Solo Queue - A World of Warcraft Podcast

Episode 27 – Gotta Collect Them All Show Notes Welcome to Episode 27! – 2:59 A celebration in three parts, the first of which is celebrating my return to WoW and the SQ mic after an unforeseen absence. Big thanks to Ali for coming on for Episode 24 and to Ali and Gin for having me on Live, Laugh, Lore to talk starting zones! SQ Book Club – 8:11 A review of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in a fantasy series by Matt Dinniman. It gets the official SQ book recommendation for portraying the immersive MMORPG experience through an involuntary live-action global dungeon crawl with Carl and Princess Donut. News – 13:14 March of the Sethrak 2 on July 20 a success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABnqfS8YeKs Greedy Emissary event ends July 29 – collect them all! Winds of Mysterious Fortune event is live until Aug. 12 Horrific Visions will continue into S3 but at S2 difficulty levels. Collector’s Bounty event ends July 29 as well – more collect them all! MoP launch event for the mount ends July 30 “Doom of K’aresh” short story just released to give us backstory on the world we will be adventuring in, written by Adam Christopher and voiced by Ray Porter as Locus Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSw8rW7fZ5c&t=2s The passing of Ozzy Osborne; will there be a WoW NPC in-game, or at least one everyone can reach? Housing update – types of neighborhoods and the endeavors Midnight expansion announcement at Gamescom on August 19! Changes to your bank tabs – level 80s need not worry Drink of the Month – 58:57 A wild goose chase for an adult beverage all over the southern tip of Kalimdor. “What have you done lately?” – 1:04:29 The lull before 11.2 is about as busy as could be with MoP Classic Pandaren starting zone, Lorewalking, One Button Rotation, Turbulent Timeways all kept me busy, until I hit… Main Topic: Collector’s Bounty Event – 1:52:07 Discussion of the monthlong event, including my farming tips, and a list of my haul for this month, including getting a new mount live in the show! Outro – 2:38:30 Thanks to Blizzard for the amazing music and sound, to OGRE for intro/outro music, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening. OGRE’s “King of the Wood” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7iErMhstlY Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/soloqueuewow Thank you to patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, Snek of Vol’dun, Jon and Scott! 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. “I will see you out there."

Episode 25 – Celebration! Warcraft 30, Down Time, and the Best NPC is… Show Notes Welcome to Episode 25! – 1:54 A celebration in three parts, the first of which is celebrating my return to WoW and the SQ mic after an unforeseen absence. Big thanks to Ali for coming on for Episode 24 and to Ali and Gin for having me on Live, Laugh, Lore to talk starting zones! Warcraft 30th Anniversary Event in Boston – 16:22 The second celebration was 90 minutes south of SQ headquarters in the fair city of Boston. While my plan to get news and good audio for the podcast was thwarted, I did spend quality time with an old friend, make a new friend, and get away from my normal routine for a night. Afterwards, I connected with WoW community members Stromgarde Enjoyer (https://bsky.app/profile/nilocor.bsky.social) and meggoart (https://bsky.app/profile/meggoart.bsky.social) to get their reactions to the Boston event. News – 48:24 Player Housing update from May – looking good! Mists of Pandaria Classic on July 21, pre-patch July 1 Legion arrives as a Remix late this year or early 2026 World of Warcraft: Blood Ties is the new novel from Christie Golden that arrives Nov. 18, 2025 as the lead-in to the Midnight expansion, pre-order now! “Faith and Flame” short story continues the journey of Faerin Lothar, written by L.L. McKinney and voiced by Paris Blu, the voice of Faerin herself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtigy8U-_8&t=3s Drink of the Month – 52:15 Stopping into the Snug Harbor Inn in Boralus for a Hook Point Porter and some Tiragarde Sharp cheese. 11.1.7 Launches June 17! – 1:00:28 Patch 11.1.7 launches with the Legacy of Arathor storyline, Lorewalking, Turbulent Timeways, Overcharged Delves, the Lightning-Blessed Spire and Sea-Blessed Shrine toys to transform you into a Sethrak or K’Thir, and new features including the rotation helping technology of Single-Button Assistant and Assisted Highlight. “What have you done lately?” – 1:24:03 It was Horrific Visions that eventually grabbed my interest and got me back into the game. Nightfall and Dastardly Duos haven’t quite had the same effect. Professions Pre-Planning? – 1:30:46 The other exciting project that returned me to the game was establishing a roster to cover all the professions and getting them all to 80. This is the beginning of the prep for an eventual episode on professions, a system that I think borders on being too complicated. Main Topic: Best WoW NPC Tournament Coverage Rounds 4, 5, and 6 – 1:42:28 Probably not really the main topic, but this is the exciting culmination of a process that took far too long. Outro – 1:54:57 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, Jon and Scott (welcome Scott)! 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 will arrive in less than two months, light willing. “I will see you out there."

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 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 30th 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 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 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 10th anniversary in November. 2025 is my 10th 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 C