The Queue: I never sleep or rest, but I’m still running out of time

Hello and happy Tuesday! We had a long discussion about Two Bosses Enter in the comments yesterday, so it only seemed fitting to FEATURE IT AS THE FIRST QUESTION! That makes sense, right? I think that makes sense.

Let’s Queue.

(PS: Sorry if the format on 2BE is a bit odd. WordPress was eating it all the other ways I tried to type it.)

Mistah Jay

2OldGodsEnter: G’Hunn vs Yogg Saron

I actually love G’Huun’s voice, but I’m still a bit peeved at him (it?) being considered an Old God. I’m also peeved that I forgot to ask Afrasiabi about that classification when I had the chance at BlizzCon — it was on my mental list, but it totally slipped my mind when interview time came up. Basically, G’Huun is a sore spot for me for multiple reasons. Also Yogg-Saron is — and has been — my Old God of choice for ages now. If they ever had to fight, I’d give it to an actual Old God over a fake one.

2BE: Blood Trolls vs Bleeding Hollow Clan

I really like the body art on the Bleeding Hollow Orcs, and Tanaan (pre-Fel corruption) is much more my aesthetic than Nazmir. When it comes to them fighting, though, I think the Blood Trolls might have the upper-hand just because of how strong their magic is.

WC3 vs BfA Malfurion?

Neither (they’re both awful)

2BE: Sylvanas vs Ysera

Sylvanas (duh)

Kalcheus

2BE: Mistah Jay vs Rik Osborne

I love you all <3

Mythriak

2BE: Someone in the world of games that you hate as much as Malfurion vs. Malfurion (i’m not very good at this…)

Slippy… but not by much.

Well, I’m not sure if the Zakajz from the Xal’atath scenario from Legion counts as “occasional buried C’Thrax,” but that was one. There have also been Erudax near Grim Batol and Kith’ix (though dead) near Zul’Aman. However, if you mean non-C’Thraxxi-but-still-Black-Empire races, umm…

I don’t think there are any “unique” ones that hang out in Eastern Kingdoms. The ones that do show are C’Thraxxi or N’raqi, and those both seem to have overlap between serving N’Zoth and Yogg-Saron. However, take a look at this map of the Black Empire.

Right now, the Qiraji hang out where C’Thun ruled, the Mantid hang out where Y’Shaarj ruled, and the N’raqi/C’Thraxxi are mostly where Yogg-Saron ruled, with some overlap in the northeastern portion of Eastern Kingdoms (which bordered Yogg’s territory). There are exceptions to this, of course, but it stands to reason any Black Empire races that would otherwise reside in Eastern Kingdoms are loyal to N’Zoth. And, as such, they’re probably in the darkest depths of the ocean, not on land. Granted, the K’thir have made themselves known as of Battle for Azeroth, but that’s because they’re coming from the ocean to the land.

Personally, I’m hoping we get a brand-new race that dates back to the Black Empire when we finally do see N’Zoth and his domain. Not a more nautical-looking N’raqi or a tentacle-faced take on an existing race — something brand new in the same way the Mantid were.

It sounds like there are some addons (like that Storyline one) that will make the option less apparent. However, if you’re Horde and you’re working through that quest chain, you should definitely be able to tell that there’s a choice to make. If it’s not obvious, disable addons and try again.

Someone mentioned in the comments, but I would love if I had my Psyfiend available in more than PVP content. Though, that wouldn’t necessarily be as a replacement for the Shadowfiend/Mindbender. It would also be cool to have options to Glyph those into Mawfiends or Haunts. Actually, the Fractured Memory model is also really cool, too.

Those all use the Shadowfiend skeleton, though. If we’re talking totally different, I’d be all for a tiny Faceless One or Mindslayer, like the battle pets. Oh! Or you know what else would be cool? A Wicker Pup-like take on it, but with the “Blighted Lands” effects more prominent. I’d also take a smaller, slightly different variety of the Pale from Warlords of Draenor. They’re not perfect as is, but I like the idea behind them, and a more Aberration-y take on them could look pretty rad.

I don’t know if I have a good answer here. On the one hand, the recent lore livestream made it sound like the instances of player choice will have meaningful effects. On the other, it would totally not surprise me in the slightest if those “meaningful effects” end up being something like, “If you chose side X, you’re going to have 36,000 extra reputation to work through because you’ll start at Hated!” Frankly, that’s not a meaningful effect. That’s a game mechanic doing its best imitation of a story.

Unless Blizz really does shake things up with the faction lines in the next expansion, I’m not sure how much they can deliver on things when it comes to choice. I’d be 100% okay with choice meaning you just plain don’t see certain quest chains — it would effectively be what we’ve already experienced in BFA by choosing Horde or Alliance — but I’m not sure they’d do that beyond a couple small quests here and there.

Basically, as I’m typing this, I’m realizing my answer is that, no, I don’t think they could really deliver a cohesive story that makes our choices feel meaningful. And that’s entirely due to game mechanics — the writing team is capable of it, to be sure. I’d love to be wrong here, but it feels safer to not get my hopes up until I’ve seen what Blizzard actually defines as a meaningful effect.

I guess I don’t really have any specific rules set in stone, but the times I have voted to kick have been fairly similar situations. Honestly, if someone is just flat-out being a d*ck, then that’s a fast vote-kick.

But outside of that, it’s mostly if someone is not doing anything or if they’re doing something we’ve asked them not to do. Like, I can forgive low DPS, but at a certain point, it’s obvious someone is auto-attacking — and that person doesn’t deserve my carry. Likewise, if someone is pulling for the tank, constantly taunting (with their pet or otherwise), or DPSing instead of healing, and we’ve asked that person not to do that but they don’t listen… gone.

Really, most runs will go quickly as long as people aren’t doing anything outrageously stupid or negligent. I don’t usually vote to kick unless someone is doing something to make a run significantly more annoying or slow than it should go. Sometimes, I will actually vote against kicking someone if the group is being overly touchy. Again, I can forgive low DPS — everyone was a newb at some point. Just don’t be an outlier in one way or another.

I’d say it’s pretty likely! Taliesin and Evitel have done a good job over the past several months pointing out Shadowland references here and there, but the main takeaway is that there have been a lot over the past few expansions. Frankly, at this point, it would feel odd if we don’t at least visit it in some capacity pretty soon. Though, I’d much prefer it become its own, fleshed-out location rather than something like the Drustvar-turned-Thros we got in Jaina’s quest chain on Alliance side.

That said, I don’t know if I agree that it would be used primarily to revisit characters who have died. I’m sure we’d see familiar faces pop up (again, like they did for Jaina when she was in Thros), but I don’t think it’d be in a much bigger capacity than that. At least, I hope it wouldn’t — one character would be fine, but I don’t want the Shadowlands to become a “Greatest Hits” of dead WoW characters. I’ll be thrilled when we go there as long as that doesn’t happen!

That’s all for today! Leave plenty of questions for Liz, who will almost definitely be here tomorrow, much to Kalcheus’s joy.