Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Even though I am better than you, I am not
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 13th 2011 at 12:00PM
Video mildly NSFW. I learned something yesterday, and that's that the number of people who will jump to correct a "grammar mistake" is larger than the number of people who will recognize and enjoy a combination JFK reference/play on words. I thought we had moved beyond just using pictures of our pets for Queue intros! My heart is broken.
Aarkan asked:
Why does my worgen bear have leg spikes?
Because the GWAR logo is trademarked.
Phoenixxx73 asked:
Why do we not see mixed-race NPCs about the world? Surely it is possible that a tauren has fallen in love with an orc, or a troll with a blood elf ... Maybe a draenei with a human? Are there any lore type reasons for this? Or is it just laziness on the part of the model makers?
Well, we do know that several races are able to interbreed, like humans/orcs, orcs/draenei, and humans/high elves. Orcs are highly adaptable creatures, as we discussed on the WoW Insider Show a few weeks back, so it's not surprising that they're able to breed with other races. And because humans and elves are both Titan-created, that could be the link that allows them to reproduce with each other.
So it's reasonable to assume that some of the other native races of Azeroth can interbreed. What we don't know is exactly who can breed with who, and even if we did know that, we don't know the rate of success when it comes to bearing children. Consider, too, that most races haven't even known each other for that long. Even humans and high elves, who've had a few hundred years to pal around, only have a few reported cases of successfully breeding.
If this all comes off as a little nerdy, I suppose it is, but what I'm getting at is that even the one race combination we know to have worked more than twice, high elf/human, hasn't received its own model. It's just not a priority to give the one or two NPCs in the entire game world who're the product of interbreeding their own model, and any other kind of child who was the product of interbreeding would either be a.) too young to need a special model, or b.) too similar to an already-existing child model. That's assuming the child was physically likely to come to term anyway.
In other words, until we see an entire civilization of half-whatevers or a raid boss that's a half-whatever, you probably won't see Blizzard put forth the effort necessary to create a special model for a half-whatever. It's not worth the development time necessary to create them.
Lohkie asked:
Is it just me or does the RNG for the Heart-Shaped Box hate anyone else? 5 days in a row I open the box to see the message "There is no loot".
You still get justice points from the box. The "no loot" message just indicates you didn't win anything cool, like the trinkets or the rocket.
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 2 of 9)
LynMars Feb 13th 2011 2:29PM
I second avoiding AVG. My school used to offer it for free, so I used it, and it was fine. until one day, out of the blue, with no discernible updates, it decided WoW was a virus, entirely.
The roommate (before she was my roommate, just happened to be hanging out that day) and I fought that machine for hours; AVG wouldn't reconfigure, wouldn't recognize WoW, and then, wouldn't uninstall. At all. It demanded a password, which it never needed before, and the instructions on how to get the default password did not work. We had to cripple it entirely; the only way it'll get off my laptop is if I system restore the thing.
I haven't used MSE at all, but I've been using Avast! since AVG screwed up and have been pretty happy with it; no troubles with the launcher or updates for me with it. I also use AdAware (though increasingly meh about it) and Spybot (which is still a good program).
icepyro Feb 13th 2011 2:44PM
AVG has gotten better, those choices seem to work out and you can uninstall the toolbar and other annoying parts separate from the program or at least turn them off.
Still, I've recently been trying MSE myself and either I've been extremely lucky or it works well. It certainly is lightweight and easy to deal with. Unlike other m$ programs, this one actually has worked out of the box (so to speak) without a bunch of security updates or service packs. It's a shame they don't make other programs run so well from the start.
