The Queue: Mercenaries
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 29th 2009 at 8:00PM
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 is nice and lengthy again, after a spree of shorty-shorts. See, good things happen when people actually ask questions! Although since it's being posted so late in the day, I bet Adam will have trouble again tomorrow. Do him (and yourselves) a favor: Ask Adam a bunch of completely absurd questions so he has something to write for all of you tomorrow!
Airleagan asked...
"In the Ulduar Cinematic, the Horde and the Alliance both reject the idea of going into Ulduar, yet the players go into Ulduar and are on the Factions of the Horde and the Alliance, Why do we not Listen to our leaders or do they even matter because it seams the Horde just does whatever they want no matter what Thrall says?"
The players are a lot like mercenaries in WoW. Hired guns. Note that even in history, mercenaries often had a kingdom that they called home, while not serving it on the battlefield unless they were being paid or rewarded (or their inaction would've caused their own deaths). That was one of the advantages of being a mercenary. Oftentimes mercs were paid far, far more than regular soldiers, because they were the ones that desperate kingdoms turned to when they needed to bolster their forces. The mercenaries could have been horrible at warfare, but when a nation needs extra bodies to throw at a conflict, they'll take anybody. Being a dedicated mercenary to one nation was a pretty sweet deal. You serve the nation you want to serve like any other willing soldier, but they pay you extra. It was rarely a 'highest bidder' situation.
We are mercenaries, and while we call the Horde (or the Alliance) our own, we'll go where we're wanted (or needed) even if the Alliance (or the Horde) doesn't necessarily support that movement. Also note that neither Varian nor Garrosh specifically stated that members of the Horde and Alliance had to avoid Ulduar. It's just that neither of them are going to throw their support into the movement. We can go to Ulduar all we want, but we shouldn't expect the 7th Legion or the Warsong Clan to charge in and give us any reinforcements. We're on our own, and hopefully we'll be rewarded in the end. Or perhaps saving the freaking world is reward enough.
Lorethai asked...
"I'm a new player, just started a few months ago, and my main character is up to level 53. I only have the original game installed, and I'm wondering if I should wait until I top out at 60 to get BC, then wait until 70 to get Wrath, or if I should just bite the bullet (and credit card bill) and get both rightnow?
I just realized that I'll need BC to finish at least one of the Noblegarden quests, but I'm not sure that's a compelling enough reason to drop $30 more right now. Any thoughts?"
If you're only playing through WoW for the first time, take it slow. Play Vanilla to level 60, do the Plaguelands, all of that. The long time vets of the game probably don't ever want to see that stuff again, but it's still really great for first time players. Stay in Azeroth until level 60, and once you find yourself running out of things you can do on your own at that level, pick up The Burning Crusade and repeat the process until level 70. All of the content is great. The only people that should be rushing through it are the people that have seen it already.
The exception to this is if you're not intending to play the game solo and want to catch up to some friends or family members that are max level. Then you might have more fun if you rush, because I find WoW is infinitely more fun as a social game than a solo game. If that's not the case, then take it slow. The achievements will be there next year.
Molot asked...
"Why do most top raiding guild's require their members to download certain addons? If I can play to their level without them, why should I add something I'm not going to use. Is it my fault I can multi-task without the help of my computer telling me what to do next. Sure it makes the game easier, but where's the challenge in that?"
Many of the required addons are not only tools for you, but tools for the raid as whole. For example, requiring a raid mod such as ora2 or CTRaid or whatever other compatible equivalent you may have is not necessarily a tool for you, but also a tool for raid leaders and officers. It allows you/them to see certain information, and do things they normally couldn't like trigger raid-wide polls. If not everyone in the raid can respond to that poll quickly and easily, it's quite frustrating! That's just one example. There are also guilds that like using certain things for proximity on fights, and all sorts of things. You might not need it, but you'd be surprised how many of these mods are actually used to communicate between each other behind the scenes.
There are also mods like Omen which serve that purpose, or they did prior to threat values becoming visible in WoW itself. Some people may not need it anymore, but back in the day it was nearly essential, even if you were very good at managing your own threat. It meant that others couldn't see where you were on threat. That was (and sometimes is) a very important detail for the entire raid.
There are some things that don't need to be required (stuff like Grid isn't for everyone, but I've seen it required by some), but oftentimes the 'required' addons are things that make organization easier, or makes things easier for your fellow raids, not necessarily just you.
Hya asked...
"I see that there are capital city tabards now with the Argent Tournament. Can these be used for rep in heroic instances or are they just for show?"
They're just for fun and/or show. RP clothes, if you will.
Riley asked...
