The Queue: Let’s stay [on/off] topic

Y’all done did it now. I had to eschew my usual song lyrics/Splatoon-centric headline because of all the hubbub in the comments. Guess I have no choice but to dive right into what’s on everyone’s mind, huh?

Let’s Queue.

Go to Outland just because it’s fitting from a roleplaying perspective. Also, I actually like a lot of Outland’s questing (especially Hellfire and Nagrand).

…Wait, what? There are so many unconfirmed things about that question I don’t even know where to begin. So instead of beginning, I’m just going to assume they’re all accurate and say that, no, Vrykul don’t get to be Druids*. Kul Tiran Druids got their time to shine, we don’t need any new Human-y Druid races.

*Unless they’re a Horde race. In that case, Dr00dz r Vry-COOL.

It drops off Garrosh in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid. Duh.

As for its origins, I don’t think we’re ever really given an explanation. But it clearly has ties to the Old Gods, and it’s something Garrosh uses when he’s empowered by the Sha forces. It is not Gorehowl, though — he left that behind in the Sha of Pride’s room. My guess is that the Sha (Old Gods) made him Xal’atoh as an intentionally ironic weapon. They knew he’d love its power without him realizing they’d corrupted a weapon iconic in its involvement freeing Orcs from corruption.

Basically, it feels like the Old Gods’ empowerment gave him a type of weapon he’d be familiar — rather than, like, a bow or something he wouldn’t be familiar with — with while throwing in their own ironic twist because they like that sort of thing. But that’s just speculation. He had Gorehowl, he dropped Gorehowl, then he had Xal’atoh after becoming empowered by the Heart of Y’shaarj.

I’m probably just talking out of my buns right now — because, sometimes, simple solutions are actually the best — but as a casual viewer, part of the GOATS meta seems to revolve around the way Ultimates work so well together. Technically, making it so certain Ultimates didn’t work together would solve things (to a degree), but that also… kind of sucks. And it’s not entirely within the spirit of the game. So maybe introduce a mechanic that negates armor or shields or health buffs, and give it to a DPS character. If the enemy team pops a Brigitte Ult, then a Lucio Ult, then a Zarya Ult, they’re sitting pretty without much counter. But if a DPS could partially negate the boost to shields and armor, things might be different.

I don’t really know — but I’m also not a designer! My guess is that Hero 30 will introduce something intended to disrupt the GOATS meta. We should be seeing teasers soon.

The black darkness and the encompassing Void which confirms your reverie’s spacelessness should taste sweet and ephemeral. Sweet dreams are not made of anything. It is in their nothingness that you find freedom. It is that freedom — the freedom afforded by nothing — that is sweet.

You can actually queue for the Crown Chemical Co. from… level 18 and above? I think? I had a level 26 in mine earlier. The scaling generally works well enough that you’d never notice this sort of thing. But every so often, you get weird scaling — or, alternatively, someone who is just bad — and you notice it.

lol, jebaited.

All right, for real, though, let’s get into this. To answer a few questions that popped up:

• Yes, the Off Topic stuff is a new thing we’re trying.
• No, you guys didn’t miss an announcement. Adam is/was going to post something Soon™, but he hasn’t yet.
• No, my fantastic Yoshi’s Crafted World article didn’t start this, but it did contribute.
• Anthem is not a Blizzard game. We were streaming it because of that first bullet point.

Adam’s announcement will be more formulated and business-savvy, so I’m going to try to keep this succinct and objective, but why are we doing this? Because we play other video games and because we like writing about things and because we like having this job.

I know not everyone is a fan, but here’s the thing: This is being done because we want to keep doing what we’re doing. I like writing about games here, I like chatting with you guys. Branching out helps us do that. Before I continue, though, let me clarify a few more things:

• Having an Off Topic post does not mean a Blizzard-focused post was replaced. If you see a Blizzard post at 8:00, an OT post at 10:00, The Queue at noon, and a Blizzard post at 2:00, guess what? Without that OT post, you’d see posts at 8, 12, and 2.
  • I will grant you, Off Topic streams are a bit different. If you were watching the streams purely for the games and the streamers/chat had nothing to do with it, I genuinely want you to tell me.
• You don’t have to read the Off Topic stuff. You don’t have to watch the Off Topic streams.
• This is all a work in progress. That said, it will help to know how you’d like Off Topic stuff implemented. “I want to see only gaming topics,” or “I want to see OT stuff separated from the main feed” is immeasurably more helpful than “I want you to stop posting OT stuff.”

With the above in mind — and, yes, this is intentionally “worst case scenario” stuff — how would you feel if it were “Off Topic stuff gets written or Blizzard Watch shuts down”? Would you still not want us to post OT stuff? Would you still remove your Patreon support if we posted OT stuff, even though it’s not replacing Blizzard posts?

Because, to be completely frank, if you would rather the site fail than see us expand what we write about, that hurts a bit. I like you guys. I like games. I like writing. This site is a nice place that brings all that together. Off Topic posts won’t change that — not having a site would.

It’s also worth pointing out that people used to hate the idea of WoW Insider posting anything non-WoW related, even if it was still Blizzard. If Blizzard Watch had stuck to WoW only, we wouldn’t be here right now. So, if it helps, try viewing it through that lens.

I don’t know what the Off Topic experiment will ultimately result in. Maybe it will fail. Maybe we’ll grow to be the best gaming site in the world. Whatever ends up happening, I would love your support as we make adjustments in the name of making sure we can do what we love for a long time to come. If we don’t get your support, that’s your choice. I won’t hold it against you — heck, that’s technically Patreon working exactly as designed.

All right, I’ve said what I’m going to say. Please don’t let the comments devolve into anything that’s going to make Liz yell at me. If it wasn’t clear from the above, I do like working here, and it would be a shame to be fired.