The Queue: Today is the day of new character models

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

Adam is your regularly scheduled Queue host today. But I stole it from him. Why? Because I'm super evil. Finally, the truth is revealed!

BapoThe-Paladin asked:

So any guesses on how many times maintenance will be extended? I'm going to guess 3 times.

I'm going to be wildly, foolishly optimistic and say Blizzard has this one under control. They're going to have servers up roughly 15 minutes early.

They're going to prove me so wrong.

Skyreiser asked:

Do you think they will continue to mess with character models after tomorrow or do you think win, lose or draw they're done?

I wager the vast majority of the new models will remain as-is. Maybe they'll do some additional finetuning after the patch's release (and maybe well into the life of Warlords) but don't expect massive overhauls of what is being released today. If you really, truly hate the new model for a race you play, you might just need to get used to it. Or race change. Or turn off the new models in the system options.

stephpaul7 asked:

How long after the expansion release do they expect the Blood elf remodels to be released?

Blizzard hasn't given a timeframe, but I would personally guess it isn't too far off. Sure, they won't have it done in time for Warlords, but it would be incredibly odd if they ditched the project altogether once they reached the very last character model that needed to be changed. I'd give it just a content patch or two -- which could be upwards of a year depending on their release schedule, but still. That's "not too far off" in Blizzard terms.

Celedrian asked:

Will Spirits of Harmony still be soulbound tomorrow?

Nope! Which is probably the best news ever. I have a bunch of them kicking around on alts that have no way of using them in crafting. Having the ability to shift them over to my crafters to make my alts some new gear in preparation for Warlords is fantastic.

aephon asked:

Do I need to have WoD to play 6.0 tomorrow or will MoP suffice?

Everyone gets patch 6.0 and all it contains regardless of whether or not you have Warlords of Draenor pre-ordered.

rpandagirl asked:

If I buy the digital deluxe and the collectors edition too, can I get the difference refunded like with MoP? I am at college now, and while one of my parents can pick up my CE for me, I can't install it until I get home...Over Thanksgiving!

Unfortunately, Blizzard has stated they will not be offering any sort of refunds to make up the difference when going from Standard/Digital Deluxe up to Collector's Edition. They used to do it, but no longer. As readers mentioned in the comments, the best method might be to ask your parents to open the box for you and give you the game code so you can add the correct license to your account up front. Then you can pick up the physical goodies from them over Thanksgiving.

Devina sked:

So, what does it look like you won't be finishing before 6.0 or will be doing last minute tonight in hopes of completely it in time?

I hoped to finish getting my favorite alts up to 90 this week and I came pretty close. My priest is at level 88. My rogue, paladin, warrior, and shaman are all 90, though. The priest didn't make it because I decided to wreak havoc on the Timeless Isle on my paladin to hoover up easy epics. All of my 90s are now decked out in Timeless gear and my priest has a full set of Timeless cloth waiting when she actually does hit 90 ... so time well spent, I say. They'll all go into Draenor well-prepared for the orcpocalypse.