The Queue: Cats rule, dogs drool
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 21st 2009 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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Today's edition of The Queue will be pretty short and sweet. Many of the questions that were asked yesterday have since been answered in other places around the site, so I just went ahead and skimmed over those ones
to answer what hasn't been addressed already. Ready? Set? Let's go!
Becky asked...
"I may be wrong but it seems to me of all the in-game non-combat pets, there are no dogs but plenty of cats. What's with the lack of dogs? My mage wants a puppy."
You know, I can't ever recall seeing any dogs in Warcraft at all. The closest thing to dogs being kept as pets that we've witnessed are all wolves, worgs, or coyotes. We even get worg, wolf and coyote non-combat pets ourselves (not just NPCs), but nothing that's modeled like a domesticated dog. Maybe cats are easier to model somehow? Or the Blizzard devs are all cat people. I'm pretty okay with that. Cats > Dogs.
BooMsx asked...
"What were the plaguelands called before the plague?"
Lordaeron.
Crewdie asked...
"So I was looking at Wowwiki at all the Ulduar bosses and found a couple of names that seem familiar such as Freya (who has an avatar in Sholazar Basin). That one didn't really bug me as much as Hodir. I mean, shouldn't his sons be a little upset that we go around trying to beat him up in Ulduar? Or are his "sons" against him?"
The Watchers have all come under Yogg-Saron's influence. If you do the quests out in the Storm Peaks, the Watchers have all been twisted and turned against eachother via Yogg-Saron and Loken's treachery. When we fight Freya and Hodir and all of them in Ulduar, we're fighting Yogg-Saron's dark influence. By freeing the Watchers from Yogg-Saron's grasp, we're probably making the Sons of Hodir even happier with us than they ever were before.
Vaydos asked...
"Whatever happened to being able to confirm/save talent specs before finishing them? I know this was a nice feature I was looking forward to in 3.1"
This is in patch 3.1, but you need to turn the feature on. It's off by default. Go into your main menu, open up the Interface menu, then click Display. The option for it should be in that panel.
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, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Steven Apr 21st 2009 5:07PM
I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but is there any news on new druid skins?
Secondly, is there any place, in game, to find info on the Ulduar bosses (Lore wise)? Are there any quests at all in regards to Ulduar?
DM7000 Apr 21st 2009 5:20PM
I would also like any news on new druid forms or even just updated graphics. I'm really tired of looking like a dam tree.
Saintgutfree Apr 21st 2009 5:29PM
Not to be rude guys, but for some reason I highly doubt druid skins are even on Blizzard's priorities list.
If you don't like the look, don't play a druid.
And yes, there's plenty of Ulduar lore. The entirety of the Storm Peaks is Ulduar lore. Literally every quest ties into it somehow. How did you miss an entire zone?
Steven Apr 21st 2009 5:38PM
"Not to be rude guys" does not give you an excuse to be rude. I play a druid because I love their playstyle, just not seeing the same furry ass from level 10 to 80. The question still stands, and I know I'm not alone :)
As for the quest text in Storm Peaks- I did miss most of it, actually. I went straight from Shola to Icecrown. Instead of being a troll, perhaps a useful answer may be more helpful!
Bronzey Apr 21st 2009 5:42PM
Um, no, Blizzard has been promising us druids new skins for quite a while now. At the very least for the last two years (that's how long i've been playing one and checking the forums for more info on the subject.) We have every right to be concerned.
WoW is a very visually pleasing game, and it's frustrating to us that we like playing our class but hate seeing them in certain forms. Plus, for a good portion of the time we play, we look like every other druid out there, whether we're level 10 or 80, and in full greens or full epics. Not exactly much of a confidence booster for us to see people in all their shiny tier gear while raiding, while we see... the same feathery or furry butt we've had since day one.
Leigh Apr 21st 2009 5:47PM
Hey I agree with the druid forms, but I'd like to actually see a Morphing animation more than updated skins.
Ever since I watched the original WoW video cinematic, I wanted to see the druid fluidly shift between its forms, not just disappear in smoke and reappear as whatever its next form is.
Superthrust Apr 21st 2009 6:12PM
Saintgutfree couldn't be anymore wrong. Blizzard has had the time to update the amount of crap i turn stuff into on my mage...A sheep, a pig, a turtle, a cat, a rabbit, a penguin...seriously...i think there is even a chicken too...
Anyways, i am POSITIVE it isn't too hard to get a glyph into the works to change the look of your druid forms. I mean, they added a dance to a tree and a bear, for heavens sake. But, as i see from blizzards ignorance in the past, they might not do it, keep it for a later "major" content patch, or import it into a glyph system, as major glyphs (which would be stupid cause im sure no one would use them...)
Just my 2 cents, without "not being rude"...
Tethra Apr 21st 2009 6:37PM
I remember, before WotLK came out, Blizz said there was going to be a glyph to make druids turn into polar bears instead or regular ol' brown bears. I wonder whatever happened with that?
John Apr 21st 2009 6:38PM
I shall turn you from a tree into... A SHRUBBERY! Muwhahahaha!
