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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Why I welcome the Dragon Soul nerf and why you should, too
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 19th 2012 at 11:00AM
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.
The progressive Dragon Soul nerf that was announced last night should have been expected by everyone. It's something Blizzard has done constantly, and I'm a tad surprised that so many people feel like it came out of the blue.
The progressive Dragon Soul nerf that was announced last night should have been expected by everyone. It's something Blizzard has done constantly, and I'm a tad surprised that so many people feel like it came out of the blue.
The biggest complaint I've heard is that the Raid Finder was meant for the easy modes. The Raid Finder, while good, isn't for everyone. Some people really hate pugging -- so much so that they'd rather not play the game than have to pug. There are some people who are just interested in running content with their guild, and if their guild doesn't want to run the Raid Finder, then it's normal modes.
The Dragon Soul raid nerf will do nothing more than allow a wider base to see more content -- and that's a good thing for the game, for the community, and for the future of WoW. And that is something we should all be supportive of. Even more so, there are groups struggling on various aspects of normal and heroic Dragon Soul. If you're not, that's awesome. Pat on the back, tip of the hat. But ... not everyone is so lucky.
If you're hardcore and don't want raid with the progressive nerf active, just turn it off at the entrance. Problem solved; now let's all go kill some internet dragons.
Philster asked:
What pop culture references should make it into Mists of Pandaria, and what shouldn't?
Anything about Doctor Who shouldn't make it in. Everything about SeaQuest DSV should.
Thundrek asked:
What's the Blizzard take on the SOPA bill? What would it mean if it passes for sites likes these?
Blizzard hasn't taken any official stand, and neither has Activision.
What would it mean for a site like WoW Insider? To be honest, I don't know. I do know that our parent company, AOL, has lawyers who would be heavily consulted to determine the feasibility of running content like WoW Moviewatch or Around Azeroth. We have a good relationship with Blizzard, so I don't think anything would happen on that front, but could P Diddy Puff Mommy get upset that some artist is making fun of his/her stuff in a WoW movie parody? Yup. And could that mean we'd be in trouble with SOPA/PIPA? Yup.
Either way, if it happens, we'll just have to wait and see what the particular results are.
Also, all this should only be taken for my own ramblings and not in any way a statement by the site or our parent company.
Robert asked:
How much time does a person have to spend staring at their own armory before they can be considered a narcissist?
After 11 hours. Ten hours doesn't count. It doesn't.
Grimmwrath asked:
Not sure if anyone noticed this, but a major retailer's website (wal-mart) advertised a "pre-order" of MoP, citing a ship date of April 1st. The picture wasn't even a finished box cover. What gives?
That information is horribly inaccurate and should not be trusted. Best Buy reached a new level with this when it even put out a sign advertising Diablo III's release date as Feb. 1 but later had to take it down because it was wrong. Blizzard is the only source you should trust (and well, us, when we report on what Blizzard says).
The box art itself isn't an indicator of anything, either. It's just whatever their internal graphic artists came up with. Probably made in MS Paint.
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 6 of 12)
Scuac Jan 19th 2012 11:31AM
Are comments being removed? Some comments disappeared and the whole thread went back to 1 page long.
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 11:36AM
Check your wallet. Make sure your money is still there!
TimR Jan 19th 2012 11:55AM
The comment system just updates slowly, and in a jerky sort of way. It is weird that comments will disappear for a brief time and then come back, but I see it happen all the time.
exogenesis. Jan 19th 2012 11:32AM
So, I'm stuck with my blog challenge of writing up my character's levelling process in story format. The character I chose is draenei, so I have an extra timeline problem. The starting quests happened when the draenei had just crashed. That's fine. Then she goes to the mainland, where Deathwing has caused the Cataclysm. Sure, I can work with that. But, while she's only level 11 at the moment, she's going to be sent to Outland, in the past, and then sent to Northrend, which is even more noticeably in the past (what with Arthas being dead during Cataclysm and all), and then 80+ she's back in the present day.
How on earth do I work around these timeline issues in my blog-story? Or do I just pretty it's ALL current?
exogenesis. Jan 19th 2012 11:32AM
That would be 'pretend' in the last sentence, not 'pretty' ...
Nuit Jan 19th 2012 11:45AM
Dream/Past sequence. You character falls asleep, or tell a story from her past.
