The Queue: Picking favorites
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 1st 2009 at 3:30PM
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.
Like Adam, I am most pleased that this is a new week. Things are so boring around the WoWiverse lately. Pilgrims Bounty was fun (really fun, I thought) but it was only around for a little while. I need excitement! Adventure! There is a void that needs to be filled!
Like Adam, I am most pleased that this is a new week. Things are so boring around the WoWiverse lately. Pilgrims Bounty was fun (really fun, I thought) but it was only around for a little while. I need excitement! Adventure! There is a void that needs to be filled!
I guess answering your various questions will fulfill that need for now.
Jason asked...
"Since the Battle.net change has occurred, is it now possible for me to log on to WoW in Europe (like at an Internet café) with my American account? Or are they still separate like they were before?"
They are still divided into regions. There's a North American Battle.net and a European Battle.net. If you want to log onto EU servers, you'll need an EU account. Sadly.
Alanid asked...
"If I have wings... why am I always walking?"
If the sun rises... why do I feel so dark inside?
Bob Dewane asked...
"Will we be able to earn Ashen Verdict rep from running the 5 mans in ICC or will it only come from running the raids?"
No, you will not get Ashen Verdict reputation from the 5-mans. It's purely for the raid zone.
Charizard asked...
"Why aren't there any shoulder or head armor until about level 20? I'm leveling a paladin (at 15), and I have yet to run across a shoulder or head item yet. Do helmets and spaulders imbalance the game?"
I've always assumed it was part of Blizzard's gated rewards system in WoW. You know, how back in the day you always looked forward to level 40 for your mount? And then level 60 for your epic mount? Before the mount was a few smaller rewards. Your first pair of shoulder armor, your first helm, stuff like that.
I don't know about you, but until I became a jaded husk of a man in Burning Crusade, I was always incredibly excited to get my first piece of shoulder armor. Heck, I used to take my main out to Loch Modan to kill the rare spawn Horde Outrunners all of the time because they dropped shoulder armor. I'd distribute it all to my alts, or put them on the AH for absurd amounts of gold that nobody but twinks would pay.
aelador asked...
"Just wondering, I thought I had read somthing indicating that you could get a full set of the first level of Tier 10 armor just by doing the new heroics, is this true?"
It's true, but it will take you an absurd number of runs. As in, if all you do is heroics to get your badges, I will be very impressed if you manage a full set before Cataclysm.
Mal asked...
"I've been playing for about half a year and my main and very first character, a warlock, is about to hit 80. I have a hunter, druid, mage and paladin alts that I had planned to level until Cataclysm came out. This is because I reeeally wanted to hold off on playing a rogue until I could make a Worgen, same applies for dwarf shamans (I'm an Alliance boy at heart).
Is it really worth it to concentrate on these 4 classes only for now, or should I just give in and make more alts now and race change them later? ( I have already decided to play every class at least once). I say race change because I find the thought of leveling the same class twice appalling."
I say stick to the four you have. Cataclysm is going to change so much about the old world that it's basically going to be a whole new experience, especially if you roll a worgen or a goblin. If you simply wait around until they let you race change everything to Worgen, you're going to miss a lot of the awesome stuff they're doing with the expansion. Just from what I saw at BlizzCon, I can tell you that the worgen/goblin starting experiences alone will beat out most of the things we've done in the solo game these last five years.
You will absolutely want to play that rogue as a worgen from day one. If you don't want to level something twice, don't hose yourself out of what Cataclysm has to offer.
Rochel asked...
"Besides WoW.com, what's your favorite World of Warcraft site?"
That, my friend, is a hard question. It's also one where I need to remind everyone reading that my answer is just that: my answer. If you asked again for tomorrow's edition of The Queue, Adam would probably give you a different answer. And on Friday, Sacco would you give you a different one.
Personally, I read an absurd number of WoW sites every night. If you have a WoW blog, chances are very good that I read it at least casually. However, a couple of sites found their way out of my work-related RSS reader folder and hopped into my leisure reading folder. MMO-Champion, obviously (hi Boubouille). The other is BlizzPlanet.
MMO-Champion is there for all of the obvious reasons, and BlizzPlanet carries a lot of good info that most other sites tend to skip over. Discussion about the WoW comics and novels, release dates, book signings, and general lore-related goodness. I don't always agree with Medievaldragon's thoughts on various pieces of Blizzard mythos or the quality of certain products, but I think that's okay. Disagreeing on the lore of our favorite settings is kind of what geeks do. Really, it should just make us all realize how passionate we are about our hobbies.
Do note that it's BlizzPlanet and not WoWPlanet. He covers a lot of Starcraft and Diablo items too, so don't throw a hissy if you hop over there as someone that only plays WoW and see things you don't care about.
