Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: EVE
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 19th 2010 at 11:00AM
I made an "oops" and missed out on this past weekend's edition of WRUP, so what better place is there to blather on about what I did this past weekend than The Queue? There is none, so here I go! I decided to check out EVE Online this past weekend and I was utterly shocked at how many other WoW players there were in the rookie areas of the game. Heck, they even had names like TheAshbringer and Kaelthas Starstrider. I'm really curious whether the overwhelming number of former WoW players is normal for EVE or if it's a recent thing. It's always interesting to see just how many WoW players there are in other MMOs.
Now with that out of the way, on with the show!
TAD asked:
"Have the level 20-60 quests in the newly-revamped Old World been updated with the newer mechanics brought in with BC and WotLK? Bombing missions, vehicles, etc. I know there's some of that in the new starting zones, but I wonder if it's been extended to the rest of the game up to Outland."
Those mechanics aren't used as heavily as they are in Northrend, but they most certainly are there in the old world. Every single zone has received some sort of attention in Cataclysm, and many zones have received complete rebuilds from the ground up. Every zone is much closer to being in line with Blizzard's quest design of 2010 rather than the design of 2004.
TAD also asked:
"What's the story impetus now for players to even bother going to Outland or WotLK?"
Outland and Northrend are in very strange places now that they've revamped the "old" world in Cataclysm. There's an immense disconnect in the story between levels 58 and 78 now. The quests you do in those areas technically take place in the past as far as the story goes, and you just have to roll with it and pretend it's perfectly normal. There's very little story impetus. None at all, really. It's just a victim of the fact that Blizzard is already rebuilding most of the world, they can't rebuild another at the same time. Maybe next expansion will see an Outland revamp that sets the story right. I won't lie, I loved Outland. Most people didn't, but I did. Zangarmarsh remains my favorite zone in the game even after seeing the Cataclysm beta. I'd love a reason to go back there.
tgrhawke asked:
"With Darkshore and Auberdine destroyed in Cataclysm, how do the draenei and the night elves get from their islands to Kalimdor?"
The night elves still have an encampment in Darkshore. After Auberdine's destruction, they moved further north. To actually answer your question though, you sail into Rut'Theran now, off the coast of Darnassus. Then you take a flight down to Darkshore.
Rezai asked:
"You know the thing where you complete a quest, and you can turn it in right there and get the next quest instead of going back to the quest giver? Does anyone know if that has been implemented for BC and Wrath content?"
I think people are misunderstanding this feature. Not every quest gets that treatment. Not every single quest completes automatically in the field and lets you pick up the new one in the middle of nowhere. This is only for specific quests and quest chains. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King's content has been touched very little, so you most likely will not be seeing that in any quests in those areas. Only very specific parts of the new Cataclysm content have received it.
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 9 of 9)
ZMES_Matt Jul 19th 2010 3:36PM
If you had a theme song, what would it be?
Task Jul 19th 2010 3:38PM
Query - I recall having asked this once before but I'll ask again in case it was missed:
Did anyone of the WoW.com staff win those cookies awhile back, or were they eaten during transport?
And in following with the great cake/pie debate, what's better:
Cake, pie, or freshly baked cookies?
Tyrannus Jul 19th 2010 3:46PM
Do you think blizzard will ever update the old player models? They put it on "the list", which in my mind means no they wont. They did say their artists would love to do it, but whats stopping them?
soukihei Jul 19th 2010 5:06PM
I disabled my WoW account back in January, and with the upcoming expansion I've considered coming back in the next few weeks. A couple friends are considering leveling up new worgens when the xpac comes out, but I have a few questions about changes that have been made or are going to be made.
I'm hoping you can help!
1. Will the heirloom items function for the two new races? I image they will have a level 80 cap, which is fine.
2. Can you send items/gold cross-realm yet? I didn't see anything in the patch notes since I've left. We're all considering starting fresh on a new realm, and it'd be nice to save myself the cost of xfer'ing one of my 80s just for gold & heirloom items.
Thanks in advance.
feniks9174 Jul 19th 2010 5:12PM
1. As far as I know, yes. But I can't confirm.
2. Nope, not yet.
Grimm Jul 20th 2010 9:09AM
Yes to the heirloom items (and I can confirm that) - but as a word of advice, you really don't want those items until you leave the starting area for Goblins or Worgen and end up in the full world.
