Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Ultimate ungulate
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 27th 2011 at 12:00PM
So that picture yesterday was actually a dik-dik (shown above), not a royal antelope, a mistake I would never have made if I wasn't super-tired. If anyone knows his adorable, tiny ungulates, it's me! Speaking as a former ungulate, I wholeheartedly apologize to any zookeepers or royal antelopes I may have offended with this grievous error.
Flynters asked:
Protection warriors and soloing/questing: good for that sort of purpose, viable but somewhat awkward due to lack of offensive focus, or slow and boring?
While you're right in that prot doesn't have a heavy offensive focus, I find that it really shines when you stop imagining questing zones as single mobs separated by Charge and start imagining them as packs instead. Pull a whole bunch of mobs at a time, heal yourself with timely Victory Rushes, throw up Shield Block whenever it's available, take heavy advantage of Blood and Thunder. And be aware that prot only really starts to be fun once you get talents like Sword and Board that let you dish it out even better than you can take it, but just because it's less fun earlier than that doesn't mean that it's less effective.
Etcee asked:
When 4.0.6 hit my dwarf main's eye color changed from dark brown to bright blue. I've been told by gm's first that it's intentional, second that it's a bug, third that it's looking at being reverted, then the otherday I was told that it wasn't even a known issue. I haven't seen any acknowledgmet on the forums. Is there any sort of precedent for just changing player models 6 years into the game? And why doesn't anyone else seem to notice?
Sometimes there are bugs with models when patches occur, but sometimes intentional changes are made, too. There's a long history of model changes that were never explained or publicly justified, from the human female "moon eyes" change to the inimitable Patchstache. If it gets changed back, it gets changed back, but these kinda of changes aren't normally reverted once they're made for whatever reason. Unless we're talking about orc shoulders, anyway.
Also, if I can make a slight tangent here, I need to make an important statement, and that is this:
GMs are not developers.
I can say this as a former GM and GM trainer. GMs are usually kept up to date on known issues with patches, but that does require input from the devs. Just like patch notes aren't always comprehensive, so too are known issue lists. Humans are also fallible, which means that a GM may not remember seeing an issue you've listed or may be thinking of a different issue when you talk to him or even may have heard incorrectly that an issue is getting fixed. It's not a perfect system, but WoW is also a game with hundreds of thousands of issues to track, so not every GM (and, more to the point, not any GM) will be personally aware of every issue, no matter how well everything is documented.
Until you see an issue is fixed in patch notes, see a blue post commenting on it, or see it on a list of known issues, assume it is not known and, if you feel so inclined, report it either via the forums or a GM ticket exactly once. There's no need to petition four times for the same non-pressing issue, especially after you receive a response that appears to be legitimate.
Rob asked:
Is it worth it race change my Draenei Pally to a Dwarf? I'm a lore nut, so I'd take a dwarf through the starting area first to get a feel for it... but I'm sick of being a race that people simply don't care about. The only thing holding me back, however, is the hope that Blizz might MAYBE add some Draenei stuff in soon. What do you think?
I can't guarantee any lore additions, but there's a more important reason to play a draenei paladin: I don't see dwarf paladins riding around on the world's biggest elephant! Seriously, the Great Exarch's Elekk is the biggest land mount I've ever seen. And it's got shiny new high-res textures, much better than that old horse. I think you know what the right decision is.
Haimdall asked:
What's the deal with the ritual sites dotted around the Eastern Kingdoms(at least)? I refer to the big statues of cloaked figures standing in a triangular pattern around a stone circle. I've seen one in Burning Steppes and Blasted Lands, and while I can't say for sure, I want to say I've seen at least one more.
That particular construction is called an Altar of Storms, and there are several in the Eastern Kingdoms. During the Second War, they were used to imbue ogres with arcane power to create ogre mages. Pulling the curtain back a little farther, they were also the building where your fallen heroes would resurrect while playing as orcs in the RTS games.
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 3 of 8)
Sleutel Feb 27th 2011 1:00PM
@Darky:
Not sure why you're bringing up the Grim Reaper, when it's a human concept and is pictured as a *human skeleton*.
ZeroDesu Feb 27th 2011 1:11PM
@Sleutel: He isn't always pictured as a skeleton, mind you, that's just the generalized (and "spookier") version. Most of the time, he's just a cloaked figure (usually with scythe). Similar to the Portal Guardians in that respect.
Personally, I always assumed that those statues were related to the Shadow Council, or maybe the original DeathKnights (which could be entirely off-base, since I never ran any related quests during the time it was current content, so know little about the associated people).
linkers746 Feb 27th 2011 1:22PM
I would imagine that the statues are based off of Gul'dan's visions of Medivh: a cloaked, hooded human.
alpha5099 Feb 27th 2011 12:18PM
Draenei for life!
Kurtis Feb 27th 2011 2:11PM
Best Alliance race out there, in my opinion. :)
As for the OP... you're tired of playing a race that is underrepresented, and you want to change to... a DWARF??? Have you even looked at the population stats? WarcraftRealms.com puts the total number of draenei only two percentage points behind the dwarf and gnome populations *combined*.
alpha5099 Feb 27th 2011 2:32PM
I think the guy's issue was not that Draenei had low representation among played characters (in my experience, they're one of the more common choices among the Alliance players I know), but their representation in lore. Which is fair. Not many people may be playing dwarves, but a lot is happening for them: Brann's constantly out there, digging up new information on their origins and getting our help, Magni's dead and there's major turmoil among the clans.
