The Queue: No waterfalls here, sorry

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) lives somewhere on a remote border of Fantasia.

I don't really get frozen waterfalls where I live, which is too bad because they look pretty cool. I do, however, get to live at a high enough altitude that my house is occasionally swallowed by clouds, which has the interesting effect of making the entire valley disappear. I'm not sure what's more interesting, the nice mountain views, or the sudden absence of any view at all.

mherm commented:

I keep seeing these "If you don't like pvp servers reroll pve". Part of me wants to go; "Hey Adam, why don't you pay for the transfer of all his toons?" And another part of me wants to go; "Allow x-realm raiding or are you suggesting his whole guild/friends transfers as well?"

Do people not understand that by level 87 you are kinda commited to the realm and character? Do people not understand that moving toons is expensive? Do people not understand that their could be a reason other then pvp, why the person is on that realm? Think about other people and why they are doing what they are doing for once.

Oh boy. Okay, I'm going to jump in on this topic, because it seems to be a hot one lately.

I think the biggest issue I disagree with when people bring up the pains of being on a PvP server and how it's not particularly fair is the issue of choice. People state that for whatever reason, they are on that server -- either they can't afford to transfer, or their friends play on the server, or some other reason. Then they state that they have no choice, and they have to stay. To which I say no, you don't. You don't have to do anything, in a video game.

Just because a choice doesn't have two optimal options for you to pick from doesn't mean that that choice doesn't exist. If you don't have the money to transfer your character, you can always reroll -- which is exactly what we had to do back in vanilla before paid server transfers existed. You didn't like where you were at? You started over from level 1. You offended one too many players on your server and managed to get yourself blacklisted for being a jerk? You started over from level 1. So your friends play on a PvP server. This doesn't mean you have to stay there. There is nothing pinning you down to that PvP server, other than the choice you made to stay.

Whether you like it or not, if you're playing on a PvP server, you're flagged for PvP. That's how it's been since day one. It's not going to change. PvP realms were created for PvP. If that's not a playstyle you enjoy, then you should probably pick a server that isn't labeled PvP. Blizzard isn't likely to change the server rules that have been in place and working effectively for this many years just to make you happy. You have other options. Maybe they aren't the most palatable options in the world, but those options are there.

Most importantly -- this is a video game. I've always told people I've met in this game -- and there have been many -- games are supposed to be fun. If you're not having fun, figure out what's not fun, and change it. For some, this meant leaving guilds that they felt they were somehow irrevocably tied to. For some, it meant stepping down from officer positions they didn't really want in the first place. For some, it meant quitting the game entirely. Was I sad to see these people go? Yes, in a way. But I was happy that they were finding someplace that they were happy. I don't like seeing people miserable, especially when it's over something as silly as a video game.

And all that said, frankly, I'd be perfectly fine with Halfhill being made a sanctuary zone. It's leveling content for both sides and endgame content rolled into one, it's not Halaa, and the guard behavior in town is really wonky and isn't conducive to PvP anyway. I know, I'm a creature of contradictions, right?

AshCurtis asked:

Q4TQ: Speaking of 'larger than life' characters, why is it that often NPC characters are so big? It is something so inconsistent it drives me insane. When Jaina enters the instance for Pit of Saron she is twice the size of everybody else!

You know, I've always wondered that myself. I assumed it was so that they were more easily identifiable -- so you could pick them out in a throng of bad guys or other NPCs. But I don't have a real answer to that question, and I wish I did!

dumbass asked:

In "The Last Guardian" Medivh says to Khadgar that the humans also survived the Sundering. From WotLK we learned that humans were born as the Vrykul from Northrend (which didn't exist before the Kaldorei went and blew up old Kalimdor) sent their freakishly small babies away. So which one is it?

Northrend was originally part of Kalimdor, prior to the Sundering. I'm guessing that the Curse of Flesh affected the Vrykul babies, they sent the babies away, and at some point after, the Sundering happened. That's why the humans were all pretty much over on the Eastern Kingdoms -- it's where the babies were rushed off to, rather than being murdered. Given the human lifespan, nobody really remembers these events, as they happened thousands upon thousands of years ago.

AaronPope asked:

Perhaps the Addon Spotlight may be a better place to ask this question, but I think more people here may have suggestions... Is anyone aware of an add-on that can make achievement completion display based on the character that is currently logged on? I've finally settled on a character that I want to focus on as a soloer, and I would like to begin earning achievements for him regardless of whether I have obtained them on another character.

I'm not sure if this will help you, but there's actually an option in the Achievement UI. Open up your Achievement pane, and select any of the Achievement categories. You'll see a dropdown in the upper right corner of the pane. With that dropdown, you can select which achievements to display -- and one of those options is Incomplete. It'll show you all the achievements that are currently incomplete for the character you're currently on. I hope that helps!

If not, I'm sure we'll get some suggestions in the comments.

@andrefmt asked via Twitter:

Am I the only one who thinks Wailing Caverns is the most boring dungeon in WoW?

I always liked it myself -- I liked the story about Naralex and the Nightmare back in vanilla. What do the rest of you think?

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!