The Queue: Isthmus-time is here
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 16th 2009 at 8:00PM
It's officially Winter Veil, and you know what that means! Azerothians donning their yuletide apparel and decking the halls with the blood of their enemies. Is there anything more demoralizing than getting decapitated by someone dressed like a holiday centerfold? And just think, without achievements, this activity would be naught but a holiday novelty. Technology is a wondrous thing.
Daniel asked...
I have noticed that dark ranger hanging around in Dalaran, and decided to look them up, and noticed that they were neutral hero unit in Warcraft 3:The Frozen Throne. I was wondering, could, it be even remotely possible, that in the future we have that class introduced into the game that will be neutral?
Extremely unlikely. There are also some dark rangers wandering around the Undercity post-3.3, and it appears that they're there as a buildup to playable forsaken hunters in Cataclysm. Sylvanas herself is classified as a dark ranger. We'll probably see quests just like the ones introducing night elf mages and tauren priests and paladins for these NPCs.
Darksky asked...
So, I had a random lore question pop into my head the other day about dragon aspects (well, supposedly-important dragons, at least) and their humanoid forms: Is there anything in lore that explains why certain dragons always take a specific humanoid form? For example, Alexstraza & Korialstraz always appear in-game as High Elves in humanoid form, but Chromie always appears as a gnome in humanoid form. Is it as simple as 'personal preference,' or is there an actual lore reason behind it, such as the aspect's humanoid form representing some form of stewardship over the race they appear as?
As an extra credit question, is it only specific important dragons that can take humanoid form, or (Warcraft lore-wise) can any dragon assume a humanoid form? For example, does Deathwing have a known humanoid form, and have we seen it in-game before?
Any dragon can apparently change his or her shape to a humanoid, and most of the time, it's done to make communication with mortal races easier. The humanoid forms they choose to appear in can be chalked up to personal (dragonal?) preference. In Alextrasza's or Korialstrasz's case, for example, the intentions are benevolent, but the Black Dragonflight tends to use their human forms to brainwash and manipulate "lesser" races.
Deathwing does/did indeed have a human form -- Lord Daval Prestor of the nation of Alterac. He's not in-game in WoW, but he was (I believe) in Warcraft II.
Jon asked...
When doing the Quel'delar quest chain, the vfinal step (A Victory for the Silver Covenant for Alliance or A Victory for the Sunreavers for Horde) if a toon can use swords, do they have the option of getting the Mace if they want, or are they stuck with the sword as the only option? If this is the case, do you think Blizz will add the option for both weapon types in the future?
If your class can use the sword version of the weapon, you will not get the option to receive the mace version. There's been no indication that this will change, but we'll keep you posted.
James asked...
How did you guys get the domain wow.com over Blizzard?
Wow.com was an old AOL search portal back in the dialup days, though it's been defunct for quite some time. We've always been owned by AOL, so naturally, the domain name was available to us.
Blondie asked...
What are the wow.com teams theories on race-changing to the new Race/Class combos? Will we have to wait for that for some time into Cataclysm? Will we be able to do it the day Cataclysm hits? Will we even be able to do it in the pre patch 4.0? (I want theories, preferably with motivation.)
Obviously they will not let us racechange into worgen straight off the bat, so that you can get "Realm First! Level 85 Worgen" without having to level 1-80. But the other races are already in the game and it will hardly break anything if you could racechange asap.
My personal opinion? I'm willing to bet that the new race/class combos will be available for race/faction change right away, but not the worgen or goblin versions of any of the classes. It all hinges on how Blizzard is going to handle realm-first achievements in Cataclysm.
Llifebane asked...
Question: Does the Dungeon Finder reward Emblems of Frost for the first random heroic you complete or for completing the first random heroic you start? (would test myself but don't want to lose out on my Frost)
You receive your two Frost emblems for the first random dungeon you complete -- that is, the first random dungeon in which you defeat the final boss.
