The Queue: Guest introduction
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 17th 2009 at 4:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.On the last edition of The Queue, I requested that readers write me an intro for this thing, and I would pick my favorite of the bunch to use to introduce the column. So here we go, an intro from Teregwynn:
"Each end every day, except those days when he doesn't, Alex Ziebart takes time out of his busy schedule to sift through your annoying, and often repetitive, questions to find those worthy of answers. Once selected, he conjures answers for these questions which baffle the minds of mere mortals, endowing them with a level of insight which they could not, but for having read earlier editions of this very column, have ever imagined."
Search asked...
"I have recently started on getting Loremaster and find it quite frustrating that I don't know how many quests I have accomplished in each area. Is there any way to see how much I have already done in an area and how much left still to do? Maybe some sort of clever addon that has eluded my search."
If you're looking for a nice and convenient addon that'll list everything you've done or not done... you're out of luck. If something like that exists, I don't know about it, and neither do most people doing Loremaster. The best you can do is pull up a zone in Wowhead, and run down the list of quests, checking off what you remember doing and looking for those you don't. I also hear that Carbonite is incredibly useful for people going for Loremaster, but it still can't tell you all of the quests you've done prior to installing it.
Of course, I'm assuming you're talking exclusively about Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor. When you're in Outland and Northrend, the achievement pane will break those down for you. You're not so lucky in the 'old world' though.
Sorry, that's all I can suggest for you! Loremaster is a pretty frustrating undertaking at times. Good luck with it!
dude asked...
"Have you heard anything about getting more character slots per server anytime soon?"
We haven't heard a thing. The best I can do for you is say that I don't think it'll happen. That doesn't mean it won't, I just don't think it will.
Hendrata asked...
"Seeing that there's so much speculation about the new class and race and lore in the expansion, did it happen with Wrath as well? I haven't played for long so I wouldn't know. Did people speculate like crazy towards the end of TBC what the next expansion was going to be?"
There was a ton of speculation, but not necessarily the same kind. Race speculation dominated, since the concept of 'hero class' was never even something realistic until Wrath of the Lich King. Sure, people wanted hero classes, but it hadn't been done yet so it was pointless to speculate there. The Burning Crusade brought us two new races though, so that's what most people were expecting. The 'playable worgen' idea was even more popular back then than it is right now.
Now that WoW has had both new races and a new class, everybody is speculating on both things for the next expansion, rather than one. That's the only real difference.
Taladan asked...
"Expanding on that last question, were there absurd theories about what the next expansion would be in The Burning Crusade? The one that eventually turned out to be Wrath of the Lich King?"
I honestly don't remember anything too outlandish. I think Wrath was what most people expected. The Burning Crusade took us out into a very foreign, psychedelic world. People were longing to go back to a bit of the traditional fantasy after that, so Northrend was a pretty natural pick. I think the only other theories I remember hearing were The Emerald Dream and other Legion worlds (which I personally think we'll get after the Maelstrom.)
Verakum asked...
"What UI does the WoW.com staff use for raiding?"
The team really doesn't have a standard. We don't use the same packaged UI or anything, so it varies from person to person. Personally, I like to run light on addons. At least, I think I run light! I only use...
And that's it! Those are my raid-specific mods, anyway. I definitely run other addons for other purposes. SexyMap, MarySue, Cartographer and Chatter (among others) are certainly awesome mods, but they don't do a whole lot for the raiding experience.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com 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, Add-Ons, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Josin Jul 17th 2009 4:07PM
I really enjoy this column, but reading "Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. " is starting to bother me. It's not daily. Or WoW Insider.
Other than that, I have no complaints. Feel free to begin down-voting my comment now.
impurezero Jul 17th 2009 4:13PM
Downrating? Without people like you pointing this crap out, we'd still be staring at Karatechop every day.
Alex Ziebart Jul 17th 2009 4:16PM
The "WoW Insider" bit stuck in there was just something we missed, heh. We copy/paste that thing every day from the previous edition.
And the column is totally daily. Yknow, when Adam and I aren't hella busy with other work around here. x_x
elstor Jul 17th 2009 4:49PM
Replying to get this high up: The addon QuestQuery (http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info10791-QuestQuery.html) is EXTREMELY useful for Loremaster. Do try.
Averna Jul 17th 2009 4:50PM
Wait? So Alex and Adam's sole purpose is not to sift through email after email looking for good questions to answer? When did this happen?
elstor Jul 17th 2009 4:50PM
Replying to myself: QuestQuery doesn't do what I thought it did. It sucks. Don't use it.
