wow-q-and-a
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The Queue: Many questions, handle them
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. We had a lot of questions today, so let's just get right to them! gazaa07 asked: Q4tQ: Which model do you predict we will see after the male human one? I'd kind of like to see either the female troll, or the male night elf. Preferably female troll, because I'd like to see them finally, at long last, blink. We'll have to wait and see what they decide to show us after the human male, though. jabrone77 asked: QfortheQ: Why on earth would Thrall leave the trade prince in control of the goblins? He enslaved his own people TWICE. I understand the gameplay aspect of it, you can't have a player in charge, but the lore "why" escapes me. Wouldn't Thrall out of everyone on Azeroth be against that?
The Queue: Space goats
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. Shadowmoon Valley opened very briefly on the alpha client yesterday. As soon as it went live, the starting area was immediately hit with a flood of alpha testers. Unfortunately, the servers were brought down a short time after, and will remain down for the weekend to address technical issues. The stampede should commence again in earnest come Monday. Digsu asked: Question: Baine has soundfiles in the game that have him shouting "Open the gate!", "I will not let a single human step past me into Mulgore! My people will not be harmed!" and "Sound the drums of war! For Taurajo!". Where are these from? Those are not actually a part of the game proper -- although from listening to them, they seem to be indicative that at one point in time or another, there was supposed to be some sort of event at the gates that block Mulgore from the rest of the Barrens. Likely whatever was planned for that was cut. It definitely wouldn't be the first time that voice files that were never used made their way into the game files.
The Queue: Why no new class/race, new content now, why stances?
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. Talking about WoW, as we do here. Going to start cranking on player character Artcraft(s), next is human male. - Chris G. Robinson (@artofcgrobinson) June 20, 2014 What is this strange sensation? Is it... can it be... joy? Gendou Knepper asks: Q4Q: Do you think Warlords is setting up for disappointment as the first expansion with no new class or race? I understand that the new character models are taking a lot of resources and that a new class might not be needed. But there's still seems to be a subjective feeling that this expansion is *lacking* something, and I'm not sure why. New classes/races are easy to put on a box and point to as something new. It's hard to convey "Instead of new leveling content for a new race, we're putting that development time into new content for people to go through on their way to level 100." Same thing with a new class (especially one like a death knight, which got its own leveling zone - monks kind of got a hub and some specific monkish quests). I don't think Warlords is setting us up for anything, I think it's more human nature to ignore nuance in favor of broad strokes. New race or class = new content, whereas just going straight to new content isn't as easily grasped, because expansions offer that anyway. On the other hand, new classes and races offer that 'new play experience smell' - they do new things, look new, it's easy to feel like you're getting something with them. In the end, I think Warlords is offering a lot more than just new character models - there's tons of quests, whole new kinds of encounters, the garrison, and huge, sweeping class revamps to go along with stat squishing, dungeons, a new raid structure, etc etc. Ultimately, the lack of a new race or class is pretty meaningless, and if people are disappointed for that alone, I'd argue it was more on them than on Blizzard.
The Queue: Dinosaurs!
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 has been way too long since I nerded out about dinosaurs in an edition of the Queue. Let's all welcome Mercuriceratops gemini, a very cool looking ceratopsian dinosaur. I don't know why NBC decided to cover this as 'weird science' because there's nothing weird about it -- just a very distinctive ceratopsian with a particularly interesting frill. Hopefully, the next time we get dinosaurs in WoW (and I have hopes for Gorgrond and Farahlon)) we'll get a winged ceratopsian. Anyway, it's time for questions, and the answers therein. CaptainCakewalk asks: Q4tQ: I have noticed this for many years now, from the first months of playing WoW back in TBC actually, that we don't have very many doors in Azeroth. So, it got me thinking will Garrison buildings have doors? I know this a really weird question but it's always irked me that the rest of Azeroth, especially humans and Dwarves, don't seem to understand the quality of a door. Think of the drafts up yer kilts! So far my Horde garrison on the alpha is absolutely devoid of doors. So far as I can tell, they don't even have a fur draped across the entrance to keep out the Frostfire chill. Apparently we're all just really freaking hardy. On the one hand, I don't want to have to open a door every time I go in or out of my buildings, but you'd think a few would be around.
