The Queue: Ask the beta testers

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.

A bit of history.

The Queue originally started off as Ask A Beta Tester during the Wrath of the Lich King beta. It was a great vehicle where we could answer all the questions that normally came in on the tip line or over social media. So at its heart, The Queue loves the beta period.

Absolutely feel free to ask away with any and all beta questions you've got. We have many staff members already playing their pandaren, and we will answer everything we can.

Narayana asked:

If we know now that the endgame for Pandaria eventually ends up in a dead Garrosh- at the hands of both the Alliance and the Horde, how can Blizzard avoid the hunky-dorie love-in that they seem to be actively running away from?

Say what you will about Garrosh, but as leader of the Horde he, at least, provided a point of contention between the two factions. He gave the Alliance a reason to hate us. If he's replaced with Thrall (or Baine or even Vol'jin), I feel like there's less thrust from both sides for continued faction warfare.

The only Horde figurehead that seems to still have the ability to evoke controversy is Sylvanas. Personally, I'd love to see her usurp power, just for the all the trouble it would cause. That said, it doesn't seem likely. I don't see a Horde that JUST threw out Garrosh falling in line behind Sylvanas.

It's probably not going to be the entire Horde that wants Garrosh gone, but just a splinter group within the Horde. And oh-ho-ho, guess what? Your 10-man or 25-man raid is the "elite team" in that splinter group that's being sent in to take out this evil bastard.

I really dig Alex's theory that he's going to test the waters with demon blood again. It wouldn't take much to convince the Alliance to take him out over that (and probably throw in a few war crimes as well); and if that splinter group in the Horde learned about it, they might see need to act quickly and on their own, removing their leader without going through the proper channels.

meDotJS asked:

Do we know why the Sha, the physical manifestation of negative energy, only exist in Pandaria and not the rest of Azeroth?

We don't yet know if the negative Sha energy is going to appear in Azeroth other places, so hold tight on that point.

It could be speculated, however, that the energy just manifests itself on the peaceful lands of Pandaria, because that's where it can do the most bad. Think if you're some negative energy and want to go around and cause the most trouble -- where would you go? You wouldn't go to Orgrimmar, because that place is already on the sack list. You'd go to where the fluffy panda bears are getting ready for the picnic. And from there, it spreads out to the rest of Azeroth, in some form or another, via the people who travel to Pandaria.

Puntable asked:

I'm worried for the Pandas...

I liked vanilla wow. I liked Ashenvale before they plopped a big volcano on it. I liked Azeroth before Deathwing busted it up. I was sad when they turned those old zones that I loved into ugly lava. I think it was the big mistake of the Cata expansion.

I like the way Pandaria looks in the screenshots. It's beautiful! I'm afraid that they are going to send tanks to knock down the forests so they look like Verdun, and bomb the towns so they look like Dresden. Am I just a sentimental fool?

I don't think there's much to be worried about, this expansion. Truth be told, though, the destruction of the environment would be a successful plot device in a future expansion or patch. But right now, the base land is getting developed, and there's no reason to take the volcanic sledgehammer to it yet.

However, I'm also not sure that Blizzard would go for more destruction of environment catalysts, given it's already been done with the night elves. I bet though that we do see this a little bit at least, if only on a very local level, with the Horde and Alliance making headway into Pandaria.

Glyneth asked:

Are warlocks really getting a tanking spec?

I don't think so, personally. I mean, I really want demonology to be able to become a tanking spec, but it'd be a huge change that came almost completely out of left field.

I asked Zarhym if he can lend us all some insight into what's going on, and I know a lot of people are wondering the same thing. Right now, it looks like situational tanking, but it's kinda odd that it'd have to be glyphed, given that glyphs are not really meant to be moved around fight to fight. If a lock had to be tank spec'd for an encounter, it'd gimp them for the entire raid/tier, most likely, and that's something Blizzard doesn't want to do.

Of course there are dual specs -- but again, most of the time the assumption is that second spec is used for PvP, not for one particular raid encounter.

So lots of questions, very few answers right now.

Kakume asked:

How do you pronounce "Chi"?

Chee.

Withervein asked:

So, beta invites are out, but can you actually log in to the beta?

Yes, the beta servers are up and available for play.

3atcat asked:

whats easiest way to report an abusive player? right click then report then says report for spam,does this only report spam?

That will do it, but if some player is really being abusive, I always file a GM report including exactly what he/she said. Usually it doesn't take more than a minute, and pretty soon that jerk yelling racial slurs near the Auction House mysteriously vanishes.

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!