The Queue: I swear it's a screenshot

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) is answering all kinds of questions today.

The above is a small fountain/shrine/draenei structure along the path between the borders of Shadowmoon and Talador. I'm not exactly sure what purpose it serves, or what those pretty glowing lights are, exactly, but it's beautiful either way.

Jalamenos commented:

Seriously, that header image. I thought it was concept art at first because it's so beautiful.

It's absolutely a screenshot. The fun part is that Draenor is absolutely full of scenic vistas like that one, and the one above. Honestly, this is one of the other reason I don't mind that we don't have flying right now in Draenor -- if you could fly everywhere, you'd miss running into these scenic little areas, and that would be an absolute pity because they are gorgeous. The whole world is utterly gorgeous.

ralos asked:

So if we level new toons thru the cataclysm how does it make sense to story that we need to go to outland and northerend?

It doesn't make sense from a story standpoint, but that's all old content. They could update all that material to keep it current from expansion to expansion, but that would require a massive amount of time and people to do -- and they'd rather keep the focus on developing and delivering current content instead. Timelines are just one of those things you ignore in game until you're in the current expansion's content -- it may not be the most cohesive or coherent approach, but there are times where gameplay trumps story, and this is definitely one of those times.


jabrone77 asked:

QfortheQ: Around what Ilevel do you think is best to start this expansion off at? I have 4 characters well over 500...is that going to be high enough? Recommendations?

Over 500 is just fine. My shaman is at 552 in mostly LFR gear that's been upgraded, and I had absolutely no problems at all with efficiently killing things on the beta. The stuff you get from the Timeless Isle tokens is 496, and that would honestly probably be enough to get by on Draenor, although you might replace a few items right out the gate. The earliest quest items you get in Draenor are around 510-512, so shoot for higher than that if you'd like to avoid replacing gear immediately.

HellaBella247 asked:

QftQ: How much gold roughly am I looking at to afford all the Garrisons upgrades in WoD? Can anyone on the beta also tell me - as some1 who is rubbish at making gold, if i need to be worried - or is there enough cash flow from questing etc that I'll be able to afford my garrison as upgrades come without any delays?

It's going to take quite a bit of gold to afford all of the garrison upgrades, but keep in mind that you aren't going to be making these upgrades immediately. Building your garrison is an organic process that happens over time as you level. All of the blueprints for level 3 buildings are locked behind achievements that will take time to complete. That said, you'll be making more than enough gold from quests, and also from missions that you send your followers on. You shouldn't have to worry about going broke building your garrison at all.

Cali39 asked:

Q for the queue: are MoP scenarios going away in WoD? How will we reach them, given that old dungeons have physical locations, whereas scenarios do not? I'm sure Blizzard wouldn't just remove all that content, but I'm a little baffled.

Mists of Pandaria scenarios aren't going away, but they aren't going to be available via the LFG tool once you hit level 91. However, you can take a trip to the Lorewalker's area in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms if you want to run those old scenarios for achievements you might have missed later on down the road -- there will be NPCs in that area that you can speak to in order to queue for that older content. This also includes LFR difficulties for all of the Pandaria raids as well.

@FeyMercurial asked via Twitter:

Will we ever see an alternative advancement system for those who don't want to raid but want to continue to grow their toons?

I always get confused by this question, largely because it's hard to picture exactly why you would want to or need to advance your character's gear or weapons beyond a certain point if you aren't raiding at all. Obviously if you're looking to do dungeons, you'll want to have the dungeon gear. Crafted gear is also pretty good in Warlords, and there are methods in which crafters can increase the ilvl of the gear they create. I think in order to better answer your question, I'd really need to know what you mean by "grow their toons" -- grow in what way? As far as content goes, there's plenty of alternative content to raiding currently.

@Mementh asked via Twitter:

how are professions and garrisons looking if you have multiple alts? Quicker then farm? 1 a week visits to pick up ore/herbs?

Trying to compare the garrison to the farm is almost an exercise in futility, to be perfectly honest. You'll gather herbs and ore much more quickly if you've got several alts with the herb garden and mine unlocked -- but you'll gather them even more quickly than that if you have a character with the appropriate gathering professions learned that can go out in the world and simply gather stuff with no wait time at all. You aren't required to have, say, Leatherworking learned to build a Leatherworking building, however you'll get your crafted items made much more quickly if you already know Leatherworking yourself.

There's a certain amount of give and take with professions and how they work with garrisons -- you can pick and choose what you want based on what you think will help you the most. You don't need the stable of alts to make everything under the sun anymore, but to make the highest tier of crafted items available, you'll need someone that actually knows that profession to make it. That's really where alts come into play, if you don't want to simply purchase the crafted gear from someone else.

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!