If Illidan and Arthas have proven anything, even the most stalwart defenders can be corrupted and turned against their own race. But while treachery like this is generally frowned upon, wouldn't it be bad-ass to know you're some sort of enigmatic (and much-hated) exile from your home race? Think about it - the next big terror for the Alliance would be your awe-inspiring Horde gnome warlock!

Valansio over at the World of Warcraft forums took the idea further and explained that to keep the defection controlled, player would have to go through a quest. Here was the poster's idea:

1. Player wants to defect to faction X.

2. Player does a series of quests to defect, and becomes hated with their original faction and only slightly less hated or unfriendly with their new faction.

2b. Or, player would be hated with both and become a "neutral" or an "exile". (On a PvP server, they'd be open to attack from any faction. All zones would be contested for them. They would only have access to the neutral cities, AH, etc.)

3. Player does quests to build faction with their new choice. Break into cities, steal stuff, kill people, etc etc. 4. Player becomes Neutral with their new faction and can now interact and play just as any normal person would of that faction.

5. ???

6. Profit

A short time later (on page 5 of the thread), Blizzard representative Bornakk passed by to drop the bomb on this possibility, and to remind the readers of their loyalties:

Before joining either the Alliance or the Horde, one must be a devoted, loyal, and honorable person. Having a character turn their back to this would betray everything they swore to protect. With the high tension that already exists between the two factions, a character’s safety could not be guaranteed in any location as people on both sides would be very unforgiving.

You are free to roll new characters at anytime if you want to play the other faction, but we have no plans at this time to add a feature that changes an existing character’s faction.

Scratch that idea for the moment. Then again, it will be noted that before The Burning Crusade, Blizzard was also adamant about the Alliance not having a race that could roll shamans, or the Horde having a race that could roll Paladins. We'd like to ask the readers here as well - how you feel about having the ability to defect to the faction you've been pwning in the past?

Having a good allocation of talent points is very crucial in upgrading your characters in World of Warcraft. As you all know, the system currently provides players with 41 point talents but there have been talks for so long now that this will eventually be increased to 51.

The topic was recently touched on again by players over at the official WoW Forum. While Blizzard was unable to provide a date when this will be implemented, forum moderator Bornakk reminded the players not  to heavily rely on the new talents. The blue poster further explained:

Keep in mind that these talents aren't designed to automatically win fights but to add additional depth to their respective talent trees and to the gameplay. When we are closer to launching the expansion and the new talents are becoming finalized, we look forward to sharing information on them with everybody.

Bornakk also asked players to be a bit patient on this matter because Blizzard understands that this feature is highly anticipated. That is the same exact reason why Blizzard developers have no plans of rushing things.

In World of Warcraft, there are many questions that have yet to be answered. Among them is how to spell the sound a Murloc makes. While this is a question that may never enter the minds of the greatest thinkers in Azeroth (God help us all if it does), it is an interesting question to ponder nonetheless.

Blizzard Community Manager Bornakk was nice enough to answer the question, citing the video of I am Murloc by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain. In the subtitles of the video, the Murloc sounds were listed as "Rwlrwlrwlrwl".

He then mentioned that it is still open for interpretation and that "mgrlllmgrlrrr" and "mrrglrlrlrmgrrr" are also acceptable. While there isn't a right answer as of yet, we will be pondering into this topic even more.

After all, how could we call ourselves members of the QJ WoW team if we weren't loaded with tons of useless World of Warcraft trivia right? In the mean time, why don't you give us your suggestions through the comment section below.

A lot of players are undoubtedly curious about what their characters will be getting in World of Warcraft patch 2.3. Those who rolled a Shaman are no different, asking whether new information will be made available via a class preview.

According to Blizzard Poster/ Community Manager Bornakk in the WoW forums, that won't be the case. He gave word that Blizzard has no plans of releasing the information on a per class basis. The changes will be announced all together once patch 2.2 is released and the classes have been finalized.

It looks like players will have to wait a little bit longer for any update on the changes slated for 2.3. Well, this blogger is hoping that Blizzard balances the classes much better in the upcoming 2.2 patch without having to do any major nerfing.

 

In the lighter side of news, inquiries to whether commendation NPCs (whose purpose you'd probably have pondered at one time or another) should be removed from the World of Warcraft realms or not were responded to with a resounding no. New Blizzard community manager Bornakk claimed that despite their imposing annoyance to certain players for varied reasons, there were no plans to remove such NPCs from the game:

We made sure that these NPCs were properly trained not to bite anybody passing by or talking to them. No reports have come in to say that they have broken this (so far), so we are fine leaving them in the game for the time being to help anybody they can.

Bornakk's response was followed with a good share of reasons why the NPCs should be removed, such as apparent confusion with newcomers as to the NPCs' actual purpose as well as a decaying provision of commendations to turn in. Players of the original World of Warcraft content, denizens in Azeroth, may continue to find a use with commendation NPCs, however.

But there are a few players in Outlands that have yet to turn in their collection of commendations, so the concern over the NPCs having no use is arguable. In the end, it does play down to cautious approaches for the unforeseen. After all, it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Sometimes, it's the disheartening bits of news that reaches our doorsteps that really puts a damper on our day. That being said, we're still obliged to report it, perhaps especially because it's news that everyone ought to know, whether they want to or not.

According to a recent comment by Blizzard poster Bornakk, it seems there are still no plans to bring some choice Azerothian destinations, specifically Gilneas, into World of Warcraft any time soon. This was picked up in a post made by Vaslyth of the Sisters of Elune server, who asked if Gilneas would ever see the light of day in the playable game world.