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: Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 8:06PM
Any word about new goggle patterns? I love the availability of starter raid gear, but I'd farm an anusload of mats to show my engie pride again.
Jay Dec 16th 2009 10:00PM
I agree (I didn't answer your last exact same worded question in the other post) my Charged Titanium Specs http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42552 are now getting a little too long in the tooth. But then I have worn them from when I was level 72 so have had a lot of use out of them and they have sentimental value as well as showing me to be an engineer to others.
A set of level 80 one would be wicked, even if they end up taking 5 titansteel bars!
Eddy Dec 16th 2009 10:48PM
Agreed. I would love an 80 raid-viable/heroics-viable set of goggles. Set bonuses be damned, my hunter has the leather gimp mask from the TOC five man and I don't show it ever but seeing his eyes properly instead of seeing his goggles is just so weird. He never took those darn things off at 70! Even the 75 badge helm I'm about to get looks kind of awful in comparison. Those goggles are the only things that make being a bald human in Strat tolerable.
Qot Dec 16th 2009 10:55PM
In my opinion, they should create a series of engineering-made head enchants with exactly the same stats as the various Arcanums... Aracani... Arcana?
Anyways, enchants made by engineers for engineers with the same exact stats as the normal enchants, but they transform the helm into a pair of goggles. And, for the sake of being engineering, have some strange +use like the old Ornate Spyglass or the level 70 goggles.
It'd just be a vanity buff for engineering, but engineering's supposed to be about fun vanity things like helicopters, choppers and blowing yourself up.
PvtDeth Dec 17th 2009 12:03AM
I wholly agree with Qot. I guess having new googles would be fun, but arcanum type enhancements would be even better. That way we would be able to upgrade as much as we want and still be distinctively engineers.
Also, I'm sorry for posting the exact same thing in two different articles. I thought momentum had left my question behind in the other one. When I saw that this post had just gone up, it seemed like a good opportunity to spur discussion. Hopefully a bit less crass than a "First!" post.
Kazurum Dec 18th 2009 7:48PM
If they made a raid-viable goggle option for engineers, wouldn't they have to do the same for some other classes as well? Say Alchemists and their trinkets, Inscriptions and their off-hands, etc. I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea, but I feel that if they did it for one profession, making an 80 raid-epic for engineers they SHOULD do the same for all professions in a similar situation.
Kazurum Dec 18th 2009 7:50PM
i meant professions, not classes...
PvtDeth Dec 18th 2009 8:39PM
@Kazurum
Why? That's like saying that they should have visibly distinctive head armor for each profession since they have it for engineering. Part of being an engineer is being goofy. There have never been huge advantages to engineering, especially not in PvE. It's mostly for fun anf shoeing off is part of that.
Zandrae Dec 19th 2009 3:46PM
Let us trade in a tier helm with our current goggles and get a pair of new goggles with all the same stats and bonuses of the tier item (including set bonus) with the goggle look (colors selected to go with the rest of the sets).
Pyromelter Dec 16th 2009 8:10PM
Just to confirm the random heroic frost thing, around 4 am my server time, I decided to pop into the queue for my 2 frosties, and happened upon a group that was on the run from the Lich King in H-HoR (meaning 2 of the first 3 "bosses" were down). Oneshotted it, got my 26g's and more importantly 2 emblems of frost, and went to bed. :)
Lemons Dec 17th 2009 5:29AM
Same happened to me. I was running late night dungeons for more Triumph Badges but when I killed the last boss I got frost instead. Turned out it had just gone past 4 server time and thus the dailies had reset (including the dungeon daily)
So yea...its all about killing the last boss. When you kill the last boss is when you finish the daily quest, and your rewards will be calculated based on when you killed it.
Pyromelter Dec 16th 2009 8:15PM
Sorry for the double post, but I really would like an answer to this question.
