The Queue: This dog
Welcome back to The Queue, the 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.
No, it's this one. This is the dog.
Devin asked:
What exactly is Data Mining? When I hear about someone data mining, I imagine someone hacking into Blizzard's servers but assume if that was the case there would be legal action against sites like mmo-champion and they would be less hasty on admitting how they found that sweet new mount/boss/whatever.
All datamining really is is using a program to look at the game files included with either the regular game client or the PTR client. The files included with the client have several types of data, including 3-D models, textures, music, sound clips, and more. Using WoW Model Viewer, for example, is a form of datamining. There's no real hacking going on, especially of Blizzard's servers. The information is right there in the files; it just has to be interpreted.
Bobury asked:
What is the best dungeon leveling spec for a rogue that you can still solo in? My rogue atm is level 29 and combat.
All of the rogue specs are perfectly viable for soloing and dungeon crawling, but you may find that the combat tree has a lot more talents that make it easier to survive damage as well as inflict it. It is, after all, the toe-to-toe spec, as indicated by its description in the game client.
Nitride asked:
I am confused about the timeline of what is now Outland.
Were there Alliance settlements/holds before the planet was shattered and sucked into the twisting nether? NPCs mention being cutoff for 20 years or so, was the Dark Portal opened 10,000 years ago, closed and reopened and then closed and reopened a third time (with a 20 year gap between the last two)?
The Dark Portal was opened once before the First War (to let the orcs onto Azeroth), once during the Second War, and then semi-permanently just recently. It did not exist at all prior to the First War, so it certainly wasn't opened 10,000 years ago. All of the Alliance settlements you see in Outland were either created after the portal opened the second time or are new additions since it was reopened for The Burning Crusade. Draenor has been steadily falling apart since the last time the portal opened, hence the disarray some Alliance settlements are in.
Chapmanistan asked:
The guild I was currently rolling with in game fell apart and now I'm stranded and guildless and looking to raid. I know with 4.1 there is a Looking For Guild feature coming but I was wondering if there is any other way to hunt for a guild besides using the WoW forums. They are daunting for a noob like me.
There's the guild recruitment channel in game, which is a pretty basic chat channel where people will advertise their guilds if they're recruiting. If you're not totally against using the forums, then you can go to your particular realm forum and check the guild recruitment threads there as well. If all else fails, you can just ask around in game, too.
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!
