Latest / For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast / #245 - For Azeroth! "New Year, New Aspects"

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#245 - For Azeroth! "New Year, New Aspects" · For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast

0:06
Victory for the Forsaken for Lord are on for the Kirin, Tor
0:13
and Dario for calendar or gilneas us endure.
0:30
For the alliance for Azeroth. Instead by a familiar voice to
1:00
this show and hopefully hopefully you will recognize her
1:05
from another show going Arrow. It's Lex.
1:09
I like, hey, how have you been? How was your holidays, how is
1:16
the world? Warcraft, treating you, I have
1:19
been good, I have been busy. The World of Warcraft is
1:23
treating me much better. I am having the absolute time of
1:28
my life and dragon dragon flight, which I did, by the way,
1:32
almost called Dragon riding, which I think is rare.
1:35
That's, you know, valid valid 100% valid because like what am
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I doing in 99% of the time that I'm playing Dragon flight is
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tracking. Writing, I'm hopping on my
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dragon and riding around the dragon Miles.
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Because, why wouldn't you do it was those memes that were going
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around the like, oh, when we are, when we all have dragonfly,
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Dragon riding, we're gonna like just, you know, get on our
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Dragon to go two inches, I would like to State for the record
2:02
that that is 100% true for me. I will literally see a quest
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Giver like visual site. Like, I can see them.
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Not even through clouds, like I can fully I could draw them if I
2:13
need it. I'm like all right, Mount up
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words. Yep.
2:18
Uh-huh. Yep, 100% 100%.
2:21
I am right there with you. This expansion experience has
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been utterly phenomenal. I'm so so many friends.
2:30
The last time, the last time we had you on the show, we were
2:32
talking. It was pre dragonfly.
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It was like on the Eve not really necessarily like the
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immediate Eve of dragonfly but it was like right before the
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expansion came out and you hadn't really been playing.
2:47
I'm very much up to that point, certainly not, but I know I know
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myself, I have put so much time into this expansion, like it is,
3:02
is scary. How much time of Flint is this
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expansion? We're only like a month in.
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I very quickly hit a point of I get home, I do either whatever
3:15
is planned for the day. Play with my rats.
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I do like quickly any chore that must get done.
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I say knowing darn well that you all saw me on Twitch and know
3:25
that I have never cleaned my room once in my life.
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So those pores are not, not fully completed and then
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immediately log on and I start like bothering everyone an ideal
3:37
for mythix. I'm like, who's running?
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What are we doing? What's going on?
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And then, of course, everyone comes in.
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I'm like, sorry you guys. I just got in a hunt, so no.
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I'm In the same boat, I have gone from logging on because you
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dragged me Kicking and Screaming to like, hey guys want to like
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wrap up this fun friend Gathering because we haven't
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seen each other in three months. I want to get home and play
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video games, right? Okay.
4:02
So, okay, so, that kind of gets into where I want to start this
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episode talking about talking about like our experiences in
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this this first month of the game and getting through and
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playing with. Like get like playing through
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season one, like what we have done, what we haven't done and
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what we're kind of like looking forward to after that.
4:28
So what what all have you experienced so far in the
4:32
expansion. So honestly, not a ton.
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I've played through the first like the main storyline I've hit
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the point when you have to get to renowned 12 with the Val drop
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in accord by God, have I not reach 12, renowned with the
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vowel dragon. and I am so my Trajectory was I played
4:55
dragonflight very hard for the first few days.
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I like, took time off work. I did everything.
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I got went in and then it became pre-Christmas and pre-Christmas
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for me is a nightmare. I have a tradition where I baked
5:09
these fancy Swiss cookies for everyone in my family and it
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takes hours and it takes all of my free time and people want to
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see you and people want to do things.
5:18
And so I played really hard for like three days and then I I
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stopped. And I went to my first raid with
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literally, I think, 30 item levels below, everyone else, and
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that broke my brain. That was horrible.
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And that is when I started being like I'm a log on and I'm going
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to do every single Mythic that I can possibly get done out of
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necessity, not out of like joy, and then it became a like, oh,
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this is fun. I'm having a good time.
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I remember when people play this video game, um, so I have evened
5:51
out but I think I'm still Will a little bit traumatized and a
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little bit. Like I gotta get that gear up.
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So I played I this is an unpopular opinion.
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My favorite group to play, like, my favorite section is the
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Centaur. I think they are my favorite by
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a mile, so I've played a lot of their storylines and done a
6:12
little bit with the vile Dragon Accord, because I realized that
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I couldn't progressed the main storyline, unless I go hard on
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them and I'm like, fine, I guess I'll leave my grasslands.
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I'll go hang out with the stupid dragons in.
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Stupid Dragon flight. And so it's, but at this point,
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I'm mostly still kind of prioritizing keeping my gear
6:30
levels up and getting through my mythix and things like that.
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Okay? Okay, so you've done some, some
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mythix, what's that? Just out of curiosity.
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What's the highest level key? You've done the highest level
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key. I've timed is a nine the highest
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level Kiev done, I think is an 11, okay, but in my opinion of
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10, which I should have timed because then I didn't Nine like
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yesterday and we wiped the floor with it and it was not good
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offense. It of yes.
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Mmm, the doctor defensive and which I've heard is, one of the
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worst I've spent more hours, by the way, in the Ruby Life Pools
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that I've spent on anything in my life.
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If you ask me, if I want to go to the Ruby Life Pools, the
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answer is, no, I don't want to see him.
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I never again, I would like to never go to the privy Life
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Pools. So I don't actually know how
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Most of the dungeons are, I've spent all my time, doing mythix
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and by doing the things, I mean, doing the Ruby life pool.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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Same because they like, I think it was last week, we had the, we
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had the do for Mythic Dungeons and the easiest way to do that
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is to go do 40's and at Mythic 0.
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Ruby life pulls is the easiest Dungeon Because you just
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literally gather up everything right before the first boss,
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kill it off. All gather up everything right
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before the second bus, kill it, all gather up everything, for
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the last bus, kill it all and you're done in seven minutes and
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so I did that four times in a row on my Mage and oh, I never
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want to go back to that dungeon again.
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Yeah honey, I wasn't feeling. Yeah, I do that.
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I could really tell you anything about the Ruby Life Pools.
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I think I just like dissociate the second I go in like it's
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wonderful. Yeah.
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It's like the eggs start. And then all of a sudden I'm
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being chased around by a dragon with fire on the ground.
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I'm probably dead. And then, and then we're done.
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Right, right? As it goes, as it goes.
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Yeah. You you've actually completed a
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higher level key than I have at the highest of completed is 1/8.
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My team, my red team. Got normal r as guests down this
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week. Oh, and we're taking Sunday to
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go into heroic for the first time.
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So that's super duper excited. Hi today, I am already
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contemplating switching to a new class, what?
9:09
Weight lift weight live here. You're telling me that you're
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you're switching closet. This is my new.
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My this is I literally I Could never have predicted that.
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No, not in a million. Oh, my God, this is switching
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classes. I know, I know.
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But so my invoker was my first level 70.
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And then I did one heroic dungeon at level 70 on my poker
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and we're just like know. So, then I leveled the Mage very
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quickly. I think over the course of like
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two days. Got my Mage from 60 to 70, so
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that was fantastic. Congratulations.
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Great time. Just gonna give myself a round
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of applause for that one because I need it.
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And then and then over the course of like the next week I
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was just like, you know what, I need another level 70.
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So I leveled, my priest and Shadow priest, shut up priest
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kind of slaps, it really. That's what it is.
10:16
It kind of slaps. No, that's fine.
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Like from from a terminal like DPS Caster standpoint Shadow
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priest, kind of slaps. So I have options right now,
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right now as things stand, I think, I think like sticking
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with the Mages like the the reasonable thing to do but then
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there's like that little Gremlin in the back of my brain is just
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like Like not. But just go push Mythic plus
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really hard on the priest for a week and then just like, show up
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at the priest and said it's fine.
