The Queue: nope, still ducks

If you were expecting something other than more excited chatter about ducks to lead off this week’s Queue, well, I guess you’re just going to have to get used to disappointment.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we’ll answer as soon as we get sick of looking at this cutie. So, never, probably.

Right as this Queue goes live, we’ll know for sure, so here’s hoping this response ages well.

This isn’t shade at all, but Blizzard’s MO has always been to take an existing, successful game — usually the ones the developers are playing a whole lot — then file off the serial numbers and polish it. So I’d look to titles which are critically acclaimed, likely with a strong core monetization concept, which will lend itself well to the Warcraft universe.

My bet would be something like Archero, which is a roguelite shoot em up action game. If you’ve played the new hotness Vampire Survivors, that’s another similar title, gameplay-wise. You can choose your main character, and the character you choose determines your abilities, most of which fire intermittently, some aimed by your character’s facing, some with ‘homing’ abilities, some aura-based. You grab different pickups as you go which can alter your abilities or give you shielding, extra health or other utility, etc. The character you start off with in Archero is an archer, so perhaps in the Warcraft version you’d start off as Sylvanas or Tyrande or even Hemet Nesingwary. As you play, you collect currency to unlock other characters — Jaina the frost mage, or Chromie with stasis fields and breath, maybe. A game like that would also allow for skins for your heroes, and Archero itself features seasons and battle passes and all that, too.

I have to say though, I’m a little disappointed WoWkemonGo was debunked. Okay, a lotta disappointed.

I have a feeling (maybe even a hope) that initially they’ll just slap whatever existing assets they have over it and call it good in the interest of just getting these dang things out asap.

I do think that the tank form should be an elekk, and the travel forms should be a sporebat and a talbuk, but beyond that I’m really not sure. The Balance form in particular seems to be a tricky one, even for other, existing races.

Met Gala, hands down.

I love all the avant garde fashion, especially when it’s intended to make a creative statement. I’ll definitely miss both Zendaya and Rihanna this year. Besides which, this year’s theme, The Gilded Age, is so thoroughly my jam, especially if you roll it into Belle Epoque and the late Victorian/Edwardian. Everything was hyperbolic and opulent and colorful, and I love that aesthetic. The technological advancement of that time make it such an interesting time to study the culture and art, because that advancement led to a lot of changes in social mores, and seeing that reflected in modern fashion is fascinating.

Besides which, I’m honestly not all that into Marvel. Don’t hurt me.

I kinda doubt that the Children’s Week stuff is a hint, but the opposite. I definitely think it’s possible the narrative team took some cues from the quest where Dornaa or Salandria is attacked by Bronze bodyguards for “things which have not yet come to pass.” Of course, that could mean nearly anything. Maybe they just PVPed each other in the safe area. But I have a feeling we’ll see some narrative beats associated with this in Dragonflight.

Also, I’m going to conjecture that Dragonflight is going to involve, finally, the full creation of the Infinites, and also guess that Dornaa or Salandria’s actions will be as the Bronzes begin that slide. They’ll still know that Dorandria’s actions were against them in the future, but not the nature of why they acted… to prevent the creation of the Infinite.