Up next in 10
Midnight releases into early access later this week, and then full release next week, so for now the crew is pretty much just in waiting mode. Even if you didn't get early access, you can still get into the action because the pre-patch event will go on until the very last minute. In the meantime, there's also the Outland Cup, and the new Trading Post (which, as always, our cohosts have a ton of opinions about).
Plus, the hosts would like to nap, which I can support, but they'd also like to nap while mounted and driving around which seems a little irresponsible.
Oh, and by the way, there's going to be an Overwatch mobile game. Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction too.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:10
Hey everybody and welcome to the
0:12
Blizzard Watch podcast. I'm Matt. I'm
0:14
the host. I'm wearing a cape. You can't
0:16
stop me, Joe. Uh with me also are Liz
0:19
Harper and Joe Perez as our regular
0:21
co-hosts and special guest star Phil
0:24
Olrich who we will not be forcing to
0:26
play drums because he's not related to
0:27
that guy. I hope
0:29
>> not as far as I know.
0:31
>> I mean, it might be some distant thing,
0:32
but anyway, let's talk about stuff from
0:35
Blizzard and other companies, but mostly
0:37
from Blizzard this week. Uh, World of
0:40
Warcraft. Nothing is happening in the
0:42
future. There is no big story. We're
0:44
going to just move on to talking about
0:46
Heroes of the Storm. No, I'm kidding.
0:48
Cory's not here.
0:49
>> Yeah, exactly. We can't we can't do that
0:52
without Corey. Midnight uh early access
0:56
is beginning on February 26th at 3 p.m.
0:59
Pacific, which is 600 p.m. Eastern. And
1:02
then the expansion actually launches
1:03
what, like a it's I want to say two
1:05
weeks later, but it's not two weeks.
1:07
>> It's No, it's less than that. It's days,
1:11
tiny little days.
1:13
>> Cuz it's 28, then the month is over,
1:16
>> right? February, and then two more days
1:18
and it'll be January. It'll be March
1:20
2nd, which is January in my head.
1:22
>> Oh no, Matt's thinking this backwards.
1:24
>> I have co time. Help me.
1:26
>> Oh my god.
1:28
>> Oh no. Somebody help him.
1:30
>> It's Let's Let's just say clearly the
1:34
expansion itself launches on March 2nd.
1:37
Also at 300 p.m. Pacific, 6:00 p.m.
1:40
Eastern.
1:41
>> So that's four days essentially. It is
1:42
like a weekend. I I need to send a uh a
1:46
aggressive fruit basket to uh to
1:48
Blizzard for releasing the early access
1:51
on the same weekend that I have to do
1:53
pre-release for the Teenage Mutant Ninja
1:54
Turtles magic set. I am going to be
1:56
playing this at the shop while rounds
1:58
are going on. You best believe.
2:00
>> Oh man, that's exciting.
2:02
>> But the pre- patch event goes right to
2:04
launch day. Um it it will just be going
2:07
right up until it launches. So it'll be
2:09
the day of the launch. And since it will
2:11
not have launched until 3 p.m., if it's
2:13
like like 2:00 a.m. on March 2nd, you
2:17
can still be in the pre-event. It just
2:19
runs until it stops.
2:21
>> Possibly like me, waiting on one
2:24
specific mob to spawn so I can get the 2
2:26
minutes to midnight achievement. I just
2:29
need one guy spawn appear on my map.
2:33
>> See, I know you're not talking about
2:34
Spawn, the comic book character, but you
2:36
made me think of him anyway. So I
2:37
imagine some
2:38
>> El Simmon L Simmons just pops up and wow
2:43
anybody seen a clown.
2:44
>> The worst part is that he's voiced by
2:46
Keith David in the original cartoon and
2:48
my word you cannot put Keith David on a
2:50
dude and then just expect everybody to
2:53
be weird about not be weird about his
2:55
his Mortal Kombat appearance. Anyway, uh
2:57
also we're not going to have any class
2:59
tuning until they see everything in
3:01
action post launch. So, the next updates
3:03
are likely to be March 17th because
3:05
season 1 starts now.
3:08
Kind of sense.
3:09
>> Yeah, it does make sense. But yeah,
3:10
they've said uh March 17th, which like
3:13
up until this point we have had tons and
3:16
tons and tons of class tuning. It's kind
3:19
of been nonstop on the class tuning and
3:21
they're they're sort of hitting the
3:23
brakes. So, if you're happy with your
3:25
class right now, great news. It's not
3:28
changing for a few weeks. If you're not
3:30
happy if your chance
3:33
>> if you're not happy with your class
3:35
right now, bad news because it's not
3:38
changing for a couple weeks and it may
3:40
not change in a couple weeks. We don't
3:41
know. It just uh depends on whether
3:43
Blizzard likes how things are going.
3:45
>> I I do want to shout out to the shaman
3:47
community, especially the Russo shaman
3:49
community. Thanks, guys. Your continued
3:51
feedback has made it so that we're not
3:53
one of the ones that stink right now.
3:54
So, good job. Appreciate you. Thank you.
3:58
>> Yeah, it is. It's not I don't feel like
4:00
it's a shock here. Um because class
4:03
tuning has been to put it mildly. It's
4:06
been like a series of Diablo PTRs just
4:10
continuously happening. Um you know how
4:12
Diablo does a PTR for a week and then
4:14
they just stopped. Imagine if they just
4:16
did a PTR for a week and then another
4:17
PTR the week after. It's it's it feels a
4:20
little bit like that. And I understand
4:22
wanting to stop just to see, okay, when
4:25
we have everybody playing this, how does
4:27
it shake out? How does it actually look
4:28
when it's it's got the full group of
4:31
people on? But
4:33
>> I'm also a little surprised because I
4:34
figured they're probably going to be
4:36
people playing on March 2nd
4:38
>> and then that's 15 days later they're
4:41
going to have season one come out.
4:42
>> I feel like there's going to be some
4:44
feedback that people are going to want
4:45
addressed before that, but we'll see how
4:48
it works out.
4:49
>> Um
4:49
>> we'll find out.
4:52
>> Um the Outland Cup is the the race with
4:55
the flying mounts thing. I Yeah, that's
4:57
the skyriting race in Outland,
5:00
hence the name.
5:01
>> So, that's currently happening and it's
5:04
got new rewards, which in my opinion, it
5:07
should have more new rewards than it
5:09
does. Uh, I I'm weird that way.
5:13
Now, the sky riding cups are kind of
5:15
light on rewards, but but also it's like
5:20
I want the transmog, but I'm so bad at
5:24
sky writing. So, I'm I'm sort of I'm on
5:27
the fence on this one. I maybe it's
5:30
better for me personally if it doesn't
5:32
have have a lot of rewards, but I still
5:35
I still want the new stuff. It's a
5:37
problem.
5:38
>> I mean, I don't see how it's a problem.
5:39
I think it's logical that if you like
5:42
transmod, you want stuff for for it. Uh
5:45
I I am looking at it entirely because
5:49
the hat uh is a cap with goggles.
5:52
>> It's not just goggles.
5:54
>> Yes,
5:54
>> it's a big cap with goggles and and it's
5:57
one step closer to my dream of being
6:00
able to do a fighter pilot outfit in
6:02
World of Warcraft. All it needs now is
6:05
an oxygen mask to plug into the bottom
6:07
of it and we're good. If if you want to
6:10
>> So that one's that one's actually um I
6:13
think that's an ongoing reward for all
6:15
of the cups. I may I hope I'm not making
6:18
that up, but the the new stuff is it
6:21
really looks like a little sort of
6:22
dragonfly mini set with the uh though it
6:27
is red and gold. So maybe it's supposed
6:29
to be a silver moon themed mini set.
6:31
It's got uh helmet shoulders, a tabard,
6:36
a cloak, and another pair of shoulders.
6:40
Perhaps
6:41
>> other differenter shoulders.
6:43
>> Other different shoulders. Yes, I think
6:45
>> shoulders. So, we need more shoulders so
6:47
you can have shoulders while you
6:48
shoulder.
6:49
>> I think this matches a dragon flight
6:51
set. I think this matches a dragonfly
6:53
set except maybe the helmet.
6:55
>> Yeah, I don't I think the helmet is just
6:56
new cuz I don't see it before. God, the
7:00
second one looks like the gigantic
7:01
oversized puldrons that Leadd was
7:03
wearing in the Artor video. And I that's
7:05
all I can think of now looking at them.
7:07
>> Don't we love gigantic oversized
7:10
puldrons? That's a hallmark of World of
7:12
Warcraft. You must love shoulders and
7:16
despair.
