The Queue

I didn’t think it was possible to be more exhausted than I was last week (or was it the week before last?) but as it turns out, a diet rich in cookies and not much else will really take a lot out of you.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we answer them while our pancreas silently begs us to eat a damn vegetable, any vegetable, please.

It’s my final Queue for 2020! It’s hard to believe that we’re almost out of this year. We’re in the final three days, that’s practically nothing — we can do it! Hold on that little bit more and we’ll soon put 2020 in the rearview mirror where it belongs.

Without further ado, it’s time for — the Queue.

Hello, Queue! I hope you are having a lovely Friday.

We are now turning your lovely Friday into a lovely Friday of talking about video games.

Hello and happy Thursday, Queuemans! No matter how you do or don’t celebrate the holidays, I hope you are all having a great week and that this time of year isn’t too hard on you. And if it is, you always have myself, the Queuemans, and apparently a whole lot of “thank you!” bots to keep you company.

(For real, though, if this time of year is hard on you, please don’t hesitate to reach out <3)

Anyhow, let’s get our Winter Veil stockings hung, set some cookies out for Greatfather Winter, and have a sit in front of the Queuele Log.

Either you understand the reference, in which case I think it’s very nice of you to give that dead woman another chance, or you do not, in which case we take you live to Spencer’s Gifts.

It’s the Queue. They rocked us like a hurricane, sir.

I wrote this Queue during the longest night of the longest year of all our lives, so it seemed fitting to take the opportunity to go play my favorite non-Blizzard game. Even more appropriately, one of the main dangers in The Long Dark is a literal blizzard. However, unfortunately, the game actively discourages me from making friends with bears.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we’re grateful you do, because we can stay warm by the light of our monitors while we answer.

My guild got Normal Sire Denathrius for the first time last night, and all I got was this festive Winter Veil hat.

Bah humbug.

It’s time for — The Queue.

You’re kidding. It’s Friday? It’s Friday again? Already?

This thing keeps sneaking up on me.

So how’s Torghast going for you all? The Shadestalkers this week are unbelievably overtuned, if you ask me, but whichever one doesn’t have them (totally blanking right now) feels a lot more difficult so. Rough week overall if you’re trying to push. I currently have a love/hate relationship with the place because hoo boy is it fun to get Catharsticks + health buffs and just one-shot things, but that build is dependent on, well, getting Catharsticks and health buffs. Without them, my runs feel like a non-starter.

Anyhow, enough about Torghast. Let’s Queue.

Okay, one of the things I really like about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are the weapon drops, which are pretty sweet looking. I’m especially a sucker for the Carolingian Longsword, which is a greatsword in the game, and when fully leveled up is a +VLFBERH+T sword, as you can see from the screenshot accompanying this Queue. The Ulfberht swords (as they’re known today) are found in graves across Europe and date from the 9th and 10th centuries, so right during the period of the game, and tended to be made from large blooms of steel forged in a pattern welded fashion, sometimes with edges of even harder metal forge-welded to the body of the blade. The inscription +VLFBERH+T or +VLFBERHT+ derives from a personal name, possibly the smith who first crafted one somewhere in modern day France.

The Ulfberht was an extremely popular weapon in Norway, where the protagonist of the game is from, with 44 of the known Ulfberht found in Norwegian warrior graves. It’s a nice detail that Eivor can find and use one, and I also like that the sword’s Frankish origins are preserved in its name, as the Carolingian dynasty was the royal house descended from Charlemagne himself. WoW needs weapons like this — the Ulfberht were prized weapons, although they were also crafted with a variety of techniques and materials over the hundreds of years of their prominence. There should be a blacksmith or two in the game that sticks a little flourish like the engraving here onto their work.