The Queue: Why Blizzard must deliver today

Blizzard has a golden opportunity today. The entire gaming industry will be watching the opening ceremony; not an eye in the greater community will be elsewhere. Everyone will be waiting to hear two things: the Diablo 3 release date, and more importantly, the next World of Warcraft expansion.
This expansion in particular cannot just be another cataclysm/Cataclysm. It has to deliver unlike any expansion has ever done so in any other game. The Wookiees are pounding on the door to Blizzard, and they're not going to back off until Arthas himself swings forth the next expansion and beats them back like the Sith Lord he wishes he was. If Blizzard today can reinvigorate the player base, convince the press and critics that it still has the #1 game -- and always will -- there is nothing that BioWare or anyone else is going to be able to do to stop WoW's continued dominance for the next 10 years.
But Blizzard has one chance at this, and that chance starts and ends today.
Watch it.
Either way, it's gonna be a helluva an interesting BlizzCon.
EverythingRuned asked:
How do you describe the different shaman specs without getting into game terms?
Shaman control the elements of the Earth. Restoration shaman heal you with the life-giving power of terra firma, elemental shaman rain down the elements onto their enemies, and enhancement shaman call on powers of Earth to grant them strength in physical combat.
Sidvicious asked:
Are we finally going to get an update on the old character models in the next expansion?
We'll find out today, but I honestly doubt it. I think a lot of people are so stuck on their old models at this point, it'd be kinda cruel to change them. Blizzard has said as much at points as well.
Gabe asked:
I know that I'll be able to get the information from Blizzcon from WoWInsider, but I'd like to view the stream, since I can't actually go to Blizzcon. Is there another option, where some kind soul decides to post videos of the stream on YouTube, or will I have to pay for it to watch it?
That kind of stuff does happen, but it's not something that's going to be up for long when it does -- at least in most cases. You can find some of the older things, but since Blizzard started charging for it ... yeah. It doesn't like giving the video away for free (obviously).
Allie Roberts and I will be teaming up for the live blogging this year. We've already got a system in place for blogging and picture taking, so we should be better than ever!
eel5pe asked:
While flying through northern Feralas on my way to Feathermoon Stronghold to check it off the list of Kalimdori pumpkins, I flew over Dreamer's Rest and noticed that it had an exclamation mark. Closer inspection confirmed that it was indeed a fully functional trick-or-treatable jack-o-lantern (though to my disappointment it only yielded candy and my 18th or so Sinister Squashling).
So question: what other "unlisted" (aka functional, but not listed on the achievement) pumpkins are out there? My example is obviously an alliance pumpkin but pumpkins for dirty horde would be welcome too.
I haven't seen a list anywhere, but I've seen this happen to one of my toons a ton. My guess is that Blizzard wants them everywhere, but only wants to "force" you to go to a few of them. Not really a bad thing, just slightly unusual for WoW.
Paladious asked:
The best 90's cartoons in my opion were Exo Sqad, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, and, of course, the X-men.
I am proud (or ashamed, not sure which) that I've watched most of the '90s X-Men on Netflix. That was a darn good show in many respects.
Filed under: The Queue
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 11)
Zune Oct 21st 2011 11:59AM
Not really complaining. Just curious as to why the same achievement would involve considerably more to complete for one faction.
Amaxe Oct 21st 2011 12:01PM
At 8g per bucket plus the currency, I'd like more Alliance buckets too.
Key Oct 21st 2011 12:15PM
The Alliance have a ton of buckets that aren't part of the achievements.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3413241632
Draelan Oct 21st 2011 12:17PM
@ Astoreth
Now, I mainly play Alliance, but I must admit... I laughed.
BrentJackson Oct 21st 2011 11:08AM
Does anyone (Insider staff or commenters) know if the Opening Ceremony will be available to watch from the website after it has concluded, later today?
Gneisha Oct 21st 2011 11:21AM
The opening ceremony will actually be free to watch live this year. You have to buy the ticket to get the rest of the panels, but you can see the major announcements. The WoW arena and Starcraft tournaments are free to watch, as well.
