Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsThe Queue: The fate of Sky Captain Swayze and Ka'anu Reevs
by Mathew McCurley 
Dec 5th 2011 at 11:00AM
My two new favorite NPCs in World of Warcraft are Sky Captain Swayze and Ka'anu Reevs of the Kor'kron Air Command. In the past, I have been very vocal about my disdain for "lazy NPCs" design in which a clever name that just replaces letters or flat-out names the NPC after the pop culture reference is created for content. Haris Pilton is the queen of all lazy NPCs, for instance, because it's not even a joke on Paris Hilton -- it's just her.
Sky Captain Swayze and his best orc buddy Ka'anu Reevs, however, are stalwart heroes, best friends, and champions in the highest regard. Whatever happens to them after that fateful jump and subsequent tentacling, I hope they survive. I hope they live on. In the name of freedom. I want Sky Captain Swayze and Ka'anu Reevs to be surfing off the shore of Pandaria for years to come.
You're about to jump out of a perfectly good airship, Reevs -- how do you feel about that?
mord asked:
Is raid finder too easy with 372 gear? I think Raid Finder was tuned for ilvl 365. I can understand why they decided to initially set it to 372, but I have a hunch it will eventually drop to 365 in a month or two. Have blues hinted at this possibility?
The Raid Finder will never be "too easy." People are completely missing the point of the Raid Finder if you ever think that it is "too easy." The Raid Finder is not meant to be difficult. Yes, it's meant to pose interesting challenges to players who are running it, but by no means is it meant to challenge you on the level of normal mode or heroic mode difficulties.
The reason the Raid Finder is built the way it is boils down to the fact that as a game mechanic, raiding is a pretty poor one. Think about it -- content is difficult, it used to be extremely time-locked and artificially gated, and it's logistically difficult for the everyday player. These are not people who needed to learn to play but rather people who just didn't have the time.
The Raid Finder's difficulty is to give all of those people the chance of at least seeing the encounters and being a part of the grand story without the traditional traps and gates of raiding in an MMO. MMO raiding is this weird anomaly that exists as game content moves toward accessibility over exclusivity. For people who legitimately feel threatened by the Raid Finder, I just feel like I'm at a loss for words sometimes. Why are you threatened by the Raid Finder? Because it's easy mode? Because someone could say, "Well, I defeated Deathwing and saved the day!" and did it via the Raid Finder? What the hell does that matter to you if you beat the fights on a harder difficulty?
As for whether or not they will lower the difficulty or, rather, lower the ilevel required to raid, I think they keep it up high to increase the chance of success each LFR group has of completing the raid wings. They would rather require higher ilevels to get in and have more innate successes than to lower the ilevel and have too many frustrating encounters and experiences. It will probably stay where it is.
razion asked:
Okay queue-goers, let's brainstorm here for a minute. What is the quickest way to do the quest "Test Your Strength"? Alternatively, what is the most AMUSING way to do so?
As usual, my go-to spot for farming experience-yielding mobs are the ghosts and undead in Icecrown due north of that awful area where you do the stupid jousting with the commanders. They die extremely fast and give you a grisly trophy. The most amusing way is PvP in the Darkmoon Free-for-all Deathmatch because that thing is a joke. Remove players from groups in there, in my opinion.
Darkseid asked:
Okay, so Blizzard introduces the Raid finder... Then makes none of the Rogue legendary quest or items attainable through the raid finder....
But... because of the Raid finder, you never see anyone forming PUG raids.
So the question is...
How are any Rogues who aren't already part of a raiding guild supposed to have ANY shot at completing or even starting the Legendary dagger chain...
Seems like piss poor planning on Blizzards part. Or, a ridiculous continuation of what they started with Cata, of basically trying to force everyone into a guild.
Legendaries are intended for players who are part of a guild in which the time, dedication, and logistical work is more difficult than your average encounter or quest. Not everyone is meant to have legendaries, as they represent one of the highest echelons of rewards in the game. PUG raids will form in time as players get geared up from Raid Finder and get more familiar with the fights. It just so happens that right now, there is an easier way to PUG raid, and it's Raid Finder.
