wow-guide
Latest
The Queue: Let's do the time warp 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. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. I spent way too much time yesterday looking at the screen pictured above -- let's hope that won't be the case today, shall we? More importantly, let's answer some Warcraft questions. msphoenyxx asked: Follow up question on the portal thing. Khadgar (and all the mages in Stormshield) can open it from alternate Draenor to our Azeroth in present day. As alternate Draenor is not present day time, how does this work? I'm not familiar with mages having the powers to access time ways. That sounds like a bronze dragon thing. Mages can handle time magic a bit -- Time Warp, after all. It's definitely not just a bronze dragon thing -- although from a speculative standpoint, I think it has less to do with time manipulation and more to do with the fact that they are basically creating a portal home -- making a portal to a place they've never been would likely be pretty difficult. Making one to home? Little easier. But only a little. Khadgar has a tough time with it, at first -- he says as much in the quests.
The Queue: Hipster Grom had Gorehowl when it was cool
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. Seriously. That's what, a level 12 green? What happened there? Did Grom see all the people transmogging to Gorehowl and decide it wasn't cool anymore? "Oh, a Gorehowl. Yeah, I had a Gorehowl once. But then it sold out." TheGreatJacob asks: Q4tQ: Followers question: My husband and I were merrily garrisoning today congratulating each other on our various rare/epic followers when a question came to mind. Are we stuck with what we roll for a follower forever? Say my main gets crap rolls for followers, and my alt gets all epic followers. Are those followers set for the rest of the expansion? I included this question because while I know that your followers level up as you go, getting better at various missions, I honestly don't know if there's a system in place for getting a green follower to go to rare or epic. So I figured this being the Queue, someone will come along and point to a post somewhere that I missed saying exactly that. Then I read the person who responded to you, and they posted a link that in fact answers this question. So thanks, jmlafave85. I was worried my current collection of homicidal axe-wielding lady followers would end up somewhat weak at level 100, but no, they're all going to be epic eventually.
The Queue: Everything I do is a distraction right now
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. Writing this Queue? A distraction. Showering, eating, experiencing the joys of nature? All distractions. My soul longs to be drowned in Draenor. Yet here I am writing this Queue. For love of you, dear WoW Insider readers who are likely currently playing in Draenor instead of reading it. Fie! A pox upon the frailties of my human body, my human brain, that cannot simply be submerged forever into the deep, deep digital waters of Warlords. Anyway, the Queue. I believe in the before times we answered questions here. It shall be so again. Merkavar asks: How many hours from 90-100 you think. I'm not an energy drinking nutter with a 20 step plan for most efficient leveling. My plan is to go fast to 100 the first time then go back for the story etc on my many alts Matt "Matticus" Low is already level 98. So it's reasonable to estimate 10 to 12 hours.
The Queue: Professions, BlizzCon, and Asking 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. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. I'm back from BlizzCon and fully rested. Let's do this, Warlords! Magruun asked: I don't quite understand the small plots in your garrison. I have Alchemy and Inscription on my character. should I build the buildings for those 2 professions or is it better to pick 2 buildings for professions I don't have? What are the advantages/disadvantages for picking one way or another exactly?
The Queue: In which Scott Leyes is our hero
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'm pretty sure my least favorite moment of every road trip ever was when we checked out of our hotel today and went to the parking garage only to find my car completely lifeless. After some brief panicking on my part and a call to my insurance company followed by an excruciating wait for a repair man who never came, reader Scott Leyes decided to be a big damn hero and swoop in to rescue us. And by rescue I mean jump start my car back to life, at which point we took the thing to an Auto Zone and got a new battery ... just in case. Look, the desert is nice and all, but I don't want to be deserted there. Needless to say it's Been A Day, I'm really tired, and it's time to curl up and answer some Warcraft questions. We still do that around here, after all! Devin asked: I'm curious how many people actually want yearly expansion... I personally don't mind the downtime at the end of an expansion but understand why others do. I think 18-20 months per expansion would be perfect. Any faster than that and you're just paying more for roughly the same amount of content. I think that it depends on what one's definition of an expansion happens to be. Blizzard has kind of defined the word as "a giant block of new content, new levels, new maps, new quests, new races, and anything else we'd like to throw in." That definition is very hard, if not next to impossible, to fill in just one year. And as long as that's the case, we're not going to see it. Personally, I'd be perfectly content if they reduced the definition of the word expansion and what that encompasses, and instead released smaller expansions on a more timely schedule. It's not that I don't like the idea of large chunks of content delivered all at once -- I just don't like the big delays in between those large chunks of content, and I'd be perfectly happy with smaller chunks delivered on a regular basis.
