The Queue: Early access
by Adam Holisky 
Dec 15th 2011 at 11:00AM
Of course the talk of the town this week is Star Wars, and the early access program has gotten a lot of buzz. It's great if you're in already, but is likely the bane of your existence if you're not in.
I hope Blizzard never does anything like that, or if it does, it never does it with WoW. Not because I think the early access program BioWare is doing is a bad decision from a technical standpoint -- it's not, it's great -- but it's a terrible decision from a QQ standpoint. The WoW community's collective rage would burst open unlike no event ever before if some sort of staggered access to an expansion or other game was implemented.
I pray to Elune that never happens.
CDMoller asked:
Do world BoE Epics and Patterns drop in LFR as they would in N or H mode? If so how does the rolling for those work?
Dragon Soul patterns do not drop in the Raid Finder, only in normal and heroic. I'm not sure if world BoE epics drop; I'd assume not, though.
Nyold asked:
Didn't someone (not Blizz, but someone from WowInsider) say that the drops from Hour of Twilight 5 mans are going to look like a recolored version of T13? For example, the cloth drops will look like the mage tier but recolored. Or am I misremembering this?
No. What we did say and what Blizzard has said is that the gear you get from the dungeons has a unified look in its armor type. So all the cloth gear forms a nice-looking armor set, with some variations here and there amongst the individual pieces.
It's the Raid-Finder-level set pieces gear that are recolors of the tier 13 pieces.
Caylynn asked:
So, I write my last final exam for the semester this afternoon (yes, I'm taking a study break right now). How should I celebrate in WoW afterwards? (If it matters, I'm working on a Masters in Applied Human Nutrition)
For me, I'd spend an hour or two questing in a Cataclysm zone and grabbing an easy achievement. Or I'd hop into some randoms with my priest and heal for fun (well, fun most of the time).
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 11)
The Dewd Dec 15th 2011 11:05AM
By definition, wouldn't World Drop Epics drop, well, anywhere within the appropriate level range? It's DS trash-drops that are the real question.
Dankie Dec 15th 2011 12:03PM
I had a world BoE epic drop off of trash in my LFR last week - 359 agi ring: "Gilnean Ring of Ruination" Of course a hunter with two 378 rings rolled need and won it..... yeah. Whole raid was screamin' at him, ah well at least it bound to him.
mem0ryburn Dec 15th 2011 12:49PM
It's BoE, not BoP, what do you mean "ah well at least it bound to him"?
Elwoods Dec 15th 2011 12:57PM
If you roll Need on a BoE it become Soulbound, you have to roll Green to keep it BoE
Noyou Dec 15th 2011 1:28PM
They made that change a patch or 2 ago. If you need on something that is BoE, it is supposed to make it soulbound to that toon.
Bapo Dec 15th 2011 2:40PM
I'm EXTREMELY happy that this went into effect.
It was this patch I believe that it started too, cause I think that's where the bug came from where pretty much anything in your inventory became soulbound. (I remember a commenter from here mentioned how they bought an expensive item off the ah for their main, and it became instantly soulbound on their alt, or something like that)
Soeroah_the_second Dec 15th 2011 10:57PM
"It's BoE, not BoP, what do you mean "ah well at least it bound to him"?"
Blizzard REALLY needs to advertise the system in-game more. So many people still don't seem to realise Needing a BoE item under default loot rules binds it to the character who wins it. I STILL see people in dungeons who 'ninja loot' an item. Most recently, the tank rolled Need on a tanking BoE and dropped the dungeon before we even got to the first boss. He can't sell it on the AH, if he actually needed it everyone would have been fine with him using it.
It's just annoying having people leave to everyone's loss, when they are the only people who deserve the annoyance.
But yeah. Hopefully Blizzard adds a different loot window to BoE items. "Rolling Need on this item will bind it to your character" and Greed can stay BoE.
Hal Dec 15th 2011 11:09AM
Is the Silver Hand still around? There was a disagreement about this in the KYL article yesterday.
Follow-up question: If Blizzard implemented race/class specific titles, what would you want for your character?
phiplipian Dec 15th 2011 11:22AM
If I remember correctly, the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn were merged together and became the Argent Crusade.
razion Dec 15th 2011 11:48AM
The Knights of the Silver Hand is a lost title, and they fight under a new name now. I think it would be a pretty nice nod to WC3 if they went back and gave a title associated with the Knights of the Silver Hand for paladins created before Wrath of the Lich King--if only so that the organization isn't completely forgotten. Course, odds of it actually happening are slim to none, but I think it would be nice.