Hal asked:
I understand Blizzard giving reforging duties to the ethereals... in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Why in blazes did they take reforging out of the other cities?
I had literally no idea there were reforgers in other cities.
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 7 of 13)
Shrikesnest Dec 5th 2011 12:31PM
@loop:
Actually, the idea that everyone skips regs is a misconception among high intensity players. The queue times for regs were about half the heroic queue times up through 4.3. A lot of WoW players aren't interested in the higher level of challenge - the same types of players who aren't likely to spend time on fan sites and forums, so they're less visible.
loop_not_defined Dec 5th 2011 1:13PM
Shrikesnest, leveling dungeons also have much faster queue times as DPS, in my experience. That doesn't mean the total number queued for Scarlet Monastery are even remotely comparable to Heroics.
A better indicator is the number of people showing up in Heroics with inappropriate gear vs. those with appropriate gear (or inflated ilvl vs actual ilvl). Further, this indicator is the only one that really matters regarding whether Normal LFR would be successful. Again, I point to Heroic LFD.
TimR Dec 5th 2011 1:43PM
After doing LFR this weekend, I honestly can't imagine a LFR pug downing regular mode. Only half the people know what they are doing, pay attention to instructions, or are good at their class. Normal mode requires so much more coordination.
Theoretically, if they offered LFR-Normal Difficulty, but had an i-lvl requirement around 384-390, that might work. To get that high of an item level, you would have had to do some raiding most likely, or farmed a lot of Valor, and that would weed out a lot of people that don't know what they are doing. But then LFR-Easy would be terrible, because all of the well geared players would stop participating.
Alexander Krizak Dec 5th 2011 11:49AM
Q for the Q: Have Anne Stickney, Matthew Rossi, or really, anyone at WoW Insider with an interest in the lore thoroughly read the Mists of Pandaria website? I mean, I've followed the lore articles with a close eye, but nothing has been said of some of the tidbits on the preview websites.
The two most enticing quotes are, from the Pandaren page: "During the bleak days that preceded the sundering of the world, when demons flooded onto Azeroth and threw the entirety of the mortal realm into jeopardy, the last Emperor of the pandaren discovered a way to protect his land from the devastation. His deal with fate shrouded his land within an impenetrable mist for ten thousand years, but the nature of his transaction has left Pandaria haunted ever since..."
And from the Zone Previews page, under the Kun-Lai Summit: "Deeper into the mountains is the hideout of the Shado-pan: a mysterious order charged with protecting Pandaria from the dark things buried beneath its surface."
Bapo Dec 5th 2011 12:33PM
I understand why they're doing it, but I get the feeling i'll need to ignore most of the background lore for Mists, it just seems so.... I'm not sure how to explain it. I liked everything for the previous expansions, so maybe there's a glimmer of hope?
I guess Silly could be a good description. Idk though.
Nagaina Dec 5th 2011 4:04PM
My bet is that the Last Emperor cut a deal with He Who Has Only Been Named Obliquely Thus Far, aka the Old God N'Zoth -- you know, the guy who managed to conceal the fact that his noodly appendages were all over Deathwing for the going on ten thousand years, has been the beneficiary of mortal heroes whacking his enemies C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, and just successfully executed the plan that has swept the last of the Titan-empowered protectors of Azeroth from the board.
Tirrimas Dec 5th 2011 5:03PM
@Nagaina:
...you know, I'll bet your summation there is very close to the mark.
That's almost scarier than a b@tsh!t crazy immortal dragon.
StClair Dec 6th 2011 11:57AM
@Tirrimas: Isn't it, just.
Ken Dec 5th 2011 11:52AM
Is it possible to get the ilvl 372 requirement for the Raid Finder strictly through heroics and JP gear? If so, are there any guides out there on what gear to buy/farm on a per class/spec basis? I'm looking for a guide to gearing up my new mage, but info for any other classes would be useful as well.
