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Ask WoW Insider: Getting rid of leftover gear
We're a bit late this week, but we've got a good question for you readers from Hylia, a Shadow Priest on Arthas. If you have a question you'd like to ask the readers of WoW Insider, don't forget to send it to ask@wow.com.I've got a question regarding the level 70 epics I've been pilling in my bank. Since I just hit 80 and I`m changing all my gear now, I don't know what to do. The thing is: I don't know if I should just sell my old gear or if I should disenchant it. I have over 20 of those purple shards too and I'm not sure they would sell well.Thanks in advance for the help.HyliaIt's a good question that lots of us are dealing with as we make our way up to 80: what do we do with the old level 70 epics? Personally, I've just been selling most of it -- I have kept a few sets, such as my Tier armor and a crafted set I made and socketed, but I'm not an Enchanter, and, like Hylia, I don't know how old shards would sell now anyway.What have you been doing with the old gear? Vendor, disenchant, or is your bank packed with Gigantiques so you can keep it all?Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
10 Blu-ray questions keep the newbies in the know
We've already passed along one Blu-ray primer this holiday season, but just in case you missed it (or your one specific question remains unanswered), we'll point you to this one. USA Today has written ten relatively basic questions (and answers) that may be in the minds of those teetering on taking the plunge into high-def media. Things like "Will my sound system work with Blu-ray?" and "What features do Blu-ray movies have that DVDs don't?" are covered in sufficient detail, so we'd highly recommend having a look if "your friend" is still a bit clueless.
Ask WoW Insider: Instance running 101
Here's a question for you all from Percinho about my absolute favorite thing to do in game: five man instances. He and his guildies are about to run their very first instance (or they were when he sent this to us at ask@wow.com), and he wants to know your very best tips for instance running:For the first time we have 5 players with level 60+ characters and so have decided to run some instances. None of the guild have extensive experience of instancing as we tend to mainly be solo-ers, or group up in twos and threes just to quest. We're heading to the Ramparts in Hellfire Peninsula with a Warrior, Priest, DK, Rogue and Mage. What we're after is some tips for successful instancing that we may not have considered, those things that every veteran knows that wouldn't even occur to instance-n00bs like ourselves.
Ask WoW Insider: The ninja debuff
This week on Ask WoW Insider, a reader has a suggestion, not a question, to put forth to you readers. It's about a problem lots of folks are having lately, with the servers as full as they are:One thing that has been annoying most people is the ninjas who spend their time waiting for players to take down a pat so they have unobstructed access to the quest items or loot/ore. It happened to me even with the Oil-stained Wolf quest last night in the expansion. People waiting to steal poo! Sick! Why should the players who take down the pat be disadvantaged and lose out on the ore?The rest of the question and your chance to answer after the jump.
Ask WoW Insider: Nodes and ninjas
This week's question for you, our readers, comes from an anonymous asker. He wants to know what the best option is for a widespread problem in this time of high realm populations and camped quests aplenty:There's been a lot of talk on your blog about people ninjaing spawns but I'm not entirely sure that it's as cut and dried as that. Consider this: I was in the Borean Tundra and had to kill the mob on the island that's up the top of the steps. when I arrived there were around 10 other 'toons all waiting around. I had no idea who was there first, who might be grouped, or anything else about them. The first thing I did was /s 'group?', at which point someone invited me, and I grouped with them. Second time it spawned one of us tagged it, I looted, disbanded the group and left. Did I ninja it? If so, how was I supposed to have acted? With new people coming all the time, no knowledge of who had been there longest and no visible queueing system I'm not sure how else to behave. Thoughts? A little more analysis after the break, and don't forget to post your own answer in the comments below. If you've got a question for our readers, send it to ask@wow.com, and we'll ask it for you.Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
The best of WoW Insider: October 28-November 4, 2008
It's almost here. While Election Day is surely going to be exciting, and yes, we're also waiting for Gears of War 2, the biggest game release for WoW fans comes next week: the Wrath of the Lich King is finally upon us. And Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider is on top of things as usual -- stay tuned to the site all this week for pre-expansion news, and next week, at T minus zero to launch, we'll have more updates than Arthas has zombies. It'll be great! News Fox News covers WoW's Zombie InvasionSurprise! Someone in the mainstream media treats WoW like a game played by adults, and it's Fox News. The Bro Squad 3-mans KarazhanOh how the mighty (formerly 10-man instance) have fallen. Invincible Vengeance no moreNothing encourages the crying and whining quite like Paladin nerfs. Official class forums get new role forums addedOriginally, Blizzard was going to delete the class forums entirely, but they soon came to their senses. World of Warcraft 3.0.3 patch notesThere's a new patch in town, with lots more updates and fixes before the expansion release next week. Features Ask a Beta Tester: Questions I wish we'd been askedOur beta tester (one of them, actually) sits down and answers questions that haven't been asked yet. Ask a Beta Tester: Tradeskills, training and rep gainsBut of course we're also answering your questions, too, while the beta is still active. Know Your Lore: Preparing for Wrath of the Lich KingEverything you need to know to get the story straight before the expansion. Preview of the new minimap mod SexyMapYour minimap has never looked so good. Insider Trader: Inscription from 1-100Our professions column hits on the new profession, and tells you how to roll through the first 100 points.
