The Queue: Come to me, Mass Effect 3
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 5th 2012 at 11:00AM
At midnight tonight, I will be playing Mass Effect 3. Midnight cannot possibly come soon enough. If they announce a new editor-in-chief for WoW Insider next week, it's because I've died due to trying to inject Mountain Dew intravenously.
MuksKirkland asked:
Why are so many people afraid of MoP?
The first reason is the pandaren. Pandaren have always been this extremely goofy race that has been included in the game universe as either gags or Easter eggs for Warcraft III players. I have been pretty solidly against pandaren being included in the game since way back when. I still think they're a really bizarre choice. However, I'm willing to stay optimistic about them -- good game design can make the weirdest things work. Many people are not willing to be so optimistic.
The second is that Mists of Pandaria's formula is very different from previous expansions. In The Burning Crusade, we knew we were going to Outland to deal with the Burning Legion and face off with Illidan. In Wrath of the Lich King, we knew we were marching off to Northrend to killify the Lich King. In Cataclysm, we knew Deathwing wrecked up our stuff and we needed to wreck up his face. In Mists of Pandaria ... we don't really know what's going on.
Do we have a focused drive in this new land? What's the story there? We don't know. We have no idea what we're getting ourselves into. Sure, at BlizzCon Blizzard mentioned the Sha and the renewed war between the Alliance and the Horde, but right now it's selling us a game without telling us what it's all about. "You'll fight stuff!" Well, yeah. Obviously.
You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but books are published with that little summary on the back for a reason. You want to know what you're going to read. You want to know what you're going to play. Right now, we don't. Hopefully the Mists of Pandaria press tour coming up later this month will clear some of that up.
@tanyabook asked:
I'm looking for a nice shield for transmog for my level 81 draenei paladin. Any suggestions?
Absolutely. Draenei paladin is easy. Go grab a buddy or three and kill Gruul over in Outland. The Aldori Legacy Defender is made for draenei paladins. It's the best. Especially if you combine it with paladin tier 5 and Netherbane.
@nesdude asked:
I just returned to WoW from a 7-month hiatus. Where do I even begin with the new patch?
Assuming you have the appropriate item level, queue for the new 5-mans! Patch 4.3 isn't too complicated. Open your Dungeon Finder and queue for the 5-mans, and once you've received some solid gear from those, go queue for Dragon Soul in the Raid Finder. Easy!
@BobK1984 asked:
can we expect weapons with procs instead of secondary stats to be the norm for MoP?
Probably not. The developers tend to save those sorts of items for the final raid tier of an expansion. There are exceptions to the rule, but generally the first raid tier of an expansion is just boring ol' stats, and then when you get into the final tier of the expansion you see things like Bryntroll and Gurthalak.
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, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
fallemwarrior Mar 5th 2012 11:04AM
Hope they eventually allow the use of 60 pvp gear for transmog, was always my favorite set of weapons, also any chance that bc pvp sets will be available again? only the first and last seasons seem to be purchasable.
Zyla Mar 5th 2012 11:43AM
They allow the level 60 PvP items as transmog. You need to have the feat of strength for achieving Knight or higher in the old PvP ranking system. My mage is transmogged in full level 60 PvP with the level 60 PvP staff. I'm still looking for a good belt to match the set.
It's a nice bonus for those who endured the old system to be able to transmog our gear into those models.
Dankie Mar 5th 2012 11:45AM
The level 60 pvp gear is available for purchase, but you have to have the corresponding old school title to match in order to buy it. Pretty sad for those of us who weren't around for vanilla, or skipped pvp during that time. The BC era sets of arena gear are purchasable by everyone who has enough honor points, luckily, but don't expect matching belts/boots/bracers for most sets.
The vendors for these awesome relics are in Area 52, there's a big round building in the north west corner - you can't miss it.
Tender Burntfuse Mar 5th 2012 11:48AM
Im pretty sure that the BC PVP sets are available in Area 52. the Teir 4-6 equivelents are available there for honor. I know my warlock has the Merciless (corruptors lookalike) shoulders, and my priestess has the Galdiators Mooncloth hood (Teir4 priest collar) . . .
Bapo Mar 5th 2012 1:04PM
As others have stated, area 52 has the pvp stuff, it is spendy though (compared to brutal) I think.
