The Queue: That other dog
by Michael Sacco 
Apr 9th 2011 at 12:00PM
No wait! It's that dog!
Ice asked:
Some bosses and even players do weird type of damage school's like "Naturestorm", "Spellstorm", "Shadowflame". What kinda damage are they to their core, can it be resisted or what? Why are these needed to be in the game and what's the list of all those combinations in the game?
Let's use Shadowflame as an example. Shadowflame is a combination of fire and shadow damage, and a spell that deals Shadowflame damage will look at your resistances and deal damage with whatever school to which you're weakest. It lets bosses do their damage without you being able to cheese the encounter by stacking resists. Even if you have a ton of fire resistance, guess what? You're still less resistant to shadow damage.
Elbon asked:
I just started archaeology and leveled it to max, found the fossil pet, fossil mount, tol'vir mount and dwarf pet, my question is (since I haven't found any of the weapons, or armor), if its a BOA item will it be like heirlooms and you're able to equip them on lower level toons?
You'll notice that the archaeology BoA items have level requirements, unlike heirloom items. Those level requirements must be met for the item to be equipped by the character in question. Thankfully, most of the BoA items you get through the profession have purposely lower level requirements to make them useful for leveling alts.
Leigh asked:
Is there a universal shortening for 'Achievements'? I tend to use 'achies' but it feels clumsy and also can be misread as a shortening for archeology.
Cheevos.
Bulleet asked:
Any chance we'll see a Crusader Ram for Dwarf Paladins?
Unlikely; the point of special mounts for draenei and tauren paladins was because those races were never part of the Silver Hand, the OG paladin group on Azeroth, and ergo had no reason to ride the classic chargers. Dwarves, though? They've been Silver Hand bros for a long time.
Koleckai asked:
I remember reading something about the Wintersaber Quest Line and Rep changing in 4.1. However I can't find any information on it right now. Do you have this information or was I dreaming?
You're correct; on the PTR, it's been changed to function nearly identically to the current grindy Horde ravasaur quest line.
Xantenise asked:
So with 4.0.3, the fake instance gate in Stormwind near Old Town was removed. What WAS it for, anyway? In all the years I've played WoW I never found out.
It was nothing. There was no instance attached to the zone and no secret instance in the files that matched up with it. It was just content that never materialized, if it was even ever meant to.
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 7)
Eldoron Apr 9th 2011 12:06PM
That portal was for guild houses originally, which in the end never came to be.
Cerebrium Apr 9th 2011 12:11PM
I thought that's where they kept all the Stockades loot.
I WENT THERE.
Ringo Flinthammer Apr 9th 2011 12:35PM
Yep. They explicitly said this back during the original alpha.
Drakkenfyre Apr 9th 2011 3:08PM
Echoing this, but it's slightly wrong.
In an interview before the game was released, they said that portal was for player housing, when it was implemented.
Player housing was experimented with, and I have seen screenshots of it. Multiple houses would have been available. One of them was the common small houses you see everywhere in Elwynn Forest. Guild housing was going to be similiar, with upgraded guild halls. One of the guild hall models was the building on GM Island.
I miss the portal. As many questions as it generated, I liked seeing a barred portal instance in SW.
Noyou Apr 9th 2011 3:09PM
That's where the dance studio was! :p
Dr. Rocketscience Apr 9th 2011 3:42PM
On the opposite inner corner of the Trade District from the Stockades structure is a similar building. However, unlike the Stockade, this building is completely surrounded by the water of the canals. (I believe the damaged clock tower is atop this building.) This is the Vault. It is a prison, similar to the Stocks, except instead of housing ordinary criminals, the Vault holds dangerous magic wielders and such. There's still a gate, manned by a pair of guards. If memory servers, there was once an instance portal behind the gate. But it was removed some time in late Vanilla or TBC. Of course, the idea of an instance housing magical prisoners sounds oddly familiar...
drtongue Apr 9th 2011 5:35PM
I always wondered the same thing about the raid portal at the end of Stratholme
Drahken Apr 9th 2011 6:17PM
A prison for magic users sounds familiar twice, and I don't mean Azkaban. The Arcatraz and the Violet Hold both are that concept.
@Dr.Tongue:
That was going to be the entrance to the original Naxxramas. But then they decided not to put the raid entrance at the end of a full 5-man dungeon because, well, that's retarded. (Still looking at you, MC and BWL.)
Drakkenfyre Apr 9th 2011 6:32PM
Even when the instance portal was removed, you could still get in the Vault. If you could get ontop of the building (wallwalking) you would fall thru, as the roof did not have any collision detection. And walking to where the instance portal was would teleport you, the portal was still active, despite not visually being there.
This was removed some time back.