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So that's kind of where I'm at, but I want to put my best foot
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forward to the raid and right now, right now Arcane Mage kind
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of popping off a little bit. But it's like it's feast or
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famine because like there's a couple of fights that I'm just
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like. I you cannot, you cannot tell me
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to move because then I, my DPS will tank, but I have to move or
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I'll die. but, I want to do good deeds.
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It's it is a is forever. The largest conundrum.
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As a holy priest. I understand from the bottom of
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my heart. Yeah, yeah.
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Like, do you want me to heal, or do you want me to DPS, or heal?
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Or do you want me to get out of the mechanic?
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Because I, you can't have both. They're literally, if you look
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on, I see, vain for Wow, hat, or whatever, you're using to go
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through your rotation for, Holy priest.
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Like you can, maybe try dropping renew, if you're really
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desperate and I'm like, besting, I'm really definitely like
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there's no movement, right? Oh gosh.
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So yeah, I think I think my experience in going through in
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season one has been rather enjoyable because I've gotten in
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to do a moderate amount of Mythic plus.
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And I don't feel like I have to go do Mythic plus all the time
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and push Mythic plus constantly in order to be keeping up with
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everyone because I'm doing just fine DPS some mage.
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And I'm not, I'm not pushing. I'm not pushing Mythic Plus at
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all, like, by any stretch of the imagination.
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I'm just, like running running. At least, I think I've hit for
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Mythic dungeons. Every week to get some extra
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wiggle room on my on my Vault options, but otherwise,
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otherwise, I'm just kind of, like, hanging out with it and
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letting it happen. Like, however, it happens. but,
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They're being very generous with gear, like, fully for solo
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players, like World quests, their hand out, like, candy
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Sparks of Ingenuity are, like, literally some of the best year
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I can get right now. If you're not like grinding and
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Mythic 15 like they are, they're just toss and that out.
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Yeah. And then then on top of that,
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killing razzaq, if you Art getting you start get, I can't
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remember what it's called. I probably should have reference
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to this in the notes somewhere, but it's the The Raid upgrade
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for the crafted gear like the raid material, you get that from
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from killing razi GIF. And so now, those crafted pieces
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that use the spark of Ingenuity on those are getting bumped up
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because you're getting this other crafting material from The
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Raid and like Like, I very much very much.
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I'm in the same boat of like the crafted pieces are like, that's
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my life. I give me.
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Give me the crafted pieces because I do not, I will not go
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and and farm that one Trinket in Mythic plus that everyone wants
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or that that one ring out of Mythic place that everyone wants
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or anything because I'm just like, I'm just gonna make it as
14:35
fine and meanwhile, they're like, oh, you can upgrade your
14:38
Mythic Place gear but then they cap Valor it, like three. 1,000,
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which it's like, it's 1,000 to upgrade bestie.
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What do you want from me? All right, so, you're telling
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me, I have to increase my Mythic plus score in order to upgrade
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your to use my Valour. But then I can't just like
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infinitely grind, Valor to spend on pieces, so yeah, it's, it's
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weird. I feel like, I feel like there's
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a little bit of a little bit of balancing that can be done on
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the numbers on that side to make it.
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It a little bit better cook, but I'm also remembering season for
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shadowlands where there was no cap on the Valor.
15:18
You could just get it wherever and like your rating kind of
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mattered, but it was like much more forgiving for being able to
15:26
upgrade pieces. Not that I did much in season 4
15:29
anyway. But that's, you know, it's fine
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we're not here to talk about season 4 Shadow.
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I was talking about Caesar what a dragonfly.
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Yeah, no, I think I think that there is a constant balance
15:46
occurring within World of Warcraft between we need people
15:53
to grind because this is an MMO and we need people to have the
15:57
opportunity to grind because that's the point of an MMO.
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But meanwhile we don't want to return to the point where people
16:05
are like losing their families over this game.
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Game and also are not having fun.
16:12
We also can't make it so that people feel like, they're either
16:14
on 24/7 or are not playing this video game anymore.
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Yeah. And I feel like, I feel like
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they have hit a pretty good balance because like most of
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most of where the grind is coming from, is from renowned,
16:28
like, going and doing World quests, is probably like the
16:31
biggest source of grinding that I think is available in the
16:35
game. Like, you can, you can
16:36
definitely go grind. Mythic plus if That's what you
16:39
want to to do. If that's what brings you the
16:43
most joy in this world is grinding Mythic plus endlessly.
16:48
By all means have at it, that is totally 1000% something that you
16:54
can do, but for the rest of us, we don't have to anymore.
17:01
And that's, I think probably like the biggest takeaway that I
17:04
have with. With dragonfly season one is
17:08
that I don't feel like. I feel like I was gonna I was
17:14
gonna say something, but I think I need to word it a little bit
17:16
differently than how I was going to say it initially bear with
17:20
me, just a second. I'll take a lot I think I think
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what I was gonna say was I don't feel the need to be grinding all
17:29
the time. I think what I actually mean to
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say is that I don't feel. Feel like if I step away from
17:38
the game for any reason that I am missing out on something like
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the, the the foam. Oh yeah.
17:48
Isn't there anymore? Like it has been in previous
17:53
expansions like going even all the way back to Legion like the
17:58
the fomo of like if you miss A world quest, if you miss one of
18:02
your caches, if you miss, you know, Like any Mythic plus run
18:10
in to miss a chance on getting your legendary pieces like that
18:16
that fomo has been kind of like permeating the game ever since
18:21
then and this is the first expansion that I don't feel like
18:25
that's there anymore. Yeah, like I on top of having
18:31
holiday stuff and now moving this week and so so I don't
18:36
really have that much time to play.
18:38
Like I'm raid locking this week because there's other things
18:44
that I have to be doing that are taking my attention away from
18:46
the game. And I can genuinely say, I don't
18:51
feel bad about getting it from my computer and not going and
18:56
pushing keys this week. And that is such a relief.
19:02
On my soul. Yeah, I remember them.
19:07
And part of this is because I was busy in other ways, but like
19:09
I remember there being periods of time and Shadowland so like I
19:12
was like, literally like sobbing well messaging, one of my other
19:16
officers in the guild. Like I don't know how I can do
19:18
this. All like I don't have the time
19:20
but I also know that I can't compete and like I can't be at a
19:23
realistic level if I'm not and like just like the game stopped
19:28
being a game. It started being a second job
19:31
that I have to like Bang my head against if I want to play
19:35
anymore and now I live you know my God I was a ridiculous number
19:40
of item levels below my team and I got that up in a week and now
19:45
I'm able to just hang out and I feel like I log on to play a
19:51
video game. I don't log on to you know, do
19:53
my chores and make it so they let me in raid, right?
19:59
Yeah and that's that's like where where I am with my with my
20:04
choice on whether or not to switch is totally totally, like
20:09
independent of like, where I think my ability to perform in a
20:12
raid sits because like normally like the biggest The biggest
20:20
consideration for me in previous expansions of whether or not I
20:24
would switch to a different character was.
20:28
Can the character that I'm bringing to the table do as much
20:31
or more DPS than the character that I'd be leaving behind?
20:37
And that's less of a consideration this time around
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because I know if I make the decision to switch to another
20:44
character, I can get that character to that level with, so
20:50
much more ease than I could previously.
20:55
So that's no longer like it's a consideration for sure, because
21:00
the moment that I make that choice, then, of course, I've
21:02
got to go jump in and put in that effort to get that
21:06
character up to him. To a reasonable level.
21:10
But the threshold for that is so incredibly low that I don't
21:19
feel. I don't feel like that pressure
21:21
is necessarily over writing any of the other considerations that
21:27
I have because like that one of the main things with it with my
21:32
RAID team is that we have so many people on the Mage token
21:38
for tear the the competition is like, I mean, like I say
21:42
competition but but there are so many people on that on that
21:49
token and we have two people on the Paladin priest token
21:55
currently, which means if we just have a week where all we
22:00
get are Paladin, priest tokens in a raid, They've already got
22:05
their for peace, they're not using them like they those
22:09
tokens those loot chances are just completely going to waste.
