The Queue: Lifestyles of the rich and feathered

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) is answering all kinds of questions today.

Say what you will about the arakkoa, but those guys are aces when it comes to construction and interior design. Let's get right to the questions, shall we?

Fizzl asked:

Q4TQ: What exactly is Blizzard's stance on Machinima tools? I found one that I'm interested in using, but it allows you to take control of the camera and alter lighting and all that (stuff a lot of machinimakers do for their videos). In short, stuff that is against the ToS... however, Blizzard seems pretty okay with the machinima community, so I'm curious as to how "safe" my account would be if I start to use this tool. Most places I look, people say it's just sort of an unsaid rule of thumb that Blizzard is fine with this but has Blizzard ever actually officially said anything regarding stuff that allows this sort of in-game (client-side only) visual manipulation?

From what I am aware of, there's no real "official" stance on these types of tools -- especially since a lot of machinima artists use them for videos. All the tools do is affect the graphics on your end of the client. They don't affect the game itself, and they don't do anything to gameplay. You can use a machinima tool to take pretty images and video, but there's no way you can use that tool to cheat the game. If there were, that's where Blizzard would have a major problem, I think.

DespicableBrad asked:

Q4TQ: Now that we know the full outcome of the Azeroth Choppers debacle (except the exact in-game gold amount of the Alliance Chopper), what do you think of the overall event and how it played out? Do you think it met Blizzard's expectations?

I wouldn't really call it a "debacle," I'd call it an experiment in alternative entertainment. Honestly, I thought the idea and the concept behind it was pretty cool. What I didn't care for was that the majority of the episodes had very little to do with highlighting any of the construction that went on with the bikes. That's really what I wanted to see, and what I expected to see. Instead, we got a lot of manufactured drama and very little in the way of informative material. I guess that's what people want to see? It's not what I wanted to see. I like watching shows like Man at Arms, where they show how they put these things together. I was expecting that, didn't get it.

I'm happy with the results, though -- especially that both bikes are going to be available in game. I don't really care for the Alliance chopper at all, the final design really didn't appeal to me, but I'm glad it's being made available for people who liked it.

JoshDevin asked:

Where did the Iron Horde goblins come from? There aren't any native to Draenor and there's no lore to suggest they came back in time/space w Garrosh so....?

It's sort of implied here and there that Garrosh wasn't alone on his trip, and that others came along. But we don't really have any confirmation either way in the beta just yet. I'm hoping the short story they're supposedly coming out with just before Warlords clears all that up.

gazaa07 asked:

Q4tQ: Do you think we will get "Raiding with Leashes III" before Warlords comes out?

I don't think so, unless they put it in with the pre-patch to Warlords. I'd like to see a new one!

Digsu asked:

Why was cannibalism among the Darkspear forbidden when they joined the Horde when nobody seems to particularly mind the Forsaken doing the exact same thing? Shademaster Kiryn keeps asking me if I've brought her fresh corpses and no one ever bats an eye at that, for example.

Keep in mind that most of the discussion surrounding trolls and cannibalism originated in the WoW RPG guides. Those are no longer canon material, so just about everything in them is kind of invalidated. Regardless, the Forsaken are sort of a special case, seeing as how they're already dead and the majority of what they do is questionable to the majority of the Horde. I imagine the trolls are far more concerned with trying to impress their Horde allies and make close bonds than Sylvanas is.

Laffable asked:

Q4tQ: I've heard next to nothing about rogues in WoD? Are they still perfect in every way? Yes or absolutely?

They are ... interesting. They play just fine, or at least my Assassination rogue is playing just fine. Very little in the way of major changes. The big changes that are taking some getting used to is the fact that combo points are on the target, and they're pretty perpetual now. So basically I can rack up a bunch of combo points, hit Slice and Dice, continue to rack up combo points and do my regular rotation, and never have to worry about Slice and Dice again. It gets even more ridiculous when you get the passive Slice and Dice Draenor Perk.

