Matthew Rossi

Do a google search of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and look at the images.

So yeah, my wife and I finally got to run around in Bastion and even got some Maldraxxus in last night, and we’re both level 55 heading towards the final stretch. Leveling definitely feels less painful this time around, which I think is an excellent thing — I expect when I get to my alts, I might just level them through the questing again, it’s been fun.

Some actual lines from our time playing together include “She’s awfully proud of her job as Death’s mall cop” and “Who would ever want to come here? No one. No one wants to come here, but we’re stuck here so we might as well make the best of the blasted, undead choked hellscape.”

It's been a while since we had a linear leveling experience in World of Warcraft, where the game's story took you from Zone A to Zone B with no decision on your part. Warlords of Draenor had a single starting zone for each faction, but you could more or less decide which zone to go to next after that, while Legion and Battle for Azeroth both allowed you to pick and choose which zone you wanted to run.

Now, to be fair, as the Wowhead article points out, Pilgrim's Bounty only gives a slight buff to your overall reputation gains, but every little bit counts.

I will be writing the Queue for the next three days. Letting the American writers have the holiday.

Honestly, even when I was living in the US, I never much cared for Thanksgiving. My mom died when I was 19, and I haven’t really seen any of my family on either side since 2000, and the last conversation I had with my father was back in 2006. I’m sure they’re all fine, and even if they aren’t, the decision was made that I wasn’t really a necessary part of their lives a long time ago. So the idea of travelling all that way to spend a day of thanks with them… not really my thing.

So if you’re an American who doesn’t really have a family for the holiday, I get it. I’m very grateful for my wife and the family she’s made for me up here in Canada, but either way, the last Thursday in November is always just a day for me. But on the plus side, I get to spend it with you all.

It’s the Queue. What’re y’all up to?

There's no question that the 50 to 60 leveling curve is pretty relaxed in Shadowlands, as some players managed to get to max level within three hours of the expansion's release, and even pokey players like me hit level 52 in a couple of hours of gameplay. World of Warcraft has probably never been easier to level in than it is in Shadowlands, and I'm curious what you think of that fact -- are you happy to be getting to max level relatively quickly, or at least to be able to do so, even if you're taking your time?

We've talked before about how Battle for Azeroth used cinematics to expand on its storytelling, but I have to say, watching how Blizzard has merged its various kinds of cinematics in Shadowlands is nothing short of breathtaking.

It's officially Shadowlands time, and that means it's time to go crazy trying to blaze through to level 60 as fast as humanly possible while doing every single dungeon, every quest, everything the game has to offer all at once, progress every profession, go go go it's here it's here aaaaaaaahh.

Last weekend, we went back to our long running D&D campaign and almost immediately found ourselves role playing a bunch, as our Dwarf Cleric Mediel and her undead Warlock cousin Malachi talked it out about how stodgy and confining Dwarven culture is, and our Tiefling Rogue Mischief found out she has three moms -- sort of -- and our Gnome Wizard Wilyur Rustspark has come to a resolution on his evil doppleganger, and our Elf Fighter Zellan really hates pirates.

Opposite of Icecrown Citadel and at the center of the Maw lays Torghast, Tower of the Damned.