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by Michael Sacco 
Dec 18th 2010 at 12:00PM
Answering reader questions, flailing wildly with a plank. Just another day at the office.
Kyle asked:
I'm considering leveling my shaman from 80 to 85 first. Which of the two new starting zones (Hyjal or Vashj'ir) provide the best lore experience for a shaman, or at least the most rep with the Earthen Ring?
There's no real shaman content in Hyjal; it's all druids all the time there. Vashj'ir, on the other hand, has you interacting and working with the Earthen Ring for pretty much any non-"Bring us food, it's cold and wet down here" quests.
Katie asked:
Help! I use your mobile site all day since it's blocked on my work computer. But yesterday and today, when I visit on my phone, it takes me to the normal, non-mobile website. Any idea how I can fix this?
Clearing your phone browser's cache and cookies should fix it.
Daynethebold asked:
Would it be possible for The Queue or WoW Insider to compile a list of prominent WoW blogs according to category? General, warrior, paladin ... etc. Something to go along with the Daily Quest.
Commenter DjLionheart nailed this one, but for those who missed it, we already have one!
Themightysven asked:
When I first got tired of being on a PvP server, transfers to normal servers were not allowed. But a recent blue post said people could transfer now. Which is it?
You could always transfer from a PvP server to a PvE server, it was just impossible to do it the opposite way. That changed a long time ago, though. You can go wherever you want from wherever you want as long as the servers are in the same region; that is, no transferring from a US server to an EU server.
Hollow Leviathan asked:
Question: Is there any indication that the Dragonmaw are anything but absurdly evil? All I know about them is that they enslaved the Red Dragonflight and are now coldly invading and murdering Wildhammer dwarves. Worse, they're BLOWING up their BOOZE.
The Dragonmaw are definitely bad eggs, but I have to hand it to Garrosh -- recruiting them is actually a pretty sound strategy. After all, when the world's biggest enemy is a dragon, who better to have on your side than the world's best dragonslayers?
Xantenise asked:
My arcane mage has this on his mastery skill: "Each point of mastery increases damage done by up to an additional 1.5%."
I'm confused. I have way more points of mastery than the 16% extra damage (12% without mastery points) would suggest -- my robes alone have 110. What's up? Does each point of mastery only give a random amount or what? I'm so confused.
Like any secondary stat in the game, mastery is given to you in the form of rating. The amount of rating required to acquire one point of mastery goes up as you level; at level 85, it takes roughly 178 mastery rating from gear to give you one point of mastery.
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!
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
psycho.knight Dec 18th 2010 1:34PM
If I remember correctly from the war of the ancients book nordeassil was planted by the dragon aspects because illidan tried to restart the (I think it was called this) moonwell wich was the source of the Night elve's magic wich they had turned away from because of the corruption and introduction of the burning leigon by Azshara. Fyi illidan and malfurion stormrage (the first. Druid and a questgiver in hyjal) where twins and illidan was corupted when he was rejected by tyrande whisperwind (now high priestess of elune) for malfurion
Vladeon Dec 18th 2010 3:33PM
As for your first question about whether it's still possible to glitch into old ironforge, I tried all the ways I knew how to when I first heard about magni being turned into stone and stored down there, but none of them work as of right now. They must've fixed the glitches in 4.0.3.
Omegan01 Dec 19th 2010 1:02AM
"Without the Dragonflight's blessing, however, it started to fall to a corruption that plagued it for thousands of years and has recently been cleansed."
That's a pretty impressive head start, considering Teldrassil was created ten years ago.
Possum Dec 19th 2010 6:55AM
Maybe the furbolg planted Vordrassil. Do those guys have druids? I mean, they've already got bear form down..
Derrek Dec 18th 2010 12:34PM
Question for the Queue:
While infiltrating Twilight's Hammer camps, my character ended up saying
"F'tagh nah'hat! I'mmathan! Sha'lub nahab! Sha'lub nahab, my friends!"
What is this a reference to?
Do I lose any Geek Points for not knowing?
Kylenne Dec 18th 2010 12:40PM
It's supposed to be a shoutout to the Lovecraft mythos. And yes, you have to immediately surrender your nerd license for not knowing that.
Schadenfreude Dec 18th 2010 12:41PM
I really feel like I'm on the wrong side of the Dragonmaw vs Wildhammer conflict. The Wildhammer live in adorable sod houses, love gryphons and the elements, whereas the Dragonmaw enslave and mutilate dragons and live in rude villages that must stink like rotting dragon constantly.
Cephas Dec 18th 2010 1:39PM
I too am rather fond of the Wildhammer even as a Horde player. I'd like to have a few drinks with them if they weren't so intent on killing me.
Possum Dec 19th 2010 5:26AM
The dwarves are one of my favourite allie races to. The other being the nightelves (when they're being kickarse insane, not when they're being flowerpicking hippies).
Revynn Dec 18th 2010 12:58PM
- Nordrassil - The World Tree in Hyjal, this is the original one created by the Dragons that provided the Night Elves their Immortality. It was made go-boom during the *Third War* of the Ancients as a last ditch effort to stop the Burning Legions invasion.
