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The Queue: But we will be conquerors
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. I really like that line. That being said I think Grommash looks like Sean Bean with an overbite in this cinematic, so he's doomed. Also, let me be up front - I predicted October as the latest for this expansion, and I was wrong. It's worth admitting when you're wrong. DiavoJinx asked: Question! Has there been any evidence in Warcraft so far that mages can specifically manipulate magnetism (like Magneto)? I'm thinking if it's the "Iron Horde", then lots of iron in their weapons & armor along with wood, so we just need some fire mages and some magnetism mages to port in and take care of the whole situation. Shortest expansion yet! ;-) As far as I can tell, no, we've seen no such mages. Quite frankly, everybody uses weapons and armor made out of magnetic materials, like iron and steel. It's not like it would just be good against the Iron Horde. As to why mages can't do that... maybe they just haven't thought to try yet. Ooh, new level 110 spells!
The Queue: Beta testing, tanking, and fries
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. I dig the questions today, let's get down to it. Zapwidget lamented: When will people realize that the beta is beta and that the purpose of beta is to test not just for bugs but also player reaction? Why do they assume that things in beta will change if nobody expresses negative opinions? Blizzard is not a psychic entity and is not capable of interpreting silence very well. If they don't hear that people are dissatisfied then they are very unlikely to expend further resources iterating and improving. Beta is not just early access. It's not just a preview of unfinished programming. It's called beta testing, not beta previewing. And then to complain about people offering opinions about the beta? That goes to show that people will complain about anything.
The Queue: It's the little things
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. Some of the most impressive stuff in Warlords so far, to me anyway, are the little things that are likely going to be overlooked by a lot of players. Carefully placed boots next to an unmade bed. A couple of books stacked up, light reading for whoever is staying in the inn. The leg of chicken, or turkey, or ... well, whatever Draenor's animal equivalent happens to be -- and it's got a bite taken out of it. Let's take a bite out of some Warcraft questions. Bruin asked: I have a question about avoiding spoilers. I'd like to play the game and be surprised. I ALSO really like the books, and sometimes comics. Should I avoid the Comic that got released until I play WoD? It depends. The comic itself takes place before the events of Warlords begin, but it involves characters that are seen in Warlords, and why they are the way they are. I wouldn't call it spoiler material, as it isn't giving away anything that we haven't already seen in promotional art or heard about at BlizzCon, but if you're doing your best to avoid absolutely everything related to Warlords, I'd skip the comic for now. I would also avoid Know Your Lore this evening, because I'm going to be talking about the comic in detail.
The Queue: We're MC Raiders
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. The announcement of 40-man LFR Molten Core has me both excited and a little terrified. It also gave me flashbacks to Illegal Danish and the song that ran over the end credits. If you haven't seen the gloriousness that is Illegal Danish, you should probably go watch that now. While you're doing that, we'll just get to answering some questions. cromhar asked: "our final act in fighting the Warlords will be to defeat the Iron Horde utterly" I might be totally wrong here, but didnt Blizz say that the IH would be the "problem" in WoD only for a certain time before the story shifts to something else, like another villain/enemy? I thought I had read this a while ago, but maybe I am wrong? I don't recall anyone saying that exactly. I do know that I'm of the opinion that the Iron Horde isn't going to be the only big bad we fight on Draenor, and it might not even be the expansion-ending boss, either. There's too much other stuff on Draenor, and we've barely scratched the surface of it all, but we spend this first ramp up in the expansion systematically going through and getting rid of some of the worst of what the Iron Horde has to offer. I don't think we're going to dedicate all of our time to the Iron Horde. But again, that's my opinion, it hasn't been stated anywhere officially.
The Queue: With my big black boots and an old suitcase
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. It was this or Seven Mary Three. Questions. Let us answer them. MichaelVakian asks: Q4tQ: What are your thoughts on Blizzard releasing the title of it's next Wow xpac at Blizzcon this year? I think this is almost certainly going to be the case. I'd be amazed if they didn't have an expansion to preview in some fashion. Not to sound cynical, but it's hard to imagine them doing a BlizzCon without a big tentpole announcement like a new World of Warcraft expansion. And frankly, after this content drought and the lost subs that followed along with it. they need to keep the future content patches coming to retain subscriber interest.
The Queue: Anniversary content, cosmetic enchants, and in-game pride
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. You know what's great? When our CMS works perfectly and I can write The Queue without having to muck around with stuff. Thus, this is a great day, and a great Queue. Let us begin. Luke asked: Does anyone have any idea whether the anniversary content will be for level 90 or level 100? Before or after the launch of WoD?
