Solo Queue - A World of Warcraft Podcast

Episode 9 - First Raid Clear of…Dazar’alor?

Episode 9 – First Raid Clear of…Dazar'alor? Show Notes  Welcome to Episode 9! – 3:27 • Sound issues lately - I think I have them resolved. • Goodpods listed Solo Queue was as a Top 50 video game podcast last month! • Upcoming episodes: 10 will be an HDYS interview with Gin of Live, Laugh, Lore podcast.  Ep. 11 will be just the second half of the introduction to playing WoW.  Sorry to leave you hanging, ThatSkyGuy!   News – 8:37 1. TWW launches Aug. 26 - I was only one day off!  Early access on Aug. 22, Season 1 activities on Sept. 1.  2. I broke down and went all in on the 20th anniversary collector's edition. 3. TWW beta access was June 5, with codes for collector’s edition people arriving June 12.  I am holding out against spoiling the Day 1 experience for myself, so no beta coverage here. 4. Mid-Summer Fire Festival begins today, June 21! 1. You can travel from zone to zone, city to city, and lighting your factions’ bonfires and extinguishing those of the rival faction.  Do this to collect Burning Blossoms, the currency for the Fire Festival.  There are buffs you can get and vendors to spend your blossoms on.  In addition, there are festival related quests and achievements to check out. 2. Holiday boss is Frost Lord Ahune 3. This also brings in a big change to how holidays work in general.  Now, you can only get one of these premier rare drops on the first attempt of the day per Bnet account.  4. To balance out the reduced availability, Blizzard have introduced bad luck protection, with chances rising after every failed attempt.  5. Once per day per account, Ahune will drop the Satchel of Chilled Goods - chance at the new Cliffside Wylderdrake armor, along with blossoms, Ahune's staff, and other items.  6. Festival runs until July 5, so 14 attempts. 5. 10.2.7 patch was released May 7 with various small story questlines, content. 1. Dranei HA 2. Troll HA 3. Harbinger questline - setting up the TWW, good stuff. 4. Sins of the sister - difficult to remember or find, is in Bel'Ameth.  5. Be Yourself Visage Day - issues with not finding the NPCs is due to you not having done the questing related to those NPCs.  Frustrating, but understandable, but frustrating. 6. All DF quests previously locked behind Renown levels are now available to all level 70 characters. 6. WoW Remix - MoP of course is live!  59 days left and counting.  Once 70, I hear it is quicker for any Timerunner alts that you make AFTER achieving 70. 7. BfA Raids now soloable 8. Is the first TWW raid soloable?  Not quite.  Blizzard announced Story Mode as a new Raid difficulty.  Neru'bar Palace, first TWW raid, will feature a new difficulty called "Story”.  It is not Follower Raids.  Party of 1-10 for a pared down battle with only the final boss.   Popping in to a tavern or inn for a local drink – 40:01 Pandaren Plum Wine at The Lazy Turnip.  We are drinking the local this month.   Question of the month – 40:56 After giving the news and drama of Remix, have I been paying too much attention to headlines and nerf news and not enough time just playing and enjoying?  What is your opinion on MoP Remix?  Do you like this different style of content in this period leading up to a new expansion?      Introducing the Raid of the Month! – 42:55 One big part of many solo players game is waiting literal years for Blizzard to open up old end-game content to solo players.  With the news that BfA raids are now soloable, I chose Battle of Dazaralor for my first Raid of the Month on my Night Elf Feral Druid main, ilvl 484, 499 weapon. Dazaralor is a 12-boss raid and was the second raid of BFA.  It launched in January of 2019, so I waited five and a half years to be able to solo it.  That is too long.  I chose it because it has two rare mounts that can drop on Mythic, both are pretty cool.  The GMOD is a massive robot mech suit mount, the Goblin Machine of Death.  It can drop in Normal, Heroic, or Mythic difficult.  The Glacial Tidestorm, a very cool elemental off Jaina, only drops on Mythic. First 9 bosses gave little trouble.  A 3% wipe after 5 minutes on Mekkatorque, but second time was fine.  No GMOD.  Stormwall Blockade was very difficult and took some research and four deaths.  Jaina was easier, but no Glacial Tidestorm.   Final tally 11 new appearances, no mounts, bunch of five-year-old achievements, 2,471 in gold, minus 250 in repair costs.  Profit of 2,221 gold for roughly an hour of time, maybe less.  I did eat dinner in the middle.  Difficulty was a satisfying level, but I want this in less than five year.  #FollowerRaidsWoW   Outro Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening. If you want to support the show, SoloQueueWoW at Patreon.com Thank you to current patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, and ThatSkyGuy!  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, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Good luck with your own old raid farming! “I'll see you out there."  

