The Queue: Kettlebells and personal hells

I have a new workout routine that includes a healthy dose of calisthenics and kettlebell exercises. So I went out and got a kettlebell. Before BlizzCon, I would like turn 15 out of my 180 pounds into muscle instead of useless body fat, and this seems like the best way to do it.
Working out feels great! Especially the part where your entire body hurts and your muscles burn because you haven't lifted at this frequency in a while. It still feels great, though. Here I am, writing this Queue, in crazy amounts of soreness and pain but feeling better than ever. I am very determined to meet my BlizzCon goal. By fitness be purged!
TheRedComet asked:
I've got a question about the recent Call to Arms feature they added. I see a lot of people on the forums seem to be against it, while others like me really don't have much of a problem with it. I've had some pretty good PUG experiences and much shorter queue times since it was implemented, I've noticed.
Anyway, do you think Blizz will ever remove the feature due to people being agianst it? Or is this just a case of a small group being vocal about it?
I do not think the Call to Arms feature was as reviled as people thought it was. The vocal minority came out in full force over it, but it seems like it has done a good thing to the DPS queues that players have been subject to. Sure, you're going to get the odd, less-than-stellar tank, but to be fair, I was getting those before Call to Arms, and I was sure that I would be getting them after Call to Arms. I feel like the Call to Arms hate was definitely a minority opinion, as the fervor over it has essentially died down.
Personally, right around the time the Call to Arms bags came into being, I was on my way out of random heroics for good on my tank. Now, when I am on my healer, I usually only queue up when a bag is available. Otherwise, I am off doing something else.
Chris asked:
A question for the queue. I just got my first Alliance toon to 85 to match my horde toon. I noticed something weird. I went through all the Cata zones except Vash'ir(hate water), and it seemed aside fromt the Twilight Highlands, that all the zones were neutral zones. Do you think blizzard is getting away for Horde or Alliance camps and just making everything neutral? I know it seems easier from a developement standpoint, but I kinda like have horde camps or alliance camps that I can attack while leveling.
Twilight Highlands definitely pits the Horde and the Alliance against each other pretty seriously, but the rest of the zones are fairly neutral because of the self-contained stories that they are trying to tell. You cannot have a Hyjal separated by the Horde and the Alliance, because that's not what Hyjal is about. It could have potentially been done with Vashj'ir, but the story centered more around the neutral factions and a common enemy in the naga. Deepholm and Uldum were too "grand" set pieces that, at their heart, were almost factionless stories that took place outside of the Horde and the Alliance.
After those, however, Twilight Highlands is all about getting you back into the fight.
It felt like the decision was made to tell a few very broad, sweeping story arcs that existed in both factions' worlds and to have Twilight Highlands be where the conflict comes to a head. The other zones are their own summer vacations away from the fighting with the Horde and the Alliance, especially after 60 levels of it in the newly revamped Cataclysm level 1-60 experience. I thought it worked well, but I loved Twilight Highlands more than anything.
rwsitguy asked:
Question for The Queue:
With so many different animals occupying every corner of the world, why is there no animal 'waste' all over the ground? SW alone should be knee deep in it!
Alliance characters pick it all up with their multitude of poop quests in The Burning Crusade and beyond. Blizzard really likes giving the Alliance poop quests.
Reanne asked:
Question for the Q....
Do you have to finish the Hyjal quest series before you can go to the Firelands?
You must finish up to the part in Hyjal where you reclaim the Regrowth area near the Sanctuary of Malorne in order to participate in the new daily quests and area coming in patch 4.2.
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 8)
ugoticedbro Jun 8th 2011 12:00PM
My favorite quest on the horde side in outlands is the one where you search for shredder keys in felhound poop and get the "Stanky" debuff
MattKrotzer Jun 8th 2011 1:38PM
@Noselacri
You give ME flak for posting single-line comments that contribute nothing, with quality commentary like this? How do you walk, with balls that big?
Noselacri Jun 8th 2011 2:41PM
I tie them in a knot, or I tie them in a bow. Sometimes I even throw them over my shoulder like a Continental Soldier.
Shinae Jun 8th 2011 11:08AM
Q4Q: Will there be any other way to get Avengers of Hyjal reputation besides killing Fireland bosses? I saw that trash won’t count. Also, once you get honored or revered, only boss-kills will count, but what about before that point? What about weekly quests within the raid like how there was in ICC?
Knob Jun 8th 2011 11:39AM
Trash will give rep till a certain point. Blizzard stated in a recent Firelands Q&A that the weekly raid quests like the ICC ones were not present in the Firelands but they may make an appearance later.
Shinae Jun 8th 2011 11:54AM
@Knob
From http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/05/13/patch-4-2-avengers-of-hyjal-reputation-rings/
"Blizzard has said that the Avengers of Hyjal faction will work differently from the Ashen Verdict, however, in that it does not want players farming the trash in the Firelands for reputation."
