The Queue: THE QVEVE

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

My jam of late.

CatrionaShadowleaf asked:

What's your favourite starting area and why?

I dislike the back-and-forth of Azure/Bloodmyst so I hightailed my new paladin out of there post haste, and now I'm doing the dwarf/gnome area just to try to level mining (not working btw, it's picked clean).

Years ago I probably would've said the draenei starting zone, but having done it again recently, hell no. So much running around, back and forth. Ugh. I'm all about Gilneas now. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it's also fairly brisk.

NovaPulseGaming asked:

Hello there WoW Insider! I normally don't get around to commenting, but I really felt compelled to due so after reading the answer to the first question. (about re-use of assets). I, like the reader, think this is actually going to be a tremendous issue in WoD. You are absolutely right that certain species don't even exist, in their current state, during the time period in which we are going to, BUT that hasn't stopped blizzard from re-using assets. Just look at the recent gameplay videos showing off Shadowmoon Valley. Straight away we can see the re-use of assets in the environment, but more importantly we are shown the character fighting off Nether-Rays but with a different name. Nether-Rays, as in twisted from their former existence by the exposure to the Twisting Nether and other magics during and after the destruction of Draenor aka Outland. As you said such creatures should not exist like you said, but here they are in WoD.

So a question for the Queue: Do you think it is acceptable for Blizzard to take this approach with the development of WoD (and future expansions) in order to save time, especially when it comes to mobs and zones in which the players won't spend meaningful time in once the expansion has been out for a few months? I think in the end the issue of re-used mob models in leveling zones, and maybe early raids as well, is justifiable IF Blizzard uses that newly earned time to create more unique models and raid/pvp zones down the road. Is it ok for Blizzard to take shortcuts in order to launch expansions/patches more quickly? Thanks for all the great content and answering the community's questions!

I think you might be jumping to conclusions based on pre-alpha footage of starting zones. Lots of expansion alphas/betas have had placeholder art for mobs. To answer the question, though: there's a limited amount of manpower Blizzard can put into new art. They prioritize what they need to prioritize. If that means I see an old model for a starting zone mob, well, I don't mind all that much.

blyons25 asked:

Are they removing all realm firsts for WOD or just first to level 100?

Realm firsts related to leveling, whether hitting 90 or maxing professions, are gone.

Zheo asked:

After skinning in Nagrand today, I had a thought. If we're playing with Timelines in WoD, wouldn't it be easier to go back to Outland before Garrosh leaves Nagrand and kill him to prevent all the chaos he caused? #justsaying.

I believe the gist of it is that Garrosh has a powerful bronze dragon pal who makes his time travel possible, and he's hooked up the Dark Portal of old Draenor directly to ours. We can't undo it from our end; we have to go there. Maybe. Blizzard hasn't been entirely forthcoming or clear about how this whole shebang is working.

Celedrian asked:

Can this please be the last Queue about item squish? It's to the point where I don't want to read you any more :(

If people keep asking, we'll probably have to keep answering!

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!