The Queue: Explanations
Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.
In Monday's edition of The Queue (titled Veronica Day), most people had no idea what I was talking about in the intro. I was talking about Felicia Day's character in Fallout: New Vegas. She voices Veronica Santangelo, one of the companion NPCs. For those of you completely unfamiliar with New Vegas, just watch the videoembedded linked above. It will explain everything you need to know about the game. Or ... it will explain nothing at all. Watch it anyway. Be warned: It contains some animated gore.
Eyhk asked:
Why were chests removed? Just because those dirty rogues were solo-farming them? Kinda seems harsh to remove a once integral part of dungeon running, getting that chest loot.
Yes, but it's more than just, "We don't want rogues (or gold farmers stealing rogues) farming chests." The problem was that you couldn't put amazing loot in the chests, because it would give an immense advantage to those people that could farm them without killing things, like rogues. They would just sneak in and reap the epics. You had to put the good loot on mobs and bosses. And if the chests can't have any good loot in them, what's the point of having them? Players won't see a chest and get excited. They'll see a chest and go, "Oh, that's just junk." Is there a point to keeping the chests around then? Not really.
The only way they could get away with putting good loot in a chest is if they tied it to a boss or a pack of mobs, so you could only access what was in the chest when those things were dead. If you're going to do that, why not put the loot on the mobs/boss?
It was neat to have chests around, but when was the last time you opened a chest and found something really good in it? Sometimes RNG worked in your favor, but RNG also liked to give you nothing but two Silk Cloth, a piece of cheese and 17 Greater Mana Potions. In Outland.
Ultranator asked:
What is the deal with worgen death knights? I read on WoWWiki that they're freed slaves of Arugal, but it was just a brief reference. Is there any actual information? And does the DK starting area still have Arthas commanding you in the beginning?
The actual information is that you are free slaves of Arugal. Really! If you've done the death knight quest chain, you probably remember the quest where you confront a member of your race that's supposed to be a former friend of yours from when you were alive. The Cataclysm beta now includes these stories for worgen and goblin characters. You and your living counterpart are worgen that escaped the grasp of Arugal, only to fall in with the Scourge.
The death knight starting area does still have Arthas commanding the Scourge, yes. The DK starting zone takes place in the past, chronologically. It always has. Time progressing in the rest of the world won't impact it, because it is essentially one big flashback.
Okayplayer asked:
I recently moved to Africa where I have to buy my internets per MB. Knowing this, I allowed my WoW account to expire and removed the client from my laptop. Of course, now I'm feeling the call of Azeroth in full effect and was wondering if you could help me with a little research. On average, say with a session doing mostly solo level grinding and maybe a few dungeons, do you have any idea what sort of bandwidth a player would use?
Assuming I've got all the game data installed, how much money would I be burning though to level some characters when I'm bored?
Personally, I don't know the answer to this question. However, our readers have given great advice to player struggling with bandwidth caps in the past, so I picked out your question to shine a spotlight on it and bring attention to it. Check the comments below; hopefully, our readers will have some solid advice for you!
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!
In Monday's edition of The Queue (titled Veronica Day), most people had no idea what I was talking about in the intro. I was talking about Felicia Day's character in Fallout: New Vegas. She voices Veronica Santangelo, one of the companion NPCs. For those of you completely unfamiliar with New Vegas, just watch the video
Eyhk asked:
Why were chests removed? Just because those dirty rogues were solo-farming them? Kinda seems harsh to remove a once integral part of dungeon running, getting that chest loot.
Yes, but it's more than just, "We don't want rogues (or gold farmers stealing rogues) farming chests." The problem was that you couldn't put amazing loot in the chests, because it would give an immense advantage to those people that could farm them without killing things, like rogues. They would just sneak in and reap the epics. You had to put the good loot on mobs and bosses. And if the chests can't have any good loot in them, what's the point of having them? Players won't see a chest and get excited. They'll see a chest and go, "Oh, that's just junk." Is there a point to keeping the chests around then? Not really.
The only way they could get away with putting good loot in a chest is if they tied it to a boss or a pack of mobs, so you could only access what was in the chest when those things were dead. If you're going to do that, why not put the loot on the mobs/boss?