Episode 8 – So You Want to Start WoW NoW?

  Episode 8 – So You Want to Start WoW NoW? Show Notes The Basics of WoW • What is an MMORPG (and why is this a solo podcast?) • What is WoW? ◦ Scene - Azeroth, Draenor, Argus and other planets in the universe ◦ High-fantasy world of physical combat, magic, cosmic forces, politics, conflict, and the lives of various everyday characters of many races ◦ Timeline of WoW ◦ Predecessors RTS I, II, III • Retail vs. classics ◦ Retail since 2004, expansions 2 years or so; next in late summer, trilogy, so great time to begin! ◦ Classic flavors ▪ Classic ▪ Advancing classic flavors, now WotLK, soon Cata ▪ Hardcore mode ▪ SoD   Into Azeroth for the First Time • Server types and populations and choosing ◦ Character creation screen ◦ Factions ◦ Races, classes, specs, roles, armor classes ◦ Customizations • Talents - points every level that enable choice of new spells, abilities • Who are you playing with and how do you want to play? • Exile’s Reach vs. starting zones – both have their benefits • How to level ◦ Chromie time after first character. Will be leveling right now through BfA for first time.  Can also start in WoW Remix MoP. ◦ Expansion summaries and history ◦ Suggestion for leveling ◦ This is a good place to list all of the expansions and give a brief rundown. ◦ Quests, XP, gold, reading text or not ◦ Gear – levels, BoE, BoP, Soulbound, Warbound, Account-bound   End of Part I of Starting WoW NoW - but more to come!   Outro Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening. If you want to support the show, SoloQueueWoW at Patreon.com Thank you to current patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, and ThatSkyGuy!  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, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Good luck choosing which version of WoW to immerse yourself in. “I'll see you out there."  

Episode 7 - The Just Barely Not April April Episode (Oops I…)

Episode 7 - The Just Barely Not April April Episode (Oops I…)   Welcome to episode 7: I started with good intentions of hitting the main topic of how to start playing WoW in 2024. Well, news swallowed up most of our time, so that topic is coming to a special episode soon!    The all-new “I Was Wrong” segment A healthy mea culpa for various incorrections in previous months   Location: Stormwind, the human capital and heart of the Alliance   Popping in to a tavern or inn for a local drink: Pig & Whistle in Stormwind First the tavern, then the podcast – check it out! Bourbon.  In-game and out.   News updates • 2024 Roadmap update. • Lots of 10.2.7. • Blizzard and WoW return to China this summer. • A strange series of layoffs – Christie Golden? Really?  And Blizzcon? • Alpha testing for TWW going on now – do you care about spoilers? • Blizzard Math: 60 character slots + 5 character slots – 5 character slots = 60 character slots. • The War Within 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition – are you in? • Preview of the WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria! • Why I like all the innovative flavors of WoW   Main topic:  Will arrive in Episode 8, pinky swear    Outro Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening. If you want to support the show, SoloQueueWoW at Patreon.com Thank you to current patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, and ThatSkyGuy!  Sorry to bump your main topic, SkyGuy. 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, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Good luck choosing which version of WoW to immerse yourself in. “I'll see you out there."

