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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Adam Jensen is easily offended
by Michael Sacco 
Aug 26th 2011 at 11:00AM
I've been playing a lot of Deus Ex: Human Revolution lately, and I like it quite a bit, but I think I play Adam Jensen as a little more easygoing than in the video above. Be sure to check out all of the videos in that series.
Vaenor asked:
With only one patch left in Cataclysm, it seems like a lot of plot points need to be addressed. For example, what's going to happen with the tension between Garrosh and Sylvannas? If this isn't taken care of by the end of the expansion, are we going to assume that we don't get Thrall back when this is all over?
While Blizzard has a habit of introducing and instantly wrapping up plot lines, it doesn't necessarily mean that this particular story will wrap up in Cataclysm. After all, Garrosh was introduced in The Burning Crusade. We'll definitely see more political and social changes within both factions in the next expansion, but there's no guarantee that Thrall will be back as Warchief as of 4.3.
jfofla asked:
Are there any websites that let you model old gear on your character?
Not on your particular character, but Wowhead lets you view any item on the race/gender of your choice.
AdamAldaine asked:
Blizzard allows us to hide Helms and Cloaks. I've always assumed this is because some of them are butt-ugly, but is there a game-play reason for this, and for why those two things were specifically chosen instead of slots for other things, such as the hideous Champion Herrod's Shoulder?
Helms are able to be hidden because some people are more attached to their character's face than to the helmet that covers it. Cloaks obscure the back of the body, so they're also able to be hidden.
Theduck asked:
What enchant effect, if any, will be shown on a mogged item? The equipped item's enchant? The mogged item's enchant? In the case of a void storage item, no enchant at all? I've looked all over but haven't seen any information on this, anyone have any idea?
To use an example: Let's say you have two daggers. One of them is the Scaleslicer, which has a sort of fire effect on it, and is enchanted with Landslide. The other is a Core Hound Tooth, unenchanted.
If you transmogrify the Core Hound Tooth to look like your Scaleslicer, the equipped dagger will have the Landslide visual and the fiery particle effect. If you reverse it and make the Scaleslicer look like the Core Hound Tooth, the Landslide visual effect will persist, but the fiery particle effect will not.
EDIT: Apparently this answer is wrong and no effects from the template weapon will appear on the equipped weapon. Sorry for the confusion!
Surgeon asked:
What exactly is the purpose of "You have entered too many instances lately?" 'Cause I gotta say it's really annoying to get to that point when you're trying to farm for gear for Transmogrifying.
It's intended to reduce stress on the instance servers, but, long ago, it also served to prevent botters and hackers from chain-farming chests in instances.
Scott asked:
Why (oh, why) isn't Furrier Schnottz the final raid boss of Cataclysm?
Because Schnottz, like nearly the entirety of Uldum, is a lazy reference that actively detracts from the quality of the game it's now unfortunately a permanent part of.
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 2 of 11)
Daniel Whitcomb Aug 26th 2011 11:43AM
Happy Tree Dance nailed it. There's just so much more they could have done. Hell, they even seemed to sort of kind of realize their mistake and switched to Brann Bronzebeard for HoO. That whole part of Uldum could have been a great extension of the Reliquary/Explorer's League rivalry they built up in the leveling zones, but instead we got a half-assed uncomfortably racist recreation of an outside IP. I love Indiana Jones. Harrison Jones is not Indiana Jones. Goblin Hitler is... ugh.
For my own part, I think Uldum actively harmed WoW's lore integrity. I did the Indiana Jones side of that zone on exactly one character, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all I'll ever do. I just hope Blizzard never does something like that again, even as I fear they will.
MattKrotzer Aug 26th 2011 11:44AM
My only complaint is the Uldum cutscenes, which seem so prevalent that it makes me think they said "We need Uldum to provide X number of hours of playtime," and so the quest team decided to fill most of it with narrative scenes, rather than interesting quests. Without the cutscenes, the amount of time spent in Uldum has to be nearly halved.
(cutaia) Aug 26th 2011 11:51AM
Really, my only issue with Uldum was the fact that we actually end up killing slaves who decide they're sick of working for Nazis. It's like we're the worst ****ing undercover agents ever. It's hard to feel like we're actively subverting Shnottz when we end up doing some evil things for him before taking him down.
Grovinofdarkhour Aug 26th 2011 11:53AM
We're playing a game where we can be a cow or a dog or blue hooved Romanian. Where there's an entire society that lives in a tree. Where I can pull back my bowstring and hit 20 targets at once with perfect accuracy. Where we can stab people with a fish if we like.
And we're 6, almost 7 years into it.
Let's not go getting all "lore integrity" now.
Ringo Flinthammer Aug 26th 2011 11:55AM
If you cut all the jokes and pop culture references out of the Warcraft franchise, you're going to be left with a much thinner (and much more humorless) franchise.
