Solo Queue - A World of Warcraft Podcast

Episode 24 – HDYS Interview with Ali!

Episode 24 – HDYS Interview with Ali!

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 24! – 1:45        

An interview with the creator of the now-retired Dungeon Fables podcast and the current co-host of Live, Laugh, Lore, Ali Andras!  A variety of topics listed below but beginning with the current game in Undermine, DRIVE, and 11.5.

 

Talking some WoD – 28:35

 

How Does Ali Solo? – 39:44

 

Player Housing – 49:00

 

No Mo FOMO? – 54:11

 

Books and Libraries – 59:21

 

Why the lore? – 1:02:46

 

Why content creation? – 1:05:54

 

Lightning Round! – 1:17:51

 

Outro – 1:31:00

• Thanks to Blizzard for the amazing music and sound, to OGRE for intro/outro music, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening.
• Big thank you to Ali!  Find the weekly episodes of Live, Laugh, Lore (I hear the next one will be amazing…) wherever you get your podcasts and reach out to Ali on Twitter @aliandrask or on Bluesky @aliandras
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a written review to help grow Solo Queue.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to contributing patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, Snek of Vol’dun and Jon!  And thanks to all the free supporters as well!
• Remember to watch socials and r/wow on Reddit for the next 3 rounds to crown the best WoW NPC!

“I will see you out there."

 

Episode 23 – The 10 Years Ago Thing

Episode 23 – The 10 Years Ago Thing

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 23! – 4:42        

Another full episode as we dive into three areas!

 

Best WoW NPC Tournament Coverage Rounds 1, 2, and 3 – 6:43

The upsets, the lopsided victories, and the first three rounds of this grueling six round tournament.  Coverage by region.  We end the segment with 8 NPCs left to fight for the (someday) famous title of Solo Queue Tournament of 64 Champion and Best WoW NPC!

 

News – 49:26

• Season of Discovery Phase 8 – some new content in the old WoW? Is this the next phase of a test drive for Classic+?  https://www.wowhead.com/classic/news/season-of-discovery-phase-8-patch-notes-new-avalon-scarlet-enclave-raid-and-376282 
• Use your Sparks of Fortunes to upgrade gear, but look at this article because it is still a mystery to me. https://www.wowhead.com/news/fourth-spark-of-fortunes-available-for-crafting-this-week-in-the-war-within-376283
• The C.H.E.T.T. system demystified. Turns out you need Renown 13 to interact with the system.  https://blizzardwatch.com/2025/03/26/wow-undermine-chett-list-cartel-reputation/#google_vignette
• And…

 

11.1.5 Launches April 22! – 54:32

Patch 11.1.5 rolls out in 3 phases beginning on April 22 with the Nightfall scenario, the Winds of Mysterious Fortune experience and reputation buff, and the new Cooldown Manager feature.  Listen for more details and the details in the blue post here:  https://www.wowhead.com/news/patch-11-1-5-release-date-is-april-22nd-376279

 

“What have you done lately?” – 1:09:34

Interesting interview about the disappearing role of Vulpera in WoW, but I need to build a story around this.  Stay tuned.  Also an interview with Ali from Live, Laugh, Lore coming in Episode 24!  A few Delves.  And lots of leveling in Draenor of all places which leads to the main topic!

 

Main Topic:  Revisiting Warlords of Draenor – 1:12:34

A walkthrough of the lore setup for WoD, a playthrough of the excellent WoD intro questline, talking about the questing in the Horde zone of Frostwall, how the graphics hold up, building a Garrison, not flying (but then getting weak and flying), hitting the Bloodmaul Slagmines dungeon, and wrapping up with the first of three raid tiers from WoW’s most maligned expansion.

 

Drink of the Month – 2:09:11

Couldn’t find a tavern, so knocking back bottles of Ogre Moonshine on the steps of the raid entrance to get acclimated to battling ogres.

 

Raid of the Month:  Highmaul – 2:11:48

And, on to battling said ogres (but not OGRE, of course).

