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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: There's more than one way to skin a worgen
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 19th 2009 at 3:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.
So my thought process Monday morning goes like this. Kubien asks a question about skining worgens. My cat is next to me vying for my attention, and after headbutting me for a few minutes decides to pounce on my arm. Luckily I'm a fatty so all is good and he just bounces off harmlessly to the floor, but it makes me think for a minute about punishing him. Then I remember the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
And from cat, to lolcat, to lolwowcats.
I'm sorry Warcraft community, I really am. But what's done is done. Let's just move on and go have some tea and crumpets.
Kubien asked...
"While killing Worgen in Silverpine Forest the other day, it occurred to me I can skin them. When Alliance play Worgen, can I skin them? Please!"
No, you're not going to be able to skin other players. If you can't milk or tan the hide of a tauren, then you're not going to be able to take the skin off a worgen either. Of course this is no official answer to this, but I'd be willing to be all the gold I've got that I'm right.
Hendrata asked...
"Regarding the recent changes in AoE cap, then my question is: why does AOE have to be capped at all? What's the rationale behind it?"
Prior to BC you had no cap on AoE damage. This lead to rather silly things like mages and warlocks taking down entire zones with their AoE spells. I even did a few instances with a very well geared prot pally (a rarity in those days) who would gather up a hundred mobs and the two T3 mages would blast everything down before the priest went out of mana. Not exactly the way the game should be played, so Blizzard implemented the AoE cap in BC. They're just refining it now.
Adroog asked...
"Why can't tabards be turned off like helms and cloaks?"
No official answer on this, but think of necessity. You can't go without a cloak or helm (assuming you don't want to fail at WoW). You can go without a tabard. Also, back in the day cloaks and helms were pretty fugly. Today they're not as bad, but a lot of players are used to seeing their heads and tails no matter what equipment they have on. I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to allow some gear to be visibly "turned off", however. It's a feature other games have, and those usually make their way into WoW eventually.
Furry asked...
"The first fight has two giant Jormungar Worms that tunnel underground and pop back up elsewhere throughout the fight against them. However, before the fifth fight begins, we learn that the ground is hollow and that it can break fairly easily. Where do these worms burrow? Wouldn't they just fall down as soon as they go underground?"
Look for wormsign, you'll be able to tell where they hide. May your knife chip and shatter.
Jane-Marie asked...
"One of my professions is Inscription and I used to make gold out of selling the decks that can be handed in for trinkets at darkmoon faire. However, since the introduction of more gear in ToC and now Onyxia the value of the decks has fallen through the floor. Is there any chance Blizzard will give these decks/trinkets some sort of boost or is inscription now a complete waste of a time?"
Highly unlikely. The devaluing of crafted equipment is just part of the progression of the game. It's unfortunate that such expensive items like the Darkmoon cards are devalued so much, but it happens; and usually right around the time of the third tier of raiding. Remember back to BC, once you got into Mount Hyjal and the Black Temple the level 70 Darkmoon cards were replaced relatively quickly.
With the exception of the damned Dragonspine Trophy. That thing never dropped and would never be replaced by any piece of gear. Period.
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, Blizzard, Economy, The Queue, Worgen
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
eric_barbaric Oct 20th 2009 3:49PM
The movie "Dune" was good, the mini-series they had on the SciFi channel a few years ago was even better though, and of course the book is head and shoulders above either of them.
Boz Oct 19th 2009 3:12PM
You give me hope that I might one day raid bare-chested like a demon hunter. Those guys are BAMFs.
Or heck, just in my Red Lumberjack Shirt.
Alar Oct 19th 2009 4:41PM
It would be highly likely if they'd come up with a system along the lines of: you can turn off gear in PvE/make it look like other gear you have, but not in PvP.
That's all they'd really have to do. As soon as you enter a battleground, PvP fight, or duel, your gear would poof back to normal.
It would be a great gift to roleplayers out there if they'd just implement this system...
Sean Oct 19th 2009 6:52PM
How about an option for turning off other people's gear? When I drink the Underbelly Elixir in Dalaran, I always hope for the "City of Mages" buff. That grants me 10 Lag-Free minutes in the laggiest city in Azeroth.
It only took me a few seconds to figure out that my comp trying to draw everyone's gear is what slows me down so in Dalaran (and, I assume, WG) If I could turn it off (say, show everyone in a generic set of gear based on class) then Dalaran wouldn't be such a terrible place.
