The Queue: Howl at the nonexistent moon
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.
So many amazing people have performed Blue Moon over the years. Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald, the list goes on and on. It's a simple song that's been everywhere. I decided to go with The Marcels for the embed, but it was a tough choice.
Melfina the Blue asked...
"What happened to Azeroth's second moon? It used to be there, where did it go?"
It's a mystery. It used to be represented in-game, then it disappeared for the Burning Crusade. I don't think they've ever given a reason. One theory is that it was due to a graphical error that Blizzard deemed not important enough to fix, but as far as I know that's just somebody's wild guess.
The world may never know where poor Blue Child has gone. Maybe we just haven't seen it because it only comes around once in a blue moon.
JB asked...
"What happened to Byron the Tauren Rogue?"
Byron was missing last week because (shock and awe) many of WoW.com's contributors have other jobs and responsibilities beyond this here blog. Kelly was just swamped at her day job, so the comic had to pause temporarily. It'll be back today.
Taub asked...
"I just finished the Arthas book and really wish I had read it before WotLK came out to better understand the back story. Any recommendations for what other WoW novels to read to catch up on the Cataclysm lore?"
You can probably safely wait for the Cataclysm novel(s). At BlizzCon 2009 Christie Golden let us know that she's writing lead-in novels for Cataclysm, just like she did for Wrath of the Lich King. They're some of the books I'm most looking forward to this year. Pretty excited! They're tentatively slated for an August release.
Niallus asked...
"I recently realized on the Armory that my characters had achieved a new feat of strength: Emblematic. You gain it by earning any variety of emblem. Is this a foreshadowing of Blizzard's total removal of the Emblem system in Cataclysm? Or is it more likely that it's being put in place because we will be "upgrading" to a new system? Like in BC we had Badges, but Wrath we had Emblems."
I don't really know but I'm going to guess it's the latter option there. Maybe we'll be looting Insignias in Cataclysm. Insignia of Fire, Insignia of Earth, Insignia of... you know, whatever. I highly doubt they're completely throwing away the loot system. Making changes/improvements to it? Sure. Throwing it out? Probably not.
cartmensfoe asked...
"Do you think that Blizzard will severely change some of your favorite zones? Which zones are your current favorites and what would you like to see changed? I would love to have the Badlands be more Alliance friendly. Instead of having a few out of the way quests, put in a small Alliance camp or at least a flight path."
I'm actually incredibly nervous about the changes coming to the Plaguelands. Both the Western and Eastern Plaguelands are my favorite old world zones by a significant margin, I spend as much time in those zones as possible on my various alts. It's where my first character ever hit 60, and I spent hours and hours exploring every little nook and cranny. If you've never just gone and explored that zone, do it.
I could write an entire sightseeing guide to those zones. There's dozens of hidden away little quests. For example: Did you know that the four farms that house the cauldron quests in WPL each have their own hidden quests, or quest chains in some cases? If you just ran to the farm, tapped the cauldron and then ran away, you've missed a bunch of awesome quests. There's hidden quests all over the place. You don't get that sort of exploratory experience in many other zones, certainly not in Wrath of the Lich King. It all feels pretty bland and sterile in comparison. Not to mention WPL and EPL have those cool weather effects that are completely absent from Northrend. The zones are already pretty bleak, but then when it starts to rain... the effect is wonderful. Dark, but wonderful. Moody.
I'll be very sad if Blizzard kills the feel of these two zones. Obviously things will change, we already know that they will, but I want the dark beauty of them to stay, along with the heavy rewards for people willing to look around a little rather than simply go from Point A to Point B.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Jamie Apr 6th 2010 11:01AM
Some of us prefer to Bark at the Moon...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXko2YCuZa8
Darthregis Apr 6th 2010 11:39AM
I'll do that once I get off this crazy train...
John Patrick Apr 6th 2010 11:52AM
That'll be easier when you have a worgen...
Anyway, I was just thinking about the issue of losing the blue moon from Vanilla WoW. (Full disclosure - I joined WoW in Feb. 2008, so I never saw "Blue Child" in the sky). Blizzard could add it in Cataclysm with a PERFECT lore-based reason. During BC, certain overuse of the ethereal realm and the laylines on Azeroth could have tidally-locked "Blue Child" to the far side of the planet.
With the devastation to be caused by Deathwing, the moon could have shifted orbit again so that we could see it now. They might even put them closer together. How cool is that for a resolution? Just thinkin'....
Tim Apr 6th 2010 11:07AM
"I could write an entire sightseeing guide to those zones"
Please do, sounds interesting.
