The Queue: Shoo map, don't bother me
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 9th 2010 at 5:00PM
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.
Today's introduction video is something... special. Since people got a kick out of what I liked to call the Worst Video Ever, I figured I'd let you all see another misadventure is moviemaking from Sunday morning. One of my early attempts at recording the Love is in the Air boss went poorly, to say the least. Alternate title to the above video: When Addons Attack
Jaena Vashj asked...
"I was leveling my death knight in Dragonblight the other day and notice Ysera in the Emerald Dragonshrine. Didn't think much of her till I got closer and I noticed she was on top on this statue of a figure, what is this thing and why is it so special to Ysera?"
It's not really special at all lore-wise, but it's an interesting little item nonetheless. That statue was originally a part of the unused Emerald Dream map, and has been in the game since way back in the beta phases of Vanilla WoW. Maybe even earlier. The Emerald Dragonshrine is the first time it appears in the accessible game world, and it's a bit of a view into the Emerald Dream that could have been. Sticking it near Ysera is a pretty good place for it.
That isn't the only decoration like that in Northrend, either. The trees in the Howling Fjord that look like two women leaning toward each other to form an archway? Those were originally on the Teldrassil map, way back in the alpha/beta stages again. If you look hard enough, you can still find pictures of it.
Niiru asked...
"What would happen if one were to hit exalted with Hodir due to rep turn-ins but had never completed the quest line? Would that person be able to access the shoulder enchants?"
I assume you're talking about the Sons of Hodir tokens you can purchase with badges, because you can't even turn in Relics of Ulduar until you've completed the quest chain. With the badge-bought tokens, you could go all the way to Exalted with those if you wanted to, but they will still be hostile to you until you complete the introductory quests.
PBoy227 asked...
"I remember when 3.3 was announced, it was said that there would be a raid wide buff which would increase damage done, healing done, and total health (similar to the random dungeon buff) which would become more powerful as people started progressing farther and farther into Icecrown Citadel. I was wondering if anyone knew when this buff was going to be activated."
As far as I know, they haven't given an exact date for this. They will probably just turn it on when they think it's the right time. If I'm wrong about this, I hope readers will correct me down in the comments.
kokot_dreveny asked...
"So I was trying to do Flirt With Disaster achievement yesterday and I realized there is no alcohol vendor in the Undercity. Any reason for that?"
When is the last time you read about the living dead enjoying a fine wine? Or indulging in a nice aged scotch? I think the last thing on the Forsaken's priority list is spirits. They're more likely to spawn yet another plague before they build up a stock of ale.
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)
daan.leijen Feb 9th 2010 5:06PM
No ale? Blasphemy! No wonder the Apothecary Society went slightly overboard.
Robin Torres Feb 9th 2010 5:17PM
This is one of the many reasons why I'm happy I have a brewkeg in my bank.
Mattimus Feb 9th 2010 6:29PM
Well, being Undead, the Forsaken have no blood flow -- in order to become inebriated, they would have to crack their skull open and pour the alcohol directly on their brain... and I'm not even sure that would work like you might want it to. If you were, you know, Undead, that is.
Netheral Feb 9th 2010 7:54PM
An undead enjoying wine? Moroes! I doubt he and his dinnerguests were just enjoying the conversation. Other wise, they'd only be called "guests". :O
Possum Feb 9th 2010 8:36PM
We do not drink...wine
White_Wolf101 Feb 9th 2010 10:28PM
I always enjoy a fine red whine whilst cannibalizing a freshly slain scarlet crusader. then again that is just my personal taste.
Smurrf Feb 10th 2010 5:10AM
Possum - 2 pts for the Jean Claude reference!
kesherz Feb 10th 2010 9:10AM
@smurrf
You fail at classic films.
Fatamorgana Feb 10th 2010 9:17AM
What?! No sangria?
What about the ghosts in the sunkenships off the coast of Wetlands? Don't you think they like a nice port?
Or the scourge in the heavily wooded EPL? I'm sure they could use a lagger.
An undead warrior traveling through Tanaris would probably love a sweet dessert wine.
