The Queue

No, I didn’t die this pull. I don’t know why you would think that. I just really needed a nap.

Probably we all really need a nap.

This is the Queue. Let’s chat.

Yup, I’m riding around Night City in all black and riding an all black bike thanks to the feature where you can change the color on some vehicles, which just so happens to include this bike.

This particular V is significantly more aggressive than earlier incarnations — my current loadout includes the x-MOD 2 variants of the Umbra assault rifle, the MA70 HB light machine gun, and the Pozhar combat shotgun which is crazy strong thanks to the Kneel! mod. I’m also switching in some non x-Mod weapons like Ol’Reliable and scouring the airdrops for the Techtronical special weapons. This time, I’m definitely a solo — haven’t touched a cyberdeck and primarily use a Sandevistan for ease of targeting as well as keeping enemies at a distance.

It’s a lot of fun so far. Might try a chrome compressor build sometime.

BlizzCon 2026 is happening and I couldn’t be more excited! Well, that’s not true — I’d be a lot more excited if we were getting BlizzCon 2025. That said after BlizzCon 2024 was cancelled I wasn’t sure if we’d ever have another one again so it’s welcome news that the event isn’t dead yet.

As for whether or not I’ll try to attend I’m actually leaning towards it; I’ve yet to go to a BlizzCon so it’d be a new experience. The only concern is flying out there — I’d rather drive but Carolina to California may be too much of a haul. Of course it’s not just planes that give me anxiety as I’m not fond of large crowds anymore either. Now that I think about it I’ll probably be happier staying home and watching it on screen instead of in person. I guess I have 18 months to make up my mind.

Whether or not I go though I’m curious what’s going to be announced. If Midnight is out early next year as expected it seems a little too soon to be talking about The Last Titan (although the Northrend visual in the trailer suggests that could be the case). It’s definitely too early to talk about what’s after the Worldsoul Saga, right? Maybe it’s spinoff time!

While I dream about a Heroes of the Storm revival, let’s answer some questions!

Who would be the most effective DJ: a Mage who summons Mirror Images to help him, or a Naga who has multiple arms to turn knobs, spin vinyls, and press buttons? The Mirror Images will certainly double as special effects, looking cool enough to get the crowd pumped — but the extra arms might be more useful as a focused tool to perform the task in front of you (with a single brain commanding all the actions).

Plus, let’s not kid ourselves: DJ Manastorm would probably try to come up with some devious scheme to drain infinite power from the crowd, while Mixqueen Azshara would mass charm the audience to ensure their bewilderment to her act. It would not be a simple, fair battle.

While we ponder who would win this ensorcelling music showdown, let’s answer some questions, shall we?

Sometimes you just need to look at a picture of three murloc gangsters escaping from a bad situation on a motorcycle.

I have no more context for you. Hearthstone has always been the best for taking all of the best parts of Warcraft’s sandbox and making it into something special and more than the sum of its parts. Which could be ascribing too much to someone’s job that day to paint a trio of Murloc smugglers running away from a bad scene. Who knows! All I know is that I like it.

While I wonder what my life would be like as a smuggler, it’s time for — The Queue!

Ok, that is admittedly a poor quality header image, but do you know how hard it is to take screenshots in the middle of digging through trash? Anyhow, sing it with me!

I am a Dwarf and I’m digging through trash
Diggy diggy trash
Diggy diggy trash
I am a Dwarf and I’m digging through trash
Diggy diggy trash
Digging through trash

I said this already earlier this week but I’ll repeat it here in case you missed it: the aesthetic of Undermine does nothing for me but the vibe is fantastic. I don’t plan on sticking around after the patch, mind you, but it’s kind of a nice break from the usual rigmarole our characters go through on a daily basis.

Anyhow Liz was not able to do the queue today so I’m taking a break from shoveling through trash for Empty Kaja’Cola Cans to answer your questions! Let’s get to it!

It’s March 6th, and an ocean of darkness comes to drown the world.

This is the Queue, and from this lone promontory of land stabbing out into the quivering abyss, we can but delay our imminent madness with diversions of light woven into stories. Hope is fleeting, life is transient, we watch the suffering of those we love helpless to prevent it. Shackled by beliefs that do nothing to hinder others from bringing doom and harm to everyone, we can but watch the next wave building. Soon like Atlantis we will be dragged beneath endless heavy tons of water.

I am a negative man, but we are not under the waves yet. So let us talk while we yet have time.

It’s March 5th, but let’s stay positive, guys!

Welcome to The Queue, where we don’t let ourselves get overwhelmed by life, the universe, and everything. We tackle our daily affairs head on, like responsible adults. We do not procrastinate. We don’t play Civilization 5 until nearly 3 AM instead of getting a good night’s sleep. We got this!

Sometimes when a new content patch rolls over, I spare a thought for all the weirdos we’ve left behind in various states of peril over the years, forcing them into the thankless task of maintaining all this infrastructure in the wilderness. You think the Argent Tournament ever fixed the hole in the floor of the stadium? Who’s shoveling out my Horde Garrison every time it snows? What exactly is the Alliance doing with all those pumpkins? Sure thing, champion, whatever harebrained scheme you’re up to this time, see you in six months when you need a transmog piece from Kul Tiras or whatever.

Anyway, this is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions, and vroom vroom, let’s go beat up Gallywix!

Cory asked me to tackle the queue today so here I am! Since I wanted to spend my last Queue championing Ila I didn’t have a chance to discuss Metaphor: ReFantazio like I originally wanted to. So now I am!

In short, I really enjoyed the game. While “fantasy Persona” could’ve been a simple skin job of the popular franchise they really made an effort to build Metaphor as a new IP and it shows. The hybrid combat system is fluid, the Archetype system was involved and clever (but not overwhelming) and the story while odd on the surface was still compelling and ended in a satisfying manner. It wasn’t a perfect game, mind you — a couple sections felt cut or rushed — but I still feel like Atlus knocked it out of the park and hopefully we’ll get future titles set in the same timeframe.

Plus Gallica was super adorbs.

So while I figure out what game to play next, let’s answer some questions Cory-style!