The Queue: It’s Friday and we’re still here (probably)

Have we finished the week? Have we escaped? Are we finally free??

I guess I’ll see what the calendar says tomorrow, but for now, let’s Queue.

I feel like there’s a certain amount of balance required for things to be fun. Maybe not a lot of balance, but some, to maintain a little bit of friction in gameplay. At least a little, so you don’t press a button and everything immediately dies. (Even though that sentence does describe my favorite Diablo builds.) Things don’t necessarily need to be hard, but perhaps also they don’t need to be one-shot-everything-easy. There’s a middle ground somewhere.

But I think it’s possible that even Blizzard doesn’t know what it’s doing with balance here. This game mode wasn’t well tested, and now a huge swath of the player base is back in Pandaria, with a whole new type of gear, a cloak that provides a mountain of power, and we’re all just now seeing what that power means in action. Players are figuring out how to make the most of this power, and Blizzard is figuring out how much game is left in the wake of it all. I think we’re pretty late in the process to be making design decisions, but the trouble was we didn’t have the early testing that would have allowed these tweaks sooner, and these back-and-forth changes are an artifact of that.

If Blizzard would pick out the sweet spot it wants and leave things alone, I think we’d be fine, no matter where that spot is. The goal post moving around makes things confusing and frustrating.

I absolutely did not recognize her in the new War Within key art either and had to ask this same question. Her hair and hair color is different. (Perhaps she still has the braid and it’s hanging behind her, but her hair looks white, or whiter.) Her armor and armor color is different — and not just a little different, as she has ditched the majority of her armor for a simple white shift. Her tattoos have moved (or been removed), changed color (though this might be attributed to the void), and also changed design. Her bow is different (and in this art it is also off to the side so you don’t see it immediately). What in this art is supposed to say that this is Alleria?

Not saying this is better or worse, but it carries very little forward from the previous, and I think more than anything the loss of those blue tattoos has removed her key distinguishing features. This is a white-haired, white-eyed elf with purple tattoos on her right arm. Alleria was a blond-haired blue-eyed elf with a blue slash across her face and blue tattoos on her left arm. It would have been easier to track if Blizzard left something, something distinguishable so you could look at her and know that this is Alleria, that this could only be Alleria. That tattoo on her face, even if it turned purple, would have been a good one.

I have been lectured that we have apparently been using art of Alleria 2.0 on the site for months, and how could I not have known? I figured it was just some random elf because it is just some random elf.  The number of features she shares with Alleria are (1) she is an elf and (2) she has a bow.

Actually, are we sure this isn’t Vereesa? The pale hair, the lack of the usual tattoos, maybe Vereesa just fell into a pit of void and picked up some purple tattoos.

Yes, I know the images are labeled Alleria in the press kit, but are we sure it isn’t Vereesa? Maybe it was a typo?

Only when I’m playing against him. (Her? I don’t know the preferred pronouns for hydras.)

I am really curious to see how Lightsmith Paladins (Holy/Protection) turn out in the end. On one hand I hate it and it sounds really micromanagey. On the other hand I love the concept of essentially constructing defenses out of the Light. What I don’t like is the fussiness of selecting these buffs (it rotates between two) and placing these buffs (you put them on the ground and someone has to walk over them). And on top of that, Holy Paladins already have massive button bloat problems, and this spec adds a new active ability. I already have abilities that aren’t on my bars (and/or abilities in places that’s difficult or impossible for me to reach when I have one hand on my mouse), and abilities that are macroed together to save space.

At any rate, I love the concept but I don’t know how playable it will be. If it’s as fussy as I think it is, I probably won’t be able to play it well. That would just leave me Herald of the Sun, which does sound solid, perfectly fine, but I’m not particularly excited about it. From a practical standpoint, I’d keep the same skillset between Holy and Ret, so there’s one less difference to track when switching, but I wouldn’t say I’m enthusiastic about it.

I don’t know. It’s a circle that seems to be made out of rocks, so I wouldn’t exactly call it creative, but it does fit the theme. They definitely didn’t hire a professional graphics designer for this effort.

Excitement is a sure way to disappointment and should be avoided at all costs. Especially about video games, which are always eager to show you exciting trailers which are totally unrepresentative of gameplay.

It’s a cycle of disappointment, Kal. Don’t fall into it!

Well friends, that’s all I have for today. Have a great Friday everybody. I will leave you with this video of Rudy the bulldog for your enjoyment.