Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsThe Queue: Research like it's 1995
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 18th 2012 at 11:00AM
Do you like WoW Insider? Do you like WoW? Do you like the internet? Then you should be concerned about SOPA and PIPA, even if you're not living in the United States. Go read about them.
holtzmanneffect asked:
do you think the world will survive an entire day without Wikipedia? Some people on the Internet will have their first taste of a post-apocalyptic future tomorrow!
I didn't last very long. Thirty minutes in, I regressed to playing MindMaze.
Puntable asked:
Were there a lot of expectations that the previous expansions would happen sooner than they did? I'm not sure where this idea that MoP will be "soon" is coming from. Sure Blizzard recently said they *would like* to put expansions out faster, but they have been saying that since the release of the Burning Crusade. Is it all just a big pile of wishful thinking?
With every expansion (and some content patches), someone at Blizzard comments that the developers are trying to make releases more rapid -- less time between expansions, less time between content patches, and so on and so forth. Like you said, it never happens. I'm not getting my hopes up for a quick Mists of Pandaria release. We expected Cataclysm to arrive rapidly after patch 3.3, but we spent a full year raiding Icecrown Citadel.
After seven years of World of Warcraft, I'll believe a rapid release schedule when I see it. Blizzard's been trying to improve over the course of Cataclysm, but over World of Warcraft's entire lifetime, Blizzard has always been trending toward a slower release rate rather than a faster one, despite its stated goals. Blizzard's got great devs and I believe they are capable of speeding up their release schedule in a meaningful way, but they haven't managed it yet.
kaminari asked:
with account achievements in MoP, what does your magic 8 ball says about opening reputation stuff account wide once you unlock it with your first character?
How do you anticipate the raid finder working in the first tier of the new expansion? Run Heroics to gear for raid finder to gear for Normals?
The Raid Finder, I believe, is meant to be optional. You'll likely be able to go into normal difficulty raids with 5-man heroic gear and be able to progress without issue. The Raid Rinder will help, of course, but I don't think it will be mandatory.
@davegw asked:
Do you think they'll keep the same 10/25 man shared lockout system in Mists?
Yes.
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 5 of 7)
Shinae Jan 18th 2012 1:08PM
I have no idea what you find wrong with it.
Pyromelter Jan 18th 2012 11:50AM
It isn't blacked out because ██████ decided that ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ wasn't ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ because ███████ █████ █████ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒. So when you ██████ just remember to ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ congress▒▒ up the ██████.
Talsenar Jan 18th 2012 12:02PM
Show off!
Spritetoggle Jan 18th 2012 11:52AM
Can't say I've ever heard of MindMaze. I wonder if there's anything about it on Wikip- oh...
Travy Jan 18th 2012 12:00PM
So yesterday while doing my rage against the flames daily I saw 7/9 pop up. Is this a Star Trek easter egg or am I just still in love with Jerk Ryan.
Travy Jan 18th 2012 12:03PM
Jeri, damn autocorrect
Drakkenfyre Jan 18th 2012 2:52PM
Coincidentally, STO went free to play yesterday.
johnthediver Jan 18th 2012 12:03PM
Why isn't WoWInsider dark today in protest of SOPA/PIPA? I can't think of anything better than angering hordes (hehe For the Horde!) WoW fans by blocking content to get them to contact their elected representatives to help get these bills killed.
eel5pe Jan 18th 2012 12:04PM
Q4tq: something I've been thinking about for a while and I'm surprised more people don't complain about.
I'm an enchanter, and it irritates me that in 5-mans my enchanting skill that I painstakingly leveled up is used to DE the gear that drops in the dungeon. There is little net change in the enchanting materials that I obtain (though it wasn't uncommon prior to auto-DE that people would pass on low-quality drops so they wouldn't have to deal with the hassle) but I think its undeniable that it increases the availability and thus decreases the price of enchanting materials. It's a nice time-saving feature in premades and in my raid, but when I play with randoms its always a little galling. Wouldn't say JCs complain if everyone was handed a random bag of jewels at the end of a dungeon? (would be a nice way to bring down prices, hehe).
I want to stress that I don't care too much about the personal economic aspect, I rarely have over 10,000 gold strung out across all my characters and am the farthest thing from an AH maven. It just always strikes me as kind of unfair that we're forced to damage the value of our goods. I was especially irritated by the Blue response a couple of months ago which basically boiled down to "everyone in the group helped get the item, everyone has a right to the mats". No, everyone in the group has a right to the item, but not to access my profession skill. I don't demand that the skinner split up his skins with the group, nor the miner and the herbalist their goods (back when those materials could be found in dungeons).
What do ya'll think?
TimR Jan 18th 2012 12:23PM
Back in the day, most groups I ran dungeons with would pass on loot they didn't need and at the end the enchanter would DE everything and we would roll for the mats. The auto DE just eliminated that step. In randoms groups enchanters would often Need items just to DE them for themselves, which sucked. I think the current system is the best compromise.
I can kind of understanding why enchanters don't like it, but enchanting is so different from other professions in that it is both a gathering and crafting profession in one. That makes it very hard to compare to other professions.
TimR Jan 18th 2012 12:28PM
One other thing: Cheaper mats (due to the greater supply) arguably make enchanting more profitable overall. As an enchanter, you have easier access to the raw materials, and many in demand enchants have a very large profit margin.
Puntable Jan 18th 2012 12:34PM
It's a bit of a dead subject. Enchanters can get more mats than non-enchanters, assuming you have the guild perk. I will sometimes roll "need for off spec" if I'm low on crystals, but only after everyone else has rolled disenchant on the item.
Pyromelter Jan 18th 2012 1:30PM
Puntable's right, dead subject, those of us with enchanters sort of felt like this when dungeon finder first came out, but since then it's just become a normal game mechanic.
