The Queue: Is something wrong with the Alliance?

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 (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

So on Tuesday, I was talking about fire safety and how important it is. I even gave everyone a rap to listen to about it. Then as I was writing this Queue in my candlelit office, my cat decided to come sit down next to me ... and stick his tail right into the candle.

He's fine -- but the smell ... my god.

Just had to share. Fire safety is important, kids.

Sarah asked:

Do you think there has been a problem with the Alliance in Cataclysm?

I'll answer this two ways. First, in terms of story development and faction favoritism, I don't think there's a problem. A good story ebbs and flows; it has high points and low points, amazing action and serene times. The Alliance is sort of in a lull at the moment, I think, and that's a-OK. In the future, it's going to pick up.

Why?

Because Blizzard writes some damn good stories, and the guys over there know what they're doing.

The second way to answer is concerning the Alliance's actual actions in game. In this regard, I think the Alliance has lost its spark a bit. It seems to be willing to roll along happy that it's defeated Arthas and Deathwing, but it has no real purpose, no drive for the future.

But you know what? I have a feeling something is going to happen that'll kick the Alliance in the pants.

Ferani asked:

Will Blizz make Reputations account wide or will they continue to make certain rewards, like the Arcanum, account bound?

That's an interesting idea, but it's highly unlikely all reputations will become account-bound. I could see some particular reputations going account-bound -- perhaps some new MoP one that's insanely hard to grind and just huge -- but I wouldn't expect it. More so, like you said, we can expect to see more account bound items, enchants, etc. ... those have worked very well for Blizzard. They walk a fine line between having an overpowered alt because of a powered main and not having to grind silly things over and over again.

Then again, even running a dungeon once or twice a week, reputations level up pretty fast, so it's not a big deal overall.

Armenius asked (with a little modification):

What is your favorite and least favorite boss mechanic of [Cataclysm]?

My favorite is heroic Morchok. The concept of the normal mode fight is so simple -- many guilds cleared it on their first try. But if you do something as simple as double everything, it becomes difficult. I love the simple-to-learn, difficult-to-master approach to the normal/heroic versions, and I think it perfectly encapsulates what WoW is all about.

My least favorite mechanic has to be the spawns in Ragnaros. They're so reliant on burst damage to get down that as a warlock, I've shed a lot of tears over it. At the time, I'd pull 25k DPS on the boss but couldn't take down a spawn easily. Kinda nuts.

Another least favorite mechanic is the healing that the first boss in Shadowfang Keep does. People don't know how to interrupt, and it's too much for a boss to be able to heal to full when interrupting still isn't something that's ingrained to the playstyle of the game. If at level 1 eight years ago, players had learned they had to interrupt heals, things would be different -- but they're not, and that mechanic is on my list of least favorites because of it.

Nina asked:

Will we ever get more vehicle boss fights?

Unlikely. Blizzard said a while ago at one of the BlizzCons (either '10 or '11, I don't remember which) that vehicle fights didn't turn out like it wanted. I wouldn't be surprised if there's limited use of the mechanic in the future, like we see in heroic Deadmines, but I wouldn't expect mass use of it again.

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!