Plus, anyone who doesn't love Indiana Jones will get their face melted by the Arc of the Covenant. Just sayin'.
dpoyesac Aug 26th 2011 11:59AM
@Matt
Yes, different people like different stuff, but the different stuff I like is objectively better than the different stuff other people like.
Bebop6275 Aug 26th 2011 12:01PM
I enjoyed Uldum a lot. Not because of the Indiana Jones referances, dispite the fact that they were kind of entertaining, but because the zone had a very good flow to it. Just like Stonetalon Mountain and the Goblin starting zone I had a very engaging and solid adventure throughout the entire zone. I didnt feel like i was just doing a whole bunch of meaningless tasks over and over just in different spots in the zone.
Mal Aug 26th 2011 12:09PM
I realized just how bad the Uldum thing was when I read a WoW and *@&$ing MY LITTLE PONY fanfic that gave the zone better lore.
mike Aug 26th 2011 12:09PM
I am compelledto say, after reading a bunch of innacurate replys (replies? I always get that mixed up), Indy was the dog's name!
Noyou Aug 26th 2011 12:36PM
It might not necessarily be lore integrity but you would think with all the possibilities blizzard has at their disposal, they pick Schnottz? Really? So yeah I totally see the OP's point. It's kind of a buzzkill. Lore aside.
Ata Aug 26th 2011 12:51PM
Ive also managed to avoid going to Uldum at all on any of my characters on their route to 85. I went and did it on my hunter for the loremaster achievement, and I -hated- every single bit of the pop culture Indy references. I loathed it. Here and there references to me are fine, but to dedicate so much to it was a pain, when I had such great expectations and high hopes for the zone. I wanted to know what was on the other side of the door in Tanaris that the elite giants were guarding since the day I first discovered it back in Vanilla when I started playing with patch 1.3. The mystery of what was there only became heightened as the other Titan dungeons/areas were released, and I hoped and wished for some beautiful lore.
Now when I go there I only do the Rhamaken stuff and leave Jones in the pit to rot.
I understand that people loved it, but I loved the Wrath leadup event and that pissed off a billion people too, so I know that I'm just the polar opposite of you on this one here. You're allowed to like it just as much as I'm allowed to wish it would all die in Deathwing's fire.
Draelan Aug 26th 2011 12:55PM
While Uldum wasn't a BAD zone, per-say, I agree that they overdid it with the Indiana Jones reference. While I love Indiana Jones, and, as a whole, the chain was cool, there were a lot of quests to it, which just made it drag on. Also, the fact that more than half the zone is dedicated to a REFERENCE is sad. It reminds me of when I got braces as a kid, and couldn't chew food for a week. I got to eat ice cream for meals simple because I was able to consume it! And while the idea SOUNDED awesome, I got sick of ice cream very, VERY fast. It was too much of a good thing, and that just ruined it.
I honestly would have preferred that they continued Ramkahen's storyline. Maybe then I wouldn't have been left with a sense of relief when the zone was finally over.
Bryan Dare Aug 26th 2011 1:28PM
I think some people need to realize that whether they like it or not, Warcraft *does* have a serious story behind it. You may not like it and that's fine, but some people do. Just go read a KYL article or two and check out the comments. Levity and drama can happily coexist in a story.
And I hate it when people trivialize things by saying WoW can never be taken seriously because we have cow-people and space-goats, etc. I think just about any fantasy story could be made to sound undramatic and silly if described a certain way (and it's fun to poke fun at things you like by seeing the silly side sometimes). I, for one, quite enjoy a tale about a certain hairy-footed midget and his gardner trying to destroy some jewelry. Oh and that one where a grown man dresses up like a bat and fights a clown and a penguin with his parents' money.
Of course I admit Warcraft has more silliness than most stories, but it also still has a Dark Titan trying to burn down the universe with his demonic army to establish what he believes is the proper cosmic paradigm.
I hope that didn't offend anyone. To each their own!
Hillazon Aug 26th 2011 1:39PM
Uldum sucked because:
* I was the sidekick, not the hero
* Helping out the "Nazis" and general racism
* The endless endless slow in-game cutscenes. Mostly with my character "cowering."
If Blizzard wanted cutscenes, animate them like the wrathgate. The in-game cutscenes were terrible and buggy. (The camera was often in the wrong place)
Things good about Uldum:
* Bashing pigmies daily. The quickest, easiest daily EVAR.
* Gnome-apocolypse (should have been the daily)
* The Brann joke at the end, should you have stomached your way throughout the zone.
That said, not looking forward to ever doing the zone again.
ZodiacDragons Aug 26th 2011 2:01PM
I had a lot of fun in Uldum doing both the Jones quests and the cat people quests. I felt like I was actually playing in a cinematic adventure in both of them and progressing a story that didn't have me feeling like I was just doing meaningless tasks to get to the story.
