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 newsThe Queue: Clearance
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 10th 2011 at 11:00AM
I'm going to use the intro of The Queue to clear something up from Saturday's WRUP. I said that "Oblivion is Fallout in Fantasyland." I do know that Oblivion was released first, despite what some of you thought! I was saying that I played Fallout first but enjoyed Oblivion much more, despite their being basically the same game in two different settings. You dig?
Stormblade asked:
Does WoW Insider take applications? Can you email in example articles or ideas?
When we're looking to fill a specific position, we'll do a call-out on our front page and welcome interested individuals to apply. In general, we don't take applications outside of those periods, but it's not unheard of for us to hire people who mail us specific proposals or ideas. It doesn't happen very often, but it has happened.
As someone pointed out in the comments, the page you want to get the details of our hiring process is our Contributing to WoW Insider page. If you plan on applying for any of our future openings, pay attention to "How to apply" section. Not including the requested information can (and most likely will) get your application completely thrown out.
Mojo asked:
What was that chat company that had a giveaway this year? I want to use it for my raiding guild.
You are most likely thinking of MMO-Mumble. Good choice! Mumble is good stuff, and MMO-Mumble is good people.
Bernie Roscoe asked:
Why did they make Ahn'Qiraj its own zone? Is anything going on there?
All of the outdoor dungeons/raids in the world are now reflected as such in the overworld. Lost City of the Tol'vir works this way as well, even though you still have to go through the instance portal to actually fight the bosses. That's the only reason Ahn'Qiraj is its own zone. There's nothing you can actually do in there if you fly over the Scarab Wall. Consistency and nothing more.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is 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: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 12)
icepyro Jan 10th 2011 4:24PM
Actually in the world of shammies, there are 3 different writers for the three specs. Enh has been getting shafted due to a writer change. Before Stoney left, Ele was the shafted spec until Pewter took over. Lodur is just... Lodur. Nuff said.
As for the overall question, different specs play so differently they do require a different writer. Since there is dualspec, having one writer for 2 pally specs is doable, and ret/prot shares more than holy/anything anyways. Still, so many things change so often, it will be a while before worthwhile content can be worked out and written.
Incidentally, the 101 revisit is sorely lacking on several specs. I didn't realize this until now that I have my main and main alt to 85 and wanted to start bringing up some of my other alts. Seriously, a Cata 101 needs at least a level 85 spec mention. But I'm willing to wait and to try to work it out on my own, but just thought I'd take the opportunity to mention that.
Josin Jan 10th 2011 11:20AM
For a protection warrior, should my stat priority be Mastery>Parry>Stam>Dodge or Stam>Mastery>Parry>Dodge?
There seems to be some debate over this on the tanking forum.
vincekunk Jan 10th 2011 12:01PM
Did a little research and have determined that it should go thusly:
Ho! Ha-ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
Josin Jan 10th 2011 12:07PM
No, that's my opening rotation on bosses. I was wondering about the stat priority though. ;)
Twill Jan 10th 2011 12:08PM
Mix it up. Stam is only valuable until you stop getting insta-ganked.
Then its all about mixing around avoidance stats to avoid diminishing returns as much as possible. If one peice of gear has mastery, then maybe another can have dodge, and if to have dodge, reforge one to parry.
Its all a mix of getting the most out of every stat.
(Gems = socket bonus + preference)
Twill Jan 10th 2011 12:12PM
Please note though that I don't know the exact value of mastery... but Dodge = Parry EXACTLY, without diminishing returns.
What this means, is that the more of one stat you have, the more you want the other one.
(If you have 10 dodge and 9 parry, your next stat should be parry), (if you have 500 parry and 20 dodge, you will want dodge a LOT until it matches parry.)
Josin Jan 10th 2011 12:18PM
Actually, Parry benefits Prot Warriors more than Dodge due to Hold The Line, but the Diminishing Returns do get steep quickly if you favor one over the other too greatly.
awall Jan 10th 2011 4:56PM
@vincekunk I used to do that, but my face is just getting too sore.
Hraklea Jan 10th 2011 2:49PM
Which are the requirements for raid queueing? How much ilvl do I need? Do I need to find the raid entrance before queueing? I'm looking for these informations and I just can't find them.
Samuel Jan 10th 2011 3:44PM
The raid finder tool is a piece of crap honestly. Very few people check it while getting a raid together, and it's not automatic. The raid leader has to manually look through it to find people. Although, Blizzard has said they're looking to improve it. Right now you should be about ilvl 340-346 to enter raids.
exogenesis. Jan 10th 2011 11:30AM
Why is it that after you finish a random instance or battleground, and zone out, you are ALWAYS facing in the opposite direction to the one you were running/riding/flying in before you went into the instance/bg? The number of times I've retraced my steps a significant amount before realsing I was going in the wrong direction is ridiculous.
bdew Jan 10th 2011 11:39AM
My wild wild guess would be that it's some artifact code leftovers from passing through actual portals, that used to make sure you are facing the other way around when you exit via one.
Baba Jan 10th 2011 12:02PM
If your awareness is that bad, maybe you shouldn't be queueing for Battlegrounds :P
Priestess Jan 10th 2011 12:30PM
I'm pretty sure is has to do with zoning in and out. I too have experienced this, and tried it out with the entrance to the SW Mage Tower. That portal you walk through technically zones you even though there is no loading screen. I ran at it sideways (strafing) and when I popped out on the other side, instead of running on into the center of the room (as I should have if I had continued on uninterrupted by the portal) I ran sideways into the wall instead. In other words, your character is still following your directional commands, but the act of zoning changes your direction and then lets you go on your merry way -- the wrong way.
Pretty much any time you zone through anything, you'll be facing with your back to the spot you zoned through -- so, your back to the portal, or in the case of zoning out into the world from an instance to which you were ported, your back to the spot the portal would have been had you physically walked through it.
Disclaimer: This is from my own experimentation, I have no other facts or expertise upon which this is based.
Necromann Jan 10th 2011 2:34PM
Although this is probably wrong, I thought it might have been intentional to make you pay attention. B ut that instance portal thing makes a lot of sense.
Sar Jan 10th 2011 3:07PM
I'd like to find out what I did to piss off Tol Barad. Every time I zone in to that place it tries to make me drive off the side of the bridge :)
loop_not_defined Jan 10th 2011 3:32PM
I'd like to know why taking the portal from Orgrimmar to Deepholm drops me in front of the Stormwind portal. o_O
Al Jan 10th 2011 7:23PM
Stupid graveyard will always point you away from the Instance portal or your corpse location too.
threesixteen Jan 10th 2011 11:35AM
um why are Bloodied Wyrmhide Gloves itemized with Expertise?
just crafted them for my resto duid and then had a /facepalm moment... stamina, intellect and wtf???? expertise. sigh.
Ahima Jan 10th 2011 11:47AM
A hotfix on Jan. 3rd has fixed this item to have spirit instead of expertise:
"Bloodied Wyrmhide Gloves no longer have any expertise rating on them, and now grant Spirit instead." (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869, blue post)