Uther telling Sylvanas/Jaina that there must always be a lich king, or the scourge would run wild... isn't that a complete retroactive destruction of the lich king and his powers? Not a retcon... a retdestro. Because it was the Lich King losing his grasp on the outer reaches of his minions that allowed the Forsaken gain their free will, and a similar process with the death knights, no? I just don't see how this can possibly work from a logical standpoint. It seems like if what Uther said was true, wouldn't that mean a complete dissonance with how forsaken/DK's came into being?
Igantinos Dec 16th 2009 8:34PM
the lich king lost power when Keal'thas attacked nothred and loosed control over the banshees and then some more scourges. He was never able to reclaim his power. While the DK's just broke from him because of personal matteres, feelings.
Genron Dec 16th 2009 8:35PM
@ Pyromelter
I seem to recall some in game flavor text stating that the Forsaken were especially strong willed (thus the racial trait of Will of the Forsaken). Death Knights would, I would guess, be explained similarly since they were "heroes" prior to their death. I guess that would mean that the less strong willed undead would simply wander the countryside looking for braaiiinnsss. Not sure what would become of obviously more intelligent minions (necromances, npc death knights, etc) I guess those would become Forsaken-like, though not necessarily allied with Sylvanas.
Cobalt Dec 16th 2009 8:52PM
Wouldn't that just make the Scourge just easier to kill if the less intelligent undead became aimless then?
It would seem that dispatching the Scourge while they're in isolated and/or disorganized packs of undead would be much easier than defeating a force being coordinated by Liches/Necromancers. Especially since then there's much less chance of said Liches/Necromancers raising up your dead on the battlefield to bolster their numbers.
Taytayflan Dec 16th 2009 9:21PM
Things have changed between then (WCIII TFT) and now. Arthas united with Ner'zhul. All the power has been concentrated into one source. Now, is it the Lich King or his Helm of Domination (LK's, not the AQ20 drop)? If it's the LK, then if he's offed, the undead would lose organization and be offed pretty easily. If it's the Helm, then that power would just go nuts until someone restrained it.
Who wants to don the Helm of Domination? Not me!
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 9:25PM
@Cobalt
It would be easier to kill them in the long run. The problem is that they would be running aimlessly throughout Azeroth while waiting to be destroyed. The militaries and militias of the world have volunteered to help defeat the Scourge and have received various amounts of training in doing so. Right now, they're the ones being targeted. It's a whole different story when the scourge are running around like animals killing women and children and farmers and ranchers. Having them all in one place is strategically preferable.
This actually calls the Lich King's strategy into question. He's massing his force against the enemy's force World War One style. It would make much more sense to bypass the Alliance/Horde forces and strike their supply and logistics sources blitzkrieg style. Of course, plot and gameplay restrictions necessitate the kind of fight we have. Maybe we just have him that well besieged; maybe he'd breakout if he really could.
IvanZephyr Dec 16th 2009 9:27PM
The fact that people seem to be missing is the little blurb that Uther just sticks in there and doesn't really get much attention:
"I suspect that the piece of Arthas that might be left inside the Lich King is all that holds the Scourge from annihilating Azeroth"
It's not that they'd be aimless and easier to kill, but their full brunt force will finally be unleashed. Arthas, for the glimmer of good he's done in all of this, has somehow prevented the Lich King from just going "Hey...all you forces in Icecrown in front of the gates and around my fortress, go wtfpwn Northrend, and then we'll raise them all and attack Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 9:33PM
@IvanZephyr
I guess I missed that part. I still stand by what I said, but that's probably a much more important factor than my bit.
Psiwave Dec 17th 2009 8:49AM
I think what would happen, should the lich king die, is that the scourge would spread like a plague. All humanoids would become mindless ghouls and the like aimlessly wandering around Azeroth. That's not what the lich king wants. It's better for him to concentrate his resources into more powerful intellegent undead that he could use to cross between worlds and smash the burning leigon.
It seems that demons are immune to the plague of undeath (afaik) so a swarm of brainless ghouls and other zombie animals wouldn't be much use against them.