The Queue: In the Queue we are many

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!

Elizabeth Haper won’t be the only one filling in for for Matthew Rossi here at The Queue. I’ll be jumping in from time-to-time as well. So let’s get to it.

There is always more story to tell as long as their is an audience that wants to hear it. Plenty of successful stories has spooled out for years, even decades to the delight of fans. From Doctor Who to the Wheel of Time to Game of Thrones to James Bond to Sherlock Holmes.

Are there pitfalls to the neverending story? Absolutely. As any long time soap opera fan can tell you, there comes a time when the reset button has to be hit and what has gone on before has to be ignored so new stories can spring forth. You can see that already with Cataclysm. We’ll likely see it again within the next 2-3 expansions.

As with any long running narrative, some people like the original version, some like what it morphs into and some are happy to go along wherever the ride takes them. Where you fall on that continuum will likely depend on when you first encountered WoW. Just like how everyone’s favorite Doctor is usually their first, everyone’s favorite WoW period is usually the one they first experienced. It doesn’t mean the later versions are worse, just different.

Is there end game? Likely not. There is still money to be made and stories to be told. Older MMORPGs are still chugging along quite nicely with regular new content and happy players. World of Warcraft still has too much life left in it to worry about an end game right now.

I can’t speak to the Warrior class fantasy as I don’t have a Warrior in the game, but I’m fairly happy with where they are taking Druids in terms class fantasy. Admittedly, the class already had strong elements already in play with distinct forms and specs, but I feel they are not only sharpening those distinctions in Legion, they are also bringing back the talents that encourage shapeshifting, a key skill back in the day.

The bigger question here though is, what do you do when Blizzard’s view of your class doesn’t match your own? My advice is to give the new one a try before putting aside your favorite class. It may not be what you remember, but it may be something else that is still fun. Alternately, it may be time to try something new. A new spec or a new class. I recently pulled a level 39 Mage out of cold storage after not having played him for years and found I really enjoyed what they’ve done with the Fire spec. Frost and Arcane, not so much, but Fire is suddenly hella fun. So before you decide Blizzard has steered your favorite class in the wrong direction, give their new version a spin in Legion. You never know until you get your hands on the finished product if you’re really going to like it or not.

Two clarifications before I tackle this one.

First, I have to point out that Blizzard has already branched out into mobile gaming with Hearthstone. But I understand you meant your question in even bigger terms.

Second, excuse me while I lose the next week of my life playing Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Damn, that game looks good. I’ve been looking for a good mobile game and I think this may be it. Thanks for the heads up.

I think there is  a great deal of potential for Blizzard to branch out in the mobile game world with all their titles. Who wouldn’t want a stripped-down Diablo dungeon crawler on their phone? A WoW Battle Pets mobile game? An Overwatch sidescrolling shooter? Or even a Blizzard-themed Tsum Tsum pack? Just look how Disney/Lucasfilms has done a brilliant job of bringing Star Wars to mobile gaming in dozens of different ways to get an idea of what is possible with Blizzard’s titles.

So why haven’t they? That’s a good question I honestly don’t have an answer to, but I suspect with the success of Hearthstone, we’ll start seeing more mobile titles. But like everything Blizzard does, it will be one or two well-planned titles, not a shotgun blast of a dozen quickie games. In fact, just Friday, Blizzard went on record saying they are exploring the mobile space, specifically with real time strategy titles.

Orphan Black. I caught up on three seasons in two weekends and I don’t regret a minute of it. What Tatiana Maslany does every week on that show is amazing. Can’t wait for the upcoming season.