Ask a Beta Tester: Scourge Strike, titles, and flying mounts

What you're seeing up above is a flaming quill in a well of frozen ink. Is it useful? No. It looks wicked awesome sitting in the Inscription trainers' shop, doesn't it? Heck yeah it does! We'll kick off today's Ask a Beta Tester with Askhill's question...

Does Lake Wintergrasp seem dominated by only one class, or is it pretty even among the 80s?

Unholy Death Knights are the current "overpowered spec of the day" (formerly the role of Ret Paladins) so there's tons of those rocking face right now. Beyond that it's pretty difficult to judge, since Blizzard hasn't balanced all of the numbers yet and few people are in Resilience gear. The only really memorable thing are the absolutely enormous Scourge Strike crits. By enormous I'm talking numbers anywhere from 10,000 to 16,000, and since it's Shadow damage, your armor isn't going to do a darn thing to help. Luckily, I was healbotting one of those Unholy Death Knights rather than being on the receiving end. Death Knights are bloody fantastic at keeping people off of Healers, by the way.

yazah asked a couple of questions...

Why does the Scarlet Crusade employ Death Knights in Northrend? Doesn't that seem unlikely since they were slaughtered by them back in Tyr's Hand?

There's a pretty large questline in Wrath that explains it, and more to come in Icecrown that we haven't seen yet. It's something I'd really hate to spoil because the quests are great. Just trust me that you'll know. Both factions will know.

After level 77, are flying mounts "required" for questing? I mean, at some point, are some quests and quest hubs designed with the idea that players will have a flying mount?

Yes, actually. In Outland, the high-end zones had terrain that was more difficult to get around without a flying mount to inspire you to buy one, but Storm Peaks has quests you just plain can't do without a flying mount. Quests are tucked away in canyons and atop mountain peaks, and some of them are even inside of a mountain built halfway up the mountainside. In Icecrown, the primary quest hubs are actually going to be on gunships in the sky. Don't think you can get away with leveling to 80 without a flying mount. You could probably do it, technically, but all of your XP will end up coming from dungeons or grinding mobs and definitely not from quests.

cachx asked...

What about the possibility of having more than one talent spec? This was mentioned at the WWI but I haven't seen anything about it since then.

This isn't implemented yet, and we haven't heard anything about it.

t_d asked...

Can you tell us more about Cold Weather Flying? Will it involve money to learn or just a quest line?

It's a quest line, which gives both experience and gold, so you actually make profit getting your flying skill back. At level 77, you head over to Sholazar Basins and do a few quests that involved scouting out the area, they put you in a flying machine for the final quest, and then you get Cold Weather Flying. Easy peasy.

Mark asked...

As someone who is still a long way from 70 I noticed that you don't mention anything relating to 'classic content' - are there any changes that will affect new players still in Eastern Kingdoms?

I haven't seen any new quest hubs or anything like that, and it's extremely unlikely that you'll see any. Expansions and content patches usually add onto the end of the game, not bulk up things that already have more than enough content. Sometimes it happens like when they updated Dustwallow Marsh (since that level range was in dire need of more quests), but it's rare. Don't expect to see any of it. Get thee to 70!

sarah asked...

I don't know if this was already answered, but I was wondering what the scoop was with Badges of Justice? Should I hang onto the ones I have no and wait until I'm level 80 to spend them, or are they changing badges somehow?

Use them now, even if it's just to buy gems to sell on the auction house. They'll do nothing for you in Wrath.

racoon asked...

I heard that the Champion of the Naaru title will be made unobtainable in Wrath. Will Hand of A'dal and of the Shattered Sun also become unavailable?

As far as I'm aware, Hand of A'dal becomes unobtainable, but of the Shattered Sun does not. Of the Shattered Sun still takes time and effort, whereas Champion of the Naaru and Hand of A'dal would require 5 bored level 80s facemashing their keyboards through raid dungeons to trivialize the title. A lot like the Amani Warbear vs. the Swift White Hawkstrider or a nether drake.

Sorano asked...

Is it still possible to earn "of the Shattered Sun" and obtain a Netherdrake on the Beta servers?

See above!

Jivundus asked...

I've noticed a new wording for stats on WotLK gear, "Increases your armor penetration rating by x." How does this relate to the current wording on gear, "Your attacks ignore y of your opponent's armor."

From what I understand, Armor Penetration is percentage based now, according to how much armor penetration rating you have. Like other rating-based things, this was done so it scales properly with level and things like that. I'm not sure of the exact conversions and I don't have a melee class with enough gear to test it, but you might be able to find something on places like Elitist Jerks.

The Wrath of the Lich King beta is in full swing, and the WoW Insider crew is here to sate your curiosity with Ask a Beta Tester! Leave your beta questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em! And if you can't get enough Wrath, don't forget to check WoW Insider's Wrath Roundup page for anything we haven't answered here!