22:14
So it's kind of a it's kind of a situation of wanting wanting to
22:20
help kind of like bring a little bit more roundedness to the raid
22:23
team. We currently only have one
22:25
priest like and the red team like we could probably recruit
22:31
recruit a few more people as well.
22:32
Well to help out with with the kind of class representation
22:36
that we like to fill in gaps where we need.
22:39
But ultimately ultimately I feel like that that choices is more
22:48
on the thought process of like how do I best like how do I fill
23:01
Whatever role that I need to fill best in the raid team as a
23:06
whole. And instead of just, what is,
23:10
what is the character that I can bring, that does the highest DPS
23:14
and no other considerations are made and I feel like I feel like
23:18
it's a good spot for that to be in.
23:21
But before we move on to the news, I just wanted to let you
23:25
share any final thoughts on season one so far that you hot.
23:31
This is this is the most fun I've had in this video game for
23:34
as long as I can remember, I could come up with knit picks
23:37
and I could come up with little problems.
23:39
But like genuinely, I am blown away by just how everything is
23:45
coming. Like everything I do feel fun, I
23:48
the feasts are fun and the Hunts are fun.
23:50
And mythix are fun. Even though after Ruby life
23:52
poles for 20 billion times and the, you know, the the quests
23:57
are fun. Like it.
23:58
I just I am. I'm 10.
24:01
One out of ten to the dev team. This is incredible.
24:05
This is an expansion like I have not seen.
24:08
I just wanted I just wanted to to make a side note on since you
24:12
mentioned the group Feast I just I just wanted to say that.
24:23
There there are several several people at least at least this
24:28
happens on my server or my server group several.
24:31
That just go camp those not to participate and then but just to
24:35
sit there and spam spam a macro that just shouts.
24:39
Yes, chef. Oh yeah, over and over again.
24:42
I am so here for you if you do that because I know a hundred
24:50
thousand percent in my heart of hearts that those people are so
24:55
enjoying themselves. Oh just trolling the crap out of
24:59
everyone yelling. Yes chef Over and over again.
25:03
And it makes me so happy and that that is coming from that is
25:08
coming from a Gordon Ramsay fan of like watching a nightmares.
25:16
And yeah exactly like just the environment of just having
25:23
Having trolls are like in an environment of like that, kind
25:28
of like chef kitchen mentality thing just perfect, perfect
25:34
10/10. Keep doing you, you are
25:36
fantastic. You are beautiful.
25:38
Literally Flawless. Right?
25:40
Don't know. Okay, so let's jump into some
25:45
news. We have several several like
25:50
little tidbits of news that have happened over Happened.
25:54
They've we've received these bits of news over the last
25:58
couple weeks and we wanted to touch on them a little bit, just
26:04
to bring these things to y'all's attention.
26:05
There's not really much there but we're just bringing them up
26:08
because we can. But first off for anyone that is
26:13
playing classic. Wow, or still playing classic.
26:17
Wow. And is looking forward to the
26:21
old of our raid. There's Another round of older
26:25
arrayed testing happening in January 6th through the 9th
26:29
beginning at noon Pacific Time on the 6th and ending at 10 a.m.
26:33
PDT on the 9th, and it's going to be on the PTR.
26:37
So you can just like, jump in and participate in the red
26:41
testing on the PTR if you so desire.
26:45
So if you want to get in and test out your class a little bit
26:48
in the right environment for you, actually go and do the
26:51
raid. We don't have any word yet.
26:53
On it. Like when the raid is coming in
26:58
classic? Well, on the live servers there
27:01
but this testing is going to be happening.
27:04
So do feel free to jump in and participate if you want to, you
27:08
want to take this next bit of news.
27:10
Oh yeah, of course. Um, so did we all?
27:13
So this is the Warlords of Draenor, a time walking week so
27:17
you can get 359 gear from the dungeon if you run them, and if
27:22
you do five, Time walking Dungeons and go through the
27:25
quest. You can get a 389 piece so
27:29
Warlords of Draenor, you missed it.
27:31
It's back besties. Go, go walk through some time.
27:35
Hang out with the bronze. Dragon flight Hank.
27:38
I was probably for a little bit because we definitely need more
27:41
cromie in our lives, we do. But yeah, speaking of ptr's on
27:49
the modern PTR Thun on retail, wealthy are more stuff about
27:53
10.5 has been coming out and in the forums there's all sorts of
27:59
notes around the 9.5 PTR that you can you can view if you
28:05
would like. But we wanted to talk about
28:08
specifically about a couple of things that were found on the
28:11
10.5 BTR. And these are things that are
28:14
likely to be on the trading post, but it looks like we're
28:17
getting a few recolors of previous expansion, weapons and
28:22
mounts. Included in.
28:25
That is a recolor of the Armageddon sword from from
28:32
naxxramas. The big, it is like a section
28:36
sword that has like a big leather.
28:39
Strap wrap around it and like several like huge runes on it.
28:44
It's like kind of reminiscent of like, maybe tighten esque weapon
28:52
but it's more like Oh, what is, what is the name of the?
28:57
The gosh, did the the the large human people?
29:02
Oh, Volker frightful, right? Cool.
29:07
Yes, it is very much one of their weapons.
29:13
Inspired off of their architecture and aren't
29:16
everything, but no, that's that's just one of the many.
29:20
Many several weapons included in that or a couple of a couple of
29:26
weapons from the Firelands raids and Drew.
29:30
And Oh gosh. What is the name of the last
29:36
raid of cataclysm? Oh my gosh.
29:41
How can I will not be able to help you with it?
29:42
Remember so. Oh gosh, dragon soul, good
29:47
grief. There's several weapons from
29:49
dragon soul. I'm sorry.
29:51
Isn't dragon soul like It's the, it's the one where we kill death
29:58
way. That's, that's the rain.
30:00
There were we kill that way. Oh my God, I did not know that
30:10
there was a raid in World of Warcraft called, dragon soul.
30:12
I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be besties 100% real
30:16
with you here. I actually thought you were
30:19
joking. Like I was, I thought this is a
30:21
bit. No, no, we killed that Wing
30:25
Deathwing, but I didn't realize it was in the dragon soul.
30:29
Mmm. Well, because it's named dragon
30:31
soul because thrall takes the dragon soul and like, the whole
30:33
in time, His dungeon quest line is like us going and getting the
30:37
dragon soul and then bringing it to where MERS Temple so that we
30:40
can kill Deathwing with it. So that's yeah.
30:43
Right. Okay.
30:44
That doesn't make sense that the sorry.
30:46
I don't know why that of all the things, all the things to occur
30:50
in World of Warcraft, that just absolutely broke my brain.
30:53
I was completely unprepared for that one.
31:01
I think there's like there's a shield and then a mace from from
31:05
the dragon soul read and then there's probably probably one of
31:09
my most used when I do have to transmog an offhand.
31:14
This is probably my you most used one and it's like a it's
31:19
one of the Scrolls but it's like it's a it's a scroll on a flail
31:26
is the best way that I can describe.
31:27
It. Only stops growing and The the
31:30
yeah, like, it's a scroll, and it has like a little bit of the
31:34
parchment-like, like tattered parchment hanging off of the
31:37
scroll. And then, the scroll itself is
31:40
wrapped in a chain, that's on a stick.
31:44
And you just hold it, this dangling, scroll that glows and
31:50
its got like some ruins on it. Instead of is it's really it's
31:53
I'm doing a terrible job of describing it.
31:55
You were needing a world. A word picture is what you're
31:58
doing right now. Thank you.
32:04
But no, that is that is like probably when I am transferring
32:09
and offhand that is the offhand that I'm using.
32:12
We're getting a recolor of it. So So I'm pretty, I'm pretty
32:15
excited about that but yeah, there's plenty more other stuff
32:20
that's coming and there isn't any like official word on where
32:25
this coming from but the general consensus is that all of these
32:30
new models that were getting on the PTR for 10.5 are going to be
32:33
things that are going to be cropping up in the trading post
32:36
and the trading post. If you haven't heard much about
32:39
it, Manny and Ali talked about it in the last episode and there
32:43
is a Was just more more and more and more and more stuff coming
32:47
out about the trading posts with every new update that they, that
32:51
they put out on the 10.5 PT R. So, that is utterly fantastic.
