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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Tanks
by Michael Sacco 
May 1st 2011 at 12:00PM
I'm tired. I've been tanking all weekend. Let's do this Queue so I can sleep and do it all over again tomorrow.
Crispn asked:
Is it me or are the new Zandalari fights way too healing intensive? The eagle boss in Zul'Aman for example, I had 17.8k hps that fight, just to keep us alive. This is a little much, no?
While the new instances are definitely on a higher difficulty level than current heroics and they do require more healing output, most fights are types of brain checks as opposed to heal checks (Nalorakk and Halazzi excepted). For Akil'zon, as I discovered tanking the place yesterday, he only gives one person the Static Disruption debuff at a time, but it'll chain to people who're within 12 yards of his target. So if everyone is spaced out 12 yards, only one person will get hit with it, guaranteed. You then have until the next Electrical Storm phase (or until it expires) to deal with the debuff.
Also, though this has nothing to do with healing, you can melee, stun, and slow the white eagles.
Draol asked:
Is there a particular reason they stopped implementing Dungeon Sets? There were 1 & 2 during Vanilla, and it carried on into BC with Dungeon Set 3, but when Wrath came around they were nowhere to be seen.
Was there a special reason, or did Blizzard just think it was unnecessary?
I can't speak for Blizzard, but nowadays you already have all the elements of dungeon sets in the cohesive art styles of heroic, rep, and point vendor gear at the same item level. The only thing missing is the set bonus, and I think that might be the reason why you don't see named dungeon sets now, actually. Set bonuses encourage people to keep their set pieces together when, nowadays, pre-raid gear is intended to be a stepping stone to the next level of gear, a this'll do for now kind of thing. Besides, jealousy is a pretty good motivator to get better gear. "Aw man, I want a set bonus too!"
Mayanvampire asked:
In vash'jr, one of the shaman mentions that there is a fifth element, which allows shamans to connect with the creatures of the land, and maybe nature, are there life elementals? if so, could there be a life elemental lord?
Commenter Jormund Fenris sums up the fifth element for those who don't closely follow lore:
If you're looking for a life elemental, the closest thing would probably be any of the giant plants you see in various zones or on bosses like Freya and Ammunae. As for an elemental lord of the wilds, well, we don't know for sure, but there sure are a lot of demigods (especially night elf demigods) that could fill that role, such as Aessina."Spirit of the Wilds. The essentials is that shamans primarily use the first four elements, and very rarily the fifth. In contrast, druids focus entirely on the fifth and disregard the other four. The only shaman spell of the fifth element in-game is Ancestral Spirit, the shammie-ressurection spell."
Metzganator asked:
Did the feature to reorder your characters on the loggin screen come in 4.1? if so how do i access it?
Blizzard recently stated in its UI Q&A that it's slated for arrival in 4.2.
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 7)
SaintStryfe May 1st 2011 12:57PM
technical glitch.
They will be back in the future, and every other race will get them too.
runbacker30 May 1st 2011 12:21PM
Have you ever thought a priest's Power Word: Shield should let you breathe underwater? I mean, it's pretty darn close to those bubbles in the underwater levels of the Sonic the Hedgehog games where you have to get the bubbles to stay alive.
Randolf May 1st 2011 12:50PM
I always thought the same thing about my paladin's bubble. I guess it all depends on if the bubble radiates from you or just appears. I wouldn't want to be trapped in a water-filled bubble.
On a related note, my friend and I use to laugh at the thought of my bubble radiating from me and taking my skin with it, so having a skin bubble around me.
Kal May 1st 2011 12:24PM
Have there been any reports of unusual lag in the new dungeons? The poison boss in Zul'Gurub lags me so badly that before we get to the 2nd phase I can't even move. Been trying to run it with guildies and every time same thing happens, lag to the point where I'm 15-20 seconds behind, and then we all die and I go back to normal.
Very weird and very annoying since I can't do anything to stop it.
Drakkenfyre May 1st 2011 7:53PM
Lag and framerate are two different things.
Are you talking about low framerate, where it's jerky? Or lag, where things are slowed down, like spells landing and casting late, and being unable to move things in your bag, or loot for awhile?
If it's framerate, try updating your addons, and updating your video card drivers.
