The Queue: The patoot edition
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 16th 2009 at 6:00PM
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Hey, everyone! How did you all hold up over the last week? A whole week with Adam? Did you miss your ray of sunshine? No? Oh... well, that's okay. I'm back anyway! If you don't read Ask a Lore Nerd, I was more or less out of the office the last week moving into my swank new apartment, so that's why I haven't been around. It's all good now though, so Adam and I are back on our rotating schedule.
We also have a cool little guest appearance from our resident Death Knight Daniel Whitcomb, so that'll be a treat! Hopefully!
Cholestria asked...
Are there any titles I can achieve with my level 1 bank alt? She has an outfit from the Brewfest and usually participates in any of the holiday she can, but all the titles seem to require some leveling. Is there any title she could get without leveling?
I think that Explorer is the only one you can realistically get your hands on at level 1. It'll take a whole load of time, and you'll level up a few times from exploration XP, but it can be done at a really low level. You don't need to kill anything, just run around the entire world. If you have a friend with a Hog or a Traveler's Mammoth, they can be a big help with it, just by letting you sit in the passenger's seat.
I can't think of many other titles you can get your hands on at level 1 right now. Back in the day, it was possible to earn Private at extremely low levels, but the PvP ranks aren't something you can earn anymore. Michael Gray pointed out that, in theory, you can get "of the Alliance" or "of the Horde" which requires 100,000 HKs. That's possible at level one, but do you want to do that? Do you really?
Jessica wrote in to ask...
I have a 66 Nelf DK and I'm currently in love with her. I have a question about my personal talent build and if it's worth it. Generally speaking, I'm an unholy DK but I've skipped most of the noteworthy/popular unholy talents. I don't have a perma-ghoul, I don't turn into a ghoul when I die; I can't summon a gargoyle and I don't have any intention of summoning a cloud of angry insects. My claim to fame is maxing out both Death Rune Mastery of the Blood tree and Reaping of the Unholy tree. What it does? I have Death Runes at the end of every fight and at least 6 during. As far as I know, unless I'm completely misunderstanding how Death Runes work, Death Runes are magical do-all runes and therefore, most of my abilities will be available as long as I have my 6 Death Runes up, once my GCD is up as well. My current talent spread is 19/0/38. This is me. I really really enjoy playing this character and I don't really have any intentions of respeccing until I hit 80. I just really am curious if it's actually doing anything and if it's worth it.
Daniel Whitcomb responds...
Hi Jessica,
I honestly have to say that having 2 Death Rune talents probably isn't going to be the most efficient use of your runes. The point of Death Runes isn't necessarily to give you extra "utility" runes, but rather to convert runes into a form you can use for your most damaging attacks. For example, Death Rune Mastery converts Frost and Unholy Runes to Death Runes so you can use them for more Heart Strikes, whereas Reaping converts Blood Runes to Death Runes so you can use them for more Scourge Strikes. That means that as Unholy with Scourge Strike, you won't need your frost and unholy runes to become death runes because you'll be using them with Scourge Strike anyway, and as Blood with Heart Strike, you won't need your blood runes to become death runes because you'll be using them to Heart Strike anyway. Converting all your runes to Death Runes may give you slightly more flexibility, but I don't think that makes up for the stuff you could be getting with those extra points. To be completely honest, since you don't seem to like most of the really unique stuff about the Unholy tree, namely the pets and the blight, I'm thinking you might find the most fun and success with a straight up Blood build.
Of course, I'm a fan of using whatever build works for you, at least in solo or small group content, but I honestly believe you'd be better off dropping one of those Death Rune talents. Thanks for sending in your question and reading WoW Insider!
Jesse asked...
It seems that even Wow Insider has fallen onto the DK prejudice bandwagon. I wanted to take a look at the Build Shop and see about a new DPS spec for the weekdays when I'm not tanking Naxx. Zero Build Shop articles for DKs. Why does Wow Insider hate us so?
You're just not looking in the right places. While there's a good chance Build Shop will be returning, the last post to that column was written six months ago due to its retirement. Death Knights didn't even exist on live realms yet. If you're looking for Death Knight specs, the place you should be looking is our weekly Death Knight column, Lichborne, written by Daniel Whitcomb, the guy that answered the previous question. Right when Wrath of the Lich King launched he wrote about a series of good DPS/leveling/grinding specs, one for each Death Knight tree. He's also written about gearing up for DPS, a little about Death Knight Dual Specs, and a whole load more. It's one of our more popular columns, and you'll see it either on Sunday nights or Monday mornings, depending on how hard the WoW Insider HQ was partying that weekend.