The Queue: Lifestyles of the rich and feathered
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. Say what you will about the arakkoa, but those guys are aces when it comes to construction and interior design. Let's get right to the questions, shall we? Fizzl asked: Q4TQ: What exactly is Blizzard's stance on Machinima tools? I found one that I'm interested in using, but it allows you to take control of the camera and alter lighting and all that (stuff a lot of machinimakers do for their videos). In short, stuff that is against the ToS... however, Blizzard seems pretty okay with the machinima community, so I'm curious as to how "safe" my account would be if I start to use this tool. Most places I look, people say it's just sort of an unsaid rule of thumb that Blizzard is fine with this but has Blizzard ever actually officially said anything regarding stuff that allows this sort of in-game (client-side only) visual manipulation? From what I am aware of, there's no real "official" stance on these types of tools -- especially since a lot of machinima artists use them for videos. All the tools do is affect the graphics on your end of the client. They don't affect the game itself, and they don't do anything to gameplay. You can use a machinima tool to take pretty images and video, but there's no way you can use that tool to cheat the game. If there were, that's where Blizzard would have a major problem, I think.
The Queue: I'm not paying you for this
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. I know Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas is popular and everything but I'm pretty sure I don't pay my garrison dudes to sit around playing card games all day. I mean, come on. At the very least let me sit down and play a round or two, guys. sylvannia1 asked: Q4tq, do you feel that it was a mistake for most of the WoW devs to be on Twitter? There seems to be a bit too much analysing on everything that's said, and the short character limit means they often need to clarify what was said etc. I get its quick way to communicate with the player base, but I feel sharing news etc is bad on Twitter and should be on the official forums. Gosh no. I like the fact that the devs are on Twitter. Having the ability to interact with the public directly is cool. I don't think that the fact that they are saying something on Twitter has anything to do with the heavy analysis -- I think anything they say is going to be heavily analyzed at this point, regardless of the medium in which it is presented. I do think, however, that they might want to balance the Twitter-talk with forum-talk and blog posts in regards to news and updates, so that those mediums don't fall by the wayside. Twitter may be incredibly easy to use, but not everyone uses it.
The Queue: Your guess is as good as mine
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. Never let it be said that I don't play along with you guys. CatrionaShadowleaf asks: I didn't want to bitch about it in the Ashbringer KYL (because the TRUE Ashbringer is a stand-up guy) but dammit do the wives/mothers ALWAYS have to be stuffed into refrigerators? Can't characters just have mothers? Off of the top of my head the only mothers we really get any time with are Garona and Aegwynn, and of those two, one is currently dead. Lianne Menethil died off panel somewhere, Tiffin Wrynn died when a rock hit her in the head, I don't even know who Varian's mom was, much less Jaina Proudmoore's... there are other examples (Draka, Thrall's mom, also dead) but in general, I think it's a fair cop that WoW is hard on moms. Frankly, what I want is to find out that Anduin Lothar met a woman, fell in love, had a kid, and that woman is still alive, as is her daughter, who is going to show up and just kick all kinds of behind and become war leader of the entire Alliance because she's a chip off the old block. Because seriously, enough is enough with the mom killing. People's moms need to stop dying in WoW, it's getting weird. I guess Aggra's still around. Here's hoping she doesn't go to see any Zorro movies.
The Queue: In which a retraction is made
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. You know, I wasn't exactly pleased about the idea of "capital" city locations being on Ashran -- I was really, really looking forward to Karabor. But after seeing the town on beta last night, I hate to admit it, but ... well, it's pretty cool. The inn is awesome, I love the trading post, the place is just being built so I'm assuming it'll get bigger later, but ... it's really not that bad. Consider me pleasantly surprised, and apologetic for criticizing it. It's not Karabor, but it's cool, and I could see hanging out there every now and again. Much better than the Shrines in Mists. CaptainCakewalk asked: Q4tQ: A nice question (I think so anyway!). What would be the one thing you would love to see in the game lifted from unused Lore in WoW / Warcraft Universe as a whole? I personally would love to one day go to Kul'Tiras as it seems like it would be an amazing place to visit! I would very much like to see Kul Tiras, provided they retcon Jaina's other brother Tandred back into the game and make him a swarthy burly crusty sailor dude a-la Captain Slam Beefchin from the Mists trailer. Then pair him up with guns-and-roses Lorna Crowley on a mission to get Gilneas back, because I'm guessing it would be tremendously entertaining to watch the two of them snipe at each other. I may have thought about this before.
The Queue: Bashiok, where is my loot?
