The Queue: One-man WoW instances

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky, senior Alliance-only editor, will be your host today.

I've been thinking a lot about BlizzCon this year, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say we'll see at least one large and drastic departure from the current WoW paradigm.

Yes, Blizzard could announce just the normal expansion and assorted dungeons, profession additions, classes/races, and so on ... But that's not going to shake things up. It's not going to push them to the next level (whatever that is). It's not going to compete with Star Wars in terms of hype.

Cataclysm? My guess is it was but a prelude to other earth-shattering changes.

Greenymeany asked:

So, a while back, I had heard a fleeting rumor of somebody datamining something about one-man instances. I'd really like to know if there's any truth to this, because if it actually does happen, it would be glorious.

There've been datamined strings and other info about a thing called a scenario, but so far, everything's been extrapolated around that. Blizzard folks have said a few times that they'd like to do more epic personal questing and gameplay, and I think we can see that in patch 4.2's daily quest content. Will it eventually transform into 1-man instances that you can try to clear each and every day? Who knows? It's a good question to ask Ghostcrawler this year at BlizzCon.

Back in 2006, Caydiem said that the devs had no plans to do solo instances, but things can and do change.

Fetcher asked:

I seem to recall reading about a way to make a macro that would play music from other zones; so you could, for instance, play the Grizzly Hills music in Stormwind. Does anyone know anything more about this? My mage just hit 77 and I'd really like to avoid hearing the horrible Icecrown music if it's at all possible.

You can use this slash command to play any sound file. As to what those sound files are, you'll need to extract the MPQ, find a file list, and so on ...

http://www.wowpedia.org/API_PlaySoundFile

Interficio asked:

Hello, have you ever been in a bg and heard and saw a stealthed rogue for a split second but not have the time to get an attack off because you cant target him fast enough? Is there a macro to target this player? More specifically cast a certain spell against it such as a Frost Nova or a Sap?

Look behind you. He's over your shoulder right now.

But, no, I haven't had this happen. My guess is that the rogue came out of stealth for a quick moment -- and in that case, by the time he's gone, you won't be able to target him again. The best thing you can do is to make a /targetenemy macro and try to grab him while he's still unstealthed.

Covill asked:

Why so much hate for playable pandas? We already can play as cows and dogs, why not pandas?

I think it's because they're only going to be playable after you buy the option from the Blizzard store for $0.99 (after you've bought the next expansion).

I'm kidding ...

You95 asked:

Is there any other lore (besides Burning Crusade lore) that would justify an entire new world being developed to explore in a new expansion, much like Outland? I really loved the idea of leaving Azeroth behind, even for a short while.

We've been hearing about the dark portal since the beginning of WoW, really, so I don't think it's a Burning Crusade-only lore thing. That being said, could a dwarf archaeologist unearth another portal that leads to a completely different world created by the Titans? Sure. Nothing is super-special about the dark portal.

Vyxx trolled:

Why is WoW boring now?

I'm going to assume that you're bored with it, which is okay. Even Blizzard knows that you'll get bored with WoW (and it knows you'll likely come back, too). You might also be referring to it being harder to find raids during the summer months and so on ... and that's a normal thing, given that the majority of folks playing live in the northern hemisphere and want to go do things outside more often than during the winter months.

But I know you're trolling. I just wanted to complain about the summer months, because I haven't been able to in a while.

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!