The Queue: Ask the beta testers

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.
A bit of history.
The Queue originally started off as Ask A Beta Tester during the Wrath of the Lich King beta. It was a great vehicle where we could answer all the questions that normally came in on the tip line or over social media. So at its heart, The Queue loves the beta period.
Absolutely feel free to ask away with any and all beta questions you've got. We have many staff members already playing their pandaren, and we will answer everything we can.
Narayana asked:
If we know now that the endgame for Pandaria eventually ends up in a dead Garrosh- at the hands of both the Alliance and the Horde, how can Blizzard avoid the hunky-dorie love-in that they seem to be actively running away from?
Say what you will about Garrosh, but as leader of the Horde he, at least, provided a point of contention between the two factions. He gave the Alliance a reason to hate us. If he's replaced with Thrall (or Baine or even Vol'jin), I feel like there's less thrust from both sides for continued faction warfare.
The only Horde figurehead that seems to still have the ability to evoke controversy is Sylvanas. Personally, I'd love to see her usurp power, just for the all the trouble it would cause. That said, it doesn't seem likely. I don't see a Horde that JUST threw out Garrosh falling in line behind Sylvanas.
It's probably not going to be the entire Horde that wants Garrosh gone, but just a splinter group within the Horde. And oh-ho-ho, guess what? Your 10-man or 25-man raid is the "elite team" in that splinter group that's being sent in to take out this evil bastard.
I really dig Alex's theory that he's going to test the waters with demon blood again. It wouldn't take much to convince the Alliance to take him out over that (and probably throw in a few war crimes as well); and if that splinter group in the Horde learned about it, they might see need to act quickly and on their own, removing their leader without going through the proper channels.
meDotJS asked:
Do we know why the Sha, the physical manifestation of negative energy, only exist in Pandaria and not the rest of Azeroth?
We don't yet know if the negative Sha energy is going to appear in Azeroth other places, so hold tight on that point.
It could be speculated, however, that the energy just manifests itself on the peaceful lands of Pandaria, because that's where it can do the most bad. Think if you're some negative energy and want to go around and cause the most trouble -- where would you go? You wouldn't go to Orgrimmar, because that place is already on the sack list. You'd go to where the fluffy panda bears are getting ready for the picnic. And from there, it spreads out to the rest of Azeroth, in some form or another, via the people who travel to Pandaria.
Puntable asked:
I'm worried for the Pandas...
I liked vanilla wow. I liked Ashenvale before they plopped a big volcano on it. I liked Azeroth before Deathwing busted it up. I was sad when they turned those old zones that I loved into ugly lava. I think it was the big mistake of the Cata expansion.
I like the way Pandaria looks in the screenshots. It's beautiful! I'm afraid that they are going to send tanks to knock down the forests so they look like Verdun, and bomb the towns so they look like Dresden. Am I just a sentimental fool?
I don't think there's much to be worried about, this expansion. Truth be told, though, the destruction of the environment would be a successful plot device in a future expansion or patch. But right now, the base land is getting developed, and there's no reason to take the volcanic sledgehammer to it yet.
However, I'm also not sure that Blizzard would go for more destruction of environment catalysts, given it's already been done with the night elves. I bet though that we do see this a little bit at least, if only on a very local level, with the Horde and Alliance making headway into Pandaria.
Glyneth asked:
Are warlocks really getting a tanking spec?
I don't think so, personally. I mean, I really want demonology to be able to become a tanking spec, but it'd be a huge change that came almost completely out of left field.
I asked Zarhym if he can lend us all some insight into what's going on, and I know a lot of people are wondering the same thing. Right now, it looks like situational tanking, but it's kinda odd that it'd have to be glyphed, given that glyphs are not really meant to be moved around fight to fight. If a lock had to be tank spec'd for an encounter, it'd gimp them for the entire raid/tier, most likely, and that's something Blizzard doesn't want to do.
Of course there are dual specs -- but again, most of the time the assumption is that second spec is used for PvP, not for one particular raid encounter.
So lots of questions, very few answers right now.
Kakume asked:
How do you pronounce "Chi"?
Chee.
Withervein asked:
So, beta invites are out, but can you actually log in to the beta?
Yes, the beta servers are up and available for play.
3atcat asked:
whats easiest way to report an abusive player? right click then report then says report for spam,does this only report spam?
That will do it, but if some player is really being abusive, I always file a GM report including exactly what he/she said. Usually it doesn't take more than a minute, and pretty soon that jerk yelling racial slurs near the Auction House mysteriously vanishes.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 12)
wow Mar 22nd 2012 11:18AM
Full info on WoWHead:
http://www.wowheadnews.com/#professions-general-crafting-mats
(cutaia) Mar 22nd 2012 11:18AM
Metal:
Ghost Iron: http://mop.wowhead.com/item=72092
Manticyte Ore: http://mop.wowhead.com/item=72093
Trillium Bar looks like the new high level one. There's also White Trillium Ore and Black Trillium Ore which is interesting.
