The Queue: Again and again
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 2nd 2010 at 5:00PM
In this edition of The Queue, we answer a couple of new questions, and a couple of questions that we've answered approximately seventeen thousand times. Okay, not that many, but it certainly feels it. Hopefully between the new and the old there's something for everyone.
cactusham asked...
"Can Horde queue up for Stockades and Deadmines, and can Alliance queue up for Ragefire Chasm and Wailing Caverns?"
Assuming you're in the appropriate level range, yes! There's no threat of a bunch of Horde zoning out of the Stockades in the middle of Stormwind because the tool drops you back where you queued, not outside of the instance. It's a good opportunity to see content that normally would have been incredibly difficult to access.
Babaloo asked...
"How do you handle many whelps?"
Run directly into the middle of them and spam all of your AOEs while everyone else in your party also spams their AOEs and then get disconnected due to the obscene data flood.
That's how my raid's rogues seem to do it, anyway.
Montas asked...
"When Cataclysm hits, we (our 80s) won't be able to go back to the 'old world' becouse there will be "new old world." Will it be posible to help someone level up in old world? Will I be able to make the Loremaster achievement? Also, will chat channels be separated for old and new 'phase' of these zones?"
There is no old world and new old world. There's no phasing, there aren't multiple versions. When Cataclysm hits, the old world will change for absolutely everyone, even people who are leveling their very first character and only own vanilla WoW and none of the expansions. Azeroth as we know it now is going away permanently.
So yes, you can help someone level, because they'll be seeing all of the same things you will. We don't know what's going to happen with Loremaster yet, but it will most likely be updated to reflect the rest of the world. That, or we'll be given a new one.
Medros asked...
"If the Dragons are all children of the individual aspects, where do the proto drakes come from? A lot of them match in color to the various flights, but I would think that Alexstrasza wouldn't let her kids just be hanging out in Northrend, not after what happened at Grim Batol. Also, where in the evolution chain would they be? Higher than whelp, lower than a full Drake? Proto is defined as 'first, earliest, original' so would these be less evolved versions of the Dragons of Azeroth? If so, why didn't they evolve with Malygos, Alexstrasza, Neltharion, Ysera, and Nozdormu?"
The Proto-Drakes are what the dragons were before the Titans raised them up. They were more or less just beasts, like any other thing in Northrend. The Titans empowered many of them (not all of them), and they made the Aspects and the Dragons from them. Dragons and proto-drakes are two different things now, but at one time they were the same.
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!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Darkfreak Feb 2nd 2010 5:03PM
That last question was actually very good. I'm not sure why I wanted to point that out.
Tori Feb 2nd 2010 5:09PM
I was thinking the same thing, actually. I was always curious but never followed through with it. Cool to know. :)
Avan Feb 2nd 2010 6:03PM
There is a bronze dragon (mortal form) at the Argent Vanguard in Icecrown that mentions the yellow proto-drakes being his ancenstors or something. He's near the proto-drakes.
I think the Hemet Nesingwary quests in Sholazar Basin mentions the connection too, when you're hunting the primordial red drakes to the north.
Just mentioning that in case someone wants to see this info in-game.
hamsammich Feb 2nd 2010 7:37PM
Very good question and answer, indeed. Since Wrath dropped, I had always wondered where in the chain the Proto-Drakes fell. Now I know! :)
Outis Feb 2nd 2010 7:54PM
Speaking of dragons... any lore for the Albino Drake???
videvekartuspaan Feb 2nd 2010 8:05PM
well, its quite simple
Albinism (from Latin albus, "white"; see extended etymology, also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis) is a congenital disorder characterised by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans.
copypaste ftl
Prinnygod Feb 2nd 2010 8:47PM
That's fine and dandy, but from which Dragonflight did the Albino Drake come?
Undra Feb 2nd 2010 9:21PM
If I had to guess a color I'd say blue, based on the only other color on the Drake. But I guess that could be a result of funny pigment too. only Mei francis knows where she got the eggs from.
What I'd like to know is how the Violet Proto-drake came to be. The last time we saw a purple dragon was in BWL, meaning someone is trying to breed Chromatic protos, and Alextrasza got her claws on the clutch before the powerful and swift new breed could be turned to evil purposes.
Tomatketchup Feb 3rd 2010 9:15AM
How the heck do you say "queue" anyway? Keueh? Kekek?
Don't blame me, I'm swedish!
plaidman Feb 3rd 2010 9:41AM
Kew.
PalominoMule Feb 3rd 2010 10:20AM
Queue is pronounced like "kyoo". It's not the most phonetically spelled word in the English language, admittedly.
Schadenfreude Feb 3rd 2010 2:28PM
We stole it from French, so you can blame them.
Sashayla Feb 2nd 2010 5:08PM
"There's no phasing, there aren't multiple versions."
Actually, haven't we seen images of phased Cataclysm zones - I want to say Darkshore is the one that comes to mind. While this isn't a phased "old world" versus "new world," it could still make it difficult to help people at difference steps in quest lines if it works at all like the phasing in Icecrown does.
Tori Feb 2nd 2010 5:10PM
It's not phasing, however.
The 'new' versions of the zones are going to be the *only* versions. Newbie players won't see a nice, normal Auberdine. They'll see the destroyed one.
mmason91 Feb 2nd 2010 5:11PM
no blizz has said many times that its changing for everyone.
Midas Feb 2nd 2010 5:13PM
no, from my understanding, darkshore is just getting wrecked. the image you are thinking of is from the Cata trailer, and just shows current darkshore and new darkshore. no phasing.
after the issues with icecrown and partularly the ICC meeting stone, they are being really careful going forward with phasing.
Phil Feb 2nd 2010 5:16PM
i think what he is refering to is the multiple phases of the new stuff, not old and new together. Like I remember during the Cataclysm preview at Blizzcon they showed Azshara phased in a few stages.
Reuben Feb 2nd 2010 5:18PM
If Tori is correct, I don't understand why he's voted down into oblivion.
PvtDeth Feb 2nd 2010 5:19PM
Sashayla is referring to some information we got about changes that go beyond phasing as we now know it. They've said they're going to be able to extend phasing to include geography. So, no, there will not be expansion and non-expansion versions of the "old world," but yes there will be phased areas.
AJMac Feb 2nd 2010 5:45PM
I'll be pretty sad to see the Azeroth as we currently know and love to go. So much content and memories to waste. Fortunately, an interview with wired.com gave me hope:
"Wired.com: For people who are nostalgic for the old world before Cataclysm, is there going to be some way to revisit Azeroth as it was before?
Stockton: I think that’s what Caverns of Time is for. We’ll definitely have the ability to do that kind of stuff, but we are also going to do a huge world event leading up to the Cataclysm. Some time after patch 3.3 and after (the Lich King) Arthas is defeated, you’ll definitely see a giant world event that affects the Alliance and the Horde very, very much. It’s going to change everything for them. It’s probably going to last something like a month. Something similar to the zombie invasion before Northrend. It will be something that will roll out slowly over time. But we are planning to do a huge world event, so everyone will know the Cataclysm is coming."
After hearing about the changes, I was hoping the Caverns of Time would come into play to allow access to the old Azeroth.