The levelling experiences are tightly tuned - if you end up breaking the curve (and you will) with your heirloom stuff, you'll miss out on the challenge, if not the story.
Save 'em 'till you get to a more open questing experience.
squig_masta Jul 21st 2010 2:19PM
Here's a question that's been bugging me for awhile, now that we'll be able to fly (virtually) freely around Azeroth, how are they handling areas that use to be seperate 'world servers' like the Northpass tower separating the Eastern Plaguelands from the Ghostlands? have they moved the formerly 'tbc only' zones onto the same world server as the rest of the land masses, or once we fly over a certain point is there a loading screen?
whosdaboy Jul 27th 2010 5:40PM
Q: I dropped out of WoW for 10 months or so and am getting caught up with the Cataclysm information. I have not yet seen anything about revamp/removal of any old world Azeroth Raids - I seem to remeber something about a change to Zul-Gurub. Are there any changes to that old Raiding content? Should I be looking to finish any achievements for Raids that are being altered?
Zhabroah Jul 19th 2010 6:35PM
We've known the Worgen and Goblins racials for some time now but what has happened with the revamping of the other races' racials? Blizzard has said they'd be updating them to bring them in-line with the awesomeness that the new races in Cataclysm have but I've yet to see anything more than a mere promise. Does the beta show any signs of the racial revamping, or if not then has Blizzard even divulged any more information on it?
EaterOfBirds Jul 19th 2010 6:47PM
its too epic lol, the whole out in space idea puts me off, which is strange for a sci-fi fan and science geek. i didnt see a sense of where you are, looked a little disorientating just being out in the void the whole time, and the one on one fights looked pretty boring. that said im sure at higher levels theres some crazy shit going on. ill just wait for cata though (^ ^)
Gilgamesh Jul 19th 2010 7:11PM
Ugh.. no more recycling old content. Leave BC (which might be the best expansion and biggest bang for your dollar WoW will have put out) and WLK alone. I'd like to get what I pay for, thanks.
Dreadheart Jul 19th 2010 7:03PM
Agreed, Outland and BC as a whole were also my favourite areas/expansion so far.
slvrsrfr073 Jul 20th 2010 4:08AM
Finally someone else that thinks Zangarmarsh is the best zone in the game. Every time I get a new character to 61 I get all giddy.
Matthew Jul 19th 2010 9:33PM
What does min/max mean?
I hear this a lot but I don't know what it means.
Thanks
jbodar Jul 19th 2010 10:43PM
Never thought to google it? First hit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min-maxing
Dulnte Jul 20th 2010 12:32AM
Has there been any confirmation one way or the other whether there will be cloth quartermasters for the 2 new races and, just as important, will the turn in be runecloth?
Zenith Jul 20th 2010 3:16AM
I keep fairly up to date with new information released, but could have missed something:
What happened to the VoA thing where Algalon will be the final boss?
Al Jul 20th 2010 3:27AM
Currently levelling an alt through Westfall, and an old question has come back to me. Maybe I missed something in quest text somewhere, but why/how did the missing miners become Zombies?
logicalfundy Jul 20th 2010 10:20AM
EVE - heh, I hear mixed stories about it. On one hand, a lot of people seem to like it because there's a lot of freedom to do whatever with it. On the other hand, a lot of people don't like it because it has almost nothing for single player play, and there's a lot of ganking.
I may try EVE sometime, but with games like STO out, there's a bit more choice now with sci-fi MMOs than there used to be.
logicalfundy Jul 20th 2010 12:00PM
"Outland and Northrend are in very strange places now"
Yeah - now that the old world has been expanded and is now the new end game, they're in a weird place. Already, Outland has lost most of its significance due to Northend being the current end game, and soon Northend will be in the same position.
I'm sure I skip a lot of previous end game content on the way to lvl 80 now, and the Aldor vs Scryer choice just seems worthless since I'll be past Outland soon enough. I imagine the same will likely happen to Northend when Cataclysm is released.
It just seems as if the end game does usually involve only the last continent created. And with most end content being instanced, you're not even on the continent all that much, really, other than to stock up and repair for the next instance.
Maybe with phasing tech, they could create pseudo-instancing in the game world instead of just dungeons?