I think, if I were going to say anything about how rogues currently play, it's that it feels like combo points don't really have as much use as they used to. Maybe use is the wrong word -- they don't feel like they have the weight that they used to. The choice you make on what to use when you have however many combo points doesn't really feel as important anymore. And maybe that's just because I'm leveling, rather than trying to keep up a sustained rotation for a long raid encounter. It probably feels just about the same business as usual in a long fight.

Keep in mind that I'm leveling in mostly heroic Siege gear, though -- that makes a lot of difference. I'm cutting through things like butter.

Dudeguy_Mandude asked:

So I just completed the Dalaran portion of the Dominance Offensive questline, Jaina's reaction to stealing the bell seemed extreme, slaughtering ignorant Sunreavers in the streets extreme. Any insight from the Alliance side of the quest chain? Felt like something Garrosh would do.

What you have to understand about Jaina's choice in that particular portion of the quest chain is this: Garrosh Hellscream used a mana bomb to wipe out her entire city. Gone, done deal, everyone dead, nothing left but rubble and dust where her close friends and allies used to be. The people that she ushered to Kalimdor to save from the Scourge during the Third War have all been eliminated, and it's because of Garrosh and the Horde. Everything Jaina has ever known and loved was wiped out in an instant. It's gone, and she can never get it back.

When Theramore was under attack before the bomb hit, Jaina went to the Kirin Tor to ask for help. They said they would not get involved in the fight, as in they weren't going to step in and start blowing things up on behalf of Theramore -- because the Kirin Tor was still very much a neutral organization at the time. So they provided shields to keep the city from harm, but they didn't do anything offensively to the Horde army. And at the end of that battle, it looked like Theramore and the Alliance had won -- until Garrosh sent in the bomb and wiped everything out, including Rhonin, leader of the Kirin Tor.

Jaina took his place, and tried to do what he would have wanted -- kept things neutral, because obviously the blood elves in Dalaran, the ones involved with the Kirin Tor were also neutral and weren't doing anything to help the Horde directly. Except that during that whole quest chain with the Divine Bell, it was revealed that the Sunreavers weren't acting in any kind of neutral fashion at all. They deliberately helped the Horde infiltrate Darnassus and steal the Divine Bell, an artifact with just as much destructive power as that mana bomb that wiped Theramore out.

That's why Jaina was so mad. It was the last straw, she'd been trying to play a fair game and keep the Kirin Tor neutral, and supposed members of the Kirin Tor, allies, people that were taking shelter in her city went behind her back and not only helped out the Horde, but helped the Horde obtain an item that could very well be used to create Theramore 2.0. That's what I think made her snap so badly -- the idea that once again, being a neutral, diplomatic force on Azeroth was going to backfire and result in a bloodbath. And in a way, I think Jaina was also taking out some of her fury and grief from Theramore's loss on the Sunreavers as well.

Was it the right thing to do? Probably not. But Jaina had pretty much had it.

Neuromante asked:

I'm curious: So far everything I've seen spoiled about WoD relates to Orcs and Draenei, but as far as I know Blood Elves also should be on the same world, am I right? Were they inhabitants of Draenor along with the Draenei?

No. The blood elves traveled to Outland during the Third War with Illidan Stormrage -- they weren't originally residents of Draenor, they came after the planet had already been messed up. There are blood elves on the Warlords version of Draenor, and they are helping out, led by Lady Liadrin. But they came with the Horde -- they weren't originally on Draenor at all.

Tenacal commented:

I would just like to be "that guy" for a moment and point out that you shouldn't be looking for a hatter. Look for a Milliner instead, a more traditional and much better sounding word. Millinery, the designing and manufacture of hats by Milliners. A word that has fallen by the wayside...

Nope! I got my hat from Evan Larson in Stormwind City. He's a hatter. He might be a little mad, who knows?

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!