The Queue

because it’s my birthday. It’s literally illegal to be mean to me at any other time but it’s ultra illegal to be mean to me today.

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions, and if one of those questions is about my age you are definitely going to jail.

We have a pretty good idea of where an important chunk of future WoW lore is heading, because the seeds started being planted a few years ago, and they’re still being planted now with Turalyon, Xe’ra, the Mag’har allied race, the Arathi empire, etc. The Light is being set up as an antagonistic force — one that we may or may not face as a direct threat in a future expansion, but I’d say we almost certainly will.

In one of those seeds, we’ve got an account from the Mag’har orcs that the forces of the Light have grown despotic in Alternate Draenor, and this group called the Lightbound, led by High Exarch Yrel, has had them flee that dying world, since they were being forced into a non-choice of submission or death. This made a lot of people suspect that Yrel — a pretty well-liked character overall — is being setup to return to the story in the future no longer as a hero, but as a villain.

I say: Blizzard, leave Yrel alone.

You’ve done the “good guy gone bad” story beat so many times by now. Arthas. Garrosh. Kael’thas. Sylvanas. Heck, even Neltharion into Deathwing, or Illidan flip-flopping between “good” or “bad” depending on your perspective. We get it, you enjoy showing how even heroes can become corrupted or distorted by ideals, by fanaticism, by losing sight of what truly matters, etc.

You’ve told that story. Many times. We get it. We got the message.

You don’t need to tell it yet again with Yrel.

Let Yrel be a force of reason within the Light, the Paladins, lest we start seeing them all as fanatical zealots not worth trusting. Let her be someone who sees how fanatical some of her peers are becoming, and opposes them from within. Let the stories of the Lightbound be over-exaggerated or misunderstood by the Mag’har — just their unreliable account.

Or, just leave her alone. Let her chill on some beach sipping mojitos with Velen or whatever.

#SaveYrel

Cricket is a sport I know nothing about. I assume it features a ball, and some sort of bat (the wooden stick kind, not the animal, although the latter would surely make for an even more interesting game). I can only imagine it has mind-warping rules, space-bending plays, and the audience watches it with the same vim they would watch fields of wheat that somehow turn into black-and-white birds and fly away.

This is The Queue, where we sometimes provide answers to things we know, and other times to things we’re clueless about (such as cricket). Read on, and don’t stop believing.

Because it took the anti-capitalist message of the first game and not only magnified it, but also threw in anti-colonialism, totalitarian regimes, and how the good intentions of someone do not serve to protect people from people who will use their creations with bad intentions. And I’m about half way through the game.

I honestly don’t know where this game will end up in the whole ‘game of the year’ list I’m composing in my head f0r no good reason, but it’s already ahead of Expedition 33.

Blizzard added transmog to the Midnight beta this week, and I’ll tell you all more about it when I am not swinging wildly between incandescent rage and crushing disappointment. Transmog is dead (to me), long live transmog.

Let’s Queue.

One thing I’m very much enjoying as I play with Player Housing is how many things you really hate can be obscured with relative ease. Put a tree here, a boulder there, and vines literally everywhere, and there you have it! Whatever “it” is in this context — even a jump puzzle.

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions and we cover the answer with foliage so you can’t really see how bad it is.

It’s been a busy weekend, and now we’re here on Monday. I could go for another few hours of sleep, but alas, it’s not in the cards.

I’m sure I’ll perk up once I get a good helping of the free food at work today. Free food makes everything better.

While I go and pour myself another coffee, it’s time for — The Queue!

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.

Hi, guys. So my right retina had a busted blood vessel this week, which means that I have this cloud of blood inside my eye that is blocking what little my right eye can normally see behind what looks like a gigantic black octopus that slowly disintegrates into a strange constellation of blood dots.

Because of the way brains work, mine is stuck trying to use the input from my right and left eyes and as a result it’s like I’m having visual hallucinations of tentacles of blackness floating around superimposed over everything.

What I’m saying is, I didn’t really need to be this prepared for Midnight. 

The new login screen is kind of mesmerizing. Maybe I don’t even want to reconnect. Maybe I just want to stare into the swirling darkness, leaning ever closer to my monitor…

No, wait, I need to write the Queue. Let’s do this.