The Queue: Other MMOs hating on WoW, one server, salty comments
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. A few good questions today. Let's keep 'em coming! Rode asked: Know what is grinding my gears (and also makes me depress). I've been enjoying Wildstar these past few days but each time i do bring out that i still play WoW and i am looking forward for WoD... i am met with hostility. And i mean big hostility... I got denied, in a jokingly matter, a dungeon run unless i admit WoW is crap, i feel like the last mast standing when i talk in Zone chat and don't get me started on the guildies, all rolling their eyes and calling me the WoW fanboy in front of my face and i am guessing behind my back. I now learn to shut my mouth so i won't cause drama and to just put in smiley faces in guild chat when someone brings out "Vanilla wow was best wow". I can't remember the number of time i bit my cheeks when people say that with a straight face... Are people really playing Wildstar cause they are having a grudge against WoW? Like they think this is proving their point? For me it's two separate game that both community can enjoy but no... people want to draw a line on the sand. And frankly, it is making me sad, literally :( . Cause i really don't want to just pick one cause people are discouraging me to have fun of the other. I hope this will die down the coming months but i seriously hope this will stop from happening at every new MMO launch.
The Queue: Dad dad dad dad
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. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there today! Fizzl asked: Q4TQ: how likely is it Draenor won't actually be the focus of the whole expansion? In other words, what's the chance that halfway through the expansion we finish what we needed to in Draenor and return home only to find the Legion in full force. The rest of the expansion takes place outside of Draenor fighting non-Orc baddies. I think we're going to be on Draenor for the whole expansion -- I don't think we're going to make a sudden rush back to Azeroth, not with so much invested in garrisons and outposts on Draenor. However, I think that Draenor potentially has far worse to offer than a bunch of amped up orc warlords, and I'm guessing we're going to get into that later in the expansion.
The Queue: Got your goat
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. Goats are very talented creatures. Here you see some goats on backup vocals for One Direction. Aren't they the most majestic things you've ever seen? gazaa07 asked: Q4tQ: Now that we are going back to Draenor (granted, a Draenor that wasn't shattered by Demons / Ner'Zhul) do you think we will end up in tier sets that resemble the best that Outland had to offer (T6 FTW)? It's an alternate reality kind of Draenor, and in that case man I hope we see something like that -- alternate re-imagined versions of those tier sets would be pretty neat. At the very least, we do know that we'll be seeing some gear that definitely has an orcish or draenic influence in its design, which I like.
The Queue: A whole new (old) world
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 managed to transfer one of my own tauren warriors to the Alpha servers and take a look at what he'd look like in current gear with the new model. I'm frankly pretty damn happy with it - he's a big white bull on live and he's the same on Alpha, just improved. I'm overall very impressed. One of the things I keep doing is riding around and exploring, which led me at one point to ride right into a village full of level 100 and 100 elite mobs. I died a lot as a result - this picture is me waiting out res sickness after realizing I was not getting my body back otherwise. So what I'm saying is, if you want that feeling of danger we used to get in the old days, keep riding around the north of Frostfire Ridge until you run into level 100 ogres, they will give it to you in spades. You will die. A lot. Lagowatu asks: Is Blizzard done with the button bloat trimming, or do you think they might make more cuts yet? I ask because cat druid still has all three very short duration cooldowns I wanted to get rid of or merge: Tiger's Fury, Savage Roar, and Berserk. Shaman just saw a bunch of stuff get trimmed, so no, they're not done yet. Don't make that mistake. They'll be done when the Beta (and not the Alpha) is done.
The Queue: War Eternal
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. So if you're not down for growly scream-metal, probably don't watch that video. I've been into the band for the past couple of months, though, and just got their new album. So for those of you who like growly sceam-metal, there you go. Let's do some Queue. Let's rhyme less. morvackthemountmimic asks: What were your "good ol' days" of playing wow? For me, it was wrath. I was with a small family owned (not my family) raiding guild. We were able to form an alliance with a few other guilds on our server (odd sense we were horde), and get some pretty respectable gear. I was doing 6500 dps as a balance druid. It would have to be vanilla, to be honest. I was raiding in the most progressed Alliance guild on my servers (Azjol-Nerub and then Norgannon) and I pretty much saw everything up to Naxxramas 40 (we didn't kill Sapph or KT back then). It's not that I think the game was better then -- I really do not -- but it's when I first started playing and when my first memories of it were formed. And it's when I learned that people will never stop and loot things. Core hounds going unlooted, mass hysterics, anarchy. It's funny how I still compare raid mechanics to places like Blackwing Lair and Molten Core. Fights have gotten far more complex, and I've been raiding pretty much since those days so I've seen a lot of them, but for me it's where I learned how the game works, and even with all the changes over the years it's a very strong memory.