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, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
RetadinMan Dec 1st 2009 3:37PM
Here's a question:
Why are Draenei hated so much? The "lorelol" retcon wasn't really that big, but since my main character and posting avatar on the Forums (who are the same) are Draenei, I get a lot of hate. Why is this?
Craig R Dec 1st 2009 3:41PM
bandwagon. small minority complains, more people arbitrarily jump on. any crack in the blizzard facade is an excuse for people to complain as leveraging for...something. The whole spacegoat thing is pointless, orcs come from the same place but we don't call them space....orcs. spacepigs?
The retcon also didn't ruin any story, it allowed for a story to develop where there wasn't one before.
Thorie Dec 1st 2009 3:44PM
Every race is hated, some more then others. And some a ton more then others.
And some that are hated so freakin' much, that if you don't hate them, then you become hated (im looking at you, Blood Elf)
Avan Dec 1st 2009 3:47PM
How could anyone hate female Draenei?
jrizutko Dec 1st 2009 4:07PM
I love the Draenei. I found myself compelled to switch from all horde to all aliance when tBC launched, and have never looked back. I can't say I've ever noticed any anti-Draenei bias, but then again, I learned long before tBC that my quality of life would be greatly improved by never logging into the official WoW forums ever again.
Karilyn Dec 1st 2009 4:11PM
Personally, I never had much problem with the Draenai lore. It fit pretty well into the existing storyline.
The one which always bothered me was the Blood Elves. I know the lore, I understand how they came to be a part of the Horde. And yet, it always seemed like such a huge stretch. I understand the steps that the Blood Elves followed, but it seems so against the stream, and that even with all that happened, they should still be allied with the Alliance.
It also doesn't help that a fair half of the race is still a part of the Alliance as the High Elves who never touched fel magic.
Rhabella Dec 1st 2009 6:30PM
"How could anyone hate female Draenei?"
Because with the right hair cut and the exposed arms, they can look a little like Michelle Obama with a tail.
Gramlet Dec 1st 2009 4:27PM
Playability always trumps lore from what I have seen of world of warcraft.
We need a cool new beautiful race for the horde to try and balance the horde vs. alliance populations? Okay, lets use blood elves. How can we make the story to get blood elves on horde side? Who cares how much of a stretch the story is.
We need a cool new alliance race... How about Draenei? What kind of story can we make up to get Draenei to Azeroth? Who cares how much of a stretch the story is.
Okay, undead horde and human alliance are cursing each other out in battlegrounds. Lets make undead speak orc so the two can't cause problems.
Hey, we need to make a new major hub city for Northrend, lets uproot Dalaran and put there. But didn't the horde have quests to kill Dalaran wizards? Ah, who cares. We need a cool new city.
BioHazard Dec 1st 2009 5:04PM
"The whole spacegoat thing is pointless, orcs come from the same place but we don't call them space....orcs. spacepigs?"
Well, the Draenei did come in a space ship. The orcs used no means of conventional space travel. Just a portal. :P
PeeWee Dec 1st 2009 5:24PM
Post as a gnome and prepare to take the pun(t)s.
Karilyn Dec 1st 2009 5:33PM
"Well, the Draenei did come in a space ship."
It was really more of like a stationary city, as opposed to a moving ship. A stationary city which happened to have space/dimension hopping capabilities.
Rocksanne Dec 1st 2009 6:31PM
I love my dranny alts. I save my hate for mohawked gnomes.
Farthing Dec 1st 2009 9:20PM
The problems with Draenei:
1. There were other viable Alliance races. Worgen were perfectly viable then as now. The entire town of pyrewood is a bunch of cursed humans, just like Gilneas. Pandarans may have been ruled out for ambiguous reasons (too silly? *cough*gnomes*cough*), but that still left the Furbolgs, having been mentioned as friendly to the alliance already. Fandral Staghelm has even noticed that a certain other race has been called friendly for some time, but never capitalized upon.
2. The story change was confusing. The only Draenei that actually appeared in Warcraft were changed into Lost Ones, the Broken were added to the game without real necessity when the Lost Ones could have filled their roles easily, and no consistent explanation is ever given as to what causes the mutations to occur, nor why they are avoided afterward. The mentioned explanation is that Fel energies cause this mutation, but that only leaves more questions regarding the Eredar that will likely have unsatisfactory answers. There is also little explanation as to how the Draenei lost the Shamanistic arts and why the Broken and Lost Ones did not.
3. The Draenei are Jerks. Lets accept what the story is so far. So, most of the "real" Draenei race is slaughtered by Orcs, and half of the remaining fifth goes into hiding in barely shown locations across Outland, while they the other half stay behind to mask their retreat and fight a war against the Orcs. Then they get mutated by "Fel Energies" (ignoring the effect it had on the Eredar). Reduced in strength and horribly disfigured, the Light- worshiping, ever benevolent Draenai (now consisting mostly of those to weak to fight if the number cutting was that drastic) led by a guy who spends so much time with the light he could probably out-Ashbringer Tirion Fordring, turns these self sacrificing heroes into a lower class and/or outcast population, bereft of any civil status.