The Queue: Reinhardt is
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. Okay, when I finally get to play Overwatch, I'm absolutely going to play as this man/woman/robot/whatever it is. Just look at it. It's perfect. It's huge, armored, carries a gigantic hammer. Boom. Sign me up. jpec07 asks: So Rossi is on queue duty while the rest of the gang is on vacation to SoCal? That sucks, man, I'm sorry. Q4tQ: I'm going to be picking up my pre-order of Warlords: CE next Thursday/Friday, and it made me realize I have an entirely new opportunity to do a level 90 boost. So queuers, my question to you: What is your favorite race/gender/class/spec combo? If you can, give me three reasons why. Yes, yet again I miss all the previews and games and just all the cool stuff. It has always been this way. As for your question, my actual answer would be draenei male fury warrior. This is why. (I know that's the old model, but if anything he looks better now.) But since I know you want something else, I'll say female undead fury warrior. Roll one, get it a couple of two hand weapons, watch her go. It's mermerizing. The animations are the best. And you get cannibalize, which is gross, but it's helpful while leveling. Also, you'll get to ride around on a bone pony. (My actual #2 is tauren prot warrior, but I figured I'd give you something unusual.)
The Queue: He screamed BlizzCon and then keeled over
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. This column goes live at 11 am on the East Coast of the United States. BlizzCon opens at 11 am on the West Coast of the United States. That means another three hours until BlizzCon. The suspense is killing me. I feel as though I were being crushed in the jaws of a mighty Giganotosaurus. Yeah, okay, I was reaching for that one. It's a Friday Queue, gotta have some dinosaurs in it. Enjoy you screencap from Primeval. If you haven't watch it yet, do. Saph asks: Q4TQ - Having gone back to ICC multiple times these past few weeks, do you ever think we will go back to Icecrown and have more story with Bolvar? With the many 'nearly a setback' baddies out there, returning enemies is clearly a story theme in WoW. It's certainly a possibility. I wouldn't expect it next expansion or anything, but I think the idea of losing the Scourge entirely was too much from a story perspective - the recurring threat of the walking dead is one Blizzard wants to have in the quiver, so to speak. Then again, Sylvanas and the Forsaken could well end up filling that role for the living of Azeroth at this rate.