Meanwhile, the Draenei are doing? Pretty much nothing. You get the occasional Draenei NPCs here or there, but how many significant Draenei NPCs have had much of a role since BC? It's more or less just Velen.
CDave Feb 28th 2011 12:28AM
@alpha5099
I completely agree. Has anyone else noticed the trend for Draenei quest givers? They're almost ALWAYS shaman and their chain ALWAYS involves the us of some incense to show you a vison of some sort. Seriously, they do this in almost EVERY zone!
kenny Feb 27th 2011 12:21PM
Lore question, why in cata are there a TON of twilight drakes working with deathwing but only a few black drakes working for him. Are they almost all dead lore wise?
BrentJackson Feb 27th 2011 12:31PM
If I'm not mistaken, at this point in lore, the Black Dragonflight is very near the point of extinction. The Twilight Highlands quest chain (especially towards the end) pretty much involves killing whats left, and the last baby-maker Deathwing has.. not counting the twist in the BoT raid.
Ata Feb 27th 2011 12:52PM
I also thought I heard that aside from the near extinct, some of the blacks don't support Deathwing going this 'far'. They're content being evil and manipulating the 'lesser races', they don't want everything to go boom. But since I can't remember where I heard that, take that as my imagination.
Ata Feb 27th 2011 12:56PM
As something of an aside, I've wondered why we've not seen any more Netherdrake involvement other than the one captured in Blackwing Decent. You'd think they'd be all over this, since Deathwing is technically their father, and they know of, and have come through to Azeroth in lore.
Also, another thought on why the blacks aren't helping...Deathwing has long been trying to make a newer, better flight, and the Twilight are it. He makes the twilight by corrupting other flight's eggs (At least the reds, dont know about the others since we never see where the greens keep their eggs and the blues seem tied up in Northrend) rather than corrupting or 'imbuing' his own. Guess he's just been so disappointed in Onyxia and Nefarian that he's dismissed his own flight as having any hope to be powerful for him?
Bellicose Feb 27th 2011 1:03PM
But here's the the real question that has never been answered (need Anne or one of the Matts), there are actually Black Dragon's working with Alextraza in northrend at Wyrmcrest Temple and you even do a little questing for them. If all black drakes are with Deathwing, why are they even there? As the Blue Dragon flight has shown, you cab actually replace a dragonflight lead on the account of crazy-itis. That fail half-elf model from Sunwell is replacing Malygos, is there someone in the wings to replace Neltharion? If the Blue Dragonflight got a pass from extinction based on an insanity defense, why not the Black?
SINisterWyvern Feb 27th 2011 1:04PM
Have you done the Badlands? There's a very relevant event to the future of the black flight that takes place there.
Draelan Feb 27th 2011 1:24PM
@ Bellicose
Yes, there are members of the Black Dragonflight at Wyrmrest. However, you have to keep in mind that, lore-wise, they're there before Deathwing emerges and Alexstrazsa decides that the black dragonflight cannot be redeemed so they must be destroyed. If you talk to that black dragon, they even point out that the only reason there isn't any open hostility is because Wyrmrest has been a place where dragons could meet peaceably since well before Deathwing's corruption. And while the others may not be at ease with her presence, they will tolerate it so long as she doesn't stir up trouble. Honestly, I think the only reason she was there in the first place was because of the Scourge attacking the Obsidian Dragonshrine. If not for the need to find assistance, she would have been out manipulating and slaughtering to her heart's content.
vocenoctum Feb 27th 2011 1:38PM
I'd mentioned it before, but I'm still unclear on the status of the Black Dragonflight vs Deathwing & his group. At Wyrmrest, there are members of the black dragonflight that seem peaceable with the rest of the Flights, but other questlines act like the black flight is all evil and outcast...
So dunno.
squig_masta Feb 27th 2011 2:11PM
@Ata
Most of the netherwing were taken in by Tyrygosa of the blue dragon flight, so presumably they're in the Nexus somewhere wondering what the heck there new allies were thinking.
The rest are back in Outland trying not to get taken over by the dragonmaw fel orcs. Halfas probably got his Nether Scion from the orcs out there. There was a scene in Shadowmoon Valley where Sinestra flies in and has a chat with the leader on the ledge there, asking for some eggs and forshadowing Deathwing's return, so they were probably something of trading partners.
fallemwarrior Feb 27th 2011 12:23PM
Hello, The Queue
My question today
Obviously if we have a war of three ancients raid it has to be awesome, i think blizzard cant afford to screw this one up,
Doooo what parts do you think will make it into the raid?
Do you think it will be more than one raid?
So many thing are worthy, the huge battle, destroying the well, stealing the demon soul, the first encounter with the demons?
Thanks
Darky Feb 27th 2011 12:26PM
It will probably be defending Azeroth from a whole bunch of portals and escorting broxigar (because ya know, most CoT instances involve escorting) to kiljaeden so he can get his cleaving skillz in action.
Baba Feb 27th 2011 1:25PM
Well they covered the Battle of Hyjal pretty well, when I heard a new CoT raid was in the pipeline I felt all warm and fuzzy
Task Feb 27th 2011 2:47PM
There was a question like this awhile back, Darky, and I mentioned that they *could* do it as an escort quest along with an achievement attached to it since this its tied to the War of the Ancients novel trilogy by Knaak.
If they do have it, I will be happy to see it.