The Queue: Spoiler-laden voice acting from the future

Since Adam took a long look back yesterday, I thought it would be nice to look forward today. The above audio clip is the Sha of Hatred, one of the big threats of Mists of Pandaria. It's interesting to realize how much voice work there is in Mists. The game is definitely moving forward.

OnyxElders5124 asked:

After previous expansions launched, how long was it before prior xpacs contents exp requirements were nerfed?

This was already answered, but to confirm it, patch 4.3 was the patch that lowered the XP needed to level through Northrend and improved dungeon quest flow for both Outland and Northrend dungeons. I'm not sure which patch lowered the XP needed to level in Outland, although this forum thread on Wowhead seems to indicate it was in place by November of 2008. That would mean Patch 3.0.3, the major content patch for Wrath of the Lich King, or slightly before that.

What we can take from this is that Blizzard doesn't have a set pattern for nerfing old content's XP requirements. The devs do it when they think it's warranted, no sooner, no later.

sergel92 asked:

For those of you who have done it, how is/was the Dragon Soul raid? Did you enjoy it, and was it a challenge? I've heard from some folks they thought it was relatively easier than Icecrown, Sunwell, and AQ40, but i don't know if they are talking about the Raid Finder version, Normal, or the Heroic version. Then I've heard from some of my guildies they found the Spine and Madness to be the hardest bosses they've faced in the game.

Well, as someone who's completed heroic Dragon Soul, yes, Spine is one of the hardest fights I've ever done in WoW, and I've been playing since launch. I've raided Naxx-40, Sunwell, and heroic Lich King, and Spine is right up there for pure difficulty. It's a fight where the progressive nerfs don't even really help all that much, because too much DPS at key moments is actually capable of wiping the raid. Now, Madness I didn't find all that challenging in comparison.

This is, of course, just my opinion, but I find Dragon Soul to be a lot of fun. I find the Warmaster Blackhorn fight baffling in its placement, mind, but otherwise I'm on record as being a booster for Dragon Soul. People who say it's a bad raid are just plain wrong. Yes, opinions can be wrong; I can hold the opinion that cheese will immediately transform me into an archangel when I eat it. Anyone who remembers how annoying Plague wing was in ICC or how much the big round room in ToTC drained you (especially when you ended up running it four times a week) will know what I mean when I say I prefer Dragon Soul's staying on topic and using a variety of environments.

But seriously, Blackhorn, it's not good that we made it that far, because it means we beat Ultraxion, and Ultraxion was Deathwing's big aspect-killer. Our making it that far means you guys are losing hard.

Nik W asked:

How are warriors looking at 90 or is it too early to tell? Hoping Prot hasn't changed beyond all recognition!

Once you get used to the lack of rage from damage taken, prot isn't too different. You hit Shield Slam, use Devastate to proc Sword and Board for more Shield Slams, hit Revenge when it lights up. You use Shield Barrier or Shield Block to bleed off rage and reduce your incoming damage. (Shield Barrier works so well that I can solo level 90 elites as prot, which would not work at all as arms or fury.) I find myself using Thunder Clap liberally and Heroic Strike or Cleave when I have the rage and don't feel I need a Shield Barrier/Block yet.

I took Avatar as my level 90 prot talent. It's fun, it helps increase rage gen, and you're a giant, so it's win/win. I haven't done much with the DPS specs, but in a mix of quest greens and blues, I'm doing fine as prot right now.

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!