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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Pie party
by Mathew McCurley 
Jan 15th 2012 at 12:00PM
I threw a pie party last night, and I'm still recovering. There were two pumpkin pies, courtesy of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and me, as well as two Ikea almond cakes, tons of cupcakes people brought, and lots of alcohol. There's this amazing bottle of Septima Malbec sitting on my desk and maybe ... just maybe ...
No, seriously, Malbecs are the best red wines. Even people who hate reds love Malbecs. Go purchase, now. Drink responsibly. How about some WoW questions?
ZodiacDragons asked:
I've been wanting to ask this for awhile because it seems like talk of faction leaders keeps coming up, but didn't Blizz say sometime at the end of wrath that Lor'themar was going to play some sort of role in cataclysm? I think I remember seeing a blue post about it in an article here but can't find it. I think if ANY faction leader needs lore development, it's that guy. At least Velen has that "end of the world" prophesy to fall back on.
So my question(s) are: did Blizz say he would play an important role in Cataclysm? If so, what happened with that plan? If not, what are the chances of him having an important role in MoP?
You're right. Blizzard was originally going to have a conflict occur between Lor'themar and Grand Magister Rommath, who was going to defect to Cho'gall's Twilight's Hammer cult much like Archbishop Benedictus did for the Alliance. Sadly, those stories did not play out in the game itself, and the Benedictus storyline was co-opted into the Christie Golden novel Twilight of the Aspects and the Hour of Twilight 5-man instance.
Also, an important fact that we all have missed could be the biggest takeaway -- we still have not seen Lor'themar's leader short story. The only other leader we have not heard from in story form is Velen, and he is thought to be just as useless as Lor'themar. Hopefully both of these characters' futures are spelled out in their stories.
kyle asked:
Should Goblins and Worgens have been neutral races? I think Gobs fit really well into the Horde but the more I see Worgen the more I feel it was shoehorned in.
I do not think that either the goblins or the worgen would have made very good neutral races in an expansion. The world is slowly moving toward sides, and the goblins' neutrality is still very much a slippery subject whenever you deal with ultra-capitalist, try-hard explosives engineers. The worgen are very much human and very much tied with humanity pre-Second War, so they would have never worked with the Horde, period. If you need further convincing, I can send Matt Rossi over to your house for a multi-hour lecture on the hatred King Greymane and his people had for the Horde and the orcs.
Philster043 asked:
Do you think Blizzard will go back and change anything else in the Old World in Mists of Pandaria (other than Theramore?)
Yes. I believe you'll see a lot of pandaren integration into the world in many ways -- breweries in cities, pandaren NPCs, some small settlements. Nothing like a new capital city or anything, but definitely some flavor and presence. One of the biggest complains about the goblins and worgen -- much more so the worgen -- from Cataclysm was that after their respective starting zones, the new race just disappeared. For worgen, the change was stark. One moment, you were fighting off the undead forces of Sylvanas, and the next you are fighting in Darkshore against rampaging trolls. It just felt jarring, and you never saw another worgen until Fiona in the Plaguelands or the denizens of Surwich.
Blizzard has learned from this cataclysmic (LOL) complaint and will give the pandaren a better presence in the game world than the worgen received. Breweries in the capital cities would be awesome, now that I'm really thinking about it. Dron's Distillery could actually exist in game! Make this happen, Blizzard.
zackwbrandon asked:
You have just been given Metzen's job. The first thing you do to the WoW storyline is...?
Reboot it, Christopher Nolan style. Metzen will play a much more meaner, leaner Thrall who wears all black, skin-tight clothing and trains at a snow-top monastery. The Joker will be voiced by Cam Clarke.
icepyro asked:
Will major US radio stations ever play innovative music again or will this kind of music forever be doomed to remain in the realm of college stations (which don't quite reach to where I live) and occasional, weekend features on sites I frequent?
Real, underground, new music can be found and found in mass quantities online. It's out there. You just have to be really lucky. And it's free on internet radio, too.
zomby_wc3 said:
Next neutral race: Ethereals
I wouldn't say no.
