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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Common patch 4.1 questions
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 2nd 2011 at 11:00AM
We've been seeing the same questions about patch 4.1 repeated fairly frequently over the last few days, so I'll be trying to tackle a small batch of those today.
Everyone in the entire world asked:
What will happen to our valor points in patch 4.1?
Since Blizzard is not adding a new tier of points, your valor point tally the day patch 4.1 launches will be rolled down into your justice points. I know that for certain. I'm pretty sure that if you end up over the cap of 4,000 justice points when your valors are rolled down, you will be able to go over the cap. But you won't accrue any more justice points until you've spent some.
Erevan asked:
It was announced in the PTR patch notes that the revamped 5-man versions of ZG and ZA will have an ilevel requirement of 346 and drop 353 epics (fantastic approach, IMO, to allowing better 5 man drops without immediately invalidating current raid equipment).
Here's my question: do the above ilevel numbers reflect the regular or heroic versions of ZG and ZA, and what gear requirements/loot drops can we expect from whichever one it isn't?
I don't believe there will be a normal version of these instances -- they're heroic only. What Blizzard is doing with these new 5-mans is providing a method of advancement for players who don't raid. They expect you to run the 5-man dungeons that were in at launch until you can do them on their heroic difficulty. Once you've conquered those and reached an ilevel of 346, you can step up and do Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub heroics. Essentially, heroics are becoming tiered content, just like raids. Tier 1 is all of the heroics that were in at launch. Tier 2 is Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub. Tier three will be whatever comes in patch 4.2 (or patch 4.3).
Personally, I think it's a great step for people who can't raid. Zul'Aman will even have a timed run again, which should add yet another layer of challenge to the instance. I like it.
Steve asked:
How confident should we be that new raid content will be included in 4.1? Thus far, and unless I've missed something, any mention of new raids has been excluded from the patch notes. We know that Firelands and the new Caverns of Time raids are coming, and we've seen some new tier 12 trinkets, so clearly something is in the works. But is it possible that they would limit the new content to the new 5-mans in 4.1 and hold off on new raids until 4.2?
It's entirely possible that Blizzard is going to change up its way of doing content patches. It might break up raid content and non-raid content into their own patches. But I wouldn't assume that's what's happening yet. Patch 4.1 went up on the PTR fairly bare-boned. There was a lot to datamine but not much actually available for play. Only an early iteration of Zul'Gurub and its associated quests were available the night the PTR went live. No Zul'Aman, no gear, not much of anything. I fully expect that Blizzard rushed this one out onto the PTR and it's going to be there for a long time -- long enough to add in some of that raid content.
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 6 of 12)
jishdefish Mar 2nd 2011 11:27AM
Undermine!
...
Oh, right they're enslaved aren't they? I got nothing.
MisterCrow Mar 2nd 2011 11:57AM
There are a lot of confusing elements to consider here.
There are two ancient empires of trolls to consider, in the Amani Empire and the Gurubashi Empire. Both of these tribes banded together to fight against the A'qir in the ages before the Sundering. The Gurubashi eventually declined due to angering Neptulon, while the Amani were driven down through wars with the human Arathi tribes and later the High Elves.
Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub are the capitals of those two ancient empires, respectively. "Perhaps something has happened to once again call for the unity of the disaffected tribes." -- This could mean that the remnants of the Amani and Gurubashi tribes are either a) rallying to fight against the Twilight's Hammer or b) JOINING the Twilight's Hammer and the Old Gods in a bid for world domination.
"Perhaps a certain tribe with allegiances elsewhere sees this as a very bad thing." -- This could mean a couple different things too: Clearly, the Darkspear Tribe has their allegiance to the Horde, and the actions of the Gurubashi/Amani affect them greatly.
But it could ALSO refer to the Zandalar Tribe. They control Zandalar Island, the cradle of Troll civilization, were fighting against the forces of Hakkar in ZG and the Sunken Temple. They were also on hand to document the downfall of Gundrak. And it's Zandalar emissaries who compel the Horde and Alliance to enter ZG and ZA in 4.1. What's unclear here is who the Zandalar owe their allegiances to aside from King Rastakahn.
I don't expect the Zandalar are going to go bad -- in fact, I really expect the Zandalar are going to employ us to fight their war AGAIN, because Jin'do and whoever's running things in Zul'Aman 4.1 are teaming up with the Old Gods.
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:20AM
My personal way i level is doing the instances that gives quests once and then avoiding them till i hit max lvl and need gear, i find questing to have a larger effect than doing an instance without the quests in them
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:21AM
ment to be a reply downvote
coville Mar 2nd 2011 11:25AM
Is there any chance the Blizzard will give us a way to increase the Focus amounts hunters have?
I understand they use this resource limitation as a way to balance hunters, so I am not asking to double the amount, but it would be nice to add 5 or 10 points if I am willing to sacrifice mastery or some other stat.
fallemwarrior Mar 2nd 2011 11:35AM
If they do my bet is a Bm talent
Bapo Mar 2nd 2011 11:42AM
BM's get said talent
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2011 1:20PM
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=56315
coville Mar 2nd 2011 1:37PM
The funny part is I thought I remembered having 110 focus when Cata started, but when SV showed to be the best spec and I switched from BM I thought the lowered focus was from a patch.
