The Queue: Rhonin is cool. Like fezzes.

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) loves using the above trailer at any given opportunity.

I loved this trailer for so many reasons.

demon.within.x asked:

Q4tQ: I've been keeping this question in storage for a while as to no spoil the end of Tides of War for anyone (I may have waited too long tho), But anyway moving on. Did it seem like Rhonin's death was not good enough for his character? The man had helped saved the world by my count three times from the black dragon flight and in the end he dies to save Jaina who then went crazy like Garrosh from grief. The man deserved a better end I think.

Oh goodie, I do love a good Rhonin question!

Did Rhonin get a cop-out ending? I don't really think so. I like Rhonin. I like Rhonin so much that I wrote a Know Your Lore just for him. There are a lot of people who are not, for one reason or another, fans of Richard Knaak's work, and they take their hatred out on the characters he created -- but really, if one sits down and really takes a close look at that crazy mage and what makes him tick, he's an interesting character.

More importantly, he's this egotistical kind of guy who was really out and about in the world for himself and no other -- he wanted the accolades, the praise, the respect of those around him, and he didn't want any help getting there, lest someone else steal his thunder. But his life was completely turned around due to the meddling of one particularly sneaky red dragon. Krasus was another interesting character, and one of these days I'll write him up, too.

Do I think Rhonin's death was a cop-out? Well, here was the situation as presented in Tides of War. Jaina went to the Kirin Tor for help. The Kirin Tor were incredibly leery about taking sides in any kind of situation -- they wanted to remain neutral. But the threat to Theramore was too great to be ignored, and Rhonin agreed to give it some thought, eventually coming over to Jaina's side.

What Jaina didn't see was that Rhonin had a series of writings from Krasus, carefully stowed away. Sure, the red dragon was dead, but he left behind a collection of prophecies, of sorts -- all for Rhonin. Tales of events that were yet to come. Somewhere in that pile of papers was one that noted that Jaina was to be Rhonin's successor. And if that was the case, then Theramore couldn't be allowed to be destroyed, because Rhonin knew Jaina would stand there in defiance and be destroyed right along with it.

That's why he agreed to have the Kirin Tor lend their aid. It's why he visited Theramore personally -- to make sure that no matter what else, Jaina survived. And that's why, in his last seconds of life, he shoved Jaina through a portal, pulled the mana bomb to the spot where he was standing, and saved everyone that was not in the immediate area of the blast, including his wife, Vereesa.

In a way, Rhonin's life really began when a meddling red dragon showed up and began orchestrating it for him. Despite the meddling, the two became fast friends akin to brothers, over the years. And that's why it seems only appropriate that Rhonin go out as his life began -- with the wise words and sage advice of a meddling red dragon who in the end cared far more for the world and everything on it, Rhonin included, than many ever realized.

Slizzard asked:

Q4tQ: Us there a lore reason that the overwhelming majority of the Forsaken are human, or is this simply a logistical thing on Blizzard's behalf to keep the playable race standardised? I've often wondered why no Tauren or Gnomes for instance broke free of Arthas' will, or if they did where did they go if not Lordaeron?

The original Forsaken were members and casualties of the original Scourge assault during the Third War. This all took place in Lordaeron, which was a human kingdom. Later, the Scourge moved to the forests of Quel'thelas, which resulted in a whole lot of elves being taken over, including Sylvanas. It was these citizens that eventually broke free and became the Forsaken. There were no tauren, because the tauren were all on Kalimdor -- as far as the human kingdoms were concerned, they didn't even know what a tauren was, at that point. Gnomes were farther south, near Ironforge, save for the scholars in Dalaran.

RikOsborne asked:

So... what's the deal with this White Chicken on my farm that keeps keeling over dead for no apparent reason?

You ever wonder why Luna the cat never attacks any virmen on the farm? It's almost like she's getting her dinner somewhere else, isn't it?

amaxewardiary asked:

is it even worth it to upgrade the engineer helm? Do the sprockets upgrade as well or would I only be increasing iLevel and armor?

Upgrading doesn't affect gems, and that includes the engineer-created sprockets. I'd say just use the helm to get into LFR, and get a better helm upgrade there. Or use the helm to do some raiding, and upgrade a helm from one of the normal and heroic raids. The engineering helm is just a nice hat to tide you over until you get better gear.

@rpandagirl asked via Twitter:

if I skip a day with 5.1 dailies, does the story regress/take more days to do it? I know it would take more days, but I mean times doing dailies in between bits of stories.

The story quests will pop based on your reputation. Basically, the stories should pop up every other day that you choose to do daily quests, as long as you're completing all the dailies available. So you'll have one day of just dailies, one day of dailies and story. If you skip a day, you'll pick up right where you left off. It's based on individual reputation, it isn't unlocked on a random basis.

@amrmedic asked via Twitter:

is there anywhere a player can go to see the opposite factions lore for operation shield wall or dominance offensive?

Yes, but it involves rolling an alt on the opposing faction and getting it to level 90, first. No really though -- the only way to see it is to play through it! ...or check Youtube, your choice.

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!