The Queue: Chili-free zone

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

We only have a few questions to cover today because this is not a column featuring chili recipes.

MTA asked:

What do you think of WoD's reps? I'm quite disappointed that Blzzard have yet again pushed it to the extreme. For years running now, I've had to do almost the exact same type of thing to get reps. In WoD it's all about killing thousands upon thousands of mobs which gets boring really fast. I wouldn't mind if only one rep was like that but not all 4 that I'm doing. MoP was mainly dailies that ticked me off too as was Cata and the dungeon tabards. Am I asking too much to have a mixture of rep gains?

This kind of extreme swing is typical of Blizzard. They see feedback that something didn't work, and rather than diversify, they go in a complete opposite direction. Pure grinding didn't work, so they went pure dailies. Pure dailies didn't work, so they went back to pure grinding. The developers consistently reacting that way is utterly bizarre, but they've made it their standard modus operandi.

I'm a person who is okay with grinding mobs -- I find it quite relaxing -- but I totally agree there should be more to do than grind mobs. Even as a person who enjoys grinding mobs, I'd like something else to do now and then. I don't really get it and I don't have much of an answer beyond Blizzard is Blizzard. The way they do that is probably one of my biggest peeves with their development process.

AubreyE asked:

Has there been a definitive explanation regarding the Draenei and their immortality? It was heavily implied when Draenei were first introduced that they were "immortal" in that they don't die of old age. There are at least two different examples that some have been alive since they left Argus 25k years ago. Velen is the most notable of the immortal Draenei. There's also Jessera of Mac'Aree who claims to be from there.

But now we have the Sargerei Draenei, who are claimed to have joined the burning legion for power and immortality. In addition to numerous dialog texts from Draenei inferring they're not that old and being on Draenor for less than 300 years is enough time for them to have ancestors. Did the writers forget that the Draenei are immortal? Do they only live as long as humans now?

I think part of the weirdness lies in the often-fluid definition of "immortal." You can define it as being ageless. You can also define it as being unable to die. In the case of the draenei, we can't be entirely certain either one applies -- the draenei are often described as immortal, but Velen still looks seriously old, right? So I don't know if it can be said Velen was ageless. Maybe pretty close to ageless, but not completely. All we know for sure is they have the capacity to live for a very long time. Even if they are ageless, the other definition of immortal does not apply. The draenei can still die through other means. There have been scattered implications that demons cannot truly die through normal means. Certain quests in Burning Crusade implied demons can't be killed, only banished. That does conflict with the fact that the story has stated demons we've killed have truly died ... but who knows.

Immortality is a strange thing and it's possible the Sargerei propaganda is selling something more than what it can actually offer. As for ancestors? You can have ancestors in a shorter timespan than 300 years. Your ancestors are just the people in your bloodline that came before you. Young draenei could've had great-great-great grandparents already, who have died in combat or through some other means unrelated to age.

Lamneth asked:

How do I permanently undo the shamanstones. While doing things around Draenor I keep getting this annoying ogrish fortitude and turning into a giant brute. I will right click it in my buffs to dispel it but I don't know how to keep it from occurring again.

The only option here is to find a shamanstone more palatable to you. Wowpedia has a list of which buffs are available and where to find them.

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!