So, yeah, I now install MSE and leave AVG alone. If you just can't wrap your head around the idea that a Microsoft product that is free works better than many of the ones you pay for, then AVG is the next best choice I have found.
icepyro Feb 13th 2011 2:53PM
I never tried AVG since I started playing WoW, so if that story is true on thinking WoW is a virus (probably because of warden), yeah, might want to avoid. My home computer had a copy of Kaspersky from work and when i updated it to Windows 7, MSE was out. At work where our version of Kaspersky is not compatible with Win7, I've tried (free version) of AVG 2011 and had success on the few machines this applies to. Meh. Now that MSE is out and gotten an official stamp of approval to install, I've just been installing it on new Win7 machines until we have the budget for better.
Drakkenfyre Feb 13th 2011 3:07PM
icepyro, yes, they fixed the installer ignoring your choices, but after seeing how they handled that, handled their customers on their message board (even paid customers were upset, and complaining) and the stuff they have pulled since then, I wouldn't use them.
The one guy who answered most of the technical support tickets on the message board talked to most people like they were idiotic kids. "Now, now, you don't know what you're talking about. Just let the program stay installed, and leave those options alone. It'll work out fine. If it doesn't, it's your computer or your fault. Thanks for using AVG." That kind of tone.
AVG also likes to hog the crap out of OS Paged Pool memory. If you run a game that requires a good deal of it, it can cause problems. And disabling it will not free it up. As long as it's installed, on bootup it will take that memory, and not release it. I can't tell you for how long I had the "Warning: OS Paged Pool Memory Low" warning in TF2, which sometimes lead to an outright crash.
Darasen Feb 13th 2011 4:20PM
Linux.
Thomas Higgins Feb 13th 2011 7:16PM
I use MSE as well. Religiously. I have a custom installation of Windows that Microsoft assures me is legitimate, lets me upgrade and do all sorts of stuff with, and MSE works flawlessly.
It doesn't have the best UI on the market, and is a bit hungry on system resources, but it works.
Drakkenfyre Feb 13th 2011 9:25PM
A bit hungry on system resources? It seems to be one of the lightest ones around. What are you judging it by?
Because literally, I know of no other antiviruses that use less resources. At least, any that are good.
Siorra Feb 13th 2011 12:10PM
Nice little write-up on crossbreeding. At least we've seen a Human / Draenei / Orc draw up in Med'an.
Also WTB Love Rocket. ;(
Alexran Feb 13th 2011 12:12PM
Why exactly is there a tank shortage? Are heroics really that hard?
Understud Feb 13th 2011 12:18PM
In short yes, but not necessarily the dungeon itself anymore with the huge luck of the draw buff we get now. They don't want to deal with all the bad/rushing/no cc/dumb dps they get.
Zero456 Feb 13th 2011 12:21PM
Tanking actually requires a lot of work. Between positioning the enemies, to making sure you have threat and pulling but doing so without breaking CC, it's a full time job that not a lot of people necessarily choose to do.
Avan Feb 13th 2011 12:21PM
They aren't really hard. It's just that they don't like the prospect of maybe having to spend two hours getting through Grim Batol. And there will always be a fresh GB to do because every tank insta-drops from it.
Greyvix Feb 13th 2011 12:24PM
It's not so much the fact that they are hard. Its just that others are so judgemental about there tanks. Tanking is a hard enuff job without having to listen to everyone else blame you for every lil mistake, whether it resulted in a wipe or not. (whether is was your fault or not too.)
arcaneterror Feb 13th 2011 12:23PM
Well, you see, the Canadian government had a lot of budget cuts in the 90's, so now we...
Wait.
Ohh, those tanks....
Cluisanna Feb 13th 2011 12:28PM
It's because even in normal dungeons, there is always one person, most of the time two, three or the entire group, that does all those things that common sense and/or voice chat prevent, such as pulling/adding as a dps, rolling need on the wrong items, not reacting to the chat, ignoring boss mechanics (I have no problem with explaining, but dear god why don't you mention that you don't know the boss), and so on and so forth.
Also, unrelated: why wasn't I sent a password for the comment system? I had to use the "New Readers" tab again.
