The Queue: Fishing and the Void

Fishing is the favorite activity for void creatures, as well as non-void creatures who decide to dabble in the void, like Void Elves, Shadow Priests, or Devourer Demon Hunters. It is said that the things that lurk in the bottom are constantly calling out to like-minded individuals, attempting to lure them closer, to pull them in. Somewhere in the depths, the Fish of N’Zoth watches and waits.

This is The Queue, our daily Q&A column where when we don’t have a clear theme for the week, we just make something up on the spot.

The main reason is just that the “retail” terminology already existed. The word has been used in gaming for a long time to mean “the actual release” as opposed to “the beta version” or “the development build” or something like that. In the case of WoW, a lot of people used the word to differentiate between trial accounts and “retail” accounts.

This got further amplified once the private server community grew. There was a time when private servers were very popular, so a lot of people would keep using the term “retail” to differentiate between “official Blizzard servers” (retail) and private servers.

The term simply stuck. “Retail” WoW used to be “the WoW that you pay for,” meaning that you were neither using a trial account nor playing on a private server, nor anything of the sort. The “official” playable version. Then, once WoW Classic got introduced, people just kept using that term they were already used to instead of coming up with a new one.

Allergies.

Anything plant-based might give this debuff. Some animals might give it too.

You move a little slower (like 15%-20%).  You have a small chance to sneeze, being stunned for half a second, at any moment (like, 5% every GCD).

But perhaps more importantly: any time you take damage, you get 10% increased damage taken from that damage school. So if you’re suffering from Allergies and you take Fire damage, you get 10% increased Fire damage taken. You get hit by Fire again? 20%. You then get hit by a physical attack? Now you’re at 20% Fire, 10% Physical. This persists until the Allergies debuff is removed.

Warcraft single-player RPG. It seems so obvious, so adjacent, but Blizzard doesn’t really make single player RPGs. I want one that is set in the past. My ideal setting would be during the Second War, in the seven Human kingdoms. There are two campaigns; one where you play as an Alliance party, and another where you play as a Horde one. You venture through Stormwind, Lordaeron, Dalaran, Gilneas, Kul Tiras, Stromgarde, and Alterac. You gather your party, with Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes for the Alliance side, Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, and Goblins if you’re Horde. You get a main quest related to the war itself, and many, many side quests as you visit each new city or town, explore dungeons, etc.

Another option is a Warcraft “musou” game. I didn’t originally vibe with those a lot, until I played Fire Emblem: Three Hopes. That one was really great and set the standard for what I want in a game of this type (mindless action + a nice degree of strategy during combat + heavy emphasis on the story).

Or a single-player FPS set in the Overwatch universe, like the Campaign That Was Promised™.

Between burnt eye, four eyes, eyepatch, and glass/lazy eye? Since we don’t know much about them and most of what we have are appearances, I’m gonna have to go with Tiara. Call me shallow if you will, but it’s just that her presence has single-handedly elevated Cai from a lord I wasn’t even noticing the existence of to one I’m actually a little interested in finding out more about now.

After Tiara, I’m compelled by Bonaparte (already affectionately called “pirate Waluigi” by the community). He seems to have an interesting premise: the fact that writing is forbidden in his nation so he memorizes a lot of history and knowledge is definitely somewhat original and unique.

Buccaneer seems like a “strong guy who is fiercely loyal,” which is a character archetype we’ve already seen a bunch of times. That’s a little disappointing, especially given that he’s the retainer to Leda, who has been my lord of choice so far, but there’s always the chance that the character will be a bit more layered than just that.

Fabio is dead last for me, even though his story premise is by far the most compelling of the four (no spoilers, even though they’re probably light). I just don’t vibe with that particular type of character. He reminds me too much of Hubert from Three Houses. Ugh.

As for the reveal influencing my decision on which lord to play as first? It hasn’t changed my decision yet (I’m leaning toward Primrose Octopath Leda, but also considering Theodora), but it did, at least, make me more interested in Cai.

I wouldn’t say “covered,” but I’ve added stickers to my (music) keyboards before.

I think stickers are something where I appreciate the idea of them more than actually getting off my butt and getting some sticker. Maybe I’m creative but lazy! (Or maybe just lazy.)

I’m super amused by the existence of the Oasis Index. Thank you for introducing this concept to me.

Can I get some ‘F’s for Melbourne in chat.

This has been The Queue. Have a good weekend, and remember: in The Dark Below, N’Zoth waits!