Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: End of the world
by Alex Ziebart 
Nov 22nd 2010 at 1:00PM
Welcome back to The Queue, the 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.
Today's edition of The Queue is one of mourning. My request to change WoW Insider over to Zelda Insider so I could gush about Zelda music all day long was denied. Instead, I will simply embed a YouTube video.
Elmo asked:
Is there any zone you think came out not so well in Cataclysm as far as story/quests?
Arathi Highlands. No doubt. Blizzard barely did anything with it at all. The Alliance is still living in a literal hole in the ground and there's generally nothing interesting going on. In every other old-world zone in Cataclysm, it is extremely obvious that the zones are different as soon as you walk into them. Arathi Highlands ... you walk into that zone and you wonder if Blizzard forgot it was there. It's not great. Even our guest writer who tackled a few Cataclysm zone reviews wasn't able to do anything with Arathi. There's just nothing there.
I also don't much like Hyjal, but every single one of my coworkers here at WoW Insider think I'm insane for that one. Hyjal feels like Generic Night Elf Zone #82,627. Druids and ancients and blah blah blah. It doesn't feel special in any way, just par for the course for Kalimdor. Again, everybody at WoW Insider disagrees with me about Hyjal, so I'm pretty sure every one of you will enjoy it regardless of whether I liked it or not.
McRaider asked:
How do character consume healthstones? Eating them sounds ridiculous because they're ... you know, stones.
Healthstone is just what they're called. They're more like eggs. When you need to use your healthstone, you crack it open and drizzle the sweet, sweet yolk all over yourself and let its curative properties work their slime-like magic.
Gado asked:
The first thing I'm planning on doing Dec. 7 at 12:01 a.m. PST is buy my Old Weather Flying. Where do I go to do that?
There are flight trainers in both Stormwind and Orgrimmar now, near the flight masters. They will sell you Old Weather Flying. Stormwind and Orgrimmar are going to be your primary hubs in Cataclysm, so it's actually very convenient.
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: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 15)
Swifteye Nov 22nd 2010 1:25PM
Personally, I'll probably farm as much herb and ore in the new 80+ zones as I can (insofar as what nodes I can collect without getting squished by the higher-level mobs' proximity), but not worry about leveling at first. It's gonna be hard to kill stuff with the lag from a gazillion other people being in the same zone, and it's gonna be hard to finish quests with said gazillion other people trying to tag the same named mob.
Those mats are gonna sell for a ridiculously huge sum to the powerlevelers and the profession completionists early on! :D
Aaron Nov 22nd 2010 1:38PM
If I don't aggro the loading screen boss and the world doesn't crash, I'm going exploring! I need the explorer title on one of my toons and I've been saving it for The Shattering. Was going to wait for flying, but running around zone to zone seems like it will be more fun. Gotta do something until Cata hits anyways. =D
Faith Trust Nov 22nd 2010 1:39PM
The shattering is not the same as Cata, its previous to that, so that would be your plan for Cata for not for the shattering..
Answering the OP I'll continue to level my alts, i have 3 at mid 60's so i should enjoy the 20% exp boost for LK zones included in .3a
Swifteye Nov 22nd 2010 2:13PM
@Faith: Oh bollocks, you're right. I know the difference; just had a reading comprehension fail moment, heh.
In that case, I'll probably finally get around to finishing off leveling my level 73 human priest... not so much because of the decrease in required Northrend xp, but because the main thing keeping her from leveling is that my Alliance guild is dead and all my friends are Hordies now. Once I can turn my priest into a Tauren, I can get her into my Horde guild and have people to talk to during that hideously boring Northrend slog!
Hih Nov 22nd 2010 6:40PM
Get a raid and kill Gamon.
klerud Nov 22nd 2010 1:07PM
With Pilgrims Bounty as the last holiday with 80 as the level cap, and Winter Veil as the first with 85, is there any news related to level requirements for the latter? I have limited playing time between the 7th and 16th, and I'm wondering if I'm in danger of loosing What a Long Strange Trip It's Been to this new level cap?