7:17
>> I laughed out loud when I saw those. I'm
7:18
sorry. Uh
7:20
>> at any rate though, speaking of
7:22
shoulders and and things that you know
7:24
cinematics where we've seen them,
7:26
>> uh I haven't got to see this one, but
7:28
the arator cinematic is out. There's a
7:30
little short for Artor.
7:32
>> I am seeing it. So, somebody who's seen
7:34
it like Liz or Joe or Phil, please
7:36
somebody talk about this thing because I
7:38
want to know.
7:39
>> Uh I mean it doesn't I don't want to
7:42
sound like I'm being down on it. It's
7:44
very pretty. It's very well voice acted.
7:47
It is however nothing new. It doesn't
7:50
actually give us any new information or
7:53
anything that we don't already know
7:54
about the character.
7:56
>> It is ostensibly a conversation between
8:00
Artor and his aunt about while he's
8:04
getting his tattoos when you learn that
8:06
she's the one that gave them to um and
8:10
you learn a a little like a few little
8:12
things like him getting brought to uh
8:16
Silver Moon City. the siege on Silver
8:18
Moon City. Um, Arthus showing up with
8:22
with Sylvanas showing up. He apparently
8:24
as a child had a uh like a minor
8:27
confrontation with Sylvanas where
8:28
Sylvanas like he could see her being
8:31
like racked uh with like the guilt of
8:34
what she was being forced to do under
8:36
the the sway of the Lich King. Like it
8:39
it it's nothing groundbreaking. And it's
8:42
this whole idea and I and I actually
8:44
noticed this. It's got a whole bunch of
8:47
people kind of like, oh, Aerator is the
8:50
son of the light and the void. He is,
8:52
but he isn't. He was born well before
8:55
she ever embraced the void. Um,
8:57
>> yeah. I
8:58
>> And I didn't like that they were Sorry.
9:00
Go ahead.
9:00
>> I hate that. I hate that part where
9:02
where he's like, I've always felt torn
9:03
between two worlds and and it's like you
9:06
didn't know your mother embraced the
9:07
void until about eight years ago. And
9:09
and from the from the context of being
9:11
an el like a line from the lineage of an
9:14
elf and a human. Yeah. If they would
9:16
have left it at that, I would have been
9:17
fine with it. I don't understand why
9:18
they dragged the void in.
9:20
>> Yeah.
9:20
>> I mean, I do because it's a new hotness
9:22
of the expansion. But
9:23
>> yeah, it does feel like they're
9:24
shoehorning it in because it's going to
9:26
be the expansion.
9:27
>> Yeah. the part where they quit the part
9:29
where they quit talking about his uh
9:32
parents and focused more on how he you
9:35
know was divided between you know elf
9:37
like elf civilization and the relatively
9:40
younger human world was like that was
9:43
interesting. I think you could have
9:44
delved into that a little more because
9:45
we don't have a lot of characters from
9:48
two different backgrounds like that that
9:49
you that really get focused on in a way
9:52
that's not like creepy like Corona.
9:54
>> Yeah. And I think it's going to be I
9:55
think it's going to be interesting and I
9:57
think it's going to be very important
9:58
because Erator is ostensibly the first
10:01
Arai we've ever met, right? Because he
10:04
is he is that he is that that lineage of
10:07
elves and humans, which is what the
10:09
Arathi are. He wields the light and is a
10:11
champion of the light in the way that
10:13
the the same way the Arathi are, he
10:15
views it like a tool. And while the
10:18
light is all-encompassing for uh the
10:20
Arathy like listening to like uh what
10:25
and I can why can I never remember her
10:27
name because you basically
10:29
>> no Andin's girlfriend.
10:31
>> Oh fair.
10:33
>> Thank you. Like the way she talks about
10:35
it is like it's just there. It's just a
10:37
tool align with Erator's view. So like
10:43
he's going to wind up I'm calling it
10:45
now. he's going to wind up being the
10:46
ambassador that allows us to go to the
10:48
Arafi without immediately getting
10:50
eradicated off the face of the planet by
10:52
some weird solar beam of God. Um, but
10:55
like the for me the most interesting
10:58
part was the part of it where
11:01
he grew up training under Loathomar,
11:04
which we know he did, but getting to see
11:07
that was like, why can't we have more of
11:09
that, too? Why can't we have more of of
11:12
that interaction of that positive male
11:14
role model
11:15
>> there or or more about him and Leandrin
11:18
where like why she was so hard on him
11:21
and how that you know dive more into why
11:23
that that influenced him to go become a
11:26
paladin because that's what they're
11:28
saying influenced him to go be a paladin
11:29
here and it's like you have all these
11:31
little interesting moments but again
11:36
I I feel really bad because again I I
11:38
don't want to sound like I hate the
11:40
characters in the story and stuff like
11:41
that, but it just sounded like too many
11:42
ideas were being thrown to the wall into
11:45
this uh like cinematic that didn't make
11:49
sense being jumbled together like this.
11:51
It didn't focus on any one thing. The
11:53
Zalat thing focused like that cinematic
11:56
focused. It was good. It was useful. It
12:00
gave you information even if it is a lie
12:02
from her. It gave you a direction and
12:04
potential motivation, right? Erator, it
12:08
didn't really do anything because it's
12:10
all little bits and pieces that we
12:11
already knew just given a pretty
12:13
animation, which can be fine. But like,
12:16
come on. Midnight's Midnight's here in a
12:18
week. Give me some meat.
12:19
>> I don't I don't know if they meant it as
12:21
a If you don't know who Artor is, here's
12:24
a a cinematic.
12:25
>> That's the thing. No, because they
12:26
didn't they didn't
12:27
>> It doesn't work for that.
12:30
>> I've been watching it as we've been
12:31
talking.
12:31
>> It's like a halfway to that, right? Like
12:34
it's it's like these little tiny bits of
12:36
his life and it's like okay but they
12:39
still don't explain for like a newbie
12:41
why you should care about that. Does
12:43
that make sense? I mean, I feel like you
12:44
you also have to be taken to account for
12:46
your comments about Leaddin's shoulders
12:49
because just because she's got the
12:51
Lightbringer shoulders on steroids
12:54
doesn't mean
12:55
>> you should criticize them because if
12:58
anyone deserves to be wearing super huge
13:00
golden puldrons, it's Leaddin. I mean,
13:03
come on. This is Paladin chic here. Look
13:06
at these things. They're each twice the
13:08
size of her head.
13:09
>> They are. They're absolutely enormous. I
13:12
I definitely think that as far as the
13:14
storytelling in each one has gone, this
13:16
is probably the the least effective of
13:18
the three.
13:19
>> Yeah. And I mean, there's always a
13:20
weakest link, but I I just kind of I I
13:23
wanted more, right? It's like
13:24
>> there's always a wor There's always a
13:26
worst one in the Warbringer series,
13:27
although I couldn't tell you which one
13:28
that is either.
13:29
>> Yeah. Uh it's definitely not the Jana
13:31
one.
13:32
>> Yeah, it's not the Jana one and it's not
13:33
the uh one.
13:35
>> Definitely not the
13:36
>> What's the third one that I wiped from
13:37
my memory?
13:38
>> The third one is
13:40
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah, that might be it. Oh, is
13:42
that the one where Sylvanas like B like
13:43
banshees out and flies through the
13:45
ceiling of Lorderon like talks to Andwin
13:47
for a little bit? Remember that.
13:49
>> It is. It's her burn and tell.
13:51
>> Yeah. Uh yeah, that's that's Yep. That's
13:53
it.
13:53
>> But it's still very good. That's the
13:55
thing, right? Like and and that
13:56
conversation
13:58
>> the conversation between her and Delin
14:01
>> Liz talk. She was trying to talk to Liz.
14:04
Well, I just think Erator kind of has
14:06
main character syndrome here, you know,
14:09
like he hasn't been a central character
14:12
in the Warcraft universe ever. He's been
14:15
on the sidelines. He's been there in
14:17
several places, but now the story is
14:21
trying to focus on him, but I don't know
14:24
that it's given us enough enough to
14:27
focus on like why do we care about? He
14:32
is potentially a really interesting
14:33
character, but like Joe was saying, we
14:36
haven't gotten that meat of the story,
14:37
these interesting story hooks that could
14:39
be there that have not been explored.
14:42
So, but the writers of the game are
14:45
like, "Ah, Erator is a main character.
14:46
Now, we got to focus on Erator." But
14:48
it's just I I just don't feel like
14:51
there's I I don't feel like I care very
14:54
much. Uh which that could be me. I admit
14:58
that could be me just not liking this
15:00
particular thread that we're chasing.
15:03
But it feels like they have made Arator
15:07
something that fits into the story
15:08
instead of designing a story around
15:10
Erator. And that's why we get things
15:12
like, "Ooh, Er is torn between the light
15:15
and the void." That void thing was never
15:18
a thing.
