The Queue: Bubble bubble pop pop
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mathew McCurley will be your host today.
Oh boy, The Queue! Have I told you guys how much I love writing The Queue? When I'm not YouTubing or twittering, some of my most wonderful memories are sitting at my computer and browsing through your questions and ...
Ooooh, looks like someone just put a link into Mumble ...
...
...
...
Bubble bubble bubble pop. Happy Monday, ya'll.
jamie9966 asked:
At the start of the Burning Crusade, blood elf paladins got their powers by bending the light to their will, through M'uru who they held captive at the time. Since they no longer have M'uru in captivity, where do they now get their power from?
In the beginning, M'uru was the source of the Blood Knights' powers. It was thought to have been stolen, being ripped from the naaru forcibly. I was always a fan of the ruthless, almost sadistic way the blood elves bent the very light to their will because, well, at the time, it fit the race. After it was revealed that the naaru sort of sent M'uru, who full well knew what he was doing by letting the blood elves take some of his power to create the Blood Knights, that sadism sort of fell to the wayside.
After Kael'thas made his move back to the Sunwell Plateau to summon Kil'jaeden through the "now infused with the power of Anveena," he broke M'uru out of his cushy, harem-esque basement prison. Kil'jaeden's defeat was a momentous occasion, and in the resulting events, the Sunwell's power was reignited by Velen with M'uru's corpse. The blood elves got not only their redemption in the eyes of the Light and (apparently) the draenei, but they also got their font of energy back. Now, Blood Knights get their energy from the Sunwell. Watch the epilogue to the Kil'jaeden fight to see first-hand!
Luotian asked:
I have a question: what on earth every happened to Arthas's sister?
Blizzard recently answered this question in its most recent Ask CDev feature. Check it out here. Basically, she's somewhere.
Pumabackup asked:
ok, 2 questions here:
A) is malorne really resurrected? if so, why does he still look like a ghost, while cenarius and the other ancients have corporeal forms? and why do we also have a quest to gather the shards of his spirit (ghost deer). in fact, the text for that quest distinctly states that "malorne is no longer with us."
2) is there any kind of lore-ish reason why bosses carry armor designed to fit perfectly on members of other races? like why would an ettin be carrying a mail helm that fits a dwarf or a worgen, or whatever. also, was this gear forged somewhere, or do we just keep finding random junk with magical properties and stuffing it on our heads as hats?
Malorne is back! His form is just sort of ... ghostly. Ethereal. That's just what he looks like. The important part of the story is that he is really, really back and is ready to kick some Firelord butt.
As to why bosses carry loot that exactly fits our characters and just magically seems to all fit together is a gameplay concern first and foremost that trumps story or design. There doesn't have to be an explanation because one isn't needed. Some things just are, especially when designing video games. We understand the concept outside of the game -- kill a boss, get some loot. That concept does not have to exist in game for it to make sense because it is just a manifestation and implementation of a mechanic that otherwise would be clunky in terms of story.
Although I would smile from here to the moon if Blizzard ever implemented gear based on class. Not only are you pissed off when spell plate drops, but now only a human or blood elf paladin can wear it. Gameplay design decisions and mechanics don't always need explanations.
Jack Spicer asked:
Why isn't anyone chatting about the new daily, "Protectors of Hyjal"? Maybe its because the area is really crowded and the quest is over quick. Yesterday Mankrik accompanied me and was finally able to release some of his anger. Before that I saw Linken, King Mrgl-Mrgl, and Jonny Awesome on his sparkle pony.
Everyone is talking about how much fun this quest is! Well, at least I am. However, I have a huge problem with Protectors of Hyjal because I play on a PVP server. Each one of your little party members is flagged as hostile to other players, which means getting in range of someone from the opposite faction sends your little gang of protectors into an all-out blood rage, shoot first, ask questions later type of mentality. Not only does it lock me in combat as long as they shoot and fight, it makes me look like a jerk because I am not intending to start anything right now -- I just want to get my dailies done.
gonna.get.taken.home asked:
Anyway, I asked a question yesterday but I'll repeat it again here in case it was missed:
I'm just wondering which of the novels apart from feature the draenei in more than a passing way? Either as a race or with specific draenei main characters.
You'll want to read Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden. That entire book is about the draenei's relationship to the Burning Legion and the orcs of Draenor.
