The Queue: Twitter edition
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mat McCurley will be your host today.
What's up, WoW Insider land? Mat McCurley, signing on, to give you your Saturday Queue questions and answers. Did you hear the big news? The WoW Insider Show is going LIVE on Tuesday, May 31, at 11 a.m. EST, 8 a.m. PST. A live show smack-dab during downtime to give you all some awesome stuff to listen to and participate in while we wait for WoW to come back online. Plus, we'll be giving away the Razer Anansi keyboard that was recently reviewed on the site plus some other prizes. You'll have to tune in to find out what we've got in store for you guys!
Today's Queue is mostly Twitter questions, because yesterday's comments were all about the rapture or Lord Angrythirst or something. What's with that guy?!
Meg asked:
Have they yet, or are there plans to in the near future, released a new battle chest that includes BC and Wrath? Or at least a price drop in Wrath? I wanted to start a new account, but $90+ is a bit steep for me.
Releasing a version of World of Warcraft that includes every expansion pack up to and including Cataclysm is the next thing Blizzard needs to do to grow its subscriber base. In fact, it's not even an option at this point. One of the astonishingly difficult areas of MMO development is the problem of getting new players up to speed. Sure, you can keep adding content and making old players happy, but when the barrier to entry becomes too great and too expensive, new players are turned off immediately.
In my opinion, you'll see the full game, vanilla to Cataclysm, in one box for around $50 sooner than you think. It has to happen. When I went to GDC and listened to Tom Chilton's developer talk, this exact issue came up. The developers wanted to package everything together to lower the barrier to entry, but it was not their decision. Now there is no choice. Lowering the barrier to entry will raise subscription numbers.
@thejackthompson asked:
You think Blizzard is ever going to finish fleshing out the zones they didn't get to before the Cata launch?
Zones like Arathi Highlands were not fleshed out to the extent other zones were because they were not really needed. For Cataclysm's 1 to 60 content, it turned out that WoW had too many zones. The game's original makeup had these zones and their multitude of quests because, really, there was a very undefined questing path, and these places existed to give leveling players more options. Now, with the new leveling progression and pace, some zones fell by the wayside as places themselves.
Arathi has some great story moments for the Forsaken, if you're interested. It's not much, but it is there. As for other zones that didn't get fleshed out as well as they could have, honestly, only Silithus and Arathi come to mind as the bottom of the barrel. I feel like Silithus might be getting a revamp at some point in the story, and Arathi is just too inconsequential these days to matter. It's just what happens when you have too many zones from a bygone era.
@gnomematter asked:
Seriously, though -- do you think the Refugee Caravan will ever get where it's going? (I guess that's an Outland refresh question)
I like to pretend the refugee caravan is safe and sound right now.
@cutaia asked:
Where are the elemental planes in relation to Azeroth? Another dimension altogether, or occupying physical parts of the world?
The elemental planes either exist at the core of Azeroth or are prisons within the Twisting Nether, according to Wowpedia. To me, it seems more likely the first option, where the elemental planes sort of live below Azeroth like a Photoshop layer. Firelands, for instance, begins to materialize into Azeroth during the invasion of Hyjal, from beyond our dimension/reality. The Abyssal Maw also begins to materialize in Vashj'ir, Skywall in Uldum, and Deepholm in a variety of zones. These places are "crossing over," as it were, because the bonds that separate the elemental planes from Azeroth are weakened by Deathwing.
@Bleuchz asked:
Question for the qeueue: Would like your opinion on the success/failure of archaeology :)
I do not think that archaeology is a failure as a secondary profession. It has the right amount of fun perks and story lore that people who engage in secondary professions would expect from it, and with recent patches, it got a nice little monetary upgrade. However, archaeology failed in its randomness. Something needs to be done about the progression and potential of getting cool items versus hoping and praying for them. The time sink is pretty high -- and that's fine -- but even with a huge time sink, there should be some more ways at figuring out what your next rare item will be.
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!
What's up, WoW Insider land? Mat McCurley, signing on, to give you your Saturday Queue questions and answers. Did you hear the big news? The WoW Insider Show is going LIVE on Tuesday, May 31, at 11 a.m. EST, 8 a.m. PST. A live show smack-dab during downtime to give you all some awesome stuff to listen to and participate in while we wait for WoW to come back online. Plus, we'll be giving away the Razer Anansi keyboard that was recently reviewed on the site plus some other prizes. You'll have to tune in to find out what we've got in store for you guys!
Today's Queue is mostly Twitter questions, because yesterday's comments were all about the rapture or Lord Angrythirst or something. What's with that guy?!
Meg asked:
Have they yet, or are there plans to in the near future, released a new battle chest that includes BC and Wrath? Or at least a price drop in Wrath? I wanted to start a new account, but $90+ is a bit steep for me.
Releasing a version of World of Warcraft that includes every expansion pack up to and including Cataclysm is the next thing Blizzard needs to do to grow its subscriber base. In fact, it's not even an option at this point. One of the astonishingly difficult areas of MMO development is the problem of getting new players up to speed. Sure, you can keep adding content and making old players happy, but when the barrier to entry becomes too great and too expensive, new players are turned off immediately.