32:55
And I cannot, I, I can't wait for the Trading Post.
33:00
Wait, I can't wait. I was gonna be glorious.
33:03
It's gonna be absolutely amazing.
33:04
So, we also on the PTR are getting edit mode updates.
33:08
We are going to get new repositioning for experience
33:11
bars for bags and for the micro menu.
33:15
So, moving more things a literal unlimited number of things,
33:19
that's not true. A limb, a literal limited number
33:21
of things can be moved through the the edit mode.
33:26
It's so limited. It is completely countable in
33:32
fact, right? Yeah I do the big like probably
33:39
one of the only things that I really really need the ability
33:43
to move in. In the, the you I update that we
33:47
got was the experience bar. Oh, yeah.
33:50
It's the only thing that we can't move, but 10.5 comes
33:58
around. We'll be able to move the
33:59
experience bar, so, that's fantastic.
34:02
I have played around with the, with the, with the head editor
34:06
so much. I don't know how much you've
34:08
done with it, but I have like several other thoughts on things
34:11
that I would like to change about them.
34:13
I'm sure we could go. I could go into like great
34:16
length about what I would want to bring to the editor, but I
34:22
wanted to, I wanted to see if there was anything that you want
34:27
out of the editor that you feel like it's lacking.
34:30
So here's the thing, here's the thing.
34:32
The last time we spoke about this, I very definitively stated
34:36
that I was not going to be changing my UI and that there
34:39
would I did not want to deal with it.
34:40
I hated this is happening. It was too complicated.
34:43
It was going to My life. It was the worst thing that's
34:45
ever happened to anyone is that they gave me the option to move
34:48
things. And then I learned that it is in
34:50
fact, really nice to move things.
34:54
And actually have if you were to take away my editability I would
35:01
throw the world's biggest tantrum.
35:04
Like I would be physically incapable of play.
35:07
Um so I'm now going to say no there's nothing else that can
35:10
change and in fact I would never edit my UI.
35:12
There's no way I'm not going to talk.
35:14
Jit it would. And if they did give me more
35:16
options, it would ruin everything and it would be
35:18
overly complicated and I don't think they should do that and I
35:21
can't handle it. Perfect, perfect, 10.
35:28
Well, bring them back at 10.5 and you know, I'm sure I'll be
35:31
singing the exact same tune because I've never changed that
35:35
perfect. Perfect.
35:37
Well, I don't really want to, oh, gosh, but I guess we didn't
35:42
get into it. I'm into it.
35:47
Oh gosh. I won't Probably probably the
35:53
biggest thing on my list of changes that I want them to
35:58
make. This isn't really like adding
36:01
anything to the ability to move things because I think like
36:04
these last couple of things that they're adding in edit mode
36:09
first to be able to move our kind of like the last couple of
36:13
things that we can move or that we currently can't move.
36:18
That will make it to where like Saying everything now can be
36:21
moved but what I want them to do is to give us the option to
36:30
resize anything. I was actually going to say that
36:34
and I said could resize things and I hadn't played around with
36:37
it and I didn't want to sound stupid.
36:39
So thank you. Yeah.
36:40
I also think they should give us the option to resize things.
36:42
I'll be really great. Because we can resize our extra
36:47
bars. Hmm, kind of mmm now like you
36:51
can but it's like it's very convoluted and how you get to
36:56
where you can do that. Anyway.
37:02
The ability specifically, specifically, the mini-map, just
37:08
let me resize the mini-map and I'll be fine.
37:10
Honestly, that's all that everyone.
37:13
Just let me resize the mini-map. If Don't let me resize anything
37:16
else. I would be fine if you allowed
37:20
me to resize minivan. That's the only thing that I
37:23
want. Because it's like, I like having
37:26
a central mini-map in my UI and I currently can't because it
37:31
takes up so much of the screen. If you have it Center bottom, it
37:37
just doesn't work. It just it is, it becomes an
37:40
eyesore. But if I was able to shrink the
37:42
mini-map a little bit and not have it just stick out like a
37:45
sore thumb in the middle of MIUI, then I would like all of
37:49
my problems would just go away immediately that but yeah.
37:54
I think, I think that's like the other the other, like, major
37:57
changes. I'm just like, please, please,
37:59
please, please, please, please letís, just resize things.
38:04
This all I want my toxic trait is that I still use grid for my
38:09
RAID frames, even though it is the nightmare of my nightmares
38:14
just because I it's to be fair. I haven't really tried to play
38:17
around the world for Crawford fly trade frames.
38:19
Um, but it feels, good feels Has more customizable than 14-cup
38:25
food firms. And so I think you're right.
38:27
I think the what they're missing is the like, my new shh
38:31
customization, like yeah, I can drag my stuff anywhere.
38:37
And that's about all I can do with it.
38:38
Like I can't really change anything else about how its
38:40
interacting with me and how I'm you know like what I'm capable
38:43
of doing. Like I've heard so many people
38:46
who are just like super cranky. I think reasonably about the
38:50
fact that like I can't really do anything about my stupid Quest.
38:54
Like I have to put them somewhere and you know why can't
38:58
I make that like small or why can't I mean like you know, you
39:01
can be of like keep shrinking it in like, why, like why can't I
39:05
decide that that is Nothing or on the flip side, why can't I
39:08
make my character frame half the screen?
39:12
I don't know why I want to but I think I should be allowed.
39:15
I think it's the thing that I should be able to do and I think
39:18
that yeah, people give it a resize, the the character sheet
39:22
like that would make everything, just so much better.
39:27
That honestly also is a really good point that like it will be
39:31
really great if I could customize the other things like
39:34
why can't I change? Way that my done, like, my red
39:39
dungeon thing is laid out or my friends list or my like, yeah, I
39:45
think, the auction house panel, the auction house people, you
39:56
know, those like the, the like three-line Corner thing that we
39:59
have that we can adjust like the size of Windows on like,
40:04
literally any anything? In an operating system.
40:07
Yeah, just throw one of those on the auction house panel and the
40:13
the new crafting panel. Oh my God, just let me resize
40:17
it. Oh my God, I can you how
40:19
difficult is it? Literally, and I say, I say how
40:23
difficult is it knowing full well knowing full?
40:26
Well, that that is a that is a like months-long task to be able
40:30
to get that put together enough to be able to implement it and
40:33
not have it break a billion things.
40:36
And have it like properly bug tested and everything.
40:38
But like just, oh, how much my life would improve if I could
40:44
just resize the window here that they should do what they should
40:47
do. They should rewrite all of World
40:50
of Warcraft code, to modernize it.
40:51
Every single just delete the whole thing and rewrite the
40:54
whole game actually, and then it'll be easy about it.
40:58
Besties, I have some news. Uh-huh, if already done that.
41:04
Wait, like five times five times five times now.
41:22
But like, like they've done it. They've done it.
41:26
Like reorganization. Of things like to kind of, like,
41:30
like, bring all the disparate, like, portions of code and like,
41:35
kind of unify things a little bit.
41:38
But yeah, that's that, like, that work has been, like,
41:41
ongoing for years years, and years and years, but it's
41:47
something that I think is ridiculous in computer coding,
41:51
that'll really that much. That'll show me.
41:56
Gosh, oh gosh. But yeah, yeah.
42:00
There's, of course, there's a billion different things.
42:03
Like another like, another good point that you bring up is, like
42:06
using grid over using the, the base raid frame.
42:13
I think one of the big reasons that people use add-ons like
42:15
grid and Voodoo isn't necessarily for the like
42:19
individual frame size because you can, you can customize the
42:23
the frame size of the the like Baseline rate frames pretty
42:27
Granny really now. So you don't need need those
42:30
add-ons for that specifically, but we're grid and Voodoo come
42:34
in, like, super, duper. Clutch is the ability to
42:41
customize. What information is displayed on
42:46
the raid frames. Oh yeah.
42:47
Like, like down to, like individual spells.
