The Queue: Still wishing for weather
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.
Please, everyone. We're begging you. Stop asking us Cataclysm questions that we'll need a time machine to answer. We're not in any betas, and if some of us were magically in an alpha, we probably couldn't tell you. We don't know what will happen to your favorite NPC when the world explodes. We don't know how much Loremaster will change. We don't know if Ragnaros procreates with Maiev Shadowsong. We don't know if Deathwing has enslaved a herd of unicorns.
Mr Shinra asked...
"Where are all battlegrounds supposedly located on the world map? I figure if come cataclysm we have the entire (old) world available for flight then perhaps we might by able to see the (empty/placeholder) battleground locations by flying over? I know the BGs are seperate instances much like a dungeon is, but it would still be kind of cool to be flying from, say Mount Hyjal to Orgimmar and passing over Warsong Gulch."
I can say with almost absolute certainty that we won't see these battlegrounds physically on the world map. There's simply no room for them. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding how Cataclysm is going to work, Blizzard isn't making a new world map. They're revamping the old one. They're prettying things up, filling in the gaps, and opening up the areas that were previously closed off. They're not stretching the map out or anything like that. There's no room between the Barrens and Ashenvale to stick Warsong Gulch. There's no room in Alterac to plug in the Valley.
If they were on the map, they would be in the filling places:
Arathi Basin - Arathi Highlands
Warsong Gulch - Southern Ashenvale
Alterac Valley - Alterac Mountains
Eye of the Storm - Netherstorm
Strand of the Ancients - Off the coast of Northrend
Isle of Conquest - Off another coast of Northrend
I hope I didn't forget any!
Condor asked...
"I read that there will be 5 attempts per boss in Icecrown at first. Does that mean 5 attempts total for all the bosses or just for the "end boss" of that wing? Using Naxx as an example for this system, does that mean, say, there are unlimited attempts on Patchwerk, Grobbulus and Gluth but then only 5 attempts on Thaddius?"
I'm going to caveat this answer again with "unless I'm horribly mistaken." My understanding is that only the end bosses of wings will gobble up attempts. You can wipe all you want on Patchwerk, but you better watch your step on Thaddius. The only bosses limited by attempts are Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa and the Lich King himself.
Frank asked...
"Whatever happened to the weather in Azeroth? We used to get rain and now nada. Were the storms removed at some point?
I can't remember the last time I saw it raining."
I really miss weather in WoW. They left it in the old world, but only used it in Zangarmarsh in Outland and completely abandoned it in Northrend. I find it terribly sad, because I loved the somewhat random weather. One of my fondest raiding memories is actually from Zul'Gurub. We were fighting our way to Hakkar, and suddenly a wicked downpour rolled in. It got dark and wet, just like that. It added a lot of atmosphere and I miss it. Rain in Stranglethorn is possibly one of the prettiest things in game.
The lack of it in BC and Wrath leads me to believe they're just done with it. Who knows if we'll ever see it again.
Wilt Chamberlain said...
"I don't like you."
Man, I never knew the Big Dipper was such a hater. Why you gotta be like that, man?
Drak asked...
"How do Ogres reproduce?
I'll keep asking till it gets answered."
And I will keep ignoring it until you take a sex ed. class.
Ratskinmahoney asked...
"Does anyone know if heirlooms are going to continue to scale to 85 when Cataclysm comes? I'm assuming they will, and I'm wondering if it will be worth dropping my shoulders and chest in favour of the +20% exp until I hit 85."
They currently do not plan for current heirloom items to last through level 85. They'll only function up to level 80. At level 85, we'll probably have a whole new set of heirlooms we can pick up.
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!
