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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe 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 4 of 11)
eel5pe Dec 15th 2011 11:25AM
You still get 50 CP, this can be seen in the list of rewards you get when the battleground ends. It's just not listed as a reward on the interface screen when you queue.
trefpoid Dec 15th 2011 2:46PM
It's like a hidden reward (?) they should put it somewhere so people know, I'm in love with this change.
deymorin Dec 15th 2011 8:13PM
Ahh. Hopefully they fix that screen soon, as I've been playing till I get one win, and then going on to other activities.
TJ Dec 15th 2011 11:13AM
In response to Caylynn:
I would start with the Winter's Veil options. Might as welll get in to the holiday spirit in WoW during your downtime.
Piper Dec 15th 2011 11:14AM
Actually, I don't think early access would be that horrendous. Given that they are doing things to keep their subscriber numbers up I wouldn't be surprised to see it. After all, if you commit to a year of WoW you're getting beta access which is a leg up on the starting zones. That is, leveling a toon in the beta will give you a better idea of how to level on live more efficiently.
Daikaiju Dec 15th 2011 11:23AM
I dunno. Those early access players will get a leg up on the game's economy as well as in levels. These folks may very well dominate the in game AH.
Murmel Dec 15th 2011 11:34AM
Also, If they gave staggered access it would completely disrupt any sort of race to World or Realm first titles.
extomar Dec 15th 2011 11:41AM
The problem is that early access may pump up numbers but comes at the cost of balance. In MMOs time is power where starting days or weeks ahead of another can create a serious power gap. Also neither TOR or WoW have solved this level discrepancy problem when it comes to co-operative play either: If you and your friend start weeks apart it maybe impossible for both of you to do anything together.
Lupos Dec 15th 2011 12:03PM
I don't have a problem with it as anyone has the option to get it. All you have to do is preorder before a certain time and you're guaranteed in early access. It's a great way to get a steady stream onto the servers to avoid crashes and get the word of mouth marketing out there for people on the fence.
Piper Dec 15th 2011 12:05PM
@Daikaiju Possibly for a little bit, but once the hard core AH players get going it won't matter. Unless a early access person got a high-demand, very-rare crafting pattern there's just going to be too much competition.
@Murmel Doubtful. People trying for World or Realm first titles would make sure they were first in line for the preorders (assuming for a moment that Blizzard used the same method as Bioware has). Those folks use every advantage they can (eg. LFR loot bans), so I doubt you would see early access changing any of that. You might have a few different people getting to max level first, but, in my opinion, that achievement is just counter-productive of having the content last.
@extomar The level problem exists regardless of early access or not. A friend starting WoW today is going to be an issue when I've got multiple 85s or low-level alts with heirlooms. In the case of ToR, the few days of early access isn't going to be a huge issue for friends. It just means one of you will be out of the (crowded) starter zones before the other. You can still go back and help them with group quests while they level.
loop_not_defined Dec 15th 2011 12:35PM
Comparing this to betas doesn't really work. Especially since TOR also had a beta.
Pyromelter Dec 15th 2011 1:39PM
"I dunno. Those early access players will get a leg up on the game's economy as well as in levels. These folks may very well dominate the in game AH."
Good point, although this isn't like a wow expansion or huge patch where you get a glyphmas or your jc can gouge the crap out of people for cut gems. In fact, sitting back for a week on your professions might be better, as you can see which professions are more profitable and focus on them.
Also, It will be difficult for anyone to cap their currency without auction addons, however this has the other affect of making it such that no one will really be able to dominate any AH. (p.s. - I love wow for the AH addons, and hate every other AH in every other game ever.)
"Also, If they gave staggered access it would completely disrupt any sort of race to World or Realm first titles."
Easy solution: No official realm or world first achievements/titles for the opening of your game. Anyone going for unofficial world firsts is likely die-hard hardcore and would be in on the first day anyway having pre-ordered as soon as they could.
@extomar - I think you are blowing the startup out of proportion. In the beginning of an expansion where there is a stable playerbase (like at the start of wrath and cataclysm), yes, being late to that party can reduce your gold-profitability, and puts you behind if you're an elite guild going for world firsts. But in the first few weeks of a completely new game, those structures are not in place. Who knows which guilds are even going to be elite world firsts at this point? Also, if TOR has a decent gearing system like wow, it shouldn't be that hard to gear up and equal out the gear differential fairly quickly. As far as friends playing together, if one starts early, they can roll a toon at start, and then roll another one to play with their friend later. Most people playing with "friends" have a guild from another game that they are entering TOR with, so as long as a few fellow guildies are in, you've got your friends to pal around with.
tl;dr - I agree with piper for the most part, and I think you other guys are making too much out of the advantage people get starting early, it's really not that big or unbalanced.
Shinae Dec 15th 2011 11:15AM
Is the Greench a holiday boss that can be accessed in Dungeon Finder now?
(I can't check myself for several hours.)
Duerma Dec 15th 2011 11:40AM
Can't queue for the greench, but he's an outdoor boss that gives credit to everyone who taps him. With him being a daily quest this year, you shouldn't have problems finding groups to kill him (though you will need a group, he's been buffed to 3 million HP @.@).
Noyou Dec 15th 2011 11:41AM
No. It's a world boss more like Omen. You don't need to get the kill on him. You need him to die so the presents spawn. Click on the bag of presents. Then click on Metzen, the reindeer. If someone clicks on Metzen when you are in the area, you will get credit for it. It is also a daily which gives you a present. So far, nothing is that great in the present, but I think the lump of coal drops there. Good luck!
devonaelick Dec 15th 2011 11:44AM
As of about 10:30am EST, there was no new Greench holiday boss. I only logged on to check that exact thing, so I have no clue if there's a daily quest or anything like that to kill him (and when I checked, winter veil HAD begun).
greenbeans Dec 15th 2011 12:41PM
You don't even have to be in the area when he dies, I flew in this morning and Metzen was standing there and there were clickable packages on the ground, his corpse had already despawned and everything.
kulhanek.jeff Dec 15th 2011 11:16AM
Just wanted to thank everybody who gave suggestions for my computer problems earlier in the week. I changed some settings and was able to down the last two bosses in Siege of Wyrmrest (sp?) without too many issues.
Como Dec 15th 2011 11:18AM
"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."
They most certainly do, we had a back drop last night.
Priestess Dec 15th 2011 11:22AM
@ Caylynn, last question:
IMO, you should log in and get some food-related achievement that would make your professors cringe, like one of the "eat over 9000 cookies" or "drink 50 alcoholic beverages in 30 seconds" ones. (I don't know what they really are, but I know they're out there.) Then laugh maniacally and make a delicious chocolate cake to boot. =)