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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 4 of 7)
Drakkenfyre May 1st 2011 4:49PM
Hey Al.
He blew up the Dark Portal the first time.
Al May 1st 2011 6:33PM
In the actual Expansion, though.
Tirion reclaims Ashbringer, gives epic speeches, (runs a Ren Faire) and helps kill Arthas.
Thrall holds the world together by will-power, gets a love interest, and 4.2 sounds like he gets some epic story
Khadgar.. summons an Elemental to play tour guide when we get to Shattrath.
icepyro May 1st 2011 6:56PM
TBC was about races more than classes. Blood elves and Draenei were not only introduced, but vital to the story and lots of stuff about them was among the quests,etc.
Suzaku May 2nd 2011 7:13AM
Burning Crusade didn't favor any classes or have a central class-driven faction, really. At least not in terms of lore.
There was the Cenarion Expedition helping out a bit, and then the Aldor and Scryers, which are mainly made up of paladins, priests, warriors, and hunters (Aldor) and mages and rogues (Scryers) when you get past the player characters.
Even so, it was certainly a blast for warlocks, because of all the demons all over the place. There's nothing quite like enslaving an elite pitlord and wrecking some havoc.
WoWie Zowie May 1st 2011 12:50PM
on thing i've noticed about akil'zon. the common LFGer thinks that its ok to ignore the brown birds. the fact is that those little suckers hit for 20k on a random person every 3 sec! multiply that by however many you allow to spawn without killing them. they only have 3k health, just any sort of aoe or multishot or what have you will kill them. but in every how-to vid i've seen of that fight, those brown birds are always dead soon after their spawn.
this is probably the main reason that makes that fight so hard on the healer. please tell those in your group to pick them off and you'll find it much easier.
drysta May 1st 2011 2:11PM
I've never had anyone go for the brown birds, ever. The only wipes we have had were on the first couple of times learning the encounter and the bugged version (which happened from friday onwards and is still happening but not every time but is documented as a bug here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2456906582) but you just reQ and if you get it again, invariably it isn't the bugged version. As long as people stay ranged you can really power through this. Took my friends resto shaman who only just hit the 346 requirement when we made him a relic and we got through it and that was with 2 in melee range.
But healers - even tanks - there IS a bugged version which doesn't happen every time. Take heart - it isn't you and you are (probably) doing an awesome job! And DPS need to STOP yelling at the healer to heal them if they hit that problem. The healer is aware of who needs heals, doesn't need some DPSer trying to tell them to do their job (which only leads to frustrations). Just saying :)
FartyMcGee May 1st 2011 12:52PM
I seem to remember reading in a Dev Q&A that come 4.1 we would be able to change the order of our characters at the enter game screen. Cruel joke or was this just overlooked?
Xantenise May 1st 2011 1:11PM
They answered that in today's queue.
prinbball May 1st 2011 1:15PM
DId you even read todays Queue?
Shrike May 1st 2011 1:20PM
... Seriously? You're asking this in the comments to a Queue that ANSWERED THIS QUESTION?!
FartyMcGee May 1st 2011 4:38PM
Well done, intrepid readers... just keeping you on your toes.
But seriously, what are the chances I decide to ask a question that was answered that day? I ask this a day earlier and I look (less) foolish, haha.
Hal May 1st 2011 12:52PM
There's a small alley tucked away in the Dwarven District of Stormwind called "Cut-throat Alley." What is this place?
SaintStryfe May 1st 2011 12:58PM
It used to be part of the Missing DIplomat quest line. It's now there mostly for color.
Eregos ftw! May 1st 2011 12:53PM
For some reason the CtA goodie bag only shows up on ZA/ZG random queue. Is this intentional? On normal random there's nothing for any role.
Necromann May 1st 2011 1:00PM
If there is to CtA, then there were enough yanks and healers queueing.
Necromann May 1st 2011 1:02PM
Tanks*. I can't spell right after a nap.
Lykkos May 1st 2011 1:17PM
I personally have gotten CtA goodie bags on both normal heroic random and ZA/ZG heroic random. One tier can be in CtA while the other isn't though.
Noyou May 1st 2011 1:21PM
Dearest Queue,
What ever happened to Dornaa? When we bring her to visit the Seat of Naruu we learn she has some kind of power and will be "very important" in the future. Is that still in the works or did that end with turning her back to the orphanage?
Signed,
Noyou
snuf42 May 1st 2011 6:03PM
Outlands is still in the past and Dornaa is still there as a child at the orphanage for children's week.
Suzaku May 2nd 2011 7:14AM
The Burning Crusade orphan quests unfortunately haven't been updated yet. I assume that they'll be replaced with a couple new kids whenever Blizzard gets around to updating BC, and can only hope that they remember to turn Salandria and Dornaa into important NPCs.
According to the letters they send you, Salandria is taken into Lady Liadrin's custody to train in Silvermoon, while Dornaa goes to train with Nobundo. So they're most likely being trained as a paladin and a shaman.