The Queue: Shyvana totally looks like Alexstrasza
by Mathew McCurley 
Nov 5th 2011 at 12:00PM
The newest champion released for League of Legends totally looks like Alexstrasza, right? I'm not crazy? She also is one of the most fun champions I've ever played as in the game. Still, she totally looks like Alexstrasza. More WoW skins, Riot. Pleeeeeease?
Sorry for my LoL tangent. Here are some answers to some questions.
Boz asked:
"WoW is severely lacking endgame advancement that isn't endgame raiding."
How about Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds?
End-game PvP has, arguably, more replay value than scripted dungeon and raid encounters since each match-up is going to be unique based on your opposing classes and the players behind them. You even have a gearing path from crafted -> Honor -> Conquest gear gated by weekly caps and arena rating requirements. There are even tier sets with unique models, and the Season 11 sets - particularly Warlocks (damn you!) - look awesome.
PvP isn't for everyone, but it's there, and certainly worth bringing up when you claim there is a lack of advancement.
WoW PVP certainly is an alternative endgame to PVE content, but the essential nature of PVP in WoW shares the same nexus of "do X, get more gear" with PVE. The advancement is still very linear. The Pet Battle system is at least more varied, direction-wise.
There is a dirty little secret about WoW PVP that not a lot of people talk about -- not a lot of people do it. With over 11 million subscribers, you would think that Blizzard wouldn't have to push PVP on the players as much as it does. It took three account-bound mounts, a significant drop in win numbers, and pitting the same factions against each other for Blizzard to get to a comfortable place with players running Rated Battlegrounds, and the Arena cannot account for as much player representation as the rest of the endgame features. If we ever got the actual PVP numbers in WoW, I bet we would all be shocked. Mostly it is a barrier-to-entry problem, but not one that has an easy solution. Blizzard has said that all players are getting some base resilience in Mists, so that's a start but definitely not the only fix needed.
That's not a dig at PVP, mind you. It's just that PVP is one of those difficult things to incentivize because players have to do something fundamentally different than what they are used to for endgame content. Pet Battles have a familiar feeling with leveling up, achieving goals, and fighting pets. I would wager that the Pet Battle system will be the more popular version of PVP for the rest of WoW's lifetime once it releases with Mists of Pandaria.
TonyKP said:
"Many other MMOs have systems like this in game already. WoW desperately needs something like it, and Blizzard knows it."
They knew it with Path of Titans too, and still cut it. That said, PokeWoW doesn't seem like it'll have the ability to affect other parts of the game the way that PoT would have.
I think the fact that the Pet Battle system doesn't interfere with the rest of the game is actually why the system has a better chance of making into the game and actually being successful. When you have something that grows its roots around every facet of character advancement, you now have another huge game system to balance and keep in mind when designing everything from boss encounters to raid instances and new content. "More" is not necessarily better when it comes to personal character advancement that ties up with other avenues of character advancement. Pet Battles' being separate means that it gets its own balance, own timeline, own milestones, and no one ever has to say, "Why did Blizzard balance this for Pet Battles and not for PVE or PVP?" It's advancement without the downside of being another thing to balance in the grand scheme of the game's encounters.
Nina Katarina asked:
Is there a shortcut to the Caverns of Time from the capital cities besides the portal in Dalaran? I'm guessing that the next-shortest way to get there is to port to Uldum and fly up to Tanaris, but that still seems like a bit of a haul to get to the newest raid instance.
Is there an inn where you can hearth inside the Caverns?
Take the portal to Uldum and fly or, if you're a Gnomish engineer, port down to Gadgetzan. Dalaran also has a portal in the Violet Citadel that takes you straight to the Caverns of Time. I do not believe that there is an inn in the Caverns of Time. The closest inn would be Gadgetzan.
Necromann asked:
Recently, I've been getting into dungeons through the LFD and some bosses and trash are dead but none of us were there before we accepted the queue. Have other people been experiencing this too? Also, any idea what is causing it?
Someone in that random party was in that instance, was steadily completing it with his fellow band of random adventurers, and then something terrible happened. The tank got fed up, DPS got fed up, healer quit, etc. The group basically fell apart, and the one guy requeued in that instance, which reassembled four people for him to continue his instance with. Now, that guy isn't saying a word about the horrific events he witnessed.
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 1 of 8)
Andreas Nov 5th 2011 12:04PM
Q:
Blizzard stated at Blizzcon that they dont like the passive buff totems like Strenght of the Earth. We also say in the preview that many new are added. But if Windfury and Wrath of the Air is removed, there doesent seem to be any air totems left for us to drop. All the new air totems are cooldown totems, whith short duration. Does this mean we're getting some new totems? Maybe finally a air elemental?
SR Nov 5th 2011 12:23PM
The new design philosophy almost sounds as if totems are supposed to be used as cooldowns, and not something you drop mindlessly (like you do now). With that in mind, there shouldn't be a need to make a new replacement totem that does what they don't want them to do.
Titusx Nov 5th 2011 12:59PM
If you really look at it you notice that Blizzard still has a lot of explaining to do in terms of class redesign overall and in the case of shamans even more so. They showed a great deal of stuff in Blizzcon but when you really think start to ponder on what was shown its obvious that there a lot more to come. Totem mechanics are obviously being scraped and remade for MoP so just wait for the big individual class show off like the one they did prior to cata.
snarkygoldfish Nov 5th 2011 1:25PM
I'm really excited to see what happens with our totems, and feeling like they are going to be an active mechanic in our situational priorities.
