The Queue: gotta go fast

We’re running down to the end of the school year, which means we’re also spinning up all our summer activities and signups and schedules at the same time. So you’ll forgive me, but I gotta make this one quick.

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions and I hope they’re not too complex because I’m also filling out a form at the same time and I’m about to accidentally put my phone number in one of these.

So, for one. I have zero hope that they’ll return this feature in WoW. None, zero, zip. As much as I loved it, it is absolutely not coming back. I do appreciate that they didn’t rip it out wholesale, but I do expect it to slowly break and not get too fixed over the coming years.

But, note that I said “in WoW,” which was a careful and deliberate choice. I’d give it a 50/50 shot that they’re going to make some kind of pet battling type game for mobile or battlenet (designed for console but eh, you can play it on PC if you don’t mind clunky). That doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a pet battling game. It may be that you get an Orc hero and a Human hero and a Dwarf hero with 6 abilities and 3 action slots. But I can see them forking this sort of gameplay off pretty successfully, though it would need a secondary loop of some kind beyond collecting/battling, plus an additional social hook, to go the distance.

I do like that I’m still allowed to collect critters from around for my own, but I do wish they’d included more. I also hate — loathe — the way they’ve done “rares” now, as in like, they just don’t spawn so I don’t have em because I have better things to do than spawn camp.

My core feeling on this one is intrigued. Did they make this change because people weren’t buying the original minisets? It feels like this must be, in part, the case, because they wouldn’t screw with a successful little bit of monetization. I assume they definitely got a chunk of influencer feedback that Constructed players favor one or more specific classes — or that they only play the flavor of the month, and don’t deviate.

As someone with over 400 random Hearthstone packs to open, this also feels like a better deal for your low spend player, too. They would necessarily favor one or two specific classes, because investing your dust to craft a bunch of cards from a ton of classes doesn’t make a ton of sense. But then, for me, being a low spend Hearthstone Constructed player would be an exercise in folly to begin with. It’s really a toss up.

My first thought and kneejerk reaction is Anduin. I want to pal around with him, and he would probably make a plausible go at all three roles. But given the reaction to almost any NPC we rub elbows with too much (‘juan moment’) I don’t really want him to become a meme. Plus, he’s too central. We’d want someone a little more obscure.

I kinda feel like the perfect pick would be Cariel Roame. She had a token cameo in Dragonflight, but not much more, despite being a decently well-known figure in Hearthstone. As a Paladin, she has all the roles on lock — speaking of, that’s the reason I didn’t go with her sister Tamsin, though Tamsin would be decent if she could toss like, healthstones onto the field and tank with a Voidwalker. Cariel is a fighter, she’s been in the field, but she’s still learning a bit as well. Though, if they do go this direction I’ll definitely miss Valeera’s ability to stealth and buttpull less.

pfft, since when have I ever said “no, don’t buy the game”?

Though I will say, as long as you’re putting things in your cart you might want to stumble and slip in Titanium Court as well.

Now that episode five has been released, I am positively itching for any tidbit of news on The Long Dark‘s sequel, Blackfrost.

Gimme.