Ask WoW Insider: Wrath and the pre-60s
This week, Keyra of Farstriders has a question about a group that's been a little left out of the expansion excitement so far: midlevel folks. Here's what she is asking you, our readers:With all of the focus on Wrath, there seems to be a conspicuous absence toward those who are of lower-to-mid level and it's beginning to become irritating. Not everyone is level 65+! Some of us are still below level 40 and many of us are just starting out. So, here's my question: What can we who are mid-level expect to see from the expansion, if anything? Is it even worth the trouble to purchase since we can't benefit from the higher-level quests, items and what-not? And what would you suggest to speed our leveling so that we may enjoy what Wrath has to offer?KeyraThe fact is that most of the marquee features in the expansion pack are, yes, aimed at the higher levels. And most of the things that will affect lowbies -- Inscription, the faster leveling, and achievements, are already in the game anyway.So there are two questions here: if you're pre-60, why should you care about Wrath? Or should you at all? And Keyra also sounds like she wants leveling suggestions. My suggestion? Do quests, and lots of them. Do every quest in your log, in order, and then when you're out, go to the next town over and do all of those. The rewards will be good, it'll go as fast as leveling goes (even faster, now that Blizzard has added more XP to the mix all the way to 70), and you'll always have a clear goal: just do the next quest in your log. You might have to skip over group quests, but just keep doing quests and eventually you'll be 70 before you know it.What say you to Keyra, readers? And if you have a question you'd like to ask the (frankly, rowdy but loveable) readers of WoW Insider, just send it along ot ask AT wowinsider dot com, and you might see it up here next week.Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
BlizzCon 2008 Breakfast Topic: We need your questions
Today's the day! BlizzCon 2008 is underway in Anaheim, and WoW Insider is of course here -- stay tuned all day today for news from the panels going on all morning and afternoon. We're going to see Blizzard, talk to Blizzard, listen to Blizzard, and if we can get close enough, we may even smell Blizzard, too (Bornakk probably has a musky Old Spice kind of odor, right? Chris Metzen probably smells like bourbon and granite).And we need your help -- let us know what you want us to ask Blizzard. Is there a class question you need an answer to, or something that's been bugging you since launch? Want to know something about Wrath of the Lich King that we haven't heard yet?And let us know if there's anyone else you'd like us to talk to -- FigurePrints, Upper Deck, and DC Comics are all here, and we'll be talking to the folks from The Guild later today, so let us know what you want to know and we'll make sure you get to know it. Thanks, and enjoy the show -- we definitely will.
Submit a question for the devs to answer at BlizzCon!
Just popping in with a quick note here; even if you're not going to BlizzCon, you can still enter a contest to have a question answered live by the developers.I braved the red tape for you all to figure out the following: You have to be at least 13 years old. You can't be a resident of North Dakota, Connecticut, Vermont, or Maryland in the U.S., Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria, or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Otherwise, if you're a player in the U.S., Canada, most nations of the E.U., South Korea, Singapore, or Australia, you should be eligible. No word on Russian, Mexican, or Latin American players so you guys may, like me, be ineligible. You have until 4:00 pm PST October 11th (this Saturday) to enter the contest. Twenty contestants will be selected to have their questions answered, and if you're one of the winners, not only will your question be answered, but you'll also get a prize package containing various Blizzard swag items plus a new ATI graphics card.The actual submission form is right here if you're interested (with the laundry list of rules here if you want to make sure you're eligible to win), and you can ask any question related to Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, or World of Warcraft. Good luck!
