The Queue: Short but sweet

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? I got some good news, and I got some bad news. The bad news is that The Queue today is a little on the light side. Possibly a weekend factor, mixed in with a depressing state of snow here on the east coast of the United States? Most likely. Lots of internet traffic frozen in the tubes. One day, the sun will thaw my pipes and finally, finally, Portlandia season one episode 5.
The good news is that you've got me, Mat McCurley, at the helm of today's Queue. I picked out some real winners, kids, so sit back, strap in, and let's get RadiQueue.
Vacasta asked:
Stupid cosmetic question, but if I hit Z to draw my weapon outside of combat, does everyone see that? Or us it just client-side?
Everyone sees if you have chosen to have your weapons drawn or not. Most things that you do in game are represented to all players in the world. It's actually one of the things WoW does remarkably well. The secret is that the actual animation is not shown but the result is. This cuts down on the amount of, well, stuff that has shown client-side, potentially increasing performance for some players with lower-end computers.
tw_holt asked:
Is there a tool/website/addon that shows more data in regard to the time /played?
For example I'd like to see how long, in time played, I was level 70, or 45, or 3, or 61 and so on.We can of course see how long we've been playing at whatever the current level you are, but I'm wondering if that past data can be accessed somehow.
The in-game /played function only reports to you the time actually played and no other time played information, sadly. Blizzard obviously collects much, much more data about your characters and gameplay experience, but for the very simple fact that the game isn't telling us that information, we cannot see it. An addon could collect information on its own, but that would not be retroactive and would only start collecting data from the date of installation. Maybe one day the APIs will be updated with even more information about a character's life in Azeroth.
@Atanae on Twitter asked:
If Blizzard is able to provide additional character slots, what is the likelihood that we'd have to pay for them?
You would never, ever have to pay for more character slots. Never. Ever. In a million years. The chance of you having to pay for extra character slots, if they are in fact introduced into the game at some point, will be zero. None. Impossible.
All PR isn't necessarily good PR, especially when it comes to the fine art of nickel-and-diming. Nobody wants to be nickel-and-dimed, and in an age when Yelp reviews sink businesses and Twitter recommendations are more lauded than professional critics, we are a vocal culture. Blizzard wouldn't get away with charging for such a deep-seated, core game play feature. Oh, someone at Activision-Blizzard has a chart with numbers and percentages and spreadsheets that shows the exact amount of subscriber loss-to-feature ratio and gains from the character slot microtransaction. It exists. This charge will never happen, though.
Jere Hunter asked:
I think you may have answered this before but im not sure. On the Load Screen, I like that they represent current expansions but I miss some of the old ones sometimes, Like the Classic, the Burning Crusade, and the Wrath with the chilly landscape. Do you think WOW will ever give us a Transmog for that so we can pick our Load Screen (the Sign on Screen) since after Cata we will be getting another one for Mists
This is actually something I've wanted for a long time, and I think that it is finally time to demand it from Blizzard. Hear us, Blizzard -- we wish to pick which login screen we see when we load up the game. Even the secret old Twilight portal one you had for Cataclysm. Yup, throw it in there. I saw it at BlizzCon! I know it exists!
Or something even cooler: The screen changes depending on the level of the last character you played on before logging out. I'm liking all of this already.
Filed under: The Queue






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Boz Jan 23rd 2012 11:01AM
Is there any lore behind the following location north of Seradane in the Hinterlands:
http://ui18.gamespot.com/593/wowscrnshot011512220924.jpg
I'm trying to figure out if it's some sort of alter or just a grave, or if there is no lore and it's just one of those random bits of eye-candy for flavor. I haven't quested there in awhile, maybe it's been integrated post-Cataclysm?
Thank you and happy gaming,
Boz
eel5pe Jan 23rd 2012 11:03AM
A world boss used to spawn there, one of the dragons from the Emerald Nightmare.
account Jan 23rd 2012 11:10AM
I can't answer your question, but thanks for asking it! I haven't seen that location before, but it sure goes onto the list of "Places that might have a very cool story attached to them"... several ones come to mind.