Treeston Jul 18th 2009 2:36AM
In response to all the people looking for an addon that knows which quests you have done, I can tell you one thing: It is simply not possible by the means Blizzard gives us Authors right now.
Unless they change something in the API in a patch, we simply can't access that information.
Pseudopsycho Jul 19th 2009 7:01AM
I have a question: (apologies in advance if this was answered somewhere in wow.com, i couldn't find it)
If you're on a pvp realm, and you get a paid faction change on one of you characters, what happens? Do you get a realm transfer as well? Do you have to change all your chars?
Lornicide Jul 17th 2009 4:12PM
For tracking quests I use QuestHistory. It'll only track quests you've done while having the addon running, however. I just make sure to enable it every time I start a new toon. It'll allow you to search it so you can compare it to a list (like from Wowhead.)
Aykwa Jul 17th 2009 4:48PM
When I was getting hard-pressed to find the last quests for Loremaster, I went to wowhead and looked up an actual zone, say Thousand Needles, and then clicked on the drop-down menu right above the zone map. That allows me to choose to view questgivers, as pins on the map, and divided by Horde and Alliance. Was a lifesaver, as I found a couple out of the way NPCs that gave me rather long chains and totally pushed me over the edge.
Pojupenguin Jul 17th 2009 7:05PM
I have a question. Why are there no Heirloom boots? It would make perfect sense, our alts could have a speed increase nchant all the way to 80.
Dracula Jones Jul 17th 2009 4:13PM
Everyquest is a decent addon for Loremaster. Definitely beats using Wowhead to figure out what you still need to do. It's not THAT much better since it doesn't know what you've already done, but it lists every quest that would be available to you in the zone and where to get them.
Lastgaurdian Jul 17th 2009 4:31PM
Alex, I hate you, there was no hitchhiker's Reference.
The Vogons are displeased. Your towels will melt into acrid ashes as dolphins ride atop a giant whale falling onto your little cubicle of a house!
JKWood Jul 17th 2009 5:27PM
A giant failwhale?
splodesondeath Jul 17th 2009 7:06PM
Where do you want us to ship your newly-won Internet to, sir?
oricus12843 Jul 17th 2009 4:29PM
I wish I could remember when I read this because I can't find it now, but I swear I remember a dev saying "Players have been given level increases, new races and hero classes but shouldn't expect them from every expansion. So lately people have been speculating what has been thoughtfully abbreviated as ACP (Alternative Character Progression). I have my own theories about it as well (i.e. various levels of power/abilities within the Emerald Dream). I've seen a number of really crazy and out there theories, some even suggest choosing a second sub class a la old school DnD.
I even saw a thread on the forums about adding a Faerie class, and despite my initial mistrust is was so well thought out and displayed it almost seemed feasible. The players of WoW realy have some wild imaginations.
fatalis Jul 17th 2009 4:38PM
Alex, is there a specific reason that you run both Omen and Skada? I used to run both as well before I found that Skada can display threat during combat and revert to it's default tracking afterwards. (I'm usually tanking and not generally concerned with damage tracking during a fight, however I do like the function afterwards to diagnose any problems.) Especially since you like running light it eliminates the need for an additional addon.
Angus Jul 17th 2009 4:38PM
I'll ask a pointless questions.
Why is there a defense channel for every zone? Specifically, why would anyone be attacking the Twisting Nether?
I found this to be my most amusing channel.
The raid or instance ones are funny, but this one always cracks me up.
t0xic Jul 17th 2009 5:54PM
It's probably a lot easier to program "every zone has a local defense channel" than it is to program "every zone has a local defense channel except the ones that users think are stupid".
tl;dr The programming required to toggle [local defense] on/off is not "value added".
Derek Jul 17th 2009 5:59PM
You think that's weird? How about the fact that every zones has a defense channel for both factions, even zones that only have NPC's, quests, etc. for one faction? Or, better yet, how about uninhabited zones? I remember exploring the edges of the world while swimming, sometime after BC launched. I swam east from Tirisfal, towards where Ghostlands and Eversong should be. But, since they're on a different server, you never get there. Instead, the minimap and chat channels -- including Defense -- change to "Quel'Thelas," which is, after all, technically what Eversong and Ghostlands are ( you also, very briefly, see this when flying or walking between Ghostlands and Eastern Plaguelands). Even though there's nothing in this "zone" except for a few highborne ruins and some green hills on the coast, not even any mobs IIRC, it still has chat channels (the game map is even funnier, as it clearly shows you going through the middle of Ghostlands). Figure that one out. I suspect that Blizz just hasn't bothered to program the chat client to distinguish between zone types, as unneeded channels could just be ignored by players without causing any issues.