The Queue: Best and worst moments in video game history,

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.

We'll hop right into the Queue with a question from Jag:

Jagoex asked:

Worst moment in video game history? Or, most profound?

I like this question a lot, and I'm torn as how to include WoW in the answer; because in my opinion it certainly deserves to be in the answer (in the profound column).

The worst moment in video game history probably has to be the repetition of the sequel in Battlefield and Call of Duty/BlackOps series. There is so little new between each iteration (realistically new, that is, not the marketing/PR speak and the hype machine). To me it seems like a bunch of money grabbing; and that's a bad thing. Other games have somewhat followed this path, and I think it's easily the worst thing that's happened in video game history.

The best thing is a little harder to pin down. There's three candidates:

First, WoW itself would have to be high on the list. It's the first real massive virtual reality to permeate human existence. That's just crazy. And while I don't really toot our own horn, the fact that people are making a living off of talking about (let alone designing) killing virtual dragons is just insane. There is an entire legitimate real-world economy that's developed around a virtual world; one that is integral into the lives of thousands of real human beings. Virtual Azroth puts real food on the plates of tons of people -- from the folks at Blizzard to the new writers at WoW Insider and Wowhead. That's really a significant socioeconomic development in the history of video games.

Second, and in relation to WoW, is the dungeon finder. This tool lets you sit down and find a random group of people to essentially play a D&D game with whenever you want, day or night. That's an amazing development that's now, as our Michel Sacco rightly said the other day on the pre-show to the podcast, expected and required for any modern multiplayer game.

Third, I think the Wii has done a lot to bring modern video games into the mass market. Keep in mind that people who read sites like WoW Insider, Joystiq, Polygon, etc. are in the minority; and we're a very very small minority. The people who really play video games are much more casual than any of us are by far -- the Wii brings this to them, and it's done a fantastic job at solidifying the entertainment style as mainstream and "not a geeky thing." That can't be over looked in its importance.

Finally, the Game Boy has to also be considered as one of the most profound moments in video game history. Bringing the game off the TV and into the hands of players at the time was a bold move -- one that hadn't been really done to that scale. Nintendo carved out a very big part of the industry for itself with the introduction of the Game Boy and the importance of hand held gaming. Of course it's spread to the iPhone, Vita, Game Gear (hey I had one, and it rocked, damnit) -- but the original Game Boy was where it was all at. And it was amazing.

As for which one of those three wins in the end? I don't know. I'm tempted to say WoW, but I think it'd have to be the Game Boy at the end of the day.

Jmsecc asked:

Battlefield Barrens going away in 5.4, what are they doing with the armor sets? Any chance that we could see them offered in the Darkmoon Faire? I know a couple are really close, like the warrior set, but the Death Knight set is a complete recolor and it looks great... and I didn't start it early enough to get every piece.

Right now the armor isn't being made available elsewhere, so if you want it you have just a few days left to get it. I wouldn't be surprised to see it show up at the Darkmoon Faire though -- certainly the place for it to go.

And for those of you wondering, it's going to be easier to get geared up faster on the Timeless Isle, so don't worry about the loss of content. I actually think it's pretty cool that Blizzard is making this a very limited thing. It's neat story telling.

JoscMonster asked:

I know the Battlefield:Barrens stuff will be going away with 5.4, but will the boot quest be going away as well?

The boot quest will remain. Rygarius confirmed as much a few days ago.

RuzGofDi asked:

which Blizzcon announcement will come first: in game item, closing act, store items, WoWInsider party?

Soon.

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!