# World of Warcraft General Discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 4, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294 "2009-03-04T17:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 144
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2861 "2009-07-11T05:01:17Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Did you actually \*\*try \*\*my instructions? I’m guessing not. Ugh. This is reason #423 that keyboard turning sucks–you never learn how to use your mouse. Go back and re-read what I suggested–you will be directing yourself \*\*exactly \*\*where you want to go, then putting it on autopilot, so you won’t \*\*need \*\*to go up or down after that. You just aim youself at whatever level you want and turn on autorun. Need to adjust the angle again? Just click both mouse buttons, adjust, and put autorun back on. (And it’s even easier if you’ve got an extra mouse key to bind to autorun so that you don’t have to keep leaning over to punch numlock.) I’m afraid I didn’t understand your instructions (I apologize, I should have clearly said so). I mistakenly thought you misunderstood what I wanted to do: fly perfectly level. The autorun bit confused me - my experience with autorun is that it keeps you moving in the last direction you were going until you tell it otherwise (i.e. give a turn/change direction command). Based on that experience, my brain told me that doing what you suggested would simply keep me diving (or climbing, as the case may be). If I’m reading you correctly, you’re saying that if I hold down both mouse buttons and hit autorun, my flight will level out? By “level” I mean "perfectly parallel with the ground, assuming the ground itself is level. So let’s say “a large body of water” rather than “the ground”, since large bodies of water are self-leveling. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2862 "2009-07-11T06:48:09Z")
Why do you care about flying perfectly level? The fastest way to fly is to go straight up into the air, point yourself at your destination and go in a straight line toward it. Think 3D, plus there’s no obstacles you need to navigate around in the air. Even if you’re just traveling with no specific destination, so what if you’re not perfectly level? You find yourself rising or falling, you correct it. You’ve got thousands upon thousands of cubic feet of empty space, losing or gaining a few isn’t horrific. Also, use the mouse. Default setup is if you hold down the right button and move the mouse, you’ll turn in that direction. It allows for much finer and natural control than just using the keyboard to pitch, yaw, or turn. (I haven’t reached 70 yet on any character, but City of Heroes allows flight very very early on in the game, so I’ve had plenty of practice with it in a virtual environment.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2863 "2009-07-11T09:20:39Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Why do you care about flying perfectly level? The fastest way to fly is to go straight up into the air, point yourself at your destination and go in a straight line toward it. Think 3D, plus there’s no obstacles you need to navigate around in the air. It’s mainly an issue when I’m wanting to travel a relatively short distance, say 200-400 yards. I don’t see any sense in flying 1000 yards straight up first to avoid obstacles; I would like to launch myself into the air and fly straight to my destination without repeatedly nosediving right back into the ground, or arriving at a spot 500 yards above my destination. > [@](#): > > Even if you’re just traveling with no specific destination, so what if you’re not perfectly level? You find yourself rising or falling, you correct it. You’ve got thousands upon thousands of cubic feet of empty space, losing or gaining a few isn’t horrific. Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but I enjoy flying at top speed while skimming the treetops or the surface of the water. I don’t know if y’all have noticed, but the closer you are to the ground the greater the illusion of speed. It’s fun. I like seeing the ground/water/treetops racing under me, as opposed to the lazy drifting effect when I’m flying at high altitude. (This is also a factor when I’m flying around looking for mining nodes. Mining nodes are, obviously, on the ground, and I want to be able to drop down onto a node as quickly as possible after I spot it, especially if there is competition for the nodes. Also, fishing. Frankly, it just looks clumsy and stupid if, instead of _skimming_, I’m _skipping_ across the surface of the water.) ((There is also a graphics performance benefit to flying at low altitude - less stuff onscreen that has to be rendered.)) It detracts from what small pleasure that gives me if I’m having to constantly correct my attitude so that I don’t keep finding myself flying _through_ the tree branches or bouncing off rocks that are poking ever so slightly above the surface of the water. In a situation just like that, I hit a sandbar because I’d been losing altitude very slowly without realizing it, and for some reason got dismounted as soon as I hit the sandbar. I think this was because, while ground mounts can swim, flying mounts can’t. So when I hit the sandbar my mount was no longer flying, it was running. Since I was still moving forward, I was automatically dismounted as soon as my mount started to run into the water. > [@](#): > > Also, use the mouse. Default setup is if you hold down the right button and move the mouse, you’ll turn in that direction. It allows for much finer and natural control than just using the keyboard to pitch, yaw, or turn. As I’ve already said, right-clicking is what is _causing_ my “problem” in the first place. If I never right-clicked, then my flight pitch would always remain level. If I use only the keyboard and use \ to descend or \ to ascend, when I release that key my attitude _immediately_ returns to level. Not so with the right mouse button - if I use right-click to point up or down, I remain pointed up or down until I correct that one way or another [Note to **SFG** : I tried your suggestion and it seems to work. Still need to experiment with it. Thanks 🙂] I should also mention that I have an elbow problem (RSI) that is aggravated by having my hand on the mouse all the time. This is a big reason I prefer to not steer with the mouse. I blame Diablo II. Oh, and before I forget … [Looky at what I just got](http://www.mister-rik.com/hosted/mr_pinchy.jpg)! Thank you Mr. Pinchy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2864 "2009-07-11T16:55:10Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Frankly, it just looks clumsy and stupid if, instead of _skimming_, I’m _skipping_ across the surface of the water.) Fair enough, but I imagine at that low an altitude it should be easier to use the ground as a reference guide to level yourself out. The script **Words on the Interweb** provided is probably your best bet for hassle-free flight. Set up a macro with that script, bind a key to the macro, and tap it twice whenever you need to level out. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2865 "2009-07-12T02:53:41Z")
Game is hanging up on “Authenticating”… When I enter my stuff… Help? Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2866 "2009-07-12T03:00:12Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Game is hanging up on “Authenticating”… When I enter my stuff… > > Help? It’s not you, it’s Blizzard’s servers. A lot of people are running into this bug right now unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2867 "2009-07-12T03:23:47Z")
The authentication servers have been … finicky … the past few days. Merging to a [battle.net](http://battle.net) account seems to fix the problem, if you really want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2868 "2009-07-12T04:21:35Z")
What sucks is I was already in the game when the authentication server went kaput. I logged out briefly to fiddle with my computer, tried to get back in, and now I’m going through withdrawal. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2869 "2009-07-12T05:29:06Z")
Okay! I had tied off the vein with my BVD elastic, got the “balloon” ready to pop (all I had to heat the “stuff” up with, was a “SPORK”) when suddenly I got a “Handshake”, and got through! WoW will NEVER know how close they came! **Silllllllkaaaaaaa!** 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2870 "2009-07-12T21:26:05Z")
Hey, what was this all about? I was in Nagrand doing one of The Rokk’s cooking quests, when I spotted red text in my chat window that said Thrall yells: At long last, I am home… I hadn’t heard anything about Thrall traveling to Outland. Some Horde quest? ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2871 "2009-07-12T21:37:31Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Hey, what was this all about? I was in Nagrand doing one of The Rokk’s cooking quests, when I spotted red text in my chat window that said > > Thrall yells: At long last, I am home… > > I hadn’t heard anything about Thrall traveling to Outland. Some Horde quest? From WOWwiki > [@](#): > > Later on, Thrall makes a brief appearance in Outland for a quest chain to meet his grandmother Geyah and show Garrosh Hellscream his father Grom died a hero’s death, and ended the Blood Curse. During this meeting, Greatmother Geyah reveals Thrall’s birth name: Go’el, son of Durotan — rightful chieftain of the Frostwolves. I assume this is the quest. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2872 "2009-07-12T21:48:27Z")
The “Thrall visits Outland” questline begins with [A Visit with the Greatmother](http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10044). Most of it can be soloed (at the appropriate level; at 80, the whole series likely can be), but it requires a trip to the Auchenai Crypts to complete steps 8 and 9. It’s a pretty epic questline; no Horde should leave it undone 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2873 "2009-07-12T22:02:09Z")
Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2874 "2009-07-13T01:58:59Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Hey, what was this all about? I was in Nagrand doing one of The Rokk’s cooking quests, when I spotted red text in my chat window that said > > Thrall yells: At long last, I am home… > > I hadn’t heard anything about Thrall traveling to Outland. Some Horde quest? If you have a Horde character and haven’t seen this, run to Garadar when you hear him yell - or look for him and his honor guard along the path running in from the east - and follow him through the town to listen to an awesome storyline. You get a great buff if you’re in Garadar at the end of it, too, so it’s definitely worth hanging out for. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2875 "2009-07-13T04:57:25Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > If you have a Horde character and haven’t seen this, run to Garadar when you hear him yell - or look for him and his honor guard along the path running in from the east - and follow him through the town to listen to an awesome storyline. You get a great buff if you’re in Garadar at the end of it, too, so it’s definitely worth hanging out for. Unfortunately, I don’t have a Horde toon high enough for Outland yet ☹ My lvl 80 pally, OTOH … Good day today! I got one of [these](http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34484), and one of [these](http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=949), and the latter got me one of [these](http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=61357), and one of [these](http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44050) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2876 "2009-07-13T15:38:05Z")