42:51
Like do I want to show? Do I want to show these
42:56
specific? Of that I'm putting on, on
42:58
people, do I want to show these specific debuffs on people?
43:04
Do I want to only show disposable stuff?
43:08
Do I want to show everything? Where do I want to be shown up
43:12
on the raid frame? And that's customization, isn't
43:16
isn't in the Baseline right frames yet?
43:20
Yeah. But like as with everything,
43:22
like, most of the UI customization stuff that has
43:25
been brought into the game is all things that live Like, we've
43:28
all just had add-ons for for the whole time a whole game.
43:34
We've had these add-ons that do these things and they're just
43:36
like, maybe we should actually put it in the game, so they did
43:39
that. And I love that for them.
43:43
But but yeah, there's there's always, there's always more
43:46
stuff that can be that can be added over time.
43:49
And I'm sure that they're going to be working on more stuff even
43:52
more stuff. Beyond 10.5, I don't think so.
43:55
I think that it's 10.5, I think it never can Update the game
43:59
that's like dunzo finish. Well, the last the last bit of
44:08
news that we have, the last big thing that happened since the
44:13
last recorded episode of for Azeroth is that we have season
44:17
one world first Mythic kill under our belts and that
44:23
mythical that razza gift Mythic kill world first.
44:29
Was gotten by Echo to no one's surprise.
44:38
But sincerely congratulations Echo played admirably.
44:45
I didn't I didn't like watch the entirety of the the raceworld
44:49
first this year or this this season, I should say because
44:55
it's 23 years will first have them in 2022 and so it doesn't
45:00
know that place. I'm funny.
45:03
Okay but no I didn't I didn't watch the race world first that
45:10
closely, mostly because holiday season and I had other things to
45:14
do. Every year, I tell myself that
45:18
I'm gonna watch the race to world's first really intensely.
45:21
And every year, remember that the reason that they all take
45:24
like a week off of their jobs is because all of the interesting
45:28
stuff happens mid like the middle of the day and some of us
45:31
are still essential workers and still have to go in every day
45:34
and do not have computers where you can realistically, pull that
45:36
up. Up and I'm like, okay, never
45:38
mind. Y'all have fun.
45:40
And then, you know, someone messages, the group and they're
45:44
like, oh, Well, first, I'm like, yeah.
45:47
Yeah, this episode of for Azeroth, is brought to you by
45:50
our wonderful patrons over at patreon.com fast as you can
45:54
enjoy early releases in additional perks with your
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You can enjoy any extra content? We produce without any
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you enjoy the content, we produce consider pledging to our
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patreon at patreon.com slash fa Z.
46:13
We had hula hoops. I'm talking about right?
46:17
To Rio and and their stuff. And they hula hoop said that
46:21
they're working on getting it to where there's like daily Recaps
46:26
that are like going through all the important things about the
46:28
bay and I caught a couple of those.
46:32
But yeah, I very much very much in the same boat of just like
46:39
All the it's so difficult to like be available at the moment
46:45
that something crazy is happening.
46:48
Like exciting is happening within the race world first.
46:54
And I don't, I don't have the ability to just like sit there,
46:57
watch the streams all day. So yeah.
46:59
But that still doesn't take anything away from their
47:03
accomplishment and to everyone that participates in the race
47:08
world. First My hat is off to you.
47:12
Oh, stunning job knowing literally mind-blowing.
47:15
Incredible stuff. Yeah, like just the resolve,
47:19
the, the coordination that it takes to get it.
47:25
Like, I literally can't figure out like it's like it's on the
47:29
same level of like trying to figure out like how how do
47:32
Olympic athletes do what they do like this on that level.
47:37
Literally, I'm just oh my God. How How how do you how I don't
47:41
understand. Oh yeah.
47:44
But yeah, the last thing that we wanted to get into for this
47:49
episode was that there was a lore Community Council chat with
47:56
the narrative team this time say I think I think the community
48:00
chest the that they've done so far, they've done, they've done
48:03
like a general design one with with you and has a Kostas and
48:07
Morgan day I think and then they had Another one with with some
48:10
Quest designers and then this one is just the latest one that
48:15
happened. So, and stick me and Karen
48:19
Gregory and Steve's Newser sat down with, with members of the
48:23
community council, she talked about the narrative design that
48:27
went into Dragon flight as a whole, and kind of got into got
48:33
into the weeds around like how they went through and really
48:38
developed this. three, and brought the, the world of the
48:42
Dragon Isles to life because I don't know about you, but this
48:52
This expansion has felt. Incredible to just exist in.
49:01
Yeah. Like like in not even not even
49:04
like like from a mechanic standpoint.
49:10
Of like playing an MMO of like knowing that you like, you gotta
49:14
go get the quest and then you go, do you get like five fish
49:17
out of a bucket and you bring it back to the guy?
49:23
Not not even from like that. Like question ter action mode,
49:29
but just from just from a perspective of existing in this
49:34
world that feels like it is an inhabited place that there are,
49:41
there are people that live there that are doing things and you
49:46
are you are inhabiting this world alongside them there
49:53
alongside these like real people that are doing these real things
49:57
and that's that's been probably like one of the one of the
50:01
biggest pluses to this expansion for me in my experience of it
50:07
and I know and that's I'm very much echoing things that that
50:13
have been said, Praises that have been sung about this
50:15
expansion so far. Is that this World feels alive,
50:20
which is very different from where we are coming from going
50:24
into this expansion. Is that this like, we went from
50:27
from the German expansion that was not only about death, but
50:30
felt dead to a to an expansion that is about life and is full
50:37
of life and so many different ways.
50:41
So they really they really talked about like, Started off
50:48
talking about like how, how they like started to make that
50:53
happen. And that really, really was
50:55
about having instead of having like this, like this set story
51:01
that's happening and then showcasing, all of these little
51:04
things are happening around it. They instead started from the
51:08
other way around where they were just like, okay, all these
51:10
different threads are all coming together.
51:15
To form the major story that's happening in the expansion.
51:20
And instead of them just being side content, where where do you
51:32
feel they have? Exceeded in that.
51:36
And are there any places that you feel like They?
51:42
kind of fell short of having this goal of, like, having all
51:45
of these separate stories, like feeding into into a like a
51:52
narrative tapestry, instead of the And instead of the story
51:59
kind of feeling like dictated. Yeah, no.
52:01
I think they have done a really excellent job of that and I
52:04
think that is one of the reasons why this expansion is really
52:06
shining I am. Well, on record saying that I
52:10
think I'm on record. I think the thing that I've said
52:12
publicly a few times that I have felt for a while that the main
52:18
story and the people who are like the that has gotten stale
52:22
and then you go off to the side and you have this just like
52:26
mind-blowing like Brilliant Quest and there's clearly a ton
52:29
of creativity and I have been selling that as like, it really
52:32
feels like there's a set of Young Writers at blizzard who
52:37
are unbelievably talented and aren't able to shine.
52:42
And I think that to some degree, I feel validated in that that
52:47
what has happened now, is we are in a situation where the big
52:51
bosses are handing, a lot more power down to the younger
52:55
writers, and to the ones who are doing little You know, Crest
52:58
resigns and this and that and this and that.
53:00
And what we have is this beautiful and representative and
53:09
respectful set of stories, all like that are just incredible.
53:16
They're all well written and well thought out people have
53:20
their favorites and they know them like I can say that my one
53:23
of my favorite storyline is the the puppy story.
53:27
Line where the you got to help the dog.
53:29
Fuck. Yeah.
53:29
And you know exactly the one I'm talking about because there's
53:33
Derek simultaneously like this a ton of them and they have all
53:39
but they they're all so unique and so built and so developed
53:44
which gives me a ton of Hope for not only this expansion but for
53:49
World of Warcraft as a whole. Right?
53:51
Like the fact that there are like this is not three people
53:56
right there are clearly untrue. Hordes of unbelievable writers
54:00
in World of Warcraft, who are now getting heard and getting
54:04
included and getting to put their work in this story in a
54:07
way they haven't before, which was not by to be clear in case
54:11
anyone's listening back with like a politician fear.
