The Queue: To Kill a GM
by Adam Holisky 
Feb 1st 2012 at 11:00AM
And while today's Queue is about GMs, I point to the following three awesome stories we've run previously about GMs and GM-like powers:
- A guy who got a magical shirt that let him clear Ulduar with GM powers
- A tour of the in-game home of GMs in WoW
- A GM in the Armory
Is it possible to kill a GM in pvp servers?
I've seen GMs die on PTRs when they show up and flag as attackable, but I've also seen them turn people into chickens and morph into Archimonde.
Fun fact: One of them teleported Alex and me to old Dalaran one time when we were working on some WoW Insider stuff. Coolest GM ever.
Elmo asked:
What's the exact advantage of the 64 bit client over the 32 bit? WoW runs perfectly in 32 bit on my 64 bit PC right now.
WoW will be able to use more memory this way. I expect high-end raiders will have an easier time running all those addons without frame rate problems and other issues. It also might cause a more generic frame rate increase across the spectrum, but tests have been somewhat inconclusive in this regard (to WoW specifically).
Mat McCurley also wrote a great article explaining the difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit WoW.
Ravyncat asked:
How do you even know if you have a 64bit capable computer?
I recommend that you check your system info. Blizzard provided these two great links on how to do that in yesterday's announcement post (which was then taken down because there were bugs in the 64-bit client or server system):
Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218/
Mac: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4287
Noob asked:
I recall reading something about BoP companion pets becoming BoE (like they did to the Sinister Squashling). Is this supposed to happen with the release of Mists, or am I utterly mistaken?
It happened with patch 4.3. There are still some that are BoP, but the vast majority of companion pets are bind on equip now.
Beaker asked:
Will blizz ever make a "blizzard time card" that will give time to an account instead of game specific? Or is this currently happening?
Maybe if Titan is based on a subscription model -- but to be honest, I doubt that it'll be a subscription game. Other than that, there's no need for an account-wide time card, given that WoW is the only game that has a running subscription.
Now if you're talking about multiple WoW accounts on a single Battle.net account -- no, I highly doubt Blizzard would go through all the hassle of designing a game time sharing system for WoW accounts based on the relatively small number of people with multiple accounts.
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 7)
incoming00 Feb 1st 2012 11:05AM
Why does night time in game not look like if its night time at all? I remember playing a free mmo before playing wow and when it was night real time it was night server time. The game actually looked like the setting was in the middle of the night. Most of Azeroth in server night time looks just as bright as day.
RogueJedi86 Feb 1st 2012 11:12AM
I guess because if it was as dark as it i s in real life, you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you, leaving countless mobs to attack you without you even knowing they were there. That's my guess on why night in WoW is pretty bright.
Shinae Feb 1st 2012 11:17AM
There are nighttime conditions for some zones, usually the ones that have the default skybox where you can see the sun and the moon pass over.
Orgrimmar and Stormwind used to have nighttime looks, but not since the Shattering. The only thing that changes is that, at 9pm server, crickets start chirping in the ambient sounds.
slim1256 Feb 1st 2012 11:19AM
I... uhh... seem to recall it being clearly "night time" in Stormwind. Recently.
I'm an EST person playing on a PST server, so it happens late - like, midnight - for me. But it clearly gets darker and the lighting effects change.
Unknown Feb 1st 2012 11:22AM
I remember reading something that back in alpha when it was night time players would actually need to carry torches too increase visibility at night. I'm not sure if this was true or not though but it sounded cool.
Caz Feb 1st 2012 11:25AM
This bugs me, too. Even four years ago there was a far more substantial difference between night and day, but now it's barely discernable.
I would enjoy a more realistic in-game nighttime, with cities lit up by torches and arcane glows, dark spooky forests, moonlit plains.
I;m not holding my breath.
loop_not_defined Feb 1st 2012 11:26AM
I miss having nighttime in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. :(
I'm the kind of player that turns gamma settings all the way down and relies on torches in Elder Scrolls games, though...
Shinae Feb 1st 2012 11:28AM
@slim1256: Sorry that was my personal Horde bias showing, as I haven't hung out in Stormwind for years. Tho, it still seemed rather day-like when I flew in at night to go a-caroling.