The portal at the end of Stratholme was the original portal to Naxx. When it was being designed, it originally was entered from there. But when plans changed, they decided to give it it's own entrance. They also wanted to get away from the "run an entire instance to get to a raid portal" that they did with Molten Core.
Shadowwind Apr 9th 2011 6:38PM
@drtongue: The raid portal at the end of Strat was originally going to be the entry to Naxxramas-original if you weren't attuned. Somewhere along the line, the developers apparently decided that whatever attunement questline they'd originally come up with wasn't going to work. (Considering the location, it likely had something to do with the Baron) So as a replacement attunement, the developers put in a few simple quests that involved gold, rep, and a handful of (then-expensive) items. Complete any of these quests, and you could walk to a building in the middle of northern EPL and teleport into Naxxramas.
It's somewhat ironic that this portal, an idea abandoned for something better, is today the only physical relic of Naxx-40. The building that used to house the Naxx teleport no longer stands, replaced by something else; and Naxx itself now stands hostile guard over the snowy plains of Dragonblight.
Drakkenfyre Apr 9th 2011 8:42PM
Shadowwind, from what I heard, Naxx itself was still in the air after 3.0.2, it was simply made invisible. I am sure it was removed in 4.0.3a, but prior to then the building remained, and since you couldn't reach it, it didn't matter. It was simply invisible.
Natsumi Apr 9th 2011 11:03PM
@Drahken
Strat was originally a 10 man.
Patch and hotfixes
* Cataclysm Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23):
o Level reduced to 42-56.
o Changes to bosses and mobs.
o New quests.
* WoW Icon 16x16.gif Patch 1.10.0 (2006-03-28): Cap changed from 10 to 5 players.
* WoW Icon 16x16.gif Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12):
o Several spawns removed from Stratholme. This should make for a more enjoyable 5 player experience. Also, you will now be able to make additional attempts at Ramstein and/or Baron Rivendare should your initial attempt fail.
o The trapped chests in Stratholme will now show up for Detect Traps and can be disarmed. In addition, the number of creatures that come out of the trapped chests has been reduced.
o Many creatures in Stratholme have gained Detect Invisibility/Stealth.
* WoW Icon 16x16.gif Patch 1.4.0 (2005-05-05):
o 26 new Rare items have been added to Stratholme.
o Several Uncommon items have been upgraded to Rare quality.
o There is a new load screen for Stratholme.
* WoW Icon 16x16.gif Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07):
o Capped at ten players.
o Lengthened the respawn time of many of the creatures in Stratholme.
o Crimson Conjurers will no longer roam in pairs.
o Changed the way the Gauntlet area works. The Crystals no longer respawn.
o The Crystals no longer fire ribbon of souls (this was causing in-combat issues).
o Fixed a bug that was causing monsters to leave combat in mid-fight, thus regaining all their health.
Oscar Apr 9th 2011 12:07PM
Question:
Do the scourge hunger for flesh like traditional zombies?and if they do, do the Forsaken?
Throm Apr 9th 2011 12:17PM
Yep.
The Forsaken have the cannibalize racial for that exact reason.
Mitawa Apr 9th 2011 12:19PM
Cannibalize Racial
5 yd range
2 min cooldown
When activated, regenerates 7% of total health and mana every 2 sec for 10 sec. Only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses within 5 yds. Any movement, action, or damage taken while Cannibalizing will cancel the effect.
;)
Tirrimas Apr 9th 2011 12:22PM
The Forsaken have an ability called "Cannibalize", which functions like normal eating.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20577/cannibalize
mechabahamut Apr 9th 2011 12:32PM
If the Scourge DO happen to crave for flesh, do Death Knights as well? This ... could make raids two or three degrees more uncomfortable.
Amanda A. Apr 9th 2011 12:52PM
@Mecha--
One of the first few death knight quests strongly implies that they need to kill to sustain themselves. (The one where you unchain and fight one of the people in the pit.) I'd imagine they do so in a more refined manner than just chowing down, though; they probably just soak up life force and/or souls through their runeblades while they fight.
icepyro Apr 9th 2011 2:24PM
Given that Frostmourne is a runeblade and DKs make runeblades with every weapon, I imagine Amanda A has it right about DKs need to feed.
On the plus side, your adventures as a hero usually involve you killing humanoids and undead.
Drakkenfyre Apr 9th 2011 3:14PM
They do not crave flesh.
The ability Cannibalize was a trait they learned from Ghouls. Ghouls in WarCraft 3 could cannibalize things to regain health. The Undead learned this would also heal them. (This was explicitly explained in one of the manuals, they learned it from the Ghouls.)
So they do not crave flesh, it's just something they learned that would help them.