The Queue: This bird has been murdered

Taken from us way too soon. My hunter kneels before the body of her beloved bird and sobs uncontrollably, for forces unseen have just murdered him. His name was Pick. He was eleven years old, almost twelve.

But alas, the powers-that-be have decided that she can never be with him again. Unless, that is, she’s willing to give up the way of the marksman — which has been her craft for her whole life as an adventurer, part of her very identity — and find a new, completely different way of life, either mastering all the beasts — not just her Pick! — or surrendering her Dark Iron Rifle and taking up the spear, something which she has never done before.

Hi, this is The Queue. Can’t wait for patch 11.1!

I don’t know. I usually only bother to install PTRs when there are some really major changes that will significantly affect my play experience. While it’s true that I am curious how Marksmanship will play after all their pets are M̴͇͑U̴̘͠R̸̯̋D̷̡̊Ẹ̷̈́R̷̒͜È̴̪D̶̲͝ ̴̺̕I̴̳̎Ǹ̸̦ ̴͈̕C̷͓̕Ọ̷̈L̴̡̈́D̸̬̊ ̴̖̎B̴̹̌L̴̎͜O̶͔̅Ơ̸̢D̸͉̾, I don’t know if that’s enough of a pull for me to go there.

But maybe I will! It’s not like it’ll take too long.

I still need to do the Archives quests and actually go to Siren Isle. After my main reached a gear level that I deemed satisfactory enough (for someone who plays the game mostly solo and alt-focused, like I do), I got so caught up in playing my alts that I haven’t really felt like going back to the main until the next major patch, I guess.

“Chill/cute” farming sim-type games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. I feel like they’re just one inch away from grabbing me, but they never do!

I’m not quite sure what I’d need to change about those games for me to enjoy them. Perhaps a stronger story narrative to follow through early on as the game teaches me all the mechanics, starting with the basics and escalating gradually. But it’s tough to really pinpoint where exactly that mojo is missing for me.

Every year I catch an event that interests me (or two or three). From there, sometimes I end up watching more stuff.

This year, we’ve got someone beating Unicorn Overlord, a JRPG that usually takes around 70 hours to beat… in 21 minutes.

WTF.

I’m gonna watch that later, I’ve got the video open in a browser tab right now.

I feel like I’ve already written about these things a few times, but it’s always worth repeating: Warbands are amazing. They have completely revolutionized the way I approach WoW — in many ways, I play my account now, rather than my character. All my alts can contribute towards reputation, currency, even gear in some cases. So many items are shared freely, no matter the faction or server — same with gold. Many questlines and grinds only need to be done once for the entire account. It’s no exaggeration for me to say that it’s the most significantly positive change the game has received in a very long time for me.

Also, Delves as a legitimate gearing path for solo players is fantastic. And the upcoming 11.1 changes that finally give a purpose to Tiers higher than 8 by rewarding better and better Crests have me really excited to keep pushing the system like I originally imagined I’d do. I want to be challenged, improve as a player, and get rewarded for it: that’s one of the two main reasons why I play videogames.

Bird is the word. F is the letter.

Good night, sweet prince. I hope you’re pecking on some yummy corn cobs on a big farm upstate somewhere.