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. I found Bashiok. He's a very handsome tree person, but he didn't drop anything -- I'll have to re-visit him later. Fizzl asked: Lore Q4TQ (stolen from reddit): In WC3, what port did Arthas take to Northrend? There don't appear to be docks anywhere in Lordaeron so did he go all the way to Menethil? Or is it one of those things that just got overlooked and lost in translation? It was never really defined, but I assume that Lordaeron had ports at one point in time, before the Scourge went and wiped everything out. Silverpine does have a northern coast, after all.
The Queue: Pandaren, Tanaan, Gundrak's mystery tail
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. In today's Queue, I am probably going to outright anger some of you. Try and keep it civil in the comments, as I will when I give the answer that will anger you. Angerfork asks: What is your take on Tanaan coming out in a future content patch & how it was communicated? In case you're wondering, this is how it was communicated - by a tweet from Community Manager Lore. @ChromWolf Those level ranges are correct. Rest of Tanaan will be in a content patch (it's the Iron Horde's primary seat of power). - Lore (@CM_Lore) July 24, 2014 If you're curious, my take on it is it's his job to do exactly this - answer player questions. He did so in a clear, concise and not at all disrespectful or antagonistic way. If you then look at the responses to his tweet, they're rude, condescending, and boorishly aggressive for the most part. Quite frankly, they're not worth responding to. Lore did his job, and there's no reason to be upset with him for how he did it. The argument that we should have known this sooner and it shows a lack of transparency from Blizzard doesn't work for me either - it's not like with Karabor or Bladespire, where we were told 'these will be capitals' and then later 'they won't be, sorry'. As for the idea of Tanaan coming out in a later content patch, frankly, I don't see the problem. We already knew Farahlon would be similarly released after the expansion - we'll get to see Tanaan when we come through the Dark Portal, then start our leveling process in one of the two starting zones, and then have Gorgrond, Talador, Spires of Arak, and Nagrand to level through, so a total of six zones available at launch, five per faction. Considering how huge the zones are, it's not like we're going to be starving for content - each zone so far has had subzones within it with special level 100 content. Basically, I find the idea that everything Blizzard says is greeted with extreme cynicism and doomsaying to be getting crazy old. Does Blizzard make mistakes? Sure they do. All the damn time. Having Mists of Pandaria last this long was a huge mistake, for instance. Do they do things each and every one of us might find questionable? Of course. But when a CM can't even make a simple post clarifying when a zone will be available without enduring sneering contempt, we need to dial it back. Especially when considering that CM's don't design the game. Getting angry with a CM over what he or she tells you is as pointless as flipping out at the guy behind the counter at Starbucks for the company's policy on how it treats small coffee farmers. (This is just an example, for all I know Starbucks has a great policy towards the independent coffer grower.)
The Queue: Beggars, mounters, and dungeon runners
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. Nice questions in the Queue today. And I must say, it's a nice day out over all. I just love it when it's 90 and humid. Hint: I'm being sarcastic... very sarcastic. Jeff "The Dude" LaBowski asked: Why isn't begging for gold in WoW a ban worthy offense? Other than duel spam or guild invite spam, it's gotta be the most annoying thing.
The Queue: Sunday songs
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. It's Sunday! And there are plenty of questions to answer, so let's just hop into them. Ethan815 asked: Q4tQ (but mostly for the readers): What is your favorite track from each of the WoW soundtracks? I'm not going to list every track I love from every expansion, but the track above is one I've had stuck in my head recently.
The Queue: Well I look a little different
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. I logged onto the beta to find new models in place for both my shaman and my priest. I really like how the model revamps are coming along -- they look absolutely amazing, and my shaman is everything I could've hoped for. But let's get to the Warcraft questions, shall we? jpec07 asked: Do you think we should get recustomizations with the new models? Do you think we will? Do I think we should get them? Yes. To keep it reasonable, limit it to one per WoW license, like the level 90 boosts that are coming with the expansion. Don't get me wrong, the new models look great, but I think it would go a long way if we were allowed to freely tweak our chosen main and make a few changes if we see fit to do so. I don't think it needs to be in place for every character on our account, but you'd think that one wouldn't be too far of a stretch. Do I think we'll actually get one? I honestly couldn't tell you -- we've been told no, that will not be a thing, but we're still in beta and Blizzard has been known to occasionally change their minds about things. We'll have to wait and see.