I can say that Org looks the same, day or night.
ravyncat Feb 1st 2012 11:32AM
Auctioneer Hesse turns all wolfy as night falls in SW. The guards also carry lanterns even though it isn't very dark--probably a holdover of when it was necessary to see.
I love being in the AH when he poofs into Worgen form.
loop_not_defined Feb 1st 2012 11:32AM
I don't recall seeing night time in Stormwind since Cataclysm. I normally play ~3-4am on a server that shares my time zone, and even see the Worgen banker back in the dwarven district frequently.
I don't know, my memory can be pretty fickle at times.
Saikoujin Feb 1st 2012 11:32AM
The Dwarven Distict in Stormwind is calling you.
slim1256 Feb 1st 2012 11:34AM
@Ravyncat -
Agreed on his transformation. It's startled me once or twice...
As for night time in SW - it's not dark per se, it just get's much more... purple. I wonder if it's a graphics setting?
Shadda Feb 1st 2012 11:38AM
I remember hearing about how they did want to include a darker "night time" in Alpha. They even included lanterns and torches to help you light your way (some of which are still available as off hand items). The game was simply too dark (think Echo of Tyrande-style lighting where only the area lit by your torch is visible).
Instead, Blizzard went with the lighting we have today: it does get darker, just not pitch black.
Puntable Feb 1st 2012 12:07PM
Night time is not any different than it has always been. It has never got dark, although some zones are naturally darker than others. You have to remember that the game was designed by old EQ players. EQ had really dark nights if you were a human. Torches would light the area close to you. Players would turn the gamma on their computers to max at night to see at distances. This made everything on the screen all washed-out and crappy looking. For WoW they decided to make the moon really bright, and eliminate the need to mess with the gamma settings.
Jorges Feb 1st 2012 12:21PM
SW does have night time. Crickets chirp, lamps light up, even soldiers patrol the streets with their lamps lit and you can see ambient lightning affecting the environment. Of course, since the Cataclysm everyone is in the city even at late night hours, so the city is logically brigther (pretty much like real life cities).
If you mount up and ride to Goldshire and other rural areas, you'll see that everything is darker. But of course, in real life terms the game is very bright at night. Sometimes you don't even notice it is night time.
Hob Feb 1st 2012 12:41PM
It's definitely darker at night. Look at any lantern-carrying NPC during the day, and if you're looking for it, you can see that there's a glow from the lantern... it's very apparent during the night. Mulgore and Thunder Bluff are great places to notice this effect.
As for why it isn't dark-dark... I think we get enough of that in the Green Dragonshrine with the Echo of Tyrande. 8 hours of that does not sound especially fun to me.
Edymnion Feb 1st 2012 12:48PM
Fairness to it's players would be the big thing that springs to mind to me.
Not everybody can be on during the daytime for their server (and if you pick a server thats far enough away to skew the day/night cycle, you're looking at major latency). So, someone that only gets to play after their kids go to bed would likely only get to play at night.
Would you want to play a game where it was always so dark you couldn't see what you were doing? Any noticeable difference between day and night would mean night is harder to play in, and that means anyone that works during the day or has kids or whatever else would have a harder time playing the game than those that have nothing better to do than play video games at 2 in the afternoon.
So, you can see equally well during the day or night so that no one is disadvantaged.
Noyou Feb 1st 2012 1:13PM
I think they handle it pretty good. Like many have said, there are zones where it is definitely darker than others at night. For alliance, check out Theramore at night. It would be a good time to do so too, since it won't be ours for much longer. If you have played some other games, at night it is fairly hard to see. If you always had to have a torch or a light spell to see, it could get pretty annoying.
tpiscaglia1 Feb 1st 2012 1:13PM
This comment made me look this up: http://darkmadcreature.deviantart.com/art/stormwind-at-night-207362438
Now if it looked like this at night...well that would be sweet
B1ue Feb 1st 2012 1:16PM
@Edymnion And that's why the forasken starter zone, Silverpine, and Ghostlands are some of my least favorite zones to play. I love the quests in Ghostlands and Silverpine, but it's just so very dark that I lose interest quickly. Only ever made through Silverpine fully once, back in Vanilla, and Ghostlands maybe three times.