Anna Bell

Overwatch 2 monetization via the new free Battle Pass and Premium Battle Pass is a hot topic but, much like turtles, it's microtransactions all the way down.

It’s weird, because I really, truly hated (and honestly on a gut level still hate) the monetization changes to Hearthstone‘s Battlegrounds, and yet now I find myself playing them more than ever before. I know I have a tendency to respond very strongly to external pressure — the even simple and completely arbitrary leaderboards on Duolingo lights my competitive streak, and I will learn French quicker than FirstnameBunchanumbers progresses through German. Even though the rewards track didn’t compel me to play before, now that the rewards are confined to Battlegrounds, and especially because they’re all cosmetic, I’m fighting tooth and claw to get them.

Also, weirdly, now that they got rid of SI:Sefin and added in Toxfin, I’m no longer calling for nerfs, while I’m also trying for the quest that lets me trigger as many Battlecries as possible. So much fairer! No, not because I’m the one playing it. Other reasons.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions, and we’ll answer them right after this game.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we’ll answer them.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and honestly it doesn’t matter what we write because the real answers are in the comments.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we hope you’d like to play a game.

We have pantry moths. Word to the wise, pantry moths become moths after being pantry larva. I don’t want to elaborate much more, other than I feel like I should give the Diablo 4 team a guided tour of my kitchen right now, just so they can capture this degree of creeping, disgusting horror. Or maybe Tirion Fordring circa 2006, just for a quick snack.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and hopefully you’ll forgive how short some of the answers are today, because I’m googling “how to make homemade flamethrower.”

We've been having a lot of fun in the Dragonflight beta -- when we manage to tear ourselves away from the Dracthyr character creator.

I heard these were trending on Twitter, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we would answer, but we’re about to let it ride.

As the kids go back to school and I have Pumpkin Spice Lattes to give me a little extra motivation, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into sorting out my real life. I have a tendency to create doom boxes to get all this junk out of my face and then forget about them, so the beginning of the school year is a great time to try and sort all that out into a clean slate. No, don’t look at the number of Chrome tabs I have open or my bank. This is fine.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we swear we saw the answer around here a second ago. We’ll find it. Probably.

The pumpkins come, and with them, comes inevitably their spice. This is what the Humans prepare for.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we’ll answer, but not before we spike the whole thing with cardamom.

We’ve got a longer than usual downtime ahead of us, so I’m just going to hang out with my favorite Warchief for a spell.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions, and we answer because we’re really just looking for anything to do while we wait.

I’ve always had a tendency to veer toward gothic horror and modern thrillers during the summer. Since I discovered my grocery store already started stocking pumpkin spice coffee creamer, right now it really feels like it’s almost Halloween. It’s a feeling I can really get behind. No, wait… it’s… it’s behind YOU!

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we definitely aren’t about to apologize. You should’ve seen your face.