The Queue: Timeless

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) tries to forget just how bad hair was in the 80's, but it's so very hard to do.

Enjoy your flashback to the late 80's, why don't you, while we dive right into the Warcraft questions!

Puntable1 asked:

This is perhaps a dumb question. Is Timeless Isle fun? It sounds like we will be running around looking for rare spawns to kill and ground spawns to click, and pet battles. Is this correct? Does it have enough "staying power" to keep us interested until 6.0, which could be a year away?

Personal opinion? It's ridiculously fun -- there's a lot of things to do on the Isle that should keep players occupied and happy, and none of them involve piles upon piles of daily quests. It's just a lot of exploring and stumbling upon different events and neat rares you can kill, not to mention the world bosses on the Isle. Does it have staying power? Good question -- I like to think so, but again, that's all personal opinion. I don't think we're going to be waiting a year for 6.0, however.

Shurtgalx asked:

Just why exactly did Garrosh dump the heart into the pool? I don't see how it would have benefited him or the horde in any way...

You know how he made that weird and incredibly creepy statement, "It thirsts?" He was talking about the heart. It was in a weakened state, having been locked away and imprisoned for who knows how many thousands of years underneath the Vale. It needed to absorb power to actually amp up and become powerful enough for Garrosh to use -- and since the waters of the Vale are teeming with all kinds of magical properties, not to mention the fact that they were in the vicinity, Garrosh decided chucking it in there would be an excellent idea.

To be clear, Garrosh wanted to take the heart back to Orgrimmar and use it for his own nefarious purposes -- but there wasn't anything in Orgrimmar powerful enough to fuel the thing. The waters of the Vale were nearby and perfect for the job -- and Garrosh doesn't really care about the pandaren anyway. After all, they didn't immediately swear their allegiance to the Horde, so as far as the Warchief is concerned, they are useless.

dindaemorthol asked:

I have question do daily's reset on Tuesdays like most other things and follow up does that mean I only have one more shot at the Barrens Weekly before the patch if it comes out on the 27th?

Yes -- dailies reset every evening, weeklies reset every Tuesday. If the patch is, in fact, coming out on the 27th, you have one week left to get the achievement for the 5.3 quests, and to get the achievement for exalted with the Golden Lotus. Keep in mind that the 27th has not been absolutely confirmed and set in stone. But if you're wanting to get stuff done, I'd suggest getting it done this week to be on the safe side.

jdpatrick.gamer asked:

Q for the Q: All this recent dustup about "The Dark Below" and the bogative nature of the original story got me thinking. What if ... it really is the name of a future expansion - for Starcraft II? Does that make more sense?

The next StarCraft expansion is Legacy of the Void, so that option is pretty much out. I'm still not 100% sold on it being Warcraft-related, although I did write up a Know Your Lore on Sunday that talked about the possibilities of an expansion with that title. But we'll just have to wait and see to figure out exactly what it is, and what license is using it.

ScottLeyes asked:

Stupid rogue question: I know Assassination and Mutilation specs require two daggers. Combat supposedly requires a SLOW main hand weapon, while the offhand can be anything. I understand the theory behind Combat, that a slow weapon hits harder... but i just got a blue dagger that's a 50 ilvl upgrade and does a crapton more DPS (on its tooltip)... Would it screw my DPS to use the MUCH better dagger in place of a mace mainhand, or just equip it offhand? Does weapon damage even MATTER for offhand?

It depends on what you're currently using -- keep in mind that I'm assuming that you aren't raiding just yet because it's a blue upgrade. What you're looking for is weapon damage -- not DPS, but the actual damage of the weapon. Most of combat's special abilities and attacks take the damage output of the main hand weapon into account -- speed doesn't matter so much anymore. Ordinarily, a slow weapon is going to have a higher damage output than a fast dagger, which is why most combat rogues don't use a dagger in their main hand slot.

I'd say look at the flat damage your new dagger does. If it's higher than your existing main hand weapon, we're talking way, way higher, then you can certainly use it there if necessary. But if I were you, I'd keep an eye out for a better main hand weapon, and just use the fancy new dagger in your offhand as soon as you get one.

However, I should note that I play an assassination rogue full-time, so my combat knowledge is a bit rusty -- if anyone has better advice, let us know in the comments!

grpcaro asked:

what does Wrathion have in his chest??.. you know.. the one that is guarded

No idea! Neither do the guards. There was a point in the beta where a rogue could try to pick the lock on the box, though. If you did this, not only would it say your skill level wasn't high enough, but the guard standing next to the chest would wave his hand at you and then laugh at you for even trying. I most definitely did not discover this while desperately trying to find out what was inside the box, no sir.

Matthew2 asked:

Can someone who plays alliance describe the Battlefield Barrens Intro Quest? Olivia mentioned a cat?

You are sent to rendezvous with Amber and Sully, two SI:7 agents, outside of Orgrimmar -- they're looking for a weak point from which the Alliance can attack. However, what they've discovered is that Garrosh's forces have pretty much started beefing up like mad -- and that doesn't sit well, so you need to investigate what's going on. You'll get to test a piece of gnomish technology that will turn you into a wee little harmless robotic kitty cat, and sneak around the orcs in the area to find some documents.

While you're out there, you discover a troll in a cage -- Zen'tabra. She knows exactly who you are, and thanks you for the help before fleeing. Once you return the documents to Amber, she figures out that Vol'jin is staging an open rebellion against Garrosh. Amber suggests that maybe trying to ally with Vol'jin would be a good idea -- if the Alliance can actively encourage open warfare between two sections of the Horde, the faction as a whole will weaken enough to make victory far easier for the Alliance. Since you're the one that saved Zen'tabra and made friends, she sends you to Razor Hill to find Zen'tabra, and ask to talk to Vol'jin. After exchanging some terse words and coming to a tentative alliance, the rest of the chain is the same for both sides.

Josh Mots asked:

Does the story of Anduin continue after the divine bell or did his story get squashed?

Oh he's still around! After nearly being crushed to death, he's been busy recuperating and playing a nice game of ... well, it's some pandaren game, but he's playing it with Wrathion in the Tavern in the Mists. The two of them have several conversations over the course of the Throne of Thunder leg of the legendary chain.

JackRobb commented:

I think a lot of people might have gotten the "they're bragging" thing from the WRUP title of "We're All Playing Hearthstone"-which does unintentionally sound like bragging, to be fair. I didn't think it, but I can see where someone WOULD.

I feel like I should be raising my hand here and pointing out that that title was entirely my fault. Michael Gray sent out the weekly email asking about what we were playing, everyone had various lists of things they were going to be doing. Then the Hearthstone beta emails started arriving, and one by one a small avalanche of people said "Er, change my answer to I'm playing Hearthstone." I thought it was pretty funny, and I said we should just change the title of the column to "We're all playing Hearthstone," because so many people piped up to change their answers. That was really the extent of it, it was meant as a joke, and if it was interpreted differently, I apologize -- I certainly didn't intend it to sound like we were bragging when I suggested it.

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!