The QueueJan 22, 2024 12:00 pm CT

The Queue: Staying warm, but not too warm

By Cory Taylor

Oh boy, I have had a doozy of a week. I had to be the boss at work and that meant that I sadly could not write my Queue last week, but let’s give a nice big shout-out to Liz Patt who aced it! Luckily I was able to sneak in a raid and we’ve managed to get through Mythic Volcoross! 3/9 Mythic bosses down now, on to the Council!

Volcoross is another of those bosses that I feel like I should be able to skin, but can’t for some reason. If I can skin a Core Hound, why can’t I skin a giant lava snake?! They could’ve made it another source of Obsidian Cobraskin, especially since the Legendary Axe needs a bunch. I still can’t believe that only one creature supplies it and it’s so important for Mail wearers.

While I go and get my daily Elusive Cobra kill in, it’s time for — The Queue!

ARTHONOS BLOW OUT YOUR VOICE BURN ALL YOUR CLOTHES

Q4tQ: Blizzard approaches you and says they want to implement a full fledged golfing mini game into WoW. What zones do you suggest for each hole of the Azerothian Open?

Well, we’d start off pretty regular, but get progressively more fantastical as the game goes on.

Elwynn Forest — your standard green golf course vibe
Duskwood — your standard spooky mini-golf course vibe
Zul’Aman — All of the Troll architecture can really break up the sight lines for your shots.
The Sunwell — It’s a little rude to land your ball directly in the Sunwell to finish the hole so make sure you’re ready to make a fast exit to the next green.
Nagrand — I know that the hole is on one of those islands up there, just gotta figure out which one…
Netherstorm — Fewer sand traps, more twisting nether traps.
Dragonblight — Start in the ice, end in the green (dragon sanctum)
Storm Peaks — Take a stroke off if you can bounce your ball off of a Storm Giant into the hole.
Ulduar — Golfing will consume you!
Twilight Highlands — Start at the entrance to Bastion of Twilight, and end deep in Grim Batol.
The Timeless Isle — Good luck playing well with the Celestials watching your backswing.
Blackrock Foundry — Things are really starting to heat up.
Nazjatar — Things are really starting to cool down.
Drustvar — A hole to really make you miss the brightness of Duskwood.
Maldraxxus — You really don’t want to go out into that ‘water’ hazard to retrieve your ball.
Revendreth — The clubhouse here is always throwing a great party.
The Forbidden Reach — Your score must be soaring by now.
Amirdrassil — You don’t get your ball back, it just becomes part of the tree.

You’re really going to want to rent a Golf Cart for this course I think.

THERE’S MORE TO SEE WHY BE AFRAID WHEN YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO BE STRANGE THOMAS

So… do we think the “No pirates” patch 10.2.6 will arrive in 8-ish weeks (as the patches have been rolling out), or will it come sooner?
And what do you think the “No pirates” patch will entail? I’m going to throw a curve ball and say it expands the “play with your friends” feature that allows Alliance and Horde to play together.
In fact, I’m going to suggest that — seeing as how it comes before a new PvP season — it’s going to be a comprehensive mercenary mode, like how RIFT used to do. You sign up for PvP, and the system creates groups that combine Horde and Alliance into shared teams. Instead of “Horde Base” / “Alliance Base”, it will be like “North Base” / “South Base”.

Eight weeks has been working, so I don’t see it coming out sooner. Since it seems like it’s straddling the line between two bigger patches I don’t think we’ll have any reason to think it’ll take longer either.

Likely this is just going to be some story content involving the pirate fleets that we’ve seen hanging out on the shores of the Dragon Isles, and not anything mechanically different like an overhaul to the Mercenary Mode. Something that will let us get a bunch of piratical transmogs and live out some swashbuckling fantasy alongside some figures from the past — Shaw and Flynn might make an appearance is what my best guess is.

DO YOU WANT TO TASTE YOUR ROXXII THE STORM RIDER

Q4TQ: What is the most iconic voice line in Hearthstone history?

I don’t even play Hearthstone that much and I know that the classics never go out of style. It’s obviously Lord Jaraxxus!

“You face Jarraxus, Eredar Lord of the Burning Legion!”

WHERE YOU CAN’T BE CHASED BY MISTAH JAY I’LL TAKE YOU TO THE WASTELAND

Q4tQ: How long until you think we will get the option to transmog each glove/boot piece separately, like we can with shoulders?

I would be very surprised if that doesn’t become an option in The War Within. We’ve seen great strides in the transmog system, and that’s the next most obvious one to me anyway.

I still don’t see us getting to use other armor types or dyes though. Even with the loosening of all of the other restrictions those are still too tied directly to your class, and the reward structure of the content to be changed.

My pie-in-the-sky wish though is that once you complete a full set of armor from the new season, you get all of the lesser versions of that armor too. So if I finish my Mythic set, I’ll also fully unlock the LFR, Normal, and Heroic versions of that armor. I’ve proven that I can get the fanciest version! Let me have the rest, it’s not my fault my guild stopped killing Volcoross on Heroic before I could get the piece he drops!

CHEST FULL OF TOYS ALL WITH A BROKE OR MISSING KALCHEUS

Q4tQ Why is Soar so much fun? I particularly like the “transform into visage” at the end.

I think that it’s the unfettered feeling that you’re flying through the air without anything else helping you. That’s a more powerful mental feeling than I have a really fast car/plane/boat so I can go really fast. It’s the power of flight and speed at your fingertips!

I also think that there’s a certain amount of Soar just feels faster since you’re a smaller zippier size. That’s why I prefer the smaller Druid flight forms to the big Lunarwing that can carry a second person on my back. The crow looks like it moves faster — so it must!

Bacardi has been cooking up some extra luck for y’all in this week’s great vault! Sure it’s a little seasonal, so it might not be the freshest luck, but nobodies ever died from eating a slightly stale Christmas cookie. (Don’t quote me on that)

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Wasteland

Have a nice chill week everyone, but not too chill — don’t forget to leave Anna lots of questions for tomorrow so that her day is nice and chill too!

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