Breakfast topic: Burning questions
Wrath of the Lich King news started off as a trickle. First it was the development of the expansion than the addition of the Death Knight class. Then we had a lot of speculation and evasive answers from Blizzard. Now that the Beta test has been opened up there has been a flood of information. Most of this comes from the observations and mining of players, more so than Blizzard itself. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the WoW experience is waiting for Blizzard to give us information. There are some tidbits that we're all excited to hear. When will we see Wrath go live? Will there be another expansion? Where does Kalgan live, and does he have decent body guards? I'd like to know if there are any plans for additional server types in the future. We always do our best here to get as much information about WoW as possible as quickly as we can. If you had the opportunity to ask your three most burning questions of the game developers, what would you ask?
Breakfast Topic: Most evil quest in the game
Here's an interesting question: what's the most morally evil quest in the game? There was a quick discussion about the Stanley the Dog quest in Hillsbrad (where you poison and then kill a neutral dog), and it got me thinking: are there any quests in game where you really had a problem with what your character was doing? What's the most evil thing your character has done?Of course, the definition of evil in this case isn't quite written in stone -- what your character thinks is OK to do may not be what you think is OK to do. My undead Rogue took a lot of pleasure in killing Stanley, even if I would be horrified to hear about someone doing the same thing in real life. But in the same vein, while I was fully convinced in character that setting off that Mana Bomb in Outland was the right thing for my character to do, personally, I thought the kill count was a little shocking. At what point does my hero become a mass murderer?A few other WoW Insider writers mentioned the Cenarius' Legacy and the other Undead Plague quests to be a little too evil for their tastes. Are there any other quests in the game where your character is asked to do something morally questionable?
Beta opt-in F.A.Q.
More beta news for everyone to enjoy tonight. Bornakk has posted what Nethaera promised earlier in the day, a Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in F.A.Q. The complete F.A.Q. is republished here for your convenience, and is definitely something everyone should read and re-read. Some of the key things to come out of the F.A.Q.: You are not guaranteed to get into the WotLK beta if you have a BlizzCon or WWI beta keys. These keys might go to another beta (like Diablo III). You can opt-in on multiple accounts, but each account can only opt-in once. If you get a key with one account, you can use it on another account of your choosing. However the key can only be used once. Opting in early does not necessarily mean you will get a beta slot early. Everything is random (as we previous reported). If you get a beta key from another source and are selected via the opt-in process, you can give your key to a friend or family member. Full F.A.Q. after the break.
TR's lead designer answers your questions
How often do you get the opportunity to ask a big-time developer a question and actually hear their answer? Unless you travel to a gaming conference and stand in line for an hour, this isn't likely to happen, but on the next episode of TabulaCast, the hosts John and Matt will be interviewing Tom Potter, the leader designer for Tabula Rasa. They will be asking him questions submitted by the listeners regarding the game and his new role in the lead designer seat after taking over for Paul Sage last month. Of course, not all questions will be on the show, but only the very best will be chosen. This is a very exciting interview for the folks at TabulaCast who have previously interviewed some of the "leaders" in the Tabula Rasa player community including PlanetTR's main admin DeadRinger, Ten Ton Hammer's TR lead Tony "Radar X" Jones as well as both Community Coordinators: Amy "Critters" Crider and Tia "Avatea" from NCsoft Europe.
Age of Conan Dev goes on berserk question-answering rampage
What was in LordOrion's coffee this morning? The FunCom developer began by making two parallel threads on the Age of Conan forums, one on the US forums and one on the EU. Each one was a 'leak', with the EU getting a preview of PvP gear, and the US getting an image of what looked like a dungeon of some sort, with no further hints as to what it might be.That done, he began to answer direct questions. The players on both sides of the Atlantic wasted no time in firing them off, while expressing their gratitude (and disbelief) that FunCom was actually talking to them for a change. Now that the flurry of posts has died down, we've collated all the new information from both sides, presented in interview format and edited for relevance and context.
We want your guild apps!
No, I'm not trying to poach your applicants. I don't play that way, even though we all know people who do. What I'm after are your actual applications.I'm working on compiling a smorgasbord of guild application questions for an upcoming article, and I need your help! What I need from you, oh dear and faithful readers, are copies of what your guild uses as application questions. You can post the ones that you think are unique, funny, and insightful in the comments here. Better yet, you can copy and paste your application and send it to me in its entirety to adam.holisky@weblogsinc.com. If your application is easily accessible on the web, shoot me a link to your guild's website and I can check it out there too.What's the benefit of helping me in my quest to write this article? How about fame and my never-ending appreciation. Also a credit at the end for your help. And who doesn't like seeing their name in virtual-print?