Draelan Mar 5th 2012 1:57PM
...
I was going to post my thoughts on this restriction, again, but I realized it was turning into a long, nerd-ragey, rant. So, I'll sum it up quickly:
Stupid Blizzard! Let me make my Belf Paladin look like a Blood Knight! Jerks...
Dexterworgen Mar 5th 2012 5:51PM
@Zala
My paladin has Knight-LT Rank from the Old PvP system, and is not eligible for any of the pvp transmogs. Seriously disapointed given how that what I was mainly looking forward to. I am also not eligible to purchase any of the honor gear look-alikes from Area 52.
I would have assumed I would have been allowed at least the boots/gloves, since I genuinely earned them in vanilla, but not even that is available to me. If anyone has any armory links of toons with a pvp item higher than the FoS that would have allowed them to earn it back in vanilla I would love to see it, for I would be opening a ticket asap.
Dexterworgen Mar 5th 2012 6:32PM
*Update to previous post
I just found out they now allow you to purchase all of the gear, including the Grand Marshall/High Warlord weapons if you made it to KNIGHT-CHAMPION rank in vanilla. I of course server changed on the week I was supposed to hit Knight-Champion, wiping my honor for that week and of course, am clearly not as deserving of the gear.
This makes me even more furious. People who NEVER EARNED Grand Marshall back in the day are running around with the transmogged GM weapons, but the rest of the WOW population somehow doesn't qualify this. Though I'm clearly upset I'm so close to earning these transmogs yet never will, I'm more upset that these sets are being gated from the WoW community in the first place.
I was less incensed when at least only Grand Marshalls were actually allowed to earn the gear they deservedly worked for, but the fact that the rest of the WoW population isn't allowed to have these sets when vanilla Knight Champions (though they did NOT earn them either) can is ridiculous. At the very least tie these old sets to RBG's so that we can have a shot at earning them currently.
To be perfectly honest this is the kind of vanilla-mindset garbage that I hated when I actually played back then, and the fact that Blizzard isn't even following it's own logic for denying these sets to the general public today smacks of the arrogance that was commonplace back then, before Blizzard decided having subscribers was better than having silly restrictions.
ElrithCC Mar 5th 2012 11:10AM
What more of a summary do you need for MOP? Actual character names? We know we're going to a land with rich resources we desperately need, but this land is afflicted with a supernatural menace which causes anger and violence and negativity to manifest into actual malevolent entities. We know there are an ancient race of insect beings, and another race of demonic beings.
We're supposed to be discovering a new world with a new strange menace and story, THAT IS THE point.
This idea that you need to know the details is just a cop out of some weird confirmation bias born of comparing the last expansions and finding a pattern that never had any intent behind it in the first place. It's nothing more than happenstance that we knew the name of our bad guy. There was never any design model other than paying fan service to the lore and bringing in characters we knew about.
TBC wasn't even barely about the Burning Legion, it was mostly all Illidan and the Legion remnants he was dealing with. We did not know that either before TBC came out. All we knew was that Illidan was going to be there, Outland was a funky place with floating rocks, and there would be demons.
And Pandaren are hardly goofy compared to a great deal of the light hearted aspects of WOW. Pandaren are frankly hardly goofy at all, compared to Dwarves. Gnomes and Goblins are about 50 times more goofy than Pandaren.
Noyou Mar 5th 2012 11:27AM
The unknown. Some people fear it, some people embrace it. I am embracing it. The things that "scare me" are radical changes to class mechanics. I was leery of hunters getting focus in cata- that worked out extremely well in my opinion. I was so pumped for Worgens and that didn't work out so well for me- but lots of people love them, and I am cool with that.
Elrith is right on point- it's Mists of Pandaria. It should be a little mysterious. I think with Blizzard's Mists information extravaganza (TM*) we should know a good deal of info- probably more than we should, about the upcoming expansion.
Moeru Mar 5th 2012 11:28AM
Agreed. Most people who nay sayed MoP were just using it as an excuse to leave WoW because they were bored with it, from what I saw. Whoever else is 'afraid' of MoP but still playing is probably just jumping on the boat.