The Queue: Removals, tree form, and Baine Bloodhoof
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Sarah Pine (@ilaniel) will be your host today. I'm not in the alpha, so I'm going to sulk, drink my coffee, and look longingly at this beautiful shot of Shadowmoon Valley. Oh, and answer some questions, too! CaptainCakewalk asked: Q4tQ: So far, what is the one single thing you are glad to see removed in WoD and the one thing you are not so happy about being removed?
The Queue: Hyperactive goats
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. Baby goats are pretty adorable. Contemplate that for a moment, and then let's get to the questions, shall we? Drindaar_Lightkeeper asked: Q4tQ: Although we aren't getting any new classes this expansion, do you think we will see new classes in the following one? If so, which ones could we see? Is there anything out there in WoW lore that simple doesn't exist as a playable class? There are a few tricky things to consider when creating new classes in WoW. First off, that new class has to have a unique feel all its own -- it can't feel like a clone of an existing class, or there wouldn't really be much point to adding it, would there? It wouldn't feel different or new or fun. WoW already has a pretty wide-spread variety of classes that fill a ton of varying roles, so coming up with something we haven't already seen is difficult. And then you have to consider that by adding a new class, you have to balance the rest of the game around it -- and that's not as easy as it sounds. And when you think about both of those things, it seems a little unlikely we'll see a new class unless it were something really unique and different. Something like a runemaster, or a bard. Personally, I think another ranged non-caster class wouldn't be a bad idea.
The Queue: It's alive
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) knows what the inside of an Nvidia GTX 660 looks like now. I just got done spending the last few days putting a new computer together, and to celebrate I was totally going to put up the pivotal "It's alive" scene from Frankenstein, but decided on Gene Wilder and his monster dancing to Putting on the Ritz in Young Frankenstein instead. Why? Because that movie is insane and I love it, that's why. Warcraft questions, let's answer those! Chrth asked: Q4TQ: There are several areas in game where the current status is not reflected visually. Ignoring any impact to gameplay (such as questing NPCs), what would you like to see updated? I'd like to see Dun Modr (on the Wetlands side) shown to be under control of the Ironforge Dwarfs again. Maybe even see efforts to rebuild the Thandol Span. That's actually a good idea -- the Thandol Span has been shattered since vanilla. Personally, I think it's probably high time for that giant tornado in Darkshore to go away, and I imagine that big volcano in Ashenvale would have been taken care of by now as well. But then of course there's the park in Stormwind -- mind you, we've gotten some pretty encouraging news on that front!
The Queue: Under Draenor's 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. Matthew Rossi will be your host today. Seriously, check her out. I mean, everyone looks kind of badass with the moon behind them like that, but still, check her out. I really like how she moves, too. Combat animations aren't wildly different, but they have a bit more heft to them. I'm thinking of rolling a forsaken soon to see how that feels. No spoilers for the Alpha from me - been running around on various toons to try out all three warrior specs. Prot feels the strongest. For those of you who don't play warriors, I rolled a DK and a paladin and both killed things admirably considering I was just hitting buttons at random. Gonna try an enhancement shaman tomorrow, I think. ScottLeyes asked: If you were going to assign WoW classes to "real world" historical occupations, where would Warriors fit? They're not Knights (that's Paladins), so would they be mercenaries? Rhonin? Barbarians? Look, he asked. Anyway, actually, they would be knights. The vast majority of knights were at best professional warriors - guys like William Marshal were stone badasses, but they didn't do a lot of praying or healing people. It also really depends on what period in history we're talking about - Sir Elton John doesn't go around smashing people with a sword or casting Holy Wrath. You'd be hard pressed to find real human beings who could live up to a WoW paladin, but almost anyone can be a warrior - kill things, don't die. That's pretty much all you'd need. I'm deliberately not going into the nuts and bolt of the medieval knight as a warrior class - all that land they owned provided them the wealth they needed to afford that armor, horse and weapons and the years of training in how to use them. Mainly because this is a website about World of Warcraft and not Morris Bishop's The Middle Ages. Similarly, Aleister Crowley didn't actually cast a lot of spells, so it really depends on how 'real world' you want to get with this. You could have a lot of fun imagining that a portal to Azeroth opened in 1900 and various real world historical figures learned abilities from WoW, if you're that kind of person. I may be that kind of person, but there's only so much room in the Queue for me to talk about how World War I would have been very different if we had individual soldiers who could summon armies of the dead, raise the dead, throw fireballs, or carry two swords each the size of a whole person.