3.Draenei are woefully inconsistent jerks. Okay so once again, lets accept the plot so far. So Draenei are extremely paranoid now, not even offering to welcome back partially or wholly mutated versions of their only remaining kin. Their friends the Naaru come back and explain that not every race is a friend of the Burning Legion, and that they should come for a ride in their Tempest Keep. Around this time, Blood elves, crazy for fel/arcane/void energies, or just some LCD if they can get it, storm TK, take most of its satellites, and sabotage the Draenei luxury suite so when they try to run away, they end up on a new planet,turn over a new leaf and are willing to help everyone except the horde ( but thats ok no problems plotwise there) and...oh right, they STILL distrust the Broken!
4. The Draenei tech looks like it's from Starcraft. Don't misunderstand me here. I love Starcraft. Looking forward to Starcraft II. The problem is, WoW had a VERY strong fantasy feel to it. I will put my neck on the headsman's block and say it was perfect. It had everything it needed. It even had a Cow Level(http://www.wowwiki.com/Thunder_Bluff). The thing it didn't need was Protoss cruisers dropping out of the sky. I know some of you are screaming about gnomes right now. Gnomish tech at least meshes with Dwarven tech. Draenei tech meshes well with a Mon-Calamari cruiser.
5. The Draenei are faultless. So lets assume they still have a good reason for talking about the Broken and Lost Ones only slightly better than they do Kil'jaeden. They are the last remnants of a noble race. Together they stand against all that is evil! The end. Draenai CAN'T be evil. Every other race has a dark side, a problem. If not one then more. This gives them compelling places in the plot for the future. There's not even a hint of a betrayer, a bad egg, or even their supposed wished for vengeance on the Horde. I hope and pray that this changes in Cataclysm. They missed so many opportunities in BC to do this, and more now in Wrath, but I still have hope for Cataclysm.
6. Plenty of other races could have been added to the Alliance with less plot twisting than was used for the Draenei, and would have fit better with the fantasy setting. Ogres, Centaurs, Dryads/Keepers, High Elves, Giants, even the Arrakoa.
I could list more missed opportunities and plotholes, but I'm long winded enough, and much of it is just nitpicking. Sadly all of this is moot, as it's unlikely Blizzard would ever do anything to replace them. Which makes it more Draenei-inducedmdepression than Draenei-induced hate. Can't wait for Dwarf Shamans.
RetadinMan Dec 1st 2009 9:45PM
@ Farthing
You mention them being "faultless", but proceed to mention they are self righteous pricks?
Hypocrisy much?
Is the real reason you don't like Draenei is that they aren't Tolkein?
Btw, the retcon is not that big. Same end effect, really, just a different order of events, similar to the whole Old Gods thing, but no one really cares about that right? Because it still keeps them Lovecraftian and in their comfort zone?
Wulfkin Dec 2nd 2009 12:52AM
I think his point was that Draenei are *portrayed* as being faultless, despite the fact that they can be biased, evil, racists. They're just too good and associated with the Light so much that they just get annoying. Blizzard has done a good job with the other races of portraying both positive and negative traits amongst every race, every racial hero being countered by one or more villains. They didn't really achieve this very well with the Draenei.
zweitblom Dec 2nd 2009 1:13AM
"Draenai CAN'T be evil."
Auchindoun.
Craig R Dec 1st 2009 3:39PM
"Since the Battle.net change has occurred, is it now possible for me to log on to WoW in Europe (like at an Internet café) with my American account? Or are they still separate like they were before?"
They are still divided into regions. There's a North American Battle.net and a European Battle.net. If you want to log onto EU servers, you'll need an EU account. Sadly.
I don't think this actually speaks to what he was asking, which is whether you can log into North American servers while in European countries, to which I will say: yes, you can, but expect latency increases.
Praetaxle Dec 1st 2009 4:07PM
Yes you would assume you'd be able to, but the actual software version needs to be from the correct region I think? So unless it was your own version on a laptop etc the local internet cafe is unlikely to have the US version.
I can't be 100% sure on this, anyone else?
pandaba Dec 1st 2009 4:23PM
This would be tricky to pull off in an internet cafe, but you can edit the realmlist.wtf file to point to American servers. Just open the file in notepad or any text editor and change every instance of "eu" to "us". Of course, change it back when you leave.
This should work in most cases but you'll have problems if it's patch day in the US, since the EU clients usually don't install the patches until 24 hours after the Americans.
talkingmike Dec 1st 2009 4:35PM
Internet cafes are notoriously insecure. I would be careful logging in to even my Hotmail account there...