The Queue: A continuous sense of terror

Hi. It’s the Queue. I’m Matt. When I am extremely tense or scared I resort to hyperrationality as a defense. I apologize for how this may affect today’s Queue.

First off, define an American accent. I mean, I’m from Rhode Island. That’s one of the thirteen original colonies that rebelled against England and established their independence — heck, we burned the Gaspee in 1772, mostly because of how much we loved smuggling — so it’s fair to say that’s about as American as it gets. But I doubt you mean my accent when you say that Arnold can speak with an American accent. There are something like thirty plus dialects of English commonly spoken in the US, and quite a few subdialects branching off from those.

Now, as an expatriate (I have lived in Canada, specifically Edmonton in the province of Alberta since 2006) I know that my accent has faded with time, and I speak closer to what a native born Edmontonian would than if I had remained in Rhode Island. And so, I expect that it is much the same for Mr. Schwarzenegger, who has after all spent decades in the United States primarily speaking English on a day to day basis. His native accent is likely ameliorated by simply not using his native tongue, whereas I barely ever speak French and am not nearly so fluent in it as he clearly is with English.

All of this is to say that it is likely far more complex an issue than Oh, he can speak with an American accent just fine — it’s more likely that he has become extremely fluent in English and speaks it without being forced to remember to speak it. I bring this all up not to simply digress, but also to say that Blizzard’s extended maintenance issues are likely similarly complex and situational — one time it may be due to the complexity of the maintenance in question, while at another time it may be due to factors utterly outside of their direct control.

My completely biased top five are as follows:

1. Death Knight — Great tanks, fun as heck DPS, and overall just a really strong and fun class.
2. Monks — Alts that can tank and heal are always going to be ones I think are an excellent pick.
3. Druids — Literally the Swiss Army Knives of WoW — can tank, heal, melee and ranged DPS with four specs to choose from.
4. Hunters — Pure DPS, sure, but flexible as heck with pets and a divergent array of talents and gameplay approaches.
5. Rogues — I’m not really into pure caster classes, so for me, the Rogue is the best pure DPS choice, and stealth has a whole host of utility uses. They lack the flexibility of other classes, but they’re laser focused on what they do well.

If you hadn’t already said Warriors and Shamans they would have been at the 1 and 2 on this list, and then Paladins would have been after DK’s and Monks.

I like my Dracthyr either deep red or black. Just an aesthetic choice.

No, they’re still there, they just only work in Shadowlands zones now, much like the legendaries whose powers have also been rolled into the talent system.

Okay, that’s the Queue for today. I hope you’re all doing well. If not, remember, you’re not alone in it.