Seeing more elemental-conjuring totems that actually scale nicely with our levels and abilities would be pretty amazing. Especially if they could be convinced to act a bit more like our ghost puppies...instead of going over to hug whoever they want right as they are still wont to do occasionally.
icepyro Nov 5th 2011 5:01PM
I missed that part, but totems (to me) have always been about filling in for what isn't available by others. If it's mindless, then what do they think of the raid buffs they provide? I mean, are they going to keep Horn of Winter when it has a glyph so generally it gets used less often than Strength of Earth (which at least gets moved into each fight)? Are they going to keep other raid buff talents (which will be spec abilities) but lose totems? That just makes no sense to me.
That said, I would like to see cooler totems that we may actually think about, it just seems like adding a talent that lets us drop more totems is counterproductive if they remove most of the choices. I will grant that maybe it is unfair to get 3-4 raid buffs from one class when others grant one or maybe two, but then again, they have also made shaman weak without totems to compensate (and even after that, there is some argument). I dunno.
Vitos Nov 5th 2011 12:08PM
Did they change the what trash respawns in Firelands? On one night we downed just enough trash to spawn Shannox, and then killed him- nothing else. The next day, we ride in and the way to Baelroc is clear, we have one pull to get into his room, one pull for Alysrazor and one pull for Ryolith- what happened to all the rest of the trash up on that plateau?
Mary Nov 5th 2011 12:30PM
@Vitos when you left the instance for the night, the soft rest removed all trash linked to Shannox.
Durenas Nov 5th 2011 1:47PM
In some instances, trash spawns are linked to bosses. So, if a boss is killed, no more trash linked to that boss will spawn. When an instance is empty for 30 minutes or more, all mobs in the instance despawn, and the instance is retired. When you zone in again, a new instance is created, and all bosses and mobs are respawned, with the exception of any bosses killed in the previous session, and the mobs associated with them.
ringthree Nov 5th 2011 6:48PM
Actually, I believe the related trash disappears almost immediately after it's boss dies. For example, there is much trash to avoid if you do Rhyolith before Alysrazor, but when you come back down the hill after Rhyolith much of that trash is gone.
Revrant Nov 5th 2011 12:10PM
"Take the portal to Uldum and fly or, if you're a gnomish engineer, port down to Gadgetzan. Dalaran also has a portal in the Violet Citadel that takes you straight to the Caverns of Time."
Sorry to pick on you a bit, but that response doesn't read like you actually read their question, quite literally given your second sentence repeats their first question, paraphrased, and their second is your first as well.
I think "No, Gadgetzan if you're a Gnomish engineer though!" would have seemed less redundant.
SR Nov 5th 2011 12:24PM
Welcome to Pizza Hut. We sercvve pizza.
SR Nov 5th 2011 12:25PM
Note to self: Don't post while playing Xbox Live.
zweitblom Nov 5th 2011 12:27PM
There's also a somewhat hidden portal from Shattrath which many people seem to have forgotten about. It requires you to have an honored (I think, in BC it used to be revered) standing with the KoT. Talking to Zephyr (http://www.wowpedia.org/Zephyr) in the World's End Tavern offers you an option to be ported into the caverns.
Brett Porter Nov 5th 2011 12:30PM
Well he asked how to get to Caverns of Time... and Mat answered. He repeated the part about Dalaran for those that may not know or remember how to get to CoT from Dalaran; I think it was a good answer, and gave a couple options for what the asker wanted. My thoughts anyways.
Mortenebra Nov 5th 2011 12:54PM
RE Zweitblom's response: I think you still have to be revered. I haven't checked in a while but I remember trying to run something with someone's alt and they couldn't use Zephyr's teleport to CoT, even though they were honored.
Oddly, I like that portal/teleport the best from [X] location to CoT. Something about a dragon hanging out in a tavern next to an ogre just tickles me.
Noyou Nov 5th 2011 12:55PM
Not sure about the question in the first place. Dalaran is a great place to keep your stone set, you have easy access to SW/Org portal and easy access to the place you asked about-CoT. Chances are that there will be a portal to CoT in the capital cities when 4.3 drops. The alternative spot would be to hearth at the inn, in Tanaris. If you don't like those 2 options then there isn't any pleasing you.
Moongoose Nov 5th 2011 1:02PM
Probably should have started the answer with a "Yes,". :P
Chetti Nov 5th 2011 1:20PM
Dalaran is still where my hearthstone is set. Not so much for the CoT portal, but the easy access to Org, and the closeness of the auction house to the tailoring and engineering trainers/vendors.. and pretty much all of the others. I think most of my toons (at least the ones I've played enough to make good use of it) live there. I hang out in Org, its a good city, but I don't see a real reason to swap inns.
Jawbone Nov 5th 2011 1:26PM
If you are Horde, the flight from Orgrimmar to Gadgetzan is direct (hop on the flight point then run to the kitchen for drinks and/or snacks, come back and you only need to fly the short distance to the CoT taxi drake).
Also there is an Inn that you can set a hearth to in the curving tunnel of CoT (between the taxi-drake and the Keepers of Time QM).
Bellajtok Nov 5th 2011 2:48PM
I pity you lesser worms with your non-Gnomish-engineering-professions. COWER BEFORE THE MIGHT OF THE ULTRASAFE TRANSPORTER! (Warning: ultrasafe transporter is not actually safe. Flexweave underlay is recommended. May replace you with your evil twin, who will then wipe the raid.) *Ahem*. Anyway, yeah. Engineering is awesome.