The Queue: The War Within is almost here edition

There’s a lot going on in the gaming world. ReMists just ended, a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season just began, there’s a new Diablo 4 season underway, and we also have Gamescom to keep up with. Whew! But despite all of that, I can feel the excitement in the community regarding the proximity to The War Within. And the questions today completely reflect that.

It’s a good time to be a gamer, so let’s not waste much more time; it’s time to Queue.

It’s been a while since I’ve done that, but my dungeon of choice was usually The Mechanar. Its spaceship neighbor, The Botanica, is another favorite of a lot of people — but I always found Mechanar runs more to my liking for whatever reason.

However, despite the community usually pointing to those two Tempest Keep dungeons, the actual fastest dungeon for rep purposes is apparently Magister’s Terrace, from what I hear!

Armored Red Dragonhawk would be my top choice.

I’m glad you asked, my dear carrot waffle! When it comes to Blizzard, Gamescom has news for both Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft . Stay tuned for some WoW news tomorrow on the Xbox stream!

As for the general video game world:

• Terry Bogard got his first gameplay video in Street Fighter 6!
• Mai Shiranui — who’s also coming to Street Fighter 6 in Winter 2025 — has been confirmed for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and she went through a major visual redesign — somewhat reminiscent of how Cammy had her design evolve in SF6 — trading her iconic (but very revealing, so much that Sakurai couldn’t add her to Smash Bros because “it’s a game for good boys and girls”) kunoichi outfit for a dark leather getup! Incidentally, did you know that Mai’s favorite musical genre is heavy metal (particularly Pantera)? I guess as she grew older she decided to lean more into that side of hers!
• Civilization 7 got a nice gameplay reveal, and a lot of people in my usual circles are excited about it!
• …

And I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting right now that other people are super excited about, but these are the ones that got me, personally, geeking out like crazy.

I’m more than ready! I did my homework trying out nearly every DPS spec in the game during pre-patch, and I have my favorites now. I’m eager to get those Hero Talents.

My main for the past few expansions has been my Void Elf Monk, so it’s that one, no question about it.

I’ll probably go with peanuts or chips, while drinking a few adult beverages (in moderation).

Ooohhh, good one! Let me ponder my orb.

Windwalker Monk is still my main spec, and it’s gotten some major improvements this expansion with a lot of quality of life being added, button bloat being reduced, and the pace of the rotation feeling much nicer. The only downside is the loss of Skyreach. Good night, Sweet Prince. I loved you more than all the stars.

Retribution Paladin is better than ever. It flows extremely well and the talents give you the option to customize it to your taste like few others.

Shadow Priest didn’t change much, but it was already pretty solid. Like Retribution, it can also be greatly customized through talents. And it’s s̷u̷p̴e̸r̸ t̴̛͔͒̆̚h̷̰̉̐̄e̵͇̙͚̣͋͌̄͋m̸̦̹̐a̵̺̞̝̒͝ț̵̛͚̘̱i̴͎͋́͛͝c̸̝̿͘ f̶̧̢̫̭͇̭̋ȍ̵̺r̶̘͉͖̐̇̑̔̊ ̶̢̫̠̞͈̲̂̀̽͛̕t̶̗̥̞̅h̷͖̓̈͛̒͝į̶̹͇̤̦͂͛͑̽͗́ṡ̵͖̬̤̳̻͌ ē̶̢̧͙̙̣̻̞̣̟̼̥͊x̸̲̠͚̮̣̙̆̀͗̓́͝ͅp̴̨̡͉̙̮͎̜̱͚̦͈̱̥̞̀á̴͖͋̏̏͝n̶̛̽̎̃̑̂̅͆̄͑͝ͅs̸̠̪͓̦̫̉̊̒̒̏̂̉̊̋̈́͒́͘̚ĭ̶̢̨̬̬̪̝̭̫̦̐͗̐̇͋̊o̴̜̠̱͙̓̃͂̈́̋̆͂̂͋̋̄̃̒n̵̩͒̾̓̈́̇̂̀̿.̵̢̧̩͉͖̭̟̰̺̠̰͕̣́̇̏

I think they aren’t fine with shipping Hero Talents in what could amount to an “incomplete” state, but the developers simply don’t have much choice on the matter. They have a release date to adhere to that likely wasn’t picked by them.

Over the past few expansions, they have often used major patches to overhaul (or “fix,” in some cases) certain specs — and I doubt things will be different in The War Within, especially when you consider that Hero Talents are a new system with important balance implications. In theory, each of the 39 specs in the game has to work well with both of its Hero Specs, and they have to be balanced with each other. That’s a tough ask, so I expect a lot of fine tuning — and perhaps some redesigns as new raid tiers get released.

I haven’t had time to play much yet — only one game so far! I had so much to do yesterday! But I’m really looking forward to seeing all the possibilities of the new mechanic, Trinkets — I can already tell that power levels will be higher than ever — while also celebrating the return of Leapfrogger to the game.

This has been The Queue – get ready for The War Within edition. Make sure to ask lots of questions, and take care!