The Queue: Legendary heavy glow
by Michael Sacco 
Oct 9th 2010 at 2:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.
I saw Gorillaz last night at Madison Square Garden. 'Nuff said.
Masalar asked:
Do the profession changes, such as multiple skill ups for making a blue item, come into play with 4.0.1? Because my hunter is waiting for that change to become an engineer ...
Yes, those count as system changes, so they should be in with 4.0.1.
Volgash asked:
Not sure if this has been answered before, but will the current in-game goblin NPCs such as the ones on the zeppelin towers will match the models of the new playable goblins?
Yes. All goblins in the game recieve a visual upgrade in Cataclysm.
Ven asked:
Has there been any sign of the Burning Legion in Cataclysm? I feel confident in saying that the next expansion will involve them highly (and if I'm not mistaken, the long-lost leak of the expansions prior to vanilla's release supports this).
There are pockets of Burning Legion insurgency in Cataclysm, mostly in areas that had demon activity already (Felwood, Desolace, etc). Balnazzar also leads a new army of undead called the Risen in Stratholme, having cast off his Dathrohan husk.
As for that "leak," it was fake, continues to be fake and always will be fake. Don't take it seriously.
Zuldim asked:
Are there any new hairstyles for existing races coming with Cataclysm?
No. Not yet, anyway. Maybe we'll see some of those scrapped worgen female hairstyles given to other races.
Lemons asked:
Are guild achievements going to be separate from personal achievements?
Yes, unless otherwise noted.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider 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: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Reklisc Oct 9th 2010 2:04PM
Aww... I still really want to know if certain unter attacks will still count as "spells" in Cata...
Asaron Oct 11th 2010 6:34AM
Well various shots will still deal spell damage, if that's what you mean.
Dril Oct 9th 2010 2:05PM
Do you think 4.0.1 would be worth reactivating for to someone who has, for all intents and purposes, not been actively hardcore in the game since March this year?
On the one hand a LOT's changing, but on the other I can see myself going "wow, new talents, let's try them out!" doing some dungeons and then being bored again after a couple of days.
Semi-related question: if you have an unused faction change, does it disappear if your sub lapses or does it stay there (on the character selection screen) forever (assuming you never use it.)
Jack Miles Oct 9th 2010 2:15PM
I'd wait 'til the pre-expansion events or the world changes if I were you.
jfofla Oct 9th 2010 2:16PM
A Hardcore, who has not played since March, and has no idea why Blizzard caters to those damn casuals who never drop sub.
Moghar Oct 9th 2010 2:18PM
Have you seen the new zone videos? Missing out on such awesome environments isn't something I'd advise.
pietrex Oct 9th 2010 2:40PM
4.0.1 itself is not that exciting, but I think it's worth coming back for the pre-Cataclysm events, which should start pretty soon.
Boobah Oct 9th 2010 2:49PM
If you're not interested in the once-and-gone pre-Shattering events (infiltrating the Twilight's Hammer, defending Stormwind/Orgrimmar, and beating on four event bosses), 4.0.1 won't have much for you.
If you're not interested in alts or lore, 4.0.3 won't have much for you.
If you're just looking for the new endgame, there's not much for you until Cataclysm.
Tbah Oct 9th 2010 3:04PM
4.0.1 does only bring the system updates (talents, guild UI, spellbook etc) no world changes.
I'd say wait until 4.0.3, see if the world changes appeal to you and decide whether or not to get Cata.
Siorra Oct 9th 2010 3:13PM
I have a fair amount of friends who have quit, but still remain interested in the game, and they plan on returning just before 4.0.1 hits. That way they can experience Operation Gnomeregan, the 4.0.1 world events and the Shattering all nice and casually whilst giving them a bit of time to get some low end t10 for leveling.
Brian Oct 9th 2010 4:51PM
@ Siorra:
They might want to reactivate soon then. 4.0.1 will either be this Tuesday or next Tuesday...
Hollow Leviathan Oct 9th 2010 5:32PM
Those who suggest waiting for 4.0.3 are neglecting that you'll miss out on the Operation: Gnomeregan or Zalazane's Fall events which will not be available forever. I'd say come back for 4.0.1 and get those accomplished, get re-acquanted with your new abilities, and soon enough it'll be 4.0.3 and pre-cata events will be coming out of the woodwork.
KataSamoes Oct 9th 2010 8:37PM
The pre-Cata events, beyond Gnomeregan and Zalazane, are coming with 4.0.1 not 4.0.3. These events are attacks on the faction towns and cities of elementals, Event bosses, and small quest chains as part of it all. 4.0.3 is the Cataclysm patch aka "The Shattering" with the world changes having taken place. Tauren Chieftain will be different, Thrall off to the Maelstrom, Garrosh as warchief, etc etc etc.
tldr: 4.0.1 is the systems and pre-Cata world event.
