The Queue: The day Raszageth saved Christmas

I regret to inform you that as of the time of this writing, Mythic Raszageth has not died… but she is wearing a Santa hat and carrying a candy cane. So let’s go on and celebrate this strange season with our new festive dinobird frenemy… and maybe get a world first second kill so we can get our own stylish Santa hat and candy cane transmog.

But while we wait, we can hang out and talk about dragons, because in Dragonflight it’s all about the dragons. Let’s Queue.

I’ve gotta go full Texan on this one and break out the Robert Earl Keen.

Though on the subject of traditional Texas music, I’m also a fan of the Old 97’s, who recently released a couple of Christmas songs.

I’m not much of a traditionalist here. Can I get away with Let it Snow? That was first recorded in the 40s, though I am a fan of Leon Redbone’s version. (He also does a perfect Baby It’s Cold Outside, another one that originally came from the 40s, so maybe I just can’t go back further than that.)

Unfortunately, glowing requires suffering. Sorry.

I can say that I thought Argus was a lot of fun when it was current content. Overstuffed with hazards, yes, but it gave us a new and different world to explore, and offered a different kind of content. We’ve seen the idea that was Argus evolve all the way to end-game zones like the much-more-relaxed Zereth Mortis. But going back to do these end-game zones and activities for rewards has always been frustrating. This story originally rolled out week at a time, so you did a bit and then took a break — but now it’s all there, a big muddle of quests and chores without clear start points or end points.

Unfortunately, while I can see there’s a problem, I don’t have a solution. If you want to be a sparkly space goat, you must persevere.

Definitely Magni, who’s fighting with the power of a titan.

Also Odyn is in the running for the game’s biggest jerk, which is a highly competitive race because WoW is just full of terrible people doing terrible things who we then have to kill. But we’ve never gotten to kill Odyn, and if we can’t, Magni will have to do it for us. And if Magni doesn’t seem likely to succeed, we’ll have to find ways to make him succeed.

We can do this. We can finally kill this guy and never, ever have to deal with his bullshit again. (This is probably not true, since I’m sure that even if we did kill him he’s left a lot of messes for us to stumble into.)

Signed,

Someone who has done too many runs of Halls of Valor

Just saying the words Orcs and Humans subsequently like that brings on a powerful feeling of nostalgia, doesn’t it? (If it doesn’t, then it’s possible you didn’t pick up the Warcraft franchise with the hit 1994 RTS Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.) I don’t think it can be coincidence that these two races were paired together, and I don’t think it can be coincidence that they’re paired together when the game is making a serious push away from the faction war narrative that has driven these two races since their introduction.

There’s a moment early in the Waking Shore that I really liked, though I can’t remember the NPCs involved. As a Horde character you’re sent over to say hello to the Alliance representative and offer your help with anything they might need. You’re greeted by a pair of human soldiers, and  the senior of the two has clearly been trying to foster an attitude of cooperation by pushing the other to learn Orcish. It’s a skill he’s going to need on the Dragon Isles, she says. When you turn in the quest, he tells you, stuttering, “Lok’tar ogar!”

…okay, it’s a little weird to tell your new ally (with whom you’ve had a long, fraught relationship) “victory or death!” But I have to give the kid an A+ for effort. My weary heart grew three sizes turning in that quest and having this young, uncertain soldier attempt to bid me well with a traditional Horde salute.

That’s the new Horde and Alliance dynamic. Uncertain allies who are trying really hard to be certain allies. To put aside the past and build a new future, rooted in equally in intense weariness for a past full of bloodshed and an intense hope for new tomorrow. There’s so much careful optimism in that small moment. So many hopes for the future in resting in those two short words. Lok’tar ogar, friend.

And that’s what I think would be interesting to explore in these quests: the evolution of Orcs and Humans since that first game, and through the decades of conflict that followed. Let’s find that thread that took us from the past into the present. Let’s take night classes in the opposing faction’s language so we can surprise them the next time we see them. (Okay, maybe not that.) Let’s have this be the story of how the Horde and Alliance finally became friends.

I’m not sure we’ll get that kind of thing, though. Orcs and Humans are steeped so heavily in game lore that perhaps we’ll need more traditional stories, respecting the independent heritage of each. But I really want to see the story of how we got to where we are today, that explores the challenges and rewards of becoming friends with your former enemy.

It’s been a wild race to world first for Vault of the Incarnates, really neck and neck for that first kill. Echo and Liquid have spent a couple of days working on Raszageth and remaining within just a few percent of one another’s best pulls, while BDGG and Method have been neck-and-neck for third place.

It doesn’t seem like races are usually quite so close.

My bet is that someone is going to kill Raszageth today, I just don’t know who… but it’s been a lot of fun to watch (and cast) this year!

rjagoda also asked if casting for world first had changed my perspective on it at all and I have to say it has. I’ve been casting for BDGG who’s been having a great raid. I’ve always enjoyed watching these guys and it’s great to see them in a race where they’ve making a strong one for the top three. I suppose I’ve never watched it quite this closely, trying to keep up and make intelligent commentary throughout, and really getting to know everything before I’ve had much chance to dive in myself.

The biggest thing I’ve seen is how much work goes into it, beyond the twenty players in the fight. There’s nonstop behind the scenes work happening to make this go off perfectly. I don’t think I’m articulating that very clearly, but there’s a lot that happens that I never had to think about when I just sat here watching the fight.

And that’s all for now, friends. Have a perfectly lovely holiday if you celebrate and have a perfectly lovely weekend if you don’t. Stay safe and warm this weekend, everybody. ❤️