The Queue: High Elves, great race or greatest race?
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 19th 2008 at 5:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.
That's enough of that, though. On with the questions!
Leprakahn asked...
I remember reading during Wrath beta that at the end of inscription scribes were going to get a 7th glyph slot, what happened to that? Did it get scrapped completely or will it come with a later patch?
The 7th glyph slot is gone, and in its place is some supercharged shoulder enchants. They're better than the ones offered by the Sons of Hodir, and spare you the very, very long rep grind (though I recommend doing the lead-in quests anyway). This was probably seen as much more balanced, and it's probably a good thing that they did that. For some classes/specs I bet you couldn't find four major glyphs that actually made a difference. Some? Sure. All of them? Heh, no. A straight stat boost is probably preferable to a random glyph that you may or may not actually use.
teh_wild_knight asked...
I have a Tauren character and like collecting mounts and would also like to get the mount achievements. With the new patch lifting the mount restriction, how do I go about getting to exalted with the other Horde factions? The only things I know of are doing low level quests and turning in runecloth. I'm only high honored or low revered with the other Horde factions and the thought of grinding out hundreds of stacks of runecloth fills me with dread.
If you don't want to churn out Runecloth or grind tons of low level quests, Alterac Valley or seasonal content are your best bets. Alterac Valley has all of those random turn-ins like armor scraps and Gnome Toes or whatever, and seasonal content seems to give a lot of reputation. There's not a whole lot for Winter Veil, but as other readers mentioned, the Lunar Festival awards a crapload of reputation if you can wait that long.
elstor asked...
How do you not run out of titles?
Pure skill.
Tom asked...
Why has Blizzard added so many high elves to Theramore, Dustwallow Marsh, and most places in general?
Well, High Elves are still a major part of the Alliance, even if they don't have a capital to call their own anymore. Stormwind has always (in WoW) had a few High Elves, and there were other outposts around the world dedicated to them, though Alliance didn't quest with/around them much. The Horde mostly interacted with them via killing them. The Burning Crusade had the Allerian Stronghold, too.
The High Elves have been a pretty major force in the Alliance, they're just now getting roles on the front lines and in the spotlight, rather than pretty faces in the background.
Oh, and High Elves are totally awesome and I would pay good money to be able to play one. More please! Blood Elves just aren't the same, you know?
Sash asked...
What's the story on Stars' Rest? Have they been there long, or did they only arrive with the rest of the invasion forces?
You can assume that most of the Horde and Alliance camps in Northrend are fairly recent. Stars Rest is probably pretty new, but it's possible it has been there for a little while already. It seems like places such as Wintergarde Keep have been there for a couple of years at least, acting as a vanguard, keeping tabs on the Scourge, things like that.
Most places like Valiance Keep seem pretty new, but Wintergarde seems to have been there for a long time already, enough that they've had to pull in common folk to keep an entire village running for the soldiers. The 7th Legion (the Alliance's Elite) is in charge of the military here, so if any branch of the Alliance military could survive in the heart of Scourge territory for a couple of years without much support, it would be them.
What that means for Stars' Rest, I have no idea.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: Tauren, Analysis / Opinion, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
kozom Dec 19th 2008 5:10PM
so if Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is an undead and arthas controls them, why can he not control her in current WoW?
Kerag Dec 19th 2008 5:18PM
Arthas commands the scourge, which yes are undead for the most part. But the forsaken, with Sylvanas leading, stepped away from the scourge. The majority of his forces are risen undead, or constructed. I don't think he has any actual mind control per say over them.
Xilnold Dec 19th 2008 5:20PM
Arthas' powers waned at one point (After which he became the lich king,) so he lost control over about 60% of his undead, including sylvanas. Presumably, once they broke free from his control, they were so desperate not to go back that he couldn't re-control them. and the forsaken are born.
Wakleon Dec 19th 2008 5:21PM
In Warcraft 3 when the Lich King is weakened by Illidan's attack he loses control over the scourge giving many undead their consciousness back and those like Sylvanas decided to go independent. It is the same thing that freed the DK at Light's Hope Chapel. The light weakened Arthas enough that the Death Knights could control themselves again.
Firestride Dec 19th 2008 5:21PM
Because she broke free and started the Forsaken, who have free will. I don't think there's a reason she broke free other than "because she was totally awesome."
Firestride Dec 19th 2008 5:22PM
How long did I have this open before replying? Please ignore my earlier comment.
Cyrus Dec 19th 2008 5:33PM
This question seems like it could mean two things. If you're asking about Sylvanas specifically: He did control her for a while, but when Illidan attacked the Lich King it weakened him and his psychic control of his minions and a lot of them broke off, led by Sylvanas, and formed the Forsaken. Illidan's attack and the Forsaken rebellion happened in the expansion pack to Warcraft III.
But the way you say "Arthas controls them" makes it seem like you're asking about about undead in general. If so, I think you're mistaken; there are lots of undead out there that Arthas doesn't control. He controls all the undead in the Scourge (except those that became Forsaken), which were made by the undead plague or the Lich King's own magic. But there are a lot more undead in the game than that. The zombie trolls in Zul'Farrak, the banshees and other elf ghosts in Winterspring and Dire Maul, all those dranei ghosts in Outland - many of those existed before the Lich King was created and have nothing to do with him. (That's not to say he couldn't work with or enslave them somehow, only that he hasn't.)
As for the question in the original post about Star's Rest and Wintergarde Keep, I forget, did any remnants of Arthas' doomed expedition survive? I know some of them are now ghosts on the coast of the Dragonblight, but I don't know if there were more. If there were, then they could have created any human or alliance dwarven presence up there. And any night elves or trolls living in Northrend could have been there all along, left over from when Kalimdor was Pangaea.
kabuki Dec 19th 2008 7:37PM
I can't speak for the forsaken and Lady Sylvanas, but as a death knight player I had it explained to me like this.
