Episode 158: Speed On

[00:00:01] Warning, this program contains strong language, auditory violence, and mental nudity. It is intended only for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Uncensored Home for World of Warcraft news and opinions. This is Unshackled Fury.

[00:00:30] The new year has begun, and the siren's call has been answered as we plunder our way towards the next major chapter in World of Warcraft.

[00:01:13] So welcome back for episode 158 of your Uncensored Home for World of Warcraft news and opinions, Unshackled Fury. I'm your host, Berzerker, and I'm riding solo to kick off 2025 as Mr. Jez Corden is out on assignment. So on this episode, we're catching up after a long holiday break, taking a peek at what awaits us in Undermine,

[00:01:39] hitting up the training post, and answering your questions live. But first, as I mentioned, riding solo, had a little last-minute change of plans for this episode. So apologies up front if this one might be a bit shorter as I'm recording. I don't know, but you can look at it now that it's out and see whether or not I've told the truth.

[00:02:05] But this one might be a little bit shorter, and every year or so, it seems I say that, you know, due to various reasons, I'm going to try to cut these things shorter and shorter, and then they end up not being shorter. Maybe this is the year we hold to hour-long episodes. I don't know. According to the metrics, none of you listen to an hour and a half. Well, some of you do. Maybe eight out of ten of you. Well, God bless all ten of you for listening. So we'll see what happens.

[00:02:36] And as it happens, this is also going to be the tenth year of Unshackled Fury. As I mentioned last year, wanting to do something big. I don't know what. I don't know how. I don't know who. Hopefully we can get something going for ten years. I don't know. Maybe I can lean on the Blizzard gods and say, Hey, listen. Not too many of us still around from ten years ago. Maybe, you know, maybe we get a pre-hat to give away or something.

[00:03:05] I don't know. Figure it out. But this will be, 2025 will be the tenth year of Unshackled Fury. And so we've been away for the last nearly two months. It's been, I think, about a six week break at this point. And had holiday shenanigans to deal with. And we had birthday shenanigans to deal with. And so the timing is just horrible for trying to get Jez and I together for our cinema.

[00:03:36] And not even getting your cinema out today. You're just stuck with me like the old days. But that's where we are. Back and feeling somewhat refreshed. You know, it's always good to take a break. You never know how long a break you're going to need depending on things. I feel like last year at the end of the year with War Within coming out. Just hitting it hard every day. Feeling good. Ripping out Dells. It was solid. But sometimes you just, you got to put it down and you got to walk away.

[00:04:06] And so yes, there has been some cyberpunk happening. There was also something else that popped up. A little story time for you. Over the break, I decided for whatever reason, I don't even know why. But I decided, you know, I'm going to take my son around. Take the boy around to some of the local game shops in the Sacramento area. There's a whole bunch of them.

[00:04:35] Most of them I'd never been to. And one of them that I went back to hadn't been there in like 20 years. And it's an amazing place on SAC. Great escape games if you're local. And I was like, you know, I got to get out there and take the boy around and see kind of the roots. You know, tabletop gaming roots. Where all this came from. And through the course of our adventures, we stopped at five shops on this fateful day back at the end of December.

[00:05:04] And whatever reason, cosmic forces aligned and Warhammer entered our collective family consciousness. And we ended up purchasing a number of sets of miniatures. And if you know Warhammer, right, it's classic tabletop gaming. And you've got figures that you've got to punch out or cut out of trays and glue them together or snap them together and paint them.

[00:05:32] And it's a whole to do just to have your little army be able to play the game. Now, side to this. And I know it's been out there. Space Marine 2. I'd never played it. I don't know that much about the Warhammer universe. Because of this little adventure with my son, I started getting into the know about it. But holy shit, that game rips. Uh, combat flow. Wow. Amazing. Super cool. Um, yeah. Space Marine 2.

[00:06:01] It's, it's, I barely, barely just scratched the surface of it. And it's awesome. Uh, but, uh, where the story goes, this is going to be a warning maybe to some of you parents out there. So we had bought these miniature sets for Warhammer. And I had told my son, you are not, you'll see where this is going. You are not allowed to work on these, to put these little models together, these little figures together. You're not allowed to put them together or paint them or do anything upstairs in your room.

[00:06:30] Everything stays downstairs. We work on them together. But when I'm not working on vacation, my propensity to be a night owl is even worse. And so it was the day after New Year's. And I'm coming to bed. I leave, I've been, I've been on my computer. It's like 1.30 in the morning. Open my door, step out in the hallway and I, and I'm overcome smell. It smells like nail polish.

[00:07:00] I'm like, what the hell is that smell? And I'm sniffing around the house and I'm sniffing around the house. I'm like, am I making this up? Is this coming from the outside? And just so happened my wife was awake because her, uh, insulin pump was going off and doing some things. And so I'm like, can you smell that? I'm like, yeah, I smell that. What's going on? And it dawned on me what had happened. And I went downstairs and looked for the Warhammer stuff that we purchased and it was missing.

[00:07:27] So I come back upstairs, open the door to my son's room, and I am immediately overcome with the smell of plastic cement. If you know, some of these need to be glued together, these little figures, and you need plastic cement to do it to get that bond right. To make a long story short, in the middle of the night, he had absconded with these things, had brought them up to his bed, had spilled the plastic cement all over his bed, didn't tell anybody, and then just went to sleep.

[00:07:55] So now we have these noxious flammable fumes building up in his room, which necessitated at like two o'clock in the morning, us reading him the riot act, me carrying his mattress down the stairs and putting it by the front door, and opening up every window we have, and it's like 40 degrees outside, to air out the house before something terrible happens. So all of those parts and pieces and figures and whatnot, they're still in my bedroom right now, and we have yet to pick them up again. We will, I'm sure, at some point.

[00:08:24] But if you're the parent of a child getting into this type of activity, just be forewarned. They may try to burn down your house with plastic cement. I don't recommend it. I would keep that, you know, under close watch. But sometimes that can happen. So that was kind of the highlight of the break. Really looking forward to getting back into that.

[00:08:49] But also glad to be back here in Warcraft land. Berserker, this is management. And I was about to say there's one other item that I had left to discuss at the front.

[00:09:19] Yes, you do. You think you can just leave us? Is that the case? Well, I mean, yes. Yes. Yes, I have left you, management. And I was going to tell the people about that and kind of the why and what happened and all that kind of stuff. Another BlizzCon without us. We made it happen.

[00:09:49] You even said you couldn't do it on your own, but now you are leaving. You will be left with nothing. Nothing without us. And that may be the case, management. And I will miss our loving talks and all the great support that you've given me over the years. But it is time that I, once again, am untethered and on my own. But, you know, I really appreciate all these check-ins.

[00:10:18] And I know that you will take care of the rest of the group just as good or if not better than you took care of me. But thanks for stopping by. And, you know, who knows? Who knows what we'll see down the road? Well, I guess since I'm a figment of your imagination, that means I'm going away too. Is this the end of me? I'm afraid it is, management.

[00:10:48] This is the end for you. You've been a lovely guest in my head. But it is time for you to disappear into the ether with all the other inventions that have come across the way. But thanks again. And it's probably time that I tell the folks about what the hell's going on. Management, signing off for the last time.

[00:11:21] Yes. Thank you, management. Thank you for stopping by. Yeah. So this might only make sense or really matter to two of you who listen out of the 10 listeners that we have. But Unshackled Fury is no longer part of the bonus role productions group. And top line, there's no animosity. There's no anger.

[00:11:49] There's no, this isn't like some big fight happened or some crazy thing happened. I was like, ah, fuck these guys. No. It was a decision that came after quite a bit of discussion, frankly, with Jez. Because, you know, it wasn't a decision that I came to lightly or easily.

[00:12:09] But it was clear to me that the time had come for me to go back solo and without any other sort of support group or anything like that. And to kind of explain it. But, you know, when I first joined up. Whatever it was. It was the end of, I think, 2021 when I first started talking to Athlas about, you know, becoming a part of what was then Warcraft Radio.

[00:12:37] You know, there was a lot kind of going on with the group. Warcraft Radio had been around. It had been resurrected. And they had this, you know, great sort of presentation. They were part of the Race for World First. They, you know, had gotten interviews. They had this great repository for all the other podcasts out there. And it felt like it was really going in this sort of upward trajectory.

[00:13:05] And it was one that I felt this show would benefit by being a part of if that can happen. And it did. And unfortunately, what I didn't know at the time was that Warcraft Radio was already on its way out to becoming bonus role productions. And understanding that the goal was to cover more than Blizzard shows because Blizzard had been having some bad press.

[00:13:32] And it's tough to get people excited about a company that's having a bunch of lawsuits and harassment problems. And I get all of that. But unfortunately, I think when Warcraft Radio went away, nobody really knew what bonus role productions was. Now, that being said, when Athelus left our group and became one of the handlers over at Blizzard for the content creators, that was a godsend.

[00:14:00] And it felt like we were riding a gravy train on biscuit wheels. And for one brief shining moment, we were. And podcasts were getting respect again. And we were getting things thrown our way. And this is when we got inside the VIP club. And we were at the crystal table. And, like, shit was happening, man. But unfortunately, his tenure there was short. And when other folks took over, we got relegated once again to fucking no man's land.

[00:14:30] Did get into a BlizzCon that was absolutely because of the bonus role productions group. And I want to thank everyone there for all of their help in doing that. It truly is one of the greatest weekends I've ever had. And it is in large part due to their effort and their work. But that's kind of where everything stopped. After that BlizzCon, there really hasn't been much going on.

[00:14:55] And I felt like at this point in time, taking total control over not just the podcast, but everything about it. I felt like it was time, given a year of kind of non-activity. And that's no hate on anybody. It's tough when you have multiple management changes internally. And, you know, you're not really sure what the larger goal is for everything and how you accomplish that.

[00:15:22] It just wasn't quite the right fit for me any longer. And so I decided to disconnect the show from bonus role productions. We're, you know, back out on our own, basically. But to Eaze and Manny and Ketra and everybody else there, you know, they're awesome folks. And please continue to listen to those shows. Technically PvP if you want all your PvP knowledge. You know, Rat Babies, Four Azeroth, Girls Gone Wild.

[00:15:50] You know, all the great shows that they have over there. Please continue to listen to those. I know you will. And no, again, no hate on them. I think with rare exception. Only one that I can think of. But I always felt like I was being included on things or people were cool with me. And I really appreciated that because I did not have the history with them that, you know, they had with themselves. And a lot of other folks did. So, yeah. So Unshackled Fury. Back out on its own.

[00:16:21] Our little management bits we used to have here. That was always kind of my way of poking a little fun at some of the things that happened while I was part of the group. But it was all meant in love and fun. But no longer part of Bonus Roll Productions. It'll just be Unshackled Fury on its ragey own. Moving on. Metal Album of the Week. Metal Album of the Week. We want to kick it off right. It's a new year.

