The Queue: Late night with WoW.com
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.
You're getting The Queue late tonight since all the WoW.com writers are up late. We're sitting around the virtual campfire working on the last bits of our patch 3.3 content for tomorrow. We're going to be publishing a few great guides to the strategies and resources you'll need for both the 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raids. We're also putting the finishing touches on a look at the lore in patch 3.3 -- it's taken a while to get together, but it's going to be a great piece when it's all done.
So, while you're waiting for the patch notes to drop this evening (or morning), sit back and read some Queue. It's full of yummy goodness.
Wmepe asked...
"How many badges can I get in chaining random heroics for six hours?"
It's going to depend on several factors, including which heroics you draw and how successful your groups are. However, we can still look at this question by taking some averages and extrapolating out. Let's assume the following:
On average, each heroic takes 45 minutes to run
On average, each heroic drops 4 badges from boss kills
You get two additional badges for doing a random heroic
To clarify the last point -- you get two Emblems of Frost for the first random heroic you do each day, and then two Emblems of Triumph for each random heroic you do thereafter.
In a six hour time you'll be able to run 8 heroics, dropping approximately 32 badges. You'll get an additional 16 badges (Frost/Triumph) from the random dungeon factor. That means you can earn approximately 48 badges for chain running heroics for six hours.
Tier 9 (item level 232) gloves and shoulders cost 30 badges, while the legs, helm, and chest each cost 50 badges. That's a total of 210 badges you'll need to collect to get a full set of iLevel 232 Tier 9 gear. If you run heroics for six hours a day, it will take about 4.5 days to collect a full tier 9 set.
If you find your pugs only take on average 30 minutes to do a heroic, you can then complete 12 heroics, giving you approximately 72 badges a day. It would then only take you just under three days to collect a full tier 9 iLevel 232 set.
If you have a pro group with good skills, you can do any heroic in about 20 minutes. If you chain random heroics for about six hours, you should be able to get in 18 heroics, which is 108 badges a day. It will take you just under 12 hours to gear up your toon in a full Tier 9 iLevel 232 set.
Maca asked...
"This gating sucks. How long are we going to have to wait to defeat the Lich King?"
I won't get into the whole gating argument here. That's for another time and place. However, don't expect the Lich King to be available until sometime after February 2010. There are four "wings" of Icecrown Citadel that'll open up, with "a few weeks" in-between each wing. Counting out from Tuesday, December 8th as the start date, with three weeks inbetween each opening:
The second wing could open December 29th.
The third wing could open January 19th.
The fourth wing could open February 9th.
Please though, don't quote me on that. Blizzard has not released a schedule, and we likely won't know a wing is going to open up until a few days before hand.
You can read more about the Icecrown Citadel Raid Access Progression.
Beop asked..
"What are you going to be doing during the patching downtime?"
Since we should have all the content for the day pre-written and ready to go, I'll be sitting around my computer monitoring the site and finding new evil things to do with Alex and Sacco. I'll probably also go and play a little Aion if I don't have Star Trek Online beta access by then (hey, I can hope, right?).
That's all for The Queue tonight. Stay tuned throughout the evening and Tuesday for the latest. Bound to be some fun for everyone!
On a personal note, congrats to Daradog! He's the real winner. ;-)
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com 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!
