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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Earthquake bonanza
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 2nd 2010 at 2:00PM
Today we're going to skip the wacky shenanigans that usually plague the intros to the Queue. Instead, I'm going to blow your minds with the news that Chile's recent earthquake was large enough that it has potentially moved the Earth's axis and an Earth day is now shorter because of it.
dav103id asked...
"When running Shadowfang Keep during Love is in the Air, did anyone else notice Arugal on the other side of the courthouse gate when you first enter the instance? Has he always been there at that location or was he added for the Love is in the Air boss event?"
That's always been there, but it's incredibly easy to miss. That little event starts up as soon as you take a few steps into the instance, so if you take a right to get started instead of running straight ahead up to the gate, you can miss it completely. I ran Shadowfang Keep dozens of times before I even noticed it the first time. I was amazed that I managed to miss it for so long.
Kragragh asked...
"I am about to install WoW on a new computer. Do I have to swap out all 11 discs then patch? What's the quickest way to install the full set with both expansions from scratch?"
The Wrath of the Lich King installer can install the whole thing, you don't need to start from Vanilla and work your way up. Pop the Wrath disc(s) in and you're good to go.
Suzanne Flowers asked...
"In TBC we were able to fly in and out of anywhere in Shattrath City. Why are we not allowed to use flying mounts inside of Dalaran? Why the change? I can't remember any issues with people being mounted in Shatt."
Like other readers mentioned in the comments yesterday, the primary reason given is that they want Dalaran to feel more like a city. They wanted people on the ground and in the streets, running around and mingling together. In Shattrath people could float around wherever they pleased and zoom from point A to point B on their epic flying mount. They didn't like that. It's also a much smaller city that is far more laggy than Shattrath ever was. If everyone could sit around on their flying mounts, the streets of Dalaran would be completely hidden by the sparkly wings of dragons. That's no good.
Personally, I thought Shattrath felt a lot more like a city than Dalaran. Dalaran is far too small and compact. It kind of feels like I'm doing my trading and banking in Barbie's Magical Dollhouse.
Faith Trust asked...
"Is there a reason why caster heirloom trinkets don't give you mana back when you are healing in a group? ...is it a bug?"
It's not a bug. Those trinkets require killing blows. They're not for healing, they're for murder. Heirlooms are aimed at making solo leveling as quick and painless as possible and aren't really aimed at roles like healing or tanking.
Harsesis asked...
"What is the purpose of the 1 hour wait time to get your money from auctions? I remember that it wasn't always this way, I believe a patch during BC implemented this, but I never understood the change. I guess the same question could be asked about the purpose of the 1 hour wait time to mail stuff to other characters, where it is instantaneous to mail between alts."
I believe that when this was all implemented, the reason given was that it slowed down the money laundering process that gold sellers will use to distribute sold, stolen and purchased gold. It makes it harder to move funds around, and the gold seller doesn't have instant gratification when they sell off the entire contents of a stolen account. There's a waiting period involved, and that slows things down and makes it all a bit more risky for the hacker.
Those concerns aren't really there when you're mailing items from one character on your account to another on the same account.
Elish asked...
"Why is it that the Titans couldn't kill the Old Gods, but we can? So far the world hasn't fallen apart due to their destruction and while it will (thanks Deathwing), it's not because of the whole roots of corruption. Everywhere it says that the Titans could only contain the Old Gods to allow order to blossom, yet we just walk into their prisons and execute them. So if we keep killing Old Gods will Azeroth be torn apart?"
We certainly don't know for sure what the consequences will be, but Chris Metzen mentioned at BlizzCon 09 that we'll see the ill effects of what we've done sometime down the road. Somewhere, sometime, there will be ramifications.
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, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 9)
kabshiel Mar 2nd 2010 2:46PM
It's because we're tiny. Both the C'Thun and Yogg-Saron fights have required us to go inside them and fight their innards. The Titans wouldn't fit.
Chris M Mar 2nd 2010 2:59PM
Golganneth: You're all up in my space, bro!
Aman'Thul: Look man, this guy's brain is only so big. Chill out and start plucking nerve endings.
Eonar: AMG there's green stuff IN MY HAIR!
Cyanea Mar 2nd 2010 3:23PM
A guildie once summed it up quite nicely: The Old Gods are like a computer virus on your harddrive. The players are like an anti-virus program. The Titans answer is to throw the computer out a window.
Methuus Mar 2nd 2010 3:36PM
Whether we (the players) actually killed old goods is a point of controversy in the lore community.
But the way I look at it, powerful beings in the WoW setting have more states of existence than just "alive" and "dead". And the more powerful you are, the more states of existence you have. So I tend to think that what we did with the old gods is push them several steps along the scale closer to dead. Thereby significantly reducing their ability to influence the world.
