The Queue: What is a man?

A wise count once posed a rhetorical question, which he then answered: “What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets.”

And you know what? Even if he might have had a point, It’s not up to us to chastise anyone. In The Queue, we’re chill. We know that people make mistakes, and if they’re willing to share their deepest sins, we’re willing to hear them out — and maybe even forgive them!

*dramatically throws a glass of wine on the floor*

But enough talk… have at you!

Best memory? Probably that time I almost gave Liz and Anna a heart attack because we published an article about the new Hearthstone expansion before Blizzard themselves did, and some people called us names on twitter, and some of the pics I made for our article ended up on reddit as people discussed that new information for the first time, etc.

In our defense, we did absolutely nothing wrong: our article went live as soon as the embargo time ended. The issue was that Blizzard took a few minutes too long to post their article!

Fun times.

And in keeping with that, my favorite articles I wrote were the ones where I had the opportunity to participate in group interviews or Q&A sessions with people from the Hearthstone team. A very fun moment was when I got to learn all about the design process of the Death Knight class from Chadd “Celestalon” Nervigg and Cora Georgiou — and of how it differed from the design process of the Demon Hunter class before it.

Also, the time I got to pick the brain of then Game Director Ben Lee was a huge moment from a personal standpoint: getting to ask questions directly to someone in that position gives you the real sense of just how smart and knowledgeable about game design those guys are. They definitely don’t end up in such a position by coincidence. Being an “armchair designer,” making posts on forums or social media, based on feelings or observations, is infinitely easier than actually juggling all the countless variables, difficulties, and goals involved in the process. Some of the insight on game design I got from Ben that day I’ll probably carry with me forever.

That’s a very good question! I think my favorite machinima were the music ones. Two creators immediately come to mind: Nyhm and Cranius. So I’ll name them as my favorite creators, highlighting Pretty Fly (for a Draenei) by the former and Big Blue Dress by the latter.

Honorable mention to Gilnean Like Me, by Gnomechewer — while I didn’t watch as many works by this creator, this particular one might be my favorite of them all.

For your first question: we’ll keep digging until we reach Azeroth herself, in whichever form she holds at the moment. Is it an egg? A machine? An actual construct body? Or just… a presence? I don’t know, but I think we’ll finally have a small glimpse of the Heart of Azeroth, the Worldsoul, lying deep within the Coreway. I don’t see a reason for this mystery to remain past The War Within — we already know we’re going elsewhere for Midnight and The Last Titan, so keeping the bottom of the Coreway a secret until them feels like too much. A reveal during this expansion is in order, in my opinion.

As for your second question, I have two possibilities I can think of.

The first is that we go to the Rootlands. I know that the land of the Harronir was — according to datamining — originally supposed to be a regular zone in Khaz Algar, located between Hallowfall and Azj-Kahet. But those plans obviously changed, and the Rootlands could, for all we know, be actually located outside of this material plane, perhaps within or adjacent to the Emerald Dream, and we get there through a portal in Khaz Algar.

The second is related to Beledar. Much like the Coreway, it’s a big mystery, and this one is hanging above our heads not just figuratively. Maybe the crystal opens itself to reveal — again — a portal that hides the entrance to some dwelling of the Void itself, or some place where Void and Light are simultaneously present, shifting continuously. A glimpse of a war to come.

Gods, yes! That would be a fantastic idea. I’m not very fond of grinding reputations in WoW, so if I could just wear a tabard and do the content I actually wanna do — be it Delves, World Quests, Dungeons, or whatever — while passively accruing some reputation, I’d be a very happy camper. I know that the Contracts exist, but they’re a poor substitute: I’d rather have something that works for more kinds of content, and with fewer limitations.

1) Sadly I’ll have already finished writing this Queue before the Direct goes live, so unhinged predictions it is!

Let’s go with… Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Remake and Persona 4 Rewind.

2) First, Lilith from Diablo 4. Then, Xal’atath.

And now… confess!

You’re doing good. If it drops for them, they’ll have nothing else to chase and they’ll quit WoW. And they need this hobby! It brings them joy!

That’s fantastic! People need to learn that those nodes are dangerous, and not worth the risk. You’ve taught them a valuable lesson they’ll never forget.

Your act raised awareness about that particular storyline, which made it so that the WoW devs eventually decided to add the Scarlet Enclave content to Season of Discovery. Without that spark, they wouldn’t have made such interesting new content for WoW Classic!

You’re a monster.

I feel like we have accomplished something beautiful here today, folks. *wipes tear*

Either way, have a good day, and take care!