The Queue: Impatience is a virtue
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 27th 2011 at 11:00AM
I have a favor to ask all of you today. In addition to our usual discussion in the comments, I need all of you to leave a comment telling Mike Sacco to hurry up and finish playing Portal 2 so we can rock some co-op. He's a Slowy McSlowerson, and I grow impatient.
Boz asked:
Inquiring Dwarf Rogues and Warlocks want to know: Is there any reason that we might be prevented from playing as a Dark Iron from a lore perspective? We're already able to make pseudo-Mag'har with the available Orc skins, I got to wondering with Moira Bronzebeard/Thaurissan sitting on the Council of Three Hammers if we might see Dark Iron Dwarf skins added to the available models for Dwarves.
I expect that Blizzard will open up these skins one day, now that those dwarven factions have been pulled into the Alliance. There isn't a very good mechanical reason it couldn't be done. However, I do suspect it's very low on Blizzard's priorities. It would be a purely cosmetic addition, and it would pull the artists away from doing things like modeling armor and mobs for future dungeons and raids. It would be awesome to roll a Dark Iron, but given limited resources, we would probably rather have cool-looking armor instead.
fallemwarrior asked:
I was writing a short story with one of the main characters being a deathknight when something stopped my in my tracks, it was silly and taken for granted but I want to be correct as possible... do death knights need to eat?
According to some books up in Acherus, death knights don't need to eat to survive, but they certainly can eat. Personally, I would guess that whether or not death knights bother to eat depends on how close to their old life they feel.
Are they bitter and resentful of the living because of what happened to them? Then they might distance themselves from the living and stop doing things that a living person would do. They might embrace death and all that comes with it. However, a death knight who misses life and still has living loved ones they hold dear might cling to what it is to be alive. They would still eat and drink even if it didn't benefit them at all because they enjoyed it and still want to enjoy it.
whig asked:
Does the PTR patch itself like the game client? Or is every PTR a completely new download? Wondering if I should erase the whole thing or expect it to patch itself up to 4.2 when that PTR starts.
Usually the PTR client patches just like the live client, so you benefit from not deleting it. However, there have been times in WoW's history when you had to do a clean PTR install. That hasn't happened in a while, though.
@samuraikav asked via Twitter:
Is writing for WoW Insider a job or a hobby? If it's a job, is it the only job you have?
Our staff is very diverse. It's a job for some, and it's a hobby for others. The editors (if you don't know who we are, check out our About page) spend anywhere from 40-60 hours per week on WoW Insider, depending on what's going on that week. This is our primary job. We all have side jobs because that's just how it goes when you work freelance (not having all of your eggs in one basket is just good judgement), but WoW Insider is our main focus.
Our weekly columnists are the ones most likely to just call it a hobby -- the guys and gals who turn in their column once a week and leave it at that. They all have jobs outside of WoW Insider, and this is just a side gig.
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 12)
souvlaki Apr 27th 2011 11:05AM
Of course DKs can eat. Just right-click on any food you have in your bags and you'll see it yourself.
Daco Apr 27th 2011 11:15AM
Of course, that beer-basted crocolisk will taste just as good to your DK as right-clicking on the button tastes to you.
Noyou Apr 27th 2011 11:39AM
I'd like a Souvlaki and Gyros platter please :)
Prelimar Apr 27th 2011 11:50AM
i was gonna say this, too! i mean, all the death knights *i* know seem to eat as regularly as anyone else. : )
Avan Apr 27th 2011 11:55AM
Eh, who needs to eat when you can just "HEAL PLZ?"
Arminias Apr 27th 2011 12:02PM
IN SOVIET NORTHREND DK FOODS YOU
Lantokk Apr 27th 2011 2:25PM
Of course they eat. How else could they poop amberseeds?
Hob Apr 27th 2011 3:41PM
@Lantokk
Ummm... How can I phrase this?
"There are alternate routes for that."
Cale Apr 27th 2011 11:05AM
Thanks for the 40-60 hour weeks. You're doing a great job and this is a reliable and trusted resource.
Alexran Apr 27th 2011 4:19PM
The 40-60 hour workweek might just them with WowInsider minimized and reddit open in another window :P
Hal Apr 27th 2011 11:06AM
The undead trying to enjoy the perks of the living isn't all it's cracked up to be:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/5160-Stolen-Pixels-15-Azeroth-Travelogue-Part-2
(Sorry, thought about that after reading the question.)
PictoKong Apr 27th 2011 11:07AM
Portal 2 coop = Madness incarnate...
Trust me, or go watch SeaNanners
Solitha Apr 28th 2011 5:38AM
YO SACCO! Go play co-op.
My hubby played the single-player story through in one 8-hour sitting when it released. That weekend we played co-op, then I played the single.
There's no reason to delay one for the other; no spoilers or anything that I can recall. GLaDOS is her usual self (I adore her). My husband and I were constantly LOL'ing.
I do recommend verbal communications between players; sometimes GLaDOS will say different things to each player. Comparing notes adds to the fun.
P2's cup absolutely runneth over with pure win. I sure hope there's a P3.
MattKrotzer Apr 27th 2011 11:11AM
As a graphic artist with some experience in skinning 3D models, the whole "rather have them working on modeling new armor and mobs" thing is such a weak excuse.
Creating an additional skin texture in a different color would take such a small amount of time. The current skin textures for orcs and dwarves are pretty basic, as they don't have the most intricate framework to be applied to. A few hours of work, and this could be handled. (As well as giving us access to some of those sweet Wildhammer dwarf skins, or Scholomance goth-gnome girls!)
I don't know why Blizzard keeps giving us the excuse that they'd rather put the effort into other things like armor and new creatures. The only reason I can come up with is that it's nicer than saying, "We really don't care. Piss off."
MattKrotzer Apr 27th 2011 11:13AM
In addition: The above explanation applies to creating new skin textures. After I hit send, it dawned on me that the textures are already made. It's simply a matter of loading them into the character generator.
Really no excuse to not have this done by now.
Sols Apr 27th 2011 11:14AM
Don't forget, they're busy putting ribbons on the head of imps to call them female.
The Dewd Apr 27th 2011 11:27AM
How do you know that the Imps aren't already female?
I'm sure part of the problem is that if they add new textures they lose the 1:1 count between skin textures of all the races. (I haven't actually counted but it feels like every race as the same number of each corresponding customization on the creation screen.) Since some of the fun/vanity items that "change" your race (plus Caverns of Time for some races) seem to pick a corresponding skin from another race, they'd have to add more skins for all races or just replace some and give folks an option to re-customize in case they didn't like it.
In all honesty, though, you'd think they could just add 1-2 new skins for each race without too much effort - though they'd probably have to give Wildhammer a tattoo selection which would mean taking away some other customization.
Actually, maybe it's not quite as easy as I thought. But I can't imagine it's so time consuming that they couldn't give one or two artists a few hours a week to work on it.
MattKrotzer Apr 27th 2011 11:30AM
I don't even think it'd take artists at this point. As I said, varied skins exist for pretty much every race at this point... it just takes a few tweaks to the character creation screen's list of files to access, and it's done.
mibu.work1 Apr 27th 2011 12:05PM
Personally, I'd love a mummy-troll deathknight skin.
Puntable Apr 27th 2011 12:11PM
They probably would want to roll things like this into a total redesign and polygon enhancement of all the old character models, rather than tacking on a few new skin colors now.