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: Historical figure
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 4th 2011 at 11:00AM
Apparently when someone mentions a pop star in a Queue intro, we get 200 comments in which people pretend they're too cool to know about said pop star or talk about how much they hate said pop star, rather than questions about World of Warcraft. So I'm gonna go ahead and nip that trend right in the bud by giving you the polar opposite of that intro.
Here's a historical figure you probably can't name, or if you can name him, you don't know anything about him besides his name and his title. If you do, good for you. I don't care. Ask me World of Warcraft questions.
Mary asked:
Will the Valentine's Day bosses be dropping Cata-level epics this year, or will it still be the same old Wrath stuff?
Probably not epics, but there are some level 85 blues on Wowhead that look like they'll be dropping off of the Love is in the Air bosses.
Arcsire asked:
So I was questing through Uldum the other day, and something struck me as odd. In on of the first few cutscenes in the zone, you witness a djinn (whose name escapes me) remove the Curse of Flesh from the Neferset. Now, unless I'm missing something, aren't the djinn servants of Al'Akir, and by extension of the Old Gods? Why would the Old Gods want any part of their army to be less vulnerable to their corruption?
Well, they can't be that much less vulnerable -- after all, they got afflicted by the curse in the first place, didn't they? Besides, stone catdudes are much more durable than fleshy catdudes.
Daan.leijen asked:
Does anyone have a clue as to where Ghostcrawler wandered off to? Haven't seen him post in days.
It's been much longer than days. The developers have been largely hands off where the new forums are concerned; GC hasn't really posted all since the changeover. For a while, it seemed like he would be doing regular blogs, like the ones he did about healing and tanking, but after how poorly received his "Wow! Dungeons are Hard!" post was, I'm suspecting it'll be a while before we hear from him again. I'd like to be proven wrong, though.
Chris asked:
With all the class changes coming in Patch 4.0.6, are the talent points getting reset for all classes?
Unlikely. In previous patches, only classes with extensive talent reworks got their talent points reset. It doesn't appear that there are enough fundamental changes for most classes to warrant resets.
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: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 11)
athronaxx Feb 4th 2011 11:10AM
Zachary Taylor? Awesome!
The thing I don't understand about Zachary Taylor is, why in the world would he have picked Millard Fillmore as VP? The man had an undistinguished record before entering office, did nothing as VP, and went on to do nothing as president. Please, Queue, clarify!
Kunikenwad! Feb 4th 2011 11:19AM
Millard Filmore = Prophet Velen?
Morrigann Feb 4th 2011 11:42AM
I actually shot milk out my nose when I saw this comment
Guy Feb 4th 2011 11:54AM
I would've supported Abbott Lawrence to be his VP, but it wasn't meant to be. Taylor unfortunately didn't have a choice in his runningmate, since they chose Fillmore he had to make do.
On a plus side though, if Fillmore wasn't selected we might never have had the comic Mallard Fillmore.
Swift1 Feb 4th 2011 2:54PM
Fillmore was their third choice, as I recall. They wanted to give it to Clay first, but left the convention after losing to Harrison and was too depressed to ever respond. Then they asked General Scott and he declined. So they were like, "okay Millard, you can be VP, but if Taylor dies, please don't be a douche." Later, he douched it up as president.
Pallypolly Feb 4th 2011 11:09AM
Is the "exalted" title being removed from the 40 exalted reputations achievement in Patch 4.0.6?
Priestilla Feb 4th 2011 11:11AM
He was the only President to have lived in Louisiana.
Sturmovic Feb 4th 2011 11:10AM
Do you think that Blizz distrusts player feedback, opting instead for research groups to fond out more about the game? Considering the amount of awesome ideas I've seen that have simply gone into the void, I'm starting to get that feeling.
Also-What are are chances to see a new species of flying mounts anytime soon? Drakes are getting old.
Cetha Feb 4th 2011 11:31AM
I'm with you on the drakes, time for something new.
Not that riding around on a dragon isn't fun, but its been 3 expansions worth now.