And, though I know many upon many will disagree with this, I had a lot of fun in Vashj also. It was something different than all the other zones and, even though there were some slow moments, I felt like i was progressing through the story.
Honestly, and I hope I am not the only one to say this, Uldum and Vashj'ir were my two favorite cataclysm zones. Hyjal, Twilight Highlands, and Deepholm just felt like all the other zones in the world of warcraft.
And just throwing this out there, I hate questing in Deepholm. And, I HATE that I have to do the entire zone just so i can get Therazane rep...I think Blizzard did that on purpose...
icepyro Aug 26th 2011 2:07PM
Grovin: "Let's not go getting all 'lore integrity' now."
Let's look at your points:
See, the tauren, worgen, and draenei are all races that are part of the lore on Azeroth. Just because they are absurd in this world doesn't mean they are an absurdity that breaks lore integrity on Azeroth (well, the draenei/eradar thing notwithstanding). Still, I don't play tauren only because they are cow people. That may affect the decision, but the lore plays a large part too. Well, except the hunter I'm leveling happy to know it will always be a "cow with gun" soon.
Again, elves living in trees are not a break in lore integrity in many fantasy settings, although the stump of one tree being big enough other trees are growing in it is pushing a bit.
In a world of magic (e.g. Azeroth), I have seen a bow hit many targets at once using magic (which is probably why hunters used to use mana).
Stabbing people with a fish is just silly, but really, that fish isn't BiS for very long. Now I will give you that this game breaks the fourth wall, so to speak, to introduce a little entertainment and remind us that this is a game.
Now, as Daniel pointed out, it is not that there is a Harrison Jones quest in Uldum, but rather that Uldum IS a Harrison Jones quest. I learned little to nothing about the Ramakhen. Heck, there is only like one daily to earn rep outside of wearing a tabard.
I think Blizzard knows they overdid it a bit, but felt they couldn't pass up the opportunity or something. They started with nuking the fridge, so I was sure this would be ugly before it got better. Then it ended with Brann Bronzebeard, as if they realized "woah, our joke is about to take credit for everything and none of our explorers are even around." Too little, too late.
There was so much potential with the zone too. PvP resources (similar to Vashj'ir), Explorers/Reliquary tension (they could have even had us help Harrison in their name and I would have liked it better), or even just doing quests that let us learn a little of why we are helping these cat people, all of this would have been better than following Harrison around as if we are just peons or lost puppies and he is someone awesome. Haven't we bailed him out before and already knew he was a mockery of his reference that couldn't take care of himself? Why take orders from him now?
I did enjoy some of the quests and I did like Uldum overall, but not enough to quest through as I'm leveling. It just feels like a side quest with no reason to be there, even though there is a very good reason to be there that we just don't know about until we slog through the whole zone. I mean after Vashj'ir where we start to fight Horde/Alliance and end up helping a bunch of shaman, or Hyjal where Ragnaros is burninating the countryside as we bring back the ancients to help us stop him, and Deepholme where we are literally holding up the world until we put the building blocks back together, and before going to Twilight Highlands to take on the black dragonflight and the whole point of the arms race, between all that we have Uldum which will always be a Harrison Jones gag because the ultimate point (helping the Ramakhen stop their coup and saving the world from re-Origination) will always be overshadowed by (not just overshadowed, but hidden in a "I didn't know why I was here until the very end" way by) an entire series of quests designed to remind us of a character in a movie completely unrelated to the lore of the game.
AudreyR Aug 26th 2011 2:38PM
I think a lot of peoples' problem, as well, as mine, is that this zone is the only one in the entire game that we are afraid for a large chunk of the quests.
Our characters have fought a zombie and a demon army, been to distant planets, fought Old Gods and survived the Cataclysm. Now we're scared of some explosives?
Harrison, buddy, we've been dealing with goblin engineers since the game began.
kaminari Aug 26th 2011 2:44PM
my only problem with uldum was being second fiddle to harrison jones, I wouldn't have had a problem being bran's sidekick for the zone, but being sidekick to the comic relief was kinda sucky.
other than I loved the Indiana Jones references and laughed with "NINE NINE NINE" every time I've done it (main and 2 alts)
but dieferent people yackidish mackidish blah blah blah
Al Aug 26th 2011 3:35PM
Personally, I think my brother put it best.
"If Blizzard weren't so good at detecting these things, I would have just installed a levelling Bot. Let it do the zone while I watch my Indy box-set, it would have been much the same experience."
LynMars Aug 26th 2011 3:54PM
I didn't mind the Indiana Jones references myself and tend to enjoy Uldum, but I do wish the Ramkahen hadn't felt like guest stars in their own zone. That quest line deserved to be more epic, and they did perhaps take the easier path with the Indiana Jones storyline.