VSUReaper Jan 23rd 2012 11:25AM
I think its just a graveyard for players to rez at after wiping to the old emerald nightmare bosses. Blizz went through alot of trouble to make the graveyards look nice during the tail end of Wrath.
Drakkenfyre Jan 23rd 2012 11:51AM
I remember when Death Knights were still OP, I thought I would go up there and take on the world boss dragon. Sure, she was a level 60 raid boss, but Death Knights were OP at the time. Three hits later I was running, and she killed me.
ravyncat Jan 23rd 2012 12:05PM
My guild went around killing all the World Dragons a little after I started playing sometime in Wrath. We decided that Friday was Dragon Slaying night.
(All of them were up except the one in Duskwood.)
We brought everyone who was online at the time so it was a handful of 80's and a lot of lower levels. I think I was maybe level 60 at the time on my DK. There was a lot of death and a lot of laughs.
I miss those dragons.
Luotian Jan 23rd 2012 11:08AM
Hey Quers:
I was just wondering...why is Moira claiming the Iron Forge throne for her son and not for herself? Is it in Dwarven law that women can't rule? Was this established pre-Cataclysm, or is Blizzard just afraid to give the Allies an actual female ruler (Jaina doesn't count, she follows Varian)?
loop_not_defined Jan 23rd 2012 11:16AM
You mean besides Tyrande? ;)
Luotian Jan 23rd 2012 11:19AM
Like Tyrande counts anymore :P. With Mal back she is even less than useless, and she was ALWAYS overshadowed by Fandral.
The only female ruling alone is Sylvanas, and she's gone ka-waize.
Kelly Jan 23rd 2012 11:25AM
I think it has less to do with her desires for herself and more for her desires for "her people", the Dark Irons. She is playing the long-game, and that means setting pawns in place for her son to be able to rule IF one day.
Hugo C Jan 23rd 2012 11:26AM
You just made Tyrande cry with this question.
VSUReaper Jan 23rd 2012 11:27AM
I want to say (no proof) that when we were sent to go fetch her, and she said she loved the Dark Iron that "kidnapped" her and wasn't coming back to IF, she renounced her right to the throne, but stated that she wanted it for her son.
Or maybe it was Muradin that did something like "if you dont come home, you will never rule" kind of thing.
loop_not_defined Jan 23rd 2012 11:29AM
When was she overshadowed by Fandral? Before Cataclysm, he was just the "morrowgrain guy".
And Malfurion is more-or-less a neutral figure like Thrall. Not an Alliance leader.
Luotian Jan 23rd 2012 11:32AM
That's what Mal is supposed to be, but I'd disagree that he is.
As for Tyrande...I played a Nelf for my first character, and saw/heard a lot more about Fandral (and Malfurion, for that matter) than I ever did Tyrande. I didn't even know she existed until my brother set himself the task of showing me the lore in the ROTS games.
Nadia Jan 23rd 2012 12:05PM
Magni put a lot of pressure on Moira for not being a proper heir because she is female.
http://www.wowpedia.org/Moira
The Dwarves thought he was such a great King, but he really wasn't a great father.
loop_not_defined Jan 23rd 2012 12:03PM
You disagree that all of Malfurion's interactions in-game are related to the Cenarion Circle? And never to Darnassus? Okay. o_O
Duerma Jan 23rd 2012 12:24PM
I think it also has to do with the fact that her son is both Dark Iron AND Bronzebeard, so if she claims the throne for him and not just for herself, then Ironforge becomes the seat of rule for two of the three clans, which seems pretty major.
Rollo Jan 23rd 2012 8:29PM
Tyrande is no woman! Sure, he wears a dress, but that's because he's an elf.
razion Jan 23rd 2012 11:08AM
But... if they gave us the old vanilla log-in screen I would never log in... I would be too busy staring at the Dark Portal while listening to the music.
... On second thought, maybe not such a bad idea.
llcjay2003 Jan 23rd 2012 11:37AM
I'll second that. The music and setting for that was epic.