The Queue: Red is dead, blue is coo'

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

Today's header image continues my streak of narcissism and was drawn by Spasticsnap. SpasticSnap? SpAsTiCsNaP? Hm, probably not that last one. Let's just go with Michelle. You can see it in all of its uncropped glory on her blog.

clokwerk asked:

how long will the legendary staff still be relevant? I ask because as a member of a 10m guild I am on track to get my staff in no less than six weeks. by that time we'll probably be sick of firelands and ready for the next patch. do you think the staff will still be BIS slot for the remainder of cata, or will it become obsolete by the time we kill deathwing?

There's only one raid tier left in Cataclysm's lifetime, so I imagine the legendary staff will take you all the way through it. Maybe drops from hard-mode Deathwing will edge it out due to pure stats, but the difference would likely be minor at best, and when you're already killing heroic Deathwing ... who the heck cares whether or not you replace your staff? You can already kill the guy, so if you want to keep your legendary staff equipped for the cool factor instead of the Epic Godstaff of the Godslayer, do it.

RogueJedi86 asked:

In Warcraft 3, why is Archimonde blue colored? Isn't he an Eredar who drank the demon blood? In Sunwell Plateau, Kil'jaeden's red so it seems the Eredar who aligned with the Burning Legion did drink the blood and turn red. But why is Archimonde a grayish blue? Did he just not drink demon blood, and was badass and powerful without the boost of demonic corruption?

Or is this all just a side effect of the retcon that made the Draenei to begin with?

I think you're just reading too much into their colors. The Eredar can be various colors and always have been. They didn't turn a different color from corruption like the Orcs did. We see red ones, purple ones, blue ones, gray ones, and so on. The clearest example of this? The Eredar Twins in Sunwell Plateau. One blue, one red. More examples? Malchezaar in Karazhan is blue. Jaraxxus in the Argent Coliseum is red.

I'd bet the Draenei are capable of that range of colors as well, but Blizzard keeps them blue purely for aesthetic purposes of keeping faction lines clear. Like how not all Orcs are green, and there are fewer green Orcs than there've ever been, but you still can't roll brown Orcs.

Interestingly, if you want to find some logic behind who gets to be red and who gets to be blue, Blizzard seems to use red skin on Eredar mobs that are primarily spellcasters and the blue skin on Eredar that are primarily melee. I don't think there's a lore reason for that, only aesthetic design reasons.

Jarde asked:

I am heading to Blizzcon for the first time this year. I know that they will have various vendors there. My question is whether or not there will be gaming laptops for sale at the convention? Meaning that I will be able to buy one there, not have to wait on shipping from somewhere else. I want to be able to get a gaming rig and be able to play it while I am there.

No. If you want a gaming laptop with you in California this year, you should buy one in advance and take it with you.

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!