The Queue: Shadowmoon Valley, Talking to Demons, Paired Content

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

Shadowmoon Valley on the Alpha is ridiculously awesome, guys. Even with the usual 'it's Alpha' connectivity problems that you can't really be surprised by, I've enjoyed the quest flow, the scenery is gorgeous, and the lore bombs are dropping fast and furious. The one that's been spoilered all over the internet? That one's nothing compared to some of the things that happen in SMV.

Frankly, as good as Frostfire Ridge is (and it's good) I think the Alliance definitely got the richer, more interesting, just plain better zone this time around. It's still the Alpha - Frostfire is by no means a bad zone, and frankly, it might just be my love for all things draenei showing here (but check it out you can see both moons in the Shadowmoon Valley sky) but I have to doff my cap to SMV so far. Totally awesome.

gazaa07 asks:
At the Start of the Green Fire questline, we have to talk to our Demons to identify what the tome is and what it's used for

Q4tQ: can we have a system where we can talk to our demon about whatever's going on in that patch? the Demons are Sentient beings so why can't we talk to them? DKs could do it with their Ghoul as well (provided they are unholy)

From a pure game design perspective that's a lot of coding for your demon. I mean, you want to be able to talk to it about anything that's happening - that could mean, well, anything. From a lore perspective, your demons aren't your friends -- they are at best your slaves, and at worst here to corrupt you and damn your soul to be consumed in the Twisted Nether. So either way, not all that interested in chatting with you about that new quest in patch 6.3.

Having just recently watched Hellboy again, I figure a DK talking to his ghouls wouldn't get anything terribly helpful. Mostly they'd just berate him for disturbing their eternal rest.

morvackthemountmimic asks:
Why does bacon taste so good?

I don't really like bacon all that much, so... I don't know the answer, because to me the question isn't accurate. Sorry. It's possible I don't like bacon much because I'm tired of the internet adopting it as some kind of perfect food. I do like it on cheeseburgers.

Zadji asks:
Q4tQ: My impression of Azeroth history was that Old Gods were unique to that planet, but somewhere (and I can't find the reference) there are indications of Old God activity in Outland/Draenor. Am I just remembering the latter incorrectly, or are Old Gods outside of Azeroth, too? If they are active outside of Azeroth, are they all similar types of beings, or could "Old God" be a catch-all term for "ancient and powerful evil?"

There are specific Old Gods trapped on Azeroth (well, trapped in it would be more accurate) but no, the Old Gods are not limited to Azeroth. As one of their servants, Harbinger Skyriss, said when freed from the Arcatraz "We span the universe, as countless as the stars!" We have no idea how many Old Gods there are, where they all are or could be, or what they're up to.

Each Old God seems somewhat unique - C'thun does not resemble Yogg-Saron, for example. We haven't even seen N'Zoth yet, so no idea what he looks like.

Besides Harbinger Skyriss, there's a quest in Shadowmoon Valley (BC Shadowmoon) that shows a group of Arakkoa summoning what looks like an Old God. But we're never specifically told what it is.

Zapwidget asks:
AlphaQ4tQ: I've heard that you will be able to enter scenarios solo. Will you also be able to enter them as a group of two, without getting matched up to a third wheel?

And as a follow up, do you think Blizzard will ever intentionally include content for pairs? I'm sure I'm not the only player whose spouse also plays that would like to be able to do something more together than content that was really designed with solo play in mind or without several others coming along. Am I just weird for enjoying a date night spent killing internet dragons?

Honestly, I haven't tried to queue for scenarios at all, much less with a partner. I chose your question not because I knew the answer, but because I wanted to address your question about content for a duo. Frankly, this would be wonderful for me. My wife is one of my favorite people and we've been playing WoW together even before we got married (our eight year anniversary was this week) so yes, absolutely I would love for their to be two person content. We do a lot of old raids and dungeons and stuff, but I would absolutely love it if there was stuff that we could do together that didn't involve a third player coming along. Killing things in WoW is pretty much an ideal date night.

In fact, the two of us were hitting Diablo III really hard for a while there, before I decided to work more on my writing. D3 allowed us to do any content it had - Nephalem rifts, bounties, or replay the game as a whole - as a two person team. If WoW had that, no MMO could possibly get our money.

Lenneth asks:
What types of gear catch ups do you hope to see near the last quarter or so of WoD? Timeless Isle type catch up? Item upgrades? Maybe scale holiday boss drops up to higher ilvls the second time around? (let's face it we will always see each holiday twice during an expac)

Well, keeping in mind that I'm entirely speculating here and I really have absolutely no idea (and I doubt anyone outside of the development team has thought about it much) I'd say with the item squish and a general sense of gear not being as off the chain this time around we may not need more than to simply introduce a few dungeons that drop better gear. I didn't really like the Timeless Isle gear as a general rule -- just didn't like how it felt. I'd have to say I'd prefer if it were drops from dungeons.

That being said, you can always throw a vendor out there and make Valor do something again.

This has been the Queue. See y'all around the Valley.

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!