The Queue: I went Alliance again. Shhh.
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo) will be your host today.
"King Varian, totally-not-an-orc -- your new best friend, Corporal ... uh ... Brag ...Brund ... Burr ...?
...
...
... Corporal Human reporting for duty!"
Revynn asked:
I'm just hoping that the removal of Spell Resistances doesn't affect tank trinkets too heavily. Items like mirror of Broken images are still really, really good, regardless of what Blizzard thinks of Spell resist as a whole. Maybe turn them into "Reduce magic damage taken by 30%" trinkets".
I agree with you, but in the new paradigm, a trinket like the Mirror of Broken Images would never have existed, much less be any kind of useful. Basically, that item was a mistake. Any trinket that is almost necessary for certain encounters (heroic Nefarian?) and then continues to be ridiculously powerful into the next tiers is an oversight.
If you've noticed, Blizzard has been very good about those types of items in Cataclysm. While the Mirror did stay relevant, not much else did besides some Sinestra loot. That's a relief, if you ask me -- one more design issue to not deal with again and balance around is OK in my book.
cloudhopper013 asked:
When the NDA lifts, will you guys instantaneously post everything you know, or at least a bunch of it, in the form of neat little prepared articles on the website? Like a breaking dam of information? Or, rather, will you simply go about posting them at more regular intervals or over a span of time? I want to know if staying up late despite having small tests and whatnot is worth it.
We know that you guys want this information, and there is a lot of it. Seriously. A lot. You'll be taking your time getting through it all and parsing your own personal excitements, so we're giving up the goods the moment we can. You'll have access to the full range of announcements, the live show will discuss your questions and speculation in real time, and we'll spend the day getting very excited about Mists of Pandaria.
Spend Mists Monday with your WoW Insider family. We love you like a cousin. Well, maybe a second cousin. See what I did there? Branding. #mistsmonday
Noyou asked:
Is there any lore reason Southshore was taken over by the forsaken, or was it just balancing out territories type of deal? I miss the FP over there. That area is still the best for mining/herbing/skinning at the appropriate levels.
Southshore wasn't so much taken over by the Forsaken but more "obliterated with plague from far away." You're in the wreckage of Southshore, not an occupied settlement. They bombed it into oblivion and didn't look back.
Nightwill asked:
Why not have 'hardmode' pvp matches? More difficult goals and the like you can sign up for?
I don't think PvP's popularity and the general WoW community would react well to hardcore matches. What would be different about a hardcore match, exactly? Permanent character alteration of some kind? I don't think many people go for things like that. Take a look at Blizzard's reactions to two different types of Ironman challenges.
Diablo III is shipping with a fully featured, super-hard setting that permanently deletes your character if you die. That's a setting that is part of the Diablo culture. The game is supposed to be a grueling slog if you want it to be, and by God, Blizzard will let you do it.
In contrast, WoW is more about making your own choices rather than have them made for you. Getting killed and permanently deleted is a choice that's made for you by the other team. WoW is a different atmosphere, and there are different expectations from the communities. While I think Blizzard can do more to make ranked PvP more accessible, I don't think that should be making PvP more grueling for WoW players that are already fairly uninterested in it.
However (and I know I'm rambling at this point), I would love the idea of objectives during PvP matches, much like League of Legend's companion game mode Dominion. During Dominion matches, the game will tell you to secure a certain node or point for extra bonuses and score. Seems like it would be pretty cool on Arathi Basin, hm? That kind of "hardcore" harder challenge-type thing, I would very much enjoy in WoW PvP.
Abbadon asked:
Is it Monday yet?!
So, so soon. So soon. Will you be joining us for the live Q&A, discussion, and fun on the WoW Insider Show live? You should.
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!