Prejudice my patoot.
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: Analysis / Opinion, Talents, Death Knight, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Gulliver Foyle Feb 16th 2009 6:14PM
You can't earn the Explorer title at level one, because you have to explore Outland and Northrend, too... and even in Azeroth, there are numerous places you NEVER gonna reach at that level (Isle of Quel'danas, enemy starting zones, etc...)
belligerent Feb 16th 2009 6:17PM
It wouldn't be easy, and you won't be level 1 afterwards, but I'm pretty sure you can get anywhere in the game as level 1. Northrend is easy:
The other places you mentioned only require a warlock and some friends.
Pete Feb 16th 2009 6:20PM
Most obvious would be discovering the areas that require a flying mount in Icecrown, for example. IMO level 77 is the minimum for The Explorer unless blizz adds a passenger flying mount. Of the Alliance/Horde could be done, but realistically only by consensual kill-swapping, which even outside the BGs might be considered a ban-worthy offense.
Draelan Feb 16th 2009 6:23PM
While it's true that it's impossible to get the explorer achievement on your own at low levels, there are ALWAYS ways around it. Enemy starting areas are simple. All you need to do is be willing to death run. (As you'll likely be doing anyway for most areas as a level 1. Especially if alone.)
However, as for places such as Isle of Quel'Danas, Outland, Stormpeaks, and Icecrown, you do need some high-level intervention to explore them. Namely, a Warlock and some friends who can summon you where you need to explore. I say, if you can get a warlock, a friend who can rez (for the inevitable deaths), and a third high-level friend (so they can summon you to high-level/flying areas), you're good as gold. Especially if one of them has a multi-passenger mount. It may take a while, but it's certainly feasible.
As for the 100k honor kills at a low level... well... to quote from Homestarrunner.com... "Are you asking for a challenge?!" The question is, who's willing to take up this challenge? ;)
Pete Feb 16th 2009 6:46PM
Throwing a new one in the ring - "Ambassador" seems like it could be purchased via cloth turn-ins if you've got that kind of money / willingness to grind, and you could actually still be level 1 if that was part of the goal.
Pete Feb 16th 2009 6:53PM
Whoops, A Donation of Runecloth requires level 50, so scratch the Ambassador suggestion.
On an unrelated note, the "Remember me" checkbox when posting doesn't seem to work using AIM screennames to sign in.
The Claw Feb 16th 2009 6:59PM
The repeatable runecloth turnin quest is not available until level 50, so Ambassador is far out of the question for a level 1.
bonse Feb 17th 2009 4:42AM
I got explorer at 71, i started as soon as i hit northrend at 70 and exploring and some early skinning got me to 71 by the end.
There is nowhere you *need* a flying mount certainly not icecrown, though it was where i died from mobs most.
The hardest places were the makers place on the east side of sholzar (got there by going south through icecrown and along the top of the mountain, this was my final discovery). Storm peaks was the one where i had to get creative, when you die you can fly in ghost form, die below the ledge you want, fly above and res there. A couple involved sending my pet at a distant mob and pulling them back (eyes of the beast, just hitting them once and bringing them back seemed to make the mobs leash back) letting the mob kill me res above and repeat, never had to do it more than twice in a row. Temple of storms required less than frosthold if i recall.
I wasnt the first explorer on my realm, but for a while i was the only one not 80 until a guildie did exactly the same as i did. When i was levelling to 77 it was quite a surprise to everyone i met, after 77 i was just like everyone else :)
Tech Feb 16th 2009 6:15PM
You will definitely not be able to get the explorer title on your lvl.1 alt.
I made a draenei bank alt and gained 2 levels just running to SW.
I am not aware of any titles available to a lvl.1 character.
Dightkuz Feb 16th 2009 7:30PM
Diplomat.
Kill mobs that give rep with Sporeggar, Timbermaw Hold and Mag'har/Kurenai.
