The Queue: Gold Guns Girls
by Michael Sacco 
Apr 22nd 2011 at 11:00AM
Okay, well, maybe just guns in this particular Queue. But like I'd pass up an opportunity to link some Metric? As if.
Haimdall asked:
So, any respectable hunter knows about the arcane technology that is Godfrey's twin pistols of badassery. My question is: was a discrete model of the pistol(s) ever uncovered? If so, were any others? Is there any other indication by blizzard that pistols might be something other than a euphoric fever dream?
Originally, for Wrath (and this is a true story), there was going to be a new "pistol" item type added to the game, and hunters were going to be able to dual-wield them as part of one of their talent trees. There were going to be benefits and drawbacks to using pistols; I think you were supposed to be able to fire them while moving, or fire them at melee range, or something along those lines. For whatever reason, the idea ended up being scrapped.
I'd normally say that the fact that it was considered previously might make it more likely to be implemented again, but with that expansion having come and gone and Cataclysm not having featured them either, it looks like pistols will be forever relegated to NPC use only.
Slaytanic asked:
Is it possible to petition for a character name that is taken, but not being used? I've noticed I can easily look up level 1 charters now on the new armory, but the names I want, there are no records? Also, are there some names that cannot be used due to some type of copyright infringement? (Example: Metallica)
I'm not sure of the actual official policy nowadays, since those are usually kept private, but I've heard that some people have been able to free up names for use provided that the character in question was very low level and hadn't been played in an inordinately long time.
The only way a copyrighted name will be changed is if the copyright holder asks Blizzard to change them or make them unavailable. I think I remember hearing that some Lord of the Rings names (as in their direct, proper spellings, not Leggollass) are unable to be used in the game at all due to a claim by the copyright holder.
Keep in mind that RP realms are the only place where a lot of the non-offensive naming policy "violations" are enforced.
Devo_AS asked:
When are they going to add PvE loot to the Baradin Hold loot table? I have yet to see 1 piece of Shaman PvE gear on ANY of my toons and cant even count how many double PvP piece drops Ive seen (the double PvP Lock gloves with no locks in the group was the bestest!)
I know his loot table is ginormous but I feel like PvE gear has the same .1% chance of a rare mount drop from raid bosses :(
You said it yourself -- Argaloth's loot table is very large, and there are more PvP items in it than PvE. I've seen PvE gear drop plenty of times, but PvP gear is more common by virtue of there being more of it.
Fallemwarrior asked:
I think if they eventualy do add a new spell to druids it needs to be a fast heal, it seems to be the one thing every other healer has that a druid doesnt, Flash Heal, Flash of Light, Healing Surge, druids to compensate have either nature's swiftness, or swiftmend, but both of these have Cd's
This is my only real problem with druid heals
This was answered in the comments, but the druid equivalent of the fast heal is Regrowth. It's fast and has a high chance to crit.
Tigore asked:
Which books set in the Warcraft Universe would you recommend reading? I was thinking of reading Stormrage, The Shattering and Arthas: Rise Of The Lich King.
Also I was hoping to spread the word for people to request these books to be converted to eReader form, which you can do on the Amazon page for the books.
I think the best bet would be for you to look at the books available and see which parts of the Warcraft story you want fleshed out, because in that case, any of the books are worth reading. Personally, I like Christie Golden's books, like Rise of the Horde (which details the story of the orcs and the draenei prior to the First War) and The Shattering, the best.
Also, all of the books you mentioned, and it looks like all or nearly all of the other Warcraft books, are already available for the Kindle.
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 9)
Necromann Apr 22nd 2011 11:05AM
I'd recommend reading all of the Warcraft books you can.
Matthew Apr 22nd 2011 11:12AM
I'd read the books by Richard Kanak after the ones by Christie Golden, they are more of an epic foray into his mind rather than the WoW you're looking for.
The Last Guardian, is, in my opinion, one of the best written. ALL have great plots.
I started with Rise of the Horde, and agree, it's a great intro book.
furry Apr 22nd 2011 11:36AM
I would also suggest reading all the books. I've read several so far and have liked all of them (although The Last Guardian was a little slower). I'm reading them in publishing order, but some suggest in order of events. I'd suggest the way that I'm going since that's the way the story was developed, in a sense, even if later books happened in the past.
If time is of the essence, I'd say start with Day of the Dragon, then go with the War of the Ancients trilogy, since those have a lot to do with what's going on in Cataclysm. (And, of course, the Shattering)
http://www.wowwiki.com/Novel_guide
Shinae Apr 22nd 2011 11:56AM
I agree that all of the Warcraft books are worth a read. Except for Night of the Dragon. That book can go DIAF.
