The Queue: Baby’s first Queue
Though I’ve been part of the site since I was hired in 2007 and was Editor-in-Chief in the Wrath era before handing the reins over to our current Commander-in-Chief, Alex Ziebart, this is the first Queue that I’ve written. I might have penned a few editions of The Queue’s predecessor, Ask A Beta Tester, but that is lost to the mists of time. In any case, the future is now and questions demand answers. Though I’ve been told quite pointedly that I cannot answer in lolcat memes. Sigh.
Q4tQ: Do you think they’ll announce any new class/race combos at Blizzcon?
If they do it’s not going to be Gnome Druids. But what if it is? I mean, it can’t be. Not in a million years. Can it? Could it be Gnome Druids? It’s a silly thing to wish for or even think about. But Gnome Druids would be awesome, right? How could they not make something so awesome? With their kitty and bear cub form. it would steal the show. People would be watching the SC2 tournament and someone would say “Did you hear you can try out the new Gnome Druid form?” and everyone would run out like there’s a fire. OMG it could be Gnome Druids!
I believe it’s a strong possibility. Blizzard struggles with putting out new content in a timely manner (one major content patch for all of WoD, really??) so they often introduce features that allow us to enjoy existing content in new ways. Timewalking dungeons, heirlooms to encourage alt leveling, etc. By introducing new race/class combinations they will encourage players to roll alts to fulfill their long held dream to defeat the unrelenting evils that assault Azeroth by taking the form of an unassailable Gnome Druid bear…cub.
It’s also telling that their new class, the Metamorphosized Warloc–uh Demon Hunter is restricted to just one Elf race on each side. Let’s face it, not everyone who plays the game is an Elf-lover. Those players would be well-served by being able to roll up a Draenei Warlock or a Goblin Paladin. Legion features so far seem to be focused on a lot of fan service (class weapons, class halls, classic lore, etc.) why not throw in a few more class/race combos to seal the deal and bring back lapsed players?
Hypothetical – Blizzard announces they will be supporting Oculus Rift. Your response is:
a) “I can’t believe they are wasting development time on this. Dev resources should be on content that everybody can use.”
b) “This is awesome. I love that Blizzard is trying new things to keep their game interesting, even if it means sacrificing other things for something a small portion of the player base would use.”
As an aside, how awesome would it be to have virtual reality Azeroth???
c) All of the above.
On the one hand, Blizzard’s biggest obstacle to creating new content, in my understanding, is art. They already had to redo massive portions of the game’s topography to introduce flying into the old world, now they have to go back and recreate all the objects to hold up in virtual reality? Yes, the game assets are already 3D objects in a 3D virtual environment, but the blocky textures won’t hold up very well especially given the Warcraft movie’s virtual reality preview.
On the other hand, oh hells yes, a fully immersible Azeroth would be amazeballs and not just for those skeevy Silvermoon Inn partrons on the RP servers. I think the introduction of flight into the game already heightened the feeling of really being in the world. Add a 360 degree VR element to that would be mind-blowing even with older graphics.
Q4tQ: Do you think they’ll announce a new Hearthstone adventure at Blizzcon? If so, any guesses?
Without a doubt there will be a Hearthstone adventure announcement. The real question is which WoW raid they will base it on. Naxxramas and Blackrock Mountain have already been tapped so that leaves some other long time favorites. Among those, though, one stands out: Ulduar. Why? Because Blizzard announced earlier this week that new card back for this month wouldn’t be revealed until BlizzCon, but the teaser art has a bluish-energy look very similar to that raid zone.
Ulduar holds plenty of iconic raid bosses to fight in an adventure from Titans to constructs to Yogg-Saron himself. Some Ulduar-themed cards are already in the game such as Mimiron’s Head, but I’m sure the devs will work around it. I personally enjoy adventures over expansions as I enjoy figuring out how to defeat each boss. So I hope I’m right!
If you could leap off a high balcony, and land safely into the saddle of your trusty flying gryphon (or flying mount of choice) would you?
Yes or No. (No 3rd option, Mistah Jay!) :-)
I say heck yeah.
I’ve played a Druid since launch so jumping off of high things and taking flight mid-air has been my jam since I finished the flight form quest back in the day. Sometimes I like to fly as high as I can, transform into a bear, fall like rock, then switch to cat to avoid falling damage right before I hit the ground. Works in theory, right??
Thanks for all your questions today. I even managed to get through the entire Queue without one lolcat.
Dammit!
[Hatching dinosaur image via Zachi Evenor]
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