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 4 of 7)
Shinae Mar 16th 2012 1:13PM
You're right, Puntable; but to those of us who observe Dalight Savings, there is no difference between PST and PDT.
Skarn Mar 16th 2012 6:25PM
This link is at least a significant part of it:
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/live-wow-insider-show-to-talk-about-the-mop-press-event-monday/
I'm curious to know if they will have articles up before or after that.
metalspawned Mar 16th 2012 11:21AM
QftQ: Why is the WoWInsider Show limited to an hour-ish? The hosts SEEM to have fun, and the listeners do! Keep it going! :-)
Killik Mar 16th 2012 12:03PM
Always leave them wanting more.
robsmith77 Mar 16th 2012 4:28PM
What Killik said.
RGSmith Mar 16th 2012 11:24AM
True. I feel like half the community is expecting them with Mists. Personally I don't think so but I would love it but I'll be more then happy with my new pandaren monk.
coville Mar 16th 2012 11:26AM
"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."
Wouldn't this open up the possibility of being able to choose race and then faction (like they are doing with Pandarians)?
I think it would be great to roll a Tauren Druid and then choose to join the alliance. Or maybe a Human Rogue to join the Horde. Maybe even allow players of any level to "switch sides" and then have to earn reputation with the new side in order to even enter the city. A lot of possibilities here.
eel5pe Mar 16th 2012 12:05PM
Frankly I think this would lead to way too much mixing of the factions. It may make a cool story or lore nugget when one being decides they've had enough of their faction and goes rogue. It becomes significantly less interesting when anyone can do it, even if they put significant enough barriers in place to prevent casual faction flipping. I think they should be doing more to distinguish the two factions, and not mixing them.
Ata Mar 16th 2012 1:28PM
I think if we get any more faction 'mixing', it will be a third faction all together made of the combined races. Letting there be crossover into the main factions would just...really not work with the way the world is. We never see it really, but Im sure there's a ton of tension for an orc walking into Booty Bay and seeing the human pirates around.
Fweet Mar 16th 2012 11:29AM
What ever happened to Maybell Maclure? I made an invisibility potion for her so she could sneak off to see that no-goodnik Tommy Joe Stonefield. After she drank it, I went and stood with Tommy Joe, but she never showed.
Did my potion work? Will these two ever get together and move out of Elwynn Forest? Will this couple fare better than Romulo and Julianne?
Drakkenfyre Mar 16th 2012 11:44AM
You gave someone an invisibility potion, they drank it, then you wondered why you never saw them.
But seriously, with a minor character in Elwynn Forest, it's unlikely she will ever get any story advancement.
slim1256 Mar 16th 2012 12:36PM
Problem is - you mixed up the formula for an Invisibility Potion with the formula for a Disintegration Potion.
Whoops!
Ata Mar 16th 2012 1:24PM
I bet the stupid lvl 9 'Hello bear' got her.
saliira Mar 16th 2012 10:18PM
Interesting. In Wrath (or Vanilla?) I did the same quest and I remember her showing up at Tommy's side. They said something suitably fatuous and I wandered off to go kill murlocs or something. I suppose I could have finished the story in my head, but I could swear that it was real (real pixels on the screen, that is).
Ellesmere Mar 16th 2012 11:27AM
"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?"
Arathi Highlands says hi.......
llcjay2003 Mar 16th 2012 11:39AM
So does Silithus.
cromahr Mar 16th 2012 11:45AM
I'm actually glad that at least Arathi, Silithus and Dustwallow are a lot like they used to be before the Shattering. Sure, the redesign of the other zones was needed eventually, but I do sometimes miss some of the classic quests and storylines from back then, so seeing that a lot of the quests in those zones remained unchanged is actually nice IMO...
They can be skipped if necessary, but the old times' sake, I still like to redo those quests there
Duerma Mar 16th 2012 12:42PM
Well, to be fair, Silithus was completely redone a year+ after launch, in patch 1.9. Before that, it was emptier than Azshara and was pretty much just a place that gold farmers hung out, or you went to if you managed to get both bindings of the Windseeker. Just Valor's Rest, no Cenarion Hold, and I think the one quest in the zone was to go kill the crazy druids at Southwind.
Granted, January 2006 is still ancient, but I imagine they still felt like "we've changed it before, let's give other zones some love."
Ullaana Mar 16th 2012 11:29AM
Another question about the Pandaren. Why do you think Blizz went with 4 fingers for our brewmonks? While it is true that Pandas here on Earth have 4 claws, they do have a small thumbbone that they use to grasp bamboo.
Did Blizz decide to go with a more "alien" looking hand(paw) for the Pandaren or was it something besides an artistic decision?
Looking for everyone's opinions, not expecting a definitive answer.
Thanks.
Atanae Mar 16th 2012 11:39AM
To me it looks like they're using the dwarf frame as a base. I'm going to assume 5 fingers for now. Including thumbs, Trolls also have "four" fingers and the sillouette didn't appear to have Trollish hands.