...I'm going to have to petition to get this changed right away! Under City has GOT to have spirits!
Duts Feb 10th 2010 12:17PM
Step 1. Empty bags and buy lots of ale in Orgimmar.
Step 2. Travel to Undercity.
Step 3. Spam trade in Org selling ale for redonkulous high price.
Step 4. ???
Step 5. Profit!
Finnicks Feb 9th 2010 5:07PM
The stated plan was the slowly roll back the Chill of the Throne debuff until it's gone, and then to slowly introduce the raid-wide buff.
There's a pair of abilities that were introduced in 3.3.2 called "Song of Hellscream" and another alliance equivalent referencing King Varian, that increase all damage, healing, and health by 30%.
I've been trying to find out for sure, because my initial thought was that it would be a Keepers of Ulduar style buff to aid in the Lich King encounter only, but it might be the first form of the ICC ezmode buff creeping in, just not yet turned on.
If anyone whose actually seen the Lich King encounter could verify if that buff is present while you fight him, I'd really appreciate it.
Dart Matsuraki Feb 9th 2010 5:19PM
I HIGHLY doubt they will roll back Chill of the Throne. It was put in place to bring tank avoidance back into line, if they get rid of it, it will trivialize tank healing. I would expect the buff they add to simply HELP with the fights, but I'm sure they don't want to trivialize it all.
Razortooth Feb 9th 2010 6:01PM
This is nothing like what I heard. My understanding was that there would be a buff similar to "luck of the draw" in randoms. This buff would stack 5/10/15 (or whatever interval blizzard pleased) until they're satisfied. There is no official date for its arrival.
Beldoro Feb 9th 2010 6:02PM
I've seen the LK on 10man and don't remember getting those buffs.
Broken_toes Feb 9th 2010 9:08PM
The way I understood it, and I'm fairly sure it was on this site at some point- I think it was referencing something that was said in a article or a ghostcrawler musing.
Was at some point the chill of the throne debuff would be changed with a buff, a buff that would increase dps, SP, all that good jazz you like. And that this buff would take affect at a point where people have got to the end of this expansion cycle- and not just because a few guilds have downed arthas.
From what I got from this thing that I read ages ago was that the chill o the throne was really to stop groups facerolling and trivializing the idea of this being a final encounter. And the buff was to give the guilds that just can't quite get rotface down (like mine) a proper chance to see the end game- you know the proper end game.
I'd imagine that the buff will come at a point where arthas kills are the norm, but probably before we're pugging it like VoA. I would also think it would come at a point really close to cataclysm dropping, otherwise what would be the point of cataclysm green drops, quest rewards and dungeon drops. Heck thinking about it- if the entire end game player base was decked out in pugged ICC10/25 drops, how the f are they going to itemise cataclysm gear.
Thinking about it, I can see the buff idea being dropped.
Valt Feb 9th 2010 10:01PM
@Dart Matsuraki
They had similiar debuff on sunwell, it went away in 3.0 the "great raid boss -30% hp nerf patch"
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=45769
Im guessing Chill of the throne will be removed atleast "on 4.0"
Yeah, deja vu..
Zalvi24 Feb 9th 2010 5:07PM
do you think that blizzard is gonna do the same thing they did with all raids at the end of TBC and nerf the bosses HP therefore making the Ulduar proto drakes not obtainable like ZA mount?
elvendude Feb 9th 2010 5:21PM
Very likely. They've decided that they like people seeing the end game content they've put so much work into. And people really went for BC raiding in those last months.
paul Feb 9th 2010 5:33PM
Isnt that what the 30% buff to healing, damage and health that was mentioned above is for?
Rmschoir Feb 9th 2010 6:40PM
As I understood it, the boss nerf at the end of BC was to ensure that bosses could still be downed after the massive class mechanic overhaul that came with 3.0. Prior to that patch, it was necessary to chain Bloodlist/Heroism and such to down many upper-echelon raid bosses.
The HP nerf ensured that players could continue progression, and it also allowed smaller guilds who couldn't bring X of Y class to experience raids that would normall have been unaccessible.
I could be wrong, though. That happens.