15:19
>> Yeah.
15:20
>> And now it's a thing because we're
15:22
shoving Erator into the story. I also
15:24
have to say that when you've managed to
15:26
make Zalatas's feet more interesting to
15:29
people than a whole character, you kind
15:32
of need to come back and and and do
15:34
something else.
15:36
>> I I kind of wonder if maybe so like one
15:39
of the things they've done with some of
15:40
these in the past expansions they've got
15:41
they've had them show up at an
15:43
appropriate time in like in in game. Um
15:48
I even going as far back as Legion. Like
15:50
I think there's one part where you could
15:51
witness the uh um like the Ilidari
15:55
animation uh backstory as like part of
15:58
um somebody's like character background
16:01
in you know in universe and I kind of
16:03
wonder if we're going to get something
16:04
like this with Erator because there is a
16:05
whole uh he he's got some story focus
16:08
coming up in Midnight.
16:09
>> Yeah. And it's pretty early in Midnight.
16:11
>> Yeah.
16:12
>> Yeah.
16:13
>> It can be
16:15
>> is essentially an entire zones worth of
16:17
content.
16:18
>> Yeah. But to going back to what Liz said
16:21
and then we can move on from this
16:22
because I don't want to spend a whole
16:23
like the entire episode on this because
16:24
I will. Um I it's these these shorts
16:28
have always been intended as a way to
16:32
make you care about the characters
16:34
moving into the story
16:36
>> and the Zalat one does, the Lady
16:39
Leandrin one does. The Atorur one
16:42
doesn't and that's why it seems out of
16:44
place. Even when we go back to the
16:45
warbringers, like the conversation
16:48
between Sylvanas and Delerin gives you
16:50
motivation to care whether you are, you
16:53
know, team Sylvanas or team not
16:55
Sylvanas. You feel a very certain way
16:58
when you're done watching that cinematic
17:00
and like it did its job, right? It it
17:03
told you why you need to care about her
17:05
going into this. Uh same thing with
17:07
Azar. It told you why you need to care
17:09
about Azara moving into this. Same with
17:11
Jana. like these set this up for people
17:15
that are returning to the game or you
17:17
know this is some in some cases
17:19
somebody's first look at these
17:21
characters you know maybe they didn't
17:23
play during Burning Crusade they don't
17:24
know who Er is uh they didn't do any of
17:27
those questing they didn't play in the
17:29
midnight beta so like you have to make
17:32
them care and it's like the most that
17:34
we've gotten out of this like he's been
17:36
a lot of places seen a lot of things uh
17:39
and he's the son of two really great
17:41
heroes es, right? It's
17:43
>> that's that's such an interesting hook
17:46
because he is the son of these two great
17:49
heroes. You know, his parents are
17:52
statues along the streets of Stormwind.
17:54
>> That was a great scene.
17:56
>> That is and that's so much to live up to
17:59
and just I don't feel like we've had
18:02
that necessarily chased down as much as
18:05
it could be. That's just such a great
18:08
conflict in a story. Does he want to be
18:12
like his parents? Does he want to run
18:14
away from this legacy? Does he feel
18:16
forced to live up to this impossible
18:19
standard? It's there's there's a lot of
18:23
potential here, but I don't feel like we
18:26
really grasped it. So, I I'll keep my
18:29
fingers crossed.
18:30
>> I should have been hitting the right
18:31
button there. Uh I think at this point
18:33
you guys are right. We should move on to
18:35
the next thing because the next thing
18:36
>> ever onward.
18:38
>> Yes, the next thing in this particular
18:40
case, if I'm not insane and I keep
18:43
switching past the thing, so I have to
18:44
look back again. I hate my computer so
18:47
much. Okay, Twitch drops. We're going to
18:50
talk about Twitch drops. It's not the
18:51
transmog I wanted to talk about, but we
18:53
will still talk about, you know, about
18:54
Twitch drops and then we'll talk about
18:56
it. Two adorable baby Merlocs. Uh,
18:59
they're decor items. You You get them.
19:01
There's a what's the sub promo here I'm
19:04
reading was the baby seal pet if you buy
19:06
an eligible streamer two gift subs which
19:09
means they have to be live and streaming
19:11
whilst you do it. I'm going to turn to
19:13
Liz because she made us sound like she
19:15
was going to explain.
19:15
>> Yeah. So there are three rewards. Two of
19:18
them are murloc decor items. Yeah. Just
19:22
little plushy murlocs. Super cute that
19:24
you can get from uh watching Warcraft on
19:27
Twitch. The other one is the cutest,
19:30
most adorable baby seal ever. And to do
19:34
that, you have to do the support a
19:36
streamer thing where you are um gift
19:39
subscriptions to a streamer. So, that
19:42
one's going to cost you money if you
19:44
want the most adorable baby seal pet,
19:47
but the other one you just have to watch
19:49
Twitch
19:50
>> and the watch on Twitch. I should I
19:53
should specify.
19:54
>> Yeah. But but the the the murlocs are
19:56
cute. their decor item. If you want to
19:58
put murlocs into your house or
20:01
>> doicile or demen, whatever you want to
20:03
call it, there you go. But if you want
20:04
to actually have a pet with you, the
20:06
baby seal, you you got to spend
20:09
>> Yeah. Yeah. Pretty adorable though.
20:11
>> It is pretty adorable. Um, it is in fact
20:14
saying it's the most adorable baby seal
20:16
ever is not necessarily wrong, but it's
20:18
like baby seals are already pretty so
20:21
far along that like they're already a
20:23
huge huge eyes, lumpy things that go,
20:27
you know, and then you make a pet and
20:29
then you make it cuter. It's like, oh my
20:31
word, this thing.
20:33
>> So, this might also be nice for people
20:35
who missed the cutest the second cutest
20:37
baby seal ever from the trading post a
20:39
month or two ago, bundled up Bob. Um,
20:41
this this still reminds me a lot of
20:43
bundled up Bob.
20:44
>> Just just a little bit extra. Um, but
20:46
now that we've mentioned the trading
20:48
post, thank you, Phil. Trading Post for
20:50
March has a ton of stuff.
20:51
>> Hang on.
20:52
>> Go on.
20:53
>> We should first we should actually say
20:56
when this is available, which is
20:58
February 26th through March 24th. You
21:01
got to get your viewing or your uh gift
21:05
of stream uh subscription on before
21:08
March 24th. So, if you're interested, go
21:11
do that.
21:12
>> Anyway, trading post. So much trading
21:14
post. Trading post. Um, I'm actually
21:17
really happy with this trading post
21:18
because it's got a ton of elf stuff,
21:20
including elves. I didn't expect like
21:22
the night elves. There's a lot of night
21:24
elf stuff. I really wasn't expecting
21:26
that. So, I'm like, elfie, oh my word,
21:29
I'm playing an elf this expansion. So,
21:31
yeah, I I I'm very much like a I got I
21:35
got I got to get stuff. Gotta get
21:37
training poke. Got got to get the trade.
21:39
They even have um I was a little upset
21:41
cuz they have a warlave. Um there's a
21:43
warlave up for sale. Of course, if you
21:46
are not a a demon hunter, you can't use
21:48
warlaves, but there's a pole arm that
21:50
looks almost exactly like a warlave, so
21:52
I'm not even mad. It's like, oh, oh
21:54
well, I've got this pole arm that's just
21:56
like a warlave. So, sure. Uh for
21:59
transmog wise, if you play a night elf
22:00
and you've wanted to get your night elf
22:02
looking outfit, there's been a lot of
22:04
options. They made that that armor in um
22:08
Battle for Azeroth that it wasn't the
22:10
the racial. It was the the battleground
22:13
thing, but it wasn't a battleground um
22:15
>> warfront. The warfront.
22:17
>> Yeah. Which was really good if you're
22:18
playing on night elf. I I have that set
22:20
and it's it's nice. Comes in two
22:22
varieties. The really cool one and the
22:24
some the somewhat less cool one. Uh I
22:26
tend to wear the really cool one, but
22:28
then they had the the racial armor too.
22:31
uh which was okay, but it looks very
22:33
much like the cinematic from original
22:35
World of Warcraft, which is I mean I
22:37
don't know of anybody who hates that
22:39
look, but it doesn't quite fit what I
22:41
think of for my character cuz my
22:43
character
22:44
stabs people with two giant swords. So,
22:46
I feel like they need more armor than
22:48
that. But this now there's there's going
22:50
to have more looks that you can bring
22:51
in. And the weapons are all amazing. Uh
22:54
except for the ones that are just like
22:56
like a like a big axe that you've seen
22:58
from original WoW. They just brought
23:00
that back in, put a thing on it. But all
23:02
the elf theme stuff is amazing. I'm
23:04
super happy with the Blood Matrix pole
23:06
arm. Have you guys seen this pole arm?