The Death Knights and Forsaken (as well as the dark lady) were all given a high level of independence from the Lich King's control. Making it easier for him to control his armies while at the same time do his own thing.
Problem was, Arthas found out the hard way that his hold over them could be broken. In the case of the Death Knights, it was an act of betrayal that drove most of them against him. (we see DK's on his side in Northrend, so one can only surmise he learned his lesson with the Ebon Blade death knights.) For the forsaken, it was another story. Arthas had nearly been destroyed in his fight for the frozen throne, and in his moment of weakness Sylvanas broke away from him, casting off his control by sheer will alone. Those forsaken that follow her pretty much did the same.
Thing is, they (and the Death Knights) aren't totally free from Arthas. Many of them (I use this in my RP when I decide to be particularly evil) still hear his whispers in the back of their head as they go about. The question is just how much they actually listen.
airplane68 Dec 19th 2008 5:22PM
I am only two achievements away from the Merrymaker title (which I really want), but one of the achievements is the 50 honorable kills. Two problems, (A) I am crap at BGs, and (2), my computer is freezing up during battles (which I hear is a common problem right now). Do you have a suggestion for which BG would be easiest for a Healdin to get some kills (really, Blizzard, 50 kills?) in disguise and also be least likely to lag out?
Thanks!
Xilnold Dec 19th 2008 5:25PM
Arathi Basin, probably. Test eye of the storm, though.
Arathi Basin has more people than WSG and generally lasts longer (Unless there's a turtle) Eye of the storm has more people then AB, though.
Wakleon Dec 19th 2008 5:25PM
I am a tank and can get 50 HK in AV without dying. Try AV and stay back enough to not die but get credit.
Elridan Dec 19th 2008 5:29PM
I've been doing alot of Strand of the Ancients. It's fairly quick, and at least on my server you get dumped in the middle of ongoing battles alot. pretty good experience for such little work, and when on defense the alliance/horde are constantly on your doorstep, it's easy to tag someone and have people around you take them down quick.
Popesicle Dec 19th 2008 5:35PM
I used Strand of the Ancients last night. I am a holy priest and I got 25 HK's while in costume in my first battle. Its especially easy if you start out defending, or join while your side is defending. At the start of the battle, I would run down to the first door the other team would be breaking through and just standing around there was good for several at a time. Plus, being a healer, I was able to keep myself alive for longer than other classes.
I ended with 49/50 for the achievement after just 4 or 5 battles.
Plus, I found that queuing from Shat is the quickest way...since there is a machine right outside Shat in TF.
Jim Dec 19th 2008 5:51PM
In my experience healing the zerg in AV is the best way to soak up the most HKs without dying often, but results will vary, of course. Any smart player will kill you anyway and I'm sure someone will notice a healing gnome in a santa hat after a while.
After that, ranged DPS in AB probably could do it the fastest if you play cautiously.
Aubrecia Dec 19th 2008 5:57PM
I'd actually recommend AV for a healer. I play a druid, and though I was a feral back at the time when it was the GNERDS 50 HKs that I needed, it was incredibly easy to stand back, pop a tranquility, and bring in the HK tally. If tranq was down, I'd pop a regrowth or a rejuv on a couple of the big fighters. It wasn't great heals by any means, being specced for melee, but I imagine it would be even easier when you're specced for healing. I earned the 50 HKs in just a couple of gos.
The problem with AV is that it's very easy to die fast, and the transformation wears off when you die. As a balance druid, I could usually get in about 10 HKs before dying, though I had a couple of times where I got killed without a single one. But that was DPS, not healing, and I've found it's much, much easier to get HKs via healing, at least in AV.
Just keep trying, mainly. Don't lose patience. Queue yourself for the next bg and go transform while you're still in line so you don't waste time running there and back.
Biggles Dec 19th 2008 6:51PM
Definitely AV.
To some extent it's luck, but if you get in on one that's just starting, 50 HKs for a healer is *easy*. I had joined 2 AV battles midway thru and got 11 and 2 HKs before someone got me - then got into my third at the beginning, and got well over 50 more HKs (until I started actually going aggro on the other side rather than playing conservatively).
Start at the beginning, stay in the biggest group, heal *everyone*, play very defensively, and your 50 HK is easy and fast - 15 minutes maybe?
If you really hate PvP like I do, bring along a Great Feast, so at least you can get part of your cooking achievments done at the same time. :-)
-- Biggles
PS. Ok - I don't hate PvP so much anymore. Blizz - that's a BIG thing. Really. 4 years ago, I was dead set against it, but I am actually even thinking about playing around Wintergrasp... OH THE HUMANITY
Shardrell Dec 19th 2008 11:38PM
I managed to get my HKs pretty quickly in AV on my balance druid. The Alliance was being stupid and fighting at the bridge for some reason. I hid my gnomish self behind a moonkin, helped heal folks and hurricaned the Horde, got about 40 HKs before a tauren warrior saw me, charged, and cleaved me to death.
Zaltais Dec 20th 2008 9:41AM
I did it in Strand of the Ancients. Sit in a turret taking people/tanks down with that or in a tank taking down gates. The battles are usually around the gates so you can get a lot of HK that way.
Dez Dec 19th 2008 5:20PM
I was sure High Elves were the old blood elfs, that they no longer existed. Something like that. :P
Wakleon Dec 19th 2008 5:22PM
High Elves are the elves that refused to feed of Demonic Magic or the Magic of the Naruu.