The Queue: Don’t take me for granite

I said what I said. Let’s go, Queue.

I think Timewalking raids are fun; it’s always refreshing to take a trip back into Black Temple or Ulduar (and get some loot, too). But touristing around is the interesting part: mechanics aren’t challenging and many can be outright ignored. I did Black Temple with my guild this week and we waltzed through without trouble.

But in joining a raid via group finder, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Though I don’t think you really need to know the fights or mechanics, there are things that will trip you up if no one knows them. Black Temple, in particular, is a massive raid without an obvious path through. Some bosses are hard to find and can only be done in certain orders. You can get lost, accidentally pull extra trash, or wander around in circles looking for the quest item. (it’s right there on the map! but actually it drops from Illidan). As long as you have a couple of people who know what they’re doing and where all the bosses are, it’s not a problem. It’s not technically difficult, particularly by the standards of modern encounters — and it doesn’t feel like it’s tuned as high level content, and feels about like a normal raid.

But as with everything in WoW, it’s going to be about finding the right group.

There are fewer combinations than Dracthyr in part because I think it’s just impossible to have as many customizations as Dracthyr, with their dragon forms and visage forms giving them twice the customizations even before getting to the fact that they have wings and tails and horns (if they wanted) — they just have far more stuff.

But I do feel like we aren’t looking at a finished version of the Earthen. Their body customizations are really lacking, with options for having gems embedded in them and their color — and one of the gem options is just called “New 04.” It feels like they should have more gem options as well as options for the patterns (carvings? tattoos?) on their bodies. I think they could also stand to have some more face options — I do like the way some of them have a very rocky feel, but some of them look very ordinary, and it would be neat to have options to add scars or cracks. I dig the hair color options, many of which seem to have an iridescent, gem-like glow. But it still feels like a work in progress, and I think we’ll see some more options as testing continues.

Also, they eat rocks. That’s just neat. (Though I haven’t quite figured out how it works. The spellbook says it’s a passive.)

WoW doesn’t exactly need new races. The game already has quite a few options (though none let you play as a rock), including several that are variants of existing races (like Mechagnomes and Highmountain Tauren). But I think the Earthen work as a race as well. They have a distinct look, with unusual skin tones and textures (though I do think they need more customization options), with customization options that are similar to the Highmountain — they aren’t a seismic shift from the core race, but have some unique features.

Of course part of what makes the Highmountain Tauren feel unique is who they are. As we played through Highmountain in Legion, we learned about them, got to know them, how they were similar from the Tauren we already knew, but also different. We haven’t had a chance to do that with the Earthen yet, not really. Even in the alpha, we aren’t seeing all of the quests (like whatever the expansion’s inciting event is), and cutscenes aren’t in yet. So you get bits of character here and there, but not the whole story.

I think they still need a bit of work, but I like them thematically and aesthetically. I might even play one! (It feels like a good race for a Shaman. My current Shaman is Vulpera which never quite clicked with me, so perhaps it’s time for a change.)

With apologies to our handsome Hunter mains, we aren’t sending anyone to Gamescom this year. I’m sorry.

But, as to BlizzCon, I can’t say I’m surprised. I don’t think BlizzCon 2023 was a hit, despite the number of big announcements and the fact that Chris Metzen owned the stage. (Metzen is not my favorite person, but he owned that stage.) There were fewer panels and events than usual, and most of what was canceled was the fun stuff. There were no voice actor panels which are always, 100% the best panels at BlizzCon. There were no panels talking about niche technical stuff, like sound or environmental design or art. The entire convention felt a little sparse. For a welcome back to BlizzCon, it wasn’t the most impressive convention.. so I think it’s reasonable for Blizzard (and Microsoft) to continue rethinking things.

And if Blizzard was going to take a year off to rethink things, this is a good year to do it. By November The War Within and Vessel of Hatred will likely have just been released, so at best you might talk about the first War Within patch or Vessel of Hatred season. There would be a new Hearthstone expansion, a new Overwatch 2 season. But none of those are going to be huge. Blizzard used to skip BlizzCons on years they didn’t have big announcements… and I think that’s okay.

As to whether I’ll attend other events, I’ll have to see when and where they are. I haven’t been to an in-person Blizzard event in quite a while now… and I miss the community aspect of them, the opportunity to get together with friends.

Yes, they are.

It seems like there are a lot of people reading the headline and nothing else. In the post, Blizzard committed to future BlizzCons and will be attending other events this year. It’s not the end of everything, and as I’ve said, I think the event requires a little more rethinking — that takes time. And rethinking what the event should be, getting buy-in from Blizzard and Microsoft execs, planning an interesting content schedule… it’s a massive job. Give them the year to figure it out and we’ll see what happens.

I’d love to see an event that’s bigger, that brings back some of that interesting niche content (or adds more of it). I wouldn’t mind seeing Microsoft content, as long as it didn’t take over the whole convention — and it might be interesting to see deep dive panels or what’s next panels for games like Fallout. (Sorry, I have Fallout on the brain right now. I know Microsoft and its many subsidiaries that probably make other games as well.)

Also I want another pet costume contest. After BlizzConline brought us the pet costume contest, it is no longer acceptable to hold a BlizzCon without a pet costume contest.

So let’s see what happens.

And that’s all for today my friends. Take care of yourselves and have a pleasant Friday — I’ll see you back here next week.