OTOH Day of the Dragon was fine.
biggjudicem Apr 22nd 2011 12:06PM
my favorites would have to be (in no particular order):
Last Guardian, Blood and honor, tides of darkness, rise of the lich king
Tabasa Apr 22nd 2011 12:21PM
The Last Guardian is the best book by far of them in my opinion, and if you're intending to read the novels chronologically, is also probably the best one to start with, particularly if you're totally new to the lore (Rise of the Horde is technically further back in the storyline, but it spoils the twist of TLG if you didn't already know what it was, and so works better as a second book, imo).
dannyflorida Apr 22nd 2011 2:34PM
I used the excellent guide at the following webpage to plan my reading of the Warcraft novels (and other literature):
http://www.lorecrafted.com/timelines/2009/10/4/novel-chronology.html
From the webpage: "Use this as a guide to learn the history of Azeroth and Dreanor in the order that it happened, direct from the event sources. Where appropriate, I have also included a short review of the book. Some of these stories are must-reads while others can be skipped or summarized."
(By the way, you're likely to find a good many of the novels and manga available through your local library system. I did.)
kenny Apr 22nd 2011 3:09PM
Neat story...my first WoW read was Arthas. I liked it so much I went and bought the 4 book comp with Rise of the Horde, Last Gaurdian,Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal. Read some non-wow stuff while I waited for the Shattering to be released. After reading that, I then read rise and am currently reading Last Gaurdian.
I loaned my mom Arthas, she likes fantasy books but knows absolutely nothing about WoW! She is absolutely loving the book and when she's done wants to come over and see the cinematics and areas in the game where events took place. At 65, she wants to know more about Azeroth!
I'd recommend the Christie Golden books first. She has a softer eye to the world of Azeroth I think and now after reading 3 of her books I think are very good reads. I didn't go in order, I read by story. I wanted to know more about Arthas, then I wanted to know about Thrall and Magni's roles in Cata, then I wanted to know about Thrall's parents. Now I'm just reading the rest in order to flesh out the rest of the Lore.
Matthew Apr 22nd 2011 5:07PM
@ Shinae
100% agree!!!! What a total disappointment Night of the Dragon was, although Day was great.
Oh, and file Stormrage under D for disappointment too. The War of the Ancient trilogy, however, was great! Same author, go figure.
I got all my wow books on my kindle, which saved precious bag space.
Udderpowered Apr 22nd 2011 11:06AM
I join an AB queue, average wait time 5 mins. 45 mins later, the average queue time is 2 mins, and I still haven't got in.
How? Does AB just hate me?
Matthew Apr 22nd 2011 11:09AM
I asked this the other day. It's broken, it's a known bug, people suggested
1) queue for just one bg at a time
2) if the time in queue > average time, drop queue and requeue.
Jade Apr 22nd 2011 1:15PM
Also, keep in mind that 'average' number crosses both factions. So the PvP happy horde and their long queues and wait times are averaged against the Small percentage of Alliance Psycho Killers, and their very short queue. You are DPS, alliance are Tanks. (I say you, since your little icon be a tauren)
I think this is one reason they are testing same faction battlegrounds on the PTR. Horde should really expect to start fighting more horde ;)
SR Apr 22nd 2011 2:01PM
Gotta love folks that firmly believe their faction is the only one that's suffering at all times
Eirik Apr 22nd 2011 2:49PM
> Horde should really expect to start fighting more horde
FOR THE ... um...
loop_not_defined Apr 22nd 2011 2:54PM
Jade, where did you get the idea that the queue crosses both factions? The BG queue is simply bugged. That's it.
Estimated: 3 minutes.
Actual: 45 minutes.
==Drop, requeue==
Estimated: 3 minutes.
Actual: 3 minutes.
Has nothing to do with how it's calculated.
Matthew Apr 22nd 2011 11:08AM
On the worldofwarcraft home page they used to have an area where you could view old world armor sets, dungeon set 1-3, tier 1-6.
I can't find it on the new and improved battle.net warcraft site. Can someone link it please?
Vaeku Apr 22nd 2011 11:13AM
Best thing to do is go to Wowpedia, look up each class and there's links for their armor sets.
You can also look them up on wowhead (they're listed as tier sets for each class under armor or whatever), and as a bonus you can view it in 3D on your chosen gender/race model.
Brakelbee Apr 22nd 2011 11:10AM
Unless Wowhead is wrong, Argaloth does drop PvE loot.
Thundrcrackr Apr 22nd 2011 11:37AM
I've run it almost every week for a while now, on two toons, and not once have i seen a PvE drop for my class. In fact, I've never even seen more than one PvE piece drop at a time, even on 25 man! And half the time that one piece is for a class/spec that isn't even in the group!
I don't understand why Blizz doesn't see this as a problem and can't implement something to fix it. A simple "if x class does not exist, don't drop that class gear" would be nice. And maybe bump up the drop rate of the PvE items if there are indeed fewer of them in the loot table compared to PvP pieces.
Its currently a waste of time unless you're extremely lucky.
RogueJedi86 Apr 22nd 2011 11:52AM
Every week that useless loot drops is one more week you'll keep playing in the hopes of getting the loot drop the next week. That's why random loot pools exist. If you could get all the loot you wanted in a single week of raiding(as opposed to a few months of it), you wouldn't be playing as long since your goal was attained. It's subtle, but effective.