 

Verdict on Mythic Highmaul – 2:27:29

You have to listen to find out, but let’s just say you probably aren’t going to be camping on the steps where we drank the moonshine each week.

Solo Queue Mailbox – 2:29:52

Kind words on Apple Podcasts and the first SQ episode on YouTube!

 

Outro – 2:33:08

• Thanks to Blizzard for the amazing music and sound, to OGRE for intro/outro music, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, Snek of Vol’dun and Jon!  And thanks to all the free supporters as well!
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a written review to help grow Solo Queue.
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Next episode is Ali from Live, Laugh, Lore!
• Remember to watch socials and r/wow on Reddit for the next 3 rounds to crown the best WoW NPC!

“I will see you out there."

Episode 22 – Bookending Gallywix, Best NPC Tournament, and Putting Light into the World

Episode 22 – Bookending Gallywix, Best NPC Tournament, and Putting Light into the World

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 22! – 3:06        

• Big thanks to Ease, the host of Realm Maintenance, for interviewing me for that podcast a couple weeks ago; great conversation about WoW, 11.1, and Solo Queue; check it out on your podcast feed of choice or (hopefully) it will hit YouTube in video form
• A trimmed down episode for “early” March
  • Goblin starting zone revision
  • 1 discussion
  • Brief news segment
  • The Main Event – Tournament of 64 launch!
• But first, indulge me for a few minutes…

 

Special Topic:  Podcasthon, Watts of Love, and Raising Awareness of the Power of Charitable Giving, All Through Podcasts Like This One – 7:30

Podcasthon is a global effort running this week on more than 1,000 podcasts worldwide in which podcasts are choosing a charity of their choice to highlight.  This is part of a wider effort to raise awareness for the continued need for altruism and charitable giving in the world.

I chose to have Solo Queue to participate because I agree with that message of doing something in your power to help in your own way.

Solo Queue is highlighting Watts of Love, a non-profit dedicated to giving solar lamps to households and communities that lack electrical power all over the world.  Watts of Love also helps reinvest the money saved my not purchasing kerosene or other power sources.  Solo Queue and my family are donating $100 to Watts of Love because I am impressed with their mission and their reputation as a charity.

My call to action for you, the Solo Crew of listeners, is to find a way for you to lend assistance to those in need in a way that is meaningful to you.  If it is also donating to Watts of Love, great!  Go for it!  If it is donating to a charity of your choice, be it local or one with a wider mission, also great!  Maybe it is volunteering.  You may have skills that can benefit a charity just as much, if not more, than money.  Please do what you can.  That is my request.  Drop me a message or email and let me know what you did.  Thanks.

 

Watts of Love:  https://www.wattsoflove.org/

Podcasthon:  https://podcasthon.org/

           

“What have you done lately?” – 18:17

• Revisiting the Goblin starting zone storyline in Kezan and the Lost Isles by starting my 65^th character (yes, that is the cap); similarities to Undermine; story line is long and interesting; why does Thrall choose to put Gallywix back in charge and how does he have that power?
• My thoughts on the full story of 11.1 [THERE WILL BE STORY SPOILERS], including the Delves, Operation Floodgate dungeon (on Follower mode), Liberation of Undermine raid (NOT on Follower mode, just Story Mode - #followerraids), and the final storyline, Homecoming
• Delve gearing video on Icy Veins: https://www.icy-veins.com/wow/news/get-item-level-639-649-gear-every-week-fast-optimal-delve-gearing-strategy/
• My idea for Blizzard – Solo Questing Mode for an immersive experience!

 

 News – 1:04:34         

• Video from Blizzard: Building Azeroth: The Liberation of Undermine.  Check it out!  Lots of visual effects creation talk and that audio and sound creation, a topic near to my podcasting heart!
• Another Video from Blizz: 11 Solo Activities in Undermine.  Hosted by HazelNuttyGames.  She walks through activities solo players can tackle. 
• Huge housing update. The WoWhead article is here:  https://www.wowhead.com/news/how-decorating-your-house-will-work-in-player-housing-new-dye-feature-375821.  Focused on interior decoration, the level of detail and customization exceeds what most of us were expecting.
• And BlizzCon will return! Well, in 18 months or so.  Mark your calendars for September 12-13, 2026.  You might even see me there for my first BlizzCon.

