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The QueueDec 7, 2016 11:00 am CT

The Queue: Schoolhouse Rock

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!


MEERKATX ASKED:

There is a English phrase, “all fur coat but no knickers”. it means something looks good but lacks substance. Does anyone else feel like Legion fits the term?

It entirely depends on what you enjoy, I think. There’s more content than ever I can do as a solo or small-group player. I don’t think that phrase applies at all. It’s a game and it has given me a game to play. Likewise, I haven’t heard too many complaints from raiders. I don’t think a lack of content has been a serious problem this time around. Legion‘s gearing being a horrible, random mire has been a complaint, but not a lack of things to do. It isn’t even all repetitive grinding, either. Suramar provides an endgame storyline — something I’m not sure we’ve seen in WoW ever before in any significant or notable way.

Sometimes, I suspect players who have burned out on the game but haven’t realized it turn to blaming the game itself instead. This is what I did with Mists of Pandaria. I wasn’t enjoying myself, and to this very day, I blame the expansion sometimes. I don’t think it was the expansion’s fault. I just needed a break from the game and wasn’t willing to take one — or perhaps unable to take one, given my job here. Whether I want to or not, I always need to be aware of what’s happening. I’ve never been compelled to quit the game, but I have certainly wanted to take breaks.

Maybe that isn’t necessarily the case here, but it’s something worth considering.


THE MEGA SAGE ASKED:

What are the chances of the One Night in Karazhan Hearthstone adventure going on a holiday sale from its current price of $19.99?

I could be wrong (and I hope someone points out below if I am), but I don’t think Hearthstone adventures have ever gone on sale as a holiday thing or otherwise. Their price is their price and they stay that way until they get rotated out of Standard play.


SPENCER MORGAN ASKED:

Where are all the schools in Azeroth? Is education not yet an institution in many societies. I remember reading old fluff that described Alliance races as priding themselves on being educated, with much of their population able to read and write. I assume the horde (the forsaken aside) would see the value in educating their children to some extent. All the playable races have cities, bodies of flesh and blood (meaning they create children in the traditional sense), and so it stands to reason that children and schools are part of their societies, but this isn’t recognized at all in the game’s cities. Why do children only show up when blizz needs to force a half-baked successor to a popular criminal organization into the story? (*cough* VanCleef *cough*)

Children and their associated needs are generally not represented in World of Warcraft. Azeroth is no doubt much larger than it is actually represented in-game. Not only are there no schools, the gameworld simply isn’t large enough to sustain a population. Look at Stormwind: It’s meant to be a huge urban center. For such a thing to be possible, Stormwind would need significant agricultural support. Every urban center in the history of the world has needed immense agricultural support and I don’t think a mage’s ability to conjure food would change that so drastically that it wasn’t needed at all. Urban centers produce complex goods, services, and protection. Rural areas provide materials and sustenance. That’s how it works.

All we see in World of Warcraft are the couple of farms in Elwynn Forest. There would need to be significantly more farmland than what we actually see. But do we need to see that farmland if it isn’t providing gameplay? Maybe not.

Schools and all of that thing are probably in existence, we just don’t see them in-game. However, there are a few in-game institutions that probably play a role in education. In the real world, religious institutions often had a significant role in education, and not simply theology. In Middle Ages Europe, monks were some of the most educated people around and acted as historians and educators, too. Northshire Abbey, and other religious centers in and around Stormwind, probably have a role in educating human children. The same probably applies to the Temples of Elune and so forth. I could see orcs not necessarily having a schoolhouse, but their Shaman act as educators. Dalaran, too, is almost certainly equipped to teach both the young and the old. Jaina Proudmoore, as I recall, was taught in Dalaran both as a youth as an adult.

Kids just aren’t that interesting to have around unless they’re relevant to what’s happening in the gameworld. See: Vanessa VanCleef, as you mentioned.

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