The Queue: Time warp

Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A feature for all of Blizzard’s games! Have a question for the Blizzard Watch staff? Leave it in the comments!

I had a weird experience the other day. After zoning in to the Northrend location of Dalaran for some good old fashioned transmog farming, I discovered Tirion’s statue had gone missing. In its place was the original Dalaran fountain. Supposedly the fountain should have been replaced on the server first kill of the Lich King. But for some reason, this one stayed put — although it has the plaque to start the cinematic for the Lich King’s death. I’m not sure why there’s a discrepancy here, but it was pretty nice to see the old fountain back in action again.

Short answer — they do! However, you got me thinking about this one. Dalaran was originally founded by Arathi magi, who had been taught the arcane arts by the High Elves of Quel’thalas in exchange for Arathi aid in the Troll Wars. One then has to wonder, where did those mages come up with the name Dalaran? Considering the city’s purpose and its origins, I’m wondering if the High Elves suggested the name, or if the mages simply modified an elven word or phrase to suit their purpose. Shal’Aran’s original purpose isn’t ever made clear, but it does serve as a nexus of arcane energies — perfect for the use and practice of magic. So while I’ll answer your question and say yes, it does make me wonder if the two places are distantly related, by name if nothing else.

The nightmare corner of the Emerald Dream was meant to access the Rift of Aln way back when. It’s where the last vestiges of the Nightmare were locked away, so the portal was abandoned. As for the other portal in the Dreamway, I’m going to assume it was meant to lead to Bough Shadow in Ashenvale — that’s the only Emerald Dream portal (that we know of) that isn’t currently connected for some reason.

I know you’ll get AP, and you’ll definitely get gear, but I’m really not sure about the Relic half of your question. It looks like Battle-Touched Relics can drop from the Fel-Touched Crate of Battlefield Goods, but I’m not sure what the drop rate for those is like. I apologize that I can’t really give you a better answer than that, but the most PVP I’ve done so far in Legion has been restricted to World Quests rather than Battlegrounds. Someone might have a better answer for you in the comments, though!

Not really. There are some mounts that are only available on heroic mode instead of normal — like the Life-Binder’s Handmaiden — but if a mount is listed as a drop in the loot tables, you’ve pretty much got the same chance on 10-man as you do on 25. I believe they’re considered extra loot — getting a mount doesn’t mean you’re suddenly getting one less piece of gear from a boss, it’s a bonus on top of that. So your chances aren’t really affected by 10 vs. 25, to my knowledge.

Do you usually leave the Dreamgrove through a portal or a flight path after porting to it? The Dreamwalk ability works like the other Class Hall teleportation spells, in that the first time you cast it, it’ll take you to the Dreamway, the second time you use it, it’ll take you back to where you were before. So if you ported in from elsewhere, when you port again, it’ll return you to where you came in from — in your case, that must have been Dalaran.

That’s it for today’s Queue — if you have any questions you’d like to see answered, be sure to leave them in the comments below!