The Queue: BlizzCon was really fun

Here is an except from my third grade BlizzCon book report:
I had a really great time at BlizzCon this year. I saw Mike Sacco and Alex Ziebart and Daniel Whitcomb and Fox Van Allen and Adam Holisky and Dawn Moore and Chase Christian and Matt Low and Joe Perez and Dan O'Halloran and Kelly Aarons and Lisa Poisso and other people too. I would recommend BlizzCon to all of the other kids in my class. The end.Didax asked:
Can a Horde Pandaren talk to an Alliance Pandaren by using the Pandaren language? Or at level 10 are they going to suddenly suffer a case of explosive amnesia, forgetting their native tongue?
No. Pandaren of each faction cannot talk to each other. Blizzard has said numerous times that it does not want the factions conversing in game with each other. It is purely a gameplay decision.
thedoctor2031 asked:
Question for the Queue: I have been looking at the new talent trees and it seems like balancing of talents is going to be very difficult, especially for the hybrid talents. My hunter main is pretty happy with all the talents, but from a paladin and druid perspective, it seems like there are way too many specilizations to make the talents as balanced for each spec as hunters are. It feels like a lot of the choices have much less benefit for one spec and it kind of makes the talents feel ill fitting for the hybrids. I know this is only our first preview of it, but how do you think they will change this?
I feel the complete opposite about this. Having talents that exist cross spec means that they can balance talents based on each other, not each spec. Whereas before you would have to balance an ability and deal with its ripple effect through the entire spec, now you just balance the talent against the two others in its tier. We also have no experience playing with these talents in game, nor have we seen the final talents. It's too early to call. However, the whole point of hybrid talents is to make your class as a whole feel cooler or more specialized in something, not your spec. Talents are class-wide now. I think the new talent system is going to be fine as is.
Gillium asked:
Since the focus of this expac seems to be moving away from the epic lore figure as a end boss, who or what is the considered the end of this new expac as far as PvE goes?
It's not so much the case that big lore figures won't be big bads of the expansion, it's that Blizzard didn't want to put one on the box. For three expansions, we've gotten focused villains that detracted greatly from the overall story between these two factions. There was always some point where we worked together, blah blah blah, and while that was compelling most of the time, it was still not focused on the Horde and the Alliance. Will we fight Azshara? Maybe. But the expansion is not called Tides of Azshara.
wowitsemail asked:
Is my impression correct that Pandaria will have only one starting zone?
If that's so, won't that just crowd all the players into one area to compete for the same quest items and mobs to kill? And isn't that why both Wrath and Cataclysm each had two starting zones--because Hellfire Peninsula was so crowded in Burning Crusade? Even with the split zones and semi-intelligent respawn rates, I occasionally got annoyed at all the other players crowding Vash'jir, so I don't want to compete with twice as many.
The only reason starting zones historically have been too crowded at the beginning of an expansion was that their layout and size made it such. Hellfire Peninsula is the biggest culprit, being small-ish in size and scope for the linear questing experience you had to go through. People were funneled, and not in a good way. Wrath opened it up to two zones, and that worked fine. Cataclysm as well. Mists of Pandaria's starting zone is enormous, so I think the problem will be averted with the sheer size of the zone and the nature of questing in the new age of WoW, with more places for people to go in the original zone.
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Reader Comments (Page 16 of 17)
llcjay2003 Oct 28th 2011 4:51PM
Damn good question that I am surprised has not come up yet. I would love to know the answer to this.
All I know is, I stopped leveling my lowbie Worgen when I got to Darkshore because of repetition (damn you, alt habit!!!). Kind of unfortunate, but what can you do?
If I was guessing, I would say that Pandaren go to the human zones or the orc zones.
busuan Oct 28th 2011 6:07PM
Gnomeland.
Cambro Oct 28th 2011 3:54PM
I want Queen Latifah to be the model for female Pandaren!
totungendu Oct 28th 2011 4:16PM
for the WoW annual pass in the FAQ it says "You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription." In the extended FAQ it states "Q -When will I receive Diablo III?
A-Diablo III will be available to download via your Battle.net account when the game is released.
which is it I am so confused
Drakkenfyre Oct 29th 2011 12:55AM
What it means is after the one year agreement, you won't have to keep subscribed to keep it.
Autumn Oct 28th 2011 4:18PM
Also, I was just thinking. Right now, when you queue for a random BG, it's a gamble to end up in one that has even one healer. In BGs such as WSG and Twin Peaks, where you are trying to hold onto a flag until the enemy drops theirs, I have seen healers being much needed. But if you aren't lucky, then you get no healers and the enemy has a huge advantage on you.
I think it would be cool if there was some kind of internal system in place where it attempts to find x amount of healers per bg and then fill in the remaining slots based on the first come, first served method.
POrkyourpine Oct 28th 2011 4:44PM
2 Questions?
I. Will Non-Monk Panderens have the same starting (1-12ish) experience as the Monk Panderens?
II. Will Non-Panderen Monks start in their race appropriate starting zone?
busuan Oct 28th 2011 6:09PM
A1: No! Monks cannot get married.
beckyblackwell Oct 28th 2011 5:19PM
Here's what we really want to know...don't lie. Any speculation as to what the pandaran dances will be?!
busuan Oct 28th 2011 6:15PM
I approve Marquese Scott :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXO-jKksQkM
busuan Oct 28th 2011 6:19PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXO-jKksQkM
With all the bones, Pandaren doing Marquese Scott moves would be awesome.
busuan Oct 28th 2011 6:12PM
Would female Monks be Nuns? A Nun Tank sounds more epic.
Sergel Oct 28th 2011 6:41PM
I was wondering something. That apology Mike Morhaime made yesterday, what was it for? I know it had something to do with Blizzcon but other than that I'm lost.
Drakkenfyre Oct 28th 2011 7:31PM
A lead singer for a metal band did a video a few years ago where he called Alliance "emo cocksucking f!ggots", and told them to die, ect. They showed this video at BlizzCon, censored. Then Samwise Didier brought him out on stage, introduced him as the "unofficial ambassador to the Horde", then he continued on a rant.
The CM's relayed an "apology" from L90ETC which consisted of "sorry you found it offensive, it was meant as humor."
Mike Morhaime's apology was the one that should have been given in the first place.
Sergel Oct 28th 2011 7:52PM
Blizzard sure has an odd sense of humor.
Will Oct 28th 2011 8:13PM
I may have missed something along the way, but has there been any talk of making things obtained through the really grindy aspects of the endgame BoA? Don't get me wrong, the Molten Front quests are fun, but doing that whole thing three times to get items for three different toons is the opposite of fun.
Puntable Oct 29th 2011 10:42AM
One man's grind is another man's content.
Talarian Oct 28th 2011 9:33PM
Question: I didn't start playing WoW until the beginning of the Wrath expansion. Prior to that, was Dalaran actually - physically - in the Alterac Mountains, where the crater currently is? I understand that it was never accessible as a city you could walk into, but did it literally sit there, at least in a visual sense, under that protective dome?
WrecklessMEDIC Oct 29th 2011 12:22AM
Nope, Dalaran was never physically behind the purple dome. Seen some vids of people glitching behind the dome back in the day only to find empty space.
Drakkenfyre Oct 29th 2011 12:56AM
Nope.
Under the dome was bare dirt. You could exploit your way in (Mages could walk up on one of the half-destroyed towers that went thru it, blink at the edge, and go thru the bubble) and inside was just bare dirt.
You could walk out, but couldn't walk back in unless you expoited your way back in again. The dome was solid. You couldn't see thru it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHdDKyO1pGo