"I have a question: When is Game Fuel coming out? It's taking too damn long!"
We don't have a confirmed source whatsoever, but people who claim to have 'contacts' say early June is when we'll see it. Who are these contacts? Who knows. They could be magical pixies for all we know. June isn't guaranteed, but I'd honestly say that's a fairly likely date. Beginning of summer is a great time to release new soda flavors and that will roughly be the time that the Pepsi Throwback campaign ends, I believe. One campaign ends, another begins. Early summer is a good guess.
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: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Quidamtyra Apr 29th 2009 8:11PM
As to the first question:
I would also suggest going through Plaguelands and everything else, take it slow with your first toon. I personally never want to see most of the leveling content again, but first time through it will be fun.
Quidamtyra Apr 29th 2009 8:13PM
Wow... I meant second question...
Messed that one up...
Kevin Gass Apr 29th 2009 8:34PM
I don't like the "everyone is a mercinary" answer for the first question. If that were the case why can't I go fight with the undead as a human? Or any other combo. I think you need to rethink the question and come up with a better answer.
Cabcru Apr 29th 2009 8:46PM
I shake my head whenever someone pops on the boards and demands all the old content be remade, in a 'won't-someone-think-of-the-children!' type plea (with the 'children' being new players).
They always forget that for new players, seeing all the content for the first time is the best part of the game. Everything is new, you don't know where all the quests will lead you, you don't know what you'll be facing next or how tough it'll be. It's great. So I concur, take things slow the first time round.
Charlie Apr 29th 2009 9:03PM
Also to the second question: I believe it is still possible to get a trial of Burning Crusade. When I wanted to go as long as I could without purchasing BC, I got to 60, got the Burning Crusade trial, leveled to 62 and bought Burning Crusade.
If it is still possible to get the trial, I would use the trial to do the Noble Garden quest if you want to get the achievement done this year but do not want to buy Burning Crusade yet.
Worcester Apr 29th 2009 9:04PM
Kevin,
You can't go fight with the Undead as a Human because we don't like you.
Balius Apr 29th 2009 9:10PM
When I want a revamped old world, I want new content for the high leveled players, and new content for those leveling, but I MOSTLY want the old content to be revamped to better fit Blizzard's current design strategy.
I spent an ENTIRE level killing lions west of Tarren Mills trying to get the blood. There are many times when you'll have a quest to kill a certain enemy and then turn it in to get a follow-up quest to go to the same area and kill that same enemy (sometimes in greater numbers than the first quest) just to get to the new goal. And SOMETIMES there's a third quest even deeper in, where you have to kill your way through the first two quest enemies to get to the third.
There are zones that I hated my first playthrough, and that I never go back to on any alts, just because of the ridiculous travel time and insignificant quests that time is used to finish.(Desolace, for instance).
On the other hand, Wrath quests are dynamic, have interesting goals and quest text, and usually reward you enough to make it worth your while. You can often do several quests that take you to the same area in sequence, avoiding the long travel times from yoyoing back to town after each, and many quests synchronize with each other so you can do a kill-quest and a drop quest at the same time.
conker87 Apr 29th 2009 9:26PM
I like to think that when I'm levelling through the content that I'm levelling during the specific time period of that content.
For instance, Vanilla WoW was before anything with the Darp Portal happened and Burning Crusade content is when Illidan was (lorewise) still alive. It makes things more interesting when you get to that level and think "ooooh this is happening," rather than just thinking that Outlands is just another forgotten levelling zone.
jbodar Apr 29th 2009 11:11PM
@Kevin Gass
Worcester is right. Players are still bound in that they cannot be members of Neutral factions -- which are the only mixed Alliance-Horde factions in game -- but they can choose to help anyone who'll let them (i.e., not the Forsaken, if you're Human). Just because the Alliance and Horde won't officially go to Location X doesn't mean that these other factions aren't and people are free to do as they please. Look at who is trying to get the main Alliance/Horde forces to go into Ulduar in the cinematic: the Kirin Tor. It may not perfectly mesh with game mechanics, but it's the best explanation IMO.
Minidrake Apr 30th 2009 12:10AM
@Crabcru:
Its not so much we need to revamp the old world. Its just that large portions of the world need the Dustwallow Swamp treatment. Imagine, a Swamp of Sorrows that Alliance have a reason to visit, or a Desolace with real content. Or heck even the Barrens with some actual STORY.
Dr Jekyll Apr 30th 2009 1:14AM
@Kevin Gass
Your a mercenary because your in service to your king/queen/leader on your own time. If "quests" were given and required by leader you would be a soldier.