 

Main Topic:  The First Annual Solo Queue Tournament of 64 to Determine the Best NPC in WoW – 1:18:02

64 NPCs square off against each other in a bracket-style tournament to determine who is “the best.”  That can mean whatever you want.  Voting determines who advances to the next round.  Here are the directions:

• Each round will be live on social media (Bluesky, Twitter/X, Insta, Facebook, Threads) for 3 days.
• Reply to a post or DM or email me at soloqueuewow@gmail.com with your votes for who wins each matchup in each round. List names or even just the numbers of your choices.
• First round only – can send a full bracket of predictions for all rounds up to the champion in addition to your votes.
• After 3 days, I will tally votes, update the bracket, and post the next round matchups

If you want to hear about the NPCs participating, I walk through the matchups by region:

East – 1:28:41

North – 1:40:06

South – 1:50:49

West – 2:06:27

 

Outro – 2:21:07

• Thanks to Blizzard for the amazing music and sound, to OGRE for intro/outro music, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Darkblade Cyn, Snek of Vol’dun and Jon!
• That said, my sincere hope is that you find a way to support a charity of your choice this month, be it with your money or time or expertise.  I am proud to be participating in Podcasthon this year and donating to Watts of Love!
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a written review to help grow Solo Queue.
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Remember to watch socials and get your votes in and we will talk about the first 3 rounds of the tournament in the regular March episode coming soon!

“I will see you out there."

Episode 21 – Undermine, You Get My Drift?

Episode 21 – Undermine, You Get My Drift?

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 21! – 8:58        

Busy world in life, in game, and in podcast.  Lots of 11.1 going on!

           

“What have you done lately?” – 16:17

• Love is in the Air recap
• Library in our Player Housing when?
• Barely hitting the 2000 points for the Trading Post
• An unexpected and difficult adventure to earn the Troll Heritage Armor

 

Main Topic:  First Laps Around Undermine and Patch 11.1 – 36:03

• First thoughts of Undermine and connections to the OG Goblin starting zone of Kezan
• First playthrough NOT on my Night Elf Druid main, Human Paladin instead on a whim
• Opening cinematic and Orweyna do tie Undermine to TWW storyline
• Missing voice lines for Renzik the Shiv? https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcraft-patch-11-1-renzik-voice-acting-missing/
• Also, run, don’t walk to check out the new audio short story, Tipping Point! https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/media/audio/Warcraft%20Short%20Story
• Undermine the city – too much straight story; incredible detail; DRIVE is tricky at first but growing on me; SCRAP piles are fine; doing the jobs in DRIVE is a bit of a time sink; reached 2/6 storylines; one Delve down, one to go; skybox is hilarious; Bilge Rat Swabbie’s Brush mop transmog acquired; what is CHETT and how do I get the amazing double rocket-pack?

 

Drink of the Month – 1:13:30

Is this a dry town?  Went with an IRL Old Fashioned instead.

 

Question of the Month – 1:16:18

Results - What should the next playable race be?

15 races suggested, but the top three vote getters were Naga, Arakkoa, and, by a landslide, Sethrak!

New question:  What has you excited about WoW?  For me, it is story and story delivery.

 

 News – 1:24:52         

• Warband camp scenes and ability to create new camps now available
• 30^th Anniversary event in London looked good; hoping to get to it in Boston AND hopefully land an dev interview of some sort
• Welcome back podcast Realm Maintenance and congrats to Ease and family on birth of their first child!
• Twitch drop is Tock the Clocker Spaniel – a must get
• WoW services and other stuff sale – might have bought some realm transfers
• Why Kalimdor Cup as 11.1 launches?
• Map adds the Events tab to track Ongoing and Timed events
• 1 introduces 2 new Delves, Dungeon
• Raid schedule and Story Mode only comes week 2 (#followerraids when?)

