The Queue: The tragically 24 hour day

How are we supposed to accomplish all of our gaming goals in a scant 24 hours a day? When some of those hours must be sacrificed for working, sleeping, eating, and so on?

I haven’t figured it out yet, but I hope one of you has found the answer and will let me know.

But for now, let’s Queue.

No one understands shadow priests. No one.

Nope, since professions are (mostly) out, they’re really just trash. Fishing is in the game, being the one-off profession that Blizzard seems to have forgotten to remove. However, it’s not a crafting profession so there’s no need for motes.

The profession lack of professions has felt a bit awkward, particularly cooking which was such a big story point for Halfhill. But I see why Blizzard did this: it lets us just focus on playing the game and experiencing the story of Pandaria. Still, if they were removing professions they should have probably removed associated things. For example, we have fishing but nothing to do with fish, and motes that do nothing but take up inventory space.

I think Remists has been great, but it does have some rough edges.

I am once again playing a Necromancer, and actually I’ve wound up with a build that’s very similar to what I played last season, but largely because it’s a good leveling build. I have Blood Surge, which is frankly the only leveling skill you need — I have Corpse Explosion as a sort of backup AOE, but really everything already dies when I hit Blood Surge, so I could probably drop it and trade out to get a Golem (which I have currently sacrificed for bonus health to boost Overpower).

It’s not a super great build for boss encounters though, because it’s single target damage isn’t impressive. But if you want to clear out a room of mobs? Here you have it. Run into the middle of them, press Blood Surge, everybody is dead, and if not you can follow up with another Blood Surge or hit Corpse Explosion from the many corpses you have certainly just generated. Dropping Corpse Explosion would mean more minion focus, since Corpse Explosion is currently the “oh no, I’m out of essence” button. But this build is excellent for leveling, particularly at the lower levels.

I am currently running through the campaign, which I feel really puts me behind the curve gear-wise. Not because you don’t get gear in the campaign, and in fact Vigo’s amulet gives you that very powerful shield effect earlier than you’d likely get it otherwise (and with the new gearing system, once you get it, it’s yours forever). But the things that would give me the best, fastest gear aren’t available yet: Legion events, Helltides, and World Bosses. So I’m in the late 30s with only a handful of unoptimized legendaries, which makes me feel a little weaker than I usually would at this point.

As to leveling speed, I haven’t noticed a real difference — but then I always level at World Tier 2, which I have always found a fast and easy, and I know is a long-term point of contention between us. Obviously for underpowered and weak classes, World Tier 2 can be difficult, but I, an immortal necromantic god, have never had issues with it.

But, honestly, I don’t think Blizzard has sped up leveling more than normal, though the easy accessibility of legendary powers may have made gearing up easier, and getting the right legendaries for your build easier. Plus Helltides being a loot piñata available immediately makes gearing up a lot faster, thus boosting your power level immediately. But I don’t feel leveling has actually sped up.

As to itemization, the changes are great, but I’m not quite high enough level to have interacted with them much (beyond imprinting a few legendary affixes). I think the later game you get, the more impactful and noticeable this is going to be.

TLDR: they’re good updates, Red.

Blizzard does tend to keep accents pretty same-y, and particularly picks a single accent for a race (Dwarves, Trolls) and then sticks to it forever, without variation. I suppose in a game that makes it easier to tell races apart; they all sound the same as well as looking (more or less) the same.

The game could do with more variety, though I don’t feel like it’s make or break. On the list of issues the game (and the company) have with diversity and inclusion, I suppose this is on it, but it isn’t the top.

I have been writing the Queue with all of the windows open to let in a breeze, and YouTube videos about battleships in the background. (This is a curiosity rabbit hole I have fallen into.) It’s not as exciting as storming a castle, but it’s alright.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant Friday, whether you have the opportunity to storm a castle or not. Take care, leave some questions for Cory, and I’ll see you back here next week.