The Queue: Couch potato

I am starving. Not, you know, literally starving, but I've spent the last few weeks changing my diet a bit and have been eating less. There is a crucial point in changing the way you eat, sleep, exercise, all that fun stuff, where your body just sort of accepts the new world as long as you don't go back to the way things were and slip up. Well, today, I'm starving, and I don't know why. There is nothing I want more today than a burger and fries.
You know what the worst part about watching a show with another person is? You are at their whim when they want to watch new episodes and it sucks. I want to watch more Breaking Bad. Ugh. There is so much to watch.
Charlie asked:
Didn't we know more about wrath going into Blizzcon around this time then we do about the next expansion? Better security this time around maybe?
I think people very much underestimate how large of a leak the friends and family alpha information bonanza was with Cataclysm. After MMO-Champion posted what amounted to the whole shebang, Blizzard lost a lot of valuable Cataclysm wind-up time before shipping the final product. It was announced, sure, but the amount of information that we knew about the various transformations to the world was somewhat light. Information drips, teasing features -- all that was pointless after we knew everything there was to know about the game during the friends and family alpha stage. Beta was right around the corner, but still -- security got real tight after the Cataclysm leak, which is why we do not know much about the next expansion at this point. We may learn more (and I suspect we will) closer to BlizzCon, but the big reveal will happen there.
Daedalus said:
When you put it that way, Vanessa's behavior actually sounds like par for the course for a teenager.
Kind of makes me feel bad (actually, worse) for killing her....
She had it coming.
That one Joey asked:
Q4TQ: How likely is it that enhancement will be a shaman tank spec in the next expansion? They already have most of the tools neccessary. (They can wear a shield, frost shock is "high threat", rockbiter is "high threat" and they have a pseudo taunt I believe.) They also have a toughness talent. All blizz would need to do is make a talent that converts agility to mitigation stats.
Zero. You won't see a shaman tank spec. The shaman as a tank was a gameplay weirdness that existed back in the original vanilla game when "tanking" was more on par with the EverQuest version, where the occasional taunt and survivability was paramount over threat and mitigation. In a pinch, in lower-level dungeons, a shaman could use the shield and a high-threat ability to make it so your healer or whoever didn't die immediately. It never panned out, and it won't in the future.
The shaman is set in stone as per his abilities. Shaman "tanking" tools in game right now are merely utility spells that could potentially be useful somewhere, like "taunting" on Chimaeron or something. The possibilities are also a huge balance problem. You know how awful druids are to balance for four specs when they only have three talent trees -- it's a giant pain. Do not expect tanking on shaman any time soon.
Helston asked:
Is there any way to cast a spell that targets a spot on the ground or an area without >clicking the mouse< to place the green targeting? For spells like Blizzard, Heroic Leap, healing circles, etc.
No, and this is by design. For these spells, they want you to have to click somewhere on screen and not have the game decide where to place the spell for you.
yous95 asked:
Question for the Queue:
In the next expansion, do you think that Blizzard will raise the level cap to 90 for sure? Do you think raising the cap by 5 levels every expansion will become the norm?
I would hope that the level cap is raised significantly higher this time, at least back to BC and Wrath norms of adding 10 levels to the game. One of the criticisms of Cataclysm that Mike Morhaime and the rest discussed in their earnings calls was the fact that people went through and completed Cataclysm content too quickly. There wasn't enough leveling content for the majority of players who are not hardcore raiders and not hardcore daily farmers.
With the next expansion, I think you are going to see a focus on more content, period. Blizzard doesn't have to worry about rebuilding the entire world this time, and hopefully that translates into more content for everyone and a whole new continent to explore, just like Northrend.
Filed under: The Queue






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 11)
Falarson Aug 10th 2011 11:07AM
I'd like to point out that Cataclysm was announced in a press release before Blizzcon:
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=2847821
August 21, 2009
loop_not_defined Aug 10th 2011 11:12AM
I'd like to point out that Blizzcon 2009 was on August 21-22. :)
Pyromelter Aug 10th 2011 2:01PM
This is the best example of an "epic fail" comment followed by an "epic win" comment that I have ever seen in my entire life.
Nathanyel Aug 10th 2011 7:14PM
Pyromelter: Sorry, but you must be new to the internet :)
Professor Orc Aug 10th 2011 11:08AM
Have the editors ever considered using quest writers for the Queue, similar to Breakfast topics?
I think a (cutaia) queue sounds fantastic
Tirrimas Aug 10th 2011 11:11AM
(cutaia) ANYTHING sounds fantastic.
*fangirl*
loop_not_defined Aug 10th 2011 11:15AM
He's like Zarhym, except with skin. <3
MattKrotzer Aug 10th 2011 11:20AM
I had no idea that Cutaia wrote quests!
Going to have to put him to work in TotalRP 2 now...
And while I don't know if this was something that's been considered, I know Cutaia and I have both been vocal in the past about our willingness to answer a Queue or two from time to time.
However, the Queue is kind of a perk of being a senior member of the WoW Insider staff, by my understanding, so it might ruffle some feathers to assign it to regular commenters. It would also bring up all sorts of compensation issues, since I believe they're legally required to pay anyone who does writing for them, regardless of the capacity in which they do it.
Hal Aug 10th 2011 11:36AM
Any writing? Really? Then I demand $0.05 for this comment. PayPal is acceptable; I also accept Sparkle Ponies.
Proffesor Orc Aug 10th 2011 11:35AM
Damn, finally saw my major typo.
GUEST writer, not quest writer.....
Jimson Aug 10th 2011 11:43AM
If people think the Queue is short now, wait until they ask a quest writer to do it. Those guys only have 100 words or something to work with.
Grovinofdarkhour Aug 10th 2011 12:01PM
I definitely like the way Hal's thinking.
Estimating ridiculously conservatively, it's quite certain that across all readers, my posts have easily provided an average of at least a dollar's worth of entertainment each. Therefore, in a truly fair universe, I'd have around $2600 more than I have today.
Paypal to: grovinofdarkhour@aol.com and support Warcraft discussion today! :)
Spellotape Aug 10th 2011 12:04PM
Isn't that a bit pointless considering anyone can answer a queue question without needing to be the head of the column, as it were?
Pyromelter Aug 10th 2011 2:04PM
I'm guessing you meant "guest" writer? :P
Can't speak for other people, but damn I'd love to guest-write a The Queue column. The only reason I wouldn't, is the same reason that I have never submitted anything to wow insider, I don't want my real name associated with my online handle, as well as the hassle of all the financial and tax forms that have to dealt with when you get paid to do something.
Portals Aug 10th 2011 2:20PM
Grovin should check his paypal now. >.o
Grovinofdarkhour Aug 10th 2011 2:53PM
LOL Thanks Portals, you seriously rock!! :)
You wouldn't happen to have 2,599 friends who also appreciate my peculiar zany brand of snark, do you? :P
William C Emmitt Aug 10th 2011 11:09AM
I'm extremely curious to see how the Scourge may or may not have affected non EK, Kalimdor, or Northrend zones, such as Kul Tiras, the possible Pandara, and other lands; that is, if they did at all. Maybe the "mists" are the corruption of the Pandaran, to which they're not just fun loving drunkards anymore, but more like deep woods rednecks that believe moonshine and explosives (or in this case, well practiced backhands) are the best combinations. The world of Azeroth is pretty screwed up...
I would also love to see maybe an assault on Eredar or something; let's win one for the Exodar!
Portals Aug 10th 2011 11:09AM
What are some good questions?
Professor Orc Aug 10th 2011 11:14AM
What is the meaning of life?
Oldbear Aug 10th 2011 11:21AM
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