The Queue: Not getting distracted

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. Michael Gray will be your host today.

Since it was a surprise to me, and the rest of the staff, that I'd be covering the Queue today, I didn't have much time to think of a particularly witty opening. Still, I couldn't get distracted. And what's the most distracting thing ever? Puppies.

And so, I present you with an image of my puppy Sylvanas. She's doing quite well, but she has no time for games.

Ect asked:

Is there anything that can be done about people spamming trade chat?

Well, we've seen Blizzard helpfully modify the chat features before as a way of cutting down on the amount of spam goldsellers could put in local channels. But I think that's actually a little different from what you're talking about. While the Trade channel can be a great way to advertise your profession, it can still be very annoying as a prospective to customer to get all the extra posts you don't want.

You have two options, Ect. First, bust out your /ignore skills and get to work. There's mods that will help automate the process, but I tend to just /ignore individually and move on about my life. Second, though, you can leave Trade chat when you don't actively need it. I do that a lot, too, since the Trade chat banter can scroll my text so fast that it drives me batty when talking to guild mates.

Tim asked:

Does Heroism make the same sound as Bloodlust when it goes?

Nope. Heroism has this sound like a gong being hit, and then something like a triumphant cheer. Bloodlust makes a sound like bong being hit, and then a murloc being strangled to death.

Steve asked:

What would be some fantasy fiction to read for someone who likes WoW, other than the official, licensed books?

If you like WoW, then you will probably like heavily magical worlds like those created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. If I'm in the mood for some bubblegum dragons and popcorn elves, that's where I go. A lot of the genre and tropes of WoW's fantasy world shares its roots with the Dragonlance series, so you'll find that series accessible and fun. There's a lot of clear parallels between Dragonlance and WoW, so it really is a great start into fantasy.

If you're looking for something a little more down-to-earth, see if you can find copies of Parke Godwin's books Sherwood and Firelord. They're great fantasy novels with very little magic and mystery to them. It's just all valor, duty, and character conflicts. (Firelord is, without deviation, my favorite book in the known world.)

Nebules asked:

Is there a reason why Blizzard has yet to put in a 2-handed tanking weapon for DKs or Druids? And if so are they planning on putting some in the game in Cataclysm?

We death knights and druids are balanced around using the "non-tanking" two-handed weapons to tank. If there were two-handed weapons with tank stats, we'd have to get slightly less benefit from those stats to balance it out. And then Blizzard would have to create even more two-handed weapons, since there's now a new "type" of two-hander out there.

This way, we keep the radically different weapon types somewhat to a minimum. (For example, check out the eternal pain of spell power plate for why a one-off weapon type would be a bad idea.)

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!