 

Raid of the Month:  Firelands (Cataclysm) – 1:39:57

One of the most loved raids in the game?  When you add raid achievements, there are three solid mounts to chase here.  I have the rare ground mount, I do not yet have the super rare flying mount, and I am one achievement away from the third one.  In this episode, I bring you along as I try to sew up that last achievement.  Do I get it?  Does Charlie Brown ever kick the football? 

 

Verdict on Firelands– 2:05:00

Yes.  This is a simple verdict.  Park a toon or two or many in Hyjal.

 

SQ Mailbox – 2:08:07

Voila and comments show up on Spotify!  Some praise and one former listener who seemed to take issue with a single sentence from a single episode.  I have a response to that.

 

Outro – 2:16:37

• Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening.
• Hoping OGRE will write the song “Mai'Zoth the Unkillable” for me
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, and Snek of Vol’dun!  
• Thanks to free patrons Max, Eddie, Bear, Jon, Friends of Wumpus, Sean, Lavie, Curro, Aronaar, Aedan, Guardian Sandy, and Alice!
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a written review to help grow Solo Queue.
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

“I will see you out there."

Episode 20 – The 1st Annual State of the Warcraft World Conversation with Gershom!

Episode 20 – The 1st Annual State of the Warcraft World Conversation with Gershom!

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 20! – 3:10        

Solo Queue welcomes back Gershom, co-host of the Thrall’s Balls podcast and a big early supporter of me and this show one year after being the first How Do You Solo? Interview guest.

We are here to talk about the state of World of Warcraft just before the 11.1 content release.  We look back a little, forward a little, but mostly talk about what we are liking and looking forward to in the World of Warcraft. 

• Delves
• Follower Dungeons
• The shortcomings of Story Mode (#followerraids)
• Warbands
• The occasional lack of patience of some WoW players
• The flexible delivery of story in WoW
• The pace of the current trilogy expansions
• What the heck is Beledar (Sargeras’s sword?)
• Which big characters are not going to survive the trilogy (I call my shot – Arator)
• Potential for new racial starting zones
• Player Housing
• Is there more story to come on the demise of Dalaran?

Enjoy!

           

Outro – 1:43:43

• Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening.
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a review to help grow Solo Queue.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, and Snek of Vol’dun!  
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Thanks Gershom!  Find her at X/Twitter and Bluesky @huntergershom, Instagram @huntergeRRshom (that extra r tho!), thrallsballs.com to join the Thrall’s Ball Discord, and find Thrall’s Ball podcast on your feed of choice.

“WE will see you out there."

Episode 19 – Three Drinks in on Lunar Love, Confucianism, Socrates, 11.1, and a Meh Castle

Episode 19 – Three Drinks in on Lunar Love, Confucianism, Socrates, 11.1, and a Meh Castle

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 19! – 8:04

A few words from me on the guiding principles of Solo Queue and why consistent publishing is not really one of them.  Sorry to miss the two episodes a month pattern on the very first month.  I am okay with that and hopefully you are as well.  Still hoping to get you 24 episodes this year.

 

And a big thank you to Snek of Vol’dun for the fantastic interview last month, the most downloaded episode in a first week of release!

           

“What have you done lately?” – 13:00

• Anniversary Trivia Recap – 942 total levels and now 40 characters are level 70 or above
• Fix for losing in-game dialog audio
• Nelf Druid main finally in all epic gear and Circlet maxxed to 658
• Kirin Tor questline is good story-telling
• Plunderstorm – I already bought out the vendor!

 

News – 45:37

• SoD Phase 7
• Cata Classic XP buff
• Anniversary Classic Phase 2
• To Retail news, Turbulent Timeways trick
• Can search for characters in the select screen

 

11.1 News and Previews – 56:55

List of selected features coming in 11.1 at an unknown date, likely Feb. 25?

 

Love is in the Air and Lunar Festival – 1:11:25

New stuff in Love is in the Air and I encourage you to hit respect your elders, if for no other reason than achievements and a new mount for Lunar Festival, which traces its roots to Confucianist ideas honoring your ancestors and the Chinese celebration of Lunar New Year.