Verine Dec 5th 2011 12:11PM
You'll definitely want to look at the quest rewards for the new 5's (don't spend JP on slots covered by quest rewards). They are 372 ilevel as are the boss drops. Add in a Firelands level JP purchase or one 377 crafted blue PvP armor and you should be set.
cdmoller Dec 5th 2011 12:13PM
Yes it is possible.
My SPriest is sitting on 375 or so without having set foot in any raid. I have finished the molten front dailies to the point of getting the items from there. I have a few pieces of VP (now JP) gear, as well as a few pieces from the new heroics. All I need is the trinket off mag and the shoulders off muro.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/hyjal/Bainest/simple
Edymnion Dec 5th 2011 12:15PM
Well, the twilight heroics drop all ilvl 378 gear, and what doesn't drop from them you can buy with JP from the vendor, so yes, you can do nothing but pug random heroics and get the ilvl you need for the raid finder.
There's no strategy to it, as you can't really farm any given one specifically more than once per day. Easiest answer is to simply hit wowhead, look up the 3 dungeons, and make a list of what you want in a notebook with which dungeon/boss it drops off of. As you get them from randoms, cross them off.
Bapo Dec 5th 2011 12:17PM
Yes it is possible, my dk got the shoulders, helm, gloves, boots, ring, chest piece, and the 1h tentacle sword from the new heroics, and I was able to do lfr. She's dw frost.
She also has the bracers, ring, and neck from JP. She's never been to Firelands, so she doesn't have any of that.
Therinor Dec 5th 2011 12:25PM
Agreed. Molten Front dailies, maybe some stuff from the AH (not mandatory) and the quest rewards and drops from the three new instances will get you there.
Same here, shadow priest, just hit 372 yesterday with some lucky drops and the quest rewards (cloth head- and shoulder-piece, plus the offhand-skull-thing, plus a guildie making me the 1H caster mace a while ago. The latter two were replaced with the staff from Benedictus earlier today).
Ilvl could even be higher if Id farm the instances more, I guess, but by now the priest is able to get into the raid finder even without that
Edymnion Dec 5th 2011 12:40PM
A good way to see whats available for drops in a glance on wowhead:
1) Go to the Item Database
2) Go to Armor or weapons, and pick the type you want (leather, swords, etc)
3) Set ilvl to 378 - 378
4) Set Usable By to your class (so it won't return staves for a rogue, for example)
5) Set the filter to "Drops in Heroic mode... (dungeon)"
If you share armor with a spec you don't want (like rogues not wanting intelligence leather) you can just set another filter to "Intelligence = 0" to filter those out.
muwatallis Dec 5th 2011 3:59PM
Those names are reference to the movie Point Break :)
robsmith77 Dec 5th 2011 11:56AM
I could've sworn I saw the night elf reforging NPC in Dalaran last night, but as I was levelling enchanting at the time I didn't check to see whether or not he still offered reforging. In fact it didn't even occur to me that reforging would become exclusive to the Ethereals, and only in Stormwind.
Bristae Dec 5th 2011 11:57AM
if you think the hate is bad on mmo-c, you should go read the comments on ANY wow article at Massively. holy be-jeezus!!
MattKrotzer Dec 5th 2011 11:57AM
"Seems like piss poor planning on Blizzards part. Or, a ridiculous continuation of what they started with Cata, of basically trying to force everyone into a guild."
Yeah, heaven forbid Blizzard would want to push people into grouping with others in an MMO... THE HORROR!!
The Dewd Dec 5th 2011 1:45PM
While I respect the desire of people who aren't in guilds to be lone wolves, I've never really understood it. But I play for the social aspect of the game more than for raiding/dungeons/exploring/etc. If a good chunk of my guild were to quit, I'd probably be done with WoW.
As if the guild leveling in Cata wasn't enough, this is another nail in the coffin of the serious unguilded player.