The Queue: I thought it said "Repeat Christmas harder"

Not Christmas header, Christmas harder. You know, like Christmas 2: Christmas Harder.
... moving on!
Dennis asked:
Who are Je'Tze and Edward the Odd, and why are they losing all their stuff?
Well Dennis, Edward is a paladin. Edward is very special. Edward is also pictured above, and is a card available in The Hunt for Illidan expansion of the Servants of the Betrayer World of Warcraft TCG set. I'm not sure why he keeps losing bits of things, but I imagine with a collection as vast as the one pictured above, he wouldn't really notice if something happened to slip past him. Even if that happens to be, you know, his robes. Now there's a terrifying thought.
As for Je'Tze, so far we've found her bell and tiara. I'm thinking she's Edward's prized show cat. Or maybe his camel -- he needs something to carry the rest of his eclectic collection, after all.
lazymangaka asks:
Is there any chance of battlegrounds being able to grant rep for wearing tabards in the same way that dungeons do? PvP players enjoy reputation just like PvE players do!
Man, I have no idea, but me and my 1,920/6,000 friendly Warsong Outriders rep would sure appreciate that, as the system for grinding old battlegrounds rep is slightly less pleasant than being stabbed in the eye. They haven't said anything about it, but the fact that all the new reputations are using tabards and all the Horde and Alliance city reputations are now using it leads me to believe that maybe some day we'll see it.
Then again, I like to believe in dance studios, too.
WARFACE asks:
I was walking in Stormwind when I got a notice that I discovered "The Catacombs." Where are they exactly? I was near the moat in Cathedral Square when it happened.
There are actually a set of catacombs underneath the cathedral in Stormwind. You can get there by heading into the cathedral proper and going all the way to the back, then taking a right or a left. You'll see a doorway going down, and stairs after that. There's not much to be found in the catacombs other than the usual caskets strewn about.
However, way back in the day before Varian's return to Stormwind -- we're talking Patch 1.4.1 here -- Archbishop Benedictus was temporarily the leader of Stormwind, having taken the title from Highlord Bolvar. The best way to kill Benedictus was to sneak a couple rogues and a warlock down into the catacombs, at which point you could summon a raid undisturbed by guards and undetected by Alliance players.
In those days, you'd find the usual caskets -- and a 40 man raid fully prepared to beat your face in.
icx asks:
I'm currently leveling my archaeology. I'm currently at 164/225. I was wondering if there is any real reason to do archaeology on both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom or could I do my leveling on just one continent?
You can certainly just pick one continent, but keep in mind Kalimdor is going to be mostly night elf and troll artifacts, with a sprinkling of fossils mixed in and very, very few dwarf sites. If you're looking for just the night elf rewards, sticking to Kalimdor is an awesome plan. If you'd like the fossil, dwarf or troll rewards, the Eastern Kingdom seems to have more of those types of sites to offer. Eastern Kingdoms also has night elf sites -- but nowhere near the crazy amount that pops up on Kalimdor.
I warn you though, you're gonna get sick of those night elf sites soon enough. They are everywhere.
Speaking of archaeology ...
Eldoron asks:
My archaeology is 200 now, I've been doing it mostly on EK so I had many dwarvish and troll artifacts and fossils. Yet always vendor trash. When should I start getting something apart from that?
The point at which you'll see rares pop up depends on your level. The Fossilized Hatchling for example can start showing up once you've reached skill level 75. Some dwarven and night elf items can start showing up as soon as skill level 150. Note I say they can show up, not that they will show up -- it's still a random chance, but from what information people have gathered, you have to reach at least that minimum skill level before the RNG kicks in. There's a really good list of all the archaeology rewards and what skill level you can start seeing them at over on Wowpedia.
Filed under: The Queue






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
begy Dec 27th 2010 11:07AM
I guess i was lucky then my first artifact after 75 was hatchling...and then i hit a dry patch siting at 375 archeology with 1 rare =(
Question is: Has anyone worked out chances to get epic archeology items?
Barinthos Dec 27th 2010 11:08AM
There are no chances, it's RNG on top of RNG.
So anyone says that it's "hard" or "should require effort" hasn't met the people that find the 85 BoA epics their first solve after 450.
