The Queue: In Name Only

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

Questions will be answered! Misconceptions shall be splintered! A Queue day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

JodySchaeffer asks:
Since this is a different timeline with no impact on our own history, I'm wondering why our characters should even care, story-wise, about these people who are historical characters in name only. That isn't Grom, that isn't Gul'dan, it isn't even really Draenor.

The only redeeming thing I can think of is a Legion invasion at the end of WoD that destroys the fragmented timeline and sets up the next expansion. Have it so we can visit our Garrisons through the Timewalkers so they weren't for nothing.

But yeah. Since they're so big on stressing these AREN'T famous characters from lore, why does it matter who they are at all?

Well, there's several reasons. The first is pragmatic. The Iron Horde is coming through into our world, blowing up our settlements, and making war on us. So we should care about these people because these people are literally trying to murder us. I don't know about you, but I tend to be concerned when people want to kill me.

From another perspective, it's like this - yes, that Grom isn't the Grom who died fighting Mannoroth to lift the blood curse. But he is Grom. He shares many life experiences in common with the Grom we know - he has as much right to be called Grom Hellscream as the other one did. Saying that's not really Gul'dan is foolishness. It is Gul'dan. It's not the Gul'dan whose skull ended up in Felwood, allowing Illidan to consume its power and become a demon. But it is Gul'dan. And the reason we shouldn't just ignore that fact is simple - even though his life has taken a different path than our Gul'dan did, he's still the same evil power hungry maniac, just as the Grom we'll meet in Draenor is still the bloodthirst orc whose howl drove fear into the hearts of others. They're not identical to the people we know, but they are similar, and that's a source of knowledge about them. We'd be fools to not use that knowledge to our own advantage.

Up to you if your character is a fool, of course.

Bugboy asks:
Nitpicketty Q4tQ (what? That's a word): How exactly does Garrosh teach the orcs all the tech he brings with him? Is that what the goblins are for? And how did he get them to come with him, standard promise of riches beyond their wildest dreams? Not quite sure I'd trust him at this stage if I were them, seeing as how his men welshed on the whole Divine Bell deal.

He has hired some goblins (they're mentioned in the Grimrail Depot, the Rocketsparks) but at least originally, he had to make do with what he could teach them about himself. You'll note in the cinematic the Iron Star is a lot more primitive than the ones used in the Siege of Orgrimmar. Now, it's possible that Garrosh is just plain smarter and better with technology than any of us guess, but it's also possible that he provided some blueprints, perhaps smuggled in by his time-travel buddy Kairoz.

Zheo asks:
Is it just me, or is the fact that we're going back in time to OUR past and changing it mean that the whole of Warcraft 3 didn't happen...so...in theory...shouldn't we be returning to a world that doesn't know why we're all mad at each other to a certain degree? Shouldn't Arthas be chilling in Lorderon?

We're not going back in time to our past. It's really very simple.

Timeline A (our time) and Timeline B (Warlords of Draenor's time) exist side by side. Garrosh, when he escaped, went from A to B, and interfered with the progression of events on B. Now we're going to Timeline B at a point after Garrosh arrived there and changed things, because they're invading our Timeline A, and if they're not stopped will swarm through the Dark Portal and be a major threat. At no time are we traveling back in time on Timeline A. We're traveling to Timeline B. Timeline B happens to be 30 years or so behind Timeline A when you step through the Dark Portal to travel there, thanks to Kairoz.

Our Azeroth is on Timeline A. Nothing we do in Timeline B will change it. But that doesn't mean we want to ignore Timeline B and let a horde of angry orcs come through and invade Timeline A. It's just never a good idea to let angry orcs invade you.

DanielReason asks:
Q4tQ: Taking the assumption as given that Blizzard only has one story, which it recycles every expansion, what will Grom be corrupted by when he appears in the final raid? Demonic influence? Draenic Old Gods? Bad clams?

Garrosh wasn't corrupted by anything. He made a conscious choice to use the power of an Old God, but at no point was he dominated by it, at no point was he its slave.

Now, they've said that there will be Burning Legion enemies in the final raid. So it's possible Grom ends up corrupted by them. It's also possible that the Legion shows up to attack Grommash in retaliation for the death of Mannoroth. Basically, I don't take your assumption as given, since it's manifestly untrue.

And that's the Queue for Tuesday.

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!