[00:16:48] We want to have the right kind of energy to kick things off. So, for you. This week, I have from 2009 the album Ravenous by the band Wolf. Swedish metal at its finest. 12 songs on this album. And it's a great listen all the way through. Just put it on. Let it rip. And right out of the gate with Speed On. Pretty sure is the name of this episode title as well.

[00:17:17] Just gets you in the right groove. The right frame of mind. You know, I think it's perfect for this year. And kind of where my mind is at. But the whole album is just kick-ass. Speed On. Whiskey Psycho Hellions. That's the name of another song. You know, it's just love at first bite. Great songs all the way through. And they have quite an impressive catalog. Wolf does.

[00:17:45] So, if you like the band, there's a ton of albums to listen to of theirs. But I thought this one would kick off the year right. So, for all of you, it's available. You know, Apple Music. Probably much anywhere else. You can also find it on YouTube if you want to do it the boo-boo way. But it is out there. So, I highly encourage you to check it out. Ravenous by Wolf.

[00:18:13] Now, we got a raid segment that's very pertinent to Warcraft. Pertinent to our nerdy community. And it is one of these things. One of these rare pains that might only be mine. But it's hell. It's my show. I'm going to get into it. That's what we do. So, let's kick it in some rage. Let's rage.

[00:18:43] Hmm. Got to take a drink for the working man here. Got my ghost energy rolling. All right. So, if you will recall. Some time ago. I had laid out my complaints. My laments. My sorrow. Jealousy. About the Frostborn replica being back.

[00:19:08] One of the all-time recognizable gaming nerdy pop culture pieces. Right? It's 50 years from now. People are still going to know what that fucking thing is. And it's just one of many items. I've seen. Maybe you've seen. Over the years. That are like part of our larger Warcraft or gaming community. Like, man. That'd be a great piece to own.

[00:19:40] And so, maybe like myself. You belong to a number of newsletters and different things. Well, let's say. Hey. Our company's got this. We're selling this. We've got this available. One of the best. Truly. One of the best. Is a company called Sideshow. And if you know what Sideshow is. You may already know where I'm going with this. Sideshow is a company that makes. I mean, if they're not the highest quality replicas.

[00:20:08] And statues and pieces. Of pop culture. Entities. I don't know who is. I don't know who is. Because these things are immaculate. When somebody. Like. They make a Christian Bale Batman. It looks like Christian Bale Batman. If it's, you know. Any other million other characters. Or statues that they make. It looks like that individual. Okay. So, I've waited. Forever. For them to do.

[00:20:39] Something that I wanted. Relative to Warcraft. And so, you can imagine. My. My surprise. And. My. Happy surprise, perhaps. When I got a newsletter. In my email the other day. I got a letter. Lo and behold. It says. Now available for pre-order. Varian Wren. And I.

[00:21:08] Was. Beside myself. Yes. Finally. Varian. Getting the treatment. That he so rightly deserves. It's going to get. Like the sideshow treatment. It's going to look so good. And it's going to be so great. And this is going to be fucking badass. And I can put it on my shelf. And I can look at it. And we can talk to each other. I mean we can. You know. I can look at him. And be like. Yes. Dad. Dad. So. Pulling up. And I'm looking at it. I'm like. This detail is insane. He's. He's got his armor. He looks just like he does in Legion.

[00:21:38] And he's holding Chalamet over one shoulder. And he's just. He's just looking all fucking bad. Ass. I'm like. How big is this thing? And I start looking at the dimensions. I'm like. Wait a minute. This has got to be some kind of mistake. It's 44 inches wide. It's. It's. It's. 47 inches tall.

[00:22:10] Folks. To taunt me. Me alone. Sideshow is offering. A life. Size. Varian. Rin. Bust. For. Five. Thousand. Dollars. Is it worth. Five thousand dollars? I. It probably is worth. Five thousand dollars. They're only making. A handful of these things. Like three hundred. I want to say.

[00:22:40] And. It's not even going to be available. For it. At least a year. But if you go on. Sideshow.com. And you look up. Varian. Rin. You will see this thing. And it is. Unbelievably. Badass. Especially. You know. For somebody like me. That's my guy. It's got. You know. Alliance. You know. Like an alliance pedestal. That his bust is on. On. The quality. On this thing. Is. Un. Fucking. Real. It is. It is. And it's.

[00:23:10] Chalamet. It's got. Chalamet. Oh. Life size. I mean. If you. If you take a tape measure. And you hold out. What 44 by 47 looks like. It's fucking massive. Like. I'm a big dude. And the thing is. Wider than me. By a good margin. It's just. It is. Phenomenal. But for. Thousand dollars. And life size. Like. I don't. This thing down. At some point. But. Of all the things. That they could have made. Of all the things. They could have done.

[00:23:39] I can't believe. There's enough people. That want. A life size. Varian. Rin bust. I mean. I feel like. I'm the only one. But. Maybe not. And here we are. I'm just going to have to watch this. On somebody's stream. Somewhere. Some streamer. Asshole. Is going to have this thing. And I'm. God. I'm going to be so jealous. Fuckers. But. Should you have the space. And should you have the scratch. For five thousand and five dollars.

[00:24:11] I don't know why it's five thousand five. For five thousand and five dollars. A life size. Varian. Rin. Bust. Can be yours. And dear. Weeping Jesus. If you buy yourself one of these things. Please send me a photo. I would love to see what this actually looks like. In real life. I'll even cook you dinner. If you let me come. And talk to. I mean. Come and just see it. For like five seconds. Yeah. That's just.