23:08
>> No.
23:09
>> Oh my god, Liz, you're
23:12
>> uh Yes, I' I've used this pole.
23:14
>> It's a nice pole.
23:15
>> I think this is one of Oh, this is one
23:16
of the ones where I think some of this
23:17
set rolled around last year.
23:20
>> The big blood red butterfly wing looking
23:22
thing.
23:22
>> It kind of like or
23:24
>> Yeah, that's the one.
23:25
>> Yeah, it's really nice. There's a lot of
23:27
stuff. I think a lot of it is coming
23:28
back from previous ones, but it's like
23:30
they're like, "Elves, yeah, we got to do
23:33
elf stuff. We're going to be in Silver
23:34
Moon." And then they're like, "Wait, we
23:36
can't just do these one elves. We have
23:38
the other elves."
23:39
>> Yeah.
23:40
>> Yeah. It's not really Silver Moon. A lot
23:42
of this is not in that blood elf theme,
23:45
but we do have up until the end of
23:48
February, there's some kind of cool
23:50
blood elfy things on the tra on the
23:52
February trading post, including one
23:54
that I really liked, which is a pole arm
23:57
that just has sort of that sort of
23:59
winged sort of blade on the end that is
24:02
kind of silver moon, but they had a pole
24:05
arm variant and a staff variant, so your
24:07
casters can use it and have that cool
24:09
look. But uh
24:11
>> can we just let casters have their own
24:13
pole arms now?
24:16
>> Guys, this is silly.
24:17
>> Let me use a pole arm. It's just a stick
24:19
with something pointy on it. It's almost
24:23
the same as a staff.
24:24
>> When every time I saw the stabs in
24:26
Dragon Age, I kept thinking, "This is
24:29
just a stick with a pointy thing on the
24:30
end of it. This is just a pole arm." At
24:33
this point, guys, you seriously just
24:35
made it. You've meddled it together.
24:37
>> I'm going to I'm going to throw this out
24:38
there. remove transmog restrictions
24:40
across the board and just enforce them
24:43
in PvP because you have the system in
24:46
place that lets you do situational
24:48
transmog
24:49
>> and that's what you don't you say you
24:50
claim you can't do it for because of
24:52
PvP.
24:53
>> You guys fixed it already. Just
24:55
implement it.
24:57
>> I'm not going to argue with them. It's
24:58
brilliant. Let's go. Give me give me
25:00
everything tonight. I I do have to point
25:03
out one thing that we just zoomed right
25:05
past in our conversation about transmog
25:07
is there's a new kind of mount which is
25:11
a flying carpet except it's like a
25:14
quilt.
25:15
>> It's a quilted flying carpet with
25:17
pillows on it. So it's you can fly
25:20
around on it and when you're all worn
25:22
out you can take a nap on it too. I
25:24
think is kind of the point here. Please
25:26
land it before you do that just in case
25:28
the things start. It's just for safety.
25:34
>> Swap to steady flight before napping,
25:35
please.
25:37
>> And personally, I I think you know when
25:40
you're writing something and you're
25:41
standing up on it, you characters have
25:44
sort of a surfboard kind of animation.
25:46
They're
25:47
>> Yeah, I love I I enjoy the animation,
25:50
but I think in this case, they should be
25:53
sitting down on those pillows. They
25:55
should be like taking a nap and that's
25:56
just how you ride this particular mount.
26:00
>> It's just you're just reflecting your
26:02
own innate desire to have a nap.
26:04
>> Well, all the time.
26:05
>> Yeah. I mean, don't we don't we all have
26:08
an innate desire to nap? And I'm not
26:11
that.
26:12
>> No. No. However, as much as you were
26:14
right to steer us there, I have to
26:16
mention there's a sword. It's a one-hand
26:19
sword, except when you get it, it's
26:22
called the Huntress's Moonlade. Guess
26:24
what it is?
26:25
>> It's a disc with three pointy things
26:28
coming off of it. It's the It's the
26:30
original glaive from original WoW. And
26:32
everyone was like, "That doesn't look
26:33
like a warlave." Cuz it's not. And now
26:36
it's just an off. It's a sword. You can
26:38
transmog your swords into these things
26:40
and just pretend they're rotating. It's
26:42
like I have saw blade hands now. I'm so
26:44
happy.
26:45
>> That makes me very happy as well because
26:46
I just started a I started a void demon
26:48
hunter, the devourer, and uh I I'm
26:51
looking very forward to that. Also, and
26:54
I know it's sub-optimal, survival hunter
26:56
can use two one-handed weapons, and I
26:58
mean my elf can have these glaes and
27:01
wield two of them. I am very happy about
27:04
this. Yep. So, yeah, there's a lot of
27:06
options. Uh I do think that also there's
27:08
other mounts besides the the carpet.
27:11
>> Um but I'm not we we don't want to sit
27:13
here and list literally everything, so
27:14
we're going to move on.
27:15
>> Yeah, check it out.
27:16
>> Because otherwise I I I can't stop
27:19
myself. I can't control myself or be
27:22
like a sane adult. So, I have to let
27:24
other people do that for me.
27:26
>> Say, should we just pick like one more
27:27
uh favorite thing and then
27:29
>> everyone but me. Go on. I if I don't
27:31
stop, I'm going to die.
27:33
>> We know you love carpets. So, uh
27:36
>> I can't tell the story, but my wife
27:37
actually said at one point during a Zul
27:40
Aman raid, she was like, "I'm just down
27:42
here eating the carpet cuz she was
27:44
dead." And the entire raid just stopped
27:46
and laughed and we d we wiped because my
27:49
wife made everybody laugh.
27:50
>> Oh man. Well, I'm going to point I'm
27:52
going to point out since I brought it
27:54
up. Uh there is for a grand total of let
27:57
me make sure this is right. 100 tenders.
27:59
Uh you can get something called
28:01
Glimmer's little fish stick. It's a
28:03
one-handed sword that looks like a
28:05
frozen fish. Um it's got a handle where
28:08
its tail should be. Um I am a sucker for
28:10
these really stupid fish weapons. I paid
28:12
an unconscionable amount for the uh the
28:15
dead fish that drops from island
28:16
expeditions that actually has physics.
28:19
>> Um so uh yeah, Glimmer's little fish
28:23
stick. Cheap and funny. Uh Joe, you got
28:26
another favorite.
28:26
>> Matt already got mine, so I can't I
28:28
can't like he already nailed it.
28:30
>> Liz.
28:30
>> Liz.
28:31
>> All right.
28:32
>> I I have mentioned mine. So
28:34
>> Oh, it's the carpet. Okay, we should
28:36
probably talk then for about the next
28:37
thing which is the Lunar Festival which
28:40
is ending on March 2nd. So if you
28:42
haven't been doing the Lunar Festival, I
28:44
mean it's ending on March 2nd. You It's
28:46
up to you, man. We can't do this for
28:48
you.
28:48
>> It's it's it's pretty tedious. It's a
28:51
it's it's a little tedious.
28:53
>> See,
28:53
>> it's trying to solve the traveling
28:55
salesman problem in real time every
28:56
year.
28:57
>> See, here's the thing. I go and kill
28:59
that that wolf monster
29:01
>> and then I'm done. I don't do anything
29:03
else. I just go kill the wolf monster
29:06
because it's the the tradition. We kill
29:08
the wolf monster and then I'm done.
29:11
>> I need But the the wolf monster I do not
29:14
believe gives you any Omen. Yeah.
29:16
>> No, nothing. Gives you nothing.
29:18
>> He g Yeah, exactly. And you want coins
29:20
of ancestry, so you can buy transmog
29:25
except you need a lot of coins of
29:27
ancestry. I think there are 125 in the
29:30
game.
29:32
And to buy all of the new transmog
29:34
appearances this year, you need 200.
29:39
So you have to run all over Azeroth and
29:43
get every coin of ancestry and then you
29:45
have to do it again. And also some of
29:47
them are just really annoying to get. So
29:49
I don't even bother. But uh
29:53
>> yeah right now
29:55
>> the Lunar Festival needs one of those
29:56
revamps.
29:58
It's just it's so time consuming to run
30:01
around these elders and they've actually
30:03
nerfed the rewards a little. Not this
30:06
year, maybe the year before. They've
30:08
nerfed the experience that you get. And
30:11
I think they may have nerfed the
30:12
reputation.
30:14
Uh but you used to be able to level in
30:17
the Lunar Festival. Just run around from
30:19
place to place on your alts and just
30:21
rack up the experience. But it's it's
30:23
kind of a pathetic amount. It's a It's a
30:25
pretty It wasn't fast and it wasn't
30:28
>> No, but it was like you could do it
30:30
while you were doing something else.