The Queue: Draenei society, Ice cream, Zone uncertainty
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. Answering questions. It is our mission. It is... the Queue. xashbringerx asks: Why is it that the Draenei society that we meet in WoD so supposedly different than the Draenei that players can be? Lore-wise, Draenei have been a race in exile/constantly on the run from the Burning Legion since the corruption of Archimonde and Kiljaeden. Isn't the escape from Draenor to Azeroth in our timeline just a status quo for them? Technically, they already suffered a greater loss of their society when Sargeras came and corrupted two of their leaders and 95% of their original population - turning them into the Eredar (who then turned against the now-Draenei, and nearly annihilated them, saved only by Velen and the Naaru. The suffering caused by the Old Horde appears almost insignificant when compared to their original loss at the hand of Sargeras. The flight from Argus was 25,000 years ago, and it greatly changed draenei society (technically, draenei society didn't even exist 25,000 years ago, they were all just eredar then). They were the ones who exiled themselves - the majority of their old society pledged themselves to Sargeras. Remember, the original name of the race was 'eredar', not draenei -- draenei means exiles. As for why their society is so much different on Draenor than it is on Azeroth, it's very simple - they almost all died. Not 'we ran away and left our relatives behind' but 'everyone but a small group of battle hardened survivors died'. The original flight was a self-chosen exile. This was "9/10th of everyone we've known and loved for 25,000 years is dead." That's why it's such a big deal. If you think the Old Horde killing just about every single draenei with a handful of survivors is insignificant... well, it probably isn't to the people who had to undergo it.
The Queue: Surfing to Karabor
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! Woo! Imagine me jumping out of a plane now without a chute, like Keanu in Point Break. mightbechris says: I thing to Sylvanas no, she doesn't do wrong. She an undead being. She has a long history of both combat and watching her people suffer. I can't fault any action she's taken. She isn't a good person by any stretch, but she protects her subjects and kingdom. Given her history I think she's justified in her actions. She's also a Horde faction leader. Am I the only one that wishes the Horde was ok with being the bad guys? I know when I role play any or my Horde toons I don't feel right if they have a grounded moral compass. I don't really understand the first part of your question/statement. Sylvanas isn't wrong to invade neighboring countries and murder people with disease because she's undead? That's pretty flexible morality. By that standard, nothing Arthas did was wrong, including murdering Sylvanas and the people of Lordaeron in the first place. I mean, he was a servant of the Lich King, and then because the Lich King himself, so it's okay that he freed his people from suffering by rendering them all walking corpses, right? Being undead, being a Horde faction leader, even being someone who's seen a lot of suffering and combat, none of this excuses anyone from their actions. Garrosh was a Horde faction leader, and he grew up on the shattered remnants of a world we call Outland, believing himself damned due to the actions of his bloodthirsty father. We still have little difficulty calling what he did wrong. As for the Horde being the bad guys - I think the Horde has been established as more 'morally grey' than out and out bad guys in its World of Warcraft version. The Old Horde? Total bad guys. The Horde as bad guys is such a useful trope that we keep getting other Hordes to fight, like Garrosh's True Horde and Iron Horde.
The Queue: Favorite quest, battlegrounds, and the Undead
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. Queuers, I'm having a crabby. There's another polar vortex hanging over Minneapolis, and the city's traffic is a mess due to the All Star game. Post your happy to make me happy. Zilla asked: What's your favorite quest or quest chain, and why?
The Queue: Favorites and other inquiries
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. The above video is not only a good song, but totally relevant. I promise. Let's get to the questions! Sophdog asked: Q4TQ: What is your most memorable quest/questline? My vote has to go to "The day I punched Deathwing in the face". I make a point of levelling all alts through that zone, just to see it again. The Darrowshire chain from vanilla, hands-down. I remember my first character randomly getting a quest in Winterspring that sent her all the way to Eastern Plaguelands to find Pamela. And I remember how creepy the Eastern Plaguelands were back then, and that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I realized Darrowshire was empty followed abruptly by a case of the willies when I realized Pamela was a dead little girl. The whole chain was amazing. It's still in game, but I feel like Cataclysm stripped a lot of the meaning and the feeling from it, for some reason -- it's just not the same.
The Queue: No spoilers here, just an elekk
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. In an effort to avoid spoilers, I went to capture a generic and adorable image of a wee little baby elekk for you guys. This is when I discovered that approaching any of the baby elekks in the elekk pens immediately drew the attention of mama elekk, who would not leave my side until I walked out of the pen and away from her children. It's little touches that I love about this game. JacobS.Kuntzman asked: So when and why did maintenance change to Thursdays? I know we still get rolling restarts on Tuesdays, but what's the deal? And by extension, would we be expecting the Warlords pre-patch to drop on a Tuesday or a Thursday? Tuesdays are still maintenance days for US servers, and always have been. Thursdays, on the other hand, seem to be the assigned days to do Realm Connections. While we don't know for certain one way or another, I think it's safe to assume at this point that yes, the 6.0 patch will still be arriving on a Tuesday, just like any other patch.
