Episode 26 – HDYS Interview with Matt Rossi!

Show Notes

Welcome to Episode 26! – 2:03

A wide-ranging interview with games journalist and fiction writer Matt Rossi! I’m not even going to pretend to make a list of topics, but we talk about starting hit WoW career with his wife, how to approach WoW when your job demands that you spoil all new content as soon as it hits test servers, and his need to dive into lore in any game.

Plenty of talk about lore and storytelling in WoW throughout the years and how the Wrathgate was a turning point in how the stories are delivered to us, the players. We even get into the true purpose of any fiction in our human existence.

We also discuss Matt’s ongoing visual disability, a form of blindness that he explains in more detail. July is the celebration month for Disability Pride, and in hopes of sharing awareness of disability and accommodations in video games, he explains how his severe visual impairment affects his play of Warcraft and other types of games. It turns out that flexible difficulty and voice acting are two great accessibility options. Developers take notice.

Lightning Round! – 1:19:53

This round of 8 questions is not quick, but it takes the form of “Two Lizzes and a Joe (and a Cory)”.

Outro – 1:31:13

• Thanks to Blizzard for the amazing music and sound, to OGRE for intro/outro music, my lovely and supportive wife, and you for listening.
• Big thank you to Matt! BlizzardWatch puts out podcasts weekly and you can find Matt as a regular host on BlizzardWatch and LoreWatch. He also writes a column and other videogame coverage for the news site. You can also check out Matt’s published fiction at the Goodreads and Amazon links!

• https://blizzardwatch.com/author/matt/
• https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B01M6BQ5SF
• https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/308134.Matthew_Rossi

• You can contact me at soloqueuewow at gmail.com, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Subscribe to the podcast at your podcast feed of choice, Apple, Spotify, and all the rest. Leave a 5-star rating and a written review to help grow Solo Queue.
• Support the show at Patreon.com/SoloQueueWoW
• Thank you to contributing patrons, Andrew, Righteous Bandy, ThatSkyGuy, Cyn, Snek of Vol’dun, Jon, and Scott! And thanks to all the free supporters as well!

“We 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 24 – HDYS Interview with Ali!

Show Notes

Welcome to Episode 24! – 1:45

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

Talking some WoD – 28:35

How Does Ali Solo? – 39:44

Player Housing – 49:00

No Mo FOMO? – 54:11

Books and Libraries – 59:21

Why the lore? – 1:02:46

Why content creation? – 1:05:54

Lightning Round! – 1:17:51

Outro – 1:31:00

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

“I will see you out there."