Guy Feb 13th 2011 12:41PM
As a tank, I think it is ungrateful party members. The tank seems to get blamed for a wipe 75%, and we never (or rarely) get kicked so we have to hear snide comments insults for the rest of the run. It can be frustrating. Granted sometimes the tank is the reason for the wipe, other times we are not. But it always seems regardless of what happens, the tank (or sometimes healer) is blamed. I stopped running heroics for about 2 weeks until 4.0.6 came out since we now get the luck of the draw buff. I have run 3 random instances since Tuesday; last night with Throne of Tides and only wiped once and I died twice, ran Vortex Pinnacle and ran just the 3rd part and we wuped on the last pull with the adepts, and ran Grim Batol and didn't wipe once. So the Luck of the Draw has helped, or maybe groups are just better geared and there are a lot less iLVL 330s with no gems are enchants. Whatever it is, Heroics have seemed to find the sweet spot for me, not faceroll like WOTLK but not a horror either. They are hard, you can wipe with a bad group, but not impossible even with pugs.
Sorro Feb 13th 2011 12:49PM
In the realm of 5-mans, from easiest to hardest roles, it goes: DPS -> healer -> tank. So if one role is going to refuse to random, it's going to be the role that has the hardest job, aka Tank, specially when the other party members' actions or inactions can increase the difficulty of that job.
It's so easy for bad DPS or healers to kill a 5-man, that many tanks only want to run with people they know are competent, aka friends/guildies.
So that's where the bottleneck comes from.
Claire Feb 13th 2011 5:12PM
I'll be honest: I'm a Wrath baby, and I don't like Cata tanking. Specifically, I don't like CC pulls. I enjoyed tanking in Wrath because I'm a control freak. Having to rely on DPS so a pull goes smoothly makes me sad in my pants.
ecwfrk Feb 13th 2011 5:41PM
Tank is the role that's most like work. I work for a living, I play games for fun. Most people are the same way. Which is why there's a tank shortage.
DPS has to learn a rotation and not stand in fire. Low stress, easy job that's fun. You pretty much just have to follow DBMs directions and move when GTFO starts beeping. Anything else you need to know can usually be explained with a few seconds of typing. And if a DPS screws up late in the fight, the other 4 can usually finish the fight without them.
Healers have to anticipate incoming burst or AOE damage and react to unexpected damage quickly. They have to know the encounter better than a DPS and they can't have all their actions directed by DBM and GTFO. And if the healer screws up and dies, the group will usually wipe; but not always as there's often a Pally or SP who can keep the tank alive for a bit.
Tanks are expected to lead which is something few enough people want to do. But beyond that, Tanks have to know the dungeon intimately. They have to know which trash mobs hurt the most and in which order they need to be killed, they have to know if there will be a patrol coming by the boss' room before pulling the boss, they have to know where to pull the bosses to and which way to point them, they have to know when to blow survival cooldowns, they have to watch the whole room for incoming adds and pick them up quickly with the boss in their face trying to distract them, and so on. It's a job that requires leadership skills and an intimate knowledge of the game which usually means a lot of time studying videos and reading walkthroughs. And if the tank screws up and dies it's almost always a wipe. A SP or Ret pally can heal well enough to keep the tank up for a while if the healer dies but no class is able to tank for a very long when they're in a DPS or healing spec.
Ozzard Feb 13th 2011 5:42PM
My main's geared for heroics. I won't tank them outside guild runs. I play WoW for enjoyment, and playing Daddy and the healer playing Mummy to three DPS children going "WannapullwannalootDON'TWANNACCwannagogogoNOOOOW" in a 2-hour wipefest isn't fun for me.
I accept that's a caricature; there are plenty of good DPS out there, plenty of bad tanks and plenty of both kinds of healers. But for some reason the whiny ones seem to end up in LFG. Maybe it's because bad players get vote-kicked out of groups more often than good players, so the concentration of bad players is at its highest in the queue that has to wait for longest to get a group? Hmm, might try writing a little simulation to test that...