The Queue: Please Don’t

Slay the Princess is out today Monday (last minute delay due to Steam certification issues) and I am super excited. I’ve been wanting this game since it first appeared on the Steam store last year, and I didn’t even bother with the demo because the description had me sold and I didn’t want to split up my time with it. I even named it my top GOTY candidate for 2023! Now I just have to hope that I actually do enjoy the game. Although I don’t know how I wouldn’t, because this description sounds phenomenal:

You’re on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it will be the end of the world.

She will do everything in her power to stop you. She’ll charm, and she’ll lie, and she’ll promise you the world, and if you let her, she’ll kill you a dozen times over. You can’t let that happen. Don’t forget, the fate of the world rests on your shoulders.

You’re not going to listen to him, are you? We’re supposed to save princesses, not slay them…

I’m not a huge horror game fan, but this level of psychological trickery is right up my alley. But since I can’t play it quite yet, why don’t we answer some questions?

I do not do the Mario dance — I’m more of a Bowser performer instead.

As for Wonder I’m glad to see the reviews for it are so strong but I’ll be honest I have no desire to play it. I spent so much time playing the original Super Mario Bros trilogy on the NES that since then I’ve never had any interest in playing a new Mario game. Basically I burned out on the franchise thirty years ago and I’ve yet to recover. It does look fun, though. Maybe someday I’ll pick it up for cheap and give it a chance, but not any time soon.

It’s going well! I’ve already completed the first four tiers of the Battle Pass! … because of the Prime Gaming tier skip reward released on Thursday.

I’ll be honest I’m not sure how much I’ll play of the Season of Blood. I’m glad they’ve improved leveling for everybody and are giving a bunch of other quality of life changes, but my engagement with the Diablo franchise is pretty story-centric and so far the season stories haven’t been all that compelling to me.

I am looking forward to the likely expansion announcement at BlizzCon though.

It’s a good question, but I feel like the Heroes of Azeroth have a vested interest in keeping Bolvar’s survival as the Lich King a secret. Why risk sowing the seeds of chaos by revealing the truth? If the official story is that the Lich King is dead, that makes for a contented populace. “Lich King was defeated but our old friend Bolvar Fordragon is now wearing the Helm of Domination but I’m sure he’s not succumbing to its whispers or anything” isn’t a very comforting thing to know.

You also have to look at it from the people’s perspective: who they heck are these yahoos claiming to be the Heroes that took down the Lich King in the first place? There aren’t statues of us. There’s no official proclamation with pictures showing what we look like. If a random mage walked into the Stoutlager Inn and started talking about her role in the defeat of Arthas I doubt many people would believe her. Throw in a “conspiracy” of Bolvar being the Lich King on top of it? Just makes you look crazy.

Definitely. Presuming we defeat Fyrakk and Amirdrassil arrives whole into Azeroth there won’t be many threads remaining from the expansion. Of course Iridikron is a giant one, but he requires a raid tier to resolve so if not in a patch 10.3 you have to expect it would be in a future expansion. There’s still a big question about the “decay” storyline that didn’t seem to go anywhere since we adventured in Brackenhide Hollow but it’s possible it was never meant to be anything more than a different type of enemy.

There’s also the fact that the Red Dragonflight didn’t get much story in the expansion compared to the other four flights, but that could easily happen in a 10.2.5 and/or 10.2.7.

Some people would dislike Iridikron surviving Dragonflight to be fought another day, but his last appearance seems to indicate that his goals exceed what the Dragon Isles could provide for him.

I didn’t care about a potential Burning Crusade Classic Hardcore server until I read this. Now I’ll be eternally disappointed if we don’t get one.

I love this question because I have the perfect answer for it: The Emperor’s Soul. It’s a novella that’s typically available for free or for only a few dollars and it perfectly encapsulates Brandon Sanderson’s style and method. It’s my favorite work of his and I tend to reread it every couple years. If you don’t enjoy it then Sanderson is probably not the author for you. If you do enjoy it, I recommend Elantris next. It’s a full novel but it’s standalone and gives you a sense of reading what a full novel by Sanderson entails. If you like that one you’re set to either start the Mistborn series or the Stormlight Archives.

1) I will be maining a Marksmanship Hunter in 10.2, likely my HM Tauren although I expect my Dwarf Hunter to get a lot of playtime as well.

2) My favorite pet is Baldrick, my Boar from Dun Morogh that Chrth tamed almost 15 years ago. A close second is Deesa, a Highmountain cat who I’ve headcanoned that my HM Tauren rescued from the Survival Legion Artifact scenario after her former companion died.

3) It’s not that I refuse to play it per se but I’m not a fan of dot-heavy classes. I’m also not all that fond of the disease specs so I typically play Frost instead of Unholy on my Death Knights. Of course, Affliction Warlock is both of these so it’s the spec I’m least likely to play.

… maybe I should main an Affliction Warlock in patch 10.2 instead.

That’s all the time we have for the Queue today! I wanted to answer more questions but the Queue got haunted so I had to stop here.

Be sure to ask Cory plenty of questions this weekend, and since it was his birthday yesterday y’all should send him a ton of belated birthday wishes too.