In my opinion, you'll see the full game, vanilla to Cataclysm, in one box for around $50 sooner than you think. It has to happen. When I went to GDC and listened to Tom Chilton's developer talk, this exact issue came up. The developers wanted to package everything together to lower the barrier to entry, but it was not their decision. Now there is no choice. Lowering the barrier to entry will raise subscription numbers.
@thejackthompson asked:
You think Blizzard is ever going to finish fleshing out the zones they didn't get to before the Cata launch?
Zones like Arathi Highlands were not fleshed out to the extent other zones were because they were not really needed. For Cataclysm's 1 to 60 content, it turned out that WoW had too many zones. The game's original makeup had these zones and their multitude of quests because, really, there was a very undefined questing path, and these places existed to give leveling players more options. Now, with the new leveling progression and pace, some zones fell by the wayside as places themselves.
Arathi has some great story moments for the Forsaken, if you're interested. It's not much, but it is there. As for other zones that didn't get fleshed out as well as they could have, honestly, only Silithus and Arathi come to mind as the bottom of the barrel. I feel like Silithus might be getting a revamp at some point in the story, and Arathi is just too inconsequential these days to matter. It's just what happens when you have too many zones from a bygone era.
@gnomematter asked:
Seriously, though -- do you think the Refugee Caravan will ever get where it's going? (I guess that's an Outland refresh question)
I like to pretend the refugee caravan is safe and sound right now.
@cutaia asked:
Where are the elemental planes in relation to Azeroth? Another dimension altogether, or occupying physical parts of the world?
The elemental planes either exist at the core of Azeroth or are prisons within the Twisting Nether, according to Wowpedia. To me, it seems more likely the first option, where the elemental planes sort of live below Azeroth like a Photoshop layer. Firelands, for instance, begins to materialize into Azeroth during the invasion of Hyjal, from beyond our dimension/reality. The Abyssal Maw also begins to materialize in Vashj'ir, Skywall in Uldum, and Deepholm in a variety of zones. These places are "crossing over," as it were, because the bonds that separate the elemental planes from Azeroth are weakened by Deathwing.
@Bleuchz asked:
Question for the qeueue: Would like your opinion on the success/failure of archaeology :)
I do not think that archaeology is a failure as a secondary profession. It has the right amount of fun perks and story lore that people who engage in secondary professions would expect from it, and with recent patches, it got a nice little monetary upgrade. However, archaeology failed in its randomness. Something needs to be done about the progression and potential of getting cool items versus hoping and praying for them. The time sink is pretty high -- and that's fine -- but even with a huge time sink, there should be some more ways at figuring out what your next rare item will be.
Filed under: The Queue







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Sumadin May 21st 2011 12:09PM
Why is it Druids insists on putting their mark of the wild up even after i buffed the raid with kings?
jfofla May 21st 2011 12:11PM
If a Druid is present, you should buff Might
Xanadal May 21st 2011 12:13PM
Because you should be using Might if you have a druid.
razion May 21st 2011 12:13PM
It's the only buff they can give to a raid--Paladins, on the other hand, have another buff they can give out: Might.
adar May 21st 2011 12:15PM
Because, assuming you're the only paladin, you should be giving might instead?
Amanda A. May 21st 2011 12:17PM
Habit, and forgetting that it's the same buff now, in my case.
Eros May 21st 2011 12:18PM
Because they what you to buff might?
Serrath May 21st 2011 12:22PM
Why would you buff kings with a druid in the group?
Xsinthis May 21st 2011 12:24PM
Territorial thing, like peeing on trees
Vicerious May 21st 2011 12:25PM
Because you should've put up Might.
Vitos May 21st 2011 12:25PM
Because you can hit might and they can't.
Jari May 21st 2011 12:29PM
Force of habit, and they don't care.
But you should buff with might if you're with a druid.
Fox Van Allen May 21st 2011 12:34PM
Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but you casting Might seems to be an option.
lesicor.caerlon May 21st 2011 12:47PM
Can't Paladins buff Might?
/sarcasm
Nawaf May 21st 2011 2:02PM
Did anyone mention that he should buff might?
Balgus May 21st 2011 2:06PM
A better question would be why Warriors insist on putting up Battle Shout when I've already put up Horn of Winter. They should be putting up commanding shout.
Grumpy Wow Guy May 21st 2011 3:30PM
You should buff Kings, damnitt. Now Get Off My Lawn!
(I'm actually just replying to be one more person yelling/pointing at you in order to maximize this collective's attempt at making you feel self-concious. I shouldn't be revealing that, probably, huh?)
Your a bad person! (here's an opportunity for you to grammar-nazi retort back at me for the "Your") This will add fuel to the fire and prolong the trolling.
Groth May 21st 2011 3:45PM
The one which regularly confuses me is shaman earth totems. Prot paladin devotion aura trumps Stoneskin, DK's Horn of Winter trumps Strength of Earth.
I would say the pally can change to ret or concentration aura, but for fights where the tank moves the boss, do you really want to risk losing the armor buff due to range? As it is, I miss being able to just drop a Tremor as standard now :(
RogueJedi86 May 21st 2011 4:03PM
Silly Balgus, the DK needs to put up Might too. Haven't you been reading this reply chain?
Tri May 21st 2011 4:46PM
Don't you feel stupid for asking now? :)