The Queue is sad

I’m sad, you’re sad, we’re all sad together. I was really starting to wallow in it, so I went and ran an LFR.

That is not exactly what I would call a cure-all for negative emotions — after all, LFR is packed with its own special blend of negativity — but it had an unexpected cheering effect. The group wasn’t too bad, and for the most part I could tunnel-vision on health bars and fight mechanics and blissfully not think about anything else for a while.

It was nice.

But now we’re back here in the Queue, and I’m still feeling pretty sad.

I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone on the Blizzard Watch team who wouldn’t like to have reduced transmog restrictions. However… this seems odd even to my pro-transmog thinking. These sets are so closely aligned with their respective races that I don’t think it would look right on other races.

Sure, a Highmountain Tauren in Tauren Heritage Armor would look fine. But what about a Goblin in Blood Elf Heritage Armor? Or a Void Elf in Gnome Heritage Armor? It’s just weird. You look beautiful in your own Heritage Armor, and you don’t need anyone else’s.

If you’ve watched my Queues, you know I’m upset about Mekkatorque and he isn’t even dead (yet).

I like Mekkatorque because he is — in his own unique way — unstoppable. When Troggs invaded Gnomeregan, he worked to fight them off. Saying that didn’t work is a huge understatement… the Troggs were overrunning the Gnomes and, on the advice of Sicco Thermaplugg, Mekkatorque flooded the city with radiation. It was supposed to kill the Troggs and leave the Gnomes unharmed, but Thermaplug it did quite the opposite. Most of the Gnomes were dead, and Mekkatorque’s closest advisor had betrayed him in a play to take over the city.

That’s a pretty crushing defeat, but Mekkatorque led his people out of the city and to the relative safety of Ironforge. He founded New Tinkertown. He eventually defeated Thermaplugg. He fought in the Siege of Orgrimmar. He helped the Alliance reach the Broken Isles and fought on the front lines against the Burning Legion. He led the Alliance assault of Dazar’alor and it took a full raid of the Horde’s best to force him to retreat.

Mekkatorque never gives up and he never loses hope. Considering everything he’s been through, he maintains a baffling amount of good cheer. And somehow, despite death and betrayal, he continues a firm belief in the power of friendship.

“It is our loyalty to our friends that provides our truest, greatest strength.”

It’s practically ridiculous what a good guy trope Mekkatorque is, and yet I’m still charmed by him. I’m definitely not giving up on him. And I’d be pretty crushed if he wound up dead.

Uh, just don’t tell anyone I stole his cloak. I mean… I’m just holding on to it for him. To keep it safe and definitely not weep into while I worry that our High Tinker may be no more.

No. No. This question is too hard. Don’t make me choose.

I did take an extended break from WoW during Cataclysm, but I don’t remember rage — just an overwhelming sense of sadness. I had played through Burning Crusade and Wrath with a guild that finally fell apart from the typical tensions you find in a casual guild that’s trying to raid. Some of my friends went one way, some went another, and some decided they’d had enough and quit the game.

It was disheartening. I kept playing, but it wasn’t the same with my friends scattered and my raid group gone.

And then Cataclysm hit. I’d been playing a Holy Paladin, but the class was suddenly unrecognizable. I suddenly had to manage Holy Power in addition to mana. Paladin healing had been quite literally turned on its head. The Shockadin playstyle that I’d genuinely enjoyed was gone, replaced by the implication that any soloing should be in Retribution spec.

But I still tried to play through Cataclysm. I tried to play as a much-weakened Shockadin, but nothing in the world dropped intellect plate, so I wore a hodgepodge of leather and mail. I tried speccing Retribution, but I just didn’t like it. This wasn’t the class I enjoyed playing. My friends had vanished, and then my class vanished. Everything I’d enjoyed about the game was gone.

So I left, too, and I didn’t come back until Mists. But it wasn’t rage. Never rage.

I’m not sure if Blizzard has officially confirmed it or not, but it should be in patch 8.1.5.

We know from yesterday’s earnings call that Blizzard doesn’t have any new titles planned for this year, but a BlizzCon would be about next year or the year after. I think it’s entirely possible Blizzard may have a lot of news for us about what’s on the agenda for 2020 and beyond… and the best place to announce them is BlizzCon, where they don’t have to share stage space with any other game companies. It’s all Blizzard, all the time.

Blizzard has skipped BlizzCons in the past, and I suspect Galdwynn is asking because of yesterday’s layoffs… but my feeling is that Blizzard will want to go ahead with it. But that’s also only my feeling, and the truth could fall anywhere.

And that’s all for today, my friends. Adam is scheduled to show up tomorrow, but considering he was still in a post-surgery, drug-induced haze last time I spoke to him, you’ll probably find Anna answering your questions tomorrow. So be sure to ask plenty of questions about American Truck Simulator!