Some questions about WoD

[Howard Moon]

Hey guys,

I have some incomplete info about WoD I would like to confirm. I DID Google these, but there is a bit of outdated information out there, so I thought it would be best to ask here.

1) I heard WoD will rely less on daily quest grind. Is rep grinding no longer necessary for gear?

2) I heard you need to obtain a Proving Grounds medal in a specific role (tank, heal, dps) before you can queue up for heroics in that specific spec. Sounds like a good idea. Is it true? Does this apply to LFR too?

3) I heard there will be faction capitals in Draenor (like in MoP), and not a common sanctuary like in TBC and Wrath. Not really a fan of this, but I guess it may be a lag issue.

4) I saw somewhere that your equipped gear would re-spec automatically whenever you switch specs. So for example, if I switch my prot pally to holy for doing a dungeon, all the defensive stats and +str in my gear would magically change to healer stats and +int, etc. Sounds amazing. Did that make it into the game? Does that apply to any gear you find, i.e. quest rewards, dungeon drops, LFR epics, etc?

5) I heard that Blizz would add a feature which would make addOns such as oQueue unnecessary. I saw that there is a new "group finder", is that the one?

Thanks in advance.

[Varabently]

Hey guys,

I have some incomplete info about WoD I would like to confirm. I DID Google these, but there is a bit of outdated information out there, so I thought it would be best to ask here.

1) I heard WoD will rely less on daily quest grind. Is rep grinding no longer necessary for gear? I think there are very few dailies, yes. Rep, not sure. You can check wowhead for the rep rewards though

2) I heard you need to obtain a Proving Grounds medal in a specific role (tank, heal, dps) before you can queue up for heroics in that specific spec. Sounds like a good idea. Is it true? Does this apply to LFR too? Just heroics, LFR has a ilevel requirement though.

3) I heard there will be faction capitals in Draenor (like in MoP), and not a common sanctuary like in TBC and Wrath. Not really a fan of this, but I guess it may be a lag issue.

4) I saw somewhere that your equipped gear would re-spec automatically whenever you switch specs. So for example, if I switch my prot pally to holy for doing a dungeon, all the defensive stats and +str in my gear would magically change to healer stats and +int, etc. Sounds amazing. Did that make it into the game? Does that apply to any gear you find, i.e. quest rewards, dungeon drops, LFR epics, etc? Gear doesn't have int or str, but whatever your spec will change the main stat. The secondary stats do not change, so you won't get "defensive stats" like parry/dodge, but tank classes do get passives to help there. Prot paladins get parry from crit chance for example

5) I heard that Blizz would add a feature which would make addOns such as oQueue unnecessary. I saw that there is a new "group finder", is that the one? This is already in the game and functioning.

Thanks in advance.

Added answers as best I could.

[Howard Moon]

Thanks for the answers! I'm not sure I get the whole gear stats thing yet, but I guess I have to play with it myself to fully grasp it. Is that system in live right now?

[Xarganthos]

everything except for trinkets, rings, weapons and such changes its main stat to match your current spec. and yes this System is already live, but doesnt apply to MoP Gear

[Conscious]

Hey guys,

I have some incomplete info about WoD I would like to confirm. I DID Google these, but there is a bit of outdated information out there, so I thought it would be best to ask here.

1) I heard WoD will rely less on daily quest grind. Is rep grinding no longer necessary for gear?

2) I heard you need to obtain a Proving Grounds medal in a specific role (tank, heal, dps) before you can queue up for heroics in that specific spec. Sounds like a good idea. Is it true? Does this apply to LFR too?

3) I heard there will be faction capitals in Draenor (like in MoP), and not a common sanctuary like in TBC and Wrath. Not really a fan of this, but I guess it may be a lag issue.

4) I saw somewhere that your equipped gear would re-spec automatically whenever you switch specs. So for example, if I switch my prot pally to holy for doing a dungeon, all the defensive stats and +str in my gear would magically change to healer stats and +int, etc. Sounds amazing. Did that make it into the game? Does that apply to any gear you find, i.e. quest rewards, dungeon drops, LFR epics, etc?

5) I heard that Blizz would add a feature which would make addOns such as oQueue unnecessary. I saw that there is a new "group finder", is that the one?

Thanks in advance.

1. There are daily quests, but they are not as prevalent as Mists, and currently no gear is gated behind them. Reputation is largely grinded out via mob killing on a large scale.

