The Queue: Cold as ice
@CoryjTaylor
It’s almost Christmas, and unlike the last few years — it’s a cold one for me. I had people warning me that it was gonna be a rougher winter, and I foolishly didn’t believe them. I’m as shocked as you all are, I’m sure. Only my face doesn’t look like it because it’s frozen like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
While I try to warm up, it’s time for our daily reader question and answer column — The Queue!
Q4tQ: What game are you looking forward to the most in 2026?
Y’know, that one.
The one with all the things, and the stuff, and the guy who says that thing.
I don’t really pay attention to the future game releases the way I used to. We see so many trailers and teasers for things so far in advance now that I hate waiting that long. I’m much happier being surprised when something is releasing in a week than pinning my thoughts on it for years to come. That being said, I am looking forward to seeing where the story is going for Diablo’s next expansion, and if this is the one that ends with a cliffhanger of Big D getting brought back. Liz says that it’s fine that a Diablo game has no Diablo in it, but I still think it’s a little weird that we’ve barely gotten any mention of the guy.
Who am I kidding? It’s gonna be Ba’al.
Q4tQ: what have been your favorite significant mechanics changes in games? The sort of things that somehow make everything about playing better, no matter how small they might seem.
Asking because Diablo IV changed the tempering system from “you can add two effects but you get to pick from a random list” to “you can add one effect of your choice” and it’s so, so much better now. Just knowing I won’t ever brick a piece of gear feels amazing.
Isn’t that tempering change great?! Now you just have to worry about sanctification randomly choosing to take one of your best stats and make it into something stinky.
Being able to group more than just six or nine guys at once in Warcraft 3. That one was huge; young Cory didn’t know about army grouping with Ctrl keys, if Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness even had that. It’s been so long, who can remember? Moving combo points from the target onto the Rogue/Feral Druid in World of Warcraft. Also, Skyriding was a big one.
Although I think the biggest overall positive change was FPS games getting a sprint key. No more slowly plodding along, now Master Chief can really get into the middle of things and get crunched by the pair of Hunters he didn’t see around the corner.
Got the weird itch to go back to doing Archeology. You can really see why this feature never caught on. It’s a lot of effort for very little reward, for a start. And the random item you have to just blindly grind through. I got a pet pterodon, though.
I don’t think loved is the right word, but I did enjoy the original version of archaeology. It was a fun little mini-game to play in downtime between levelling and raiding. I do wish that I had gotten my hands on that replica troll sword when it had been a massive upgrade for my Ret set, but at least I got the Vial of the Sands.
Q4tQ do you pronounce “gargoyle” with two or three syllables?
Gar-goyle. Two.
Sometimes Garg-oil, still two.
How are you getting three? What kind of Haiku are you making, old man?
Update: I fixed the D4 transmog issue! I did some searching and found people suggesting an install repair, so I ran that and it worked. My paladin is now appropriately golden and glorious, though I’m thinking of going back to more humble armor.
So, Q4tQ: when you can transmog a character, how often do you dress them in what’s typical for their class, and how often do you dress them against type?
I try to fit them to what they’re doing. Like in Horizon Zero Dawn, I would try to make sure that Aloy was dressed for the weather. I felt so bad for her climbing around on all those giant frozen towers with no gloves and a bare midriff! She needed to stop in at some sporting goods stores or something and find the least decayed winter parka still in its original packaging.
This also depends on how long I’m playing with the character; I’ll usually try to make them seem the big paragon of badassitude for their class/spec/role first. This is about as far as Diablo seasonal characters get since they don’t live past 90 days. If it’s something that’s going to last longer, I’ll get experimental and see what I can do with the transmog options.
Q4tQ Should we be able to get this decoration for our houses?
I didn’t include the picture because it doesn’t matter — the answer is always yes. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the creativity on display as people have gotten their hands on the housing system and made their own versions of stuff. That’s wonderful, and I’m glad that the system is robust enough to let people make giant fox statues staring at their reflection in a fountain — I just want all of the options alongside that. Both for the players who want a house full of neat stuff, but don’t have the patience/creativity to make it themselves, and for the players who are going to be able to take that doodad and turn it into a masterpiece.
q4tq: why does “1” mean “summon me”?
Number one goes faster than number two?
It’s just good, established, shorthand at this point. Blame all those lazy people always begging for summons three or four expansions ago.
Today’s Bacardi picture is reminding you all of the importance of a good chin and cheek scratching. This is an important message for your own pets out there, and they’ll really want you to pay attention. I just regret that I have no tiny Santa hat to put on Bacardi to really make sure you all get good Christmas loot in your games of choice this week. Maybe next year.
Would you Rather?
Spend the day at a ski resort
Or
Spend your day at a holiday craft market
Today’s Anna Christmas Earworm™: White Christmas
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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