So you say that trash will grant rep until a certain level, like maybe honored? In that case, I am going to be farming trash to that point.
puffcake Jun 8th 2011 11:10AM
I have a question for the Queue: If you leave a guild after reaching exalted and purchasing guild perks like pets and mounts, do those items carry over with you or are they locked out/lost upon guild exit? I'm sure this has been asked before, I'm just not sure where to find info about it. Thanks!
MattKrotzer Jun 8th 2011 11:13AM
You keep anything you've earned.
Amaxe Jun 8th 2011 12:12PM
More specifically, you keep what you got. However, if you do a /gquit whatever you **didn't** get will no longer be available to you if you try to buy it later.
This was my experience. I had to do a /gquit over drama, knowing I would probably not be able to buy things any more. I thought after I quit, I'd just check for the heck of it. Definitely not available.
Grovinofdarkhour Jun 8th 2011 11:20AM
Good job, Mat. I need to find that kind of motivation again myself.
The sooner you make it second nature, something you do automatically every day without even having to think about it, the sooner you guarantee yourself long-term success.
Xantenise Jun 9th 2011 9:56AM
I second this. Also, make it easy to just do it. Make it convenient. The more effort it takes to simply show up, the harder it'll be to continue when the enthusiasm burns out and it becomes drudgery. (And it will. It always becomes drudgery before you enjoy it again and it becomes a good habit.)
Fletcher Jun 8th 2011 11:28AM
Dear The Queue,
Recently I've burned out on running heroics, after getting most everything I need on my paladin, warrior and DK and setting them aside with enough JPs to finish out their gearing come 4.2. I've kind of run out of impetus to run dungeons on my spriest or either of my rogues, and my mage and shammy have pretty much become crafting mules.
Obviously I have way too many alts, so leveling another doesn't really appeal. What should I do with my WoW time?
Knob Jun 8th 2011 11:36AM
Take a break till 4.2 hits. There's no reason to log in everyday when you have nothing to do.
AudreyR Jun 8th 2011 11:46AM
Do something you haven't done before.
You can set goals for yourself with non-raid/heroic achievements.
Better yet, set an insanely silly goal.
Moon every hostile faction leader, for instance.
Collect stuff. Pets, mounts, rocks, romance novels.
Make a celestial map for Azeroth.
See how many pugs are good-humored enough to let you run dressed as another class.
Or simply take a break.
ziggler Jun 8th 2011 12:00PM
Like i say my guildies who complain they got nothing to do, as long as your main is missing achievements, pets or mounts theres always something to do :)
Or maybe you just need to take a couple months off, nothing wrong with that (since wotlk skipping an entire ter/patch doesnt set you hopelessly behind, in a couple of weeks you can pick up on gear/achievements)
Matthew Jun 8th 2011 12:10PM
I would take one toon and make it a PvP star.
Certain classes lend themselves better to that than others, of course.
Pyromelter Jun 8th 2011 2:22PM
In wow: Achievement hunting, especially in regards to old raids (vanilla, bc), go for a legendary (shadowmourne is still awesome and ICC is fun IMO, except for stupid airships), pvp battlegrounds. If you aren't gold-rich, maybe read up on Basil's posts and try to do some auction house PvP - save up some gold for what will be some tasty boe crafted gear in 4.2.
outside of wow:
Warcraft 3 is a must if you've never played it.
SC2 is amazing.
If you can stomach FPS's, Half-Life 2 and it's subsequent episodes tell arguably the best video game story ever made.
Try out another MMO.
And of course, the ubiquitous go outside and get some sunshine, it's almost summertime :).
venslor Jun 8th 2011 5:02PM
I recommend some of the more random achievements. I'm in a hard core 10 man guild, but I am not core. So when they're all off doing their thing, I find other things to occupy my time. just yesterday I did the two fishing quests, oceanographer on lith-whatever-er. It was a cool way to spend a couple of hours and I got to see a LOT OF zones that I didn't get to see very often. Not to mention I had to answer questions like, "When was the last time I fished in Deathwind Pass, and why the hell was I doing it!
Other than that, like other people said, take your strongest toons and raid MC & BWL for rep/gold/really REALLY tacky old gear!!! lol LOVE my MC Mage gear. Tackiest stuff I've seen in my entire life.
Collect pets, collect mounts. The Bloody Rare and Frostbitten quests also will get you running around places you haven't seen in ages.
So much to WoW besides gear and heroics. Go see the world. See the sites!
jt Jun 8th 2011 11:30AM
So my mysterious egg has become more mysterious as of late...that is to say, that it disappears after it's 3 day hatch time!! Any info on this?
AudreyR Jun 8th 2011 11:39AM
Known issue. Only known work around is to ticket a gm.