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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Elephants
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 12th 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. Mike Sacco will be your host today.
Re: the title -- unlike them, I do forget. To write The Queue.
Wil asked...
"Is Blizzard considering making emblems bind-to-account? For someone who's got multiple alts (and intends to level more), this would be a godsend. What would be the pros and cons of such a change?"
Blizzard has said that they intend for emblems to be an endgame, character-specific reward. Heirlooms, purchasable with said emblems, are a secondary reward to help your alts get to the point of being able to get their own badges.
Will this change for Cataclysm, though? Do we ever really know the answer to that?
Guitarwolf asked...
"Do you think that with the revamping of quest rewards and items around Cataclysm will bring gear with gem slots to pre-level 60 items? I know that JC requires Burning Crusade to train, but Blizz adding minimum level requirements to equippable gems would make use of all the cruddy BC gems, as well as give people a chance to learn how to gem earlier in the game."
Blizzard has said that they made a mistake making leveling gear gemmable at all in BC, and you'll notice that they fixed it for Wrath. You end up with weird item level problems and gear that shouldn't be as good as it is (remember the blue armor that bears wore in BC because it had three red sockets in it). I don't anticipate that this particular design philosophy will change, but nothing's set in stone.
Zalvi24 asked...
"Question: do you think with the simplification of stats and reforging system that is gonna come with cataclysm that we're gonna see the return of the beloved/hated shockadins with a 31/0/45?"
Yes and no. I think we'll be seeing builds that are a lot more "fun", like shockadins, but it's important to remember that talent trees are changing a lot in Cataclysm and the general structure of your trees might or might not be quite different depending on what you play. Ghostcrawler has said that the intention of the talent tree changes is to make talents more fun. I hope he's right.
Grinton asked...
"It seems all the good PvP gear needs either Arena participation or VoA drops. The other alternative is the daily BG quest for arena points but those are so measly. So for someone who loves PvP in BG but despises arenas, are there any other ways to get arena points? I know lower Ilevel stuff only need honour but the weapons need points. Do I have any alternatives other than arena or raiding?"
In Wrath? Unfortunately, not at the moment. In Cataclysm, though, the new rated Battlegrounds will give arena points for victories. Yes, that's right! You'll be able to get the best PVP gear by doing the type of PVP that you like. What a crazy world.
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 5 of 6)
Sicadastra Feb 15th 2010 3:45PM
I assume (and hope) not. The impression I've gotten is that Blizz is trying to eliminate the BG/Arena schism that exists today. I get your analogy, but I don't think Arenas are to BGs what Raids are to Heroics.
Ultimately any primarily PvE player doing Heroics probably wants to be doing Raids. People who don't raid probably don't because of not having the time or a group to run with. I'd venture to guess that only a small percentage of people would say "I love to 5-man, but I hate to 10-man."
On the other hand, a large percentage of people who enjoy BGs, or World PvP, dislike Arenas. It's fairly common to hear "I love to do Battlegrounds, but hate Arenas."
In addition the "backwards compatibility" isn't there. If I gear myself entirely by Heroics (ignoring badges) I am more than capable of doing Heroics well. Sure, Raid gear will make my Heroics easier, but it's not necessary to be successful. In BGs however, you'll be up against players who may love Arenas, and therefore significantly outgear you. A Heroic boss isn't going to get stronger, but that dammed Rouge camping the GY in WSG seems to get more unkillable every day.
Just my 2 cents.
bigcountryinil Feb 12th 2010 7:43PM
A couple of questions about the new wow headsets will they have interchangable ear plates? (I think that's what you would call em) or do you have to choose if you want alliance or horde? And will there be a review of them on here cause I want to buy them but scared to preorder them since the whole steel series mouse thing.
slythwolf Feb 12th 2010 8:19PM
I thought I heard they came with interchangeable ear plates. If I were to spend the dough on them (fat chance for what amounts to a bunch of cosmetic crap), I would put one on each side, since I play both factions. :D
Isendre Feb 12th 2010 8:14PM
Dear The Queue,
What was the world called when Azeroth was just the name of a human kingdom? When did Azeroth become the generic term for the world? Who decides such things, anyway? Was there a convention?
Zalvi24 Feb 12th 2010 8:16PM
Question: In Cataclysm developers said that we are getting talent trees that more "fun" would there be a possibility that holy paladins could use consecration as an AoE heal, lets say deep holy spec and to a lesser extent Holy Wrath?. Since paladins wear plate they can take more damage compare to other healers, they could be upfront in the middle of the battle
Possum Feb 12th 2010 9:53PM
That would be pretty cool. I mean at the moment your all decked out in plate with nowhere to go.
Literaltruth Feb 13th 2010 8:43AM
Dear Queue,
Something random about Cataclysm has popped into my head that I want to know about and, despite us knowing nothing significant new about it since the announcement, I thought I'd ask you here. I know that Cataclysm hasn't been released yet and that, as a WoW.com reader, I've already read every scrap of news there has been released - but for some reason I've confused the writers of WoW.com with blue posters on the WoW forums and/or psychics of extraordinary and uncanny powers.
