The Queue: Pirates of Penzance (and everywhere else) edition

I am pretty excited about Outlaw Rogues. Just how excited am I? I’ve already started annoying my guild with Pirates of Penzance.

Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part,
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I’ll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King Queen.

And now it’s time to move on before we get too far into my affection for operetta. Another day has dawned over the Queue, which means it’s time for your questions and our answers — and I promise they’re not all about pirates.

Honestly, I hadn’t really stopped to think about this until I read your question. I’ve gotten used to playing with people of any level in Diablo 3 and this system feels similar — only for a more narrow range of levels than you’d find in D3. Though, admittedly in D3 being extremely low level and partied with higher level friends still leaves you exceedingly (very exceedingly) fragile, players within a few levels of each other will work together just fine, no matter where they decide to play. And, honestly, in the context of D3 I’m usually having too much fun playing with friends (even when we aren’t all exactly at the same place in the game) to worry about who feels more powerful than who — but your mileage may vary.

I can certainly see power being a concern, but I agree with some of the commenters who brought up gearing and item level. Think about Timewalking dungeons: even though your gear is scaled down, there’s still some gear that’s better to use than others. In the case of Timewalking, that’s usually legendaries or sets with good bonuses, but I could see something similar happening in Legion, letting your gear improve your power as much as your actual level.

But in the end, we’re going to have to see how it plays out. It’s easy to worry about these “what if” scenarios when we don’t have patch notes or a beta yet — because it’s just hard to tell if it will work out, but very easy to see how it might not work out.

While we don’t have an exact date, Blizzard did say it would be going up “weeks” after BlizzCon. We’re already counting off the days on our calendar.

As to signing up, you just need to set up your Battle.net profile to get you on the beta list — just follow these instructions to get started (you’ll want to opt in for WoW betas). Of course, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a beta invite or that you’ll get one right at the start: it just puts you on the list of potential testers.

I’m definitely hoping that with Legion‘s Wardrobe that we’ll either see more transmog restrictions lifted — for example, being able to transmog the cloth Bloodsail Admiral’s Hat for a leather-wearing Outlaw Rogue would be perfect. As a lot of the game’s current pirate-themed gear is cloth, it presents a real problem for Outlaws who really want to play up their new role with an appropriately jaunty hat.

But if that doesn’t happen (and it may well not), I can definitely see Blizzard doing more cosmetic gear. I’ve greatly enjoyed the Fel-Proof Goggles in Warlords and would love to see something appropriately piratical as a transmog option in Legion. Come on, Blizzard, work with the theme!

Though I am personally in favor of pirate hats (and matching accoutrements), musketeer-style headgear (and other garb) is also a perfectly acceptable for an Outlaw Rogue. Just as you pick your Artifact style of choice, so too should you find a transmog look to match — and the rapier-styled version of the Outlaw Artifact really begs for a good plumed hat.

As you wish! Though making a comprehensive list of all worthwhile piratical media is beyond my means, I will offer some suggested places to start: The Princess Bride (book or movie version), Pirates of the Caribbean (though you can get up to speed with this not quite safe for work Lonely Island video), the aforementioned Pirates of the Penzance, any of the Monkey Island games, basically any movie with Errol Flynn… really, there’s too much. Pick your favorite pirate-themed thing and go with it!

However, if you’re already sick and tired of pirates by this point in the post (well before Outlaw Rogues even exist), you could try your favorite take on The Three Musketeers, too. It’s a different, but totally valid, take on the Outlaw spec, though you’ll have more trouble finding the perfect hat to accompany the attitude.

It’s always a good idea to train both hands up. Just in case.

I know, I know — I’ve talked way too much about Rogues and pirates today. I’d say I’m sorry but I’m not because Outlaw Rogues look awesome and I must share my piratical joy with all. Still, my joy doesn’t have to be your joy — leave your questions and comments, no matter the topic, below.