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The QueueJun 6, 2025 1:00 pm CT

The Queue: Tactics

Tactics? Ha! Everyone’s got them. The Jinyu contemplate things like it’s some kind of staring contest. The Shado-Pan meditate before battle like they’re heading out for tea time. Me? I dance through the chaos, and the chaos dances for me.

The key to ‘tactics’ is this: be what they don’t expect. When they guard high, strike low! When they chase you, lead them off a cliff! When they think they’ve won, you’re already three steps ahead, stealing their luckydos and trading ’em to the grummles for a rampaging yak!

Sometimes a clever trick beats a thousand blades. Sometimes a banana peel wins a war.

– The Monkey King


THOMAS STRANGE

What kind of data do you think Blizzard was looking for and/or received from that class survey that went out in December? I’m super curious about it.

In this case, I do think it’s as self-explanatory as the survey itself implies: they were testing the waters to see which of those class ideas would resonate best with the general audience, in order to perhaps implement them in the future.

I feel like most of the “obvious” choices of classes that could be added to the game have already been added — things like Death Knight and Demon Hunter. When they did add classes that were not so deeply-rooted in past Warcraft Lore — Monk and Evoker — general reception wasn’t as excited as in the cases of DK and DH. So they’re trying to see which of those “new ideas” would have the largest chance to be a hit with players.

As for how they’d implement those ideas — I’m not sure. Some of those ideas could be for new specs, rather than new classes. Would Blizzard add new specs to existing classes? It’s rare, but they have done so on two different occasions (Guardian Druid and Augmentation Evoker). Maybe doing more of that would be more successful in reaching out existing players than having them reroll a brand-new character. Which isn’t to say that they wouldn’t add entirely new classes as well — but I do think it might be time for a slight paradigm shift, where we could have a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.


XERIANNE

Will you participate in Capybara week?

I’m not sure! I could probably keep an eye on Capy-related games, but although I do enjoy the real-life animals a lot, I’ve yet to find a game based on them that I’ve enjoyed… the whole “wholesome games” vibe doesn’t usually hit me, for some reason.


KALCHEUS

Q4tQ do you plan on getting/playing the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster when it releases?

Does St. Ajora wear funny robes?

Yes, of course! Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite games of all time, both for the gameplay and the story. It might be my favorite Final Fantasy game overall (although I’m also super invested in the world of Final Fantasy 7, so it’s hard to be sure).

I’m gonna leave you with this message from Yasumi Matsuno, who’s the original Script, Scenario Writer and Editor for the game, and came back to work on this remake as well. He’s also worked on the narratives for games such as Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy 12, and Final Fantasy 14.

Nearly 30 years ago, the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy engulfed the nation’s financial institutions in mountains of bad debt, triggering a wave of corporate bankruptcies, a sudden and extreme rise in unemployment rates, and stagnation of Japanese society as a whole. It was an era when many were robbed of hope, when dreams were measured by their price tag.

Against this historical backdrop, I crafted a story. It was the story of Ramza, a young man who fought tirelessly against the entrenched social class system. It was the story of Delita, who sought to take advantage of this confusion and despair to advance his own social position. It was a story of a peculiar destiny, in which friendship and betrayal intertwine.

And now, in 2025 – a time when inequality and division are still deeply rooted in our society – I offer this story once again.

The will to resist is in your hands.


ARTHONOS

1) Q4tQ: Which character would you main in Mario Kart World?

2) Q4tQ: What is your favorite class in Final Fantasy Tactics?

1) Daisy for sure.

2) Hmm… that’s a tough one, but I’m gonna go with Ninja! You pretty much always want to make your melee fighters into Ninjas at some point in order to learn how to dual wield, it’s a super useful ability. You’ve got godlike speed and evasion, and you can deal damage from melee range as well as from range, with your Throw ability. It’s somewhat similar to Myrmidons in Fire Emblem, in that they can dish out tons of damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but if they do get hit, they might go down fast — so you just gotta not get hit.


ENO

Do you have a favorite tarot card

I – The Magician. I even have a t-shirt!


MUSEDMOOSE

Q4tQ: what are you hoping to see announced at the Summer Game Fest and other video game shows happening this weekend?

For myself: give me Persona announcements or give me… disappointment, I guess.

Give me Persona announcements or give me… disappointment, I guess.

Yes, I stole your answer! What did you expect!? Seriously, there are no other big games I expect to be announced at this event; anything besides Persona 4 Remake (if it does get announced) would be a surprise. (And no, I don’t expect Persona 6 to be announced yet.)


AMBULANCE ROBOTS

What is your wish list for Midnight?

Mine is that we also try to bring corrupted former elves back into the fold, namely Naga and Satyrs.

That would be super cool. In the case of Naga, I could see a million possible lore ramifications — ones that involve Azshara, as well as dissidents from Azshara. Naga civil war! And they have so many existing ties to the other Azeroth races, to the Burning Legion and to the Old Gods.

Satyrs might be tied to the Emerald Nightmare, and perhaps even to the Rootlands and the Harronir — it wouldn’t be too farfetched to see a connection being made in lore that gets us there. As for them becoming allied to us against a common enemy? …that’s a little bit of a tougher sell. It would require some major new lore development before it happens, in my opinion — but it’s not impossible.

As for my wishes? I just want the Blood Elves to recognize that Velen saved them all when he purified the Sunwell. I want them to get down from their pedestals and be humble for once in their lives. I want Liadrin to summon Velen for an audience and say “I’m sorry for wanting to murder you in the Arathi Highlands; that was incredibly insensitive (and “forced faction conflict writing”) of me. You deserve to be treated much better, since you single-handedly saved my people from eternal damnation. Here’s an enormous statue of you right in the middle of Silvermoon.” Or something.

This has been The Queue. Take care, friends, and have a good weekend!

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