The Queue: 2600

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

You know what that is?

That's hardcore. There are no flasks on the Atari 2600, and there's no designer there to offer you a moose when you die in the gaping maw of a ghost.

Just you, plastic, and an 8-bit image.

What I wouldn't give for those days again.

Quilip asked:

I keep falling on alligators when I'm swinging over them (and die), but every once in a while I seem to be able to jump on them. What gives?

You're jumping on the alligator's heads while they're down, right at the correct time. This is letting you live. In general though, you don't want to fall off your vine. I don't know if this holds true though for the Xbox 360 version of Pitfall, I'm only hard core and play it on the 2600.

Enderwig asked:

Please explain how level 85 raiding is more accessible.

It's probably not more accessible than it was back at the end of Wrath, but it's a lot more accessible than it was in classic WoW. Anyone with half a brain could hit ICC after gearing themselves up through mind-numbing heroics runs. But now? Now you've gotta bring a little bit of that hardcore Atari 2600 mentality to your game and push yourself to pay attention and not just rely on overpowering the content.

This is a significant change from what was years of relatively easy raiding.

But if things are too hard, just wait. The gear that will be dropping from ZA and ZG in patch 4.1 will make WoW easier overall and decrease the reliance on skill in this introductory tier of raiding. Thus, raiding will become more accessible with patch 4.1 and even more so in patch 4.2.

Sandlwalters asked:

I know in Catalcysm they got rid of a lot of the keys needed to open instances. Which keys are still need in-game?

To the best of my knowledge, only the BC heroics need keys.

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!