30:31
Like if you you have a bunch of also
30:33
want to level, you know.
30:34
>> Yeah. Uh but the amount of experience is
30:37
really really down. So it's uh it's
30:40
fine. Fine.
30:42
There are lots of ways to level, but
30:44
this was the most brainless way to
30:45
level. And it's not not even very good
30:48
for a brainless way to level anymore.
30:51
>> Yep. Uh Joe or Phil, you got anything to
30:54
say on this one before we move on?
30:55
>> No, that about covers it. I honestly
30:57
often forget that this is event up.
31:00
>> Like I said,
31:00
>> I did. There's
31:01
>> Go kill the wolf and I'm done.
31:03
>> There's transmog to buy. How can you
31:05
forget to buy transmog?
31:08
>> Because I bought it eight years ago.
31:09
>> Yeah.
31:10
>> Well, they did add some new ones, but
31:12
the problem is they didn't it it does
31:14
need a revamp on how you earn rewards
31:15
from this. Like there needs to be
31:17
something
31:19
>> like make Omen drop things again. Make
31:22
him be hard to fight again. So it's not
31:25
just show up, kill him, leave. I I
31:29
Anyway, Overwatch
31:32
I I don't I don't know how to introduce
31:34
this one because I I have stuff I want
31:36
to say about it. But basically, I'm
31:38
going to say there's a they've released
31:40
a mobile game uh over
31:42
>> they've not released a mobile game.
31:43
They've announced the game. They're
31:45
announcing it. Yes,
31:46
>> those are those are very different
31:48
things. This game is not available for
31:50
play and we don't know when it's going
31:52
to be available for play.
31:54
>> So, basically, they've decided, hey,
31:57
people actually like Overwatch again.
32:00
Let's let's get them to buy more
32:01
Overwatch stuff. And I don't really I
32:06
feel like Overwatch Rush was not
32:09
something that the universe was
32:10
screaming that it needed. Uh, but you
32:14
know, it could just be me being cynical.
32:15
I will say though, um, the launch of
32:18
season 1, everyone, you know, Blizzard
32:20
says it was a huge success. I have to
32:21
admit that a lot of people who hate
32:23
Overwatch were telling me that it was
32:26
successful, including several videos
32:28
that were talking about Steam, you know,
32:30
consecutive playing, you know, people
32:32
playing it once.
32:33
>> It's not just Blizzard saying that it
32:35
was successful. Um, a lot of people who
32:37
don't like Overwatch anymore were like,
32:39
"Oh, but this this was a big deal. I'd
32:42
love some hard numbers to back that up
32:44
though. Like I'd love to see like here's
32:46
our consecutive login during this.
32:48
Here's how many games were played.
32:49
Here's I'd love to see something like
32:51
that, you know, like they used to do as
32:53
opposed to just saying it's a
32:55
>> success. They don't like doing that.
32:57
>> They don't like doing that.
32:58
>> I will say you can look at the Steam,
33:00
you know, the the Steam activity and at
33:02
least see that people are playing,
33:04
>> but that only counts people that are
33:06
doing it through Steam, right? Like and
33:08
I think that's I think that's going to
33:10
be a minority of players. So that's you
33:13
can do that and assume this is like the
33:15
lowest low bar, but I think most people
33:17
playing Blizzard games are playing on
33:18
Bablonet even though they have added
33:21
more Steam options lately.
33:22
>> I don't disagree and I don't think you
33:26
can just take their word for it. Uh it
33:28
is one of the weird things where they've
33:30
they used to tell people exactly how
33:32
many people and then they were like
33:34
every time we lose people we get all
33:36
these articles about is blank blank
33:38
dying so we're not going to do that
33:40
anymore. I get it. But it also does mean
33:42
that we just have to trust them.
33:44
>> I
33:44
>> And that can be kind of hard.
33:45
>> Yeah. I mean, which is fine and and I'm
33:47
willing to give them at least a little
33:48
bit of the benefit of the doubt because
33:50
they're trying. But the thing that
33:52
caught me about this in particular was
33:55
talking about the the mobile game. It
33:57
feels very Heroes of the Storm or League
34:00
of Legendsy to me from what they from
34:03
what they showed off. extremely. It
34:05
looks extremely Heroes of the Stormy and
34:08
it's supposed to be
34:10
>> like a quick jump in, jump out, you
34:12
know, quick matches.
34:14
Um,
34:15
>> 4v4, right?
34:16
>> It looks uh I'm not sure, but it it
34:21
frankly it looks like Heroes of the
34:22
Storm with Overwatch characters to me
34:24
personally. It's a it's a top- down
34:27
view, and it just I can only think of
34:30
Heroes of the Storm. Corey has infected
34:32
me with this.
34:34
>> I will say Joe, you were right. Four by
34:36
four.
34:36
>> Thank you. Yeah, I I don't know. I think
34:38
it's surprising and I think it's an
34:40
interesting is the politest word I can
34:42
use for it. Like it could be wind up
34:44
being a massive success, but I don't
34:47
know that anybody was literally asking
34:49
for this. And
34:50
>> I mean again, you know, someone
34:51
commented on me to me that it's it's
34:53
like um the League of Legends Rift game,
34:56
the one that's a
34:57
>> mobile wild
34:59
mobile inspired by that, but maybe a
35:03
little too much,
35:05
>> which again, I get that, but also I
35:08
don't know it. Maybe it'll be
35:10
successful, maybe it won't. I I I think
35:12
that we'll see. We'll see how well it
35:15
takes off. If anything, it just makes me
35:17
a little angry that they're working on
35:18
this instead of Heroes of the Storm.
35:20
>> Yeah, Blizzard did say that this is an
35:23
independent team. This is not team for
35:25
doing this. It's a mobile focused team
35:29
that we don't have a lot of details
35:31
about. Um
35:34
but but yeah, it's this one was not on
35:37
my bingo card. This was not even in the
35:40
vicinity of my bingo card for this year.
35:43
Uh a mobile Overwatch game. Well, only
35:46
thing I can think of, and this is the
35:48
only only thing that I would like it to
35:50
be, but I don't think it will be this.
35:52
But imagine if this was some kind of
35:54
stealth way to actually do Heroes of the
35:56
Storm on mobile again.
35:58
>> Like, they're just going to do this and
36:00
then slowly, hey, wait a minute. How
36:01
come this Overwatch game has all these
36:03
characters who aren't related to the
36:05
Overwatch franchise?
36:06
>> This this takes off and you open up one
36:07
day and it's got 20 like 25 new
36:09
characters. It's like, oh, you could be
36:10
Anduin or Chall. It's like, what? Look,
36:13
it's it's a it's Guldon, the talon
36:17
leader. What? That doesn't No. So So,
36:20
you know, who knows? Maybe
36:23
>> I don't I don't know how much I'll play
36:24
this. Probably about as much as I played
36:26
Warcraft Rumble. Um but I will say that
36:28
this solves my number one gripe that
36:30
I've always had with how Overwatch is
36:33
monetized, which their biggest thing is
36:34
they want you to pay to get skins in a
36:37
game where you can't see what you look
36:39
like. Mhm. So,
36:41
uh, at least kudos to them cuz it does
36:44
look like, uh, from a little teaser we
36:46
saw that you'll be able to buy different
36:47
skins and a lot of them look like the
36:49
ones we've seen for characters, which
36:50
makes sense. If you already got them,
36:52
bring them out. Um, but, you know,
36:54
>> at least the characters visible in a
36:56
form before.
36:56
>> Yeah. Now, you can actually like see
36:57
that skin you're paying for, I guess,
36:59
under your thumb while you're swiping
37:00
around trying to shoot Reaper. I don't
37:03
know. It's an interesting experiment.
37:05
The other thing is we have no idea what
37:07
the monetization model for this is. It's
37:09
a free-to-play game. So, frankly, when I
37:13
hear the words free to play now, I just
37:17
assume this is going to be the most
37:18
expensive game possible, it just I I
37:22
have a concern. Um
37:23
>> I feel like at this point that should
37:25
actually be just like a header somewhere
37:27
like like a chevron on a cables channel.
37:30
Like someone starts talking about freeto
37:31
play. is like free to play. This is the
37:34
going to be the most expensive game you
37:35
play. Yeah, that's just right there.
37:38
>> It's It's free, but these people have to
37:40
still make money somehow.
37:42
>> Totally quotes on the free.
37:44
>> So, it is definitely not free. Not even
37:48
a little bit. Um, but yes, we don't know
37:50
how they're going to monetize it
37:52
exactly. And you know, monetization can
37:54
make or break a game. I like I will
37:57
still stand up for Diablo Immortal,
37:59
which I think is a really excellent
38:01
Diablo game that gets constant updates,
38:05
lots of new content. It plays really
38:09
well. It's a really smooth Diablo game,
38:12
but you know, people didn't want a
38:14
mobile game. People were not looking
38:16
forward to playing Diablo on mobile.
