The Queue: Stat inflation, loading screens, Extra Buttons, and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 17th 2011 at 2:00PM
Every year, we make Allison Robert compile a Best of WoW Insider series for the end of the year, and 2011's Best Of series is in progress right now. I know all of you enjoy looking back on the biggest news of the past year, but it's something that's really cool for us, too -- when you're here doing this gig every day, sometimes you forget the really fun and satisfying things you might've written at the beginning of the year. It's especially interesting when Allison picks one of your editorials from January as a Best Of and when you look back on it 12 months later, you realize you completely disagree with yourself. Your thoughts and opinions can change a lot in a year.
It's a fun experience, and I'm looking forward to the series starting up next week.
ricard.bossle asked:
There were any news about the 5.0 Stats Inflation and how this issue will be adressed in game?
There haven't been any updates regarding how Blizzard intends to handle item stat inflation, no. The last we heard about it was the great big blog post from Ghostcrawler at the beginning of November. I don't expect we'll hear any firm details until the Mists of Pandaria beta rolls around -- anything Blizzard does is going to require significant amounts of testing.
Cyno01 asked:
do you think they'll update some of the loading screens with MoP? The ones for EL and Kali specifically, because they have all the faction leaders on them... Except for the Cata races, there's just a generic worgen and goblin on them that seem to be placeholders instead of Genn and whoevers in charge of the goblins. Or is that why they haven't updated them, because the trade prince is still MIA?
Blizzard certainly might update the loading screens, but there's no rule saying all loading screens need to portray faction leaders. Blizzard just picks a cool piece of existing art and sticks it on the loading screen. I don't believe it's ever made art specifically for the loading screens. The loading screen art back in vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade was all concept art for dungeons, terrain, and races. The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor loading screens were initially numerous pieces of individual concept art stitched together to make one good-looking picture. When those loading screens were changing, Blizzard just changed them to art relevant art it already had lying around. The reason the generic worgen and generic goblin are there is because that was the art it already had for those races.
Blizzard probably won't make custom art for Genn Greymane and Trade Prince Gallywix specifically for loading screens, but if it has art of those characters that it wants to use for that purpose, sure. Both characters have had some art done for their faction leader stories and other fiction since the launch of Cataclysm. Blizzard can change the loading screens whenever it wants. There's no guarantee it will happen in Mists of Pandaria (though Blizzard does it every expansion), but there's also nothing saying it can't change them sooner than that, either. Unless I'm terribly mistaken (and I could be), the loading screen for Northrend changed in a content patch.
arixian asked:
Since I never got the standing in fire achievement on any of my toons I was just wondering if it has been confirmed that once DW has been killed on your server he is no longer randomly appearing in zones and all chance of still getting the achievement are gone?
Deathwing is still torching zones, you don't need to worry about that. He'll probably continue doing so right up until patch 5.0 or whatever filler content patch happens to come between now and then.
If you're really desperate for the achievement, I believe you can get it by wiping to the Spine of Deathwing encounter in Dragon Soul, I believe. If you use the Raid Finder for any length of time, you're inevitably going to wipe to the guy at least once.
techno-warrior6 asked:
What the name for the button that appears in DS that gives you a buff? i want to know so i can use moveanything so i can failing see my frame in those fights
It's the Extra Action Button. Most updated action bar addons will let you map or bind that button, or you can macro it like so:
You can read more about the Extra Action Button and how to work with it in the most recent Addon Spotlight./click ExtraActionButton1
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 5)
Thecynic Dec 17th 2011 2:06PM
I can confirm that people do get the Standing in the Fire achieve if you wipe on Madness of Deathwing. I remember a lot of people in a Raid Finder got the achieve after he cast Cataclysm. Which makes sense I suppose. Hope that helps.
trefpoid Dec 17th 2011 2:18PM
We killed DW in LFR the other day and didn't wipe, but throughout the encounter, many got the achievement. Seems like you only need to get burned by him and you get it O:
Daco Dec 17th 2011 3:15PM
Yep, a few days after 4.3 dropped the achievement popped up in chat for one of my guildies. I was about to send a "grats" message, but looked at the guild roster first to see where he'd gotten it. When I saw he was in the raid, I figured out what happened (assuming they wiped), and also figured out he might not take the "grats" in the spirit with which it was intended.
Haeras Dec 17th 2011 3:34PM
Actually you don't have to wipe. If you get killed durin those encounters you get the achievment. Jump down from the spine
Dennis Dec 17th 2011 4:52PM
Make sure everyone in your raid gets it. Just attack one tentacle after another.
David Brady Dec 17th 2011 7:16PM
Lol, I was upset I never got it on my main toon. Then our first attempt on Spine, we all get the achievement. Kind of felt cheated.
mem0ryburn Dec 17th 2011 2:07PM
Got the achievement today when my PUG wiped in the final Deathwing encounter
Hillazon Dec 17th 2011 2:13PM
I hope they some day update the loading screens for a lot of the dungeons. Still having low-res screens in 2012 will make me a sad panda.