Fixed, got my wars confused.
Interficio Dec 18th 2010 12:58PM
What would be some good christmas presents for a WoW player?
Siorra Dec 18th 2010 1:11PM
An authenticator.
Revynn Dec 18th 2010 1:24PM
My guildie got me an Elementium Rod for my main. It required zero RL cash, just a bit of farming (he also got one for himself and our GM) but it was something I was unlikely to have soon since my miner is still in Northrend and the prices for Elementium right now are absurd. It was pretty cool.
There are lots of other in-game gift options as well. Mini-pets like the new Personal World Destroyer or Elementium Geode if they're into that sort of thing, a motorcycle if you have that kind of gold to throw around.
Real money options: Game time cards, TCG items (anywhere from $2-$2000, the foam sword rack is always a hit), Blizzard Pet Store items (as low as $10 and account wide), etc.
A pretty cool idea I heard of a couple days ago was someone who made a "Travelers Backpack" by taking a brown satchel and filling it with WoW related toys, snacks and energy drinks to resemble in-game items and consumables. I'm told they really went all out, but I can't imagine it costing more than $50 to replicate. Toss some "baby spice" in there with a Hearthstone, an Iron boot Flask, and a handful of energy drinks (Bawls most resembles a mana pot, IMO) and snacks . . . would be pretty win
Derrek Dec 20th 2010 10:30PM
ThinkGeek.com actually sells energy drinks that look like generic Health and Mana potions from most RPG games.
They also have a LARP-quality Frostmourne and a few Taverncraft steins.
Michael Dec 18th 2010 1:07PM
Hey, guys. My question was answered yesterday for a Paladin's place in the world but with a answer more aligned towards shamans (author is probably a shaman fan, no doubt). But the reason I ask the question is because I am having hard time trying to align myself with a faction for RP purposes in the new content. Working with Stormrage on Mount Hyjal or with Thrall and the Earthen Ring kinda' makes my Paladin who's has been a war hero with Tirion in Northrend feel like an outsider. Could use some help. Any suggestions?
Revynn Dec 18th 2010 1:23PM
My guildie got me an Elementium Rod for my main. It required zero RL cash, just a bit of farming (he also got one for himself and our GM) but it was something I was unlikely to have soon since my miner is still in Northrend and the prices for Elementium right now are absurd. It was pretty cool.
There are lots of other in-game gift options as well. Mini-pets like the new Personal World Destroyer or Elementium Geode if they're into that sort of thing, a motorcycle if you have that kind of gold to throw around.
Real money options: Game time cards, TCG items (anywhere from $2-$2000, the foam sword rack is always a hit), Blizzard Pet Store items (as low as $10 and account wide), etc.
A pretty cool idea I heard of a couple days ago was someone who made a "Travelers Backpack" by taking a brown satchel and filling it with WoW related toys, snacks and energy drinks to resemble in-game items and consumables. I'm told they really went all out, but I can't imagine it costing more than $50 to replicate. Toss some "baby spice" in there with a Hearthstone, an Iron boot Flask, and a handful of energy drinks (Bawls most resembles a mana pot, IMO) and snacks . . . would be pretty win.
Revynn Dec 18th 2010 1:24PM
Sorry, was supposed to be in response to Interficio above.
Cephas Dec 18th 2010 1:34PM
Paladins certainly did get their day in the sun last expansion, didn't they? This expansion the Paladins are mostly hanging around the Plaguelands cleaning up the remnants of the scourge. Then again, you probably knew that stuff already.
Personally I'm more inclined to put my efforts behind the Earthen Ring. The elements have been thrown into chaos and nobody's better equipped to handle the problem than the guys who are highly attuned to the elements.
The Guardians of Hyjal are really only interested in protecting Hyjal and Nordrassil. The Earthen Ring is trying to save the entire world. I'm sure you've heard that they're in Vashj'ir and Deepholm, but they actually have a very strong presence in Twilight Highlands too. The Earthen Ring is in a much better position to strike against Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer, and the Druids don't really seem interested in fighting the Twilight's Hammer except for the ones who are in Hyjal.
Personally, I'm a rogue and I have no qualms about lending my daggers to whoever pays the most. As a paladin, I understand that you're probably more principled, but even still I think you should recognize the threat that Deathwing presents and that the Earthen Ring are your best bet for fighting him much like the Argent Crusade was our best bet for fighting the Lich King.
Kylenne Dec 18th 2010 8:00PM
Welcome to WotLK for virtually every other class. Only mages even came close to getting that kind of attention, with Dalaran finally making it into the game, but it was a far cry from the paladin lovefest the expansion was as whole.
Frankly, I'm glad to see other classes getting some love in terms of lore for a change, shamans in particular. Besides, you're a freakin' paladin. As long as there's evil in the world to be smited, do you really need some specific motivation or reason to go smite it? I'm not really sure where this identity crisis is coming from. If anyone should be having one right now, it's death knights.
Ullaana Dec 18th 2010 1:02PM
Maybe a pet from the store, but probably not the "Sparkle Pony". Lots of debate on that thing.