[00:24:41] Oh man. Great to be a fan of things. Isn't it? All right. Now with that. Off my chest. There is a little bit of Warcraft news. To talk about. And a few other things. So why don't we go ahead. And catch up with. Where we are at this point in time. And where we are heading.

[00:25:12] So looking up. Our 2025. Roadmap. We know that. Things are going to kick off. With 11. Patch 11.07. Siren Isle. Hope you all are enjoying that. We have. A quest out of there. I want to talk about. With. Jazz. Once he's back. So we're going to hold that till next time. That patch is live. It's been live. And now we are waiting for. And now also. Plunderstorm has hit. We're waiting for Undermine. We're waiting for patch. 11.1.

[00:25:43] At this point. It should just be. Around the corner. With. Plunderstorm. Now being live. It's stated that this is going until February 18th. So I assume. I'm sure. Everybody else does. That late February. You know. We're looking at probably. I don't know. Three weeks. Until Undermined. Undermine. Parenthetical D. Undermined hits. Patch 11.1. And with that patch.

[00:26:13] Undermine. The new raid of liberation of Undermine. The new dungeon. Operation Floodgate. The new drive system. D-R-I-V-E. Drive system. We got some delves. You're going to be meeting some cartel folks. And we'll have a whole renowned track there. And they're going to have some warband camp collections. UI updates. That sort of thing. So for the moment. We do have Siren Isle. And. The only thing I want to talk about. With that just real quick.

[00:26:43] Is if you haven't done it. There is. A fantastic. Battle pet available. Marmaduke. It's a dog. It's a cute dog. And it's a super. Easy. Thing to do. To get it. There's guides already online. But. As long as you've completed the introduction. Into the Siren Isle. There's. A journal that you've got to pick up. And you can go get some toys. And do some things. And then you get. Marmaduke.

[00:27:13] As this pet. And by God. It's the cutest fucking thing I've ever seen. You get a little duck toy. And he carries it in his mouth. And oh my God. My dog. Remember when my other dog died. And I was like really sad. And I was like. That's the best dog ever. And I don't know what I'm going to do. And then. And then I got this new dog. This new golden retriever. And he is the dumbest fucking dog. On the face of the earth. I swear to God. If you've watched the Barbie movie. And you know about Ken. This dog is Ken. My dog is Ken.

[00:27:42] He's just a big beautiful idiot. He's very loving. But he's just a big beautiful idiot. Marmaduke. That's a good dog. So. If you're out there on Siren Owl. Just do yourself a favor. Get yourself a good dog. So. In the meantime. We got Siren Owl going on. But they did release for us. An update. Or a. Pretty solid. Preview.

[00:28:11] Of what to expect. When. Patch 11.1 hits. And we have access to undermine. So. Just want to take this. Take you through this. As we go. Just so. We're all on the same page. I'm avoiding as many spoilers as I can. For the moment. There's so much data mining going on. And it has been for the last like two months. And all the story stuff is out there. And the. The why to undermine is out there. Like why the fuck are we here?

[00:28:39] Because it seems to make no sense in the larger story. But there is. There's a reason. Why this is happening. So we're going to. We're going to hold on this for now. But. For undermine. This is. Something that will become available to you. The whole undermine adventure will become available to you. Once you are level 80. And have completed. The leveling campaign. So you do have to do that first. It's not. You know. Some other piece that's in between. It does have that.

[00:29:09] Specific requirement to it. You will begin your adventure. With a quest from Gazlow. And Renzik. At Foundation Hall. In Dornigal. And you will be taken down. To the undermine. Where are. Where you are going to be. Introduced to a few. Notable places. One. And everything is very punny. So if you are. If you are not a fan. Of just kind of silly. Punny. Stuff.

[00:29:39] Undermine. Is going to drive you. Insane. And I. And I have like a halfway tolerance for it. So. See how my own. Digestion of this goes. But. We are going to be introduced to. First up. Slam. Central Station. Instead of Grand Central Station. Slam. Central Station. Home of the rocket drill train. That ferries folks. From the ringing deeps. To undermine. And back again. So that's where your. Connection point is going to be. Will be in the ringing deeps. Next up. We have the. Incontinental Hotel.

[00:30:10] Which I assume. Is a play on. You know. The John Wick movies. With the Continental Hotel. Because it seems to be. In the sort of zeitgeist. These days. But. The Incontinental Hotel. Which if you don't know. What incontinence is. Go look it up. And you'll understand. Why this is a joke. The first stop on your. Undermined adventure. Will be the. Incontinental Hotel. According to the hotel. Concierge. Pax. Top skimmer. The Incontinental Hotel. Is the quote. The best of the best. It's centrally located. Isn't full of nasty. Dark fused thugs.

[00:30:40] And we keep the. Croach population. Deescalated. All right. Next up. The Galagio. Not the Bellagio. The Galagio. And this is the. The. The. The. The lap of goblin. The lap of goblin luxury. They say. All right. I can. I can spit that out. Next up. The Demolition Dome. Home of the new PVP arena. Cage of Carnage. That's a great name. Demolition Dome. Is not for. The faint of heart. Okay. So that's.

[00:31:09] A couple of the. Main locations within. That you need to know. But the cartels. Really. I think are the. Other big. Piece. Not just the zone. Everybody knows about the drive system. You're going to be driving a car. And better be good. But the cartel system. Seems to be central. To. Your experience. As a player. In the zone. And kind of playing out. The larger. Story. And there will be. Four. Four cartels. That you need. To know about. First. Bilgewater.

[00:31:39] The Bilgewater cartel. Is Monty Gaslow's crew. From brilliant inventors. To explosive geniuses. Bilgewater is home. To some of the brightest. Goblins to ever live. Gaslow. Grapplehammer. And even Gallywix. At one point. They made a bid. Splash. Joining the horde. I think it's supposed to be big. They made a big splash. Joining the horde. But in Undermine. They can use all the friends. They can get. Look for the Bilgewater cartel. Doing business out of. Bilgewater flats. Near. Demolition Dome. Second up. Blackwater.

[00:32:09] The Blackwater raiders. Might be a newer cartel. But with Baron. Rebel gas at the helm. They're ready. They're already making waves. In the shipping. And luxury vacation industries. There's a lot of money there. They can move any cargo. Anywhere. Anytime. And now it's all nice and legal. Well. It's mostly legal. They do all their dealings. Out of the Blackwater marina. In Undermine. So Blackwater. That's the second. It's also the name of a. Really gnarly. Real life group. All right. Third up.

[00:32:38] Steam Weedle. Marin Nogginfogger. I assume of Nogginfogger elixir fame. Is the trade prince of this cartel. Steam Weedle is the oldest and largest cartel in Undermine. And has its hands in almost every industry spanning Azeroth and beyond. These days. Under Nogginfogger. It's all about premium grade alchemy. Seek out Steam Weedle in the Vatworks area of Undermine. Last up. Fourth up. The Venture Company. I know you know this name.

[00:33:05] Some might take issue with the ways the Venture Company acquires its resources. But no industry can run without materials. You want nice? Find a book club. You want to build something? Venture Company has what you need. While they lack a top goblin. Grimla Fizzlecrank. Keeps things in order. Venture Company is located in the heaps in Undermine. So. With each one of these. As it is written here. In the Incontinental Hotel.

[00:33:34] Your concierge is going to assist you in picking which one of these four cartels you're going to be working on renowned for. And there'll be all kinds of rewards and things that you can gather. But that will be kind of the main thrust of what you're going to be doing. I assume in terms of like regular activities. Also in there. I've talked about this before. Is they have a new dungeon. Operation Floodgate.

[00:34:03] And it will have a handful of bosses in here. Big Mama. Just a prototype mech. And Big Mama. M.O. M.M.A. So. Breed you in for something. I assume. And this one's piloted by Silva. Stratospark. And you got to deal with them. The Demolition Duo. Kiza Quick Fuse. And Bront. Of the venture company. Brains of Braun Duo. Contracted by Gallywix. Got to deal with them. Swamp Face. Buried beneath the riverbed at the waterworks. Lies a hibernating beast. Fun.

[00:34:33] And Gizel Gigazap. Heart of the waterworks dam. The electric mastermind. Gizel Gigazap. Siphons power for the project. Which we'll find out what that is. Woody is cornered in Gallywix. The secret plans have nearly come to a halt. Gizel reroutes the power headed to the Undermine. To himself. So there you go. And then. Of course. We'll have to figure out. Why. Zalatath. Is involved. Here.

[00:35:03] And Zalatath is very much involved here. So. It will make sense. Eventually. And I'm glad. And I do know what it is. And I'm glad to see what that connection is. But yeah. This is going to be. An interesting detour. Considering the. Very serious nature. Of everything else we've dealt with. Up to this part. And spiders. To now go to. Just. Everything is kind of jokey. And goblin-y.

[00:35:33] And explosive-y. And there is a vibe. For sure. And. Again. I think appetites will vary. I'm sure when we get into. Whatever's after this. Whether it's. You know. Something void-y. Something. Something. You know. On another planet. Maybe something. You know. Unknown at this point. Still holding out for. Vrykul. All the time. Doing something. Uh. This is what we got. And.

[00:36:03] So hopefully. Hopefully it's something that you're excited about. I'm sure by the time we have our next episode. Uh. There'll be even more to discuss. And Jez and I can dive in. Uh. More into the storyline. Up to this point. And what to expect. But. As of now. That is. Uh. Where we are. And. What we have to look forward to. Uh. At least in terms of the news that Blizzard has released. Thus. Far. Outside of that. I wanted to.

[00:36:31] Finally weigh in on something that. Uh. I now have. Hands on. Or eyes on. Experience with. And. That is the book. Play Nice. By Jason Schreier. Rise. Fall. And future of Blizzard Entertainment. Uh. If you recall. Some months ago. This book was all the rage. And. Uh. Mr. Schreier was out there. Uh. Doing quite. Quite a tour.

[00:37:00] Talking to just about any outlet. That would have him. Uh. Saw him on streams. Heard him in interviews. Read it in articles. It was. It was. Uh. Credit to his publisher and himself. Uh. He was everywhere. And. Excerpts. Easy to find. But. Uh. I think as Jez and I had discussed. I wasn't really going to give my money to this effort. Um. Because I. Just. Wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. But as it happens.

[00:37:30] Because. My family knows me. Uh. My in-laws actually gifted the book to me. Uh. So I did get a chance to. Dive into this. And take a look. In all transparency. I have not read the entire thing. I'm not done with it yet. But I am. A vast. Way into it. And a majority of. Uh. The way through it. So I. Don't think what I'm going to say. Will be. In any way changed. By the last few chapters. Um.

[00:37:58] There is a lot of insider dirt. In the book. I think as we all kind of figured. You know. This was. People. Talking. Sometimes on the record. A lot of times off the record. Confidentially. Anonymously. What have you. About. And. And this starts. Literally. Before. Blizzard. Or the companies that became Blizzard. Even existed. This goes back to. More high. Mike Moreheim.

[00:38:26] And the early founders. Back when they were in school. And how they. Came together. And came up with. Their first company. And how those companies. Got bought up by other companies. And there were shady dealings. With this. That. And the other. And. It told how it grew. And hired employees. And the challenges that they faced. And what happened. You know. The launch of Warcraft. Well known. They weren't prepared. For how many people were. Going to be playing the game. And you know. What happened there.

[00:38:56] And. When. John Statz. Released. The WoW Diary. When he released that some years ago. And talked about like. How they built World of Warcraft. And sort of the challenges they had. I really liked that book. Because I felt like. It. Not only got into the nitty gritty. Of what they were doing. But I think it was also. Presenting. An open. And fair. And balanced. Perspective.

[00:39:26] On that. Time. In. Warcraft's history. Blizzard's history. And otherwise. With. Play nice. I'm not saying that anything here. Is incorrect. Correct. I don't doubt that. The vast majority. Of what is in this book. Is. Accurate. Or near to accurate. The problem that I have is. And it's. What I was afraid I was going to have. Is that. It's clear. That this book.

[00:39:56] Has an axe to grind. Mind. No doubt. Blizzard. Made some monumental mistakes. As a company. When it came to. Treatment of employees. When it came to. Handling. Complaints. And the lawsuits. That came about. The management. By Bobby Kotick. And the rest of the folks. At Activision. And you know. Dirt bags. Afraziabi. And you know. All of that stuff. Is true. And fair.

[00:40:25] And shitty. The problem that I have is. That's all that this book. Talks about. It's just. One. Negative thing. After another. This person. Fucked up. This person. Was an asshole. This thing. Was wrong. This thing. Was wrong. This thing. Went badly. It just. If I didn't know. Anything. About Blizzard. About. Warcraft. About Starcraft. About Diablo. About Overwatch. About any of the franchises. I would wonder.

[00:40:55] How in the hell. This company. Ever made it. Doing anything. Because it just sounds like. They're just a bunch of. Colossal. Fuckups. That are. Shitty people. To everyone. And everything. All the time. Every time. There was a challenge. That was addressed. In the book. About something. That happened. With the company. There was never. Any perspective. On like. How they did a thing. Or maybe. What sort of triumphs. There were. It was just. How this all went bad. And who was to blame. And who fucked up. And who was shitty.

[00:41:25] About how it was dealt with. And it just. It. It. It. It felt. It was a gossip magazine. Just made whole. And again. I'm not saying. This is incorrect information. It. It is. Just clearly. Through one. Very specific. Lens. And it. Had a point. That it wanted to make. And. Fine. It made it. Um. There's. Definitely some interesting things in here. That.

[00:41:55] I think. The casual. Blizzard gamer. Or long time. Blizzard game. Frankly. Anybody that's played Warcraft. Or the other franchises. Would love to know about the development of games. And how things happened. To an extent. But it's just. It's just. It's kind of a brutal read. In a way. Because it's just. Lumping you over the head. With how bad everybody is. And how bad everything was. And it's just. I don't know. For every. Like. Pound of. Something positive.

[00:42:25] It was like. 10 negative. And. That's me. That's how I felt about it. Maybe that's. My own bias. Playing in. And I. Fully. Freely admit that. Um. But. It. You know. It's like the old. If you know who Dennis Green. Denny Green is. The old football coach. They are who we thought they were. Pretty much what. We have here. So. Um. If you want the dirt. If you want to read. Basically. Uh. You know. 300 page gossip magazine.

[00:42:55] That's what you got here. Um. And there's a lot to it. So. Um. You can check it out if you want. But. Uh. Now that I've had my hands on it. And had my eyeballs on it. I wanted to give my. My honest assessment. And uh. Critique. I'm not a professional book reviewer. But. You know. That's. That's how I. As a player. And just the person out here. Uh. Felt. About it. Now. Making its. Long awaited resurrection. Since uh. I'm the only one here. We're gonna rate some trading post items. Yeah.

[00:43:25] January trading post ratings. It's back baby. It's back. This is what we're doing. Uh. So we have a number of. I think truly. You know. Truly noteworthy items. Uh. This month. There are some returning items. Uh. From. From previous ones. But. Right out of the gate. I just. I just want to hit it right out of the gate. Because it is truly. It is truly a thing to behold. The. War. Forged. Nightmare mount.

[00:43:54] Which is a shop mount. And I bet you can guess. What I think of this. This is truly one of the greatest. All time mounts. Ever. Sold. I mean. It's. Too bad it was a shop mount. Uh. But the warforged nightmare mount. Is just this. Fiery. Spiked up horse. And it is. Bad ass. To the bone.

[00:44:24] This is one of the best ever. And now that I have it. Because I didn't pony up. And pay for it. Uh. Now that I have it through. The. Uh. Trading post. Uh. Rest assured. If you ever see me in game. There's like a 50-50 chance. You're gonna see me riding this thing. It's. It's fucking amazing. Uh. Next up. Also new this month. Uh. Newly available on the trading post. Are the rains. Of the brilliant. Sunburst. Peafowl. And you might be surprised by this one.

[00:44:59] The peafowl. Itself. If it was just a peafowl. Would not get a rating this high. But the armor. Presentation. Presentation really. Top tier on this. Uh. Oh. And also for reference. The rains of the brilliant sunburst peafowl. Which is just. You know a bird. Uh. 750 trader tender. The warforged nightmare. Less. 700. That it might be the best 700. Uh. You ever spent. Uh. Returning. For 800 trader tender.

[00:45:27] Is the copper resonating crystal. I mean it's alright. Like. It's a big bug. It's a copper scarab. If that's your jam. Hey. Do your thing. Also. New this month. For 500 trader tender. The savage. Alabaster. Battle turtle. And. This one might also surprise you.

[00:45:57] This thing. Literally. Could be a dog turd on a stick. But because it is called a battle turtle. It's gonna get a top tier rating. That is. I mean. I don't know. I don't know if you can do much better than a battle turtle. That just sounds rad as shit. Now. It also does a super cool thing. Where it like. Sucks all its limbs and its head into the. Into the shell. And it's got big like. Cannons on the side. And it is. It is also. Fantastic presentation. But a battle turtle.

[00:46:27] You get the top rank. Every time. Now. In terms of pets. We got a few. First up. Returning. Is the time. Lost. Salamanther. And. Eh. For 600 trader tender. I think it's a little much. I did buy it. Because. I don't know. I think it's kind of cool. A salamanther. Not really sure. But for 600 trader tender. A little pricey on that one. Next up. We. We kind of have a twofer. Because. Because.

[00:46:56] These are both the same. But different colors. For each. 300 trader tenders. We have the wind up woofer. And a wind up woofy. Two. Sort of like. Cog. You know. Mecha gnome. Looking. Puppies. And. You know what we're doing. They're so stinking cute. It's ridiculous.

[00:47:28] Even tough men can find these things cute. That's right. Let it go. Alright. Moving on. We have a few. Transmog sets. Alright. We have. Three of these. And. First up. We're going to go with. For 850 trader tender. The waste. Wander. Trackers. Kit. I mean. It's alright. Like. That is pretty pricey. 850. When the others. That I'm about to tell you about. Are 650.

[00:47:58] 650. So. We've seen this one before. Uh. It is. It's a very complete set. These all are. Thematically. I think they're pretty good. Uh. But 850. Yeah. That's a bit much. Uh. Next up. We have. Uh. Two. Two. Of kind of the same thing. 650 trader tenders apiece. These ensembles are. The golden clockwork attire. And the green. Clockwork attire. Not my jam. But.

[00:48:35] Thematically. Very strong. Again. It's sort of like. You know. Clockwork. You pretty much. You can imagine it. If you can't see it. Uh. It's the. You know. Again. Sort of mecha gnome. Type vibe. Strong. Super strong vibe. And. I think. For. An. An. An. Ensemble. 650. That's a damn. Good price. All right. Next up. For a back piece. We have the steam. Powered. Golden. Cloak. For 300. I mean. It's all right. Like.

[00:49:05] I need like. One more thing on it. Like. It's moving. And it's got like. A dial. And a whole thing. And it's got a lot going on. But I feel like. It needs like a big weapon. Hanging off of it. I mean. Maybe that's just the warrior in me. But you know. Uh. That's. That's kind of. I don't know. That's just my thing. Next up. We have. A helm. Just a headpiece. Cosmetic headpiece. For. 140. Trader tender.

[00:49:36] Which is kind of an odd. Price for something. But this is a. It looks. This is very paladin-y. Sort of. Uh. The look to it. The bronze. Helm of righteousness. And I'm going to give you this. The score for it. And I will explain. Because. Paladin. Not really quite the warrior vibe for me. But.

[00:50:09] If you look up the flavor text. And I'm not going to explain this. You better know what this is. It says. Guard yourself from. The inequities of the selfish. And the tyranny of evil men. Jules will be proud. All right. Next up. We have. Ensemble. The prowlers. Carrot. Headgear. It's the biggest piece of dog shit. Yeah. I don't like it. I don't know. I think. I think.

[00:50:38] I think we could have done more with that one. Uh. Returning. We have the classic carrot. Tabard. The gossamer desert gown. And the sand swept. Soiree gloves. All for one. Hundred. I mean. It's all right. Nothing. Nothing to write home about there. Uh. Next up. Uh. For 50. These are both 50. Trader attenders. We have the long. Sunny. War skirt. And leg wraps. And the short. Sunny. War skirt. And leg wraps.

[00:51:07] It's the biggest piece of dog shit. The color is horrible.

[00:51:39] The sunnies. Yeah. Don't like it. Maybe it's your vibe. I hate it. I hate it. I don't like to use that word. But I don't like it. All right. Last up. 20. Trader. Tender. We have the banded sunny war slippers. And the banded sunny war slippers. Banded sunny war slippers. And banded sunny war wraps. That's it. There we go. I mean. It's all right. Like. Yeah. It's okay. All right. At the end.

[00:52:08] We have our weapon transmogs. For 325 trader tender. The golden clockwork power hammer. Two headed base. I won't use it. But it does look like a power hammer. All clockworky. Very mechanoe. Next up. The golden clockwork doom fist. I mean. It's all right. Like. Oh. That one might surprise you. For 300 trader tender. It's clearly a rip. Right from overwatch doom fist.

[00:52:38] Uh. It. It. It. Hmm. It just doesn't. Look right in my mind's eye. I don't know why. Next up. We have a long range golden clockstopper gun. For 300. Right. You've dropped that price by 100. It's probably getting top rank. Next up. The golden clockwork defender shield. For 260 trader tender. Do it. I believe that the shield could stop something.

[00:53:07] I believe that this thing could stop some heavy artillery. It is very believable. It looks like a front of a fucking train. It's rad as shit. And next up. Last up. Final. The January trading post ratings. For 60 trader tenders. We have an offhand. Delightfully named. The steam. Weedle. Artifact extractor. And let me explain this one.

[00:53:39] Folks. It's dynamite. The artifact extractor. Is dynamite. That's pretty fucking funny. Am I going to use a bunch of this stuff? No. But thematically. It is fantastic. So there you go. Those are your January trading post ratings. These are my ratings. Don't have to be yours. But that's what I got. And now. Last up. On this episode. Trying to do.

[00:54:09] A Q&A segment. Every episode now. Something Jez and I have been talking about. Trying to get it going. Everyone. Please join our discord. Or get in there. Or email us questions. We put that in there. We'll probably put out a call. Every couple weeks. When we're getting ready to do an episode. But please. If you've got questions. Of any kind. That you would like on here. Whether it's about Warcraft. Or you want my rib recipe. Or you want to know Jez's hat size. Or you want to know. What we think about.

[00:54:39] Which Transformer was the best. Whatever it is. Shoot us those questions. And at the end of every show. We'll do a little bit of Q&A. So. Got a couple questions. Here. From our homies. First one. Straight up from the homie Rommel. He asked. Any chance that Midnight. And or the last Titan expansions. Don't include an increase. To the level cap. With a campaign. Or would there be. An uprising. By the players. Expecting a leveling campaign. Even with a quicker.

[00:55:09] Release. Cadence. That is. Kind of the million dollar question. And if I take Ian. How's a Costas. At his word. There will always be. Some sort of leveling experience. Because. Psychologically. People want. The ding. They want. They want. That gratification. Of hitting. Some sort of. Regular checkpoint. And. Maybe they go. To something. We've theorized for years. That maybe they go. To something now.

[00:55:39] With the way these. Leveling campaigns work. That it's. The achievements of each. Chapter. And that's your leveling. But. They. They always want to give us. Something to make us feel like. We're making progress. Or getting more powerful. In some way. Or whatever. Although. I don't know how you become. More powerful than what we've been. Like. We're. We're. We're god killers. At this point. I don't even know. What is beyond that. Frankly. Basically. But. I. Think. That people. Would not like. Having. A leveling. Experience. Like.

[00:56:10] Going up. Getting squished. Going up. Getting squished. Seems like they feel comfortable. With that. And. Maybe we'll get another squish. After the last titan. I don't know. It's already getting kind of crazy. But to answer your question. I think. We will continue to have. Titan. And then. Maybe we'll see. What happens after that. Next up. And this is a really. Good question as well. And.

[00:56:39] Combines two of my. Favorite franchises. So thank you. Allie. For these questions. What character. From Warcraft. Would you like to see. In Cyberpunk. And what character. From Cyberpunk. Would you like to see. In Warcraft. Great questions. Cyberpunk. As you all know. Great love. Possibly. As an. As a. As a. As a genre. My greatest love. Even more than. Warcraft. And so to answer that question. What character. What Warcraft character.

[00:57:09] Would I like to see. In Cyberpunk. Probably Varian. I'd like to see Varian. In Cyberpunk. Because I think. He could be. A force to be reckoned with. In that universe. And. You know. Being sort of. Morally gray. Up to a point. Is very appropriate. For that universe. And I think Varian. Could fit that. Pretty well. There's. There's a lot of characters. In Warcraft. I think that would translate well. But. Varian. As a tactician.

[00:57:39] As a leader. As a fighter. I could see him. You know. Being a nomad. Running with maybe. The Aldecaldos. Or you know. One of the other. Nomadic clans. Maybe he's got his own. And you know. He's running up and down. The west coast. I could. I could very well see that. And it would be. Badass. And if I had any ability. To do. You know. Art. You know. I might even draw something like that. You know. Sort of like the. If you've ever seen the Jim Rayner. Classic Jim Rayner art. Where he's sitting on the speeder. Like. You know.

[00:58:08] One of Varian. But he's sitting in a quadra. That'd be badass. As far as a character from cyberpunk in Warcraft. I'd have to go with Adam Smasher. Adam Smasher being one of the big bads of the cyberpunk universe. Been around forever. The guy's basically just borged out of his mind. He's basically a brain. That just gets transplanted from one body to another. And in the cyberpunk universe. Particularly as of late. Very scary. If you've seen edge runners. The anime.

[00:58:38] Or if you've played through cyberpunk 2077. This guy is not to be fucked with. And would. It would make an amazing boss. In World of Warcraft. Just the abilities. The things he can do. The way you would have to strategize around him. It would be. A phenomenal baddie to have to go against. Definitely Adam Smasher. I'd be curious. What Jez would say. But. That's. That's what I got. So. Uh. Thanks to Rommel and Allie for those questions. And again. Please. Uh.

[00:59:08] In any way that. Uh. You can. Get us your questions each week. And we'll do our best to answer. If you're shy. Don't want to put them in a discord. You can always email us. At. Unshackled Fury Show dot com. At gmail dot com. Um. We look forward to that. So. I thank you. For your questions. Alright. I think I've done enough damage. For one episode. My thanks to all of you for listening. And remember. You can always follow me. And the show on twitter. At berserker rage. And unshackled underscore fury. On blue sky.

[00:59:38] At berserker and unshackled fury. As well as on twitch. At unshackled fury. And real berserker. You can also join our discord. Links for which are in the profile of the show. On twitter. And on our website. Unshackled fury dot com. Feel free to contact the show. With your questions. Comments. Or otherwise. Through any of those resources. Or email us at unshackled fury show. At gmail dot com. And you can find this show. Wherever you get your podcasts. So once again.

[01:00:08] Thank you for listening. Remember to keep your swords wet. And your banners high. And we'll see you next time. Farewell. Farewell.