Episode 6 - The Just Barely Not March March Episode

Episode 6 - The Just Barely Not March March Episode Welcome to episode: Odd time in WoW for me, vacation, time away, busy, end of expansion Back to some basics.  We are in one of my favorite Horde starting zones, Mulgore What did I accomplish in WoW last month? • Vacation stuff • No SoD • Did rip out the Hearthstone event • Did my March Trading Post and 1000 tenders • To do so, started leveling a 17 Tauren Paladin • Started into the Plunderfest stuff, that gets us to news News updates • 2.6 – let’s talk about the Plunderverse • SoD ramps up again April 4 • Nobelgarden - April 1 to 8 • My opinion on holidays - meh Special Location with description: You must do the Ahab Wheathoof quest in Bloodhoof Village once in your life to honor a young WoW player who was taken too early by cancer. https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ezra_Chatterton  Popping in to a tavern or inn for a local drink: Not any alcohol, but there is cheese! Location #2:  Thunder Bluff tavern music rest of way out • Walking around Thunder Bluff - unique capital city • Had a brief role in BfA - some Nzoth nightmare vision thing? • Otherwise unused, like so many of them • Layout is different, bit confusing - 3 lobe, double-ring • Central spiral to all 3 inner locations, but can walk outside to access all 3 • Then each lobe has a separate mesa called a rise.  • Some interesting little places to find Main topic:  Back to what to do during WoW slowdowns • Take a vacation, literally take time away from the game • Read WoW novels and books and comics.  Chronicles 1-3, 4 on the way. • Also, the warcraft website https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/story  Lots of short stories and cinematics.  • Not up for reading?  Check out some of the many content creators who focus on the history and lore of Azeroth.  One of the more popular is the YouTube channel of Nobbel87.  • RIP Warcraft Less Traveled (2010 to 2015 • Play Warcraft I, II, and III • Collect all the grey, basic racial weapon appearances and armor appearances.  • Get a water mount; the one I recommend is the Subdued Seahorse, available from killing the rare spawn Poseidus in the underwater zone of Vashj'ir.  Others like the Sea Turtle from Northrend fishing. Outro: Thanks to Blizzard and OGRE for audio, my lovely wife, and you for listening. If you want to support the show, SoloQueueWoW at Patreon.com Thank you to current patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, and ThatSkyGuy!  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, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. "Good luck with getting to Renown 40 on the Plunderbus. I'll see you out there."  

Episode 5 - What to Expect When You’re Expecting (a new expansion)