2. Yes, silver. You need it before you can queue for either of them.

3. The faction capitals are located within the World PVP zone, Ashran. You will probably like myself, find it that much more laggy because of that.

4. Yes.

5. They have added their group finder, however oQueue is still going strong.

[Howard Moon]

Alright, thanks all for the info!

[Rivin]

3. The faction capitals are located within the World PVP zone, Ashran. You will probably like myself, find it that much more laggy because of that.

It shouldn't be. The capitals aren't within the PvP zone itself, and since the PvP zone is in a special CRZ of its own you shouldn't be lagging due to excessive players or anything like that.

[Howard Moon]

Anyone know why we have two faction-specific capitals nowadays instead of a common capital like Shattrath or Dalaran? Was it because of lag issues?

[Blitzdoctor]

The proving grounds requirement is only for LFD. If you make your own group you can always enter the dungeon yourself regardless.

[ThePants999]

4) I saw somewhere that your equipped gear would re-spec automatically whenever you switch specs. So for example, if I switch my prot pally to holy for doing a dungeon, all the defensive stats and +str in my gear would magically change to healer stats and +int, etc. Sounds amazing. Did that make it into the game? Does that apply to any gear you find, i.e. quest rewards, dungeon drops, LFR epics, etc?

It's like this. Gear that has an armor type (e.g. plate) will switch its primary stat and tier bonuses when you change spec. So while it'll help a lot,
- it won't switch secondary stats, if your other spec prefers different secondaries
- gems/enchants won't change
- none of this applies to non-armor slots.
That last is critical, because the Bonus Armor you'll want as prot only appears on non-armor slots, and the Spirit you'll want as holy only appears on non-armor slots, so you'll still need to swap those around.

This stuff applies to gear that drops. So yes to dungeons, LFR; no to quest rewards (and anything you get from a vendor, like apexis crystal gear).

[Howard Moon]

It's like this. Gear that has an armor type (e.g. plate) will switch its primary stat and tier bonuses when you change spec. So while it'll help a lot,
- it won't switch secondary stats, if your other spec prefers different secondaries
- gems/enchants won't change
- none of this applies to non-armor slots.
That last is critical, because the Bonus Armor you'll want as prot only appears on non-armor slots, and the Spirit you'll want as holy only appears on non-armor slots, so you'll still need to swap those around.

This stuff applies to gear that drops. So yes to dungeons, LFR; no to quest rewards (and anything you get from a vendor, like apexis crystal gear).

Cool, thanks now it makes perfect sense! I like this change.

Another quick question:
I know pre-ordering WoD gives you a lvl 90 boost. Does this offer expire at any time, or can I save it for sometime mid-WoD if I want to play a new alt, etc?

[Conscious]

It shouldn't be. The capitals aren't within the PvP zone itself, and since the PvP zone is in a special CRZ of its own you shouldn't be lagging due to excessive players or anything like that.

On beta the faction hubs are like a miniature SW or Org, as they are just packed with the usual crowd (say Shrine) plus those who are coming / going from Ashran.

Also, the CRZ hosting realm's players do impact their own capitals, as far as latency goes.

[Ninotchka]

Thanks for the answers! I'm not sure I get the whole gear stats thing yet, but I guess I have to play with it myself to fully grasp it. Is that system in live right now?

The gear stats system can be seen on loot you get for the revamped UBRS, I believe. At least, I had something drop that I lost to a holy pally I was running with, and when he linked it I saw int on the stats.

[Murlocbait]

Cool, thanks now it makes perfect sense! I like this change.

Another quick question:
I know pre-ordering WoD gives you a lvl 90 boost. Does this offer expire at any time, or can I save it for sometime mid-WoD if I want to play a new alt, etc?

The free 90 is not for preordering. You get a free 90 just for buying WoD, and you can use it whenever you want - never expires.

[Rivin]

On beta the faction hubs are like a miniature SW or Org, as they are just packed with the usual crowd (say Shrine) plus those who are coming / going from Ashran.

Also, the CRZ hosting realm's players do impact their own capitals, as far as latency goes.

Hopefully that's just because there's only, what, four servers on beta? Versus having those players spread out over many more servers on live.

[Ninotchka]

Last I was on beta, the faction hubs were still pretty disappointing as a place to hang out. I'll probably end up spending the expansion sitting around in your garrison or running circles around Nagrand.

[Howard Moon]

The free 90 is not for preordering. You get a free 90 just for buying WoD, and you can use it whenever you want - never expires.

Phew, I'm happy about that.