54:13
I am aware that I did not answer the question even for a second
54:16
here that is perfectly. Okay.
54:26
Because like you kind of you kind of Answer the question in
54:31
any, like, indirect way, but like, just from just from the
54:39
standpoint of, like, representation in the stories
54:45
that are being that are being presented.
54:47
In dragonflight, I feel like I feel like the, the The the queer
54:58
community in particular. Yeah.
55:01
Has been they have they have just popped off like like
55:10
because you you go through you go through the unarmed planes.
55:17
There are quiescent are everywhere like literally every
55:25
corner of that zone. Every part of that story, there
55:31
are there are just lots of, there's lots of queer
55:37
representation, but it's it is it's stories that are like
55:45
lifting lifting those characters up.
55:49
And, and not relying on not relying on like Tropi, Trophy
56:00
like dead ends of stories that that don't do anything.
56:05
Other than just to say, we included a queer character have
56:09
at it. These are these are characters
56:12
that that have like meaningful relationships and aren't defined
56:19
by their queerness, but it is, it is something that isn't shied
56:23
away from. Yeah.
56:26
Which I think is absolutely absolutely astounding and
56:29
Brilliant that we have. As you know we have a game in
56:34
2022 2023 where there is queer representation and it is a game
56:42
like very positive queer representation.
56:44
And it's a game that that has been its had a reputation of
56:51
being like a like a bro. is game and and not not having like the
57:01
best like Not having the, the best.
57:12
Reputation for for community in the past and to see that to see
57:19
that, like, utterly turn, turn on its head is nothing short of
57:27
amazing. To me, I am on record in
57:30
multiple places saying that I felt that what blizzard did went
57:37
like, what blizzard was doing was They took queer
57:42
representation and the kind of shoved it in places where it's
57:48
not necessarily hard to find, but you have to look for it,
57:51
right? They would make you buy a book
57:54
and then you learn that Flynn Fairweather and Mathias shark
57:58
day. But if you don't buy that book,
58:00
you're never going to know they're gay.
58:01
And I am on record saying that I felt that would blizzard was
58:04
doing. Was they knew that people who
58:06
are story focused, I'm going to buy those books were more
58:08
liberal and people who didn't care about, Out the books were
58:11
less and so they were kind of trying to Pander to both
58:13
audiences. I do not feel that way after
58:15
dragonflight. Yeah.
58:17
I think that they have picked aside and they have picked a
58:19
side. I mean, you know, as much as
58:22
like World of Warcraft is not the woke game of the century,
58:27
but right? They they made a decision as to
58:30
what groups they wanted to feel included and you know like yeah
58:33
the queer Community is talking a lot but they also included a
58:36
deaf character. Who is a leader of like a major
58:40
Santa Tribe. But one thing that I really
58:42
appreciate about what they're doing with all of this
58:44
representation is that they're giving it to you but they're
58:47
also not like rubbing your faces.
58:49
And like, look, look, look, look look, we're including gay
58:52
characters. Look, look, look this character,
58:54
stable, like I didn't actually fully process.
58:56
The fact that the Centaur leader was signing Pat until like
59:01
halfway through because it was included, it was relevant, it
59:05
was clearly done with discussion with the communities involved.
59:10
But it also, you know, there were tons of other things about
59:13
the character and the story line.
59:15
The were interesting and so you'd like oh they're signing.
59:19
Okay. Cool.
59:20
And they, you know, I thought as well as they could included in
59:24
cinematics that the characters were signing.
59:26
And anyway, I have been just blown away with how they're
59:31
handling representation it's night and day from what I've
59:33
seen before. I am notorious lease and cynical
59:39
about things like this and so many Bi will come to regret my
59:42
lack of cynicism. But this is this is I'm it's
59:47
amazing. It's really, really incredible.
59:49
At least for now, at least for now give it a story that we
59:51
have. We can say we can say that we
59:54
are we are pleased with the the representation that has been.
59:59
There's been shown to us in the game and the way that it's being
1:00:04
represented as well, rather than just just it.
1:00:08
Because like, I feel like, I feel like if we were talking
1:00:10
having this conversation like 10 years ago, it would have been a
1:00:12
very different conversation, which is like, oh my gosh, we
1:00:15
actually got gay characters in World of Warcraft.
1:00:17
Oh yeah. Whereas now we can be like, hey,
1:00:21
did you know that, that, that sent our leader?
1:00:25
I'm actually deaf, like, that's wild admit, and have it be like,
1:00:31
here's a character. They're the leader of this tribe
1:00:35
and you find out you find out later that they are.
1:00:42
They're part of this, they're part of this community and their
1:00:46
representative of this of this community that doesn't Define
1:00:51
their doesn't Define their Character but is very much woven
1:00:56
into it and I feel like I feel like that's a very strong theme
1:01:00
for how they like for the majority of this conversation
1:01:03
that they had. With the community council is is
1:01:08
that they wanted to focus from the ground up.
1:01:12
Bring you said. I'm going to I'm going to
1:01:13
actually jump to the to the end of the interview.
1:01:18
To kind of bring this this whole thing, like kind of kind of sort
1:01:24
of Full Circle, but not really, but they towards the end of the
1:01:29
interview. They they're talking about like
1:01:36
The the writers on the team and and how, how amazing the writing
1:01:41
has been. And the, The Narrative team was
1:01:45
like, no, no, we're only a very small part of the entire story
1:01:50
that gets they get told in this game.
1:01:52
We are working with the artists we're working with the the level
1:01:57
designers were working with all of these other different teams
1:02:00
to help, bring the world together, and the narrative.
1:02:05
Parts that we write our fit into the world.
1:02:09
That is being constructed and all of those things inform each
1:02:13
other as they're being built and is there that I think there was
1:02:19
a question about. There's a question about the the
1:02:25
lore books and they're saying that they want more lore books,
1:02:28
they want they want more. More little tidbits of lore that
1:02:34
we can find in game rather than having to go go to the because
1:02:37
you mentioned that you mentioned the Mathias draw and Flynn fair,
1:02:42
wind book. They like those things are
1:02:45
great, and fantastic. And they've said in interviews
1:02:47
before that they want to move away from having like these
1:02:50
major story beats happening in books and have everything major
1:02:54
to the story be happening in the game itself, so that that it's
1:02:59
all there and have these books. Be more things that are just
1:03:03
like kind of fleshing out events that that we know have the we
1:03:07
experience in the game. But that these books allow us to
1:03:11
get greater context as to what's happening in those moments
1:03:17
rather than what is able to, just be shown on screen in game
1:03:22
and I think, I think they have done a fantastic job of that
1:03:27
with this. But in Sydney, And in
1:03:32
particular, talking about this was talking about escarra, which
1:03:37
is the the main test car Village?
1:03:40
And how as they were going through the development process.
1:03:44
They they knew they knew this was going to be in this test car
1:03:48
settlement. They knew that it was going to.
1:03:50
They were going to be like many many aspects about the the tasks
1:03:55
are that would be represented in this place but the the
1:04:00
experience of being in escarra you are you are there and it was
1:04:07
developed through the going back and forth between the artists
1:04:12
and the the level designers and the narrative team and the
1:04:15
mechanic designers, and all of the all of the different teams
1:04:19
that work together, building it piece by piece where she noted
1:04:22
that every time going through in testing every time she would go
1:04:28
to this little village, it would be a little bit more fleshed
1:04:31
out. And there would be a, there
1:04:32
would be some more details that were that were things that you
1:04:36
could just go up to and notice that this, this was a thing.
1:04:40
This is the thing that's that's happening.
1:04:42
This is a thing that like this little, this little like weapon
1:04:48
rack. Has a story.
1:04:49
This little shovel that's like stuck into this Stone.
1:04:53
Has a story this little, this little like carving knife next
1:05:00
to next to a half-finished, pelt has a story and all of these
1:05:05
things, like interconnected within within the within, the
1:05:11
greater context of the story and how they were building
1:05:15
everything from from the ground up, instead of having like these
1:05:21
major story beats be the main focus, And then having to flesh
1:05:27
out this world around it, to make it seem like there was
1:05:30
something else happening in the world.