Episode 5 - What to Expect When You're Expecting (a WoW expansion)   Show Notes   Welcome back for episode 5 of Solo Queue and welcome to you if this is your first time listening.   1. Opening thoughts Coming to you from the westernmost island of Pandaria, in the Townlong Steppes and looking for any sign of a land mass that could host The War Within.   I am predicting a TWW launch of Tuesday, August 27, 2024.  I dare you to disagree.   Absolutely enjoyed my conversation with longtime WoW player and podcaster Gershom in the first interview episode a few weeks ago.  Freeform conversation was a fun change of pace!  Thanks Gershom!  @huntergershom on the Twitter.   2. News and updates • Hearthstone's 10th anniversary, yet another exhibit in a growing mountain of evidence that I am getting old. • Warcraft 1 and 2 now available in the Bnet launcher. My kingdom for the time to jump into them. • SoD phase 2 is off and running with new runes, level 40, and the Gnomergon raid. If you want to preserve some of the Discovery in SoD, but don't want to wander blindly around Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms looking, head over to Preach Gaming to make use of their riddles to hint your way to the location of your class runes.  It's kind of a fun middle ground for SoD round 2.  https://preachgaming.com/2024/02/09/sod-p2-rune-riddles/ • The Love is in the Air holiday wrapped up, with everyone somehow hating pink and angry they can't get one of the uglier mounts in WoW. There, I said it.  And not out of bitterness.  Not sure I have even attempted it, and certainly not more than three times.  Everyone needs to chill around the season of love.   3. 2024 Roadmap Update • 2.6 is still a mystery, but it is coming soon • Launch of alpha coming? Roadmap has it in early spring just after 10.2.6.   • Hard Mode Self-Found mode goes live on Feb. 29 - TOMORROW! No mail with other players, no AH, no trading of any sort, and only one death!  I am looking forward to trying this, though time might be limited for me.   4. Main Topic - What is there to do in retail WoW with TWW still many months out?  Some suggestions from me. • Leveling alts - Go and enjoy leveling. Don't treat it as a chore.  Lots of story to find, memories to chase, and each toon is another in your stable of alts! • Heritage Armors - There are now 20 races with a heritage armor available, some based on level and rep, but plenty with quest chains. Quality might vary, but if you have a favorite class or want to dive into some lore of a new class, get in there! • Legion Class Order Halls - Similar to Heritage Armors, they provide an opportunity to explore the denizens of Azeroth, but through the 12 classes available in Legion. These are a good way to level new characters and dive into some details of a specific class.  Can be a long haul with some reputation obstacles (Exalted with Nightfallen), but maybe repeatability will ease with Warbands in TWW?  Mounts and class sets on offer. • How about the small group, instanced content of: • BfA Warfronts • BfA Island Expeditions • Shadowlands Torghast Again, mog and mounts on offer with all three.  Sure they each had their issues, but you are a big, tough level 70 champion now.  What are you afraid of? • Dip your top into mog and mount farming, and what better way to start than here in Pandaria with the four main World Bosses: Galleon, Nalak, Ondasta, and the Sha of Anger?  Each drops a mount, most of them highly sought after.  Here is my tip: get toons on a low-population RP server, and it is rare to ever see anyone else farming them.  Why is that good?  No waiting around for the 15-20 minute spawn timer.  With rare visits, the bosses are often just up twiddling their thumbs.  My further advice:  camp a few toons at Isle of Thunder to farm Nalak.  Camp a few toons on the big part Pandaria, hitting Galleon, Sha, and Ondasta, then hearthing back to the start.  By the time you do that loop and log into the next character, your first boss is nearly or possibly up again.  Rinse, repeat, ride the mount that drops.  And, special bonus in the show notes, a macro that will let you see your attempts on these four.  Sadly, it is only on that character, so get your calculator out!   5. Outro A tired throat and the need to pack for a trip to France has me wrapping up. Thanks to all of you supporting, including the Solo Crew patrons Andrew, Righteous Bandy, and our newest patron ThatSkyGuy who arrived by donating a Solo Queue logo!  See it on the Twitter account header. Thanks all sound, music, and voice peoples at Blizzard. Thanks to the guys in OGRE for their killer music! @soloqueuewow on all the socials, Gmail, and at Patreon.com. Typing this from Logan Airport about to head to Paris!  Can't wait for the adventure.  I will tell you all about it in March!   I'll see you out there!  

Episode 4 - The First ”How Do You Solo?” Interview featuring Gershom!

Show Notes for Episode 4: I hope you enjoy this first attempt to interview members of the World of Warcraft community about how they play, the role WoW plays in their lives, and issues around the game. For a first interview subject, the choice was obvious.  As co-host of the Thrall's Balls podcast, Gershom was the first WoW content creator to reach out to me and to talk up this podcast on that show.  In this first bonus episode, Gershom and I have less of an interview.  Instead, this is a wide-ranging conversation about life, WoW, family, podcasts, our excitement for the new focus on solo content, the need for Follower Raids (we agree), favorite zones, talking to NPCs, and what fans of this show should be called.  Spoilers there - her name is way better than mine! It is more than an hour, but I promise this conversation is lively and interesting.  Enjoy and be sure to check out Thrall's Balls on your podcast feed a dose of colorful language, inventive WoW-themed drinks, not-very-good jokes (sorry guys) along with WoW news and opinions!  Get over there to hear Gershom, Wooly, and Bentolas do their thing! My huge thanks to Gershom for getting this new type of episode off the ground and for all her help and friendship!  This episode was immensely fun!   Outro: • Music credits: all in-show audio from Blizzard, #playwithaudioon; intro and outro music by my real friends in the doom metal band OGRE.  Check them out at ogrereal.bandcamp.com.  • Thanks to my lovely, supportive wife and to Podbean, the host for Solo Queue. • Huge thanks to Andrew and Righteous Bandy for their support at Patreon.com! You can support Solo Queue there as well and help make bonus episodes like this happen. • Subscribe at any of the podcast feeds. Please leave reviews and 5-star reviews when possible, as they will help grow this little podcast adventure.  • Solo Queue is at soloqueuewow on all the socials, Gmail, and Patreon.  Send me feedback on the show, as well as your solo play tips and stories.  I want to feature them on the show. • Gershom is @huntergershom on Twitter and @thrallsballspod at Gmail and the socials.  Find Thrall's Balls on your podcast app of choice. • She didn't lie, there is a Solo Queue Discord server (temper your expectations). • Back in the Solo Queue soon for the February episode! We’ll see you out there!

