Queuenanigans

As Thursday was an American holiday I was all prepared to dig through the last several queues to find questions in what I presumed would be a slow question day. Instead I’m seeing a lot of good questions! I’m not complaining but presume the title is referring to food not what I originally intended for this intro.

That said I’m going to reach back a little bit for the first question …

I know Taylor Swift’s new album was the biggest deal last month, but if I had to rank all the new releases I would definitely put Living While Dying at the top. I’ve been listening to this latest record from my favorite Canadian Indie band fanclubwallet almost non-stop since it came out a few weeks back. I’d probably say my favorite track is New Distraction but I also really enjoy Head On and Me Time. You should give them a listen.

While I try to stop immediately thinking “apply directly to the forehead!” every time I read Head On let’s answer some questions.

More powerful than a post-walk treat! Can leap on to tall beds with assistance — it’s Marshmallow! If you can’t tell his Halloween costume this year is Krypto, the hero of this summer’s Superman film! … he’s not fond of costumes, hence the dour expression. Still, he looks awesome! And would totally attack Lex if needed.

While we ensure there is no kryptonite squirreled away in our house and steal candy out of the bowl by the front door, let’s answer some questions!

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada and as a result I’m swapping with Cory so he can have the celebratory poutine and maple syrup meals that I’m sure everyone in Canada consumes at special events. Hopefully while they’re gathered around the television watching hockey or Red Green Show reruns they take a moment to remember their neighbors to the south who are forced to work today.

I haven’t gotten much more progress done in Final Fantasy Tactics this past week because of ReLegion but also because it’s such an intense game and the prep work before a fight can be just as long as the fights themselves. Hopefully though I’ll be able to make some headway soon once I figure out what job to make these characters.

While I internally debate the merits of knight vs squire let’s answer some questions!

It’s been five years since I started writing for Blizzard Watch! I was so young back then! Well actually no I was old back then too — but I was younger! To quote They Might Be Giants: I was young and foolish then/I feel old and foolish now.

Dang, that’s a horrible intro. You’d think I’d have the hang of this writing thing after five years.

Of course the big news is all the Midnight info that’s been coming out this week, but we also got a new album from Rachael Yamagata today! Fun fact: she’s half-sister to Josh Ruben of Dropout/Make Some Noise fame. I’m not aware of any other albums being released today.

While I patiently wait by the mailbox for my celebratory 5-year Blizzard Watch sword let’s answer some questions!

Ah Brewfest, the most wonderful time of the year! There is no event in WoW I enjoy more, and there are a lot of fun new additions this year (although I will miss Barking for the Thunderbrews). Of course there’s only so many times I can run the new Banquet scenario or race rams so I’m going to take a break to answer some questions!

Nothing like coming back from a weeklong road trip and being immediately assigned homework from a fellow Queue writer. I’m not one to back down from a challenge so I’ve spent all week working on my answers. So if this article feels especially Cory-heavy well now you know why.

My trip itself was really fun. Drove through the wilds of Kentucky (stopping at Cumberland Gap and Mammoth Cave NP) and Missouri to get to Kansas City (this just in: BBQ is yummy). Saw some wild bison on the way back which was really awesome. But enough about last week, it’s time to get to my work from this week!

When Phase Diving was first announced for patch 11.2 I figured it was going to be a sort of “Maw lite” with harder challenges and trickier navigation (no flying? in 2025?!?) but it turns out that Phase Diving not only isn’t that hard to deal with, it actually makes getting around K’aresh faster and easier. Don’t want to be phased anymore? Just click off the buff that puts in you the phase — even if you’re being dogpiled by elite mobs. Want to quickly get from Tavazesh to the Oasis? Dive into the phase and teleport over. Have a challenging treasure to get? Fly to it in normal space and quaff an Untethered Xy’bucha and you may even get an achievement for your “hard” work recovering it.

It’s like the dev team got through 90% of phase diving development and remembered that the vast majority of the playerbase hated the Maw and scrambled to remove the worst roadblocks. I’m not complaining, mind you, as the Forge knows I have precious little time to play as it is. There’s just a dissonance between the challenge that phase diving wants to be and the fact that it actually provides some quality of life benefits.

I do look good in translucent sparkly pink, at least. Speaking of phase diving …

Finally. After years of NPCs taunting us with their casual leaning against walls and other structures, with patch 11.2 we finally have the ability to /lean! While slouching against a wall is cool and all SJHawk pointed out in yesterday’s queue comments that it works without a wall, effectively making players mimes! Hopefully this is not the last mime-able emote as /pullrope and /againstthewind — cue Bob Seger — would allow us to further perform mimeish (mime-like? mime-style?) feats.

It’s been a week but it’s Friday so let’s answer some fun and have some questions!

Sad note to start the queue on, but rest in peace Chuck Mangione. If you’re a member of an older generation and/or you were a King of the Hill fan you’ve probably heard “Feels So Good” a dozen (or a thousand) times but you owe it to yourself to listen to the full version. What a fantastic career and he’ll be sorely missed.

Many thanks to Red for holding down the fort while I was gone; I apologize if you’ve gotten used to him being your Friday queue writer but we’re back to alternating every week. At least until I take another break. But it hasn’t happened yet so let’s answer some questions!