The Queue: Slack-jawed daffodils
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 27th 2009 at 2:00PM
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.We have another appearance from Allison Robert today for you Druid players, so that's fun! Guest answers tend to be a lot more fun, no? I certainly think so, because it means less work for me to do! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, but it's definitely fun to spread the love around a little.
Chas asked...
Has there ever been any lore surrounding Thane Korth'azz and Lady Blaumeux from Naxxramas? The other horsemen seem to have back-stories but I can't find anything on them.
Blaumeux seems to have the least amount of backstory of all of the Four Horsemen, so I'm not entirely sure what her deal is in everything. Thane Korth'azz, however, is probably a former member of the Silver Hand. In the comic he's been referred to as "one of Uther's men" so the common theory is he went down around the same time Arthas shivved Uther. The details are fuzzy, but he was definitely a member of the Silver Hand.
Blaumeux is a question mark. Probably she was just a notable female Paladin, likely in the Silver Hand as well. We don't really know.
Thuixz asked...
What happened to Dungeon Sets in WotLK? Is this just another thing Blizz was too lazy to get creative about?
We hardly need class specific dungeon sets. They really served no useful purpose except looking pretty, and while I love looking pretty just as much as the next guy, those sets were pretty superfluous. Very few people actually wore their tier set, so all they really did was clutter up loot tables. Most of the people that collected their dungeon sets did so just so they could say they had the full set, but very few actually wore it.
They were really unnecessary, and I don't think they really served a purpose. The 10-man version of Tier 7 isn't that much harder to get, so it's not like there's no sets at all available to slightly newer level 80s. Most of it is on easy to reach bosses or available from Emblems of Heroism, just running whichever Heroics you want.
Phun asked...
What do the glowing colours on the meeting/summoning stones mean? I've seen green, blue and orange (and I think red too but I'm not sure). I was guessing it was to do with level ranges but it seems completely arbitrary. For example at level 80 BRD was orange but BRS was blue.
I never actually noticed the different colors on the meeting stones. After digging around, I've come up empty. I don't think it means anything, just aesthetics, but if any of our readers know anything about it beyond that I hope they'll let us know! It'd be interesting if it indicated something, but I don't think it does.
actodd asked...
Now that every Tom, Dick and Hunter has the Staff of Trickery, I'm starting to look at other weapon options, particularly One-Handed. Are there any DPS/tanking off-handers available? Are there any combos that would be better than a 2Hander?
Allison Robert answered...
Hi Actodd - like Gorehorn, I'm assuming you're a Druid because you've referenced the Staff of Trickery.
For tanking purposes you'll probably still want to use either the Kirin Tor revered staff or the Enraged Feral Staff from heroic Utgarde Keep. In Naxxramas, tanking upgrades will be an Origin of Nightmares (Naxx-25 shared loot table Gluth/Grobbulus), Staff of the Plague Beast (Naxx-10 shared loot table Heigan/Gluth) or Staff of the Plaguehound (Naxx-10 Kel'Thuzad). OoN is still the best overall feral tanking staff in the game right now, although not by the wide margin it occupied before 3.0.8. Plaguehound doesn't have any armor on it but in all honesty the expertise on it is almost completely wasted on a cat. Use it for DPS only if you're not expertise-capped from gear; otherwise it's a good threat weapon for a tank.
For DPS purposes, Staff of Trickery will keep you going until an Undeath Carrier (Naxx-25 share loot table...I think Gluth/Grobbulus again but I'd have to look it up), a Journey's End (Naxx-25 Kel'Thuzad), or a Black Ice (Malygos-10). Journey's End is currently the best DPS staff in the game. Black Ice is roughly comparable to an Undeath Carrier right now but make sure you train polearms.
At the moment there really are no 1H/offhand feral combinations at all - everything you'll be using will be a staff or a polearm.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue, Items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
NoTomorrow Jan 27th 2009 2:09PM
I noticed the different colors too. My guess is it's just aesthetics, but I have wondered about it too.
Gizmo Jan 27th 2009 2:57PM
I *think* that the colors of the rune on the stone is tied to whether or not you can summon from it. But I haven't tested it. By this logic, green and red = "You are not in the correct level range for this stone" and Orange and yellow let you summon.
