The Queue: I can't help it if it's true
by Alex Ziebart 
Jun 2nd 2009 at 1:00PM
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.
Just gonna let this one speak for itself. Oh, and if you want to know what today's obligatory Reading-The-Queue-Music is, it's of Montreal.
lgnorman420 asked...
"So I've been wondering as my guild has been running through Ulduar about the various machine names one might encounter throughout the game. Mimiron's creation, the V0-L7R-0N combat system or the XT-002 Deconstructor are two examples. Also the mechanical chicken quests back from mid-40s to 50s leveling also come to mind. Do these number/letter codes have any significance or are they just random sequences to give them a machine sounding kind of name?"
I don't think there's any naming scheme across the board for robotic things in WoW. How they got their names differs from one to the next. For example, V0-L7R-0N is just a Voltron joke. I don't think XT-002 has any significance except that maybe (maybe) the 2 signifies that he's the second creation of Mimiron that you fight in Ulduar. The second line of defense or what have you. Someone smarter than I am should figure out what XT stands for. The robochickens are named after the zone you find them in.
So the robots have reasoning behind their names, yes. It's just not the same reasoning behind all of the names.
Ian R. asked...
"Does Blizzard or WoW.com ever do anything at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)?"
We here at WoW.com/WoW Insider don't typically send anybody to PAX, but who knows. Maybe one day we will. It all comes down to budgeting and we need to pick our battles carefully. BlizzCon is absolutely always going to be worth it. PAX? Eh. We might send someone from WoW.com to join the greater Joystiq collective, but it's unlikely we'll have a presence there just for ourselves.
Blizzard does tend to make appearances at PAX. In fact, they're slated to be there this year. What will they be showing off? I'm not sure, but if it's anything like last year they'll just be showing off what they showed off at BlizzCon, just in another venue. StarCraft II, maybe Diablo III or the inevitable new WoW expansion. Whatever they announce at BlizzCon will almost certainly be mentioned again at PAX, just in a much smaller capacity.
Charizard asked...
"So, I'll repost my question from the last article because it's still relavent. What's up with the Mountain Dew promotion thing? Are they still doing it? When are we getting pets? How does it work? I've been expecting a guide to it, but there still hasn't been one."
We were going to write up a guide until we realized that the Game Fuel site itself is the guide. It has a checklist of ways to earn points, and it doesn't get much easier than that. Here's what our guide would look like:
- Go to MountainDewGameFuel.com's How Do I Earn Tokens section
- ???
- Profit!
"To claim the Battle-Bot pet, visit the promotion website at www.mountaindewgamefuel.com and follow the instructions there. The exclusive pet is available only between early June and August 20, and you many only claim the Battle-Bot Ignition Key on a World of Warcraft account (either trial or full account) that is tied to a Battle.net account. The account must be in the North American region, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Singapore."
Vladeon asked...
"I've noticed that there's little to no Naga in Northrend. What's up with that? I mean, they're all over the coasts in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Hell, they're even in Outland, god only knows how they made it up there. So, with Northrend being a smallish island with tons of coast-line, why haven't the Naga ventured up there much? Perhaps they're smarter than we give 'em credit for."
The Naga did have territory in Northrend, a fairly significant one according to the RPG books. Riplash Strand was dominated by Naga. However, if you quest in Borean Tundra you find that the weird seaghost vrykul have killed them all off. My personal theory is that Blizzard decided to do that because we had enough friggin' Naga in Burning Crusade and the last thing we needed was more of them in Northrend. Especially since that if the next expansion is the Maelstrom as most of us suspect, we'll have more than enough Naga on our hands. It was a wise, wise move to minimize their presence in Northrend.
(Psst, if you have something you want us to pick as our song of the day, feel free to post in the comments, but they'll only be considered if you ask a good question with the suggestion. Good as in not something silly like, "What is your favorite color?")
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, BlizzCon, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Randomrestodruid Jun 2nd 2009 1:07PM
New Tauren cat form is out!
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/images/druid/ss3.jpg
AyaJulia Jun 2nd 2009 1:17PM
Wow, overbite much? :\
Radiophonic Jun 2nd 2009 1:57PM
They're great, dig the lion look but really, the horns gotta go.