It was neat to have chests around, but when was the last time you opened a chest and found something really good in it? Sometimes RNG worked in your favor, but RNG also liked to give you nothing but two Silk Cloth, a piece of cheese and 17 Greater Mana Potions. In Outland.
Ultranator asked:
What is the deal with worgen death knights? I read on WoWWiki that they're freed slaves of Arugal, but it was just a brief reference. Is there any actual information? And does the DK starting area still have Arthas commanding you in the beginning?
The actual information is that you are free slaves of Arugal. Really! If you've done the death knight quest chain, you probably remember the quest where you confront a member of your race that's supposed to be a former friend of yours from when you were alive. The Cataclysm beta now includes these stories for worgen and goblin characters. You and your living counterpart are worgen that escaped the grasp of Arugal, only to fall in with the Scourge.
The death knight starting area does still have Arthas commanding the Scourge, yes. The DK starting zone takes place in the past, chronologically. It always has. Time progressing in the rest of the world won't impact it, because it is essentially one big flashback.
Okayplayer asked:
I recently moved to Africa where I have to buy my internets per MB. Knowing this, I allowed my WoW account to expire and removed the client from my laptop. Of course, now I'm feeling the call of Azeroth in full effect and was wondering if you could help me with a little research. On average, say with a session doing mostly solo level grinding and maybe a few dungeons, do you have any idea what sort of bandwidth a player would use?
Assuming I've got all the game data installed, how much money would I be burning though to level some characters when I'm bored?
Personally, I don't know the answer to this question. However, our readers have given great advice to player struggling with bandwidth caps in the past, so I picked out your question to shine a spotlight on it and bring attention to it. Check the comments below; hopefully, our readers will have some solid advice for you!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 14)
Royal Nov 3rd 2010 11:03AM
I enjoy visiting wow insider during my breaks at work but what is up with the big F@#$ today 0.o'
Zyla Nov 3rd 2010 11:19AM
I agree. The title of the clip is definitely NSFW. It's not kid looking over shoulder safe either.
Vladeon Nov 3rd 2010 11:31AM
I actually thought it was hilarious.
neogramps Nov 3rd 2010 11:34AM
Replying here so it isn't lost in the shuffle:
@Okayplayer - bandwidth usage depends on where you are and how many people are around. For a while I was playing at lunchtime on a netbook and 3G connection - bandwidth usage for questing and messing about outside cities was about 1-3MB per hour.
However, going into a city pushes this up massively - you can alleviate this by leaving trade and LFG channels and sticking to quieter cities.
However, the new downloader downloads content on the fly often without notice, so you could end up with unexpected bandwidth spikes.
Hoofio Nov 3rd 2010 12:43PM
It is just a word.
Perhaps it isn't appropriate but it's strange that this should cause offence and stabbing someone in the face with a sword is completely acceptable.
I for one welcome our verbally liberated overlords :P
Koleckai Nov 3rd 2010 11:38AM
Not even a very entertaining video...
Thanatos Nov 3rd 2010 11:48AM
Agreed, there is getting to be a bit too much heavy language to read during lunch, or near kids.
Pyromelter Nov 3rd 2010 11:49AM
"It is just a word.
Perhaps it isn't appropriate but it's strange that this should cause offence and stabbing someone in the face with a sword is completely acceptable."
Hi, hey there Hoofio. This is Pyro. Like many people who read wowinsider, I happen to be in a professional office. Having swear words is no big deal on our network, but having a big work F@#%ING plastered atop a large video so that anyone in passing may see it is an issue. There is a reason that people put "NSFW" things "after the cut," this is so that those of us in an office can enjoy wowinsider without fear of other people seeing something inappropriate.
And generally no, in an office environment, it's not acceptable to have videos of smashing someone in the face with a sword either. The difference is that we have the choice to not play the video, whereas if we just type in "wow.joystiq.com" there is a swear word in huge freakin letters featured right in the middle of the web page.
Anyway, Royal isn't taking offense to the word, what he is saying is "Dude, some of us read wowinsider at work, not cool to have a big F-bomb plastered prominently on your site."
SINisterWyvern Nov 3rd 2010 11:57AM
Firefox with flashblocker ends all your troubles. Also, you're worried about looking professional at an office, yet not doing work and screwing around on a WoW related site? Just saying.