38:18
They were not interested in the
38:20
>> fact that it's possibly the best way you
38:22
could have made a Diablo game for
38:23
mobile.
38:23
>> It's It's great. It is a genuinely good
38:26
game. It's not just a genuinely good
38:28
mobile game. It's a good game. It
38:31
totally captures the spirit and fun of
38:34
Diablo. It's This is a top-notch game
38:38
that I think a lot of Blizzard players
38:40
never gave a chance because it's a
38:42
mobile game and because they didn't want
38:45
a mobile game. And you kind of you kind
38:48
of tend to write off mobile games as oh
38:50
it's the Candy Crush or something
38:52
whatever. But Diablo Immortal is way up
38:56
there. But of course, the other thing is
38:58
it is free to play, so it is heavily
39:02
monetized. There are lots of
39:03
microtransactions and not so
39:05
microtransactions,
39:07
and you can buy things that give you
39:09
player power. You can't buy like weapons
39:11
and things, but you can buy items that
39:13
will help you level up your gems and
39:15
things of that nature. So, there is some
39:18
pay to pay for power element to it,
39:20
which is not great. Not great. But the
39:23
game, the base game itself, really fun.
39:26
Lots of content, tons of fun new
39:28
classes. I for for my part, I was really
39:31
hoping the blood knight from Diablo
39:33
Immortal would show up in Diablo I. It
39:36
hasn't, but I live in hope. Um the Cory
39:40
is infected with his opium. Uh but let's
39:43
at this point I'm going to ask you to do
39:45
this. Well, I want to say another thing
39:47
is that every time Blizzard has released
39:50
a mobile game, it has not worked. So, I
39:54
don't know why this is going to be
39:56
different. The only mobile game Blizzard
39:59
released that it kept out. Okay, there
40:01
are two of them. One of them is Diablo
40:03
Immortal, and I think part of its
40:05
success is that it was not fully
40:07
developed by Blizzard. And the other one
40:09
is Hearthstone, which launched on PC and
40:14
mobile at the same time. It was just
40:16
like it's not like here's a mobile game
40:18
for you to enjoy. It's like here's a
40:20
game for you to enjoy and you can also
40:22
play it on mobile platforms. I think a
40:25
mobile first game even today kind of
40:29
kind of turns off Blizzard fans who are
40:31
primarily PC gamers. So I just this one
40:35
this one puzzles me. It puzzles me.
40:38
>> Okay. I mean, does does anyone does
40:40
anyone here think that this is going to
40:42
be like a big hit game?
40:44
>> Not in North America.
40:46
>> Yeah.
40:46
>> No, not Joe's Joe just hit the the nail
40:49
on the head there. Uh I think that one
40:52
of the reasons that Diablo Immortal has
40:54
managed to survive as long as it has is
40:56
the fact that it's more popular in Asian
40:58
market.
40:58
>> Yeah. And I mean, Asian markets tend to
41:00
float the like I'm not saying this as a
41:03
it's just it's it's true, right? like
41:06
they tend to have a higher concentration
41:08
of mobile gamers
41:09
>> because of the the general lifestyle of
41:12
and culture there, right? Like it's
41:15
versus us here where
41:17
>> in North America it consoles and
41:19
computers reign supreme.
41:21
>> Well, plus even when you play a computer
41:23
game in some Asian markets, you don't
41:26
play it at home,
41:27
>> right?
41:28
>> You go somewhere to play it.
41:29
>> Internet cafes, gaming cafes, uh like
41:32
stuff like that. But I mean, look at the
41:35
innovation coming out of the China
41:36
market and the Japanese market with
41:38
mobile devices. We now have trifold
41:41
phones. We have phones that uh un
41:44
unravel themselves into the shape of a,
41:47
you know, medium-sized tablet now that
41:50
have the horsepower of a Switch 2,
41:54
right? Like these are not
41:56
insignificantly powerful devices. is
41:59
these are pretty expensive, powerful
42:01
devices that in some cases cost more
42:03
than a gaming computer and almost
42:05
certainly more than a gaming console and
42:07
a lot of times rival them in gaming
42:09
performance. There's a whole channels on
42:13
YouTube devoted to this type of thing.
42:14
So, there is a market for it. It's just
42:17
not here, at least not primarily. There
42:20
will be people that will play this game.
42:22
I am absolutely certain of that. I've
42:25
seen people playing League of Legends
42:26
Wild Rift in the like in the wild, so to
42:29
speak. Like, I've seen people do that.
42:31
I've I've literally encountered folks at
42:33
work doing this on their break time with
42:36
other mobile games. Some of us just
42:38
don't do it and we don't think about it.
42:41
So, like, I acknowledge that there's a
42:42
market for it. I don't know how
42:44
successful it'll be here. I think in the
42:46
European markets and the Asian markets,
42:48
it will be likely wildly successful
42:51
because it's the type of game that
42:53
really takes off over. So, I think it'll
42:56
be fine. I just think we're not going to
42:58
see a lot of it here.
42:59
>> Phil,
42:59
>> uh, nope. I agree with everything Joe
43:01
said,
43:02
>> right? Um, then I think Liz, uh, do you
43:05
mind doing the same news?
43:06
>> I guess I guess I can do if I have to.
43:09
Well, no, it's not like that because I
43:11
really do appreciate all of you people
43:14
listening to the podcast, all of you
43:16
people who are supporting us by showing
43:18
up every week to listen to our voices
43:20
telling you the news. But I do I do want
43:23
to give a little tiny extra special
43:26
shout out to our supporters on Patreon.
43:29
You guys really keep the site and the
43:32
podcasts going. I wanted to give a shout
43:34
out to Michael who pledged at $5 this
43:37
week. that really help. Yes, thank you
43:41
very much. That really helps us out. And
43:43
at $5, you can get early access to all
43:48
of these podcasts and an adsfree
43:50
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43:53
But if you prefer your listening with
43:55
your ears to the news, you can for $3 a
43:58
month, you can also get early access to
44:01
all of our podcasts ads free as well as
44:04
the Blizzard Watch podcast pre-show
44:06
where we talk about anything. Just
44:09
>> this week it was weird video game things
44:11
that we didn't like or which were
44:13
strange.
44:14
>> Uh so that can be very fun. But, uh, if
44:19
you can support us, go to
44:20
patreon.com/bizzardwatch.
44:23
Every little pledge really helps us out
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and, uh, we try to give you a little
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support us there, thank you so much.
44:32
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44:35
If you can't, I understand. Life is so
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hard. Um, but you support us just by
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44:49
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45:01
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45:09
>> It's it's a winwin. We are Blizzardwatch
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45:17
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you know, it's it's just we we do what
45:33
we can to make your day a little more
45:35
interesting. So, thank you all so much.
45:38
And if you have any questions for us on
45:40
the podcast, this podcast, Blizzard
45:43
Watch or Tavern Watch where we talk
45:45
about tabletop news or lore watch where
45:47
we talk about stories, usually stories
45:51
in video games, sometimes stories and
45:53
other things. This week we talked about
45:55
the novel Neurommancer, which was a
45:57
really fun episode. Um, send us your
46:01
questions to podcastardwatch.com.
46:04
Just tell us what show it's for in the
46:06
subject line and let us know if there's
46:08
any special pronunciation of your name
46:11
so we can hopefully say it right. We do
46:14
our best.
46:15
>> I mean, I couldn't get Phil's name right
46:17
for months. Please help us. Please.
46:20
>> Yeah, your help helps, but uh we try. We
46:24
try. You can also contact us on our
46:27
Discord server. And if you're a Patreon
46:29
subscriber, you can do so through the
46:30
Patreon patron Q and podcast questions
46:33
channel. as our way of saying thank you
46:36
for supporting us. We actually got a
46:37
lore watch question this week from Mark.
46:40
So I am in future weeks the next Q&A
46:44
episode you do got a question. So thank
46:47
you for all of our supporters. Thank you
46:50
to all of our listeners and if you can
46:52
throw some support
46:53
patreon.com/blizzardwatch
46:55
helps us so much. So, thanks everybody
46:59
>> and thank you to Liz for reading that
47:01
because it's a lot to read and quite
47:03
frankly a lot of us like to take the
47:05
time to drink water and then force Liz
47:07
to talk. So, yeah. Um, we have time I
47:10
think to do at least one of these
47:11
questions. So, I'm going to try because
47:13
this TMI one's been around for a while
47:15
and I feel bad.
47:17
>> Uh, so we have had we've had a lot of
47:20
really big news weeks.
