The Queue: Panda-monium edition

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Michael Sacco will be your host today.

Here's a Queue question straight from me to me: What do me and panda bears have in common? The answer is rings around our eyes, though I'm pretty sure that pandas have them genetically and not from staying up until seven in the morning watching Veronica Mars.

But of course, what does that question have to do with The Queue? I could say "I guess you'll just have to read on! Excelsior!", or I could just tell you that it's because people asked about Pandarens today. Let's start off with some basic questions first, though.

iamnotacarebear asked:

The question i have is with this increase of running the heroics, is the red heroic drake going to be removed? I would hate to see this happen, but i wouldn't be surprised.

Good question, IANACB!

Blizzard has never indicated that the heroic dungeon drakes are going anywhere, since heroics were never considered high-end endgame content. Everybody has (and likely will continue to have) the opportunity to get red drakes if they can stand running that many heroics.


Cyanea asked:

I know the the Blood Elf Paladins all belong to the Blood Knights, and the Draenei Pallies are all part of the Hand of Argus, but what's the lore reason for the existence of Human and Dwarf pallies after the destruction of the Silver Hand. I know a lot of them formed up as the Scarlet Crusade, but what about the existence of player characters?

Also, I know according to the lore, Priests from different races are drawing on different powers for their spells. Does the same apply for Paladins? I understand that the Draenei and the Humans/Paladins view the Light differently (what with the Naaru involved and all that)

While the Silver Hand may have been dissolved following Arthas' betrayal, it still managed to hang around despite a bumpy road, and it appeared to have reformed even before Tirion Fordring returned to lead it and merge it with the Argent Dawn. Even in the absence of an official Order, though, people can still become paladins if they're devoted to the Light., and it's implied that paladins from the original Silver Hand didn't just lose their powers when the Order fell apart.

The Light is sort of an interesting concept, because it was originally intended to be more of a philosophy than an actual living breathing wind-chime-shaped power source like what Burning Crusade gave us. It appears that even with this information, though, there's plenty of wiggle-room when it comes to what each paladin can and can't do with their Light-given powers. I don't think there have been any paladins who use the Shadow like priests do, though -- but I'd love to be proven wrong on that one.



Cuth asked:

Whatever happened to Pandaren? They were obvious in WC3 and TFT but I haven't been aware of any in WoW. If they exist could you point me towards one so I can check em out? I miss them!

The Pandaren! Such a divisive topic. Some people will tell you that China has outlawed violence against pandas in video games, thus resulting in their absence from WoW, but that may or may not be correct. There are other games with playable panda races, like Perfect World (which is not only Chinese in origin, but very popular). I don't honestly think that cultural barriers are the issue here. After all, Blizzard was willing to cut an entire class from WotLK to get it released in China. It's likely something more about integrity.

See, Pandaren are really just a Samwise Didier in-joke. They were a humorous inclusion to the Warcraft 3 campaign, and likely not intended to be "canon" in the way that many other races are. They have plenty of information in the WoW pen-and-paper RPG books, but I think Blizzard is still deciding whether or not Pandarens really belong in WoW canon proper.

And that's my honest belief as to the current status of Pandaren as a playable race.



Valensword asked:

This may be a little behind the ball, and probably explained in many a post that I didn't read, but am I correct in thinking that I may as well save all of my heroism badges that are sitting in my currency tab so that when 3.2 drops I can fully tier 8 up when they are converted to Emblems of Conquest?

Your current Emblems of Heroism will not magically become Emblems of Conquest in 3.2. You simply won't gain any new ones unless you downgrade Triumph, Valor, or Conquest badges.



Trippleye asked:

Why has blizzard decided to make classes that wear plate look the same as other plate...mail to mail...etc etc.

Anyone familiar with other late-expansion patches, like Sunwell or Ahn'Qiraj, will not be surprised by sharing armor set styles between armor classes in a specific raid patch. I can't say I'm happy about Tier 9's looks, but I'll withhold judgment until I see Alliance mail and leather.



Arawn asked:

Question: What other Warcraft races might be added in the coming expansion?

Question: With the history of the Wildhammer Clan of Dwarves and the fact they're on friendly terms with Ironforge again, do you think their knack of being Shamen and Druids will be brought into the playable Dwarf race in the future? Same goes for the Forsaken being Paladins and the High Elves (Blood Elves) being Druids.

I honestly think we've run out of viable, interesting races that could become players. Naga and Worgen are two popular choices, but Naga have been historically neutral or hostile to player races and Worgen are, well, cursed humans. I'm not sure either is really a good choice.

If we see new races, they're very likely to be new ones or modified versions of currently-unplayable races.

As for dwarven shaman or druids, Forsaken paladins, and blood elf druids, only time will tell. Blood elves, for example, already have the maximum number of class choices (death knights don't count). Forsaken also have a very high class count, as do dwarves (each has a selection of five). If they allow more class choices from races, it'd likely be from races that already have a fairly low count.



vmonte asked:

If Yogg is all the way up in Ulduar to the North, how come he somehow effects the events in the southern regions of Northrend, IE the other world tried Void something and the mine in Howling Fijord the dwarfs went crazy in?

Easy answer. While Yogg's physical mouth may be in Ulduar, his body and tentacles and subsequent corrupting influence stretch much farther than that, much like C'thun's did.



Tito asked:

How will stats (as in crit, stamina,) go on in future expansions? Will we be seeing tanks with 80k+ health in the future? Will us hunters have 102% crit rating?

You answered your own question -- most stat percentages are calculated by rating now, and the required rating to gain 1% of any stat increases with every level and every expansion. So, no, no one would have 102% crit, but since Stamina is a static stat, yes, you just might see people with 80k health late enough in WoW's lifespan.

Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com 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!