Michael Sacco
Articles by Michael Sacco
The Queue: This is a GIF I saw
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. Only it's a JPEG now. instamat asked: Do Moss-Covered Chests on the Timeless Isle stop spawning for players after a while? Is there a quest that prevents me from seeing them? (Phases them out.) Or is it simply a case of bad luck? It seems like they're harder to find after I run around and plunder them after a time. There are 17 Moss-Covered Chests on the isle, and as far as I know, you can only loot them once per character, period. That's why you'll sometimes see people looting an invisible chest. I originally thought they were a daily or weekly respawn, but I just got mixed up because of running the isle on four different characters.
The Queue: Doink doink
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. In the Pandarian justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the Shado-Pan, who investigate crimes, and also the Shado-Pan, who prosecute the offenders while being incredibly sanctimonious and annoying to every Horde and Alliance player they meet, forever. These are their stories. (Thanks, Scott Leyes) KaleilS asked: What ever happened to that Warcraft movie teaser that was shown at Comic-con? Don't expect it to see the light of day. It was apparently test footage as opposed to any kind of actual teaser or trailer. Maybe it'll be in the blu-ray special features.
The Queue: Fun size
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 accidentally made everyone in the comments not ask any questions yesterday, so here's a short and debatably sweet Queue. dumbass asked: Did Blizzard change their armor designers in 5.4 or something? I mean, I know it's very subjective, but I usually don't like the pvp sets very much (especially the warrior ones). 5.4 PvP gear for every single class I've seen so far looks absolutely amazing! While some vanilla armor sets were done by different people (tier 2 was all Samwise, for example), I think pretty much every armor set nowadays is designed or at least concepted by Mark Gibbons, as seen in the artbooks.
The Queue: Okay, okay, fine
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. By request: Roy Batty. AeroCross asked: Now that we are getting new character models (someday soon, I hope, perhaps on 6.0?), do you think we'll be getting every model (including Pandaren) included? We're talking mobs, bosses, and critters for every expansion. Do you think world models / textures will be included as well? (Trees, mountains, platforms in outlands, etc.) No, absolutely not. The pandaren are brand new -- there's no way they'll receive an upgrade in the foreseeable future. As for the rest of the world, it's unlikely; there were some graphical updates to geography in Cataclysm, but that was also kind of the focus of Cataclysm. As much as I'd love a full graphical overhaul, it'll probably never happen. We'll have to be happy with the new race models. And definitely expect the first batch in 6.0.
The Queue: Timeless questions
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 2 AM and I forgot I had to do The Queue! I'm still off schedule from my little mini-vacation last weekend. Johnggernaut asked: Has there been any indication that the overhaul of player race skins would include size changes? This occurred to me when I was running around with Garrosh at the Horde Landing Site. I can't recall if lore-wise he was large for an orc or average. Either way, larger Orcs would be something I'd enjoy seeing. You can safely bet that the models will be like the current models in almost every way, just way, way better. Don't expect changes to physique, height, etc.
The Queue: Carbunqueue
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 started playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn this weekend and I'm very happy with my choice in class. Because CARBUNCLE PET! TgrHawke asked: When you are creating a new character and are at the screen where you select the race and class, what armor sets are the characters wearing and are those sets currently available to players in the game? The sets are based on certain armor sets for their respective classes, but with better textures and new shoulderpads. They are, unfortunately, not available in the game, which makes me really mad.
The Queue: Flex Hellscream
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. Thank you to commenter Scott Leyes for this gem from yesterday's comments. Rode_and_Babe asked: Do we have a set list of which server will participate in the Virtual server merge? I am asking because i am in a Wpvp server and I'd love to contact members of the opposite server so we can agree to set up rules of engagement and draw territory lines before we go full metal jacket on each other. We don't yet know which servers will be connected with Connected Realms. The devs have stated that most lower-pop realms will be connected to others, though.