I'll admit I was surprised and disappointed at first. Mostly because I wanted something related to Demon Hunters or the Emerald Dream to come up. But I can see that this will be good for WoW now, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Blizzard is basically doing everything it can to bring WoW up to par with modern games without rewriting the engine, by making it accessible instead of grindy. I'm also going to enjoy more light-hearted themes the panda will bring, just like what the Goblins did (even though the Worgen storyline overall was more interesting, though underplayed).
But bottom line is, no one is forcing you to play something you're bored with if WoW is currently unattractive to you.
ejunk Mar 5th 2012 11:31AM
first, let me say that the things Elrith points out are awesome and I am very excited by the idea of exploring this new world. I would like to point out that one possible difference between dwarves/gnomes and pandaren is that the former are, clearly, war-like. to expand on that:
I am a liiiiiiiiiitle bit worried that the silliness factor is going to be upped in MoP in the form of the pandaren nature. WoW has always had goofy stuff in it, but rarely (if ever) has it been front and center. As background info has shown us, the Pandaren are light and goofy at least partially due to the fact that, if they fight one another, bad stuff crawls out of the ground and tries to kill them. Cool story mechanic, for sure. Still, it's not hard to imagine being saturated by happy-go-lucky pandaren by, say, level 87. if every other pandaren is a laughing joker, are we going to feel like listening to them? I think it will be a difficult line to toe for the Devs, but if anyone can do it, it's Blizzard.
on a related note, my guild has been doing ICC achievements lately. I took a long break from the game around the time Ulduar dropped so I totally missed ICC. I was pretty surprised when we got in to the Plagueworks and found that the entire wing is basically just one big fart joke. really? this was part of the ultimate raid of an expansion? the silliness of that wing struck me as a strange move, but maybe I'm just being overly sensitive.
so, in summary, I'm looking forward to all of the Pandaren content, but I hope that the lighter stuff stays in the minority and mostly in the background and doesn't show up in other aspects of the game such as raids and the over arching story line.
Shinae Mar 5th 2012 11:37AM
I agree. In a sense, I believe that Mists will be more like vanilla WoW than the other expansions. When WoW first came out, it wasn't clear or even known who the end-bosses would be. Mists will revisit that thrill of discovery. After the anti-climatic kill of Deathwing, I'm ready to go without a central villain.
Also, some players will be surprised to be how dead-serious pandaren can be.
Revynn Mar 5th 2012 11:53AM
- "Also, some players will be surprised to be how dead-serious pandaren can be."
This is my whole thing. A lot of people seem to be assuming that, just because they're pandas, the entire expansion is going to be a year-and-a-half of Jack Black. We know SQUAT about this civilization, their behavior, their temperament or their sense of humor other than that they value peace and harmony. Will there be a Kung-Fu Panda reference or two? Undoubtedly. But Tauren's also have a lot of jokes about them being talking cows, but very few people would call them silly. They're calm, peaceful and honorable, but not a spastic bunch of jokers.
We're all making too many assumptions about the Pandaren and what they'll be like. All we really know is that they're round.
cromahr Mar 5th 2012 12:38PM
I know Ill probably be yelled at and called "someone who is childish and needs to feel cool through the scary/serious parts of WOW" (or whatever else those that simply dont wanna hear that not everyone is happy abotu Pandas say), but I am one of the people who is worried about the silliness taking over too.
Yes, we always had silly parts, but those never seemed to be a centerpoint. Pandas and their land ARE the centerpoint in Pandaria...the title, the area, the new playable race etc. Sure, things eventually might move to other parts, just like there were other story developments in Cataclysm after the Shattering, but I just am not sure I will enjoy the "cute" side being so prominent (pet battles, roundhouse kicks etc.)
Once again: I have no problem with cute parts (I DO have a problem trying to use Tauren and Worgen and "spacegoats" as example, as they're not "dogs and cows", but based on rather less silly icons such as werewolves and minotaurs), but I find it amazing how, when you voice those concerns, after playing the game for so long and loving its lore a lot, you immediately are called "a childish guy who cant take a joke or cant deal with character races who aren't scary or threatening").