All the World's a Stage: Free your mind
All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, commentary, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.Some people don't want to worry about staying in character; they just want to come home, play a game and chill out. That's fine, they have the choice to be a regular player and do what they enjoy. But for those of us who seek the path of the roleplayer, we ought not to stop there. We spend a lot of time in WoW doing all the same things other non-roleplayers are doing, whether it's questing, instances, or PvP. In the process, it can be easy to let one's character slowly drift away from a genuine personality, and into a mere avatar for your own personality as a gamer in a computer game. After all, your character must do a lot of things in order to progress, many of which are game-oriented goals rather than story-oriented goals. You need boss loot, Badges of Justice, Arena points and a bunch of other things that don't always translate well into very interesting character motivations. It's easy to rely on old standby motivations so much that they become excuses. We might say, for example, "I'm trying to help the Shattered Sun Offensive to prevent Kil'Jaeden from entering Azeroth!" or "I'm hoping to attack Pathaleon the Calculator and take from him his prized sword: The Sun Eater!" And these are fine reasons for characters to do things, but we must remember, there's nothing really new or interesting about them. Every one wants to prevent disaster, or acquire new weapons -- but what about such a desire reveals who your character really is? How can you make normal gaming goals and activities into an opportunity for interesting performance and immersion in a fantasy world?
Raph Koster answers a letter from a 12-year-old
Pretty darn cool of Raph Koster to answer this letter from a 12-year-old kid on his blog. And though we've heard the guy talk before, it's fun to see him boil down exactly what he's doing into language a younger kid would understand. It's one thing to talk about "complex server cluster architectures," but it's another to hear Koster explain what an "Integrated Development Environment" is in simple terms.And I like his characterization of programming, too -- I've always told someone I'm trying to teach to use a computer that they "don't do what you want them to do, only what you tell them to do." That's the crux of a good programmer -- he or she knows how to tell the computer do to the right things.Definitely a good read for insight into the mind of an MMO maker, whether you're 12 or 112.
Forum Post of the Day: Ask a CM
Who knew that all we had to do to solve Blizzard's communication problems was, y'know, ask? Azarialle puts out the idea of what you'd ask a CM if you were sure the question would be answered fully, and lo and behold, Drysc appears in the thread actually answering questions. Of course, he strays away from the big stuff (he adeptly dodges a question about Tseric), but he does provide some pretty honest answers on everything from the ghost wolf problem to the voice chat implementation in patch 2.2 and what classes he likes the least as a player (pet classes -- he doesn't get them). Very interesting stuff.Blizzard is aiming towards doing some of this stuff with Blizzcast, but I could definitely see a benefit in doing a weekly honest Q&A session like this. If you ever played Dark Age of Camelot back in the day, you know that the weekly Grab Bag was a fun way for CMs to answer player queries, and I don't think Blizzard would suffer from doing this a little more formally maybe once a week.We've had lots of questions about the game, and it's super nice to clearly get some open and honest answers. Hunting around the forums is all well and good (to their credit, the CMs do try to answer questions like this, only it's in random threads on all the different forums), but it would be nice to put question and answer in the same place on a weekly basis.
Blizzard wants you... and your questions
Bornakk has sent out a request on the forums for player questions to be used in the next BlizzCast, and I can only say that I hope, hope, hope that that delivers as much comedy as it promises. As you may know if you attended any of the Q&A sessions at BlizzCon, players and their questions plus developers equals the funny.Considering that the podcasts are pre-recorded and not live, however, so odds are Blizzard will go for informative rather than confusing and awkward, but let me tell you: the latter has its advantages for sure. If you've got a question for BlizzCast, you can apparently send it to BlizzCast (at) Blizzard dot com, and hope it appears on a future BlizzCast.And speaking of podcast questions, don't forget that the WoW Insider Show is also a podcast that answers questions, and you can ask us questions at theshow@wow.com. Unlike Blizzard, we will include the funny ones, so send away.
Ask Massively: Babies, rings, and the Wild West
Thursday again, and that means its time for round two of our new advice column, Ask Massively. This week we're tackling what will happen to Lord of the Rings Online in 2008 (with guest shots from almost all the Massively staff), as well as creating some MMO offspring, and why cowboys and indians haven't jumped on the MMO bandwagon yet.If you'd like to ask a question of Ask Massively, it's super simple-- just leave your question as a comment on this post to get it answered next week, or leave us a note via our tipline. This week's Ask Massively kicks off right after the jump, so click the link below!
