The Queue: Panda wasteland
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is taking this thing over today.
I have no idea what's going on in the above video, but I think I can safely say that YouTube has some of the weirdest stuff.
Everyone ever I swear asked:
(Insert expansion questions here)
Guys, we can't say anything about anything until the NDA is lifted. Patience, please! And while you're waiting, you can read this nice Lawbringer all about the NDA and why it's there.
I have no idea what's going on in the above video, but I think I can safely say that YouTube has some of the weirdest stuff.
Everyone ever I swear asked:
(Insert expansion questions here)
Guys, we can't say anything about anything until the NDA is lifted. Patience, please! And while you're waiting, you can read this nice Lawbringer all about the NDA and why it's there.
Stephanie asked:
Sorry if this has been asked before but I am getting a new laptop in a few days. What is the best way to get WoW and my add ons onto the new laptop? Preferably with all my saved settings.
It's actually pretty easy to do. All you have to do is copy your WoW folder over to your new laptop from your old one. Just make sure it goes into the Program Files folder (or wherever you put it on your old PC), create a shortcut to the launcher on your desktop, and you're good to go.
Atanae asked:
My Q4tQ - Is there any explanation for the major discrepancy in Theramore's actions in Kalimdor? In Dustwallow, we see the "normal" Theramore, where we stop agitators from instilling a more warmongering mindset and we get some seed quests that show Horde infiltration of Dustwallow (which abruptly end). In South Barrens, you see a really "warmongery" Theramore - pretty much what the agitators wanted. The problem is: the South Barrens quests (30-35) happen "before" the Dustwallow ones (35-40).
Why would Theramore be so antagonistic in South Barrens and then revert back to a more peaceful stance later in the quest chain? And if the Dustwallow quests are reinforcing Jaina's peaceful views, why is she housing war machines? It seems as if the quest chain is backwards and we should have started in Theramore and ended in South Barrens.
Here's the deal: Way back in vanilla WoW, Dustwallow Marsh was the zone of unfinished ... stuff. The Missing Diplomat chain ended abruptly with no real conclusion. The chain involving the fire at the Shady Rest Inn also ended in a dead end. In fact, it seemed like Dustwallow was one of those zones that was just sort of half-developed at launch, kind of like Azshara, only with a few more quests.
However, the zone received a major makeover in Patch 2.3.0. Mudsprocket was added as a quest hub, more quests were added all over the zone, and the whole storyline with the Grimtotem tauren was added as well. The Shady Rest Inn quest chain was finally finished, and the Missing Diplomat chain finally had a resolution of sorts. It went from someplace nobody went to unless they happened to be killing Onyxia, to a viable quest hub that was pretty fun, level-appropriate, and had some pretty cool rewards.
Now this is just me guessing here, but given the sheer number of zones Blizzard had to revamp with Cataclysm, Dustwallow Marsh was really not high on the priority list -- because it had already gotten a pretty major revamp back in 2.3.0. So technically speaking, Dustwallow Marsh is almost in its own little timeline -- but not as far as lore is concerned. You'll see mention of the Shattering, and you'll see the physical changes the zone has gone through, but as far as attitudes and quests, they really haven't changed that much at all. The zone was touched, but it wasn't touched in anywhere near as much detail as the zones that really needed it, like Azshara.
Frankly, I don't think the decision was a bad one from a time management perspective. Would you rather Blizzard spend time redeveloping a zone that was already redeveloped or work on someplace that really, really needed that revamp because it hadn't been touched in seven years? So basically, with Dustwallow and Theramore, I wouldn't look too closely at the material presented in there -- because most of it was written out well before the Shattering ever happened.
@oathblade on Twitter asked:
Why does the N'aru G'eras in Shat have his own personal Vindicator bodyguards?
Because he's a darkened naaru and they're protecting the rest of us from him. I mean come on -- look at him. He looks pretty dark to me.
Seriously, though, it's probably because he's carrying a lot of valuable material on his person to sell, and they don't want him getting robbed. ... although how, exactly, a spinning, glowing windchime with no hands is carrying all that stuff is anybody's guess.
@BrokenRavens on Twitter asked:
At the start of the Vash'jir quest chain, a group of humans help the Horde in their assault on Stormwind. Is this odd? Is the central conflict of WoW seen inside the game as orcs vs. humans, or just Org. vs. Stormwind?
I'm assuming the humans you're talking about are the ones that show up to sail the Horde forces over to Vash'jir. In that case, you aren't looking at Alliance citizens; you're looking at mercenaries of sorts. They're on the side of whoever happens to pay them enough. They aren't really concerned with moral decisions -- or in the case of Bud, they're not really concerned with thinking at all.
The primary conflict in Warcraft started out as orcs vs. humans, but it developed beyond that when the Horde was formed in Warcraft III, and the Alliance as we know it was formed between Warcraft III and WoW. Now, it's pretty much Alliance vs. Horde -- and the mercenaries and middlemen don't really have a side. They simply side with whoever is paying them at the time.