 

Drink #1 – 1:22:50

Moonglow, a special Lunar Festival drink to tide me over to the Drink of the Month

 

Drink #2 – 1:23:45

Yup, a second drink.  Must be big stuff afoot.  To steel the nerves for Raid of the Month, a Shadeskin Brandy from a dude named Slabchop.  “It burns like sin,” as they say in Revendreth.

 

Question of the Month – 1:25:33

What should the next playable race be?

Sethrak, ogres, jinyu, hozen, valkyr, naga, or something else?

 

Raid of the Month:  Castle Nathria (Shadowlands) – 1:27:35

It has been four years and that means the raids of Shadowlands should be available to be soloed by mere mortals.  I tackle Castle Nathria for the first time, and of course, I do not remember all the story bits going into it.  #followerraids

 

Drink #3 – 1:40:06     

All that raiding has me thirsty for a second Shadeskin Brandy.

 

Verdict on Castle Nathria – 1:40:29

The first raid of Shadowlands has no mount?  And it has large swaths of RP dialog and slow-walking NPCs?  And it took much longer than an hour?  And it yielded only 500 gold?  What do you think my recommendation is?

 

Main Topic:  Did You Hear What Denathar Said About Me and Fellow Podcasters Unite! – 1:47:17

A passing comment by Denathar on Azeroth United has me fired up to defend my honor and reputation as a podcaster!  My defense includes comparing myself to Socrates.  What ego?  What are you talking about?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Socrates

 

Then I long for a tighter community of podcasters and celebrate the growing Solo Crew community, even though I tend to steer clear of groups and communities in WoW and life.  #wowpodcastersinBoston?

 

Outro – 1:59:23

• Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, and Snek of Vol’dun!  
• Thanks to free patrons Max, Eddie, Bear, Jon, Friends of Wumpus, Sean, Lavie, Curro, Aronaar, Aedan, and Guardian Sandy!
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.  Leave a 5-star rating and a review to help grow Solo Queue.
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

“I will see you out there."

Episode 18 - How Do You Solo? Interview with The Snek of Vol'dun!

Episode 18 – How Do You Solo? Interview with The Snek of Vol’dun!

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 18!

First episode of 2025 and Season 2 of Solo Queue is an interview with The Snek of Vol’dun, a vocal proponent of making the Sethrak a playable race.  A chance social media encounter turned into a great conversation with a fellow solo player.

Still planning for a regular episode in January as part of the twice-monthly plan for this new year.

 

Interview with The Snek of Vol’dun – 8:52

• Why the Sethrak?
• A connection with the many snakes in Australia?
• Lore of the Sethrak
• A role to play fightinh Xal’atath?
• A Sethrak in a Delve? “Enough to get you hooked.”
• What classes could Sethrak play? Give us a Sethrak monk!
• All the pieces are there: starting zone, back story, models, more
• WoW 30^th Anniversary Tour headed to Sydney
• How did you start playing WoW, especially as a younger player?
• Obligatory crapping on the writing during Shadowlands
• Obligatory praising of Chris Metzen and his return
• Snek as a solo player
• Time zones are strange
• Bits of Sethrak info in the Exploring Azeroth: Islands and Isles book
• Should Sethrak be available to Horde or Alliance or both?
• Predictions for what’s to come in the WoW story?
• Updating “old” world zones for graphics and story could be easier with story progress and the presence of so many “Classic” versions
• Blizzard, heed the command of The Snek of Vol’dun, the Sethrak’s strongest soldier!

 

Closing comments – 1:34:48

My thanks to The Snek of Vol’dun for coming on the show.

 

Outro – 1:36:30

• Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening.
• Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/c/soloqueuewow 
• Thank you to contributing patrons Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, TheSnekofVol’dun, and Friends of Wumpus!  Thanks to free patrons Max, Eddie, Tim, Bear, and Jon.
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.
• The Snek of Vol’dun is on BlueSky at bsky.app/profile/snekofvoldun.bsky.social, on Twitter at x.com/TheSnekofVoldun and has a YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/@TheSnekofVoldun
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• January episode coming soon…

“We will see you out there."