WoW Moviewatch: Trick or Treat
Yes, I know it's a week late. I still laughed at I don't think he's going to give us any candy so here you go. Wowcrendor, Trick or Treat, happy week after Halloween everyone. I mean you're all at BlizzCon anyway, it's like I'm posting Moviewatch all for myself, might as well be something that amuses me. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: Holding Down The Fort
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. Just sing the title of this Queue to the tune of the song, it'll all make sense. Loremaster asks: I come to you with a decent sized WoW Lore Question. "What major storylines/events happen between Warcraft 3 and Vanilla?" I am having a hard time tracking events. . . any help would be helpful! I have played since BC and for the Light I cannot recall any events of interest between the RTS and MMO. Obviously rebuilt Stormwind (Rise of Difias), Sylvannas enters the Horde. . . but what else? Assuming we don't count the WCIII expansion as between WCIII and Vanilla WoW... For starters, the entirety of Cycle of Hatred takes place in that time period. It's set roughly one year before World of Warcraft. In addition, the scenes in the War of the Ancients trilogy that are set in the 'present day' (the stuff with Rhonin and Korialstraz and Broxigar before they travel back in time) are also set after the conclusion of the Third War, but prior to the MMO. Besides those, we know that at some point the night elves decided they liked the cut of the human's gib and joined the Alliance, probably because the orcs just wouldn't stop cutting down their trees without asking (because the answer would be no), the gnomes ended up in Ironforge during this time period (no gnomes to speak of in WCIII, after all) and joined up with the Alliance. Stormwind was actually rebuilt significantly before Warcraft III. It was mostly intact by the time Warcraft II's expansion Beyond the Dark Portal came out. It just didn't have much of a role in WCIII, because the plague and the Burning Legion never made their way south from Lordaeron. The plague was contained to the north of the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Burning Legion was more focused on getting to Kalimdor and blowing up Nordrassil. From the perspective of Stormwind, what happened was their biggest and most powerful sister kingdom went belly up before they could even react. In a way, it must have seemed like Warcraft I and II all over again, but in reverse - instead of refugees from Stormwind pouring into Lordaeron, refugees from Lordaeron came pouring into Stormwind. That migration and resettlement of Lordaeron refugees into Stormwind (the ones who didn't go with Jaina to Kalimdor and settle in Theramore, which is to say, the majority of them) took some of that four years between the end of the Third War and the start of classic WoW. There's more, of course - the silithid started getting out of AQ during this time period, Onyxia arranged for Varian Wrynn's kidnapping, Nefarian started his awful experiments in Blackwing Lair, Ragnaros was pushing the Dark Irons to get out there and do evil stuff, and Arthas was taking a heck of a nap - more than we could really cover right now. If you go to our lore guide and search for Interbellum you'll find a series of six or seven posts I did covering the period just after the Third War. I linked to the first one to get you started.
The Queue: A wild trademark appears! It's super effective!
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. Let's just cover this here, because I think this constant monitoring of the trademark databases is kinda silly. Luminous asked: New Blizzard Trademark registered : "Eye Of Azshara". A new Hearthstone expansion? The next WoW expansion? Blizzard releasing a shooter -- "Call of Duty : Eye Of Azshara"?
The Queue: Vengeful, Tricksy Ghosts
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 know people who don't like Massive Attack. I've never understood those people. I'm writing the Queue today because Alex Ziebart apparently angered a ghost or something. I'm in Texas and the only person with a Texan accent is the guy who they let into my room. What the hell. - Alex Ziebart (@AlexZiebart) November 2, 2014 Seriously, any tweet Alex made yesterday could be in Alighieri's Inferno. I'm seriously afraid that Alex is being hunted by vengeful, tricksy ghosts. diamondustviil asks: Hm, here's a question for you. My Shaman has a reagent bag for her enchanting stuff. Is there really any reason to keep it around anymore, or should I just get her a good-sized normal bag and throw stuff in the reagent tab as much as possible? Nope, no reason at all to keep that bag. Reagent tab all the way.
Know Your Lore: Five characters to watch for in Warlords of Draenor
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Warlords of Draenor launches in a little over a week, with a ton of new story and a cast of characters both new and old -- very, very old. Since the expansion's reveal at last year's BlizzCon, we've been covering the major players of the next expansion -- their history in our universe, as well as their history in this alternate version of Draenor we'll find ourselves wandering upon. Each orc clan on Draenor has its own unique history and is led by a distinctive leader, a major name that in most cases, we've been familiar with for years. But those big names and major characters aren't the only people we'll be seeing on Draenor, and by all means they aren't the only characters we should be paying attention to. For every Grommash, Gul'dan, Blackhand, Velen, Khadgar -- the list goes on -- there are other players, not quite as loudly promoted, who have their own place in this Draenor's history. Characters you should be watching out for -- because they've got some pretty interesting story hooks of their own. Please note: The following Know Your Lore contains several spoilers for Warlords of Draenor. If you are avoiding all expansion spoilers, avoiding the article would be advised.