And in regards to the question about "why isn't the world falling apart after we killed the old gods", remember that we only, in lore time, killed Cthun two or three years ago, and Yogg less than a year. Titans work on very long timeframes. So when a titan says "killing old gods would destroy Azeroth", they might mean "... would destroy Azeroth in 1000 years".
Fletcher Mar 2nd 2010 4:05PM
It's because we are MORE POWERFUL THAN THE TITANS THEMSELVES RAAAWR!
Oooor they're not really dead, we only hurt them. Who knows.
Pauguster Mar 2nd 2010 4:16PM
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
I really don't think destroying the old gods is as simple as what we have accomplished so far.
Wulfkin Mar 2nd 2010 5:57PM
I've never bought the argument that we are small and the titans are big. Even if the Titans were too big to properly engage with the Old Gods (who, lets face it are rather big once you dig them out of the ground), they have all these constructs which are much smaller than them which could do the job. Whole machines churnign out little constructs in fact. Plus they had empowered agents like Mimiron who can, y'know, change size!
Ultimately I think its nothing to do with size or practicality, I think its that the Old Gods simply can't die in the mortal sense. They are, after all, outside the cycle.
thebarrenschat.wordpress.com
brian Mar 2nd 2010 5:58PM
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. Cthulhu fhtagn! Cthulhu fhtagn!
On that topic, anyone get the feeling we may be seeing an old god in the expansion, especially as we're visiting a "sunken city?"
/Dr.Evilpinkie
BubblePriest Mar 2nd 2010 6:49PM
I was under the impression that the Master's Glaive in Darkshore was where one of the titans HAD killed an Old God.
Nazgûl Mar 2nd 2010 7:09PM
Lovecraft's fiction is all over the Old God lore. And in Lovecraft's fiction, one thing is always constant - the true cosmic evil is never fully present.
Eventually, we will open the gates of R'lyeh and see the great Cthulhu for ourselves. So shall be the lore of the Old Gods. When it does, well, Azeroth is screwed.
Sl0th Mar 2nd 2010 9:08PM
@ BubblePriest
What was killed at Master's Glaive is up for debate. It was definitely a powerful being of some sort and almost certainly related to the Old Gods. But I get the feeling it wasn't an actual Old God. I'd wager it was one of an Old God's servants, akin to Yogg-Saron's Faceless or C'thun's Qiraji. Perhaps it's related to the Old God whose presence is felt in Blackfathom Deeps.
Then again, I could be wrong.
Siorra Mar 2nd 2010 9:18PM
So many awesome theories under one comment.
But, it bugs me how much people demean the true power of the 'Heroes' we play as. We're the guys that people like King Varian Wrynn, Lady Jaina Proudmoore, Warchief Thrall and even the almighty Highlord Tirion Fordring look to to fight off the evil. Yeah, we may not compare to them individually, but as the fighting force (or raid) we combine together, we're the best Azeroth has to offer. That is, presuming that previous bad-guy was kind enough to drop his shiny booties.
Anathemys Mar 2nd 2010 9:40PM
Actually, there is a good reason the Titans didn't kill the Old Gods.
Golganneth: "Hey, um... Aman... Shouldn't we, like, do something about these huge damn squid?"
Aman'Thul: "No... That's just what they EXPECT us to do..."
Gathered Titans: "???"
Sinthar Mar 3rd 2010 8:55AM
Kill Old gods? LOL whatever made you think we were doing that? DEFEAT them temporarily maybe but killing a god is like killing a soul, much harder that burning it or sticking a few holes in something.
My view is like the old D&D world. That major demon - yeah you can 'kill' it - but all you do it banish its essense back to its home plane. To ACTUALLY kill it you have to chase it down on its OWN plane where it is unbelieveably powerful, and kill it there. Even then these are GODS and hence very powerful and intelligent (one would assume at least). Hence im sure they would have worked out some 'contingency' plans at the very least, if not have several if not hundreds of plans/tricks etc to keep them alive.
Henry Mar 2nd 2010 2:10PM
I JUST finished re-installing WoW after upgrading to a real Windows 7 installation...
damnit
Sinnh Mar 2nd 2010 2:23PM
when i went to my parent's house for christmas i brought all my discs with me to install on their computer...and installed every single one...they should really put that info on the box or something
Draelan Mar 2nd 2010 3:14PM
Only problem with that is then you'll have people who buy Wrath thinking "Hey! It installs all 3! I only need to buy this one!" and then it'll leave them scratching their heads as to why it won't accept their installation key for just Wrath. (When, in reality, it's because you need to buy all 3 to register/use them. No installation key for Vanilla/BC, no playing WoW.)
Beruza Mar 2nd 2010 3:32PM
And once you register them, you can install them right from battle.net, without the discs
Arednel Mar 2nd 2010 3:45PM
I just copy and pasted the folder onto an external drive, did my windows upgrade and then transferred it back. Meant all my addons were ready to go.
Henry Mar 2nd 2010 5:14PM
I would have done something like that, but I have an obsession with the freshness of my reinstall.