Pete Feb 16th 2009 7:48PM
The more I look, Of the Alliance/Horde is the only one that could actually be done without dinging to level 2. Would require the very active participation of multiple players (or at least multiple accounts) to not get caught up in the rez timer as they kill themselves to you, and, like I said above, could be considered a bannable manipulation of the honor system even if the points were not your goal.
Jessica Feb 16th 2009 6:19PM
Thanks for answering my question!!!
My original intention when creating my random blood/hybrid spec was to get the extra diseases in unholy. I stumbled upon the death rune talents by accident and decided to see what it did. I have a hunter but I've really fallen out of love with her and that's why I haven't jumped on the unholy pet bandwagon. Is there anyway to create an unholy + blood/frost hybrid that will have access to the extra unholy diseases as well as utilizing blood/frost talents without wasting them as I apparently been doing? I looked at some blood specs and they really don't interest me. Plus, I'd miss my extra mount speed and my pale horse. :P
Pete Feb 16th 2009 6:30PM
Like boney says below, I'd say you should feel free to do what you like while leveling. DKs are pretty overpowered until the mid/late 70s anyway.
At 80, if you expect to participate in endgame content, you'll probably need to choose something a bit more "standard".
If you plan to raid, On a Pale Horse will seem less valuable since you'll be travelling less (unless you herb/mine for a living), so you might feel more comfortable going Blood. If tanking is something you're interested in, many tank builds (even Unholy ones) don't bother with the perma-ghoul.
DeathPaladin Feb 16th 2009 10:14PM
Ebon Plaguebringer is pretty deep in the Unholy tree, so that does limit your options. I like a challenge, though, and so I decided to see what I could do. Here's what I could come up with for some Unholy specs that did not include the permanent ghoul, Unholy Blight, or the Gargoyle.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=jfVMVZZfM0htf0gcVMcsux
This is a two-handed weapon build. Like most Unholy builds, it's disease up, Blood Strike for Death Runes, then Scourge Strikes.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=jZG0jxZfM0htf0gcVMcsux
Here is a dual-wield version of the above.
Those are just a couple quick examples I came up with, and they each have some wiggle room for point allocation. I allocated based on level 80, so if you decide to use one of them, just buy down to Ebon Plaguebringer (since that's what you want to spec around), then spend any excess points where you will until you run out.
Your mileage may vary.
Hoggersbud Feb 17th 2009 2:12AM
Speaking as an Unholy tank, I sorta hate it when the DPS DK's bring Ebon Plaguebringer. It tends to cut down on the diseases I bring, which cuts down on my threat since my Scourge Strike is not getting a tick from my own version of it.
Obviously this won't be a concern if you aren't running anything with a DK tank, but if you do, then you might want to think on it.
At least until 3.1, since they did promise a fix for that little problem.
I hope so.
Anyway, do what you like, it doesn't matter till you start raiding, and then you need to consider who you're raiding with. They may need you to go Blood, Frost or Unholy.
boney Feb 16th 2009 6:24PM
Jessica, regardless of what anyone says, you should play the way that you want to play. No one is forcing you into any spec that you need to take because your not max level and raiding or pvping, and hey, if that's what you like more power to you. Stick with what you like and leveling will be so much more enjoyable and the game will become easier for you not to burn out. Im not bashing Daniel, either!
Feanor Feb 16th 2009 6:25PM
When you zoom out all the way on the in-game map (so that it shows both Outland and Azeroth), there are figures holding both planets up. The Azeroth figure seems to be titan-like, while the Outland figure's appearance is more demonic. Do you know who/what these figures are?
AyaJulia Feb 16th 2009 7:22PM
If I had to guess... I'd say it's Aman'Thul, the Zeus equivalent among the titans, and Sargeras, their fallen titan-turned-evil.
Vivimord Feb 17th 2009 2:04AM
I wouldn't say the demonic figure is Sargeras... It seems more like a caricature of a Nathrezim (dreadlord). And as for the other figure, it would indeed seem like a Titan... Maybe Aman'thul, maybe Norgannon. Or maybe just a generic Titan figure.
Jamesisgreat Feb 16th 2009 6:38PM
I decided to get around to leveling up my weapon skills and unarmed skills for the 2 corresponding achievements recently, only to find that since patch 3.08, all the usual afk grinding mobs no longer work (at least according to comments on WoWhead)!
Does anyone know of any place that I can level them up that still works? I'm a feral druid so the thought of actually doing it the non-afk way is not something that I look forward too.....