Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Jewelcrafting, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider’s daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.

Since you all need to sit through an extended maintenance today, we’re going to have an extended version of The Queue! Well, a little. I guess about two more questions than usual. Or just one, really. Actually, I’m not certain it’s extended at all. perhaps whether you read through it twice? Yeah, let’s do that. Just read it twice, that works.

AbsalonPrieto asked…

Do Death Knight enchants (rune enchant) stack with regular weapon enchants? whether not what would be the best choice rune or regular enchant?

Continue reading The Queue: Proto-drakes, Brilliant Glass, and more

The Queue: Proto-drakes, Brilliant Glass, and more originally arised on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Alex Ziebart

Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth, Galleries

Once again, Ben has sent in a beautiful screenshot that I know absolutely nothing about. Judging by the background, that looks like a shot from a planetarium somewhere inside Ulduar. The continents on the planets are too cloudy for me to tell which is Azeroth, although I hope it’s not the one on the left — it looks like that one’s got a golf ball stuck in it. You can additionally see some of Azeroth’s beautiful constellations, including the Squiggly Line, the Slightly Less Squiggly Line, and the Giant Black Holes Absorbing All Matter And Light.

Do you have any strange World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild whether you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, “mounted mounts”, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Around Azeroth: Spaceballs originally presented on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Elizabeth Wachowski

Filed under: Tailoring, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Events, WoW Insider Business, Odds and ends, Economy

Yes, it’s that duration of year again — the lights are up around town, the weather is cold and snowy, and you’ve got a lengthy list of nice (and perhaps even some naughty) public who will need gifts that year. But what will you get? whether anyone on your list is a Warcraft player, anguish not: WoW Insider has compiled a list of ten Nintendo Sixtyfoooooooour-level gifts for the Warcraft player in your life, five out-of-game and five in-game.

Whether they’re level 10 or level 80, odds are that they’ll love any of that stuff, and whether you’ve got just a little bit of instance and/or money to put in or want no expense spared, there’s something on that list for you. go into the gallery below to check out all of the gifts, and be certain to have a happy holiday season — here’s hoping there will be a little something more exciting than coal in that stocking!

Looking for non-Warcraft related gamer gifts? Joystiq has up-to-the-minute news on the best holiday deals and tips around for Holidaze 2008. And our friends at Big Download have a nice set of guides up as well, featuring anything and everything you might need for a PC gamer.

Winter’s Veil is nearly here. Watch the 12 Days again, wonder what might be new that year, or settle down with some cocoa and some tasty… bark?

WoW Insider’s 2008 holiday gift guide originally presented on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Mike Schramm

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast topics, Quests, Leveling, Achievements

It seems like there’s a few basic questing styles I have noticed in Northrend. There’s the guys citizens who just sort of go where the wind takes them, perhaps try a few quests out of that zone, a few out of that zone, and play around. Others are focused on the level 80 and rep grinds, so they have the quests they want to take mapped out and plotted, the best to get to that end game so they can start heroic dungeons, raiding, PvP, or whatever else it is they want to do after they’re done leveling. thereupon there’s the society who want to get into every nook and cranny of a zone, trying to finish every quest before they move on.

I’m generally in the last category myself. There’s so much interesting lore and compelling story in Wrath that I don’t want to miss risking a questline anywhere I go. Besides, whether I finish all the quests, I’m that much closer to becoming a Loremaster, whether nothing else. I do mix it up sometimes whether I want to head into a zone early to grab a specific quest reward, such as heading into Borean Tundra to get my Axe of Frozen Death before heading back to Howling Fjord, but for the most part, when I head into a zone, I like to get it nice and cleared out from end to end.

How do you quest, and why? Do you fit one of the types above, or do you have another method?

Breakfast Topic: What’s your questing style? originally arised on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Daniel Whitcomb

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, News items, Wrath of the Lich King

So It’s December 2nd. Normally, that means that your plans should probably include a quick trip out to Nagrand for a sack of gems. But a little something happened that past month that’s sort of changed that up a little bit. Still, possibly it’s a good concept to visit good old Gehze one more moment, for old time’s sake, eh?

Actually, I’m a bit disappointed in the Consortium. I really expected them to leverage their huge profits in Outlands to spearhead a movement into Azeroth. They could be making a killing off of Nerubian carapaces and Frostwyrm bone ivory right now… and handing us a bag of Northrend gems every month. Come on, get with it guys.

But seriously. The point is, it’s Tuesday dawn. And that means downtime. It’s an additional lengthy downtime today, 3 AM to 11 AM PST. That means you have plenty of instance to browse WoW Insider. Allow me, as is my wont, to propose some choice articles, guides, and features from the past week for your enjoyment, after the break.

Continue reading The Tuesday wee hours Post: Don’t forget your Consortium g… oh wait

The Tuesday AM Post: Don’t forget your Consortium g… oh wait originally arised on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Daniel Whitcomb

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Wrath of the Lich King

Ah, just the thing we needed in the middle of winter in Northrend! A drink to cool us down! Wait, what? Crap, that’s not we need at all! Oh well, I guess we’re out of luck. that month’s brew from the Brew of the Month club is actually a drink we’ve seen before. It’s the Lord of Frost’s Private Label, previously only acquired from Lord Ahune’s stash during the Midsummer festivities.

What do that month’s brew do? Not a whole lot. Like I said, it cools you down. Really. After drinking it, you can see your character’s breath for awhile. Which… you probably won’t notice in Northrend at all, considering nearly the entire continent makes you do that anyway. whether you prefer getting your drunk on in Ironforge, that drink is perfect and you can pick some up in the usual places in Orgrimmar and Ironforge. whether you’re looking for a drink to warm you up on a cold Northrend night, go for a Northrend staple: Mead. It’s all by the place up there.

Brew of the Month: Lord of Frost’s Private Label originally presented on WoW Insider on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Alex Ziebart

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Odds and ends, Instances, Ask WoW Insider, Bosses

Here’s a question for you all from Percinho about my absolute favorite thing to do in game: five man instances. He and his guildies are about to run their very first instance (or they were when he sent that to us at ask@wowinsider.com), and he wants to know your very best tips for instance running:

For the first instance we have 5 players with level 60+ characters and so have decided to run some instances. None of the guild have extensive experience of instancing as we tend to mainly be solo-ers, or group up in twos and threes just to quest. We’re heading to the Ramparts in Hellfire Peninsula with a Warrior, Priest, DK, Rogue and Mage. What we’re after is some tips for successful instancing that we may not have considered, those things that every veteran knows that wouldn’t even occur to instance-n00bs like ourselves.

Continue reading Ask WoW Insider: Instance running 101

Ask WoW Insider: Instance running 101 originally arised on WoW Insider on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Mike Schramm