The Queue: Done before the end

So I have collected all of the stuff I wanted for the Doom: The Dark Ages crossover, unlocked Torment 3 (and frankly I’m not feeling like I’m prepared for the difficulty) and otherwise I feel done with the whole turning into the Butcher aspect of the Season. Since I now have a metric boatload of Barbarians to choose to level through the upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion, I think now may be the time to get in some World of Warcraft and let my Barbarians (and that one Paladin) rest for a while.

So, Horde or Alliance? I have an Elf ready for both factions.

Confession time — the primary reason I focused so hard on Diablo IV is because I am terrified of Player Housing, and as such, I haven’t even touched it. Not because I think it is bad. No, because I do not want to become hopelessly, mindlessly addicted to a Pokemon’esque Gotta Get Them All mentality that I know I harbor deep in my soul.

Seriously y’all, this is not something I think I could survive in my current state. So any suggestion on player housing, especially ones like this that sound fun or exciting to me? Imagine me holding up a cross and trying to drive Dracula into the night because I am fully aware of how easily I can be swayed to ultimate evil.

A lot of people pointed out the ways that Allied Races and New Races are distinct — stuff like when they start leveling, external unlocks, etc etc. And that’s all good. But to me there’s also a lore element to consider. Allied Races are distinctive in a couple of ways, and one of those ways seems to be that they’re either too isolationist, too focused on a specific issue, or just plain not big enough to take a seat at the table the way others do.

The Nightborne, for example, are really focused on themselves and their issues and mostly just hang with the Blood Elves.  First Arcanist Thalyssra doesn’t live in Silvermoon because she’s the ruler of Suramar (and because let’s face it, she can portal to Silvermoon to see her husband whenever she wants — I suspect Elves take a long view on this kind of thing) so while she’ll be consulted on any major decisions the Horde makes, she’s not involved in its day to day stuff.

Are Void Elves important? Absolutely. How many Void Elves are there, reasonably? The Blood Elves were part of the minority of High Elves who survived the original Scourge invasion, and the High Elves that didn’t become Blood Elves were an even smaller fraction of that initial fraction. The Void Elves broke away from the Blood Elves, so realistically there can’t be so many Void Elves that you’d expect to see them in a position of leadership. They’re a fraction of a fraction of a people who were never particularly numerous to begin with.

I want skinny options for every male and buff/swole options for every female. No more being forced to play Braddicus, The Swolebro Sorcerer or Taddius, The Thicklock. No more forced to play as a Kul Tiran to not feel ridiculous as a woman with two 2h swords the size of canoes on her back.

I’m not saying redesign level changes here, just do what Baldur’s Gate 3 did and include a Strong Masc (which would be the current masc option because seriously everyone is so bloody hench) and Strong Femme (which would add a more buff option for women) would be pretty sweet. I don’t expect it, but I’d be super happy if it happened.

As a guy who hasn’t even gotten serious about leveling my main and is staring down the barrel of a new D4 expansion with sweaty hands, I gotta say, I feel really behind when I see that we’re already into World Third boss kills in the race to World First.

Please someone reassure me that Player Housing won’t eat my soul. I’m seriously terrified here.

Okay, that’s the Queue for this week. Remember, I have several characters I could theoretically get serious on, so if y’all could please suggest between Night Elf, Draenei, Tauren and Nightborne I’d appreciate it.