The Queue: What am I going to do with all these Green Proto-Drakes?

I am practically swimming in Green Proto-Drakes. I don't even know what to do with them any more! Satchel of Exotic Mysteries, please give me mounts that I don't already have. Worthless bags.
Edit: Because so many people are asking, the bad addon I am using is AdiBags.
Tfish92 asked:
How is it fair that a hunter could switch from a gun to a bow because they like the way the bow looks but want the guns racial bonus but any other class that has a weapon type bonus can't do the same? What if I want to keep my 2h sword for the bonus but I want to use an axe?
It's the same concept and I don't think one type should be the exception.
I see that you do not play a hunter. That statement is not meant to be mean or belittling in any way, but as the commenters have made note of, it is not about the look of the weapon per se but the sound each makes. Guns in WoW have a very audible sound that cannot be turned off without lowering the sound effects volume (which lowers all sound effects) or using an addon to suppress the gun firing noise. Guns are loud; bows are not. Each time you use an ability -- boom. Each Auto-Shot -- boom. It gets annoying quickly. That is why guns to bows and bows to guns is the exception to the rule.
Karcharos asked:
Do you think Blizz will add the option to scale raid groups down in DPS/heals/health pools to something close to the intended level of old raids?
That way, instead of facerolling your way through old content, you could at your option scale your group to L60-62/70-72/80-82 power levels. So you could run AQ40 with a bunch of 85s who have been throttled down to a L 60-62 power level.
You could even call the (de)buff "Nostalgia".
I do not think you will ever see this happen. There really isn't any reason for it. Old content is old. It's meant to be breezed through so that you get to experience it long after it is relevant. If you want to make a retro raiding guild or something and stop experience gain at 60, you can still do that and only get the armor and weapons available to you at that level. I do not believe Blizzard is interested in devoting resources to making old raids relevant again just for nostalgia's sake -- across the board, at least. Naxxramas, Deadmines, Shadowfang, and the two Zul heroics are the remade exceptions, of course.
With transmogrification, Blizzard is giving players a good enough reason to go back and do old stuff. Old content is by design, for the most part, meant to be easily accessibly and facerolled, not present a current challenge when there are already current challenges available to players in the form of new content. Plus, so many people will be going back and doing this content for old tier gear that you're bound to run into some fun problems along the way that will challenge you.
amoskeland asked:
Do we know that Blizzard reads different blogs about wow? I read the "kill the tank/kill the pure dps class" analysis and I wondered if Blizzard sees those thoughts?
Blizzard reads many blogs about WoW all over the internet, including yours truly. Blizzard people could be reading this right now.
@shadesogrey asked on Twitter:
What do you think is the rarest possible obtainable item in-game?
As of Cataclysm, a lot of the items that I would have said would be the rarest are long gone. Right now, though, I would imagine the rarest possible item to get that is available via trading or whatever is probably the non-soulbound Thistle Tea recipe from pre-patch 1.3 or the Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops recipe. There are probably rare recipes and items and such out there, but these two recipes are really rare these days and for collectors only.
But, really, the answer is Teebu's Blazing Longsword, because that never dropped, ever. EVER.
@Blackapodd asked on Twitter:
What are your thoughts on Firelands hardmode?
While I like the added challenge of hard mode content, I vastly prefer the Sarth 3D model to the binary button you press to swap the encounter to a harder version. Firelands heroics so far have been fun, especially Rhyolith and Shannox, since those are the only two I've completed. We've gotten pretty close on Alysrazor, though, and I hear Majordomo is sort of a pushover.
All in all, I like challenge and I like wiping to and learning new content. However, the binary nature of hard modes is something that I wish would change. It might be me just changing as a player, but I am cool with having beaten Ragnaros on regular. Would I like to see him die on heroic? Sure. Will I lose sleep over it? Nah.
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Reader Comments (Page 5 of 10)
Omegan01 Sep 4th 2011 2:32PM
"How is it fair that a hunter could switch from a gun to a bow because they like the way the bow looks but want the guns racial bonus but any other class that has a weapon type bonus can't do the same? What if I want to keep my 2h sword for the bonus but I want to use an axe?"
IMPORTANT:
Please note that (unless something has changed very recently) changing a bow into a gun does not actually change the bow into a gun.