Since your text isn't written in Blue I have to assume that, logically, the second of these is true.
Could you please then use your powers to anwer my inquiry. I won't bother typing it out because with the powers at your disposal I expect that you will be able to simply lift the question from my brain and then divine the answer using the bones of a small fieldmouse of the entrails of a goat or something.
Thanks,
Every poster to the queue lately.
Tharama Feb 12th 2010 9:46PM
I have a question for the almighty Queue.
If I rolled say a gnome warlock and got the entire priest T1 set (Prophecy) then the Cataclysm came and shook everything up, would I be able to eventaully purchase a class change to gnome priest and walk around in the Prophecy armor?
Ringo Flinthammer Feb 13th 2010 12:14AM
Class changes are a lot more dramatic than a race or faction change and are less likely to ever happen. You'd be better off rolling a dwarf priest and doing a race change.
Angus Feb 12th 2010 10:05PM
What should I do with 515 Badges of Triumph?
They are sorta sitting around, collecting dust.
I have a miner and an enchanter so making myself gems hasn't been all that hard...
My toon is exalted with everyone in LK except Ashen verdict and getting there fast...
Chris M Feb 13th 2010 2:42AM
Depending on how altruistic you are, I like to buy gems and either cut and sell them, give them to my guild bank, or cut them and give them away to people looking for cuts in Orgrimmar.
You can make a very healthy profit via the cut/sell method as I'm sure you know. 515 badges is (at worst) 25 cardinal rubies, they sell at 200 a pop after they're cut (Runed) on my realm. 5k isn't a whole lot of gold in the Wrath world but it's still more than badges collecting dust. If you go another method you can make that 50 purified (spirit/sp) dreadstones at 160 apiece (my realm, again)- a smooth 8k gold. Warlocks and Mages love those, but I feel safer with the Runed cut since it's more versatile.
I'm marginally well-known for destroying the JC economy on Tuesday nights after raid time; I'll be found in Org, spamming my JC services but instead of cutting people's gems, I give them mine and have them keep it on the down-low. :)
styopa Feb 12th 2010 10:48PM
I actually have a question on a topic I've never seen covered in all these years of WoW: what software and systems does Blizzard use to build the world and characters? Maya for the models? Do they use some proprietary world-crafting software, or some permutation of something from UT or iD? As far as handling curves and long view distances, it's a pretty robust engine (esp now with Northrend quality textures)...
Further, how long does it take them to build a zone, say, the size of Howling Fjord - just the geography? In total?
Thanks!
Hexen Feb 12th 2010 11:07PM
If the Titan's could not kill the old gods due to them being linked to Azeroth, destroying it in the process, why are players able to kill Cthun and Yogg-Saron without any such negative effects?
Ctmcstomperq Feb 12th 2010 11:42PM
I think it has less to do with killing them as it does driving them into dormancy.
Or if we are killing them, it's possible we're killing them like a virus and the only method the Titans had was to nuke them.
Al Feb 13th 2010 2:08AM
Titan tactics probably involved lasers. (Possibly strapped to sharks.) Or huge spears, if that thing in Darkshore is an Old God.
Whereas we don't have their power level, thus don't inflict massive collateral damage.
ScorchHellfire Feb 13th 2010 1:38AM
I always thought it was funny how the end game PvP was reversed from PvE with emphasis on smaller groups instead of larger groups... its interesting that Blizz is seeking to make bgs and arenas equal since 5 man dungeons will never be equal with raids...
alpha5099 Feb 13th 2010 2:36AM
I've been really enjoying the 101 articles you guys have been doing lately, and I notice in pretty much every one the caveat that the class or spec does not have a rotation in the proper sense, but rather a priority system. Does any class actually have a rotation any more?
Chris M Feb 13th 2010 2:46AM
That's a pretty awesome question now that you ask, and to think of it one really needs to define the difference between a priority system and a rotation.
In the time I've played I can't recall any class having a strict, to the letter rotation (ie Judge, Consecrate, Swoosh, CS; repeat from 100% - until dead boss) for example. Nearly every class has had procs, self-buffs and cooldowns to juggle even if it's just Wings or Presence of Mind (again, example).
If any spec comes close these days I'd venture to guess that it's Blood DKs and Arcane Mages. No hate intended but nothing says 4 button rotation like an Arcane Mage. :)
Possum Feb 13th 2010 8:54AM
The arcane mage rotation is quite sad. But it's the highest dps spec. *shrug*
obc Feb 13th 2010 11:44AM
All of the mage's spec. Arcane being the simplest - though the only redeeming facot is that with so much haste floating around an arcane mage has to manage his mana VERY WELL. It can get pretty tight.
Elemental Shaman is also mostly very linear.