Eventually you'll get used to it and your angry fist mentality about it will go away.
Also, there is an advantage to the system which is that if you are like duo-questing or in a party and have loot set for group loot, you can hit the DE button instead of manually DE'ing random greens you find.
Chetti Jan 18th 2012 1:47PM
I'm currently not a max level enchanter, but I can see why enchanters would get a little upset at the fact their profession is being used while they get nothing out of the deal. Sometimes they may never win any of the dust/shards/crystals, but I think it would have been nice if they got a point for every so many dungeon de's or something. Something to help with those last points to max that can be expensive. That aside, I think the de option in dungeons is a good one. Sure, with more mats available to everyone it may drop the prices on the AH a little, but for people who find it important to always have their gear enchanted it gives them a way to stash some of the mats for their enchants without having to hit the AH before asking in trade for an enchanter.
I think it'd also be a good bargaining thing if you've got access to a guild enchanter. Say you've done your 7 heroics and gotten your valor, and had been lucky enough to win some de rolls. Asking your enchanter for a landslide and mentioning you've got half the mats will most likely get you your landslide with your mats and some of theirs at no cost. Thats how our guild enchanter does it, she'll gladly help anyone who offers what mats they have. She's also got a 'free enchants to people who keep her supplied' policy, which works well for me. :)
Philster043 Jan 18th 2012 1:53PM
As a max level enchanter myself I used to feel that way too. It was like "well, I guess I'm just everybody's enchanting mule now." But at the same it also raises awareness of enchanting, people would be encouraged to ask for enchanters in trade (and tip us), and I still often get requests in trade to DE items in trade anyway. I don't think there are THAT many max level enchanters proving that boon to random groups. Where the buck should stop, though, are items that I normally couldn't DE via trade because they would be Binded to that character. Maelstroms shouldn't be so easily obtained just because I'm there with them.
loop_not_defined Jan 18th 2012 5:59PM
Two things to consider:
1) Everybody can roll on Chaos Orbs now. Everybody could roll on Frozen Orbs, too, when the "group DE" feature was implemented. Enchanting has never utilized orbs, yet still gets a shot at these expensive profession materials.
2) Everybody is expected to enchant and gem their gear, and gems aren't nearly as expensive as many enchants can be. Few people expect players to use other profession items (Alchemy flask/potion expectations are largely restricted to "hardcore" content). I'll smack anybody that tries to argue glyphs as being related to this argument.
Sinthar Jan 19th 2012 9:32AM
My main is an enchanter. I personally STILL hate this. It is one of the biggest reasons why my main does not pug runs, as being forced to share my professional bonus with everyone there, is abhorrent to me. They SHOULD force all other professions to share any loot gained via professions in group in the interests of fairness.
After this change, I for one refused to enchant via trade requests after this, I am NOT going to level up a skill costing 000's of gold, to then enchant every tom dick and harrys gear for 10g a chant. I still do my friends chants, and my guilds ofc, but anyone else can go whistle til they either share their prof bonuses, or pay me for mats.
I dont expect a lot of people to agree with me, or vote me up (in fact I doubt many people will read this before it goes black) but its how I feel. Esp as I help others with their profs - that rogue needing leather - sure follow me Ill leave a huge ammount of looted corpses for you. Herbing/Mining near that mob, Ill take the time to sheep it, and then after you remount, ill invis and leave myself.
Now? Ill just watch as the rogue tries to skin the corpses I leave - with one grey in them (unless they actually ask that is). And laugh when people are gathering and end up with mobs on them. I watch and leave them to it.
Bitter - yep. I wont even respond to portal requests in trade now.
Sinthar Jan 19th 2012 9:33AM
@ loop
Chaos orbs, are really a moot point. Why bring up frozen orbs I dont know - but your assumptions are quite large here - Enchanting is a SINGLE profession. Rare is the mage, in my experience, that does not then have a CRAFTING profession (something like 75% of enchanters have tailoring as their other profession) which allows them to roll on orbs.
In fact after checking all the guild enchanters - there isnt one without a crafting prof with their chanting. So its NOT enchanters rolling on the orbs - its the TAILORS that are doing it.
As to the 'well their needed' arguement - yes some enchants are expensive, the top end ones, which are really only needed in raiding - which then ties in with your own arguement about "hardcore" content. There ARE many chants which are a LOT cheaper, like the difference between the +8 and +10 stats chants on the chest - if +2 stats is worth tripling the mat cost of the chant - then I contest you are maximising more than using a flask or potion as the effect you gain is less and the cost you incur is vastly more than if you just used a flask or potion.
As to "Few people expect players to use other profession items", so you dont have a leg patch then??? How about using those bags. Everyone uses other profession gear/items where they can (remember the times when drums were a needed raiding buff). How many times do you regem? Do you re- enchant every time you regem - I doubt it. Enchanting is expensive IF you dont have any mats, but tends to last and not be redone unless you get a new item. As you pick up enchanting mats pretty much every time you do a heroic or better (and win the roll), that means enchanting costs you very very little now, 20g per chant. Gemming often changes per spec. And costs hundreds each time. Flasks are expensive, and last 1 hour. Gems are expensive and get changed depending on circumstances, enchants are now cheap in comparision when you take into consideration the durations and how much use you get out of them.
direbadgercvlry Jan 18th 2012 12:08PM
What kinda pet families do the writers here want to see with MoP? I'd like to see Temple Guardians/Fu Dogs.
Shinae Jan 18th 2012 12:25PM
We know we're going to get the Mogu, a FuDog-like race of humanoids.
http://www.wowpedia.org/Mogu
I don't think you'll be able to tame them. ;)