Seriously - they completely remade Deadmines, but couldn't be bothered to update the loading screen?
Solanstus Dec 17th 2011 3:12PM
And PvP, too...AB maps are horrible (Vanilla), WG loading screen has been the same for 5 years, etc.
Scunosi Dec 17th 2011 6:28PM
I don't know, I think they're kind of cool. The old concept art has a flair the new polished stuff lacks. And unless the dungeon is totally changed (which none of them really are, it's just new bosses, not new locales) they still work fine. I like that the old ones have a sort of fuzzy, dream-like quality to them, really matches the nostalgia a lot of people get about Vanilla anyway.
The old BG ones on the other hand are looking pretty dated and irrelevant, so they could probably use an update.
Lillyth Dec 17th 2011 2:15PM
Question for the Queue (may be a good topic for the Lawbringer column):
I play Horde side on Proudmoore - USA and last night someone started asking trivia questions (WoW-related) and was awarding 1K gold for the 1st correct answer in Trade. After I collected some free gold, I started thinking about other types of similar activities, but I was worried about possible ToS / EULA violations, so I opened a ticket (which will be hopefully answered in the next 7 days, if I am to believe the ticket times.)
So my question is: would running organized betting on 1v1 Duels, /roll, lotteries, etc. violate the ToS / EULA so long as any gold earned was used for in-game purposes only?
-Bob (Lillyth)
Eliandor Dec 17th 2011 2:37PM
I think actual gambling, where people put up money to enter the contest and you take a cut is against the ToS. I'm not familiar with the actual section so I don't know how Blizzard defines gambling. The trivia contest is entirely different however, as someone is voluntarily giving out money. If you answered a question and never got any money, you're not out anything.
Hob Dec 17th 2011 2:47PM
"This week on The Lawbringer, we're going to discuss WoW casinos, gambling within the game, and why Blizzard came down hard on player-run money games. The current policy on the books, so to speak, is that casinos are not allowed in WoW, as a disruption and potential scam for players. There is no way around it -- running a gambling or /roll game in chat will have you dealing with some serious retribution, especially doing it in the open."
September 2, 2011
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/09/02/gambling-in-world-of-warcraft/
techno-warrior6 Dec 17th 2011 2:57PM
Firstly I hope not because on my server my guild runs a monthly quiz were my guild keeps 10% of all gold entry fees and secondly im looking at you mysterious fortune cards
xanddra Dec 17th 2011 4:10PM
@techno I wouldn't think that would be against the rules at all, because it's an event you pay to get into, with the winners getting a prize. What Blizzard doesn't like is the "Pay 10g, /roll, and if you get 100, you get your money back".
Zapwidget Dec 17th 2011 4:22PM
@ xanddra
Actually, it's the "you pay to get into" part that they take exception with. When you pay up front, you are implicitly trusting somebody you probably have no business trusting to be fair and follow through with the contest. Some folks will. Some folks won't. And then you're trusting that the contest is fair. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.
Blizzard likely does not want to have to take the time investigating whether the contest was fair if and when a complaint, either legitimate or from a sore loser, comes in regarding the event, so they just outright outlawed the whole system. If you have to pay another player to play, it's flat out ill advised, regardless of whether it's a game of chance or skill.
Tanddori Dec 17th 2011 5:50PM
/walks away sheepishly, going back to making gold hand over fist with Mysterious Fortune Cards
DaSandman Dec 19th 2011 1:33PM
I hope thats allowed - I've done it many times!
I used to be a very casual player (who never reached the level cap until this year!) and tended to get bored with the game and delete all my chars and unsubscribe every so often. When I did I would sell everything on all chars and send the money to my main before deleting them. I would then give all my gold away on my main before deleting it.
I tended to do this by having fun little lore quizes with the first correct answer getting 1k gold until I ran out (back then that was a fair amount!). Think I've done this ... 4-5 times so far? Fun for me, cool for people to get free gold, and the alternative was it sits in an unused account doing nothing.
(I dont do this anymore, finally curbed my altitis enough to level cap a char and now spent lots of time on it gearing up and getting acheives, so wont be doing this again!)
Dalixam Dec 17th 2011 2:19PM
What happened to my ilvl? Last week my equipped ilvl was 375. When I logged on this Wednesday my equipped ilvl had dropped to 367. I have no items from the raid finder which I can no longer use, so I have no explanation for the ilvl drop. Anyone have any ideas?
Killik Dec 17th 2011 2:27PM
Had you sold off some offspec raid-level gear that had been cluttering your bags (like DS 5-man drops)? Or put it in the bank? I've had that happen when I got sick of carrying round my tanking set...