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!
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Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
VSUReaper Jan 15th 2012 5:27PM
Walmart has the battle chest, and there is also the digital downloads.
Vai Jan 15th 2012 2:59PM
"on the hatred King Greymane and his people had for the Horde and the orcs."
The people of Lordaeron hated them as well, the Horde was only days away from grinding Lordaeron into rubble when Gul'dan sank the whole shebang, but becoming cursed monsters gave them a different perspective. I'd suggest a better reason in lore might be that the Forsaken wouldn't tolerate them, their Gilnean neighbours did hide behind a wall while they were being brutalised and damned, after all. The first thing Sylvanas did when the Cataclysm hit was roll into Gilneas and try to exterminate the lot of them.
Philster043 Jan 16th 2012 4:51AM
I think becoming undead might be a little different from becoming a werewolf.
Forsaken - you've died and come back unable to function as you normally used to - that tends to twist your brain a bit, I'd say. For most, it seems like they no longer care about the living - human or otherwise. They become their own race.
Worgen - you go feral for a while, but if you retain any human intelligence, you won't necessarily be out to get your own people. Just when you're really, REALLY hungry...
Scunosi Jan 15th 2012 3:04PM
I sometimes wonder how much pull you guys have as a website, when it comes to the direction Blizzard takes things at least. Obviously you're far from calling the shots, but there was that curiously-timed Ask the Devs write up last year that got everyone talking, and sometimes it seems like the release of a story will finally spur Blizz into action.
I say this because I just sort of (probably incorrectly) assumed that since you guys posted up the audio files of the "big betrayals," Blizzard decided "nah, they ruined it for themselves, no more big story for them." Petty I know, but I can't shake the idea.
VSUReaper Jan 15th 2012 5:29PM
I think the whole traitor thing got dropped because they had the great idea of rediscovering the dragonmaw clan and having to free them from the fel-dragonmaw orcs.
It was also a great excuse to get Garosh out of org and show his ineptitude.
Rai Jan 15th 2012 3:12PM
Brewfest is going to be amazing with the Pandaren involved.
MisterRik Jan 15th 2012 4:16PM
I just hope they don't replace all the current Brewfest questgivers. Horde-side, I've always gotten a big chuckle out of goblins wearing dwarf masks and assuring you that their rams were "legally obtained".
Suzaku Jan 16th 2012 9:35AM
Personally, I hope that they leave the current stuff outside of Orgrimmar and Ironforge, and simply add some new stuff in Pandaria.
The Lunar Festival could also possibly get some fancy updates.
Thulgrimm Jan 15th 2012 3:49PM
Q4tQ
Does anyone else think that 2-handed maces being itemized for healers would make sense? Currently most healer weapons are maces (usable by all healers and not pure dps casters) and staves (not usable by holy paladins but usable by mages and warlocks). It seems to me like 2-handed maces would be better because all healers could use them, but not the pure casters.
Amanda A. Jan 15th 2012 4:08PM
I think priests can only use 1h maces. But it would make more sense than a 1h caster -axe-, much less two in a row!
VSUReaper Jan 15th 2012 5:26PM
Priests can't use 2h.
Idea of the caster axe was for the paladins that can't equip daggers or staves. It also fit in for 2 shammy specs.
I do agree it was a poor use of itemization/design.
hillbillyrod Jan 15th 2012 4:33PM
I have said Tauren should be neutral since starting the game 6 years ago and playing through lore master on my hunter. Yea alliance is attacking, yea there is a honor debt. But my god the horde is killing the earth and everything Tauren hold dear.
Horde destroy everything. Cata just reinforces that point. Every place other than my thunderbluff that horde control is destroyed. Either clearcutting, mining, plagues and alot of times all three. For a faction leader who is now practically one with the elements, thrall should come to orgramar and lay the smackdown on what there doing to the planet.
It makes absolutely zero sense why they are still horde, or atleast neutral. If not the whole tribe, but some of the smaller tribes, Grimtotem has jumped ship. mistrunners would never allow the horde to do to the planet. Runetotem are like the mistrunners. There are tribes and members who dispise the horde, so it's a simple and even expected solution.
