Michael Sacco
Articles by Michael Sacco
The Queue: The ballad of Captain Placeholder
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. An Oscar shoe-in. (Thanks Scott.) PortalHopper asked: Since completing the Vision Of Time quests, I noticed we still get the quest 'Empowering the Hourglass'. Do you think we are actually powering Garrosh's Super-Duper-Not-Actually-A-Time-Travel-Doohicky™, the device we'll use to follow him to Old Draenor, or is it just lazy quest design? Also do you think 'Empowering the Hourglass' should reward 2000 timeless coins as we are down a 1000 coin quest per week? Yes, the prevailing theory is that the device you're empowering is what Garrosh uses to get to Draenor, in whole or in part. Especially since it seems Kairoz is Garrosh's "mystery" partner.
The Queue: Keep on
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. Keep on keeping your camera on. jabrone77 asked: I'm not sure if this has been asked or not yet, but what's up with the Mogu now? We beat their king and ruined their takeover, so where do they go in the future? A new horde playable race in the e xpansion after Dreanor? (Ok, that last one's wishful thinking...) They'll probably hang out and lick their wounds for another thousand years, then make another stab at retaking Pandaria. They're pretty rudderless at the moment.
The Queue: Kraid! Start the reactor!
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. Oh no! Mixed references! Wreckener asked: What language is all the Warcraft music sung in? Is it Gaelic, Norwegian, a mixture of languages or a completely made up one altogether? It's mostly Latin. They're real words, but they're put together in ways that don't necessarily translate perfectly. There are also a few songs like Lament of the Highborne that are in made-up Warcraft languages.
The Queue: Way of life
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. I heard you say we were on the same street. Celedrian asked: Are all realms going to be merged or just the ones that need it? Because my realm is perfect just the way it is (unless you're horde). Over time, the majority of realms will be merged with at least one other, according to Blizzard.
The Queue: This song again?
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. It's one of my favorites, okay? DeirdreMcClure asked: I'm on a PvE realm. What exactly are the PvP "rules" on the timeless isle? I'm interested in farming bloody coins..... It's about the same as anywhere else. You must be PVP-flagged to participate in PVP, even with the Censer item required to get Bloody Coins. The only real difference between world PVP there and elsewhere is that you can kill members of your own faction while under the influence of the Censer, provided they're also PVP-flagged.
The Queue: Fly me to the moon
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. On a whale! Ron2 asked: I got an Elixir of Ancient Knowledge (the one that boosts experience gains by 300%) from the Archerius of Flame. If you've ever used one, or have thought about how you would use it when you eventually get one, how did you decide when and on whom? I have a level 72 shaman who seems like he'd be an ideal candidate, but I think I might save it for a rogue or hunter, somebody who can't already level quickly by chain-healing dungeons. Personally, I'd use it on a DPS in the 80+ range. Cataclysm is inevitably where my leveling momentum peters out. Just done it a few too many times.
The Queue: Buffalo birthday
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. It's commenter Buffalo's birthday, and as is Queue tradition, we wish him a happy one today. Whiteout asked: Do you think we will ever see further exploration of the elementals and their lords? We killed Ragnaros and Al'akir within their own plane, permanently ending them, so wouldn't another, suitably powerful, elemental step in to fill the void? I think it would be neat to come across the new Lord/Lady of Fire or Air, possibly assisting them in their attempt to cement their rule, or defying their bid for dominance. Plus, Neptulon is still circling the drain. I wouldn't expect news of a new Elemental Lord any time soon. Cataclysm was sort of the Elemental Expansion and it's likely going to take millennia for an elemental to rise where Ragnaros and Al'Akir fell. Besides, we killed pretty much all the big-name elemental lieutenants, too.
The Queue: Bub log
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. Please enjoy this Lil Bub yule log. Bronwyn0023 asked: Wouldn't it just be simpler to close or destroy the Dark Portal? With Alliance and Horde forces stretched so thin over several continents as well as Outland and Deepholm, can they really afford to fight in another place? Let Garrosh go to the past which is not the past (whatever) and go riddance. They tried blowing up the Dark Portal at the end of Warcraft II, and...it didn't work. Seems you can't just get rid of the portal once it's been opened, even if you blow up the stone around it.
The Queue: Malibu Sylvie
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. I don't really know what else to say about this header. Thanks, Scott. I think. mindahead asked: Think of a toon recently boosted. at what level of Iten he can start on Draenor, without much pain?They can win items such as found in TI? You'll be able to start on Draenor immediately after boosting to 90. There'll be a starting experience wherein you'll get a steady stream of new abilities, and you'll start with a set of gear at the appropriate item level.
The Queue: Saturday the 14th
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. Okay, okay, maybe I forgot what yesterday was. brandonlglaser asked: Here's a question I haven't seen asked since Blizzcon, which surprised me cause I expected it... Reforging going away, okay... So the Grand Expedition Yak... Colossal money sink that I had dropped my WoW life savings on just a week before the Con, all so that I could have reforging into eternity... Did anyone say if it will get something special to replace the reforger, or is it now just a VERY expensive repair mount? I sorta feel like I made a huge mistake purchasing it now (that my money bags are empty). The devs said that they're not quite sure what they're going to do with the reforging vendor on the Grand Expedition Yak, but said that changing it to a transmog NPC is a possibility. If you have a better idea, post it to the forums!
