The Queue: Yes, kittens again

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

Don't like kittens? Too bad, I've got a room full of them, plus enough pictures of them to wallpaper the Taj Mahal.

Nyold asked:

I have a question about mastery system. A lot of the description says something like "each point of mastery increases the damage by an additional 2%." Does this mean each mastery RATING found in gear, or is there another conversion from mastery rating to mastery skill (kinda like how crit rating and crit percentage is)?

Mastery works like most other ratings in that there's a conversion from the points you have on gear (rating) to the effect you see on your character window (skill). The formula varies from spec to spec.

Xues asked:

I might have missed this, but how are talent points going to be distributed when leveling? Every two levels?

You get a trainable ability every even level up to 80, after which you get one every odd level. You get a talent point every odd level up to 79, after which you get one every level.

Rioriel asked:

I have a question regarding CE pets and codes that came up in a guildie Twitter conversation. If I were to pre-order the Collector's Edition and -- concerned that it would arrive late -- also pick up a normal copy on release day from which I use the activation code on Battle.net so I can start Cataclysm ASAP, am I able to input the CE code at a later date to receive the CE pet ... like an upgrade?

Hope you can clear that up for me, or any readers who experienced a similar situation with TBC or Wrath. -- Rioriel, The Sha'tar (EU)

Yes, you can call Blizzard billing to upgrade your account from a standard one to Collector's Edition.

Terethall asked:

Is the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest line still in the game? I'm guessing it isn't, what with Azuregos moving around and what-not.

It doesn't look like it is, but there's still time for Blizzard to change stuff, if it decides to, before Cataclysm launches.

Clint Rice asked:

Has Blizzard said anything about providing vanilla owners anything to make up for the loss of everything it has taken away from them? As it stands right now, a level 60 player on a vanilla account can have a character that can at least get the 51-point talent in a particular tree. They also have the choice of several level 60 raids to run; they lost two with Wrath (Ony and Naxx) and they will be losing another come Cataclysm (ZG). I understand that Blizzard wants to sell expansions and make money on those sales, but right now it seems to just be slowly breaking a game that people paid money for and continue to pay for on a monthly basis. I understand that the old world is almost completely re-done, but at the same time, Blizzard seems to be taking the Sony route and removing features that you paid for after the fact.

Yes -- you get an entirely new 1-60 experience in vanilla regardless of whether you're buying Cataclysm or not, so it's easier and more fun to hit that six-year-old, obselete-for-three-expansions level cap.

Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider 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!