So simply if you kill for-
A leader your a soldier.
Profit your a mercenary.
No reason your a monster.(This one is my opinion)
Achievement points see last answer. (Again my opinion you squirrel slayers)
rosencratz Apr 30th 2009 5:11AM
Being a mercenary does make sense.
Regardless you've served the Alliance way too much to "join" the horde proper. At the same time though as an alliance character i've done plenty of quests for undead, trolls, orcs,etc and vice versa.
You should also try to remember that trying to interpret game mechanics as having logical reasons other than "That's how the game works" is essentially a roleplaying concept and so your personal reasons for why you can do stuff the alliance don't want to do but still can't join the horde is entirely down to your own imagination.
At the end of the day though, we the players have time to dilly dally around in Ulduar, as individuals but the Alliance and Horde armies are currently too busy with the scourge, they can't simply turn around and do something else. They're at war with an endless stream of undead.
Nellisynthia Apr 30th 2009 8:53AM
Actually, if one doesn't like the stigmata of the traditional "mercenary" or "soldier of fortune" there are other examples which one can draw from; situations where for whatever reason the kingdom/government was unwilling to participate in a particular important conflict ... and other groups stepped in to fill the void.
True, some of these groups had the tacit backing of important folks, but so do we in Jaina and Rhonin.
The first that should be obvious, especially with the backing of a recent blockbuster film - the Spartan contribution to the Battle of Thermopylae.
A second one is the Lafayette Escadrille, the "American" World War I Squadron formed before America's entrance into the war.
A third, keeping in the aeronautical vein, is the 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as "The Flying Tigers" ...
Even in our own world, "mercenary" doesn't always mean "mercenary" :)
Kassu Apr 30th 2009 9:28AM
Whatever you do, DO NOT stay there until 60.
Buy TBC, hit Outland at 58 and never look back.
Trust me, it's THAT painful.
Cabcru Apr 30th 2009 9:50AM
@ Minidrake
Oh, I'm not against improvements, just the brainless reasoning that everything has to be revamped 'for new players'. They're the last people in game that would care about a revamped old world.
Derek Apr 30th 2009 2:28PM
@Kassu
*sigh* Why do so many people parrot this back? Honestly, what zone you choose to level in -- especially since the nerf to how much XP you need per level -- is very much a matter of personal preference. YES, Outland is awesome, and Northrend is also awesome. I'll be the first to say that Wrath quests, zones, etc. are -- as a whole -- the best WoW yet.
BUT: Don't eschew the "old end game" content just because you can! Especially don't do that your first time thru. Winterspring and Silithus, old though they are, are two of my personal favorite zones in the game. Silithus is unlike practically any other zone (although its plot is hinted at in other zones in southern Kalimdor), and it very much leads into one of the plotlines running through current Wrath content. Skip it, and you'll miss out. Winterspring is just a lot of fun, doing quests for furbolgs, running around the frozen wilderness (hinting at Wrath a different way, lol), and killing owlkin like there's no tomorrow.
The Plaguelands, by contrast, are two of the ugliest zones in the game. BUT, they have some of the best quests. Start the one in Winterspring to find Pamela Redpath in Eastern Plaguelands late at night, and you might find chills running down your spine. They're very good!
Also, some of the old dungeons are a lot of fun. If you've never run Blackrock Depths, you really should. It's very size DEFINES "epic." It's like three Ironforges run together, filled with mad dwarves. It even has a tavern in the middle where the patrons are neutral, and you can sell your vendor trash to the bar tender. Who can hate a dungeon with a built-in tavern?
All the encomia aside, it really is up to personal preference. I say, give the old zones and dungeons a try before jumping through the gate to Outland. If you end up finding it not to your liking, then go out, buy Burning Crusade, and try out Hellfire Peninsula. It's up to you! That's part of the fun. Don't skip things just because others tell you to. I've found some of the most fascinating parts of this game by going where other players told me not to bother. ;-)
Soulpen Apr 29th 2009 8:15PM
i have to agree about taking your time with the content. i rushed through the game my first time out, i had '70 fever' and i missed alot of great stuff. i find myself actually reading quest text on my alts!!
Raaj Apr 29th 2009 9:21PM
In addition, if you hit the level cap for your version of the game (this even works for the trial at level 20), all your quest experience gets converted into gold until you upgrade again. It's a great way to knock out some quests and earn some extra cash on the side. Even at level 20, the xp rewards generally turned into at least 1g each, so at 60, it should be quite plentiful.
Sarakin Apr 29th 2009 8:16PM
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
Wyrm Apr 29th 2009 8:19PM
I couldn't agree more.