The Queue: Chilled
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. Coming soon from Disney•Pixar and Blizzard. Fizzl asked: Why do some WI writers have "moderator" by their name, and others don't? To me, having it helps point out when an actual writer is writing a comment. Some of the writers on the site spend more time than others reading comments, so those people have moderator abilities. Those of us that don't (like me) can grab one of them if there's a banhammer that needs to be thrown down. I imagine that all of the writers could technically be flagged as mods, but I'm not sure that's as useful or effective as it sounds.
The Queue: Short
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. Today's Queue is short, and so is this video. KennethMaxBrooks asked: Very, very, very important and Azeroth-shattering question for the Queue-Crew: Is King Llane's name pronounced "Lane" or "Yane"? Lane. There's no precedent in WoW for a double-L to be pronounced as a Y like it is in Spanish (or a J, depending on where you're from).
The Queue: Bound for the stars
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. I've been playing the Starbound beta and having a blaaaast. It's on Steam right now! DanielMitchell asked: Is the lack of a new race or class for WoD feel like a letdown? There's so many options in the existing game world. The only thing I would see as a downside would be so many players using their instant 90 on the new race/class. Still waiting for the "massive races": Ogre for Horde and Vrykul for Alliance. I'm sure there are others who feel differently, but I've been waiting for new character models for what feels like forever, so I'm perfectly happy with "only" getting those instead of a new race. As for classes, there are already so many. It's hard to keep carving out new niches, especially when you can't make them too niche-y. I think new models and no new class was the right call.
The Queue: Black Saturday
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. Okay, okay, I know it's Saturday, but this should've been the Queue song yesterday. jabrone77 asked: I was thinking the other day...what if you could get honor from killing guards? Not in all cities, but just two major ones for each faction. Orgrimmar and Darnassus for Kalimdor and Stormwind and the Undercity for the Eastern Kingdoms. Give players 5 honor per guard. I think this would be great for world PvP and make major cities a little more unsafe. What do you guys think? Well, a few issues with that: first, it wouldn't really make cities more dangerous, since even on a PVP server you're safe within your own city unless you turn your PVP flag on. Second, guards spawn inside cities pretty much infinitely, so the opposite faction could just farm honor that way during off-peak hours.
The Queue: Thanksvanas
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. Today I'm thankful for the three questions that didn't have to do with Sylvanas. CaptainCakewalk asked: I heard that Greg [Street] was going to Riot Games, the ones who make League of Legends for those who may not know. Is this true of was it just a bit of random speculation? I don't know if it's true or not, but it wouldn't shock me. It seems like every dev who leaves Blizzard for anything but family reasons goes to Riot. They're close to Blizzard (geographically), are constantly hiring, and are happy to take people with experience on a live game. Wherever he's going is lucky to have him.
The Queue: Lean and hungry type
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. As requested by the guy who always posts MST3K: The Movie quotes in the Queue comments. Bugboy asked: The updated human models will also apply to worgen when in human form, yes? I don't see any reason why they wouldn't. All other humans in the game will get their models changed too.
The Queue: No Can Do
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. Sleep through doing the Queue yesterday? I can't go for that. But I did. yamael asked: Am I alone in thinking that Garrosh will go back long before the drinking of the Demon Blood? By the point they drank, the Horde was already created and using fel magics left and right in the war against the draenei. They were all already green corrupted orcs unless they were in some isolated place like behind the quarantine of Garadar. The drinking of the blood was the final touch to fully bind them to the Burning Legion, just before the sacking of Shattrah near the end of that war. Garrosh has to stop Ner'zhul and Gul'dan long before that. I believe it was stated during the story panel at BlizzCon that Garrosh goes back to a few (2 or 3) years before the whole blood thing. The draenei are still around at that point, some key decisions haven't yet been made. It's more ripe for story fun than arriving at the moment Grom's about to chug some blood.
The Queue: Old favorite
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. I was listening to this while I was writing the Queue, so now it's the Queue header. NishedaSamaranayake asked: I just heard that when we get WOD , that a feature will be provided where we can get one auto 90, are there any news on whether this character has to be in the same server as your main, or do you already need a 90 on the server to get a new one, just like how dks worked.Is it also side specific ( horde/alliance). You can do it to only once any of your characters, regardless of faction and level of your other characters.
The Queue: Post-BlizzCon
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. Finally, we have questions that also have definitive answers! Of course there's still some speculation in today's Queue. koramur asked: What do you think about their decision not to give free appearance change with new models?Seems incredibly strange to me. New models are nice, sure, but what if I plain do not like the new face? Getting paid change for all of my characters are kinda costy. I think it's too soon to say whether we'll need a recustomization at all. The new faces they showed aren't 1:1 copies, but we also don't know what every face will look like and whether the faces they did show will change between now and beta (or launch). To me this is a wait-and-see situation before I start complaining. Frankly, unless the corresponding faces are dramatically different, I think most people should probably just be happy their character doesn't look like garbage anymore.
The Queue: I love Draenor
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. I'm so excited about this expansion. Draenor looks incredible and I'm pumped to go there, meet the new draenei heroine, hang out with Akama ... it's all too much. My friends and I were watching the livestream and practically jumping out of our seats watching the zone flythrough videos. Let's answer some Warlords of Draenor questions! Drew_Plank asked: I've not seen anyone mention this at all. Do the orcs on Draenor know that Garrosh is not of their time, and his family ties? Garrosh was conspicuously absent from the reveal cinematic, as well as from, well, anywhere else yesterday. We don't really have a lot to go on with him. My guess is he doesn't just up and say "howdy Grom(mash), I'm your son from the future, having recently been deposed as leader of my era's overtly fascist True Horde, and I'd like you to start a new one and punch all the people who were mean to me." Even Garrosh can probably pretend to be something or someone he isn't.