47:21
>> Yeah. And and with the game expansion
47:24
coming like next week. Uh yeah, is it's
47:28
likely that that we will have more. So
47:30
gonna try to throw this one out here and
47:31
do it. It's a question for the Blizzatch
47:33
podcast. Looking at MMOs and single
47:36
player RPG video games, if you were to
47:38
take an existing IP and make it an MMO,
47:41
what genre would you use and what story
47:43
would you want to tell? I'm going to
47:45
start
47:48
Joe.
47:49
>> Why you got to start with me?
47:51
>> I love you.
47:53
>> Um I don't know. See, the problem is is
47:57
I maybe controversial opinion, not
48:00
everything needs to be an MMO. And as a
48:02
matter of course, I generally dislike
48:04
most MMOs. Uh it is rare that I actually
48:08
enjoy the MMO format. And as a matter of
48:11
fact, I actually prefer in a lot of
48:13
cases solo RPGs and often am sad at the
48:19
I don't want to say apparent death, but
48:21
the the cyclical nature of us receiving
48:24
less of them.
48:26
So, I don't know that I would take a
48:28
single player RPG that I can really
48:30
think of off the top of my head and toss
48:32
it as a an MMO because
48:34
>> feel free to reverse it if it helps you
48:36
answer it. I I mean it also I feel that
48:40
they've already done most of that any
48:42
like regardless but I would if I could
48:45
bring it back and have a single player
48:47
experience potentially I would revive
48:50
Wildstar as a single player RPG. Oh,
48:54
>> because
48:54
>> yes, please.
48:55
>> Because as an MMO, I think that it fell
48:58
short of the mark, but all the stuff
49:01
that they did, the mechanics, the
49:02
telegraphing, the character building
49:04
system, literally their talent system,
49:07
all that stuff is an RPG. The story of
49:10
it was actually fairly compelling and
49:12
could have had a really good like breath
49:15
to grow if it was not an MMO relying on
49:19
people, you know, having a monthly
49:21
subscription to keep it alive under the
49:23
banner of NCOFT. Like if we could bring
49:25
that back as a single player RPG where
49:28
you get to choose your class and etc,
49:30
etc., and then your parties are made up
49:33
of NPCs you pick up along the way. I
49:36
would even forgive them if they put a
49:38
gambit system in it. Um, we call that a
49:40
call back, kids. You should listen to
49:42
the pre-show. Um, but like that that's
49:44
what I would do. I would bring Wildstar
49:46
back as a single player RPG. Um, I don't
49:48
know that I would take any single player
49:50
RPGs and turn it into an MMO.
49:51
>> Okay, Liz.
49:53
>> I mean, I'm kind of in a similar boat to
49:55
Joe, particularly because right now we
49:59
are in a world where the big gaming
50:02
companies are all pushing live service
50:05
games. Everyone wants a game that you
50:07
will continually pay for. Even if it's
50:10
not subscriptions, it's
50:11
microtransactions.
50:13
It's a game that is constantly going to
50:15
demand your time and your money. And I
50:19
only have so much of both.
50:22
So when you look at like Sony, Sony was
50:25
pushing in the last few years a whole
50:28
slate of live service games. Everything
50:30
is a live service game. And you know, at
50:33
some point you're doing Blood from a
50:35
Stone. Who has time to play all of these
50:37
and pay for all of these? It's like, I'm
50:40
only going to play the things I can
50:43
really make time for. And even a lot of
50:45
things I love, I can't make time for. So
50:47
many great games and only so many hours
50:49
in the day. So, I feel kind of burned
50:51
out on the MMO. And I mean, I do say
50:54
this even as I play World of Warcraft,
50:56
and that's World of Warcraft is kind of
50:59
the problem here. and that I do enjoy
51:02
World of Warcraft. I play World of
51:04
Warcraft with a lot of my friends, and
51:05
that's what makes it extra special,
51:07
super fun. So, telling me that I need to
51:10
carve out time in my day to play another
51:14
MMO that maybe I don't have friends
51:17
playing, it's like, you got to make the
51:19
most super compelling thing ever to get
51:22
me to make that leap. Um, like Horizon
51:27
Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West,
51:29
there's an online multiplayer Horizon
51:33
game coming out where you are part of a
51:36
team and you go out and kill everything,
51:39
I guess. Um,
51:41
>> sounds vaguely like Monster Hunter.
51:43
>> It's It does sound vaguely like Monster
51:45
Hunter.
51:45
>> I like Monster Hunter, too. Yeah. And
51:48
it's like I love Horizon, but having a
51:52
live service multiplayer version of
51:55
Horizon, you've it's Horizon, but you've
51:58
taken all of the things that I love
52:00
about Horizon
52:02
and you've added other people.
52:06
People are frequently terrible. People
52:08
in multiplayer games can be very
52:10
terrible.
52:11
>> Yeah. To Alber Kimu, hell is other
52:14
people.
52:15
I'm I'm sure everyone listening to this
52:17
podcast is great and swell, but when I
52:20
randomly group up with players in a
52:21
game, there's no guarantee it's going to
52:24
be you.
52:25
>> I've played games with 6K. I know what
52:27
happens even when they're nice about it.
52:29
I'm looking at you, Six.
52:31
>> Uh, so yeah, I I would really like to
52:34
see things go the other way and start
52:36
getting more of these single player
52:38
experiences. Are more games where
52:40
multiplayer is an option? Like we used
52:43
to have Diablo games where it's like
52:46
being able to play with your friends has
52:48
always been a thing in Diablo. You could
52:50
always play with other people, but
52:52
>> you could also always play alone.
52:55
>> Exactly. You could always play by
52:57
yourself, which is that's something they
52:59
took away in Diablo I. It's an always
53:02
online game. You cannot play by
53:04
yourself. You cannot play in a world
53:06
where it's just you against the world.
53:08
You against all of the evils of
53:10
Sanctuary. They've made it essentially
53:12
an MMO that's always online. It's got a
53:16
box cost. It has microtransactions all
53:18
crammed together. And it's like, I'm
53:20
tired. I'm tired of these online games.
53:24
>> I don't even care about the fact that
53:25
you play it in a world with other
53:26
people. You know what? I hate
53:28
>> that if the servers are down, I can't
53:30
play it.
53:31
>> Yeah.
53:32
>> I am tired of that being a problem. I
53:35
don't like it in in Diablo II. I don't
53:38
like it in Diablo I 4. I don't like it
53:40
for Diablo Immortal. And I when I
53:43
started playing D2R, I was upset until I
53:46
saw they had an offline mode and then I
53:47
was like, "Oh, thank God." So, yeah, I I
53:50
am with you on that one because there's
53:52
just so many reasons you're over
53:54
complicating this. So,
53:56
>> but do you actually have an MMO you want
53:58
to switch to a single player or do you
54:00
want like Phil talk?
54:02
>> Carry on, Phil. I've said what I had to
54:04
say.
54:05
>> All righty. Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm
54:08
gonna bang a slightly different drum
54:09
than everybody else here. Um, it's not
54:11
really the time thing or the people
54:12
thing that bothers me. It's that I feel
54:15
like MMOs are inherently kind of a
54:18
terrible way to tell a story. Um, you
54:21
hear us harp about this a lot and kind
54:24
of well because they are stiff is kind
54:27
of bad
54:28
>> because they are by definition never
54:30
allowed to end and stories really need
54:33
endings. And that's why when you hear us
54:35
talk about things that we like even in,
54:36
you know, the games that this site
54:38
usually celebrates and writes about, um,
54:40
it's little stories. It's like little
54:42
side stories that, you know, captured us
54:45
or like doing little quests that were
54:47
really memorable. Like I've, you know,
54:49
I've recently, just recently on a whim,
54:51
I finally went and did the Orcish
54:52
Heritage Armor quest uh on a warrior
54:55
I've had for ages. And like it was
54:57
actually kind of moving and it was
54:58
really affecting. And you know what it
55:00
did? It ended.
55:02
But like when stories go on for years
55:05
and years and years and you don't
55:06
develop an MMO to end, you develop an
55:08
MMO to go on endlessly. And so you get
55:10
stories that, you know, maybe they trip
55:13
over themselves trying to wrap up story
55:14
arcs. Maybe they, you know, maybe they
55:17
do have a big story arc that comes to an
55:19
end and then you got to you got to keep
55:20
you got to keep something going. You
55:22
can't just stop there. Um, I really feel
55:25
like I there's no IP that I want to make
55:28
into an MMO because whatever story it
55:31
wants to tell would inevitably
55:33
inevitably be less satisfying than if it
55:35
were not an MMO. Um, and so I'm going to
55:38
take the same approach as everyone else
55:39
and pick one that I want to reverse. Um,
55:41
I want the original launch of um, Star
55:45
Wars: The Old Republic to come back as a
55:47
single player game with all its with the
55:50
It practically was anyway with with
55:54
Yeah. with all the cutscenes and the
55:55
compan it was it was just a boware game
55:57
where occasionally you had to go into a
55:59
dungeon with other people, but like
56:00
you've already got the companions in
56:02
there. Just just let me go in there with
56:04
a with some companions and clear those
56:06
dungeons and like bring bring back the
56:09
Old Republic. And it had some genuinely
56:10
neat lore, especially in like we didn't
56:12
get we hadn't at the time seen a lot of
56:15
the old old old like uh Sith Empire. We
56:19
hadn't really seen how Iran. Um bring a
56:22
lot of bring that stuff back. Bring
56:24
bring SWOR back as a single player uh
56:26
game and I will slap down whatever the
56:28
current whatever the current full retail
56:30
price is these now.