Jamie Apr 6th 2010 11:10AM
Yup, in fact, could we get an article from each blogger interested in doing one about the zone they'll miss the most?
Personally I hope Duskwood doesn't get hurt to much, those guys have been through enough!
spamofchaz Apr 6th 2010 11:14AM
Yes please.
Actually, this sounds like an interesting theme for a series of articles - Azerothian Tourist or something. An article on each zone detailing out of the way quests (great for Loremaster wannabes), unique food or drink options (great for it's happy hour somewhere wannabes or the food equivalent), vendors with unique recipes (great for....well you get the idea).
Marzz Apr 6th 2010 11:16AM
Makes me wish I could contribute my own post about my favorite zone- Mulgore.
It's a sparse plain with a few quests, but I played Tauren first, and having WoW be one of my first real MMOs, Mulgore certainly contributed to the "epic" feel of the game and how open and HUGE this game was going to be. The mood music playing in the background along with the way the creatures fit in, to rounding a hill and seeing the Caravan billowing smoke then eventually finding a quest to investigate.. Mulgore is a magnificent place.
John William Apr 6th 2010 11:17AM
I second this!
Mike Apr 6th 2010 11:40AM
I agree with Tim 100%, i would love to see ever staff members favorite zone. The Azerothain Tourist name sounds brilliant- spamofchaz. If you were to even cover outland and northrend regions, hell even dungeons! Please wow.com! :O
Cheb Apr 6th 2010 11:41AM
Yes! I was about to make the same comment. I would love to read about different author's opinions on their favorite zones, quest hubs, quest chains, Horde side, Alliance side in the old world.
Daco Apr 6th 2010 11:42AM
Agreed. I recently completed Loremaster (in anticipation of Cataclysm changing everything) and one of the pleasures was discovering little hidden quests that I never knew about previously.
Obeyfez Apr 6th 2010 12:01PM
I also think this is a great idea to do pre-Cataclysm.
Also, whatever happened to Patches of Yesteryear? With the Cataclysm beta dropping "soon", it would be nice to see what happened in prior patches and also it would be cool to see what could've happened (i.e. an ability was in the beta to vanila, TBC or Wrath, but never made it to the live patch...)
agnoster Apr 6th 2010 12:15PM
I'd love to see guides to stuff we're probably not going to be able to see once Cataclysm comes. My fiancee and I are leveling Horde alts to try and experience that content before it's gone, but with the rate of leveling being what it is, it'd be nice to know what highlights we should make sure we get to before Cata hits. And though I've done EPL and WPL a bit on my Alliance toons, I'm pretty sure I'm unaware of whatever secret quests you're talking about.
In short, a guide to "see it before it's gone" content would be nice. Or does anyone know of such guides already? (Maybe a question for the Queue?)
mcati2 Apr 6th 2010 1:11PM
Please please seriously consider writing a series about the hidden intricacies of Warcraft and it's zones. I think its a great way to bring upfront a rarely noticed activity in any MMO, Exploration. In addition to making a little noticed activity of MMOs prevelant but it also does: A. Gives WoWs subscribers a much greater appreciation of the time, dedication and detail in the world around us that we, all to often, pass by as we power-level our many alts and B. it makes Blizzard's game devs alot more accountable to the players for if we know how comperably bland and un-detailed the WotlK and Cata zones are as contrasted to the Vanilla zones we could hold Blizz accountable for what they have changed. So, in conclusion, it would be a very valuable article for you to write because of increased accountability and thus a chance to improve game quality, making an under-explored (
Eddy Apr 6th 2010 1:13PM
I agree. I'd love to see some zone by zone stuff- even reader contributed guides or something. Would you guys take that? I would write the heck out of a guide to my favorite zone (which is the Hinterlands).
Andostre Apr 6th 2010 9:07PM
Another "I agree" comment! I would enjoy seeing this!
Shinji Apr 6th 2010 11:08AM
The Moon Issue,
I could be that the rotation of the Moon and the planet means that the moon is not visible for years on end
busuan Apr 6th 2010 11:25AM
It could be a great source for new content. Someone has moved the moon or the moon has left...
Personally, I still like the idea it turns out to be a space station.
The smaller moon is the Titans' fail safe mechanism on those Aerzoth old gods: if everything else fails, the moon has a build-in instruction to 'Neutralize' the threat to the whole Cosmos; the Burning Legion alone is annoying enough already.
percinho Apr 6th 2010 11:40AM
Maybe someone threw a quick SEP field around it?
Tabasa Apr 6th 2010 11:40AM
That's no moon...