Amaxe Jun 2nd 2009 2:45PM
Look better than the old ones but I personally don't like them and hope the Nelf ones will look better
Craig R Jun 2nd 2009 1:11PM
it's blue, for the record.
Ozcor Jun 2nd 2009 1:28PM
No, yellow!
Bragaulicious Jun 2nd 2009 1:12PM
In response to "The account must be in the North American region, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Singapore."
When I log in I get the following message from them "You're not eligible to participate. You must be a legal U.S. resident."
They don't like your northern Canadian allies I guess >
Craig R Jun 2nd 2009 1:18PM
As far as Pepsi knows, I live at a Papa Johns in Detroit or something.
O Caaaanadaaaaa, our home and native laaannnnnnd
AyaJulia Jun 2nd 2009 1:21PM
You have to have a US address to sign up for the Mountain Dew promos.
There are people who live in the US but bought WoW in other places, so they'll have non-US accounts (people who bought it in the UK would have an EU account and not be able to claim the prize).
Just do some creative research online. Go find a business address in... I dunno. Kansas. Not many people care about Kansas. You can probably find a Bob's Tire Emporium or something to use.
Me, I live in Canada but am from the US, so I gave them my mother's address. :P
Mickthathick Jun 2nd 2009 4:21PM
It seems you don't have to drink the chemical either to be able to enter, which to me was surprising. You just have to click stupid links on the promo site to get tokens.
The Funia! Jun 2nd 2009 1:12PM
Alright, I can't find if its been asked before and Im too lazy to keep searching.
There seems to have been a lot of Downtime issues associated directly to people with Battle.net Accounts.
So...What reason would I have to link my World of Warcraft Accout to a Battle.net account? (Sub-Question..did you just say I needed a linked account to get me a Mountain Dew Battle bot!?)
Gemini Jun 2nd 2009 1:53PM
Currently there is no reason to link your WoW account to Battle.net. Don't do it. They're still working the kinks out.
kit Jun 2nd 2009 1:59PM
Ditto.
So, I've been participating in the Mountain Dew promotion, but haven't attached my WoW account to a Battle.net one - do I have to now, if I want my pet? I almost remember reading that eventually we'll all be forced over to that system, is that true?
Adam Jun 2nd 2009 2:21PM
Yes, you do need to link your account to claim a Battlebot pet.
However, the pets aren't even available yet, so no rush.
Blorc Jun 2nd 2009 5:40PM
I asked this question a while back and got a whole queue themed toward it =p
But yeah, the answer was basically that there is no benefit yet, eventually you'll be able to link your D3, SC2, and WoW accounts, and you'll need it to get the battlebot, but that's about it.
Also, props on the of Montreal... great song =D
Acerbus Noir Jun 2nd 2009 7:04PM
I linked my account to battle.net and haven't had an issue since.
One AWESOME feature is that you can add all your blizzard games to it and download them right there. I haven't been able to play diablo 2 for years since my cds are scratched up beyond repair. I just downloaded it straight from bliz and now I have it installed again.
JoeRandom Jun 2nd 2009 1:18PM
I always wondered when exactly "the magic" of loot determination happens.. that is, at which point the loot of a given mob / drop / pickup is determined. Does it happen when we open the loot window? Or are mobs / nodes already spawned with specific loot? If so, how does e.g. fishing work (no "nodes" or mobs) in this regard?
Blacksword Jun 2nd 2009 1:40PM
Loot is assigned when the instance is created.. thats my understanding
Bubsa Jun 2nd 2009 3:38PM
Yeah, unless I'm mistaken, when the mob spawns, the loot it carries spawns at that instant.
So, if you think of Baron Rivandare: As soon as you get into Strath, he'll either have the mount in his loot, or he won't. The (not as much of a) ball-ache (anymore) being of course that you have to get to him and loot him to find out.
When a mob respawns or is reset (not resetting as in evade bugging, mind), a new cache of loot is generated from its table.
Lemons Jun 2nd 2009 5:29PM
Thinking in those terms could make you go insane! Just think...that one time you gave up in the middle of a run he could have had the mount O.o
and considering it's a ~1% drop rate...you've got approximately 99 more runs until he has it again! Bwahahaha!