Episode 17 – The Real Anniversary Episode

Episode 17 – The Real Anniversary Episode

Show Notes 

Welcome to Episode 17!

First year of Solo Queue in the books and stumbling into some creative WoW-adjacent media got me thinking about all the value added to WoW by content creators outside of Blizzard.

            Four Tanks and a Healer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A47d3fjDNSQ

            Stormwind University:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sgpgEy-UW8

            Karazhan Library:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkDNwkGDS84      

 

“What have you done lately?” – 16:52

• Trivia is now 42 characters every day – the end is in sight, January 7
• For max leveling efficiency, that meant getting 5 characters to 80
• I made my 2 Earthen characters
• Monthly inventory for first time in 3 months
• Sporadically getting weekly meta quests done to keep gearing the 5 level 80s

 

Addon Recommendation:  Altoholic – 25:39

Tracks gold, levels, achievements, time played, and many more bits of individual character info account-wide, server by server, faction by faction. 

 

…and Siren Isle – 27:03

• Yes, it feels a lot like 10.0.7, but it is kind of different
• Gameplay is…fine; better than the alternative of nothing until 11.1
• Story is hard to take in, maybe just for me?

 

News – 46:34

• Still 2 story questlines to come in 11.0.7, Dalaran epilogue and Lingering Shadows
• Turbulent Timeways coming January 7 – 5 weeks of timewalking
• New game modes coming to the Character select screen? Might it be…
• Plunderstorm returns January 14 with less demanding reward system, new rewards, same battlefield
• And two holidays are wrapping up next week, Anniversary event January 7 and Winter Veil January 5!

 

Winter Veil in your Garrison! – 56:36

The second-best place to celebrate Winter Veil is in your WoD Garrison, which naturally gets decorations and there are WV dailies to add more decorations.  If you haven’t done it, why not now?  I did, during the recording.

 

And, I’ve been thinking about WoD lately, which had its 10^th anniversary in November.  2025 is my 10^th anniversary in WoW.  Throughout the coming year, I am going to go through some of the highlights of this much-maligned expansion to show what is still enjoyable, including featuring the 3 WoD raids in Raid of the Month throughout the year.

 

Raid of the Month:  Antorus (Legion) – 1:12:02

Speaking of RotM, we visit the final raid of Legion, Antorus, the Burning Throne and see where that giant sword came from.  Is it worth it?  Lots of running around, Eonar a slow encounter, but if you want the 2 mounts and various transmog, then yes, get in there, at least a few times.  Did I get any mounts?  Listen to find out – no spoilers!

 

Also a plug for the website simplearmory.com – check it out to see all of your collectable items, along with a planner to go hunt them all down!

 

Drink of the Month – 1:30:20           

All that raiding has me thirsty for Dwarven Mead and Greatfather’s Winter Ale at the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge, in sight of Greatfather Winter himself!

 

Main Topic:  Yep, more Winter Veil, including *SPOILERS* presents opened! – 1:31:50

We head across the molten channel in Ironforge to check out Winter Veil activities, including a ride out to kill the Greench, unwrapping the 2024 presents live, and sharing my Winter Veil wish list, now for 2025.

 

Plans for 2025 and gratitude for the influences that led me to SQ – 1:41:18

SQ plans for the coming year, a Season 2, if you will.  Biggest is the goal of two episodes each month, a traditional (and shorter) episode, and a second episode of various formats, including interviews, single topic deep dives, or overflow topics for the month.

 

I want to close this episode with gratitude for my sources of inspiration for Solo

Queue including traditional radio, some Blizzard podcasts no longer with us, and many that are.  Thank you, fellow podcasters!  Honored to be among your ranks.

 

Solo Queue Mailbox – 2:04:16

The second and third reviews on Apple Podcasts from Mr Rascolwitz and Cyn (psmst1). #grateful

 

Truly, thanks for a great first year of Solo Queue!  I hope you keep listening and sharing it with friends.

 

Outro – 2:08:47

• Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, and welcome Cyn!  Thanks to free patrons Max, Eddie, Tim, and Jon.
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.
• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

“I will see you out there."