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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 4 of 7)
Eli Dec 17th 2009 12:14AM
Personally, I'm a huge fan of the mini-speech you get from Tirion and the Lich King (and Fordragon, a bit). It's so obviously incredibly emotional and passionate, the best voice acting in the game imho.
Darksky Dec 16th 2009 9:35PM
Maybe it's me, but are people making more out of the Dark Rangers than they need to be? The first time I saw the Dark Ranger in Dalaran, it was simply as a placeholder NPC to offer the quest to go to Forge of Souls & join another Dark Ranger (aka Sylvanas Windrunner) in plundering the basement of Icecrown Citadel.
My money's on the fact that this is just a conveniently-located quest NPC to get folks to go to Frozen Halls, and any resemblance to a lore-developing character (such as the Taurens talking about druidism, etc.) is merely a coincidence.
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 9:46PM
It depends on what posts you're talking about. Some people are making too much of it. I'm pretty sure it's just foreshadowing of Forsaken hunters. I expect to see more of the same.
Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing something about Wildhammer shaman.
Darksky Dec 16th 2009 10:10PM
@PvtDeth:
I suppose I'm not calling out any particular posts, more just the notion that people are assuming "Dark Ranger == Foreshadowing of Undead Hunter." I think it's a stretch, and this is a case of "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
The Dark Ranger added in 3.3 (at least the one in Dalaran, and I've been led to believe in The Undercity as well) simply offered players a quest to go join Sylvanas in the assault on Icecrown: The Frozen Halls. Maybe there is more to it, but I don't think so... I simply see the Dalaran/UC Dark Ranger as being an emissary, a recruiter if you will, for the Forsaken's Dark Ranger team assaulting Icecrown. Nothing more. Alliance players obviously wouldn't see this since they wouldn't have the Horde quest, but for Horde players, it's just a questgiver (at least that's my assumption).
If they were meant to be foreshadowing, I would have thought that (a) there would have been some additional text/dialog around them (like the other "foreshadowing" NPCs have had so far), and it would have been representative of a player-playable Undead Hunter. Unless there's a major surprise in store for Cataclysm, players will not be playing Dark Rangers -- they're just not the same model. Sylvanas and the other Dark Rangers presented in game, while "undead," do not have the "rotting flesh" appearance that all playable Forsaken do.
So, IMHO, I'm calling Freudian on all of the people jumping to the assumption that Dark Ranger NPCs == Undead Hunter foreshadowing. Sometimes a questgiver is just a questgiver.
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 10:25PM
I meant that they are subtle foreshadowing. I expect that in the future a story or quest will be developed to introduce the subject.
Forsaken hunters can be Dark Rangers in the same way that Blood Elf paladins are Blood Knights. The game mechanics explanation does not always match up with the lore explanation. As further examples: Forsaken priests, Troll priests.
jbodar Dec 16th 2009 10:26PM
I would agree with you, if we didn't already know -- with 100% certainty -- that Undead Hunters are coming. It's just a way for these new race/class combos to be more naturally introduced, and get some visibility. This was just a convenient way to do so, because it's Sylvanas sending one of her Rangers to summon Dalaran's heroes to help her in the Frozen Halls.
Eddy Dec 16th 2009 10:50PM
.....can we have undead Blood Elves now? I love that red-eyed model that all the dark rangers have. I'd love to see an option on creation of Forsaken that allows players to get their hands on that model. I don't think I would use it, as I already have a hunter, but it would be interesting to see more undead options than Forsaken and Death Knights (but staying within the proper lore.)
Kylenne Dec 16th 2009 11:58PM
@ Eddy: Sorry, but that's not going to happen, for the same reason we'll never see playable High Elves in WoW. Blizzard has repeatedly stated that they try to go by the design principle of being able to easily identify player characters via visual cues. The "Dark Ranger" model is nothing more than a recolored version of the Belf one, and that would fail the criteria. They'd want to be sure people would be able to tell a Forsaken and a Blood Elf apart at first glance.