Filed under: The Queue
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 news





Reader Comments (Page 2 of 9)
chris Jul 11th 2011 11:04AM
I know there are ways to determine ‘total time played’ on a character, but is there any means of finding out when a character was created? Failing that, is there any way to find out when an account was created (without going through years of credit card statements!)
Bullwraith Jul 11th 2011 11:11AM
I've never found a way to pull up a record of when a toon is created.
To find out when your account was created, don't comb through your years of credit card statements, just log into you Bnet account (not the game) and look in account management.
Mgssidley Jul 11th 2011 11:12AM
If a character was created after the achievement system was implemented then the easiest way to find out when a character is created is to see when the Level 10 achievement was obtained.
Zykia Jul 11th 2011 11:27AM
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/charhistory.php
chris Jul 11th 2011 11:56AM
Thanks Zykia! For some reason, it wouldn’t pull up the toon I was searching for, but I was able to get a rough date from alts I rolled around that time.
LynMars Jul 11th 2011 1:24PM
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php is another one, assuming anyone on the realm used the addon to try and figure in a population spread.
LynMars Jul 11th 2011 1:31PM
The char history Zykia linked is the link you want, the census data is silly. Dunno why I did that...
Kole Jul 11th 2011 2:10PM
Sadly it doesn't work if you have server/faction changed several times and have forgotten your original name....lol (Doh!)
Minstrel Jul 11th 2011 11:06AM
Question for the queue:
I have this vague recollection that a Blizzard-promoted feature of this expansion was going to be an ability to scale down your character and gear, temporarily, to lower levels at will in order to be able to do content with friends who were lower level. Is my memory accurate and, if so, does Blizzard still plan to implement that this expansion cycle?
MattKrotzer Jul 11th 2011 11:13AM
You can gain this ability in the Dance Studio. It's just down the Path of the Titans from your nearest capital city.
Jason Jul 11th 2011 11:38AM
Well played sir. +1 Internets.
loop_not_defined Jul 11th 2011 12:57PM
It was something one of the developers mentioned they were working towards in a video interview. It wasn't stated as a Cataclysm feature, just a possible "sometime in the future" feature. He also said that heirloom level scaling and switching from ability ranks to ability level scaling were two steps towards accomplishing character scaling.
If I remember right, it was at one of the German gaming conventions/competitions, and the interviewer was German. I wish I could link the video, but I don't have time to dig for it right now. :(
Skarn Jul 11th 2011 3:01PM
This is why Blizzard doesn't like announcing stuff in advance. Ya never know who's later gonna say it was "promised." :)
They're crazy though, so they keep trying!
Minstrel Jul 11th 2011 3:21PM
Except I never said it was promised. ;) Good try, though!
Thanks for the information, loop_not_defined.
cloudhopper013 Jul 11th 2011 3:30PM
In addition, what ever happened to the "phasing tool" that was promoted (I'm afraid to say "promised") by Blizzard during the expansion development that would bring all of your fellow party members in to your phase? Boy, could that help with our Horde guild's RP events in Gilneas. ._.
Skarn Jul 11th 2011 8:24PM
Hence "promised" with quotes. I have absolutely no idea if the "buddy system" or "de-phasing" were ever promoted as elements of Cataclysm. (I remember the buddy system being mentioned, but not the de-phasing.) It was talked about at some point in the past, but it's entirely possible it was never a Cataclysm feature. More likely they said "we'd like to do this in the future."
Ta-da! Vague recollections lump it as a Cataclsym feature and now we are confused that it's not a Cataclysm feature. Ah well. :)
Vjax Jul 11th 2011 11:08AM
I always figured the gear bosses drop when we kill them are the remants of ancient warriors who were eaten and thus did not fare as well as I :-)
koolaid201 Jul 11th 2011 12:56PM
Dungeons and Dragons seemed to have the best answer for this. It stated that part of the armor being magical was that it has the power to change size to fit it's current owner.
noel mcleod Jul 11th 2011 2:13PM
Actually, this is right from Tolkien - The One Ring automatically adjusted it's size to exactly fit the wearer's finger (unless of course it found a better ringbearer).
xvkarbear Jul 11th 2011 11:10AM
Then why does Matoclaw say that Malorne is no longer with us?