Bornakk's reply was short and bittersweet. "At this time, the nation of Gilneas which stands behind the Greymane Wall remains a secluded mystery," Bornakk writes. "One day we may see the portcullis and the region open to visitors and explorers alike, but we do not know when or if that day will come."

To those uninitiated in WoW lore, Gilneas was once known as one of the most powerful cities in Azeroth. Due to an isolationist political policy, however, it closed its borders off to other kingdoms with its current state still left hanging. In game terms, the physical geography of Gilneas has yet to be established, with only a gate - the remainder of the Greymane Wall - being the only placeholder for the actual area itself.

Those lucky enough to attend this year's Blizzcon were able to pick up a Murloc suit for the their World of Warcraft characters. This item makes a player look like the lovable green aquatic creature we have all grown fond off.

Players have been complaining that the suit doesn't really do anything aside from making their character look good. In addition to this, players are unable to attack or cast spells in this form, further limiting its purpose in the game. Blizzard Poster/ Community Manager Bornakk addressed these issues on the WoW Forums:

We chose not to allow people to fight/cast spells with this on, similar to the Hallow’s End wand transformations, as we don't want the whole game to eventually have nobody that looks like races that are in it.

We also didn't feel like having this suit on while fighting epic battles would fit the feel of the game. The Ogre suit and savory deviate delights are a full transformation into battle worthy characters, so we currently have them work a little differently.

This difference is something we consider very carefully anytime a costume is added. We believe players can enjoy the item as it is when putting it on in at anytime they want throughout the world. I know mine gets plenty of attention when I surprise people with it. :)

Some players on the thread have pointed out that this decision by Blizzard is rather inconsistent considering skeletons, pirates, and ninjas have been running around Azeroth unchecked. Judging from Bornakk's response though, it doesn't look like any changes are slated for the suit. That's a bit of a let-down, it would  have been fun to take a 40 Murloc team out for a raid.

As it stands, weapons like The Twin Blades of Azzinoth are the new hotness for any World of Warcraft adventurer fortunate enough to wield them. Given the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, however, could legendary gear like these soon become the old and busted?

This was the topic Raden started over at a thread in the WoW Forums. According to the thread starter, there was growing concern that as Blizzard introduced newer and more powerful equipment into the game (in line with the new lvl 80 cap), older legendaries would risk becoming obsolete. Raden made a proposal on what could be done to preserve the prestige of the game's existing legendary weapons:

My main point is that you should make legendarys scale with level/gear somehow, so that they don't become obsolete. For example, for the dps of the weapons you could make them 2x the level of the wielder, or the wielder's AP/10. You get the general idea, this would keep them useful and make them actually useful to the heroes that wielded them.

The thread was later visited by Blizzard representative Bornakk, who gave this reply:

When you receive a legendary item, it is a special accomplishment that everybody who sees you with it will recognize. We don't want a person to get one of these and have it be so special that they never have to replace it.

Like all items, they are meant to have their limit of power and you will eventually find a potential improvement to replace it and move on. We currently have no plans to change our design philosophy and allow items to scale with the player.

Further along, some of the thread posters began adding their own ideas. Muwata in particular posted the suggestion that instead of scaling the weapons (as Raden suggested), why not include several extremely difficult quests that would allow the weapon's bearer to upgrade their gear? The trade-off with the idea is that it might discourage current players from trying to explore and experiment with any new weapons that might be coming out.

The discussion's long and lively at the WoW Forums as we report it - guys interested in reading the other suggestions (whether serious or humorous) can opt to drop by the WoW Forums via the source link below.

Given the rich, diverse universe World of Warcraft is based on, this ongoing discussion at the WoW Forums was almost forthcoming. We're talking about a thread concerning the Caverns of Time Instance, which allows players delve into key moments of WoW's past, literally taking part in history in the making. Or is the tense "made"?

Getting back on topic, the thread posters presented some interesting ideas for events, including the possibility of helping then-Prince Arthas liberate - that is, slaughter - the denizens of Stratholme from the vile clutches of the scourge threat. To this end, even Blizzard spokesman Bornakk tossed in his two copper's worth:

Slaughtering is a strong word, maybe it would be better to say that you are aiding the proud Prince Arthas in Stratholme as he uses his divine Paladin powers to purify the streets of vile evil undead creatures … and burns down houses.

Other interesting proposals included the Well of Zin-Azshari, and helping Arthas retrieve Frostmourne. As you've noticed, the latter possibility delves into Wrath of the Lich King territory. Given that the said expansion is still under works, we can only guess what Blizzard has planned for this particular instance. Of course, guys wondering what sort of possibilities WoW's gamers envision can drop by the forums to read the rest of the posts (via the source link).

In World of Warcraft, heroes from both factions are constantly fighting against creatures of legendary evil and corruption. This trend will not be changing in Wrath of the Lich King. Players will get to contend with The Dreadlord Mal'Ganis in The Caverns of Time instance.

It should be noted that the instance will take you back to Stratholme where Arthas purged the town of its inhabitants. He was manipulated by the Mal'Ganis to do so, in the hope of driving the prince to seek out the cursed sword Frostmourne. 

Some players have theorized that if they defeat the Dreadlord there, then they will be able to stop Arthas from turning into a Death Knight. Unfortunately, this is not the case as Blizzard Poster Bornakk said in the Forums:

Anytime you killed Mal’Ganis in the Stratholme level of Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, you only succeeded in slowing him down. His body would reform shortly thereafter to continue taunting Arthas and encourage him to take the path of insanity… and power.

No matter what happens to Mal’Ganis in the upcoming Caverns of Time instance, his mission to drive Arthas to Frostmourne will not be undone.

It looks like no matter what players do, Arthas will become the Lich King's thrall. Regardless of how tragic that may sound, it's nice that the continuity of the Warcraft storyline is still kept more or less consistent.