4.0.3 is Cataclysm and world changes.
Swifteye Oct 10th 2010 11:18AM
Regarding your second question: While I honestly don't know whether the Faction Change button sticks around after your subscription lapses, I imagine you can still get it even if it does disappear. Just submit a ticket or call Customer Service/Billing; they can easily see that you paid for the service yet never used it, and I'd bet anything they'd reaffix that button for you... even if it's been a stupidly long time, I seriously doubt they'd consider that $25 worth the huge amounts of negative PR they'd get for not giving you access to something you paid real money for.
Draev Oct 9th 2010 2:05PM
A multi-part question I have been pondering for the better part of 5 years and have yet to find a definitive answer to is:
What design or graphical limitation makes it so that casters (robe and kilt wearing casters) can't wear a tabard properly? It is always tucked in and does Blizzard have plans to make it so that the tabard falls or does it involve a redesign of the graphical system?
VioletArrows Oct 9th 2010 2:44PM
Probably the same graphical limitation that:
-keeps my capes floating way above my draeneis' tails or just straight out on other characters
-has my orc and draenei's braids clipping and passing through their capes
-make long weapons pass through the user's body
-makes any squishy on a mount look physically impossible (fer craps sake it's called side-saddle. or hike it up and deal)
It seems to be a problem of having two flexible layers of cloth showing somewhere at the same time. They just don't interact well. Similarly in Champions, one of my characters wears a long trenchcoat and the cloth engine is so screwy the tails get caught and clip at the knees, through his pants, at a 90 degree angle.
Debesun Oct 9th 2010 2:58PM
I imagine it's an issue that the lower part of the tabard wouldn't 'collide' with the robe and result in a mess when running and having the lower part of the tabard clipping in and out of the robe while in motion
An example being cloaks clipping through weapons and sometimes the characters legs if the players character is performing specific animations. (A long cape on my Nelf will cut through his legs when it waves back and fourth when I'm casting a spell._
But yeah more than likely a system limitation where it's just easier and neater to just tuck in the tabard. Same with dwarves when wearing most helmets where the beard is normally cut off instead of having the hair coming out everwhere.
Artificial Oct 9th 2010 3:31PM
They don't necessarily need two flexible surfaces displaying and clipping, they could just paint the tabard's texture over top of the other texture being displayed on the "skirt layer" of the model. I'm glossing over details here, though -- what if the "skirt" currently displayed has an alpha mask that would cut out parts of the tabbard, for example? You need to "or" the two masks. Not hard, but just an example of how this isn't necessarily as straightforward as I first stated. I imagine they just didn't design it to work that way to begin with, and just don't consider it worthwhile to spend the time to make it work, it possible but not necessarily trivial to implement, and they have bigger fish to fry...
Piisuke Oct 9th 2010 3:56PM
One of the reasons wow needs a serious graphical overhaul. Some of the animations are seriously outdated. We have better collision detection these days and some character models are in serious need of a major overhaul, Humans being the prime example here. It still looks like they crapped their pants when they run.
- So yeah, updated animations, such as riding on a horse... it just looks wooden, certain spell casting animations, running animations etc.
- Updated character models and an option to acually model a model. Some characters only have like three options for a category... you can't adjust the parameters either. Aion does a good job of customization, which I find lacking in WoW. It really should be a broader aspect. We're very limited, in my opinion.
Anyway, Humans particularly look bad. Bad model, bad animations. Trolls have very few options to change looks as well. Vanilla WoW models need updates, desperately.
- Also, updated collision detection. Swords going throug capes, tabards tucked in, haircuts cut off when wearing helmets. I can understand some collisions failures, but it is like they're not even trying.
I am not saying WoW should look like Aion, or FF XIV, but the game is several years old now. An upgraded graphical system would be nice for Vanilla WoW. Sure, WotLK upgraded spell animations and NPC models quite a lot, as well as having great design overall, but the humans still looked poor. Riding a horse still looked wooden and swords still sliced through capes like it was butter. WoW needs a major graphical overhaul in terms of character design, customization, animation and collision detection. Seriously, WoW is almost 6 years old.
Herman Oct 9th 2010 4:31PM
i would like them to bring back tunics for casters, there used to be some, but now we all wear dresses. whats the point of pants having graphics if we never see them. i'm surprised blizz hasn't made the emperors new pants, a pair of invisible pants with awesome stats