The Queue: In which we change our answer to a number of questions

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

Drakenfyre posted the above image in the comments, and I found it fitting for all the potential problems that might be going on today (even though I'm writing this the night before). And if there are no problems ... well, we'll just save for it some other time when there are.

Let's get started! Lots of Mists answers today. Along with the best graphic ever (no, not more Patrick Duffy).

So many people have asked:

Are pet battles available yet?

Twitter answers this question along the side of the Queue, after the break.

Angerfork asked:

Is it considered faster to level up a healer via questing or dungeons?

First, I think that forks are angry. That's why these sweet metal chopsticks are the best thing in the world.

Second, it really depends. I've had some of the most fun by leveling up as a healer (with a friend of mine who was a tank) when we were dungeon running. But we weren't really going for speed. The best thing you can do for speed though is to just quest.

While questing you can run each dungeon once to get the dungeon quests done, which themselves provide a heck of a lot of XP, but you primary focus should be just on completing as many quests as possible. With the reduced leveling curve in Wrath and Cataclysm it really isn't too big of a problem to power your way through everything. Might take a day or two of in-game time for a fast person.

Taylor asked:

Question regarding leveling to 90: how long is it going to take? Also suggestion solo or grouping on a pve realm?

It's going to take a few days, depending on how much you play. I personally won't be able to play much right away (moving to a nice new place this weekend), but when I do have time I intend to play about 12-hours a day to finish it up to 90.

My recommendation on leveling is the same as above; hit up the questing and then do dungeons as you can (just once) for the quest rewards and experience.

JohnSmith asked:

Where will Alliance mages port to now that Theramore is gone?

Currently the port sends you to the exact old location it did before the destruction of Theramore. The only problem is that the tower isn't really there anymore... so you fall 30 feet or so.

Oops.

My guess is that it'll be fixed in the next minor patch. Which, I'm guessing, will come later this week or next week.

A number of you asked:

Are pandarens available to play?

See the Twitter answer side bar. Same answer.

Jmoyers asked:

Is there anyway to be sure that the full MoP client has downloaded? I just purchased the digital download last Friday, and my account info on battle.net says that I am upgraded to MoP, but I never saw the background downloader running at any time I have been on WoW since then. Does anyone know a way to check and be sure that all of the downloaded files are on my computer?

No matter if you have just bought Mists of Pandaria or not, your computer has all the data on it if you can log into WoW at all. Because of the way the game works, you need to have everything available to you even if you don't own the expansions. Thus, the data's sitting there, just not used.

If you have the latest patch 5.0.4, then you've got Mists ready to go data-wise.

Barbra asked:

Will all the excess (over 3 of each type) pets disappear from my pet tab when mists launches? Or will I be able to sell the excess (saleable) ones after the launch?

I believe you'll be able to sell the excess ones, although I'm not 100% sure. Queue commenters, help me out?

Confirm/deny?

Peapdiddy asked:

I've done LFR and enjoyed it immensely and would like to get more serious with raiding in mists. Best advice for getting into a decent raiding guild? Most require experience outside of LFR, but it's tough to get experience without being in a raiding guild.

The best advice I can give you: be honest. Don't lie, don't talk about more than you know, don't say you've done stuff you haven't, just tell the truth. Long time raiders like myself can smell the raid bullshit a mile away (and it really stinks). But at the same time, someone who is enthuastic and knows their class well (or at least reads major class blogs and EJ) goes a long way towards being impressive, even if they've got no additional experience.

If you're aiming to get into a top end, cut throat raiding guild, then you're going to need to start small and work your way up. I don't really recommend guild hopping, as I don't think that's a good way to play such a social game ... but you're not going to get into Death and Taxes without some heafty experience first. So treat it like a job -- go out there, get into an entry level position, and then work your way up. Stay friends with everyone you can, become educated, and make a good name for yourself. Soon you'll be in raider heaven.

BaronOfTheLake asked:

Is it possible to join your guild right away at level one, when you start your Pandaren? Or do you have to wait till you have chosen your faction? My brother and I were pondering this the other day, contemplating how humorous it would be to have an alliance player in a Horde guild.

You need to pick a faction (Alliance or Horde) in order to join a guild.

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!