[1.Local]: Readers talk back

Tanking for beginners
One of the best parts about [1.Local] is that we can spotlight comments from our writers that offer details and insights that didn't make it into their original articles, like this tidbit on tanking from Matthew Rossi: It's not that paladins don't want block value, but for them, block value isn't a 'threat' stat, spell damage is. Paladins use block value to determine how much damage from an incoming attack they can block, as do warriors, but warriors also use block value to determine how much damage Shield Slam, one of the bigger instant attacks in the tanking prot warrior's arsenal, hits for.

The more block value, the more damage from Shield Slam. The more damage from Shield Slam, the more threat it generates. So block value is at once a threat and a mitigation stat for warriors in a way it does not function for paladins. Similarly, most paladins use a spell damage weapon that has about 41 DPS, the same as a level 60 blue: they're not really concerned with that weapon really hitting or missing in physical terms, they want the spell damage to increase their threat. A warrior relies more on expertise as a threat stat than a paladin does, because a paladin is only concerned about being parried so that he doesn't have to risk too many hasted counterattacks from a boss. A warrior wants to avoid being parried for that reason AND because it means he generates less threat.

Paladins, meanwhile, will generally want more spell damage, then perhaps spell hit. Hit and expertise aren't wasted stats for them, exactly, but they already have to focus on defense, on a higher target for uncrushability, and on spell damage, so hit and expertise just aren't as vital for them and certainly not threat providers the way they are for warriors.

Professions for Deathknights
How on earth is Blizzard going to pull off leveling professions for a class that starts out at level 55? Slayblaze isn't very optimistic: This whole Deathknights start at level 55 instead of level 1 like everyone else" thing is going to be a big huge fubar'd mess. Questions like the ones that have been presented here really illustrate that, especially when you really start thinking things through to how they are likely to progress in-game.

As far as trade skills go, either way will present big problems. Either DKs have to level up from the beginning like every new character, or they don't. If they do, then not it will mean a massive influx of DKs infesting the lowbie zones, plus the Auction House economy will be thrown off because all the low-level mats will be purchased by all the new DKs, which will inflate the costs of gray/white level mats to outrageous prices far beyond their actual worth.

If they don't have to start their trade skills at the bottom like everyone else, then it won't be balanced to those non-DKs that have to put in the time and effort to start from level 1. Also, if DKs get to start at a higher trade skill level ... what about Inscription? Everyone else will have to drop one of their two trades to start the long and laborious journey to level Inscription, but DKs could take it and be the first to make the high-level items long before anyone else could because of their higher starting level, or bonus to skill-ups or whatever.

Either way seems to have nearly insurmountable problems. Its going to be a mess, I tell you!

The lore of Deathknight and their races
Readers were definitely of divided opinion about whether or not WoW's lore can support a decision to allow Deathknights to come from all races. Makh observed, The reason Trolls, Night Elves, Tauren and Draenei cannot be Warlocks is the same reason they can't be Death Knights. They would be shunned by their own race. They would be KOS by other members of the race. How will you explain a Night Elf Death Knight being able to walk around Teldrassil without being seized and chained for 10,000 years??". Kyle then responded, Makh, technically, so too do the humans and orcs. That's why the warlock trainers have to be in the basement of that restaurant (and the guards don't know of them, though point people asking to the place anyway because of game mechanics), and Thrall doesn't like the warlocks in Orgrimmar, but suffers them there anyway.

Would they be KOS, though? All races would've heard how some former DKs freed themselves from the Lich King and wish to fight against him once more. They may not like it, but at the same time if the rest of their respective side accepts them, they'd have no choice but to accept them too (or break away).

I wouldn't be surprised if Blizz makes it so that NPCs in most capital cities respond negatively to DKs. They've been trying out changing flavor text with reputations for the past few patches, that could lead to that.

Add-on request-a-palooza
Join our Christmas list of add-ons you'd love to use – readers just may suggest one you've been pining for! Our post gathered some interesting wish lists, including Mung's: I always wanted a tanking mod that shows you enemy portraits for everything that your group has aggro'd on at a given time.The portrait, some debuff markers so you know when its cc'd and who has highest threat would be great.