WoW Moviewatch: Talk Common to Me
It's not often that a song parody will actually make me laugh out loud, but Talk Common to Me managed to do the job pretty effectively at 40 seconds in. I do love well-written song parodies, and this one was done perfectly, performed flawlessly by Kavo, Letomi and Truff. The machinima was created by Khayllys, who is responsible for more than a few of my favorite films over the past couple of years. Clever and well sung music parodies aside, what I really enjoy about this particular video is that there's a mix of the old models and the new. Seeing them at times even side by side just highlights how much of an improvement the updates are -- the sheer amount of expressive emotion the new faces are capable of is pretty staggering. I can't wait to see the new models start showing up in more films as more machinima artists start getting a handle on them. If you like the video, be sure to check out Khayllys' Youtube channel for more. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good
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. By the time you guys are reading this, I will have already picked up Alex Ziebart from the airport and we are likely already somewhere in the wilds of Utah on our way to BlizzCon. Thus is the magic of internet scheduling! We'll be up to shenanigans and keeping you all informed during the week. I promise I won't lose him in the desert. His girlfriend would kill me. gazaa07 asked: Q4tQ: Now that pre-Mists raids are soloable to a larger group of people, How far are you into getting the xmog you want to march into Dreaenor with? Oh man. Have I mentioned I filled the entire second tab of void storage as my first act upon logging in in 6.0? I'm set for wardrobe, really.
WoW Moviewatch: Pride - Trailer
Machinima artist Suge has been quietly working on a full-out movie involving the events of the Siege of Orgrimmar, and put together a trailer for the film that includes some character work as well as a selection of fight scenes and actual raiding. With all of that thrown together in a two minute trailer, Pride looks like it's going to be absolutely stunning when it comes out. There are a few things every movie trailer should do, but top of that list is making the viewer want to watch the actual film, and Suge totally nailed that here. Between gorgeous video editing, some pretty awesome voice work, and a music track that is suitably ominous and inspiring, Suge has put together a perfect trailer. I particularly love the way audio tracks from the Siege of Orgrimmar are interwoven among the voice acting. The film looks like it's going to be featuring some fights from the heroic -- now mythic -- difficulty of Siege of Orgrimmar, which should be a treat in and of itself. Take a look at the trailer, and sit tight for the full film, which should be out soon. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: How was your haul?
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. This song has been stuck in my head all night, pretty much! But hey -- how was everyone's Halloween? Did you get a lot of candy? Do you have a lot of leftover candy you didn't give away? I don't get trick or treaters out here in the mountains, so the night has been pretty uneventful. Let's answer some Warcraft questions, shall we? wrathofkublahan asked: Lets pretend I have a ton of herbs in my shiny new reagent tab. On Nov. 13, if I start making flasks; a lot of them, will my alchemy be leveling points? Is it worth the grind? Would you gain points? Some. Is it worth the grind? No. Profession leveling is pretty easy in Warlords, you'll actually be leveling right along as you're questing. No pre-grinding required -- you'd be better served hopping through the portal and just getting started with content.
The Queue: Why does Blizzard hate warriors?