Killik Jan 19th 2012 11:47AM
Or working for the Bronze Dragonflight.
lumacman Jan 19th 2012 11:53AM
I totally understand what you mean. I have been drafting a story of my warrior from the early days of the game and thus was lucky to not have to deal with this issue. I do have a suggestion for you however.
I would personally skip that content. In my story even though I didn't have to, I totally skipped the whole Outland thing and went right from old world lights hope chapel to Northrend. For my story it works as my warrior has a very personal motivation for joining the argent crusade.
Your story is personal to you. This world is so amazing that everyone can have their own take on it and no one could say you did it wrong.
Drakkenfyre Jan 19th 2012 3:13PM
Personally, I would feel it would screw up the character's story pretty bad, but you could always write it as it happens, then put them in the appropriate places later. So save the Outland chapter for one part, the Deathwing chapter for later. It would feel a bit disjointed rereading it from your perspective, however.
Bronze Dragonflight excuse would probably be the way to go, instead.
erik Jan 19th 2012 11:35AM
Q4TheQ :
What do you feel the odds are that Blizzard will still add the older tier content to Raid Finder? Have them on Normal modes, after the nerfs it should be possible for 25 random people to handle these days. I ask because if there really is no more content patches left, that is a long time to go until Mists.
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 11:40AM
If they were smart, and have the time, they would do it between now and MoP. That would be a good way to keep people interested. However, it would probably take away from the new LFR. So, as they said, will probably be on new ones, going forward.
zackwbrandon Jan 19th 2012 11:47AM
I'm hoping they will retro in all raids eventually so that even high level players can do it. At this point one x-pac old content is soloable by the experts so arguing that there is some unfairness to a system of universal access is moot.
eel5pe Jan 19th 2012 12:06PM
I sure hope not! Time that the encounter team takes to balance old raids to make them LFR-friendly would be time taken away from designing new content!
I am also struggling with how you would make Lord Rhyolith LFR-able... maybe make him a vehicle...
erik Jan 19th 2012 12:57PM
It seems like that is always peoples answer, that if this happens then it takes away from development time. Really? It sounds more and more like a veil threat from Blizzard. Anything takes away from development time so do not bother asking. It was a question I had, since we have no date for release, it could be a long time before any new content. I am not saying they have to make it a new encounter, just throw 25 people in there. People would do it or Valor and to see the content. Also, sorry i it came across as i I was upset with you, but I am not at all. Just trying to brainstorm ways to keep players occupied while we wait.
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 1:39PM
I took no offense (not even sure you meant me, but anyways). That's just it- the LFR was totally different design than regular or heroic. If they have some magical way to just put LFR up on LK raids or earlier, I'm sure they will. But if they need to spend man hours on developing things for it and testing it, then don't hold your breath. If you don't think they like abandoning old content, take a portal to Shatt or Dalaran.
Aaron Jan 19th 2012 1:46PM
eel5pe said: "Time that the encounter team takes to balance old raids to make them LFR-friendly would be time taken away from designing new content!"
Even if no difficulty adjustments were made, I'd just like to have a tool that assists raid-building. On any given Saturday morning, somebody on my server is probably planning a trip to Karazhan or the Black Temple, and I'd like to get in on that. TBC and Vanilla raids have been nerfed enough that they wouldn't need adjustment, and people were PUGging Naxx within a few weeks of Wrath's release. Icecrown Citadel is the only one that poses a balancing problem; even at 85, downing the Lich King requires a solid understanding of the mechanics, so it'd be difficult to PUG. Personally, I'd leave him alone too; ICC still gets a fair amount of traffic from non-raiders who want to see how that story ended.
aenerion Jan 19th 2012 11:34AM
I'm interested in the decision of wowinsider as to why the would or would not join a protest (which was way larger then just wiki&reddit). I was not critisising. Funny that I got downvoted for an honest question.
aenerion Jan 19th 2012 11:42AM
and this comment went totally to the wrong place >
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 11:43AM
If you were that interested you would have read their position on it in yesterdays queue. Enjoy the black.
aenerion Jan 19th 2012 11:47AM
As said, this comment was supposed to go somewhere else, and then it makes sense ;), and I just read it, thnx to another helpfull poster.