The Queue: Completely free of asking when the beta is starting
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 I love? I love this day in particular. It's the day just after alpha/beta access has gone public, and the community switches concerns. It's no longer "when is the alpha/beta starting" -- it's all about when individuals are getting in, when the next wave is getting in. I've seen it for five years, and boy, am I excited today. I can finally say it: Everyone asked: Q for the Q: When did the alpha* start? Yesterday. Also Mozzarella cheese is the best cheese. *I'm currently wondering what the difference between an alpha and beta is now that the public is getting access to the alpha... It seems to me that the line is completely gone. Which, as a software developer, makes me a little sad. Snichy asked: Do you think people will ever learn the meaning of the phrase "alternative universe" and quit asking about paradox's and "it-wouldn't-happen" scenarios?
The Queue: In case of emergency, release the kraken
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. Not going to lie, I kind of want to see Godzilla go toe to toe with the Kraken now. Godzilla would win, of course. He'd beat the Kraken, the Jagers and Kaiju from Pacific Rim, Smaug, the whole Avengers (you think I'm kidding, but Godzilla fought the Avengers before) it don't matter. Godzilla wins. How do I know this? Because I'm a nerd arguing something completely unimportant on the internet, that's how I know. Anyway, today's Kaiju Battle Queue brought to you by questions. Chrth says: It's almost like Gandalf is a wizard or something. Godzilla could still totally beat Gandalf. NicoSinatraGrindley asks: BLINGTRON! So if i had 5 Blingtrons lined up in a row, i pick one at random and get a present... in that said present i get oil.. 14 copper worth and a thermal anvil. rewind a minute or so.. i pick a different Blingtron get a present, would i still get the same ? are all Blingtron rewards linked for the day to my character or would there be a chance for a different item in the present ? It's a daily quest. You'd get the same daily quest no matter which Blingtron you picked. And Godzilla could totally take Blingtron, btw.
The Queue: Hearthstone mount, the podcast, timelines, and druids
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. TKC asked: How hard is it to pick up Hearthstone? I'd only want to do it to get the mount.
The Queue: Littered with excitement
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) will be answering your questions today. The only human voice in the above video is the guy that laughs at the end -- the rest is all the two parrots, which is really crazy when you realize how much the parrots are actually saying. And mildly hysterical if you imagine a passer-by suddenly hearing the litter bin burst into uncontrollable laughter. Parrots are cool. You know what else is cool? Warcraft questions. RichardW.Velliquette asked: What do you think a shadow magic attack feels like? I know that fire obviously burns and frost would be pointy and cold. But I was never quite sure how shadow magic physically harms its victim. Based on some priest tooltips I've read I gather that it might feel like a headache. Am I far off? I like to think it's sort of like having a migraine on a major scale, for most of the attacks. For the drain kind of spells, I've always imagined it as that sudden onset bout of shaky weakness you get every now and again when you've got a really horrible fever or illness -- the kind that seems to sap all your energy and make it impossible to move.
The Queue: Hi
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) will be answering your questions today. Hi! Dobablo asked: Is there a site out there that I can use to pull my armory profile and detail breakdown by instance of which achievements, pets and mounts I am missing? Wowhead's Profiler tool does this, and does it really, really well. Check it out!
The Queue: Stab, chop, crush and kill
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 am addicted to Man at Arms, the awesome webseries where various fictional weapons from TV, movies, video games and cartoons (thus far) are recreated as functional weapons. At the end of the episode I used for the header, you can choose to vote on the next weapon they make, between Gorehowl and Frostmourne. Now, I would never attempt to sway you, but let me just link this tweet from Holinka that I believe says it all. Vote Gorehowl. I mean, it's almost time to see Grom Hellscream use that axe on us. inkliizii1 asks: What is your favorite playable race? For both factions? Draenei for Alliance, Tauren for Horde. First off, these two races are the best choices in terms of looking badass as a warrior, which is pretty important to me. Secondly, they're probably the races on each side of the faction divide who are the least out and out bloody insane. Finally, A tauren wielding Ashkandi is a thing of beauty.
The Queue: I'm a Skrull
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. That's right! And I've been a Skrull all along! Now my master plan of writing Sunday's Queue has come to fruition! hyde_v asked: Have the San'layn been eliminated or did some of them escape? Unless I am mistaken, there were only a small number of them. Maybe less than ten. A very small number indeed, and as far as we know, we killed them in all in the Northrend campaign. Even if some are alive, without Lana'thel, it's probably not possible to make more San'layn. That was a poem, accidentally.
