The Queue: Mushrooms? No thanks, I’m a Star

By most estimates, it’s been several years since the last Splatfest. By a calendar’s exactimates, it’s actually just been a little over two months. Whatever your sense of time, it’s, ahem, time for a new Splatfest. This one’s in honor of Mario’s 35th anniversary and pits one power-up against another, much stronger power-up. I will be fighting on the side of Team Superstar. I may even be wearing my IRL Splatfest tee for the occasion!

However, that will all have to wait for tomorrow. Right now, it’s Queue time.

While I’m not sure we’ve ever seen her actually leave the Maw, I have to imagine she’s able to. If she weren’t, all of her power, all of her communications with the Jailer — it all would have needed to happen across planes of existence. I know the Jailer is powerful, but I don’t think he’s that powerful.

Then again, her loyalist-only conversation with Nathanos at the end of the Fourth War does seem to suggest this was something of a one-way trip, at least until her plan fully comes to fruition. My guess is still that she’s able to leave, though. She just currently has no reason to. I mean, how often do you leave your Covenant zone? Especially if she’s got all the gear and followers she needs, she’s probably pretty content to wait around the Maw until the next patch.

Well, yes and no, but mostly yes. We’ve seen that entities like the Mawsworn can leave the Maw and — at least now that the sky is shattered — even resurrect the dead on Azeroth. And the Brokers also seem to be pretty good about going wherever they want, too. But they’re also not exactly living mortals with souls.

As far as a living being with a soul, we seem to be the first to be able to leave the Maw. This could easily be retconned if we learn that so-and-so was able to do the same way back when, or that a different so-and-so has been secretly traveling to and from the Maw to spy on us.

TL;DR – no one else is called “Maw Walker,” but plenty of things seem to be able to leave the Maw (despite enemies’ claims that nothing leaves the Maw).

Edit: There are moments where NPCs seem to act like there are multiple Maw Walkers, so there may be others. That said, it’ll probably hurt your head if you try to make sense of multiple Maw Walkers within the context of the intro experience where we’re the only one who can touch the Eternal Ones’ stone and leave.

Lich, all the way. Beholders just really aren’t my aesthetic. You can certainly do “eyeball creature” very well, but they honestly just look kinda silly to me. It’s like a giant crossed a meatball with an eyeball and didn’t teach it how to interact with society properly.

I hate to say it, but probably Forsaken for the race. I’m a bit torn on the class. One the one hand, Warriors wear the heaviest armor and therefore are most likely to sweat — can undead things sweat?… — and generally just exude odors. On the other hand, maybe the armor covers up the smell a bit compared to, say, a cloth class. That’s not a complete answer, but then again, I would hope Azeroth has some sort of magic to prevent the decaying flesh from smelling.

Worgen and their wet-dog smell make a close second, however, and Goblins (whom I have to imagine either don’t bother with deodorant or go WAY too heavy with the cologne) get a special nod for probably smelling like a Hollister store next to an Axe deodorant factory.

Waaaaay back in alpha/beta, I remember seeing the little… I’m not actually sure what they’re called, but the floating staircase-like shape in Bastion that just goes into the sky. At the time, my mind immediately went, “I want to fly to the top of that!”

But now that I’ve played a bit, I’m super curious about the floating platforms in Maldraxxus. They remind me a bit of Nagrand’s floating platforms, and I used to love perching myself on top of those and just hanging out way back in the day.

Oh, and I do kinda want to see what it’s like to fly from Oribos not on a flight path, though I’m kinda wondering if Blizz will actually let us do that or if flying will be in the four main zones only.

I mean, if that were literally the only/best way to get gear, no. But like I’ve said in the past, PVP gearing is stupidly easy right now — so much so that I can practically guarantee it gets nerfed with the next major patch/season. Even getting the Arena or RBG ratings required to get the gear isn’t too bad in a PUG until you start to really climb. Heck, top-end players are even using PVP trinkets to clear Mythic Nathria because it’s such an easy way to get a strong trinket.

All that said, I think there’s a middle ground between PVE and PVP gearing paces that we need to find. I don’t hate the PVE side of things on its own, but when you factor in PVP’s gearing system, it becomes borderline illogical that PVE gearing would be so much more difficult.

Oh dear, I don’t know if I’m creative enough to fully imagine this sort of thing. I think it would be less like a unified theme and more a hodgepodge of different sub-areas with their own themes. Kinda like how Maldraxxus has the different houses all over, except each area would be more distinct from the others. I’d want to make sure to at least hit these boxes:

• A Void-y area
• A haunted/spooky area with a big cathedral
• An area that crossed a massive library with an outdoor setting
• Something akin to the Ember Ward in Revendreth (in spirit, not necessarily in actual visual appearance)

Aight, our last question discusses the latest Sylvanas/Anduin cinematic, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to be spoiled, please skip to the comments.

Okay, last warning in case you somehow missed the spoiler alert above. We good? Good.

Anyhow, I think if Sylvanas gets her way, the Shadowlands won’t have a sorting system at all anymore. She wants us to have a choice, and being automatically sorted into an afterlife you may not like is not a choice in the slightest. There’s a moment in the Maldraxxus campaign that discusses how the Arbiter is allegedly infallible in her decision-making, but I still don’t know if I buy that. If you’re questioning where you belong to begin with, was the decision that was made for you really the right one?

Ultimately, I don’t know where the story is going, but if the Shadowlands stays how it is, it won’t matter what we do because the Arbiter is “all-knowing” and what we do may not change who we are at our core. If everything gets upended, it won’t matter because we’ll have a choice.

Then again, I’m not sure how many of us canonically went to the Shadowlands for this to matter on a large scale anyhow. Word of mouth may change how Azerothian citizens act, but eventually, they’ll forget and go back to their true selves.

That’s all for today! May you all have a superpowered weekend, and Yogg bless! 🐙💜