The Queue: 64-butt client
by Mathew McCurley 
Jan 11th 2012 at 11:00AM
Which World of Warcraft client does Mike Sacco use?
Abbadon asked:
Do you think we'll ever get any gold or auction related titles?
I've been thinking it would be cool to have the title "Auctioneer" for posting some ridiculous amount of auctions, or maybe to stop players from just posting crap, successfully selling X items via the AH.
And while it's not a lot of players, there are more and more getting gold capped... Something like "the Gold Hoarder" would be pretty cool for hitting the gold limit.
I don't believe we will ever see gold-related achievements because gold hoarding and amassing fortunes in WoW is part of a meta-game many participate in, but by no way Blizzard wants to say, "Here's another reason to artificially inflate your gold amount by purchasing gold for these rewards." There already is a title in game for what used to be a large sum of gold -- of the Shattered Sun costs 1,000 gold after achieving exalted reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive.
It's not that Blizzard hates the Auction House or that Blizzard doesn't want people to play the game and collect gold. Quite the contrary, in fact, since the last thing Blizzard did to the gold cap was raise it. Rather, by putting in achievements that can be cheesed just by holding a certain amount of gold or driving more people toward purchasing gold just for an achievement, Blizzard only exacerbates its already-problematic gold selling issue. I'd rather just ignore the whole thing all together and put achievements in game that are more substantial than gold-related feats.
B-Rush asked:
A Question/Thought...
Blizzard is trying to eliminate gearing issues every patch it seems. The recent LFR change (can only win 1 out of a pair of items each boss) is a nice change, as I've seen people win multiple tokens multiple times now.
What about, NO loot off each boss, but instead at the end of a Dungeon/Raid, giving everyone in the group a goodie bag. Each bag would be based on your spec and each dungeon would have a different loot table, they might contain anything from 50 gold, a rare mount, or a new chest or weapon.
This would eliminate the loot ninjas, loot traders, etc. I simply can't see a problem.
While Blizzard wants to make gearing up easier because gear is one of the biggest barriers to entry for raiding and grouping, they are still very much married to the old-school EverQuest loot style where a creature has a chance to drop the loot you need. Points and badges were introduced as a booby prize sort of stop-gap to help with gearing issues, but we watched during Wrath of the Lich King as badge gear almost took priority over dropped gear. Blizzard has since recanted on that, moved to make points and badges less of a factor and still have bosses drop random loot. It's part of the fun of raiding -- forcing yourself to hate shoulders for the rest of your WoW career. While Blizzard could give everyone a loot bag at the end of the instance, I think it would much rather have the random loot drop off a boss and for a player to use some points to make up for the missed luck. The ninjas, loot drama, and so on are all part of the system and an unfortunate byproduct, not the aim.
blazenor asked:
Question for the Q:
Do you think gamers receive the worst customer service or to put it another way, do gaming companies have the worst customer service?
I don't think so. There are far worse companies out there in terms of customer service, but really, each company is unique. Blizzard's customer service has always been top-notch for me. I've never had an issue.
Another company that has always given me great service is Bose. I bought some in-ear headphones from Bose, and it has never had a problem fixing them or replacing them. So yeah -- thanks, Bose.
Andre asked:
Is there any possibility of a column similar to Reddit's "AMA" threads? I was thinking something along the lines of 15 Minutes of Fame, but the readers ask questions instead, and the person goes through answering them. What do you guys think?
I love this idea. I kind of want to pitch it to Alex as a "WoW Office Hours" kind of thing. If this is something you'd like to see, especially more interaction with the columnists, let us know here or tweet @alexziebart.
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)
zackwbrandon Jan 11th 2012 11:01AM
Question: Do you think that the Pandaren faction choice is a dry run for making that the norm for the playable races in the game? Between that and the politics played by Vol’Jin to stop the Zandalari, the fluid nature of the Dwarves at the moment, the current doubt of the Tauren in Garrosh, and a host of other story developments it seems as though Blizz is aiming to make faction choice a different kind of conscientious game mechanic. It certainly would open up some fun RP opportunities!
Noyou Jan 11th 2012 11:06AM
I think it definitely could be. I think it's more: A. The further they get along in the game, the less choices they have for new and exciting races. B. The shitstorm for giving one side Pandaren and not the other would be massive. They can't really afford to lose millions of subs at this point. So perhaps it is a little of all three?
Nina Katarina Jan 11th 2012 11:11AM
I hope it isn't. I like it that the Alliance and Horde are distinct personalities, with divisive internal politics.
Changing your character's faction should be possible, for those who want to migrate around, but it shouldn't be easy. Especially on PVP servers.
raingod Jan 11th 2012 11:15AM
I hope not, if there was ever anything that would make me leave the game (other than lack of interest), that's it.
zackwbrandon Jan 11th 2012 11:15AM
I think we at least have to see it as Blizz hedging some bets. TOR races can go either way already. Imagine the selling point for WoW - any race, either faction, you choose through playing. That last bit is a game designer's wet dream: choice through play. And the Pandaren seem to be a dry run for it.