N-train Feb 4th 2011 11:32AM
The problem with player feedback is that it often isn't very clearcut, and you have to take what players say (especially on the forums) with a bit of a grain of salt.
Take heroic/raid difficulty in Cata. I bet for every 300 people you can find who say Cata is way too hard, I can find 300 who will say it's too easy and 400 who will say it's just right. As a developer, how do you apply information like that? For every nerf to mages in X.X patch I can find 500 mages who see it as the end of days, while finding 500 warlocks who find mages quite overpowered. Remember how upset everyone was at the lack of Dal/Shatt portals? See anyone seriously complaining about that anymore?
When it comes down to it, they're the trained and experienced designers who had to know at least something about good game design to get to a position of influence in a company like Blizzard. Are they flawless? Absolutely not. But I think they recognize that sometimes player feedback is helpful, and sometimes it's more trouble than its worth.
Also, I think there's a difference between a good idea and a practical, logistical idea. Plenty of ideas presented by players on the forums are certainly good, but I don't think they're often very practical and they don't often take into account the cost of implementing those ideas.
Starsmore Feb 4th 2011 11:58AM
There's a different between "feedback" and "ideas" though. Feedback, Blizz can use without a problem. Ideas are more of a grey area. Most companies won't touch or even LOOK at ideas from the general public, due to the legal ramifications.
Say you come up with an idea for this awesome new dungeon, and post it to the forums. Then Blizzard (independently) comes up with a kinda-similar idea for an awesome new dungeon.
You could then sue the pants off Blizzard, saying that they took your idea without proper compensation. Blizzard would then have to come up with proof that this was their own idea, not yours.
You might not, but you might. And when Lawyers are involved, they err on the side of "let's not do anything to get us sued"
Eirik Feb 4th 2011 1:52PM
Yeah, brother! New mounts types! Let's see some Riding Murlocs!
Hollow Leviathan Feb 4th 2011 6:50PM
"Remember how upset everyone was at the lack of Dal/Shatt portals? See anyone seriously complaining about that anymore?"
Threads about those portals are quickly locked on the forums, and Bashiok has replied multiple times since Cata was released on that subject. It still bothers me.
SamLowry Feb 4th 2011 11:37PM
"Poorly received"...umm, maybe because my take on GC's message was "like it or suck it"?
He was essentially telling us that regular dungeons feeling like heroics and heroics feeling like raids is "working as intended". The 45-minute queues for both types have shown, however, that most players are avoiding them altogether, and I have finally decided to join them. After spending time and gold to get geared up enough to enter heroics I've come to see almost every group fall apart faster than your typical jaunt into the Halls of Reflection (which, back in the day, tended to have a 95% dissolution rate before reaching the first boss...no, I'm not exaggerating).
So I'll just level my alts, get their tradeskills up to 525 and bide my time until the devs eventually get their heads out of, um, the sand.
Kaphik Feb 4th 2011 11:11AM
Pretty interesting that you post the picture of the last American President to own slaves while serving as president. What are you implying, that we are slaves to your column, slobbering over our bookmarks and F5 keys waiting for the new edition of The Queue each and every day?
Ok, maybe you're right.
negativegirl Feb 4th 2011 12:30PM
Rng?
threesixteen Feb 4th 2011 11:12AM
Brian Cox?
Feldring Feb 4th 2011 11:13AM
Ah! My guess was the beloved Arthur Wellesley (a.k.a. the Duke of Wellington), but the painting wasn't one I had seen before. Good job, Adam "Man From the Future" Holisky. ;-)
Kyle Feb 4th 2011 11:13AM
As I was leveling mining through Northrend, I flew over Gundrak a few times, and was impressed by the Temple's scope and design, but it made me wonder: why was this awesome prop never used for anything? I think I may vaguely remember something about another troll raid or instance in the Temple itself, but I can't seem to find anything about it. Was this a planned raid or instance that Blizzard just decided they didn't have time for? If so, do you think they'll ever revisit it? It's too huge and impressive to just sit there forever.
Saeadame Feb 4th 2011 1:38PM
I think they planned it to be a raid. There were even some of the items that were Gundrak-themed in the other Wrath raids.