Similarly, when you mouse over a stone, the tooltip shows up in the color of a mob; Red, orange, yellow, green or grey. Orange, yellow and green you can summon from, or be summoned to.
/speculation
Thander Jan 27th 2009 3:32PM
I thought I remember seeing a blue one somewhere in Northrend. Blue doesn't really fit in that scheme. I don't think the color changes. I think they just choose a color that fits the environment like red in Blackrock Mountain, blue in Northrend.
Derek Jan 27th 2009 4:09PM
I just tested this on the Stockades... the stone had a yellow glyph to my 27 Drae Warrrior and my 80 Drae Shaman, so it doesn't look like the colors relate to your levels.
WatcherZero Jan 27th 2009 5:34PM
Its aesthetics, primarily (though probably not 100% of the time) the glow matches the lighting and dominant landscape colour around it, if your a grassy area with trees then the glows green, in a red barren area then red, in a dark creepy area then blue, etc...
Phoenix Jan 27th 2009 11:54PM
I always thought the difference in colors was how they showed you what kind of stone it was, as in was it a 5 man stone (with level restrictions appropriate to the area it's for) or if it was a raid stone (like karazhan).
Deadly. Off. Topic. Jan 29th 2009 12:59PM
I wonder if it ties colour to classes... probably not.
james Jan 27th 2009 2:12PM
Dungeon sets in BC were actually pretty good to start Kara in since at the time we didn't have badge gear and heroic loot tables were not updated yet not to mention that was before they nerfed the crap out of them and heroics were not even worth the time. Now though not really any point since epic sets are so easy to get.
VSUReaper Jan 27th 2009 2:23PM
The dungeon sets were rediculously hard to get, especially for tanks and healers. We generally had to outgear the instance before we could seriously get the loot. I know on my warrior, alot of it dropped from the mech/arc/bot instances, and you couldnt tank some of those mobs reasonably on heroic until you were sporting a mix of epics.
The idea was good, but it was implemented in a fail manner.
James Jan 27th 2009 2:35PM
ya they were hard to get but they dropped in normal not heroic. There were alternate spec sets for the heroics like the mana etched for casters and a plate dps set.
pantear Jan 27th 2009 3:03PM
Not entirely true, James. Check this one:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Mana-Etched_Regalia
pantear Jan 27th 2009 3:06PM
Upon better searching, the basic set for each class was available in normal, while the generic sets where available on heroics mostly.
James Jan 27th 2009 3:14PM
Forgot about that wasn't there one peice for each off set in normal mode?. On a side note i grinded to exalted on my mage with the sha tar to get the head peice and still cringe thinking about Pantheon the freaking calculator........I'm gonna go kill him.
BeckerManEX Jan 27th 2009 2:15PM
Maybe I'm just a little behind on the times, or I just missed it. But when Season Five launched, did Season Three gear not become available for honor/mark purchase? I read somewhere that marks were essentially useless beyond the daily to turn them in, but they would be revisited in the future. Any insights?
mirilene Jan 27th 2009 2:50PM
I'd say very.
They elected not to do that for the season 3 gear. Why would you want level 70 gear in a level 80 season?
Retron Jan 27th 2009 2:17PM
Come to think of it, because of Blaumeux shouldn't it be The Four Horsepeople? ;)
Ultranator Jan 27th 2009 2:27PM
Perhaps that's why there is so little known about her. Maybe she USED to be a man, and now changed his/her name. Maybe she used to be Captain Placeholder, and that's where he went to...?
Candina@WH Jan 27th 2009 2:41PM
She is probably 'Mrs Placeholder'.
They had three really cool back stories, but REALLY thought the sound of 'the four horsemen' (meme of the apocolypse) was way cool.
And so, she got in. Probably as the 'token' female model to balance things out...
Worcester Jan 27th 2009 2:53PM
Actually, "man" and "men" is still very much gender-neutral in certain usages in the English language. The word "mankind" has always included women, as well as using the word "man" to refer to the human race. It's only been in our recent overly-PC world that people have felt the need to alter the English language.
Adamanthis Jan 27th 2009 3:20PM
Take that, Sapir–Whorf!