Nick Nov 22nd 2010 1:21PM
Oddly enough I'm limited in how much I can play during these times too, blasted exams!
Saeadame Nov 22nd 2010 1:31PM
D= I didn't even think about that! I'm not going to be able to play until most of my exams are over, and now I'm worries too...
Nina Katarina Nov 22nd 2010 1:37PM
The meta for Pilgrim's Bounty is not necessary for Long Strange Trip - you can skip it if you like.
Klerud Nov 22nd 2010 2:00PM
@Nina
I know Pilgrim's Bounty is not a part of the meta. My question was about Winter Veil.
I suppose I can sacrifice one night's sleep power-leveling, but I would like to be able to take my time with it, enjoying the new content instead of chasing a mount.
jorge_av Nov 22nd 2010 2:16PM
@Nina - I think you missed the OP's question entirely.
Now, about the achievements. I doesn't look like you need to be max level to get the Merrymaker meta. They've changed a couple of the achievements for example, the Scrooge achievement that requires you to throw a snowball at Cairne Bloodhoof now requires you to throw the snowball at Baine Bloodhoof (Alliance - Magni Bronzebeard changed to Muradin Bronzebeard.) And they usually do not add new achievements to the meta, last year they did not add the BB King achievement.
So, unless they add a level 85 holiday boss and add killing them to the meta, I'm pretty sure it's still doable at level 80.
Almost forgot, it doesn't look like they added any "Brothers" to the Bros. Before Ho, Ho, Ho's. They actually took one or two off the achievement because the brothers are no longer where they used to be.
Kolyarut Nov 22nd 2010 2:56PM
Won't be impossible, but I'm really not looking forward to doing With A Little Helper From My Friends on my level 80 alts. That achievement was bad enough before (with having to run back to town for a new costume after every death), doing it five levels below the level cap too is going to make it nightmarish... unless I rope in guildies to strip off and die for me.
Could be so easily fixed by them making the gnome costume not fall off after death, I lost track of how many times I zoned between Wintergrasp and Dalaran last year. Then there'd just be the issue of being five levels under cap... a big issue in Tol Barad, though not so much in regular BGs, if anybody's still running that bracket by then.
(of course, I could be completely misremembering this. But I don't think I am...)
themightysven Nov 22nd 2010 3:01PM
When wrath launched (nov 13th) there were no holiday bosses until the following midsummer when Ahune was still level 70.
Pacotaco90 Nov 22nd 2010 4:22PM
To add to this, some of these achivments where you have find certain race/calss combos (such as this one for pilgrims bounty where you need to shoot the different rouges) is going to be much harder when cata comes out. Finding the combos of the oppiste faction is going to be much harder since we don't have a sanctuary town where both factions hang out...
darthchris4 Nov 22nd 2010 1:06PM
Zelda music is the best.
Skip Clemons Nov 22nd 2010 1:10PM
I love Majora's Mask and just played it Yesterday the End of the world everything about to be destroyed reminded me of WoW.
Well my question for the queue is How is Blizz keeping non-cata uprgraders from entering the zones like Hyjal or Twilight Highlands since the zones are not instances from the rest of Azeroth
Samutz Nov 22nd 2010 2:14PM
I've heard from PTRers that if you try to enter a zone you're not allowed to access, you get teleported out, like when you enter the opposing faction's district in Dalaran.
keithcblack Nov 22nd 2010 1:07PM
Fail on Arathi Highlands. Also, does anyone know if they've done anything with the dranei and blood elf starting zones/follow up 10-20 zones?
Skip Clemons Nov 22nd 2010 1:16PM
Sadly they have not except adding a warrior trainer for the blood elfs and a portal to Tedrassill from the Exodar.
JT Nov 22nd 2010 1:16PM
They are not. As far as I know, you can't even fly there.