LilBanshee Oct 19th 2009 10:40PM
Gnomish X-Ray Specs.
Andrew R. Oct 19th 2009 3:14PM
Are there any plans to shorten the flight paths in Cataclysm? I've taken the scenic routes more than enough and I really don't need to fly around the tournament grounds every day before landing. Flying into Stormwind only to fly right back out gets annoying.
zombiesauridae Oct 19th 2009 3:31PM
They might change them to new scenic routes, so players can get a good eyeful of all the cataclysm damage the blizz team put so much work into, but this might be more for the low level characters than high level ones.
Higher level characters can just fly in Azeroth, and if they do take flight paths, it's usually because they're going AFK on flight, so they wouldn't see it anyway.
But there is a good chance they'll change them.
pclar002 Oct 19th 2009 3:46PM
epic flying (in straight lines) is waaaay faster than using FPs. i only use FPs in Kalimdor/EK, never EVER in Outland or Northrend
pchnts8 Oct 19th 2009 4:34PM
I had the same question, circling around Dalaran an extra 30 sec is ridiculous. I'd like a "direct flight" if that was at all possible. Does anyone have a record of which flight paths are more efficient if done by FP vs manual flying in a straight line? Some of them aren't too bad but others are too scenic when all you want is to get from A to B. I realize flight paths are there to show the grandeur of the places and showcase all the hard time spent creating it, but it would be nice to have the option.
awall Oct 19th 2009 7:44PM
Consider the way flight paths work as extra incentive to grind for an epic mount. :-)
kittytrainer Oct 19th 2009 7:46PM
Why couldn't they just make FP portals, then poof your there...makes more sense to me.
Ami Oct 20th 2009 8:02AM
This raises another question - are we still going to have our FP? Or are we going to have to go round the zones collecting them again? Will we even have the same FP?
jbodar Oct 19th 2009 10:36PM
@kittytrainer
IIRC, the devs believe that instant transportation (as implemented in other MMOs) make the world seem smaller, and all sense of epic scale is lost. A certain part of that has been reversed as new continents open up and they give us extra portals to and fro (e.g., the Blasted Lands portal in major cities), but the world would (in the devs' eyes) become a series of zones that have no real relationship to one another. It'd be like in other games, when you just select where you want to go from the level select screen. How is that in any way immersive?
brownyboi Oct 21st 2009 6:18AM
Whilst I'm not normally in favour of speeding things up and rushing them, my efforts at collecting candy from around Kalimdor confused me.
I ended up flying to (or was it from?) Nijel's Point in Desolace in completely the wrong direction. I thought that was just stupid and clicked on the wrong flight path, but no, the hippogriffs just take daft routes there.
Cronum Oct 19th 2009 3:56PM
Question: i have the authenticator on my iPhone,but I
need to send it in for repairs, can I buy the regular autheticator and use that while my phone is gone?
Camsom Oct 19th 2009 4:06PM
I would just suggest you remove the authenticator from your account for the brief time your phone will be gone. It's not worth buying one only to use for a short time.
Spazmoose Oct 19th 2009 5:21PM
If you have had issues in the past with your account Camsom's advice is horrible. And if you are actually concerned enough about your account you will want something protecting your account.
1. Purchase the new authenticator and wait for it to arrive.
2. Once it arrives, remove the iPhone authenticator from your account.
3. Add the physical authenticator to your account.
4. Remove the authenticator from your iPhone.
5. Send in your iPhone.
Cataca Oct 19th 2009 6:25PM
You can but you'll first need to remove your iphone's authenticator from your account to attach the regular one. After that there really isn't any point in using the iphone version unless you hate using the regular one.
Kaine Oct 20th 2009 3:02AM
Actually Camson's post is the only idea that makes any sense whatsoever. There's no telling if your iphone will come back wiped or if you'll even receive the same hardware back, and then you're on the phone with blizzard proving you own the account to take the authenticator off. Whether you plan to purchase an authenticator or not you should definitely remove the iphone version from you account before having it serviced.
zombiesauridae Oct 19th 2009 3:28PM
Players used to be skinable, like druids. But this was unfair to those players because they would be forced to release from their body.
So no, can't skin Worgen.