That is, you get the graphic, and you get the noise, but the weapon is still tagged as a bow for all mechanics.
You CANNOT mog a gun into a bow and get the troll bow bonus, or do the reverse for the dwarf bonus.
Eregos ftw! Sep 4th 2011 2:35PM
Well, yeah. It's for aesthetic purposes only (and, in the case of hunters, sanity purposes)
Noyou Sep 4th 2011 3:41PM
It never was intended to change the weapon for a bonus. From the beginning they said it was to PRESERVE your bonus. That was the main reason. Not because the sound effects were annoying. McCurley, you truly are a mean little troll. Don't you have a blackboard to tend to?
Boobah Sep 4th 2011 2:33PM
On making players (or content) scale to each other:
"I do not think you will ever see this happen. There really isn't any reason for it. Old content is old. "
Yes, because it's so very, very clear that having only two or three dungeons at a content level is such a good, wonderful plan. (See: Cataclysm from the introduction of the Zandalari heroics, or Wrath with the introduction of ToC (and later, again, the ICC heroics), or BC and Magister's Terrace.)
Yes, I realize that there could be itemization issues with having huge amounts of gear available from many, many different bosses. This is not such a big deal, given how restrictive the itemization options actually are, unless there's suddenly an objection to having multiple items with the same stats but different appearance/name.
The vagaries of scaling could end up with some encounters more difficult than intended, or less. Which really isn't any different than what we've already got, hence various tweaks and hotfixes.
I'm certainly not saying it would be easy, mind you. But having the option of more than one, or three, or even seven dungeons at a given tier would be wonderful.
boo Sep 4th 2011 3:57PM
"I do not think you will ever see this happen. There really isn't any reason for it. Old content is old. "
Spoken as someone who has played WoW since the beginning. Many haven't.
Blizzard have said they would like to scale content in the future and I'm sure this is what will happen in MMO's in general. The whole levelling process is such a chore.
As for facerolling through old content, unfortunately, this has become the de facto way of playing WoW for so many people. Yes I'd like to get my tier 1 and tier 2 mage gear for transmogrification but it would be so much more fun wearing them if I had actually had to defeat the mechanics of those instances as intended in order to get the loot.
DarkWalker Sep 4th 2011 7:51PM
One of the things I really love about LotRO is that I can go back to most previous instances and still have a challenge beating them, since they scale in level (and, in the case of Skirmishes, also in group size, so I can get there solo, in a raid, or anywhere in between). Makes for much more content available at max level, and thus a way lower chance of getting bored with the content.
GW2 will bring this some steps further:
- Automatically nerfing characters to the level cap of each zone or instance. No one will be walking anywhere as if he was playing in god mode. Every piece of content should be almost as challenging for a max level character as it is to a proper level character.
- Apart from the main quest line, all other content (mainly, events and instances) will be repeatable. Most of the events should also scale anywhere from solo up to dozens (or hundreds) of players.
This means that the whole game is open for a player that wants to have some challenge, in any group size he wants to play (contrary to WoW, where the only place a player may go to have a challenge is the very latest raid tier). He can go to any zone, do any instance or event, and it should still be challenging. Also, since GW2 had announced a Transmogrification-like system over a year ago - and since each and every instance will have an exclusive set of gear - there are reasons aplenty for re-doing those instances for anyone who cares about appearances :)
TL,DR: I would like very much if I could go to old instances and still have a challenge. Other games are doing it already.
frogg Sep 4th 2011 2:35PM
The gun,bow, crossbow thing isn't unusual at all if you think about it. They aren't letting you turn a bow into a wand after all. Every class that can use a gun can also use a bow or a crossbow but every class that can use a sword can't necessarily use a mace.
Noyou Sep 4th 2011 3:44PM
Well said. I think at some point for the same purposes as for the bonuses you get with certain ranged weapons, they will allow you to transmo your weapon that you can use with another you can use. It only seems fair. And Blizzard seems like they are in the "making you happy" business these days.
exogenesis. Sep 4th 2011 2:36PM
I don't get anything from my satchels. Mainly because I have a healer, not a tank, and since the system was introduced, I have managed to get a grand total of two satchels, both of which contained gold and a rubbish gem. Healers are never called for for CtA anymore, and on the very rare occasion they are, it's always for Zandalaris.
