My friends and I discovered a nice little "bug" the other day. We were sitting around Ironforge with nothing to do other than to give a friendly ribbing to our Shadow Priest friend over that fact that she didn't have her Amani War Bear yet. We had our Mojo's out hopping around the feet of our Bears, trying not to get squished. We found out that if we blew them a kiss, we turned into a frog and our mounts grew quite a bit.
Obviously this is some kind of flaw in the model coding that allows this, but it's a fun enough and harmless enough bug that I can't stop myself from doing it every chance I get. More so, drink some Winterfall Firewater and pop Heroism for a real big frog on a bear mount.
This is definitely hilarious enough that I suggest everyone goes out and tries it at least once. Just leave my Mojo alone. He's spoken for.
Before I start this post, I should warn you that every single post we do about the size of something ingame must, by contractual obligations, contain a risqué double entendre somewhere within. Be warned.
Reader Veras was nice enough to point out to us that as of the 2.4.2 release, Tauren two-hand weapons have returned to normal size as planned. It seems to me that this got fixed fairly quicker than other size issues that Blizzard has had. We still have no idea how their code works (and what they're changing that causes all of these weird issues), but at least they're getting better at fixing things.
Of course, as any Tauren Fury Warrior will tell you, it's not the size of your two-hand weapon -- it's how you use it. Contract fulfilled.
So by now, I'm sure a lot of people have seen it: A Hunter accompanied by what looks to be a pet on steroids, with a huge size and an elite target frame. No, Hunters have not gained the ability to become even more imba, it appears to be a display bug. Since 2.4, elite and rare (aka silver elite) pets aren't quite registering properly once tamed, as they appear to keep their size and show up as elite in status (though apparently not in stats) until the hunter logs off. As a result, you may have seen Gutrippertearing up Blood Elves in Dawnblade Village, or King Bangalash frolicking around Booty Bay. Rest assured (or be disappointed) that you probably won't see them that way for long, and a hotfix is on the way.
Mania speculates that the bug may have something to do with the implementation of Papa Hummel's Pet Biscuits, which seems very possible. Maybe when they messed with the coding to allow pets to grow larger, much like the PTR bug where non-combat pets grew giant, it caused elite pets to grow a bit larger too, or at least not shrink like they should. Either way, enjoy your new massive pets while you can, Hunters, I'd imagine a hotfix will come either this Tuesday or the next.
For those of you who do not frequent the forums, you might not know that since patch 2.4, there has been a Tauren outcry.
It seems that cows everywhere are logging in to find that their weapons are roughly 50% smaller than they were previously. Should you take your weapon out to get a better look at it, you'll get to watch it grow back to pre-patch size.
Unfortunately, this is not a bug. Hortus has confirmed that it was an intentional change because certain weapons would clip the ground while sheathed.
While the Tauren have been getting some support on the forums, some players seem unsure of why this is such a big issue. Let's take a deeper look into why players are upset, including the fact that cows will seemingly be the brunt of even more jokes. Not innocent jokes either; not like "steak! It's what's for dinner!"
One of the first rules of WoW I learned was Big = Bad News, and the Sons of Arugal beat this lesson into my head until it stuck. Initially I thought that the size of a mob would be a great tool in figuring out what I shouldn't be fighting. I mean, if they're bigger than other stuff, how could I miss them?
So you're out in Eastern Plaguelands, merily working on your 1078th Plague Bat so Tirion can get his jollies by standing next to a hero, and suddenly your screen fills with light tan wings. You try to run, but it's too late. It's not like you can see where you're going anyways, with giant Chiroptera butt in your face. You've just been Dustwing'd.
And once you hit Outlands, it seems like there's a giant baddy around every corner. Fel Reavers roam, looking for... spare parts? Lost love? I don't know, but it was pretty obvious that I should stay away when all I could see were his hubcaps. I also give wide berth to rare striders (ok, all striders because I can't tell the difference) in Zangermarsh, dragons in about 100 different zones, and anything that looks even mildly "elitish" in stature.
It's not just the bad guys that are getting in on the sizing action, either. Those enough with the good fortune of travelling to Mount Hyjal get to see the new and improved Jaina and Thrall. I can't tell you how many jokes exploded in Vent when we first saw them. Yep, that's me next to Jaina in the picture at the top. And no, I didn't have Noggenfogger on. She's really that huge now.
So who's your favorite giant mob? Do you still suffer from weekly "ZOMG NOOO..." nightmares from EPL like me?
First Orc males, then Draenei, and now Night Elves? It appears that Night Elf shoulders have shrunk (just a bit-- not nearly as dramatic a change as the Orc shoulders were) over on the PTRs. We talked about this on the WoW Insider show last week: what is up with Blizzard's code that changes like this are happening? What variables are they editing that makes the weird stuff like this happen?
At any rate, there is good news. Hortus says the issue is unintentional, and will be fixed in an upcoming PTR build. So your Night Elf will still be able to wear his broad shoulder pieces with pride.
I've seen guilds with 1 member, I've been in guilds with 500 members, and yet I've never found a guild that can be everything to everybody. I'm sure even those guys with their 1-man guilds get a bit lonely from time to time. So what is it that makes a guild too big, too small, or just right for your average player?
Would you prefer to be a member of a small, tightly-knit guild or a sprawling mass of people so huge that everyone on your server knows your guild, if not you? What does the size of a guild's membership say to you as a member or prospective member? Does size matter, and if it does, which is better - erring on the smaller side of numbers, or a population enough to start a small city?
How big is your guild, and is it the right size for you? Why? If not, then what are you looking for from a guild, and how does the size of the guild play into your perception and comfort-level with that guild?