The Queue: No Hearthstone Day
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. No Hearthstone questions in today's Queue means no Hearthstone answers in today's Queue! Woo woo! mjfbn asked: With the destruction of the Vale, what will happen to the Shrine(s) - Hearth, Banks, Supply, Portals? If Ogrimmar is closed (seems logical if it's being turned into a instance) how will the Horde access Cataclysm portals (say, to Deepholm)? Well, the Vale is still there, as are your faction capitals. There's just a bunch of destruction in other parts of the zone. As for Orgrimmar, it's business as usual there -- the raid takes place in an instance. There may be changes in the future, but we don't know anything for sure.
The Queue: Curse of the Corgen
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. This isn't quite what I was expecting to find in yesterday's Queue comments, but hey, our community is full of surprises. *Sniffs loudly and annoyingly* ChadWShreeves asked: I had a thought as I was leveling through Zul'Drak on my monk last night. I noticed that the whole Gun'drak area at the top of the map where the exterior looks a little big to be just for a single instance. It actually seemed to me almost like the original plan was for two smaller instances (Side buildings) and a raid at the top (large building) Was this originally a plan? Did it get scrapped for something else? I didn't start following blue posts and the like till mid-Ulduar so I don't know about what early Wrath plans could have been. Wrath has several places where dungeon content was originally planned and then scrapped. Utgarde was supposed to have a raid, and Gundrak as well. Heck, there are even item models that were named thinking they'd be part of those raids. Me, I just wanted to see what the heck that giant snake in Gundrak was all about. Also, where the heck was Frost King Malakk during Wrath!
The Queue: Dog day
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 met a corgi yesterday. This is me and that corgi, in a photo together. Thank you. smartazjb0y asked: Anyone else hope they DON'T bring Flex scaling to Normal Modes? Or, why are lots of people intent on Blizz adding flex scaling to Normal Modes? I think the benefits are pretty clear: you can still raid if you're down a few (or a lot) of your regular stable of players. There's pretty much no downside to flex being available in normal mode. I think there's some weird line of thinking that says "well if they add this tech that was originally implemented in a slightly easier mode to my preferred mode, that means I'm playing on easy mode" people are going through right now.
The Queue: Trailer redux
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. Yeah yeah yeah, you've seen it already. I don't care! I'm reposting it! Entryhazard asked: Lore question: the races capable of spellcasting other than Elves such as Humans, Orcs, Gnomes and Draenei suffer from magic addiction? If it's not the case like instead Night and Blood Elves do, it is known why? Blood elves only suffer because they were hooked on magic itself, what with living with the Sunwell for thousands of years. Other races didn't have quite that problem. I don't recall night elves having that ailment either, now that you mention it.
The Queue: Welcome to Night Vale
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. If you pay any attention to the iTunes podcast charts, Welcome to Night Vale is probably already familiar to you, but if you've somehow missed it: you have to listen to this podcast. It's NPR meets the Twilight Zone. And it's funny as hell. ZacharyBrandon asked: In your opinion - what class has the best looking Tier gearsets? I've always been a little jealous of the Warlocks (being a Druid most of the time). I think warriors tend to have the most consistently good sets, probably because they don't necessarily have a theme that needs to be played up in each set. They're very lucky.
The Queue: Clownsuit
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 death knight is having ... a clownsuit problem. Zaxid asked: If worgen are immune to the undead plague (as seen in Silverpine quests), then how do we get worgen death knights?! Player death knights weren't raised by the plague! Arthas raised them personally with necromantic magic.
The Queue: You've got time
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 partner and I finished Orange is the New Black on Netflix tonight, and man! What a great season of TV. But the problem with Netflix TV binging is that now we need to wait until next year for more of it ... Zapwidget asked: Simple question: Do you prefer big mounts or small mounts? Most of the time I prefer small mounts so they don't obscure my view. I ride the pretty compact Rivendare's Deathcharger as my land mount even though I have many cooler/bigger land mounts. For flying mounts, I really appreciate the zippiness of my Lorewalkers disc, but ... that cloud serpent, though.
