Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue is one part off-topic and two parts on-topic, but each and every part is worth it. Trust me on that one. Oh, and there's a couple more bad words than usual. You have been warned. I hope none of you are too scandalized by it.

Windswept asked...

"There is this girl I like that works at the mall, I want to ask her out but I don't know how. What would YOU do?"

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue, Cataclysm

While attempting to create a Loot Crazed Diver costume, Firesnake of <Bloodlust Theorycrafters> on Darkspear wound up turning himself into a Big Daddy. After spending some time in the thrall of a particularly persuasive female gnome who kept calling him "Mr. Bubbles", Firesnake managed to break free and headed to the only place he felt at home -- the aquarium in the western terrace of Sholazar Basin.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.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 if 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, Val'kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week Frostheim uses logic and science mixed with a few mugs of Dwarven Stout to look deep into the Hunter class.

When you get down to the philosophical basics, every class has the same goal in a group or raid: do as much as you can to help clear the instance and kill the bosses. This of course is where the hunter obsession with DPS comes from. Most of the time the best thing we can do to help our group down bosses is to become a radiant beacon of death, to undergo an apotheosis into a DPS god and accept the adoration of the lesser DPS classes.

But there are times when it helps our group or raid more to sacrifice some of our personal DPS for the good of the group. Whether it's kiting blood beasts or blistering zombies or shooting down orbs, we are always happy and willing to take the hit for the good of the team. We're just noble that way.

And our noble pets can help out the team too, boosting the team's DPS as well as our own. Join me after the cut as we take a look when a different pet choice might be best thing for the team as a whole, even if it means a DPS loss for us personally.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

I rarely notice buffs when I'm running heroic dungeons. Granted, every buff helps in maximizing DPS or survivability, but I personally don't find it really necessary. Do you absolutely have to have Blessings of Kings or a Prayer of Fortitude? I've had players who have absolutely refused to pull until they get all the buffs they want. I'm sitting there looking at their health and their gear and it isn't like they're fresh 80s or anything. We're talking tier 9 level stuff or higher. I don't think having Dalaran Brilliance is going to shave off a significant amount of time in a run personally.

Now when it comes to raiding, I make sure I have everything. On progression raids, I always check to make sure every buff that is available is active. At the same time, I'm a little more relaxed about it when taking on trash. I don't drop a Fish Feast for the trash leading to Lord Marrowgar, for example. I wait until we get to the boss itself before laying out one of these.

What? The feasts are expensive!

Anyway, what about you guys? Do you require every buff before tackling anything in a heroic? Are there certain buffs you can live without during raids?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler's latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we'll keep you informed.

Ancilorn? You're doing it right. You win at least ten internets, at least. Maybe even your own BlizzCon t-shirt.

Table of Contents

• Ghostcrawler
• Other
• StarCraft II / Diablo III / Blizzard News

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Filed under: The Daily Blues

Here at WoW.com we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow!

Everyone needs a good laugh now and again -- and what better time than Wednesday, the middle of the week when the weekend seems both so near and so very far away. The above image comes, of course, from our plushie photo contest, which has some very lol-worthy entries, but I'm sure you'll also enjoy the following:

• For the Bubbles educates us on the mathematics behind raiding.
• Too Many Annas runs Pallyramas.
• Tree of Life has translations of the binary messages you come across in Gnomeregon.
• Destructive Reach explains why warlocks aren't mages.
• Righteous Defense defines "trickle-down death."
• Blessing of Fish has a few things you might not know about Dalaran.

Filed under: The Daily Quest

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss hit and expertise (or the lack thereof) on ICC gear.

I want to open this week's column with a quick anecdote from the life of a rogue: My fianceé's low-level shaman was being camped in Felwood by a higher-level warlock. I did my roguish duties and took care of the problem, via a sharp dagger through the rib cage. The warlock escalated the situation by bringing out a retribution paladin, whom I also dispatched. After fighting (read: them dying a lot) for some time, I was watching over the paladin's corpse. I saw him resurrect, mount, and ride off, and pursued him in stealth.

I used Sprint, used Preparation, Sprinted again, and finally used my rocket boots to make up the ground. The paladin had left my sight range, due to Crusader Aura and my slowed movement in stealth, but I did not stop running. Watching me, my ward asked why I would pursue the target after they had clearly escaped my grasp. My instincts as a rogue have been honed after years of playing the class, and I am familiar in the ways of tracking my opponents. I said simply, "The wounded enemy always stops to eat". About 10 seconds later, I found the paladin sitting and eating some biscuits behind a tree (his long guild name gave him away). A few short moments later, and there was one less living soul in Felwood that night. Do you have any stories of "rogue moments" that made you certain you chose the right class at the character creation screen?

I have a lot of characters. While I'm not sporting a geared 80 of every flavor, I do enjoy playing a variety of classes. Now, I don't know how many of you are in a similar situation, but with so many toons to manage, it can be pretty hard to focus on any one's needs at a time. I've always got to weigh the pros and cons of every decision: figuring out who I should buy gear for, who I should be saving my emblems on, and what my upgrade paths looks like. It can be tough work, and needless to say, I spend a good deal of time each week filling out various spreadsheets and trying to map out a plan.

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Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and helps with the puppet shows at the Argent Ren Faire up in Icecrown. At least, he usually does. But Gregg's a little pre-occupied this week. Therefore, Matt Low will be stepping in temporarily to handle some retribution goodness!

No one expected me to write this column. And I mean no one. What does a healing priest know about dealing damage? When I was approached to fill in for Gregg this week, the first word that came to my mind was "Seriously?" But that's all in the past now. You poor guys are stuck with me this week!

Anyway, yes, I do happen to have a paladin which I use to smash stuff with. Contrary to popular belief, I don't play a healer 24 hours, 7 days a week. I have to try to relax and de-stress myself after a long raid of hard healing. What better way to do that then swing a Justicebringer around? Now, I've been a healer for a long time so when I made the choice to go straight into retribution, I approached the class (and role) with a certain mentality. You see, there are a few things that annoy me when I was healing on my priest whenever there were ret paladins in the raid. I was determined to not be that ret pally.

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Filed under: Paladin, Raiding, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It

If you're curious as to the fate of the WoW TCG, then check out this official statement by Bornakk. While the future of the TCG has been questionable since since Upper Deck had parted ways with Blizzard, that doesn't mean the TCG is going to end. The upcoming Wrathgate and Icecrown expansions are still on pace for the spring and summer. Realm Championships will still happen this weekend around North America, and all announced prizes will still be awarded (but trophies will not be ready yet).

For the full list of North American locations, check out that same thread.

Filed under: News items, WoW TCG

Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. It's a brand new season and a brand new format, introducing judges from WoW.com and the WoW community at large -- and of course, your votes. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble!

The Thunderdome's no Bartertown, Krick and Ick are no Master Blaster ... and as many expected, Scourgelord Tyrannus dominated this week's Two Bosses fantasy deathmatch. More than three-quarters of the spectators anointed the Scourgelord with the victor's crown. The judges tied it up for Tyrannus as well, leaving the path clear for what's shaping up to be an intriguing match, Falric vs. Argent Confessor Paletress. (By the way, if you're a fan of the cage match genre, check out last week's match on Suvudu: Jaime Lannister vs. Hermione Granger -- yeah, it's so one-sided it's just mean, but sometimes those are the train wrecks we love to watch go down. George R.R. Martin himself weighs in, too; get back to writing, bud. )

Join us after the break for the judges' decisions, plus your chance to vote in Falric vs. Paletress. For in the words of Dr. Dealgood: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here."

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Two Bosses Enter