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."