Ask a Beta Tester: The Drakkensryd, Dispersion, and other stuff

We'll get started with Gareth's question...

How is the Storm Peaks coming along? Seems like it has a lot of history and culture behind it.

This zone has been closed off more than it's been open. There are a few hefty bugs that they're trying to iron out that forces them to seal it off now and then, since the bugs bring the entire world server down. That and there was an XP exploit that the beta testers found and needed to be dealt with mighty quickly, so it was sealed off for that as well.

As far as the history and culture, I loved what I saw. A lot of Titan lore, a lot of Dwarven history. The introduction to the zone is pretty awful, though. Your first quest hub in the culture-rich zone is a Goblin town (K3) full of whimsy that has little to do with the zone's overall story. I guess you need to keep the mood light sometimes, though. Still, despite the silly Goblins, it was one of my favorite zones while I could get in there. Blizzard has thrown around the term "epic scale" quite a bit, and I think Storm Peaks really displays that. The place is absolutely massive, in the good way. Watch the video above if you want an example of the quests you'll be seeing. Be warned, it's kind of a spoiler in that doing this quest for the first time really leaves you in awe. Watching it beforehand might take that away a little.

dotorion asked...

Does Northrend have a 'level requirement' like Outlands?

I believe this one was answered once before, but that's alright. As far as I've seen, it doesn't have a level requirement for actually going there. If it does, it's very low. I ran one of my Death Knights to Northrend as soon as I got out of the Death Knight starting zone at level 58 and ran all over the place checking out the Horde towns since my mains are primarily Alliance. I died quite a bit when I got to Northrend, but getting there was not an issue. You won't get any quests below level 67 or 68, but you can go there.

Saelie asked...

Does Dispersion take away/dispel DoTs?

Nope.

Legather asked...

Are we seeing any 2H weapons that are more inclined towards DK tanking? A 2H axe or polearm with parry and defense rating for example? Or are DK tanking stats being mostly awarded through armor? Does a DK dual wielding 'traditional' 1h tanking weapons experience and advantage in this regard?

I haven't personally seen any two handed weapons with tank stats. Usually the Death Knights that tank for me are using big 2Handers they got via PvP in Lake Wintergrasp or wherever. The honor/arena weapons. Very high stamina, some resilience, stuff like that. Popular vote is that dual wielding while tanking as a Death Knight is bad juju. Attacking that much faster is asking to chain parries and get yourself splattered by a boss.

What weapons are available to Death Knights might change before launch, remember. Almost none of the end-game itemization is in place so far. Most players that are actually running the dungeons are running around in mid-70s blues, and not level 80 blues.

Stormshot asked...

Any word on what level a Deathknight's primary professions start out at? Last I heard they start out at zero, but I have to believe Blizzard is going to change this. If they don't, then my heavily armored warrior of death will be picking Peacebloom flowers in noobie zones and I can't imagine this is Blizzard's vision for the class.

Bad news for you, Stormshot. It may change before launch, but for now... well, I hope you like picking daisies in Elwynn. Sure, it's kind of lame, but the alternative is everyone rolls Death Knight alts only for the purpose of professions. Skipping the first mass of skillups is quite a draw if you're using those professions to make gold or mass produce random little things. Your entire existence as a Death Knight being to stand in Orgrimmar or Ironforge to transmute Eternals is not very heroic either.

Edit: This applies only to primary professions. First Aid starts a little higher, so you can start making bandages for yourself as soon as you pick up and go. You can't exactly farm linen while you're in the Death Knight starting zone.

Raze asked...

I looked over the Wyrmrest faction members on Wowhead. Are there really all a bunch of Blood Elves and humans? It's getting pretty cliché and lazy on Blizzard's part to not even bother giving characters as important to the plot as Alexastraza generic Blood Elf models.

Yes, most of them use Humanoid models, but that's based in lore and not necessarily a cheap way of avoiding making unique dragon models. It is much, much easier to talk to mortals without them wetting themselves or acting in ways they normally wouldn't if you're the same as they are and not a massive dragon with globules of magma dripping out of your mouth. Alexstrasza would seem a lot more impersonal if you went to the top of Wyrmrest Temple and she was a huge lizard and not a nice lady. She takes the form of a High Elf, by the way.

ironblade asked...

Do you know how good the honor gains are in Lake Wintergrasp? What are the costs for the blue PvP weapons, or the epics if they've been implemented yet?

None of the current numbers are concrete, and absolutely all of them will change before retail. Winning Wintergrasp currently gives you 10,000 Honor and 150 Arena points if you've gotten at least one Killing Blow (soon to be changed to HK instead of KB). I have no doubt that these honor gains are accelerated for testing purposes. The PvP pieces cost anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 honor and some arena points as well. Again, I thnk they're inflated for testing purposes. Check back in a couple of weeks and maybe our answer will change.

That's all we have time for today, ladies and gentlemen. I know many of you have been asking a lot of class-specific questions, and unfortunately just one of us isn't able to answer questions for all classes. However, we'll try to wrangle some other folk in here to cover that stuff. Hang onto your panties, and we'll get working on that. If you want to play it safe, feel free to ask again today for posterity. And of course, as usual, ask any other questions you might have, too! We can't fit them all in at one time, but we'll definitely try to get at them all eventually.

[ Many things to Antiarc for the video. Yoink! ]