Login with Patreon
The QueueAug 22, 2017 12:00 pm CT

The Queue: I told myself I’d write this earlier

Sometimes, you meet your goals. Other times, you start writing The Queue at 2 a.m. But hey, it’s certainly not the latest I’ve ever written one of these… just not necessarily the earliest. I give myself a 73% chance of also finishing this before morning.

Update: I went to bed. Now it’s morning.

Let’s do The Queue. Also, awesome header image via TamplierPainter.


GEN’CHALLA (@GENDOU) THROWS ME A SOFT BALL:

Q4Q: Is Kel’thuzad everything you expected (even if he’s not a summoner?)

Yes. Yes he is. I didn’t actually expect a lot of summoning, because that’s been done by Xul. I wasn’t entirely sure how they’d make his Frost-based spells works because Jaina sort of covers that area, but I absolutely expected Death and Decay, and I’m happy to see it made it in. I don’t think I ever expected him to be a bursty Assassin, so the slow/root angle works well. He’s going to make a fitting complement to Arthas with all the slows.

In short, he’s a unique enough approach to stand out from other heroes without feeling like his essence has been lost.


ENO MAKES ME FOLLOW UP ON IT:

Mitch, why do you like Kel’thuzad so much?

This is a fair question, and it’s one Alex has stated his confusion over (not just about me, about the community in general).

For me, I love his aesthetic — I’ve always been a fan of the Scourge stuff in WoW — but the bigger appeal is nostalgia. I didn’t exactly play DOTA (in Warcraft 3) a lot, but the few times I did, it was with my best friend, rocking out to Basshunter, just wingin’ it. And I played the Kel’Thuzad hero. Having him in HotS is sort of things coming full circle, and it reminds me of those first few times playing DOTA.


AERIX+88 (@AERIX88) REMINDS ME THAT TUESDAY QUEUES REALLY ARE ALL ABOUT ME:

QftQ: How can Blizzard make Shadow priests more awesome?

{PB}This works less now that Shadow is so defined by the Old Gods and Void, but I’ve always thought it would be cool if Blizzard implemented literal shadows into our kit. Like, imagine if we sent our own shadow through the ground toward our enemy until it reached them, popped up through the ground, and crashed down on them for damage. I guess that’s more along the lines of what a ghost might do but meh. I like the ideas of Shadow Priests actually having shadows in their offensive kit.


GALDWYNN TRIED TO CHEAT THE SYSTEM (JUST LIKE I ONCE DID, TOO):

Q4tQ: Why doesn’t the “Revive Battle Pets” ability countdown when you’re offline?

As was pointed out in the comments, this isn’t actually what’s happening. When you log on to a new character, a shorter cooldown is activated (something like 2 or 3 minutes) so you don’t abuse toon-switching to heal pets more easily when you’re out of bandages.


ARCHMAGE RC WANTS ALL THE HEROES:

Q4tQ: Do you think it’s necessary for heroes in OW and HotS to always have abilities that no one else has, or do you think it’s fine for heroes to sometimes share an ability here or there, as long as it’s not a 100% duplicate toolkit? For instance, Valeera, Nova, and Zeratul can all stealth, but Nova is more of a ranged stealth, while Zeratul and Valeera both fill the niche of melee stealth. Yet the way they play out in practice is a lot different.

I see some arguments of “there’s already someone who can do A, B, and C” as a reason for why they couldn’t *possibly* add certain heroes, but do you feel that argument has merit, or do you think that’s fine, as long as they find fresh, new ways of adding character who have similar play styles?

I think stealth isn’t so much an ability as it is a mechanic, and yeah, it’s totally fine to have it across multiple heroes. I don’t think primary abilities should be the exact same, but Blizzard’s approach to heroes that are too similar in theory seems to be redesigning them slightly. None of their heroes feel too far off the mark, but some of them — the Diablo heroes — are spot-on representations of their original counterparts, whereas others take a few artistic liberties.

I don’t know if that entirely answers your question, but I think it’s okay to have very similar abilities in and of themselves, as long as the overall kit interacts in a way that feels unique. The latter half is what Blizzard seems to be focusing on especially lately.


TAUREN IT UP ASKS A QUESTION WITHOUT AN EASY ANSWER:

Q4tQ: My old economics professor once asked a question to the class, “How expensive would gas have to be for you to stop driving your car?” It was odd because everyone in the classroom seemed to have very obscenely low answers, like $5 or $6 a gallon would make them sell their car and pick up a bike. I said at about $15 I would consider stopping car use and everyone said I was stupid but then Prof pointed out that in England at the time I wasn’t far off, and that limit was just about where they can’t push further without risking to lose sales overall.

Long rambly preamble aside, how expensive would a WoW expansion be for you to stop buying in? I’ve seen people who say they’ve paid since Vanilla launched, as well as people who admit they pay the sub even though they don’t log in to play very often. I sort of wonder how far you could push the hardcore without alienating the casual.

Honestly? I’m not sure there’s a price barrier that would prevent me from buying unless it reached obscene heights (maybe like $200+?). I’ve been playing (and enjoying) the game for far too long to just up and stop playing. But then again, it’s hard to say for certain, since Blizzard would never do that — in reality, I might have a lower limit. It’s hard to say.

What about the rest of you? I’m curious — not just the price that seems stupid to you, but the one that would actually make you stop from playing altogether.


MISTAH JAY DOES THE THING:

3 Bosses Enter: Kel’Thuzad vs Malthael vs Arthas

….well balls. This one is tough. It depends if you consider Arthas strong enough to take control of Kel’Thuzad. Working on the assumption that he couldn’t just control him, I’d probably give it to either Malthael or Kel’Thuzad. KT’s roots and slows might give him the upper-hand, though, and he could probably at least do a little more burst.

But again, it’s a tough call.

Here’s the outro. Happy Tuesday, y’all.

Blizzard Watch is made possible by people like you.
Please consider supporting our Patreon!

Filed Under: Q&a, Queue
Advertisement

Join the Discussion

Blizzard Watch is a safe space for all readers. By leaving comments on this site you agree to follow our  commenting and community guidelines.

Toggle Dark Mode: