
Episode 20 – The 1st Annual State of the Warcraft World Conversation with Gershom!
Explicit content warning
02/23/25 • 107 min
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 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."
Previous Episode

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."
Next Episode

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
- 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."
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