1:05:32
Other than just this main story thing there were just like, no
1:05:35
we want. We want the the world to feel
1:05:40
alive and I very much feel like they they did.
1:05:45
That is another another part. I'm I'm jumping all over the
1:05:51
place. This one, I apologize likes.
1:05:53
No no no but Another question that was brought up was about
1:05:59
was about appropriation because there are a lot of different
1:06:07
cultures that the the that the design team, The Narrative team
1:06:14
the art teams they but there's no, there's no kind of getting
1:06:23
around it, in World of Warcraft history.
1:06:25
They You have been very appropriate of things that have
1:06:29
been included in the game, especially the Centaur and to
1:06:33
some, to be the toughest car but yeah, Beyond above and beyond
1:06:36
that certainly as well. Yeah, so certainly there were
1:06:40
you know, like the tusks are there are a lot of things that
1:06:44
are derived from Inuit culture and like even the even the Turin
1:06:51
like there, there's very clearly.
1:06:56
You know, like blanket, Native American influence with that as
1:07:01
well. And the question, oh god.
1:07:06
Oh, I was gonna say the last while we're listing, while we're
1:07:08
doing an airing of grievances, there's a whole like parrot live
1:07:11
the paragraph in. What's it called?
1:07:15
The book, the big expensive book.
1:07:19
The only, I'm obsessed with Chronicles Chronicles, in
1:07:23
Chronicles book. One the paragraph or they
1:07:24
introduced Trolls. Literally there's like two
1:07:28
paragraphs that are just essentially black stereotypes
1:07:32
like just straight up. Yeah, yeah.
1:07:35
Which is Some of them something that they have to acknowledge
1:07:41
and do better about in the future and their answer to the
1:07:47
question, which I don't even think I've actually stated the
1:07:49
question yet, but the question was like, what are they doing?
1:07:54
What are they doing to make sure that they're not appropriating
1:07:56
other cultures and Like, what are they doing to to give these
1:08:07
these races in the world? What are they doing to get these
1:08:15
races in the world? The feel that they that they are
1:08:22
their own identity and they their answer was actually Pretty
1:08:32
good, pretty good. Pretty good answer.
1:08:35
They, they brought in experts from the cultures that they were
1:08:39
that they were wanting to draw inspiration from.
1:08:41
And, and making sure that that what they were putting in wasn't
1:08:47
appropriating the culture that they were wanting and wanting
1:08:51
more to pay homage to, to the cultures that were inspiring
1:08:57
these races in there, which I I think is fantastic.
1:09:02
I think they definitely need to need to continue to do that with
1:09:06
with with the game going forward because they can't really can't
1:09:12
really do too much about the game in the past, but they can
1:09:18
they can look back at that and say, hey, that was not great and
1:09:22
then move forward from there and I think that they're definitely
1:09:25
definitely going to continue doing that in the future.
1:09:29
Yeah, which gives me a lot. Of hope.
1:09:32
This is also something that I've sorry, not to make everything
1:09:34
about me, but something that I've spoken about at length and
1:09:39
I in fact, have said repeatedly, what is the name of in the last
1:09:44
expansion, the character who became the archon?
1:09:49
Now, the Arc of a goose peleg off.
1:09:52
I literally for again up until dragonflight would any time you
1:09:58
bring up anything? I would tell you that the fact
1:10:00
that peligros was very clearly described the trans man but also
1:10:04
use they/them pronouns in the PTR until players yelled.
1:10:07
At them was evidence that they didn't bother to have anyone in
1:10:10
the room who was actually trans, not veto power.
1:10:13
And I think the one of the reasons that they managed to
1:10:15
take arguably one of the most appropriate of races In World of
1:10:20
Warcraft and make them. Flushed out and respectful and
1:10:27
just a really, again, my favorite group to play while
1:10:33
still being true to what we're clearly the influences.
1:10:37
And the, you know, the background of that group, I
1:10:42
think really does speak to the fact that this was not just a
1:10:46
like, oh, okay, fine. We'll invite somebody.
1:10:49
And so, we can say that they were in the room like the The
1:10:53
team not to say that other World of Warcraft.
1:10:56
Teams have not cared. I'm not trying to like, you
1:10:58
know, I'm dragging them through the mud quite a bit but not that
1:11:02
I don't mean to like just spend this whole time talking about
1:11:05
all of my issues with the past, but like this team is doing an
1:11:10
unbelievable job of having at least so far.
1:11:17
Hopefully not, but I might be proven wrong having morals, and
1:11:20
having values, and having things that are important, Them and
1:11:24
putting in whatever it takes to get there, which is.
1:11:28
And to be fair, I say this as the whitest person alive who
1:11:34
certainly if somebody of the group's actually affected wants
1:11:38
to step in and say, actually no, this time tires are still
1:11:40
terrible. I will step back.
1:11:43
I am not. The end all, be all.
1:11:44
But from my very white perspective, this has been
1:11:49
again. One of the, the most, Respectful
1:11:53
and loving and thoughtful depictions of the different
1:11:59
races that they explore in World of Warcraft.
1:12:02
Yeah, like just to just to touch back on, on your point.
1:12:07
There, there is a there is a stark difference between having
1:12:11
someone in the room just to check a box and then actually
1:12:15
actually like taking that person's opinion on what you're
1:12:18
creating and and using that opinion to it.
1:12:22
Form how you you go forth in doing stuff and net.
1:12:27
I don't think either of us are saying that it's perfect.
1:12:31
Oh yeah, where we ended up but you can tell that the work is
1:12:35
being done. And I think that's that's it
1:12:40
counts for something, right? And also I don't have any actual
1:12:46
evidence of this. Be clear.
1:12:47
I am not in blizzard. I do not speak for blizzard
1:12:50
employees, but one thing that, I'm feeling.
1:12:53
Is that a lot of and I touched on this earlier, it feels like
1:12:57
this game is a lot more democratic.
1:12:58
It doesn't feel like there are big bosses who make decisions
1:13:02
and everyone else makes it work, right?
1:13:05
Which I think also puts you in a situation of if you have
1:13:09
somebody in the room but there is the god of the room who
1:13:13
nobody questions. It doesn't mean you can have 500
1:13:16
people who are part of that group.
1:13:18
If they don't feel like they can talk, it's not going to change
1:13:19
anything and it. Again, as a non blizzard
1:13:25
employee, no evidence of this. It does feel like there must
1:13:31
have been like this. Feels like a game that was
1:13:34
written by a group of people who all felt like their voice could
1:13:37
be heard. Yeah, I'm hopeful again for what
1:13:40
this means for blizzard and what this mean for the culture within
1:13:42
the company now. Yeah, and I agree and it kind of
1:13:49
makes me want to Pivot to something.
1:13:50
That was talked about last episode a little bit but I
1:13:52
think, I think what and you made, you may know what I'm
1:13:57
alluding to but the the concern around, Chris metzen your turn,
1:14:05
I think what you said of having having like the having the one
1:14:13
point of decision in the room, I feel like that is something that
1:14:20
was kind of like, left on. Mets in the shoulders while he
1:14:24
was still there. And I feel like that's, that's
1:14:27
like the chief fear about the where the, where the direction
1:14:31
of the game goes once he gets back into it, right?
1:14:38
And I don't, I don't think that's gonna happen.
1:14:43
Just given just given the fact that he's just going into an
1:14:46
advisory role and not actually being put in director position,
1:14:50
so he literally won't have that. That that power.
1:14:54
But I, I think that and and also going off of interviews where
1:14:59
he, he's been very adamant about like having like the
1:15:04
collaborative experience, that's but that's been something that
1:15:08
has been focusing on. Since since leaving blizzard I
1:15:13
had I personally have hope that it is not going to be the Chris
1:15:18
metzen just figurehead. Chris metzen word, is law.