56:31
>> Keep releasing sequels that were just
56:34
Yeah.
56:34
>> other releases like when this expansion
56:37
came out. Now that's a new game.
56:38
Exactly. And I know I know a lot of
56:40
people really liked like when there was
56:42
a part when it's after it switched over
56:44
to freeto play and they kind of started
56:46
expanding the story. I know a lot of
56:47
people have had complimentary things to
56:49
say about that as well. I never really
56:51
got to experience it because I lost my
56:53
authenticator for that game and trying
56:55
to contact EA as a complete crapshoot.
56:58
Um but I mean yeah I'd Yeah, just like
57:02
Matt said and like Disney doesn't seem
57:04
to know what to do with Star Wars. uh
57:05
release tour as a video game and then
57:07
keep and then like take the additional
57:09
content and release that like give me
57:10
give me single player single player Old
57:12
Republic. I'm Ian.
57:13
>> Yeah, I was going to I was literally
57:15
going to bring that up as a very good
57:16
example of something that should be a
57:18
single player game because it basically
57:19
was anyway.
57:20
>> All right, I'm going to ask the I'm
57:21
going to answer the question as it was
57:23
asked just because I feel bad that
57:24
Tatsmi didn't get any real answers for
57:26
it.
57:27
>> We love TMI. Tatsi knows what they get
57:28
into with this.
57:29
>> TMI knows what they expect from us. Hi
57:30
>> T. Absolutely. But I'm still going to
57:32
cuz there is there is a single player
57:34
game that I think would make a great
57:36
MMO.
57:37
>> Starcraft,
57:42
>> you know, I I'm with you there. I'm with
57:44
you. I would play a World of Starcraft.
57:46
I don't give us World of Starcraft,
57:48
>> but I would play one.
57:50
>> We're going to stop peeing finally. Just
57:52
go ahead. Give us this and we can just
57:54
all just live, you know, plug us in just
57:58
right there. World of Starcraft. Now for
58:01
uh another game that that I think would
58:03
make a good MMO, but it's not single
58:06
player right now. Overwatch. Sure. And
58:09
Heroes of the Storm. Why not? Why not
58:12
Heroes of the Storm? Let me play an MMO
58:14
where just every Blizzard franchise is
58:16
in it. It's like that mobile game that
58:18
no mobile game, sorry, the V the VR game
58:21
they did for Assassin's Creed where you
58:23
have uh Etsio from Assassin's Creed 2,
58:27
you have Cassandra from Assassin's Creed
58:29
Odyssey, and you have that other guy and
58:31
I don't remember where he's from. I
58:33
think it's Connor from three. I I can't
58:35
remember who the third guy is, but that
58:37
that game just do that with Heroes of
58:39
Storm. make it a single player RPG where
58:41
you you have like Thrral and Tyel and
58:45
the you know Tyrus from Star and just
58:48
they're just doing stuff and and there's
58:51
a I guess Oria could be involved as a
58:53
menace or something. I don't care. Do
58:55
those go ahead. Um, now that I've said
58:59
all that, I will say that the the
59:01
reverse that I'd like to see, and this
59:03
is a this is a real this this one's a
59:06
real swerveball because it basically
59:08
allows me to get something back. It's
59:10
like kind of like what Joe did. Uh, give
59:13
me City of Heroes. Give me a City of
59:15
Heroes or single player RPG with
59:17
multiplayer. If they want to like go and
59:20
kill stuff with friends, sure. But just
59:22
just actually do something with all that
59:24
lore that was created for that game.
59:26
There's a ton of story for City of
59:28
Heroes.
59:29
>> Still have all the comics.
59:31
>> You know what they should do for City of
59:32
Heroes though? Uh they should bring they
59:35
should take the City of Heroes lore,
59:36
write all that jazz up as a source book
59:38
for mutants and masterminds. Listen to
59:39
our other podcast, Tavern Watch.
59:41
>> Yeah, they should do that for the fact.
59:44
>> Also, I'm going to throw it out there
59:45
that if uh they did want to bring this
59:46
back as a game concept or like if they
59:49
can make a deal for it. I mean, Insomnia
59:53
seems to have really good luck with hero
59:55
games. Just throwing it, especially the
59:57
RPG element. Just throwing it out there.
1:00:00
>> Actually, I was going to say, let the
1:00:01
Dispatch team work on it.
1:00:03
>> Oh, yeah. That, too.
1:00:04
>> Imagine the Dispatch team working on it
1:00:06
because they do they do some weird
1:00:08
something. It would be like, you know,
1:00:10
one of those. It'd be like minor league
1:00:12
goo muks from Oh, sorry. I shouldn't use
1:00:14
one. Sorry. Uh, City of Villains just in
1:00:18
a in a evil bar. just like the bar fight
1:00:20
scene from Dispatch, which was great.
1:00:23
Um, so yeah, that there's one just
1:00:25
because I miss City Heroes. I know there
1:00:27
are currently people doing it.
1:00:29
>> Homecoming. Homecoming is online and
1:00:31
sanctioned like it's a thing.
1:00:32
>> Yeah, but I still I miss it and I'd like
1:00:36
to see more. But I think that answers
1:00:39
your question, TMI, as much as we're
1:00:41
ever capable of answering a question
1:00:42
straightforwardly.
1:00:43
>> We try.
1:00:44
>> Yeah, we try. We do. We do try. But
1:00:47
that's the podcast, I think, everybody.
1:00:49
So, thank you so much uh to Phil for
1:00:52
showing up and and helping anchor us. Uh
1:00:55
I like to see us as a Fantastic Four
1:00:57
here, and Phil is definitely the thing
1:00:59
this week. Um unfortunately for me, I'm
1:01:02
I'm Mr. Fantastic, which means I'm
1:01:04
actually the worst person here,
1:01:06
>> but you know, uh Joe gets to be the
1:01:08
invisible Joe and
1:01:10
>> 100% torch. Give I I will be Sue Storm
1:01:14
all day long. Or even better, I'll be
1:01:15
Malice. And if you know who that is,
1:01:17
you've read a comic book.
1:01:20
>> Oh, wow. Joe, I'm imagining you.
1:01:22
>> Can I be Can I be uh Spider-Man in the
1:01:24
Fantastic 4 suit? Can I
1:01:26
>> Sure.
1:01:26
>> No, I will fight you for that. That is
1:01:28
not on the table.
1:01:29
>> Okay. Okay. You can be Spider-Man in the
1:01:31
Fantastic 4 suit. I'll be Sue Storm.
1:01:33
>> It's bombastic bag man. Thank you very
1:01:34
much. Sorry.
1:01:36
>> We're not letting Liz be Sue Storm,
1:01:37
evidently. Sorry, Liz. Do you want to be
1:01:38
Sue Storm?
1:01:39
>> Well, if you want to be Sue, sure.
1:01:43
But I always think of Liz kind of as
1:01:44
like a human torch or She-Hulk
1:01:47
>> or the Human Torch She-Hulk, which is
1:01:49
She-Hulk and you're on fire.
1:01:50
>> Hey, remember remember that time when uh
1:01:52
Ghost Rider, the Hulk, Wolverine, and uh
1:01:55
and Spider-Man became the Fantastic 4
1:01:57
because the Fantastic Four went missing?
1:01:59
That's us.
1:02:00
>> Oh god.
1:02:00
>> Yeah, that sounds about right.
1:02:01
>> Except that I'm I'm going to be the
1:02:03
Ghostrunner. Anyway, thank you guys for
1:02:06
being here and listening to us. Thank
1:02:07
you to this team for immediately
1:02:09
complicating the Fantastic 4 in a lovely
1:02:10
way cuz now I get to think about myself
1:02:12
the Human Torch pretending to be Ghost
1:02:14
Rider cuz he can pretend. He's like
1:02:18
>> good. Yeah. Yeah.
1:02:19
>> Uh yeah. Thank you guys for everything.
1:02:21
Thank you for putting up with us. Uh and
1:02:23
we'll be back next