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. Look, as soon as you saw the question yesterday, you knew I was going to answer it. Let's not play games - it's beneath us. MichaelVakian asks: Q4tQ: (age old question) Why does blizzard hate warriors so much? On a side note, maybe it's just me because my main is a frost mage and I have 3 warrior alts. :( Hi, Michael. I'm Matthew Rossi. I've played a warrior a few times over the years. What I'm going to say now may surprise you - I don't think Blizzard hates warriors. However, I'm willing to say the following: Blizzard has not done a fantastic job of keeping warriors balanced over the years. Blizzard nerfs warriors too quickly when they're powerful in outdated content that doesn't matter any more. We saw similar nerfs at the end of Wrath of the Lich King. Warriors get more complaints from other classes when they are strong than any other class. I'm not sure why this is. Should warriors top the DPS meters, there will be wholesale wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Rage is, as it has always been, both a boon and a curse. We have to wait to generate it before we can unleash our best attacks, it often costs too much to do what we need it to do, and yet because it's such a malleable resource it tends to get very good once we're geared to a certain point. Warrior still are weak until they're in the best possible gear. Let's not pretend warriors were weak when 6.0.2 launched. They weren't. Were the nerfs we've seen warranted? No. They were too harsh. Far, far too harsh. But I can't with a straight face sit here and say we didn't have some nerfs coming. However, I also think those nerfs could have waited - there was really no reason to nerf us in SoO content. So in short, no, Blizzard doesn't hate warriors, but it sometimes feels like they're ridiculously quick on the nerf switch when it comes to us.
The Queue: Random Hodor
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. Today's Queue doesn't feature anything about the Horde or the Alliance. It does, however, have a picture of Hodor. Senusenu asked: I just returned (just in time to NOT have enough time to get that $&%#ing cloak). I started doing Sunreavers on my rogue again, got revered, and got the commendation for rep boost. I did this for the cloud serpent rep and it effected all of my characters, both factions and all servers. I just logged into my Ally shaman and saw she has the Kirin Tor boost from my rogue's Sunreaver Onslaught commendation. Is this new, or has it always mirrored the factions? Cloud Serpents made sense as it was a neutral faction, but this was surprising.
Know Your Lore: Mannoroth
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. We talk about the great evils of the Warcraft universe - your Kil'jaeden's and Archimonde's, your Sargeras and your Old Gods - and of course there's the mortal monsters like Gul'dan, quite possibly the single most evil mortal being ever to live, or Kel'Thuzad who enslaved himself to evil so profound that his transformation into a lich was probably a palliative influence on his malevolence. But what of evil as a corrupting vector? What of an evil so profound that it is part of your blood, that can seep into the souls of an entire race? Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you - what of Mannoroth, king of the Pit Lords, master of the Annihilan? We know little of the Annihilan. They are the pit lords, a massive and powerful species of demons recruited to serve the Legion by none other than Kil'jaeden himself. They were already a powerful part of the Legion when the War of the Ancients unfolded - Mannoroth himself was one of the Legion's elite who came through the portal to help make clear the way for Sargeras to stride forth into Azeroth, doing battle with the forces of the Kaldorei who were attempting to preserve their lives. But as to where the pit lords come from, it is as yet a mystery unsolved. What world did they originate on? What happened to it? We do not know. What we do know is this - few races in all the cosmos can boast so powerful and corrupting an evil nature as the Annihilan. And Mannoroth was for eons first among the pit lords - the acknowledged master of his kind, the most powerful of them all. Not Brutallus, not Magtheridon, not Azgalor, but Mannoroth ruled the Annihilan on behalf of the Legion.
Know Your Lore: The lost tales of Pandaria
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Mists of Pandaria was packed with a lot of story, each of its 'acts' dovetailing into the next. It wasn't quite as expansive as the myriad plot points that were introduced with Cataclysm, but Cataclysm also included a revamp of almost every level 1-60 zone in the game, with both quests and the stories of the zones themselves getting a shot of new story content. When Cataclysm was winding down to its inevitable end, I reviewed several of the plot points left in the expansion -- story hooks that we might or might not see addressed later. There are still many out there left untouched. It only seemed appropriate, in the waning weeks of Mists, to do the same. Although Mists didn't have quite the variety as Cataclysm, there were still moments of potential story that were left unanswered -- tales without an ending, problems or puzzles we still don't have an answer to. And as we move forward into Warlords of Draenor, we can only wonder if, or when, we'll see these elements pop up again. Please note: The following post contains some spoilers for the novel War Crimes.