Episode 3 - Are the Seeds of Renewal Worth Planting?

Episode 3 is up and focused on the breadth of features in 10.2.5.  Are you liking the breadth or wishing for more depth? Ever completed a Superbloom but forgot to pick up the quest first? Comments, answers & help for all of it, along with an expansion announcement! (SQ, not WoW) SQ Ep. 3 is on your podcast platform of choice. I'll see you out there!  Don't mind this:  SKmW1OYni0tWQd9S8iYc Episode 3 Show Notes: Opening: Tyrande and Shandris talking about the future of the Night Elves in a Bel'Ameth in-game cinematic. Welcome to episode: Welcome to January, to 2024, and to Episode 3 of Solo Queue! Starting in Bel'ameth to celebrate the drop of 10.2.5 and the opening of the new Night Elf capital city. • Big news of the week is the arrival of 10.2.5. My first content update as a content creator.  A fair amount of early online reactions seemed to be on the negative side, and I do not want to get drawn into that. • I will look for the positives because I think there are positives in 10.2.5 and I think there are realistic limits to what we can expect from a .5 patch, from an MMORPG in terms of story, and from a development team that I do believe is trying to turn a very large ship towards a better future. • In the show, we are going to talk about the big activities of 10.2.5: ◦ The arrival or return of two capitals for two Alliance races ◦ Some Azerothian Archives ◦ A little bit on the Follower dungeons ◦ My adventures in the Season of Discovery ◦ The news ◦ A video for advice on gearing as a solo player ◦ And my mostly positive thoughts on 10.2.5 overall, despite some of the negative feedback that may be out there. • Some extra big thanks. ◦ Big thanks to the Thrall's Balls podcast for support of Solo Queue on their own show. Check out their recent episode #124 on Spotify, Apple, or your own podcast feed or say hello @Thrallsballspod on Twitter ◦ Thanks to my first two Patreon subscribers! Andrew and Righteous Bandy have taken the leap and are supporting the show with actual money!  Some firm Patreon goals and rewards, including extra episodes, are coming. ◦ And, thanks to you! Yeah you.  I see you listening and reading these show notes!  I want to hear from you with feedback and suggestions.  soloqueuewow on socials, at gmail, and even at the Patreon. • I will be recording occasional interview episodes entitled "How Do You Solo?" I am going to be reaching out to players and content creators alike to hear how they play the game.  There just might be another episode in your podcast feed before the February episode scheduled for the 21st. News and updates: • 10.2.5 is out.  Remember that dynamic flying is now available anywhere normal flying is offered in the Warcraft universe.  That includes Outland, and the Outland Cup.  The event ends on February 1st.  • 10.2.6 is on the PTR, as was reported in December, but it is fully-encrypted, so there has been no data-mining and still, no one knows that that mysterious black pirate flag hanging off the 2024 roadmap actually means.  Visually, it sits between winter and spring, so possibly March?  We will see.  Looks like it may be followed shortly by The War Within Alpha.  And season 4 looks to be spring, so likely April at the earliest. • On the Classic side, the next phase of Season of Discovery arrives February 8.  The level cap will rise to 40 and a fresh slate of runes will be waiting to be found.  And the Gnomeregon raid will be the end-game content for level 40 characters.  If you are of the PvP persuasion, Stranglethorn Vale will once again be the most dangerous place to take a casual walk in Azeroth! Side quests: On being bad at video games, SoD, and HC Self-found mode  • I am not very good at video games. Have played games for decades.  Now I find myself still alone at a desk playing games, but there are potentially millions of other players running by and "watching".  Not quite as alone as before. • Because of not wanting to either actively compete or passively be judged, I work to play alone. In SoD, I am trying to be self-reliant by creating more characters that can help outfit and supply the first character.  