Shinae Jan 11th 2012 11:16AM
While Pandaren could be just the beginning for future faction flexibility, I don't see any of of the current playable races being made available to play in either faction, except for mayyybe tauren or goblins.
There's just too much bad blood for a human to be accepted in Orgrimmar or an orc to be tolerated in Stormwind. The game was pretty much designed with such exclusivity in mind.
And as Noyou said, it really makes sense for Pandaren to be available to both.
loop_not_defined Jan 11th 2012 11:19AM
I hope not, only because it means Orgrimmar would be flooded with Humans and Elves. The "Horde" would only be so in name.
No, I'm not just making numbers up.
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php
ramsayroderick Jan 11th 2012 11:21AM
I think you're idea is a good one, and I hope that you're right about the direction Blizz is heading with faction alignment choice. The only part of it I can see a problem with is a human Horde member, or an Orc joining the Alliance. And then there's the little issue of the Forsaken...it seems to me that at this point, NEITHER side trusts them! :P. Maybe they'll have more than just two factions. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
zackwbrandon Jan 11th 2012 11:21AM
True. At the moment it would be impossible to see them coming together. However, think about the real history of war on our planet. Inevitably factions pop up who betray their ethnic histories in favor of higher ideals. We already see this in WoW in the form of the rep factions. With Garrosh going nuts it seems possible that a contingent of orcs could defect, and likewise to a group of humans.
Think of it like this: the remaining Dark Irons choose to side with the Horde and invite anyone to come with them who think that the Council is treacherous. Or the Frostmane Trolls make peace with the Dwarves (a stretch I know) and enter the alliance. Or the Defias proclaim fealty to the Horde in return for help attacking Varian and the nobles. Or another group of Goblins wash up from Kezan and think the Alliance looks more profitable. The options are endless really.
ravyncat Jan 11th 2012 11:24AM
I think it is probably easier to make a race that starts neutral and then picks it's faction. They don't have to spend as much time or resources to make two different races that way.
I like the idea of the Pandaren. However I don't want to see all races handled this way unless it makes sense.
It makes perfect sense for the Pandaren to start out neutral.
If they ever decide to go that route with all the current races, they need to give them a good reason to feel neutral first.
Noyou Jan 11th 2012 11:30AM
@Nina
There is a little douchebag on my server that loves to switch from one faction to the other. He has done this like 3-4 times in the last couple months. While this is the exception (and I think he knows someone who works for blizz) it shows that money really doesn't hold people back for being flaky. I think faction integrity has been gone, long before Real ID came out. We used to have people talking in WG with the other faction in vent, telling them where to go. I don't think blizzard will ever give up the money aspect of the faction switch.
zackwbrandon Jan 11th 2012 11:45AM
@ Nina:
Allow me to clarify: I was referring to a choice at the end of a start zone as to which faction you will belong. To change factions later should continue as is. The only change (which would make it better for tracking the morons Noyou references) is that your name and race remain the same. Folks will see you better for who you were/are.
As to the divisive politics of the two factions, imagine how much more conflict (conflict = plot points) adding volatile combinations to the two factions. A turn-coat group of humans in Ogrimmar would really change how far Garrosh could go before inciting revolt. Or a similar group of Orcs in Stormwind would force Varian to see them as people and not animals for a change. The war would rage on over resources and old ethnic hostilities, but the leaders would have their hands full with cool story possibilities trying to hold together ever more fractious coalitions.
robsmith77 Jan 11th 2012 11:53AM
I thought about this last week, particularly the situation re the Tauren and their supposed dissatisfaction with being part of the Horde. My initial thoughts were something like "wow, wouldn't it be cool if the Tauren defected and joined the Alliance!" but then obviously there would be a balance issue and I can't imagine too many players being particularly impressed at being "forced" to play an Alliance character, simply because the game demanded it as a result of a storyline change. And you couldn't really split the Tauren into pro-Horde (existing players) and pro-Alliance (new players) because who would then be entitled to call Thunder Bluff home? But this could definitely work for new races such as the Pandaren. So, to a long story cut short, the Pandaren experiment could well be a dry-run for how future races are implemented in-game with respect to faction!
Terrant Jan 11th 2012 12:26PM
I think some of the races (e.g. Orcs, Humans, Undead, Night Elves, probably a few more) are pretty faction-exclusive, but there's no reason some of the other races couldn't become cross-faction. If all races were cross-faction, though, there'd be no point to factions at all.
evoxpisces Jan 11th 2012 12:54PM
If they do incorporate this in the future I hope it is not to the fullest extent. I'd say maybe Goblins and could be neutral, but that's about it. One could argue Undead and Blood Elves have no true allegiance to the Horde and Draenei and Night Elves have no true allegiance to the Alliance, but it's tough to say... I like having 2 distinct factions, and even if goblins became neutral to play as I would still choose Horde. Though playing as a Horde Draenei would be amazing.
clundgren Jan 11th 2012 1:02PM
Well, humans HAVE allied with the Horde against other humans. There currently are Blood/High Elves in both factions. It is easy to imagine Dark Irons joining the Horde, or Grimtotems with the Alliance.