Kal May 1st 2011 8:26PM
It's lag, the framerate is a smooth 20-25 the entire fight, but abilities and movements happen way too late, if at all. Usually I'm dead before it goes through.
Stella May 1st 2011 12:26PM
I'd say that any living creature is a Life Elemental.
Coleur May 1st 2011 12:26PM
Question for the queue:
What is the current status of the 'Insane in the Membrane' grind? I've heard that you no longer need Bloodsail Buccaneer rep at honored at the *same time* as exalted with the Goblin cartel. Is this true, or an old wow's tale?
Also, when you're back to neutral rep with Steamwheedle again, can you safely do the quests in Everlook, Ratchet, Booty Bay, and Tanaris for bonus rep? Or will this tank Bloodsail again, like it used to do in Booty Bay?
Raginghobo May 1st 2011 8:14PM
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2336
Read the comments.
Jormund Fenris May 1st 2011 12:30PM
Had I'd still been 8 years old, this queue would have contained two of my favourite things;
1: Me getting attention, and
2: Tanks. All over the goddamned place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5V6sxZ8-eg
masteroaktree May 1st 2011 12:32PM
Last night, I tanked heroic Deadmines to get my satchel. The group struggled a little and it took about 2 hours to finish. A big sigh of relief went through the group as Vanessa fell. I looked through by bags to find my satchel...but it wasn't there. I opened a ticket to inform a GM. A GM finally got back to me this morning telling me that Blizz was aware of the problem...but I wasn't going to get a satchel. Needless to say, I had a sad.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there perhaps a bug that shows a roll is the Call to Arms but it really isn't?
GrandOldDuke May 1st 2011 8:03PM
Yup. And I'm not sure why. I did one CtA, got my satchel, no problem, invigorating... queued up for another, got nothing.
The bugs and glitches since patch seem pretty rampant. Not getting shinies is liveable, but the apparent bugs with aggro generation are not, especially when piled on top of the horrible lag that occasionally spikes up. I'm regretting not waiting a week or two to resubscribe.
Theresa May 1st 2011 12:32PM
The eagle boss in particular is brutal for healers. Yes, you can have people spread out, but due to the size of the hit box melee can't get far enough from each other or from the tank to prevent chaining. A group with two melee in it is a nightmare on that boss unless you're a priest that can afford to use mass dispel. It does help a bit though if a ranged dps can pick off the little birds that fly around. Each of those hits for about 20k every time it swoops down at someone, so cutting those by even half helps.
Drakkenfyre May 1st 2011 4:49PM
You know how when you are scanning things, you see words on separate lines, and think it says something else?
When scanning down, i thought you said spread eagle.
Irin May 1st 2011 12:32PM
I've been playing with other toons honestly since my RL-forced break from WoW. But when going back to the main it doesn't seem to help.
I really hope the impatience and negativity is not a trend within the greater community. Part of the game's growth relies on the anonymous community respecting one another when placed in the random groups.
Irin May 1st 2011 12:33PM
/fail comment system
yous95 May 1st 2011 12:48PM
Q for the Q:
Everyone knows that Wrath of the Lich King was the paladin expansion (light against the undead) and Cataclysm is the shaman expansion (the 4 main elements). It got me wondering, is there a focus on a certain class in the Burning Crusade? If so what is it? Also, do you have any idea what the next expansion might be about and which class it'll focus on?
Draol May 1st 2011 1:11PM
I don't think Burning Crusade had any sort of focus like that. If Demon Hunter had been a class it almost certainly would've been, but it wasn't. Closest thing is Warlock, but they use demons, they don't fight them (which is what BC was about).
We know in the future we're going to get an Emerald Dream expansion, and its only natural to assume that would be the Druid expansion. It may also focus on whatever new hero class we get (assuming they follow the current pattern of 2 new races, 1 new hero class, etc), like Wrath did for Death Knights.
Swifteye May 1st 2011 1:37PM
BC was the Mage expansion! Killing scads upon scads of Warlock minions, watching Warlocks bite back tears as they had to put their own puppies down over and over... total Mage love, I'm telling you!
Al May 1st 2011 3:07PM
@Swifteye
Plus Khadgar. Granted, he didn't get to do an 8th as much as Tirion or Thrall but still...