The Queue is the Queue is the …

It’s been a discombobulating kind of week, so let’s ignore it and talk about video games instead.

The issue in my mind is that different players will see different activities as being fun. I don’t think the Maw is fun — it’s annoying and slow to get navigate, the Eye of the Jailer debuffs make it increasingly difficult to get things done, you lose resources if you die, and in some places it’s very challenging (i.e. lots of elites) to get through. Each of these things compounds the others and makes them worse. I might not mind the difficulty so much if I didn’t lose resources every time I died. I might not mind it being slow to get around if it weren’t as hard to fight your way through things. Etc.

However, what I think isn’t fun — what perhaps a lot of us think isn’t fun — other players may enjoy. Some players like a game that’s more challenging, and things being difficult is what makes them fun. These are, I imagine, the kinds of people who play Diablo 3 on Hardcore mode. Players who enjoy a challenge like that may very well like the Maw.

To the question of whether players should be miserable because our characters are miserable: no. The point of a game is to have fun, and while games should offer some challenges — they would be boring otherwise — if they just make us miserable, it’s not really a game anymore.

But some people probably find the Maw fun! I’m not one of them, but I know they’re out there. The Maw is designed more for people who enjoy a challenge, and like overcoming content that can be frustrating. That’s not everyone, but it’s certainly some people.

And it’s great that Blizzard offers content to different types of players who enjoy different types of content. The problem with the Maw is that it’s an essential game component, and if you want to progress through the Shadowlands you have to spend some time in the Maw. It’s not like, say, Mythic raiding where if you don’t like it you just don’t do it. It’s a core part of the Shadowlands and you have to go, even if it makes you completely miserable.

I don’t feel like that’s great game design. Making the Maw difficult content makes sense from both a story and a gameplay perspective. But they’ve made it hard in a way that’s prevented it from being fun. Games can (and should) have their pain point, but at the end of the day, if we aren’t enjoying ourselves, something’s not working right.

Blizzard tried something new, and I really dig that. This is a 16 year old game and you need to do new things to keep it fresh. This just hasn’t quite hit the mark, and I’m not sure how you’d fix it. Stripping out Eyes of the Jailer would make it less painful to wander around, and you could spend more time exploring the place instead of just running in and running out again. But then you’ve also ripped out a core component of the zone, and removed that threat that the Jailer is always there, ready to strike. So the easiest “fix,” in my mind, really breaks the atmosphere.

So… yes, I think something’s off with the design here, but I don’t know how you keep the ominous atmosphere Blizzard is aiming for while making it fun to play.

This is why Torghast needs some kind of reward structure that isn’t completely tied to the end boss. Because when you don’t beat the final boss in Torghast, you really feel like you’ve lost. You feel like there isn’t a point. You feel like you shouldn’t even try again, because you’re just going to burn hours of time and get nothing.

So you avoid it. And when you do convince yourself to go back and try again, the cycle repeats. Maybe you beat a couple of layers, and then when you wind up fighting a boss that destroys you, you back off and avoid it again.

I’m not gun-shy in quite the same way. I don’t really struggle with Torghast, in part because I don’t push myself very hard. I’ve soloed up to Layer 6, and I could probably do 8, but usually if I’m running Torghast I’ll do Layer 4 or 5 instead of pushing higher levels. I’ve also never even tried doing Twisting Corridors on my own — only with a full party of 5, in which it felt pretty easy. I do wonder if I could solo Twisting Corridors, but I also don’t want to spend several hours at it just to be kicked around by the final boss, so I haven’t.

It’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think I can’t do this, so I don’t try to do this, so I definitely can’t do it. But Blizzard has designed it in a way that takes a lot of time and you get nothing out of it unless you beat the final boss. That’s really frustrating, and a great reason to be gun-shy.

My advice: run Torghast with more people. Even adding one more person can make a big difference, and if you’re playing with a friend, it’s more fun, too. Even though you can solo it just fine (mostly), a lot of things can be easier as a group — particularly the end boss, who may need skills (stuns, interrupts) that a single player doesn’t have access to.

Or don’t push yourself too hard. Doing Layer 1 still gets you Soul Ash, and if it takes longer to get the Soul Ash you want, it takes you longer. There’s nothing wrong with that.

My routine is pretty simple because I only have one character at level 60 right now. I log on, pick up weekly Covenant quests, kill world boss, check vault, collect souls from the Maw. Anything after that is on an “if I feel like it” sort of basis.

Warlock tier 2, Nemesis. Let me tell you, a gnome in full Nemesis looks very threatening. Basically as threatening as it is possible for a gnome to look. If I’m remembering correctly, I had full tier 2 before I had full tier 1 because RNG.

I’m not sure there’s a wrong choice here, but…

That’s all for now, my friends (and isn’t that enough?). Have a good weekend and remember to tell your loved ones you love them. I will be back again next week for more questions (definitely) and answers (maybe). Take care of yourselves until then, folks.