I want to approach all that with an open mind, but there are a LOT of people who still love the game, love its lore, love the more serious and tragic side of it (the stories behind Illidan, DW and Arthas, for example), and just are a bit surprised that suddenly, everyone tries to say "Pandaren are serious lore... we had April jokes and bonus missions, and those kegs somewhere in Kalimdor", when it just feels a bit...surprising? forced? how they are now put into the game with a story-hook (those mists) that seems a bit... I dunno, not very creative.
I know Ill probably be downvoted or berated for being close-minded, but thats just what I think, and I know that not everyone who is worried is just worried about "not having a new imba scary race" or whatever, but is worried about the style of the game heading into a direction that those that love the lore and style of WOW might not be able to follow so easily
Arturis Mar 5th 2012 12:41PM
I just want to point out that the Panderan 1-10 experience that they let us play at last years BlizzCon was not overly goofy at all - It struck roughly the same balance of humor/seriousness as the Blood Elf starting zone, and was no where near as silly as the Goblin starting zone.
Paul Mar 5th 2012 12:57PM
"I agree. In a sense, I believe that Mists will be more like vanilla WoW than the other expansions. When WoW first came out, it wasn't clear or even known who the end-bosses would be." ~ Shinae
Complete agreement. Adding to that, a lot of players that have come to WoW over the years have had no knowledge of the lore anyway, especially during Vanilla.
I still find that I'm looking forward to Mists simply because I know nothing. Hopefully I can control myself this time round and actually avoid all the spoilers during Beta. This site and MMO-Champ will have to go on a ban list. There were so many cool things in Cata that became nothing to me simply because I let youtubers and my own inability to keep myself out of beta after I got the invite.
(cutaia) Mar 5th 2012 1:10PM
"but I am one of the people who is worried about the silliness taking over too.
Yes, we always had silly parts, but those never seemed to be a centerpoint. Pandas and their land ARE the centerpoint in Pandaria"
So? What's intrinsically "silly" about a Panda that makes you think the expansion is going to be the same? They're just animals, like half the existing races in the game. It's not like they announced that clowns would be the next race. As for the location and story, again I ask what's so "silly" about Asian themed landscapes and buildings that it worries you?
I think the big question is, "What has Blizzard actually shown you about Mists of Pandaria that indicates it's full of silliness?" Is the only answer you have that Pandaren...exist? If so, then you probably have nothing to worry about in the long run.
ravyncat Mar 5th 2012 1:24PM
Even if the Pandaren are a bit silly, I do not care. To me they are no sillier than humanoid cows, or spacegoats or bird people or furbolgs or gnomes or goblins etc. It is a fantasy game and I like weird people in my fantasy! I prefer whimsy to being serious all the time.
I have never seen the Kung Fu Panda movies that seem to be spurring the outrage. I don't care if the Pandaren seem a lot like that. I like cartoons. Hell, I watch anime almost every day and I am well over 30.
Just looking at their faces and the way they move makes me want to play one. I love their faces! I also love that they are big and round and look like bears. I really hope they keep that for the female models.
(So yeah, character updates to that level for everyone, please!)
I don't know if I will actually like playing one--I was excited for Worgen but ended up not liking playing them--but I do want to try.
The thing that makes me really excited for Mists though is that they made it sound fun at Blizzcon. It sounds like they are taking time to make it a game I want to play again. I love exploring. I love the way that Pandaria looks in the screenshots I have seen. I want to do wow-pokemon with my friends.
I do not have to know the enemy beforehand. I knew who the baddie was in Cataclysm and overall I did not like this expansion at all. The best parts all happened in 4.3 (for me.)
cromahr Mar 5th 2012 1:39PM
Cutaia,
that is the kind of thing I mean. Are they really just animals? Pandas are often considered "the cute bear", just because of the way they look. However, that is not even the point... beer-brewing Pandaren who do roundhouse kicks, like to eat a lot and a have a racial that makes them "bouncy"?
I think that sounds a bit more silly than just saying "they are bears". Insert Chuck Norris/drunken master jokes here, but I think all that sounds not like "just animals", but cute bears who enjoy to eat a lot, drink beer, do Bruce Lee emotes and roundhouse kicks. If it was just a bear-inspired race (which we already HAVE in game), I think it'd be less of a problem, but a lot of people are concerned about the whole Kung Fu Panda/Chuck Norris/ninja-connection (and yes, I know that WCIII was before Kung Fu Panda)