Dave Apr 21st 2009 6:43PM
Last blue post re: this was on 4/4
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/15973727921-druid-form-graphics--whats-the-status.html
Balius Apr 21st 2009 7:52PM
In all honesty, I'd rather have a new mechanic than a new model. I think armor changes should be visually represented on the shape-shifted models, like they are on the player model. Having a new model is better than nothing, and the ability to alter the look of the model is better than just having a new model to stare at from 1-80, but I'm really hoping that they change the mechanic to have gear impact the looks.
Part of the good thing about getting gear is the way it makes your character look. It's a nice feeling to see a character that's practically naked get a gear set, then get progressively better looking gear, and eventually graduate into a cohesive looking set that just screams "I've been around the block, I know what I'm doing, and I'm damn good at it.".
Druids don't get that. A bear looks the same from level 10 to level 80, whether you're naked or in a tier 8.25 set with all the best in slot equipment.
Given the amount of time they've been saying they're working on it, I can't imagine it's a simple model upgrade.
alex Apr 21st 2009 9:56PM
"Not to be rude guys, but for some reason I highly doubt druid skins are even on Blizzard's priorities list."
Could you be any more wrong with that post?
You are blatantly being rude, and Blizzard has stated that new Druid skins are in the works (since January). The issue is that they've been quiet for a while now.
I guess you'd be OK with your character having less polygons than hunter's pets, but - not surprisingly - many Druids aren't.
rosencratz Apr 22nd 2009 5:12AM
I just wanted to say that, yes, you do mean to be beating a dead horse and no, it's not getting any deader. "The queue" can't keep telling you guys that they don't know anything on this anymore than they already have.
Blizz are working on it, or so they claim and, tbh, the amount of effort they've likely put into making skins/models for this system they most likely are too invested. I'm sure it's coming but when? Well who knows.
It's best not to wait for it or get too expectant tbh and let it be a pleasant suprise when it does turn up, otherwise when it does you'll only say "Well it's about time!" swiftly followed by "Is that it!"
smiley Apr 22nd 2009 7:07AM
there are addons to change the look of your feral forms. I haven't played my druid since BC but i doubt they stopped making them, my old addon used to turn cat form into a worgen, bear form into a plauge bear, and treeform into a small vertion of the ancient trees
sinthar Apr 22nd 2009 8:44AM
Wow lots of unhappy trees bears n cats (plus other forms i cant remember). Just think tho, all the time blizz has said were working on it, they also work on the whole of wrath, and imo bug fixes + new content > new forms for druids, hence what another maligned commentor said - that druid skins are not on their priority list, not being nasty, just trying to be realisitic, its not a 'critical' item, so wont be on their 'fix this quick' list. Im not quite sure how that is construed as 'rude', but i personally think its quite true (even if its a bit off by blizz). Mind you they also said they were working on the 'blink' problem for mages, since blink came out in fact, and guess what.... yep still no fix, and i believe they have given up on it now. So plenty of mages that spend mana, their GCD and appear ...in exactly the same place (or even behind where they cast it). Guess what, that doesnt make pvp more fun, just more frustrating and annoying, and imo is more serious and important than a new pretty skin that doesnt effect game play in any way. Im sure druids would agree if say their battle rez had the same type of functionality, say 50% of the time, the spell mysteriously fails based on what texture you and the corpse were on, takes your mana, triggers the cool down, but didnt work, im sure you would be complaining (and quite rightly) then. But skins? Sorry but imo they are of lower priority.
As to the lore, yeah there is a shed load of it in game (the whole sons of hodir stuff at least, and more in HoS if you wait for the 3/4 hour while the computer is queried), and im sure if you ask nicely in the 'Ask a lore nerd' the question would be better answered by someone far more qualified than i, but lore questions are not really what 'The Queue' caters for.
Oh and Cats RULE. :) No slobber chops in my house.
Eddy Apr 22nd 2009 1:37PM
I feel that a whole retweak of the Classic WoW races wouldn't hurt anyone, either, just for aesthetics. I find myself only wanting to play BC races because the modeling work is just better. D:
Saintgutfree Apr 22nd 2009 9:16PM
Thank you Rosencratz for being the voice of reason.
As someone who's played a druid before, I wouldn't be expecting new models. Yeah, Blizz said they would but Blizz also said we'd be getting Dance Studios with Wrath. See how well that turned out?
I'm not bashing them either, they just have much, MUCH bigger fish to fry then re-tweaking an almost five year old graphical model. That's all.
Oh, and now I am going to be rude to you pricks who call me out for saying "I'm not trying to be rude." Because I wasn't trying to be rude about it, was just trying to say "It's not a priority for the company" as should be obvious by the fact that nothing's been stated about it. If you want to take it as rude, fine, be that way. But don't try to make me look like an ass when I went out of my way to make sure I wasn't being an ass.
Okay, so I was rude about the Ulduar thing, but rightfully so.
Todd Apr 21st 2009 5:07PM
Hmm, the Zergling seems like a dog... of sorts. There's the Worg non-combat pet, which is mostly dog.
ibuprophen Apr 21st 2009 5:09PM
ahem... dogs > cats
Eternauta Apr 21st 2009 5:37PM
Agreed. I love dogs.
Besides, I'm tired of all those stupid internet pics of cats doing stupid things or looking "funny"
I hate internet culture in general.