That becomes the game within the game. • Self-Found mode is interesting to me. It is how I tend to play, although HSF takes away the support of alt characters.  SF has my interest piqued.  Popping in to a tavern or inn for a local drink: I don't think the Night Elves are big drinkers, but if you head to the Silver Feather, the inn at Bel'ameth, you can grab an Azure Leywine that refresh, but still leave you clear-headed to help get the city set up. Today I Learned: You can accept all of those pesky weekly quests from the Adventure Guide (Shift-J, second tab after Traveler's Log). Main topic: What do we want from these video games?  Reviews of Bel’Ameth and Reclamation of Gilneas.  What the addition of these two capital cities might mean. • Talk through the Bel'Ameth experience.  Difficult to find the quest.  What and who is in the new zone.  This is the capital city, but might it serve as a new starting zone in the future?  Music is amazing and reflects that changes Night Elves have experienced since initial WoW zones.  Cinematics associated with Bel’Ameth are looking ahead in the story. • Playing the Reclamation of Gilneas.  Not the most engaging questing, but the story is interesting.  After recapture, the city is quite empty, but that is how it should be.  Feels like both cities are being seeded and renewed to play a part in the expansions and stories to come, a long-term view of the developers.  I am optimistic about that. Quick hits • Azerothian Archives: Early feedback was it was buggy and not very engaging and I sadly have to agree.  The activities seem more like pushing buttons and do not yet feel like an improvement over old archeology.  Admittedly only halfway through the initial quest chain.  Will come back to it, but so far feels like a miss for something I was looking forward to as solo content. • Follower Dungeons are as promised. Did a Halls of Infusion and was able to clear three dungeon quests.  These quests are from stories from much earlier in the expansion.  Only now continuing them makes for disjointed gameplay.  It will be nice when they are in place already in The War Within.  AND, Blizzard, give us Follower Raids for all the same reasons. Solo-friendly roundup: • Dungeon Dojo works to make dungeons and raids more accessible for those who do not like group content for various reasons. Check them out on Discord. • Useful video from SignsofKelani on YouTube - How To Gear Up ILVL 476 ALL BY YOURSELF - No Group Content Needed! Good advice to get you to 447 ilvl.  Feels like it gets a bit crazy and confusing after that with crafted gear and all the crests and such. Outro: • Music credits: all in-show audio from Blizzard; intro and outro music by my real friends in the doom metal band OGRE.  Check them out at ogrereal.bandcamp.com.  • Thanks to my lovely, supportive wife and to Podbean, the host for Solo Queue. • Huge thanks to Andrew and Righteous Bandy for their support at Patreon.com! You can support Solo Queue there as well. • Subscribe at any of the podcast feeds. Please leave reviews and 5-star reviews when possible, as they will help grow this little podcast adventure.  • Solo Queue is at soloqueuewow on all the socials, Gmail, and Patreon. Send me feedback on the show, as well as your solo play tips and stories.  I want to feature them on the show. • Coming soon, and possibly ahead of the February episode, I am launching a new interview series on how people play this game called “How Do You Solo?” Players, fellow content creators, and I am close to announcing the first guest, but not quite yet! • Back again in the Solo Queue in a month, possibly sooner! I’ll see you out there!

Episode 2 - Is This the Golden Age?

Ep. 2 Show Notes News: 2024 Roadmap; Community Council Interview, 10.2.5 soon! Side Quest: PTR Follower Dungeons review My Month in WoW: Many levels from XP boost, trivia; breaking down & joining SoD Question of the Month: What excites you about WoW’s future? Next Month: What are you using your boost on? Main Topic: Is WoW entering a Golden Age? YES! Contact me at soloqueuewow at Gmail, social media, Patreon