The Queue: Gnometastic

You know what day it is. That’s right, it’s Liz Queue day, and that means we’re talking about Gnomes.

We’ve left Rossi in charge for the day, but now that you mention it, I’m not sure if anyone told him…

Great, Mitch, you’ve ruined everything.

Mitch.

I hope you weren’t expecting more detail than that, because it’s just Mitch.

Really, I think it’s Gnomes who need to go cross faction. Goblins already have neutral cross-faction towns, all of which serve as sanctuaries for both sides (as long as they have the coin). They even have several of their own neutral factions for Horde and Alliance characters both to gain favor with.

Why don’t Gnomes have the same thing?

Certainly, Goblins have an interest in commerce so it makes sense for them to have neutral settlements that cater to both sides. (In fact, the only thing that doesn’t make sense is them specifically allying with one side over the other, thus alienating potential Alliance clientele.) Gnomes don’t seem to have any commercial concerns, but they are interested in technology. Scientific progress cannot happen in a vacuum, and it only makes sense that they would be interested in collaborative work. Neutral Gnome cities would be bastions of advanced thinking, with libraries of blueprints and magnificent workshops (with only occasional explosions caused by experiments gone wrong).

Instead, we haven’t even managed to rebuild Gnomeregan. Sigh.

For this same reason, I could see Gnomes interested in joining the Horde. They are less tied to a specific creed than they are to learning and advancement. If they had some interest that was better known to members of the Horde, I don’t see why they wouldn’t chase it.

I can see Goblins similarly having an interest in the Alliance. If there’s coin to be made… well, they’d be foolish not to sign up.

TLDR: I think both races make sense on both sides, perhaps as some kind of Pandaren-like race. But I would settle on an awesome neutral Gnome city. Or rebuilding Gnomeregan.

Addie Fizzlebog or riot.

That is all.

Though this may actually be possible — Wowhead’s guide to The Insane says there are some mobs you can kill to earn Steamwheedle rep without losing Bloodsail rep — it’s not necessary. Grind up to honored with Bloodsail, get your achievement, and grind your way back to being best buds with the Goblins.

Then you can just enjoy your title!

Uh, I mean, then you can grind to exalted with Darkmoon Faire and Ravenholdt (make friends with a Rogue), and then you can just enjoy your title!

Honestly back in the day when this achievement was new, you really did have to be something of a lunatic to get it. (You know, like those people who complete every single Mage Tower challenge. Skilled and dedicated, but definitely a little crazy.) These days, our huge level advantage over the things we need to kill makes it a lot easier. If you want this one, it’s totally doable.

I feel like a lot of Blizzard’s social features are based on things they see becoming popular elsewhere, so they add them to the game.

Except their versions show up after other applications are already entrenched. The group chat feature? It’s Discord, or it’s supposed to be. Blizzard saw how many guilds were using third party apps to chat, and they’ve tried to build the feature in.

Unfortunately for both voice chat and this new group chat stuff, Blizzard is years too late to the game. I am, right now, logged on to eight different Discord servers, each with its own list of channels (voice and text), access permissions, and content rules.

These two would spend a half hour trying to blow each other up, and then they’d start comparing notes on their respective mechs. (And obviously Gelbin has no issue with Hammond being a hamster, because Hammond is clearly incredibly intelligent and you have to respect that.)

Really, it’s the next target that comes along who should be worried, because just imagine the horrifying death machine the two of them could build together.

Actually, maybe don’t imagine it because it is definitely horrifying.

And that’s all for now, my lovely Queue commenters. Be sure to have a safe 4th of July, whether you are celebrating it as a holiday or just as a Wednesday. I will be very disappointed if I hear that any of you blow yourselves up, so please stick to sparklers and eating too much barbecue.