Suzaku Dec 17th 2009 2:25AM
Hunters, marksmen, rangers, beast masters, and yes, even dark rangers, are all incorporated in WoW's hunter class, just like all the various types of faiths are rolled into priest and paladin classes (troll priest is a witchdoctor, forsaken priest worships the shadow, night elf priest worships elune, etc.).
Hunters can get the Black Arrow ability, which was originally an iconic dark ranger ability. Forsaken hunters can easily be considered dark rangers.
Jay Dec 16th 2009 9:54PM
I would be hoping that the alliance character that you logged out with at the inn in southshore will have drowned, especially if he were a gnome. If not and I stumble on him amongst the wreckage he will soon be dead. (after I lick him)
For the Horde!
Luke Dec 17th 2009 9:53PM
I have a few questions about the dragons' humanoid forms. I may be putting too much thought into it but here goes:
Does a dragon's power scale down in any way when they're in humanoid form? Can they be killed as if they were normal humans when in this form? Also, if they are killed as humans, do their corpses stay that way or do they change back in death?
Finally, in the Caverns of Time we see dragons transforming into wisps and wildlife in order to blend in. Could a dragon change into any form they want, even bigger ones?
Emzier Dec 16th 2009 10:12PM
Or the dark rangers could be to start the quests for the new ICC dungeons...
People seem to overthink these things. For instance, everybody is saying that those orc guards are because of the Wrathgate event, but if you actually talk to them, they say that all the abominations are fighting up in Northrend, and they needed somebody to defend the city.
PvtDeth Dec 16th 2009 10:28PM
Seriously? The Orc guards are called Overseers; that doesn't sound suspicious to you? The explanation they give sounds like something you would say to a child. See the conversation between NPCs in the Apothecarium for more detail.
jbodar Dec 16th 2009 10:32PM
Sorry. Thrall sent the Kor'kron to watch the Apothecaries. They only say that to characters who have yet to complete Wrathgate, just as the NPC who replaced Varimathras has two different dialogues, depending on if Wrathgate has taken place already in that toon's "storyline".
http://www.wowwiki.com/Bragor_Bloodfist
Before Wrathgate event
* Varimathras? No, he hasn't reported in for some time. No doubt he's off on an errand of importance for his queen.
After Wrathgate event
* What is it, ? I've got a lot to see around here now that the demon's gone. Someone has to shuffle the paperwork and make sure we don't see another lapse like the one with Putress. Lucky me.
furriusmurrius Dec 16th 2009 10:39PM
The sudden spread of Orcish warriors could have a lot to do with the upcoming ***SPOILERS*** issues between Garrosh and the Taurens. I'm sure hes slowly making sure he has his superior race Orcs in place to quell any uprisings that may result when he takes Thrall's crown. I've also heard that he is the one who kills the 'traitorous' Tauren which causes his son to take the crown of TB.
zweitblom Dec 17th 2009 1:14AM
The Forsaken could not care less if Garrosh or Thrall lead the Horde. I think that Garrosh would actually be *more* to their liking since they share the reckless determination to win at all costs.
tonedeff Dec 16th 2009 10:45PM
My question is
Why does Blizzard not want people from Australia (and many other countries) to have an Authenticator? They are costly and difficult to obtain for alot of countries!
Reuben Dec 16th 2009 10:53PM
That's usually not Blizzard's fault. Rather, it is the fault of various shipping costs and tax laws.
Janaa Dec 16th 2009 10:55PM
They do want you to have them. I'm in Australia and have two. If you're complaining about the shipping cost, Blizzard doesn't determine how much UPS/Fedex/Whomever charge them. Short of opening a manufacturing plant, or setting up a logistics partnership with a local company in the region who can receive them in bulk and forward-ship, we just have to wear the international courier costs.
They're not difficult to obtain however. Simply fill in the form on the store and it will arrive shortly thereafter.
Jay Dec 16th 2009 11:31PM
I am in Australia and have an Authenticator. It hardly cost anything at all, even the shipping was cheap compared to some things I have bought. In total the price was about the same as a one month game card from my local internet cafe.