The Queue: More Zul'Drak
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. Just gonna continue on my "Zul'Drak rules" kick from yesterday with the great "God Hunters" theme from the zone. KirgenF asked: Wouldn't it make more sense for any new class that is added to use intel plate? There is currently one spec of one class that uses the gear with no competition. Even intel mail is used by at least two specs (though using two diff types of secondary stats). I think the devs have gone on record saying that they're not really interested in making classes based on armor class distribution anyway, but yeah, int plate is another armor type that could use more desirability. The likelihood is higher, though, that they'd get rid of int plate altogether rather than "having" to make a new class who uses it.
The Queue: Zul'Drak owns
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 decided today that Zul'Drak is my favorite Wrath zone. The beginning can lag a little bit, but once you get to the second level of the kingdom, it really heats up. It feels like it really was a kingdom once -- not a castle or a village, but a real kingdom where trolls lived and died. The whole place feels foreboding and formidable -- even the trees look mean. And when you get there, it's completely screwed. You travel up the tiers fighting Scourge, and then suddenly: holy crap! The trolls won! But how did they...oh. Well that's not very good. The atmosphere is nearly unmatched in the rest of the game. It's bleak for so many reasons. The bottom is bleak because the Scourge gained too much of a foothold. The middle tier is bleak because you understand what the trolls did to win. And the top tier is bleak because you realize no matter what, the Drakkari are doomed. The enemy is dead, but the empire is dead ... and the gods are dead. HmmmHmmm asked: If they make a Bard class will it wear Int/ Mail since there are so many others fighting for plate and leather gear? It would make sense from a gameplay perspective, though maybe not necessarily from a flavor one. Bards tend to be lightly armored, and mail is the second-heaviest armor. Then again, WoW doesn't have any bards, so there's nothing in the canon to base their armor class on!
The Queue: Two milkmen go comedy
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 just finished Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward on my Vita (it was free on PS+) and holy moley! What a great game! I've really been digging on the visual novel style lately and this one has a really cool story that unfolds in ways I wasn't anticipating. Highly highly recommended. dshiryu asked: Any chance of seeing Demon Hunters as that rumored new playable class? I'm not sure there's really a "rumor" about a new playable class; it's just something some players want with no solid evidence to back it up. But: unless the fundamental idea of a demon hunter changes, we won't see it as a playable class. Nearly all of their abilities and "kit" have been given to warlocks (or DKs, or rogues, etc). We're not talking "well, DKs had Death Coil originally, and they gave it to warlocks, and DKs did just fine...". We're talking everything demon-huntery except dual-wielding glaives has been given to warlocks. It's probably time to give up that ghost.
The Queue: Big McLargehuge
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. This is one of my all-time favorite MST3K gags. Puntable1 asked: Is Radical Mojo and Kor'kron armor good for anything in 5.4? Should I make sure to use them before the patch? You won't be able to get them after 5.4 launches, so I wouldn't anticipate any new things to do with them at that point; if you're just asking if you can turn them in post-5.4, I wouldn't even count on that.
The Queue: Such great heights
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. Well, it's ten years late, but I saw the Postal Service perform last night, and it was everything I hoped for. They even got Jenny Lewis to perform with them! And Big Freedia opened for them! And Postal Service came out and twerked! Never thought I'd utter those words! DavidMcRae asked: how happy are you for blizzard to add scifi elements to the game? and where would u feel comfortable setting limits to it? WoW is already basically a sci-fi game. It's the highest of high fantasy. Burning Crusade had spaceships, for Pete's sake. Setting BC as WoW's sci-fi upper limit seems to have worked just fine so far.
The Queue: Smokey 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. Yes, I know I've used this image of Smokey as a Queue header before, but I don't care. Look at this gorgeous boy! WrecklessJersey asked: So with the first Warcraft movie teaser trailer being shown exclusively at Comic-Con, when do we expect to see the next trailer? Hopefully, one that everyone can enjoy this time. Well, the movie hasn't even started filming yet, and isn't scheduled to until 2014, so a full trailer is probably a loooong ways off. Maybe by next BlizzCon?