But it will probably never happen because it would bring unbalance to the whole vs crap. Same could be said about dwarfs as well(my other main hunter on the other side of the debate.)but that is another story
VSUReaper Jan 15th 2012 5:31PM
I agree, lore wise, it should happen, but for gameplay reasons, it won't.
I just wish we could roll, or use the barbershop, to get the Grimtotem models and taunka.
Rollo Jan 15th 2012 7:47PM
Well, Tauren prefer plains to forests, so they probably don't mind cutting down trees. And when it comes to mining, dwarves are the worst (best?). The plague, none of the horde races apart from the forsaken likes that.
While some Tauren may feel like leaving the horde (as some talk about in the Baine leader short story) I don't think the Tauren are very keen on joining the alliance. Camp Taurajo was recently burned and the humans have a very threatening presence close to Mulgore.
Hob Jan 15th 2012 8:07PM
It's true that the Horde has been destructive. But it's not like they've had a lot of options - the orcs and Darkspear trolls are refugees. Neither race has much of a foothold on Azeroth, the orcs being aliens and the Darkspear being a small tribe without an ancestral kingdom. They have to build, and they're beset by enemies. Can't trade with the quillboar, can't trade with the night elves. So... do you let your kids starve and freeze, or do you go get some food and lumber?
The forsaken were absolutely working on a plague to kill the scourge as well as the living. And it not only killed the scourge at the Wrathgate, but weaked Arthas as well. It's questionable whether Arthas was "alive" or "dead" at that point, but if you're working on a weapon to kill the Lich King, you'd better prepare for both. Since Tirisfal is surrounded by scourge, and the Alliance wants to invade it and kill every forsaken there... yeah, it's not much of a surprise that they'd want a single weapon that they can use.
[Forsaken advisor] - My Lady! The Alliance is attacking Undercity from the sewer gates! And the scourge are invading from the courtyard!
[Sylvanas] - Release the plague!
[Forsaken advisor] - ...zzz.
[Sylvanas] - I beg your pardon?
[Forsaken advisor] - Release the plague...zzz. We made two. One for the living and one for the scourge.
[Sylvanas] - Ohhh...kay. And where did we stock the plague that kills the living?
[Forsaken advisor] - Umm... it's in the courtyard.
[Sylvanas] - Mmm-hmm. And the plague that kills the scourge? Is that in the courtyard too?
[Forsaken advisor] - We thought it best to keep it in the sewer.
[Sylvanas] - Well that's.... great. Next time, we make one plague.
jaymccowan13 Jan 15th 2012 6:10PM
Qftq:
I play horde so I don't know much about worgen but does their human form share the original human model? If so and Mists brings the much needed character model update, would they also update the worgen human models? I ask this because I would assume that if a model update did come, they wouldn't want to do the cata races since they are so new.
Suzaku Jan 16th 2012 9:47AM
The worgen human form just uses the standard human model.
detailbear Jan 15th 2012 7:53PM
Is anyone else having intermittent trouble accessing the WoW Insider site? I get "website not found" errors about 20% of the time. I have no trouble reaching joystiq.com. iwebtool.com reports that the website is inaccessible. Then, just as suddenly, it's back. This happens at both home and work (during my lunch) and they're on different ISP's.
DDoS attack? Server crashes? Somebody says AOL sucks and Big Brother shuts you off to remove the message?
diljabar Jan 15th 2012 8:48PM
Don't forget the Worgen at Raven Hill. They did a very good job of re-working the Worgen storyline in Duskwood.
KLRMNKY Jan 15th 2012 8:56PM
@loop_not_defined
It was in the beta files, but never implemented. It was refered to as the "worgen_district_SW" or similar according to the dataminers who posted about. It was also talked about in MMO-champion as well. Do a search and you'll find all of the posts and information about the worgen district in SW.
Then they changed their minds, the park got destroyed and that's where it ended up at in Darnassus.