Full list of metals and stone: http://mop.wowhead.com/search?q=date%3A2012-03-22#items:150+1
Billaos Mar 22nd 2012 1:06PM
Huh, one of my chars is named Trillium. Interesting.
Drakkenfyre Mar 22nd 2012 6:02PM
Tellurite, huh?
The rest must be Corbomite, Tricobolt, and Dilithium.
Ok, not really.
Some Star Trek humor.
Evelinda Mar 22nd 2012 7:37PM
Spirit of the season? In pandaria, every day is Christmas day!
Lohkie Mar 22nd 2012 11:06AM
Is it just me or are locks getting a lot if love this expac? Not that I mind at all, just curious
Shinae Mar 22nd 2012 11:14AM
Considering that they are statistically the least-played class, I can see why Blizz thought it'd be a good idea to put more work into them, to get more people to play them.
evoxpisces Mar 22nd 2012 1:33PM
Before the Fangs of the Father daggers weren't Rogues the least played class? Seems like whichever class is least played at the moment becomes the flavor of the week.
vocenoctum Mar 22nd 2012 2:24PM
"lot of love" meaning "redesign" rather than "buff", as it were? Not that there won't be buffs or nerfs for them, but I think this is just more Blizz admitting the soulshard change wasn't really important, so they redesigned them just as they'd done with the paladin.
I'd posit myself that the soulshard/ class changes of Cata drove off some long standing locks (I miss Siphon Life!), and the new changes seem to make their new "personality" stronger without returning to what they used to be. Their popularity may resurge, but with new players rather than returning old locks.
(I had one of each class at least, though at one point my warlock was my main, so not really sure how I personally fit into their plans.)
Rollo Mar 22nd 2012 8:39PM
Trying to come up with three distinctly different trees for warlocks is hard, as warlocks are already just a flavor of mage. They should have merged the classes and split them into Elementalist, Arcanist and Warlock talent trees.
zackwbrandon Mar 22nd 2012 11:07AM
From wikipedia:
In traditional Chinese culture, qì (also chi or ch'i) is an active principle forming part of any living thing.[1][2][3] Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. The literal translation of "qi" is breath, air, or gas.
Concepts similar to qi can be found in many cultures, for example, Prana in Vedantic philosophy, mana in Hawaiian culture, Lüng in Tibetan Buddhism, and Vital energy in Western philosophy. Some elements of qi can be understood in the term energy when used by writers and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine. Elements of the qi concept can also be found in popular culture, for example The Force in Star Wars.[4] Notions in the west of energeia, élan vital, or vitalism are purported to be similar.
in researching chi, who would have thought I would discover that mana was Hawaiian. Hawaii, nerds everywhere thank you :-P
undeadgoat Mar 22nd 2012 11:08AM
My theory is that the "splinter group" will consist of Vol'jin and quite a lot of Darkspear, various NPCs with no reason to love Garrosh representing all the Horde races (maybe a lot of pandas?) and of course us, the adventurers.
zackwbrandon Mar 22nd 2012 11:10AM
That just gave me a thought: the new Warchief of the Horde - a Pandarian?!?!
byronius_prime Mar 22nd 2012 11:13AM
Don't forget Saurfang, who did say he'd crack his skull if he brought back the Old Horde's ways.
ravyncat Mar 22nd 2012 11:25AM
The new Warchief of the Horde is not going to be a Panda. XD
I can't see the Horde running with some new unknown character. They will either reinstate Thrall or a current faction leader instead.
I don't think it will be Sylvanas either, though I do expect her to try and grab it.
Narayana Mar 22nd 2012 11:34AM
Holy Crap, Warchief Saurfang would be great. Although, if that happened, we'd just win, right? It would just be game over.
arrowrest Mar 22nd 2012 11:56AM
There's an interview at Gameplanet where J. Allen Brack where he pretty much says it's Thrall coming back as warchief:
"I'm really excited about it from a player perspective, because I think if you're an Alliance player, the idea about doing a raid into the heart of your enemies capital is really satisfying, and deposing the enemy leader is super gratifying. On the Horde side, it's going to be super cool to have a raid in your own home town, and who doesn't want Thrall to be the leader of the Horde?"
loop_not_defined Mar 22nd 2012 11:58AM
Thrall's coming back? /lesigh :[
Boobah Mar 22nd 2012 12:33PM
There's a lot of time, both in-game and out, for us to learn about a new character who could become Warchief. Or for enough development to add an already-existing character to the short list.
And given what we know about the Horde pandaren faction leader, he'd be an excellent choice for Warchief. Personally, I think it would've been better storytelling to have headstrong, act first think later, heart is in the right place pandarens join the Alliance while the centered, more contemplative pandarens join the Horde (balance is a theme, right?), but whatever
Scorfula Mar 22nd 2012 12:41PM
I'm so over Thrall. Saurfang for warchief!