrong about the facts.
In any case, it offers interesting insight into the Lich King's mental state. One wonders if he retains Ner'Zhul's memories at all, or if he's merely refering to the fact I noted above.
Bapo Oct 30th 2010 6:47PM
Now just to put this out here now, I haven't read the book in awhile, and not 100% sure, but in the epilogue, it could be that it's after alliance and horde forces have shown up in Northrend that he offed Nerzhul and his innocent self. /shrug
Eberron Oct 30th 2010 6:47PM
@Joker
From what precedent we've seen out of Blizzard, in any of its material, they love to write fallen heroes. This desire is tempered by the fact that Northrend is a closed book for now so we won't be seeing Redemption of the Burning King any time soon but they really do love to have good intentioned heroes ultimately fail so we the players can come by to roflstomp the baddies back in line.
@JP
Yes and no. Arthas still very much had Ner'zhul involved in him and the being that was the Lich King very much is made out of Ner'zhul as well.
However, when deciding who ultimately would reign supreme upon the Frozen Throne it was Arthas Menethil.
And LK was right. He was once a shaman, until Arthas skewered his soul. ;)