I guess what I was hoping to see was focus bonus on weapons or armor, maybe an epic gun that adds 5 focus when equipped would be sweet. That way all hunter specs can get a focus boost.
Caliea Mar 2nd 2011 11:30AM
A Q for the Queue readers: I'm not sure if this is just my day to be confused, or if it's just that I'm in a confessing mood, but I need help figuring out this website. I can write comments, and enter my password into the form, but it sends me a verification email every single time.
I've set up a profile with joystiq and have put in a profile pic. But for some reason the WoWInsider portion of joystiq doesn't transfer it over? If I click on my name, it brings up a history of my comments, with a tantalizing little link "Are you Caliea? Click here to login"... but it's apparently just a tease.
How do I get WoWInsider to love, respect, and remember me in the morning?
WaterRouge Mar 2nd 2011 11:40AM
Did you remember it's birthday and your anniversary? If not that's probably why it's in a grumpy mood.
But no seriously WoWInsider has always done that for me too. I have the password/email saved in there thanks to Firefox but by now I'm just used to going to my email to click the verification link.
In fact, I'll go do that right now after I finish typing this sentence!
Drakkenfyre Mar 2nd 2011 11:54AM
You can't.
The "Remember me" for WoW Insider has never, EVER worked. Not in the previous version of the commenting system, not in this one.
The Joystiq one will remember you because it's a different system.
To stop getting the confirmation emails, you should be able to login to Joystiq, check your profile, and hit change password, then use a new password, and use that when you comment.
VioletArrows Mar 2nd 2011 12:22PM
I honestly wish I could tell you how I did it. I actually have two accounts, this one under an email, and a messed up one I accidentally created by clicking the AIM button. For a while after Gawker ruined everything, I had changed my password for this one and wound up using another account until I got everything sorted out. I started getting the notifications again and hated it. When I changed my original account password, I learned it wasn't entered right in the Returning tab, changed it, and magically WI could remember me and I no longer got the stupid notifications.
Auroi Mar 2nd 2011 11:37AM
Dear Queue,
I've been gearing up an alt rogue through RDF heroics the past few days and I've been having a rough time. I had a great time and blew through normals and got my gear up to ilvl 333 with out much trouble, but in the heroics I've found people acting very snobby about not wanting to run all of the bosses in places like ToT and HoO, just like WotLK HoS. They've also been singling out low DPS toons in the group and causing already 30-40 min long runs to be much longer due to ridiculous arguments. Mostly, I feel like people, including myself, are missing out on points and chances at gear that drops.
Any tips on how to deal with these jack-wagons and get the most out of my RDF groups, or am I just gonna have to suck it up?
P.S.: WTB "Must Defeat All Bosses Button" in RDF
shawn Mar 2nd 2011 11:45AM
Unfortunately, I've noticed the WotLK "race through the instance" trend has already hit Cataclysm. Most random PUG groups I encounter already have the ignore mechanic mentality so they can just farm the instance.
It is pretty sad, IMO. But, the only thing I can offer is run with your guild mates. It sucks this is the way it turned out (so much for Blizzard's attempt at more mechanical, Crowd Controlled runs) but it is what it is.
Spelio Mar 2nd 2011 11:47AM
I hate to say this but you are probably going to have to suck it up when using the RDF tool. The only true way to avoid the "jack-wagons" and kill all of the bosses all of the time is to create your own group.
Leroy Mar 2nd 2011 11:56AM
As others have mentioned, form your own group (or atleast get a tank that wants to do everything).
As a pally tank with ilvl 351, if I RFD into HoO, I am not going to be running every boss. There is no need for me to do them, and a majority of the group usually agrees with me.
On the other hand, if I am running a guildie through who needs the extra JP or a specific drop, I will gladly do it. Having a tank on your side helps a lot when wanting to do unnecessary bosses.
Auroi Mar 2nd 2011 11:58AM
Does maybe queuing up as the group leader help get a little pull in what the group will do? Running with guildies isn't really an option because the small size of the guild and the fact that raid times are the only times that most of us are on together. I'll have to figure something out.
Leroy Mar 2nd 2011 12:13PM
Being group leader doesn't really change anything. Tanks tend to have the most power in these situations, as people don't want to drop group and have to sit in long Q's.
The Dewd Mar 2nd 2011 12:46PM
Unfortunately, if you don't have a pocket tank to direct the run for you, you're probably going to have to just ask up-front if everyone is willing to do a full clear.
If there's a specific item you need, you might be able to beg your way into an extra boss or two, especially somewhere like HoO where you could try to get an extra boss in upstairs instead of just hitting Rajh and finishing it.
Also, if you have enough time to do multiple runs, you can always queue up for a specific heroic that has a lot of your desired drops and then run your random afterwards.