Paul Oct 21st 2011 11:21AM
The opening ceremony is viewable for free from the Blizzcon website, as are the tournaments.
Assuming I'm reading the official website correctly.
Caelys Oct 21st 2011 11:30AM
@Paul The opening ceremonies are free to watch on the stream and I cannot tell you how bitter I am that my authenticator is at home while I'm at work... however the question was if the opening ceremonies will be replayable later in the day, which is something I'd also like to know. I know that things are replayable if you ordered the stream but for those of us whose budgets may have been a little to tight to get it OR the time off from work it'd be nice to.watch it when we get home. :)
TimR Oct 21st 2011 11:34AM
Oh wow, I wonder if I can get away with streaming that quietly in my office... Thanks for the tip, guys.
Caelys Oct 21st 2011 11:39AM
@TimR - headphones, sir. Headphones.
Paul Oct 21st 2011 11:44AM
@Caelys
Ah, misread the question then.
In that case, I'll just suggest the action I have taken previously, keep an eye on youtube. People will be putting it up, you can guaractee it, but how long they will remain is the unknown. I think Blizzard normally let's them stay up.
I know it's not an organised approach to see it, post-event, but it is a way.
Phaelan Oct 21st 2011 11:50AM
if you have the virtual ticket, everything is recorded for a few days/weeks after the event and is available to watch
Mal Oct 21st 2011 11:09AM
Am I the only one who wants pandaren mainly because we'd finally have a genuine Eastern culture based race in azeroth? It just feels so boring to stick to Tolkienism and western fantasy when it's clear the warcraft mythos expands way beyond that. Just look at the draenei and tauren. Plus it would finally solve the awkwardness of having elves celebrating Chinese New Year.
(I realize this is potentially a sensitive topic, but I hope that the commenters would be able to behave.)
Ysonia Oct 21st 2011 11:19AM
There is a lot more in-game than just Lunar Festival for the night elves. If you've done any of the cooking dailies, you will notice that there is one where you get a food offering blessed and then offer it up at a little altar area that has a distinctly asian feel to the architecture. I think they've been trying to give the elves more cultural flavor than just "elves that live in a tree" since Cataclysm came out, which is definitely welcome, for me.
Also, the worgen are a bit posh and British, don't you think old chap? Hear, hear! ;)
Drakkenfyre Oct 21st 2011 12:54PM
Go hang around Darnassus. The entire Night Elf architecture is Japanese-based.
Nina Katarina Oct 21st 2011 11:23AM
I don't know how enthusiastic I'd be about a fantasy race inspired by asian culture after seeing what sort of mishmash and horrendous accents the fantasy race inspired by Haitian culture turned into. If it's done with sensitivity, it would be awesome, but I dread a constant barrage of 'L' substituted for 'R' jokes as a substitute for characterization.
Vaeku Oct 21st 2011 11:30AM
If you haven't noticed, Night elven culture is somewhat based on Eastern cultures. It's been that way from the beginning, so having them be the race to celebrate WoW-version Chinese New Year isn't farfetched.
In fact, it wouldn't even work with the Pandaren unless they happened to worship Elune as well.
Shinae Oct 21st 2011 11:55AM
It isn't awkward that night elves celebrate the Lunar (New Year) Festival. There are lots of things about night elves that are Asian inspired.
Have you not noticed their architecture? They have some pagoda-ish buildings. They have torii (Japanese archways) around their towns, including one in the background of the character screen.
Their clothing vendors sell hanboks (Korean dress). Their food vendors sell kimchi (Korean vegetable dish). There are probably other things that I'm not remembering at the moment.
High/blood elves are MUCH more like the traditional Tolkien elves than night elves.
hwacha Oct 21st 2011 12:30PM
have you done the darnassus cooking dailies? making rice flour and digging up kimchi pots... yeah.
Terrant Oct 21st 2011 11:10AM
The Wookiees are pounding on the door to Blizzard...
But there are no PC Wookiees in The Old Republic...