The QueueAug 26, 2020 12:00 pm CT

The Queue: !

Hi! I’m feeling excitable! Or maybe panicked! Is that a monster?!? It could be! I don’t even know!

Let’s talk about stuff!

TETSEMI! THERE’S A GIANT THREE EYED TOAD MONSTER IN YOUR YARD!

I leveled up through Beta and did two chapters of the Covenant Campaign so far and I’m up to 7 different types of currencies. At what point do we deal with currency overload? I realize this is probably because they’re putting all the systems into the 9.0 patch as opposed to introducing them in a 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 etc patch. but it just seems a bit much. What do you folks think?

I won’t be able to really answer this question until the game goes live and we’ve lived with it for a while, but honestly I haven’t really noticed it up to this point. But I gotta admit, seven different kinds of currency at launch seems kind of nuts to me.

KALCHEUS! HE’S GOT AN AXE! RUN!

D&D Q4tQ: How do you feel about Artificer being incorporated into the core D&D classes? Do you have concerns about the “tweaks” to make it less Eberron-y and more core D&D-y?

I think it’s a pretty good move on their part to incorporate the Artificer more directly — it helps set them apart from the other game descended from 3rd Ed D&D and it probably should have been in the PHB from the get got of 5th Edition.

As for tweaking it away from Eberron, I suppose that’s necessary, but if it were up to me I’d have made Eberron a core setting from the get go. Eberron was conceived back in the day as a world where anything D&D could exist, and frankly with worlds like Oerth and Faerun getting long in the tooth a more modern-flavored world with magical trains and airships could definitely help to modernize the brand. But I’ve always been an Eberron fan. It’s not my favorite setting — that’s Mystara/the Known World of the original Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortals rules (guys, D&D can get complicated) — but it’s one I’ve been fond of since it was first introduced.

But making the Artificer a more neutral, less setting specific class is probably a requisite for making them a core class, and I have few reservations about that.

STRANGE THOMAS! YOU’RE NOT THAT STRANGE! THAT SIX FACED SHAMBLING MUCK-MONSTER BEHIND YOU IS STRANGER!

Any insight into why “Frost” is the starter, therefore “default” leveling spec for mages? Does the water elemental act like a tank (like a voidwalker or tenacity pet)? It seems like it’s a cross between ranged dps (imp) with slight crowd control (succubus).

Am I missing something? What am I missing here?

Well, people have already pointed out that in Shadowlands you’ll be specless until level 10, and then you’ll get a quest to pick a spec, so I won’t belabor that. I will instead say that I think it’s much more along the lines of Frost being seen as the most survivability-oriented spec, with spells that can slow, even root enemies like Frost Nova that’s pretty solid for keeping you out of harm’s way.

SOFIE! HI! I DON’T THINK I’VE ANSWERED A QUESTION FROM YOU BEFORE! NICE TO MEET YOU!

Qtfq: How likely is it that we’ll get a SL release date alongside the Afterlives premiere during Gamescom?

With the Shadowlands pre-patch on the PTR, I suspect we’ll get an October release for that and a November release for Shadowlands, and I would not be surprised if it turned out they announced both at Gamescom this week.

MUSEDMOOSE! THE LARGEST MEMBER OF THE DEER FAMILY NOW THAT MEGALOCEROS IS GONE!

Q4tQ: ever get suspicious of RNG?

Asking because I just had a bonus roll on this week’s world boss give me the only item I needed across all four armor sets, and this kind of thing doesn’t usually happen for me.

I mean, I spent seven years farming for one piece of gear off of one boss on something like seven plate characters and it never dropped. So yeah, I got pretty suspicious.

Okay! That’s the Queue for this week! I hope y’all stay as well as possible! Take care and have fun!

Blizzard Watch is made possible by people like you.
Please consider supporting our Patreon!

Filed Under: Exclamation Points