The Queue: I want to ride on a skatebroom

I could talk about WoW’s latest patch 11.1, or I could talk about Metaphor: ReFantazio which I just finished and think was amazing (it definitely deserves all the awards it has gotten). But instead I’m going to use this space to drum up a little support for ILA: A Frosty Glide. You star as the titular witch Ila as you journey around the land looking for your lost cat Coco. Your transportation? A skatebroom! Handles like a skateboard, flies like a broom — the perfect method for getting around. Inspired by games such as A Short Hike and A Hat in Time, Ila seems like it’ll be a delightfully cozy game. They’ve already hit some of their stretch goals like Switch and Playstation ports, but I always think the more support the better. The Kickstarter ends in a day so be sure to check it out and if it looks like your kind of game you may want to get in on it now.

While I try to rig my gas blower to a broom, let’s answer some questions!

I do — and for a canonical reason, no less! Remember when Garrosh injured him during the events of Mists of Pandaria? Well he recuperated with Wrathion in the Tavern in the Mists, and what’s behind the Tavern? A hot tub! Surely he took advantage of it during his convalescence and developed a lifelong appreciation of the benefits of a hot bath.

I think it’s a real thing, or at least close enough to a real thing that it can be taken “seriously”. But at the same time it needs to be said: it guarantees nothing. I’ve received several surveys from Blizzard over the years and if it was a hoax it did a good job of mimicking those. But they ask a lot of random questions in those surveys and sometimes it feels like they’re not looking for your agreement but for a consistent response to larger ideas. For example, if your responses are tepid to all but one proposed class they may not be reading it as overwhelming support for that one class but instead a general disinterest in adding classes at all. I’m not suggesting you should game your responses as there’s no point, they’re likely sending them out to thousands of players at a time. What I do suggest is not to pay any attention to them at all — they’re not leaks, they’re not proposals, they’re just gauges that the development team is trying to measure. If you get one fill it out honestly but otherwise until something is officially announced don’t get hopes up.

Heck even if it is announced don’t get your hopes up until it’s in the game. pours out a drink for the Dance Studio

To be honest I probably won’t modify them too much; as I mostly play Marks a good chunk of time will probably be spent figuring out whether I should be using a pet to begin with.

That said, I’m very happy my main will be able to utilize his trusty boar Baldrick regardless of circumstances now.

I think it’s an awful idea designed to punish the consumer. Hopefully it’s just a rumor but in today’s capitalist hellscape it wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be true. If so I can’t help but think there will be a lot of jolly roger flags raised to get around the issue.

This is the most recent strong argument for having multiple hunters. Just six hunters will let you actively use all 36 variations! And since you can change their specializations now you won’t need to worry about having bombless crabs in your stable.

I do, even though there doesn’t seem to be much movement on them outside the small quest chain in patch 11.0.7 (as far as I’m aware they’re absent the events of 11.1, but I can’t say for sure). I suspect that the final tier of The War Within will take place at the bottom of the Coreway and the Harronir will be the primary NPC faction we’re working with. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’ll be an allied race but the fact that they were a prominent part of a trailer suggests to me they will have a permanent place in the World of Warcraft.

I’m going to start off by saying a hard No on the idea of a Cash Shop for old rewards. Ok, sure, via the token you could argue anything earnable via gold can be gotten with real money but there needs to at least be the appearance that you’re earning stuff in-game.

As for whether old rewards should be available later I’m definitely going to say Yes, with one exception that I’ll talk about at the end. I feel like rewards shouldn’t be temporary to begin with, but since the game has removed them in the past I do think they should be able to make a comeback later. Ten years feels like a long enough time for exclusivity and I don’t see how it hurts what a player did back when it was a challenge if ten years later it’s easier for others to get.

There’s two “meta” reasons why rewards should make a return. For one thing, there are so many collectibles in the game now who the heck is even going to notice someone wearing the Mists of Pandaria Challenge Mode transmog? The same with titles or mounts. Sure I use “of the Black Harvest” on all my Warlocks because I worked hard to get it, but there were plenty of other Warlocks who got it at the time and if I see someone else sporting the title I’m not going to hunt down the character’s history to see if it was “legitimately” earned.

The other reason is what I consider akin to “wearing your High School Letter Jacket at age 25”. It’s old glory that is fundamentally meaningless to your current situation, why are you reveling in a past no one cares about but you? Obviously it’s somewhat different in WoW where you can use transmog to sport an exclusive outfit years later but that doesn’t mean it should bother you to see others wearing the same clothes (again, which they could’ve earned the same time you did). You should be constantly striving to unlock new rewards in the game, not reliving something you did long ago.

Will there be players that pretend they earned something they didn’t? Of course. But that shouldn’t bother you as that’s their problem, not your problem. What matters is how you see your own accomplishments and that should never involve worrying about what others have accomplished.

The one exception is Elite PVP rewards. Not because I think they should be exclusive, but because I don’t want Elite PVP players mad at me for suggesting their rewards should be freely available at some point.

I feel like it’s one of those things that isn’t generally known. Players (especially those who mained Shadow Priests in Legion) know, but her history is something that I believe is only known to a select few. Iridikron probably doesn’t know, but I’m not even sure if NPCs like Thrall or Magni know the nitty gritty details of her origin.

It feels like one of those things that only the old gods themselves would bring up when chatting with her. If they were still around, of course, which I’m sure they’re not. *cough*

That’s all the space and time we have for questions today. If you haven’t checked out Metaphor: ReFantazio I really think you should, and of course don’t forget to take a gander at Ila. Be sure to ask plenty of questions for Matt, and have a great day!