Filed under: The Queue
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
pwherman Mar 16th 2012 5:23PM
Maybe the artists will borrow from the warring animals that you can find on the plateau overlooking Stonetalon and Mulgore -- axe-carrying bunnies, knife-wielding prairie dogs, and gun-toting rats. For anyone that hasn't seen this area yet, if you arrive before the animals transform (every few minutes), they will just be cute little critters. So throw down a picnic basket and wait for the animal-on-animal carnage.
Mycroft Mar 16th 2012 11:10AM
Would you rather Blizzard spend time redeveloping a zone that was already redeveloped or work on someplace that really, really needed that revamp because it hadn't been touched in seven years?
Or do both! ... and we'd be stuck in ICC for another six months or more...
Darky Mar 16th 2012 11:11AM
Why don't you guys do a FAQ?
Puntable Mar 16th 2012 11:36AM
You mean the most frequently asked questions on "The Queue"? Like "What happens to my VP and JP after the patch"?
Killik Mar 16th 2012 11:59AM
Because nobody would read it.
Cragdog Mar 16th 2012 3:04PM
Read what?
thedoctor2031 Mar 16th 2012 11:12AM
Relating to daily quests, the two things I want are a change to weekly (or less than daily) quests and more important objectives. I love the weekly Tol Barad quest, I loved the weekly Wintergrasp quests, I loved the weekly raid in Wrath, for whatever reason, weekly stuff is my nutella. It doesn't pressure me to get on every day to do things, and because I don't have to do it everyday, I enjoy doing it unlike most daily quests.
As for more important objectives, winning Tol Barad felt important to me. It could be failed, it was a challenge, and it was interesting. If every daily was like this it would be a pain in the ass, but they can still made to feel more important by putting more time in between dailies instead of feelings like "I have to go and gather some fish to feed people. Like I have done for the last 20 days." That feels to much like a job to me. Any other changes to dailies?
RGSmith Mar 16th 2012 11:12AM
New screenshot of the day is up. Has a forsaken in new mists gear but old model. :/
dmberreth Mar 16th 2012 11:20AM
They may be willing to show off the new starter gear, but I am wagering they are going to hold off on new character models for a long while - and hopefully release them in a batch, with some BIG hype around it.
With as much clamor as they has been around needing updated models, I doubt they'd just slip one in randomly with an armor screenshot.
Hateraide Mar 16th 2012 11:46AM
Link or it didn't happen.
RGSmith Mar 16th 2012 11:49AM
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/screenshots/screenshot-of-the-day/cataclysm?view#/martindog22281u
Hateraide Mar 16th 2012 11:51AM
Thanks, you're the bomb.
s1natsuns3t Mar 16th 2012 11:16AM
Question: who did you send to Irvine for the MOP event, and how pissed are they at the terrible weather we've had in SoCal this week?
RS Mar 16th 2012 11:26AM
I think it was Mike and Alex.
Mike because he's local, Alex because he's the boss?
Puntable Mar 16th 2012 12:05PM
They don't let them outside. They are cloistered in a press room with only coffee and doritos for the entire week.
Skarn Mar 16th 2012 6:24PM
RS is correct. Alex Ziebart, the Editor-in-Chief, and Mike Sacco, the talbuk, went to Irvine. They are now overflowing with information goodies and will tell everyone about them LIVE on Monday.
While I'm at work.
/shakes fist
a Mowt Mar 16th 2012 11:17AM
Re: Non-Alliance Humans
We, as players, tend to think of a 1:1 relationship between races and factions, but the reality is far murkier. The factions are much more creatures of politics than they are of races. Consider the numerous Troll tribes, only 1 of which has aligned with the Horde. Historically, we had a couple of Dwarf clans that were not aligned with the Alliance. Same with the Human kingdom of Gilneas pre-Cataclysm. There are still other non-alliance kingdoms.
On the NPC side, there are factions opposed to both Horde and Alliance that recruit members from all sorts of races; including horde races, alliance races, and non-playable races. (Think of all the riff-raff that's shown up in the twilight cult.)
On the flip side, there are those that will actively work with both Horde and Alliance. Consider that both Thrall and Malfurion are relatively race-neutral when handing out quests.
Long story short -- While you determine a PLAYER's allegiance based on race (pandas notwithstanding), the same is hardly true of NPCs and the Lore of Warcraft generally.
Daedalus Mar 16th 2012 11:21AM
I understand you can't give us any substance about the press event, but can't you at least tell us exactly what your plans are for rolling out the information? When should we expect the first article to go up? Should we be up at midnight, hitting refresh? Are you going to dump all the info at once, or spread it out?
Inquiring minds want to know!
eel5pe Mar 16th 2012 11:43AM
In lieu of an official response let me say: several other WoW fansites are devoted to putting up information at midnight, so I imagine WoWI will do it too to avoid getting "scooped". Note that it's midnight PST sadly, for those of us living on the East Coast...
Puntable Mar 16th 2012 12:32PM
PST? Don't you mean PDT?