Aaron Dec 15th 2011 11:59AM
So what does that mean for human and dwarven Paladins? Horde paladins are technically not paladins, but Blood Knights or Sunwalkers, and Draenei pallies have their own organization, the Hand of Argus. But if there's no Silver Hand, who's in charge of the humans and dwarves? Are they simply Alliance soldiers with special powers?
Amanda A. Dec 15th 2011 12:14PM
Actually, I think you get called a Knight of the Silver Hand when you do your weapon quest. I'll look it up when I'm on my computer and not my phone.
Tili Dec 15th 2011 12:09PM
I've always wished there was a title associated with the Blood Knight / BE Paladin mount quest chains. I loved doing the quests and I loved getting my tabard, but I always wished there was an associated title. I know these quests are easy now and titles are supposed to be more difficult to get, but I would love to have a Blood Knight or similar title.
razion Dec 15th 2011 12:13PM
Paladins have always been the shock and support infantry of the Alliance. They've always been special units. They're best compared to front-line medical experts. Specifically for Humans and Dwarfs, there is no racial comparison. Any and all races can join the Argent Crusade (a composition of the Argent Dawn and Order of the Silver Hand).
Most paladins thus who are in the Alliance and are human and dwarfs are either considered part of the Argent Crusade, belong to the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind, or the Hall of Mystics in Ironforge, although at that point it would be more of a "place I was taught" sort of thing. Like saying you were a student at a university or college. Humans and Dwarfs don't have any racial specific faction for paladins... now, anyway. Hopefully a new one develops.
But again, for paladins *right now*, this means either you're a part of the Argent Crusade, or you work outside of it. For humans and dwarfs... this means you're pretty much alone.
Nagaina Dec 15th 2011 12:22PM
The WoWpedia article on the topic is your friend in this case:
http://www.wowpedia.org/Knights_of_the_Silver_Hand
The Order of the Silver Hand's heart was in Lordaeron (Stratholme, specifically) and the Order was severely diminished after the Third War, with survivors splitting off to form both the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. The Order itself, however, did not cease to exist or otherwise disband, and persisted in its diminished form in the core Alliance territories, until the beginning of the war in Northrend, where the remnants of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn were folded into the Argent Crusade.
My human paladin, who started out as a very junior member of the Silver Hand at the outbreak of the Plague of Undeath and the Third War and from there ended up in the Argent Dawn, is just a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle bitter about the Argent Crusade being regarded as the legitimate successor of the Silver Hand and not the Argent Dawn, and frankly blames church politics for it.
loop_not_defined Dec 15th 2011 12:29PM
Arms Warrior: Master of Arms
Fury Warrior: Berserker
Protection Warrior: Defender
Matthew Dec 15th 2011 1:13PM
Why yes, it's a fun server where you can find me and all my Alts (hordeside)
just do a /who bruin and you'll find a variation of your truly there.
Yours Truly,
Bruin
loop_not_defined Dec 15th 2011 1:27PM
Uh...did I screw something up? Curious why people are downvoting my earlier post. o_O
Hal asked for race/class-specific titles we'd like to see. I provided a few. /shrug
Suzaku Dec 15th 2011 1:34PM
Reposting because I'm not sure if my last message went through.
Yes, the Silver Hand still exists. It's the paladin order that all playable human and dwarf paladins are members of.
The Argent Dawn and Argent Crusade also technically aren't paladin orders. They accept members of any race or class.
Boobah Dec 15th 2011 1:45PM
Whether or not Fordring has the authority to disband the Knights of the Silver Hand is certainly disputable; while he's the last survivor of the founding five (well, Turalyon may be alive but he's been missing for decades) he was also exiled.
He apparently thought he had the authority to disband the order, but that's certainly no guarantee that the members actually followed him. After all, he'd spent years in exile being a hermit in the Eastern Plaguelands. But since his 'crime' was befriending an orc (a charge he never denied), there are a whole lot of people who would never accept his authority. It looks more like the Argent Dawn followed him, plus some new recruits... but it doesn't particularly look like any large numbers of Knights joined Tirion's Crusade, at least not in Northrend.
And presumably, someone was already serving as the head of the order since Uther died years back.