1:15:22
Thing, like it used to be back in the early days of World of
1:15:27
Warcraft. But but that Legacy of that
1:15:31
being how things were run and that being how things were run
1:15:34
under Chris metzen, I think has been something that the that the
1:15:39
current team has been actively working to move away from since
1:15:46
his departure. And they like there have been a
1:15:50
lot of things that have happened in the World of Warcraft team
1:15:53
that did have kind of allowed them to.
1:15:58
And I say allowed them, when I probably should more accurately
1:16:01
say, is kind of has forced them to do with with other
1:16:09
departures. Since since then, that, that
1:16:14
were pretty massive shakeups in in the team leadership and, and
1:16:20
like, cascading down from there. All the changes that have
1:16:23
happened over the last, what? Two years now at blizzard, and I
1:16:29
think, I think this, this expansion is the result of all
1:16:35
of that work, being put in to decentralize everything from
1:16:42
that one voice being put forward.
1:16:47
And my hope, my hope is that Chris metzen returning is just
1:16:54
his Creative Energy being, just brought to the table instead of
1:16:58
his Creative Energy running the program.
1:17:02
And I think to be hopeful, I think part of it is also that
1:17:06
assuming. And again, all this is
1:17:08
conjecture and guessing, but it seems like they have done a good
1:17:13
job of creating more democratic environment.
1:17:16
And it's worked, right? You can contrast again, this is
1:17:19
conjecture, but the allegations that the reason that Shadowland
1:17:23
story just did not make sense and just broke this character of
1:17:27
Sylvanas. And then just kind of had to
1:17:28
pick up the pieces, was due to a frothy Hobbies influence and
1:17:34
that sort of like, oh yeah, like one person can literally ruin
1:17:37
this entire game and then simultaneously where, you know,
1:17:41
a month in. But I have heard the most
1:17:44
positive reception of shadowlands and yes, and I think
1:17:47
that once a day, Even if you strip away morals and values and
1:18:01
you know, caring about people because they're people, if you
1:18:04
show a company that something is financially and culturally
1:18:07
successful, it's going to be harder to pull them away from
1:18:10
it. Like, they're not going to
1:18:11
hopefully knock on wood, knock on, all the wood in the world.
1:18:16
I would like to believe that, then they're not going to allow
1:18:19
themselves to get pulled into, you know, like, well, this
1:18:22
person is the word of law. They're the smartest person in
1:18:25
the room. And stuff.
1:18:26
They make all the decisions when they've already seen a how that
1:18:29
could fall apart and be how not doing that, can give them
1:18:33
something that they have not been able to achieve since
1:18:37
vanilla. Yeah, yeah, I really hope that
1:18:41
that's the case. The last thing last thing that I
1:18:46
wanted to touch on from the, from the community council Round
1:18:50
Table was just one question. They touched on wanting to have
1:18:57
these big quote-unquote big metal themes throughout the
1:19:02
expansion they touched on two of them that they have and that is
1:19:06
legacy and belonging and I just have a simple question.
1:19:12
Do you think that those Humans are prevalent in the
1:19:17
storytelling of dragon flight. Yes.
1:19:23
Okay, all right. I agree.
1:19:26
I agree that in in the, in the chat that they were going
1:19:31
through, I think Instinct the Instinct me was talking about
1:19:36
the Legacy part of it. And, and how like, the that's
1:19:42
kind of like the the dragons part of the of the story is is
1:19:48
that it's like their their main draw in the story like their
1:19:55
main draw to action is is the Legacy part of it because like,
1:19:58
you have and you have like different and this is this is
1:20:02
the thing that blew my cuz I've been thinking this for weeks and
1:20:06
then and sickly says it and of course it sounds wonderful and
1:20:11
Amazing and fantastic. But that they have different
1:20:20
views. Of what Legacy means being
1:20:26
portrayed in this story because you have your breath Ian, whose
1:20:30
meaning of the word legacy. Like what Legacy means to him is
1:20:35
very different from calicos Who has a much different
1:20:43
interpretation of what Legacy means.
1:20:45
Like, both of those characters have like they have a shared
1:20:48
understanding of what the word legacy means to them.
1:20:52
And that's, that's something that was kind of discussed in
1:20:55
the in the short story that came out prior to during a place to
1:20:59
release, they have a little bit of a talk about that in
1:21:03
particular and like, you see it, you see it in how they interact
1:21:12
with with the world and with the characters that are around them
1:21:19
in in the actual game itself, and then on the other hand, you
1:21:26
have belonging, which I think, I think we've kind of gotten to a
1:21:30
point where we're beating a dead horse on this, but like the, the
1:21:33
belonging aspect of this game, Of having all of these
1:21:38
different, all these different perspectives being being present
1:21:47
in the game. I haven't felt the emotions that
1:21:56
I feel around. Playing any video game, then I
1:22:01
have playing playing through the story and interacting with the
1:22:06
world in dragonflight. So I think on both marks both
1:22:10
examples of the quote-unquote big metal themes.
1:22:14
They are knocking it out of the park.
1:22:17
Oh yeah, this expansion. No, I I do.
1:22:22
Do I do really agree? I think that they're doing a
1:22:26
really excellent job of Avaya finding to like sweet but
1:22:34
potentially saccharine. Themes and making them deep and
1:22:39
making them real and making them meaningful.
1:22:43
I will say this is a little bit unrelated but my favorite part
1:22:46
of the whole interview and I won't I won't actually give it
1:22:49
away and also maybe it wasn't a giveaway but was when I think
1:22:52
was in response to a question that Manny asked Steve was
1:22:56
talking about like where the story was going and he says and
1:23:03
you know you're gonna have to wait for the payoff but
1:23:06
Physically. And then he tells you exactly
1:23:08
where the story is going. He didn't there's no basically,
1:23:11
there's no like in general. There's no, you gotta wait for
1:23:14
the payoff the Mansion. I'll see what's gonna happen.
1:23:18
I am completely believe I know the next major jump in track and
1:23:22
play because she just straight-up anything Gingka.
1:23:30
Okay, so if you don't want Tori spoilers, don't go listen to
1:23:34
this interview. We do, we do have the, we do
1:23:38
have a link to the, to the video in the show notes that will be
1:23:44
posted in our Discord server, which you can join by going to
1:23:49
put that away / Fez. Discord, that won't be the only
1:23:53
time that I plug Discord, this, this episode, I will do it
1:23:56
again. Don't, don't you fret, don't you
1:23:59
worry? But yeah.
1:24:02
We have we have the link to the YouTube video.
1:24:06
I think it's on the work-life channel but it's it might be
1:24:09
unlisted, but, but, yeah, there's, there's ways to find it
1:24:14
if you, if you want to listen to it yourself or watch the you
1:24:18
because they actually have cameras on for this interview.
1:24:23
So if you want to watch it or just listen to, it is available.
1:24:27
Anyway. You have any final thoughts?
1:24:30
Um, Keep On Truckin blizzard. Keep on, keep it on doing good.
1:24:45
You gotta direction we move that way, maybe.
1:24:53
Well, I think that's gonna do it for us for this episode.
1:24:59
But Lex, before we get out of here, would you like to tell
1:25:03
these fine folks, listening to the show where they can find you
1:25:07
in, and around the internet's? You can find me at Lex
1:25:11
underscore rants on Twitter and Tick-Tock you can, well, not
1:25:17
really Twitter, never mind Twitter and Tick-Tock you can
1:25:19
find me there. You can also find me.
1:25:22
Ongoing IRL that's at going IRL pod on Twitter, which I have a
1:25:30
podcast about social issues in gaming spaces that I do with
1:25:33
Manny. Yeah, yeah.
1:25:37
And as for myself, you can find me over on Twitter at
1:25:40
underscores thing spells and at least you know, at least for now
1:25:45
while we still have Twitter. But that's, that's going to be
1:25:50
it. Faz is part of bonus, roll
1:25:55
Productions, check out, bonus role that Gigi for other,
1:25:59
fantastic shows and links to all their socials and I totally
1:26:02
forgot to plug the Discord one more time.
1:26:05
Go to did, go to Faz bit.ly slash fastest cord today, do it?
1:26:11
You won't regret it. I promise that's going to be it
1:26:14
for us, and until next time, may all your hits secrets.