Really, it wouldn't be hard to come up with a justification for a segment of any race to join the (currently) opposite faction. Forsaken who still see themselves as part of the Alliance? Sure. Night Elves who wish to rejoin their Belf brethren? Why not. Goblins who see a profit in working for the Alliance? Not a stretch, by any means.
kaminari Jan 11th 2012 1:02PM
i don't see them making faction switch an in game mechanic, but you could have races join either faction, here's how I'd do it
alliance to horde:
humans; Vanessa and the defias
dwarfs; dark irons
gnomes; Gnomerang retaken and Mechatorque and other exiles join the horde
dreanai; cleansed eredar
night elves; ??
worgen; the allianse uses the worgen curse on the horde as a counter measure for the plague
horde to alliance:
orcs; ??
trolls; the only troll faction i can see joining the alliance are the farraki
tauren; the grimtotem
forsaken;a new spliner that broke out when frostmourn shattered and/or unhappy undead that Silvanas raised
belfs; high elves
goblins; any other cartel
Mork Jan 11th 2012 1:23PM
If they were going to ever do that they have the means in place. Every sub faction of both sides has numerous sub factions between them. For example, want a Tauren Alliance character, easy, Magatha has a whole band of people that aren't welcome in the Horde. Want a Human Horde member, oh hai Stromgarde. Simple examples but I'm relatively positive that there's enough of those that they _could_ give each side variations of each race.
Should they? I don't think so. In my eyes that would be the coffin nail for a lot of players. Granted factions/servers are basically meaningless at this point, there is very little community when anyone can up and transfer servers, or play both sides on the same server. Those are two of my biggest gripes with Blizzard, as I always felt if you wanted to move servers, feel free, go start a new toon. Being able to transfer has caused various issues, and the ability to play both sides is, well, I believe some countries still execute people for treason!
For my money, they won't ever do that. The Pandaren will be an exception, and maybe down the road they may copy it, but as to the main stays of each side that won't change. If I ever see a Gnome in Orgrimmar that isn't dead or dying I'll most likely retire my weapons for good.
As a side note, what's up with all the Undercity hate? I see it all over this site. Sheesh, let the dark lady have some kids. Just because she doesn't do it the same way all the other factions do doesn't mean she doesn't have the right! Seems to me the procreation methods of the undead are far too often called 'insane', you nosy and judgmental types need to keep your bedroom eyes in your own bedrooms! (tongue in cheek, don't flip out)
loop_not_defined Jan 11th 2012 2:46PM
Here's an idea:
Let High Elves join the Alliance, and defecting Eredar join the Horde.
Their intro would be part of the BC starter zone revamps. Have each one offering to help undo the harm caused by their brethren: High Elves helping Draenei who were severely hurt by Kael'thas' forces, and Eredar helping Blood Elves who temporarily lost the Sunwell to Kil'jaeden.
Theme-wise it wouldn't be too weird. Eredar are a "beast" demonic race and wouldn't be too out-of-place in Orgrimmar, and seeing High Elves in Stormwind only makes sense.
Mechanics would require some overhaul:
-Same character models, some new skins.
-Entirely new voice emotes.
-New racials.
-Different class combos (potentially).
Next to the Pandaren, the "High Elves" and "Eredar" seem to be the best candidates for cross-faction races since, A) they don't screw with the Alliance/Horde themes, B) there's plenty of opportunity with the BC starting zone revamps, C) the lore doesn't conflict too much.
Arrohon Jan 11th 2012 3:48PM
The best way that I can see having all races for each faction is if everyone starts as one faction, but can change at level cap. It'd be similar to Therazane in that you work off to the side so that you can walk in their presence without being killed. As you do the quest chain, you lose rep with all Horde factions while rising through Alliance Hated (thinking about an orc going Alliance). Once you reach Disliked with Stormwind (or Orgrimmar if Alliance), all Horde factions are dropped from your Reputation pane, and you're hated by every city of the faction you defected TO. At that point, you do a separate chain for each city to reach disliked. You don't belong there, and the residents want to make sure you know that. Prices will be marked up, and some vendors might refuse to serve you. At neutral, all vendors will serve you, but you still have higher prices. Friendly and onward, you're treated like legit Alliance (or Horde).
The point is to make the chain painful (to an extent) to discourage too many people from doing this. You would lose all the faction rep gained from the previous 89 levels of questing, pay more at faction vendors, and go through a separate difficult quest chain for EACH city (no gold as a reward either). This would keep it more immersive because the chance of Horde races littering Stormwind streets would be slim (vice versa as well).