Darren Nov 3rd 2010 12:02PM
So the big issue here, apparently, is that someone could be offended or you (you being any of the commenters with this issue) might get in trouble if someone sees that f-bomb on your screen. I suppose then, no one is going to be offended or reprimand you for reading a WoW blog on work computer instead of working? Or just for using the computer for personal use even if its on a break? I feel like if you're too worried about content, maybe visiting a site with undead and sparkle ponies (unless you work a job that relateds) might be something best left at home.
Eldoron Nov 3rd 2010 12:08PM
All those people worrying about NSFW... Maybe do your job when you're at your workplace and browse WoW insider at home?
Jake Nov 3rd 2010 12:14PM
The issue is simply this. This is a professional site, with a Fortune 500 parent company. They know better than to ever put anything even remotely offensive on the front page. (If only to avoid the overly protective parents boycotting such and such product etc)
More to the point, people do read this at work (during their unpaid lunch breaks, I'm sure) and nobody wants their boss walking past and seeing #$%^ on their screen. Some bosses fire on the spot for that. Doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it happens.
Replace the video title with obfuscated symbolism (ie - "#$%^") at the very least.
roseclown Nov 3rd 2010 12:14PM
There is a lovely thing called 'breaks'. It is a marvelous invention.
There is also those jobs where 80% of the time you have nothing to do, so as long as you don't pull up anything NSFW you are good.
^Had a job like that. Was awesome.
Ashimar Nov 3rd 2010 12:22PM
@Pyro,
I agree with you, but let's not over exaggerate now. It's not giant. It's not so glaringly huge that anyone walking within 10 feet of your computer screen is immediately drawn to the word as if there were neon arrows pointing it out. And it's fixed as easily as scrolling down a little bit.
I think the argument that kids might see it holds a lot more sway with me.
lividmonkey Nov 3rd 2010 12:23PM
Despite being just a word, a lot of people are not only offended by it, but if someone is on this website during a break at work, they could get in trouble. I really think that link should be changed. I don't even think it complies with AOL posting guidelines.
Pyromelter Nov 3rd 2010 12:24PM
"All those people worrying about NSFW... Maybe do your job when you're at your workplace and browse WoW insider at home?"
There are times I have a bit of downtime at work (like right now).
And while you make a great point, the bottom line is that there are likely a LOT of hits coming from places of business during daytime hours. I'm sure the management of joystiq knows the numbers, but they are likely a significant amount of visits from professional offices during the work day hours. Otherwise why bother with ever putting the word "NSFW" on anything?
KJP Nov 3rd 2010 12:26PM
I bet I can think of a few "just a word"s that would get a very different reaction from the "verbally liberated".
Jorges Nov 3rd 2010 12:28PM
The internets will NEVER be a safe for work place. You don't know what you're really going to see untill you see it. Of course, the NSFW tag can be used, but you're doing something you shouldn't do at work anyway. Unless you're taking your breaks outside the office, wich doesn't seem to be the case (and it wouldn't matter if the article is tagged as NSFW or not).
If you're so concerned about that, simply get back to work and wait untill you get home for your personal internets activities :)
Issac Nov 3rd 2010 12:35PM
I'm hoping this is a new direction for WoWinsider, and finally all the silly carebears can take their corny, clean "promised me a pony" drivel elsewhere.
loop_not_defined Nov 3rd 2010 12:54PM
Uh...yeah. You guys know there are plenty of work places that allow personal use* of computers, right? Here at my civilian job, it's perfectly legitimate for me to browse WoW Insider, or the official WoW Forums, during my breaks (which are mandated, FYI). I'm fortunate that nobody can "happen by" my monitor, but there's plenty of others here that don't have such a luxury.
Hell, during my military weekends, it's perfectly legitimate for me to browse Facebook and YouTube on government computers. Yes, the DoD has unblocked those sites. Yes, they have blessed such use.
I'm honestly wondering how many of you "YOU SHOULD BE WORKING" folks are flat-out lying/making crap up. My circumstances are far from abnormal. o_O
*Not to be confused with activities an employee could be profiting from. There's exceptions for that kind of stuff.