Noakh Dec 27th 2010 11:16AM
Not to be too cynical here, but RNG kind of implies that there is some % chance to get the desired result (don't know what it is, sorry OP). Your case of people getting rares right away is not relevant to the question.
Kvothe Dec 27th 2010 12:01PM
I can't speak for all level 85 epic artifacts here, but my best guess for Zin'Rokh, Destroyer of Worlds is somewhere close to .5% chance to be your next solve each time you complete a Troll project after 450 skill.
It seems that most non-85 rare artifacts and flavor items are much more likely to show up once you have the requisite skill.
Scooter Dec 27th 2010 12:15PM
Honestly I had lousy luck until I hit the 450-525 skill level. Now I got this crap coming out of my ears. I want the canopic jars for the Sand drake recipe but nooooo I had to hit a damn Pendant of the Scarab Storm with 150 pieces. In the time it took me to get this Tol'Vir artifact down I've picked up 5 other rares.
It's just like any other RNG drop mechanic. Your gonna have long periods of nothing, short periods of a lot, and less common but lengthy periods of moderate returns.
Here's What I've gotten so far, and trust me I put in a lot of time on this...
Fossilized Hatchling
Fossilized Raptor
Highborne Soul Mirror
Bones of Transformation
Chalice of the Mountain Kings
Pendant of the Scarab Storm
Queen Azshara's Dressing Gown
I'm looking forward to what further patches bring.
Daisyfizzi Dec 27th 2010 12:54PM
I've been pretty lucky so far. I have the Mount, the raptor pet, the gnome pet and the chalice and I'm just over 375. I was mainly levelling it for the mount since I'm going to have to farm for the drake recipe on my alchemist, since it's already done I'll be getting to 525 and staring the grind anew on my Shammy.
Evelinda Dec 29th 2010 6:28AM
well, i sure can't say for certain... but myself, i've got a total of 43 projects complete, three of which were rares (raptor pet, highborne mirror, and azshara's dressing gown). i've got six more in progress, so purely anecdotally about a 4% chance for a rare, 2% chance for an epic...
of course, as i said, the evidence purely anecdotal! ;)
Barinthos Dec 27th 2010 11:07AM
Archaeology is the devil...the RNG devil!!
Two characters max'd out, hoping to get that damn Zin'rokh...but nooooo.
The Devil!!
Alcoma Dec 27th 2010 11:49AM
Foos ball is the devil. So is Viki Valencourt.
your comment sounded like what Bobby's mom would sound like if she played. Made me laugh.
Noyou Dec 27th 2010 12:34PM
"I like foosball. And I like Viki and she likes me. And she showed me her boobies..."
Wolfbeckett Dec 27th 2010 1:01PM
And I liked them too!
Micksel Dec 27th 2010 11:07AM
Do you have to install a Cata game client or anything to play the 10 day Cataclysm trial? (I have Wrath of course, and I'm up to date with the latest patches.) And if so, can you download it before you activate the trial? Thanks!
Drakkenfyre Dec 27th 2010 11:19AM
With the new launcher, anything you don't have is downloaded when you start the game. Just activate the trial, then launch the launcher, and click play.
Tirrimas Dec 27th 2010 11:31AM
It wasn't a large download at all when I activated the 10-day trial. Just a client update, really. You already have the majority of Cataclysm data on your computer.
Micksel Dec 27th 2010 12:01PM
Oh great, thanks!
Eros Dec 27th 2010 11:07AM
That Edward, he's quite odd you know.
RetPallyJil Dec 27th 2010 2:02PM
He is way too odd to be a holy paladin. Look at that glazed, unbalanced smile; he's a born ret.
damagex26 Dec 27th 2010 4:19PM
I think he might be a play off of old school holy paladins wearing anything and everything that would let them heal.
Cromlech Dec 27th 2010 11:08AM
@The Queue
Is it possible to reach the "new" island that emerged off the coast of Stormwind and which is the "MacGuffin" to lure Horde and Alliance forces into Vash'jir?
I'd initially thought it was Tol Barad, but that's been there for ages.
Sunaseni Dec 27th 2010 11:49AM
Horde was going to use the new land mass connected to Vashj'ir as a forward base to raid Stormwind since it was so close. Of course, the Naga sort of...
/sunglasses
Sunk that plan.