Ask a Beta Tester: Don't want to look like a clown edition

When I first installed The Burning Crusade and started leveling, I upgraded a lot of gear immediately. And stats aside, I've got to say I was disappointed in most of it. I'd been wearing full sets of armor that I'd spent months of effort and countless instance runs to collect. My reward for the time spent had been, in old Azeroth, great stats and a custom tailored set of armor that all matched and made me look pretty awesome. I stepped through the Dark Portal looking and feeling like a hero. An hour later I had a bright purple helmet, dark green robes, a yellow belt, and a pair of bulky blue gloves. Though each piece of armor was a tremendous improvement upon my carefully completed set, it left my character looking as though she'd been dressed by a colorblind clown. "Heroic" would not be a word I would use to describe myself at that point. So on to our first question...

Mattimus asked....

What do quest rewards look like, graphically? Going into BC from raiding in WoW was incredibly jarring -- stripping off epics for bright green paints with big purple polka dots was one of the most painful things Blizzard could've done to anyone. Do the quest greens in Wrath allow us to quest in dignity, or are we going to be spending our off-time entertaining children's' parties?

After a lot of disappointment leveling up through BC as some kind of circus clown (I considered myself lucky to be a Priest leveling through the Shadow tree -- Shadowform hides many flaws), I have been pleasantly surprised by the quest rewards I've seen in Wrath. It looks like Blizzard has taken a lot more care this time around to make even random greens and blues look cool and -- gasp! -- match. The image to the right all quest rewards from the starting zone, and while you may or may not like the look, I think you have to agree that It's nowhere near as bad as Outland Clown Syndrome (or OCS as we shall call it from here on).

For more on of your questions -- and our answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.

Chriasas asked....

Spellstones and Firestones have long been the most useless items in the Warlock arsenal. Any chance of them being removed in WotLK, or at least changed into something useful?

Spellstones and Firestones have both been tweaked in Wrath. For one, instead of taking up a valuable off-hand slot, they can now be equipped in your ranged slot (the item description calls it a "relic" slot, but they definitely wind up equipped in the ranged slot). This means you could use a staff and still have a Spellstone or Firestone equipped if you so wished or if you were using a 1-handed weapon with an off-hand you wouldn't have to sacrifice your off-hand stats. However... you sacrifice the ability to equip a wand, meaning you lose its stats and tasty mana-free DPS. Whether this is a good trade-off for you is going to depend on how good your current wand is.

There are currently upgraded versions of the Spellstone on the beta realms, but no new Firestones yet. See the Demonic Spellstone at level 72 and the Fel Spellstone at level 78.

Montius asked....

When you first make a Death Knight, he/she is part of the Scourge. Is it possible to send tells to Horde/Alliance while you are still doing the pre-quests?

Yes. Though you're instanced off from the rest of Azeroth, it's not a complete separation. Communication and mail (using the lone mailbox in the Scarlet Crusade town you're razing) works fine.

Mercy asked....

How much is it costing on the PTR to upgrade professions from 375 to the new level bracket?

It costs 35g to upgrade primary professions and 100g to upgrade secondary professions. So if you want to jump straight into the game and start training professions , prepare to have a few hundred gold handy to get started (training materials not included!).

And also, how much Netherweave should we all be stashing the make that initial jump in First Aid?

Absolutely none. When you train up First Aid, Heavy Netherweave bandages will already be grey -- your skillups will all be using Northrend cloth, Frostweave.

slicertool asked....

I've heard there is a threat meter being added. Is it in yet?

It is in.... sort of. At present, some threat indications have been included in Blizzard's built-in combat text, but the entire thing strikes me as slightly unfinished. At present, there are no options to enable or disable it with the rest of the combat text options and it only alerts you when you initially pull aggro.

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!