...I can heal through raids, but make me heal a Zandalari, and everything goes to pot.
:(
Gennifurfur Sep 4th 2011 2:43PM
This looks like something I could've wrote!
12/12 normal t11 before nerfs, 5/7 firelands currently. Not a top raider by any means, but no scrub either. I've given up on Zandalari heroics completely. I just can't finish them. I like to think the problem isn't me, but I'm the only common denominator in this equation.
Amaxe Sep 4th 2011 2:52PM
"I can heal through raids, but make me heal a Zandalari, and everything goes to pot."
Yeah, what is it about trolls and pot anyway?
/flees the mob
vocenoctum Sep 4th 2011 4:28PM
For a while I'd occasionally snag a healer bag on non-zandalari's, though not since the patch. Never got a mount, but got a few pets that sold decent actually. (Deviate hatchling and something else I forget)
MisterRik Sep 4th 2011 2:42PM
Do you think there's any chance at all that Blizz will add more cooking recipes to the game before the next expansion? I'm extremely annoyed by the Iron Chef achievement ("Learn 200 cooking recipes") because it appears that 200 is the exact number of recipes in the game at the moment. One of which is Thistle Tea, which my paladin simply can't get, and two of which she's not going to learn any time soon because she's not in a large guild (she's in my "vanity guild", and I'm not going to fish 10k fish from pools or cook 5k Cata recipes all by myself any time soon). So she sits at 197/200. This is after paying an outrageous sum for the Kickin' Chimaerok Chops recipe and a nearly as outrageous sum for Savory Deviate Delight several months before that recipe started dropping like candy in the Barrens.
ziggler Sep 4th 2011 2:55PM
You dont need the tea recipe to reach the 200, but i do think you need both the guild rep recipes
Amaxe Sep 4th 2011 2:58PM
I'm in the same boat. I suspect we won't see the achievement until "Wrath of the Pandaren Lich in the Emerald Dream" (or whatever the next expansion will be called) comes out.
Noselacri Sep 4th 2011 5:23PM
There are 202 recipes available. My main is at 200 exactly, and does not have Dirge's or Thistle Tea.
My only suggestion is search harder, and make sure you have all the holiday recipes.
Gimmlette Sep 4th 2011 5:37PM
Mr. McCurley mentions Thistle Tea as being something we non-rogues can get but I've been told since Cata, it's impossible. It used to be available from the vendor in Ravenholdt as one of those rare items that would come up occasionally. You've seen them. There will be a parenthetical number by the item on the vendor. They only had that many for sale at that time. As something of a completionist, I ran my hunter to Ravenholdt many times a week to see if the vendor had it, only to come up empty.
After Cata, and doing all the dailies and getting the two guild recipes, it's the only recipe I don't know. All my rogue friends pat me on the head and tell me I'll never get it unless Blizzard makes it available. The vendor, apparently, no longer sells it. You have to learn it via a rogue quest.
Noselacri Sep 4th 2011 5:54PM
Go to your armory page. Make sure you're logged in.
Click professions on the left.
Click cooking, also on the left.
The main frame of the page should have 2 tabs, learned and not yet learned. The total of the two should be 201 (Thistle Tea is not counted as "not yet learned" because it is not available).
Write the list of recipes you haven't learned down.
Go to www.google.com
Search for the recipe, and wowhead.
Achievement Earned.
MisterRik Sep 4th 2011 6:33PM
@Noselacri -
Thanks :)
It appears I was incorrect - I don't actually know Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops. I was sure I'd bought that one off the AH, but I guess I remembered wrong. And ... Undermine Clam Chowder, another one I thought I had.
My bad for going by the Ackis Recipe List addon. It seems to be missing exactly those two recipes, while including Thistle Tea.
In any case, this is still going to leave me at 199/200 if I learn those two.
Amaxe Sep 4th 2011 8:55PM
Still in the same boat. I have 198 (2 short). I lack Seafood Magnifique Feast, Broiled Dragon Feast and Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops. The first two I won't be getting because of guild achievement is going to be impossible for me.
So I won't be getting the achievement before whatever new expansion comes along unless Blizz adds recipes not dependent on belonging to a high level guild.
Still, I had no idea you could do this with professions on the Blizz web page