Something like: -

Mob1, no debuffs, Tank
Mob2, no debuffs, Tank
Mob3, sheep, Tank, mage or healer
Mob4, healer

The point of this would be:
a) To enable fast reliable clicks between mobs without having to tab or to click the mob itself (which is not always easy if there are several attacking you).
b) You could also see how many mobs you are actually tanking, or maybe whether a mob is attacking your healer.
c) Where a cc'd mob is going to run to when the cc runs out
d) If 5 more mobs suddenly appear with your hunters name next to them, you know he has walked back a little bit too far.

It might also be nice to be able to filter out mobs you are not interested in for a particular fight. I guess some of this is do-able with the Omen's threat library, but I am not sure where to begin.

Do you pay attention to 25-man progression?
After the recent world-first kills of Kil'jaeden, we asked readers if they followed news from the uber-raiding scene. I used to raid with one of the top 5 guilds on my server, notes Jeni. But yanno what? It's just not as fun as doing 5 man heroics and Kara/Zul'Aman. You can joke and laugh and wipe and there's no RL yelling at you, threatening others, taking other people on raids, gearing up some people over others... I don't even look on wowjutsu anymore. And yanno what? I might have a t6 character in retirement, but I am loving my new Kara/badge gear characters and I love the people in my casual guild. I'm having a better time now than I ever did in Hyjal and BT.

That's why I'm so excited about Wrath. We can 10 man everything! It'll be awesome!

SK's Kil'jaeden video
Even readers who don't follow world-first kills could appreciate the yells of triumph and discovery at the end of SK Gaming's Kil'jaeden kill video. If you consider the lore impact of this event alone, the screams of triumph were as fitting as every ounce of epilogue dialogue, said Talamarr. You "beat" The Burning Crusade expansion, helped the blood elves get the gift of the light and saved the world from destruction. I'd say that is something to cheer about.

Summer break: Kids applying to guilds
Now here's a thread that elicited some absolutely frothing, rabid replies. OK, this is to everyone under 18 who's foaming at the mouth because some of us have guilds that are for 18 and over, laid out batgrl. I have one question for you to answer. Do you want to hang out and socialize with your parents and their friends? Really? If yes...then wow, things have changed, since that was the last thing I wanted to do when I was your age, I wanted to hang out with my peer group - and again, makes me think that we won't have as much in common as you would with people in your age bracket. That's not something you should be offended by, it's how socialization groups work. It might shock you to know that there are a lot of us in here who are 30 and 40+ - way the heck out of your age range. You just won't have as much in common with us.

And I'd agree with you that feel upset that you are judged by the behaviors of a percentage of folk in your age bracket that act like jerks. But also realize that because you're a minor that your parents can get on your headphones in Vent and chew us out for any "bad behavior" (skipping chores to raid, for instance) they feel we're encouraging in you. (Heck, when I taught college I had parents call me up and talk to me instead of allowing their over 18 year old adult children to do it themselves -- so yes, I know what I'm talking about here!)

Adam, while it's cool that you could be turning on kids to the book of Clockwork Orange -- odds are you're going to get a couple of kids into an interesting situation or two when they sit down to watch the film they've rented and their parents walk in when the main character rapes the old woman while singing Singing In the Rain. That should make for an interesting family chat.

I'd love it if you'd explain the reasoning behind the Clockwork Orange paired with this story -- I'm kinda not getting the message there, or parallel you were trying to draw. Oh wait, I get it -- you're saying everyone under 18 is roaming around in violent youth gangs, raping and pillaging and listening to Beethoven - all the while plotting to infiltrate adult guilds. Riiiight, cool. (And yes, that was sarcasm. I don't think Adam was saying that.)

Unconventional and amazing dungeon runs
When does "good" turn "too good"? Elmo found out during a recent run back in old UBRS: Two days ago we did a nostalgic UBRS run. However, we did so much DPS we not only managed to Survive a Leeroy but also we killed Rend and Glyth before Rend could get off his mount. This caused us to be locked up; the gates did not open on either side. We called a GM and he placed us outside the gate (on the road to the Beast). While we aggroed the entire hall, we found out there is a second gate when you go out of Rend's room up the ramp heading for BWL. The GM didn't said we had to restart the Rend event. And guess what ... We managed to do it again! That time, we just portalled and went for ZG.