> [@Telperien](#): > > There is a holiday item, Holly, I think, which will make Silka look like a reindeer, which might be amusing. You can get holly to turn your mount into a reindeer during Winter’s Veil, and hops to turn your mount into a kodo/ram during Brewfest. > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Not so with the right mouse button - if I use right-click to point up or down, I remain pointed up or down until I correct that one way or another [Note to **SFG** : I tried your suggestion and it seems to work. Still need to experiment with it. Thanks 🙂] That’s because left mouse = rotate camera, and adding the right-click = move in the direction your camera is pointing. If you’re like me and you’re used to playing games with the y-axis (up-and-down) flipped, changing that interface setting might help. Personally, I think of my mouse like a joystick. Pushing it “forward” (up on the mousepad) should make me look down, and pulling it “back” (down on the mousepad) should make me look up. > [@](#): > > I should also mention that I have an elbow problem (RSI) that is aggravated by having my hand on the mouse all the time. This is a big reason I prefer to not steer with the mouse. I blame Diablo II. Oh god, yes. I can’t tell you how glad I was when I first started playing WoW and I didn’t have to hold down my mouse all the time. This is why I have autorun bound to the thumb button on my mouse–I’m almost never actually holding mouse buttons down–I just get myself moving in a direction and put it on autopilot until I need to move again (even if it’s just for 20 feet in one direction). > [@](#): > > Oh, and before I forget … [Looky at what I just got](http://www.mister-rik.com/hosted/mr_pinchy.jpg)! Thank you Mr. Pinchy! 😃 So jealous. Sooooooooooo jealous. The Magical Crawdad Box is one one, singular thing I still need for my Salty title. (And given the sheer number of Furious Crawdads I’ve fished up since I hit 70 back in TBC, I should have had at least two or three Mr. Pinchys by now–haven’t seen so much as a claw.) > [@Quasimodem](#): > > (all I had to heat the “stuff” up with, was a “SPORK”) Well **that’s** no good. All the heroin’s gonna run out between the tines! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2877 "2009-07-13T15:54:38Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > So jealous. Sooooooooooo jealous. The Magical Crawdad Box is one one, singular thing I still need for my Salty title. (And given the sheer number of Furious Crawdads I’ve fished up since I hit 70 back in TBC, I should have had at least two or three Mr. Pinchys by now–haven’t seen so much as a claw.) I’ve actually fished up Mr. Pinchy something like 3 times, and got the magical crawdad box on my second wish. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2878 "2009-07-13T16:00:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’ve actually fished up Mr. Pinchy something like 3 times, and got the magical crawdad box on my second wish. You, sir, can kindly GO TO DARN.\* \*A couple of years ago, a guildie happened to be in a capital city and watching Trade as someone gave directions to another player in caps. We decided that “GO TO DARN” sounded like a particularly wishy-washy version of “go to hell” and was therefore hilarious and to be used as often as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2879 "2009-07-13T16:46:18Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’ve actually fished up Mr. Pinchy something like 3 times, and got the magical crawdad box on my second wish. Same here, except I’ve only fished him up twice - that’s because the second one is sitting in my warlock’s inventory, all 3 wishes intact. I’m thinking about blowing a wish in Ulduar or something, see if I can get him to show up on the Recount DPS report, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/2880 "2009-07-13T17:54:03Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > That’s because left mouse = rotate camera, and adding the right-click = move in the direction your camera is pointing. Okay, I’ve experimented with your technique further, and I guess we’re still miscommunicating. Both mouse buttons + autorun key = fly in a straight line, yes. But it doesn’t autolevel my bird. It still seems to require that I attempt to manually level myself, which I can’t do perfectly without some sort of crosshairs. I can get close, but a 2° angle either way still has me ascending or descending, albeit very gradually. > [@jayjay](#): > > I’ve actually fished up Mr. Pinchy something like 3 times, and got the magical crawdad box on my second wish. I got it on my first wish. I think the cooldown should be over today, so I’ll see what I get on my second wish 🙂 Very late last night I achieved [Fo’ Grizzle my Shizzle](http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=37) (complete 85 quests in Grizzly Hills). I had thought I was completely stuck, because I’d done all the quests and chains out of Amberpine Lodge, the Westfall Brigade Encampment, a couple other quest chains including defeating Ursoc the Bear God last night (though I apparently got some help from a couple Horde on that one - when I entered Ursoc’s lair with the NPC druid, there was a tauren and a blood elf just waiting off to one side, Once I had engaged Ursoc, they joined in, and once Ursoc was dead it looks like one of them used the Vordrassil Ashes on the corpse to release his spirit. I didn’t have to use my ashes at all, so it looks like participating in the kill and being present when his spirit was released was enough to get me credit for completing the quest, despite the fact that I wasn’t in a party with the person who used the ashes). The other quest in my log was [Hour of the Worg](http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12164). I was able to solo the first three elites, but then I had to face the Shade of Arugal. I was doing all right with him until he started summoning a swarm of worgen on top of me. So that quest still isn’t finished. I had also gone through that whole quest chain that starts with the caged troll, except for the final quest to cleanse Drak’Tharon, which I abandoned some time ago intending to pick it up again later, but then couldn’t figure out how to get it back. All that left me sitting at 80/85 quests completed, so I finally resorted to WowWiki, which allowed me to finally locate some questgivers I hadn’t already encountered: little Emily and her level 68 pet rabbit, Mr. Floppy, and a couple dwarves over by the Drakil’jin Ruins. And I only have 99 quests to go for Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms 🙂 (However, I need 460 more quests for Loremaster of Kalimdor …) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294.md?page=143) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294.md?page=145)