World of Warcraft: Forever's quests are kind of a pain in the ass—they are this way because of the archaic, pre-solved quest design of the early 2000s (which is still very much more convenient than the MMOs that came before it). But it's also somewhat deliberate.

Back then, forcing you to run halfway across the map to talk to some dude halfway up a mountain (or in the example I'll talk about later on, a fight pit on an island somewhere) was a way to get you out in the world, exploring it, originally unfolding new questing hubs or putting new flight routes and settlements in front of you.

Over time, that design fell by the wayside in favor of convenience. The prospect of having to go out of your way for something that wasn't a strictly superior source of XP became a 'waste of time'. And to some degree, I get it. If you're worried about efficiency, having to jog for five minutes might feel like a chore.

Besides, WoW's always been a game that people are rushing to solve, and I think that's just grand—solving puzzles is fun. I am the kind of person to cheer on speedrunners, to be fascinated by optimisation. People are clever and determined and they will find unique and novel ways to push the envelope.

But boy, am I glad I'm not listening to them.

Quest helping addons have been a point of contention since Forever's launch—partially because some of them are paid services—and while I'm not going to comment on the meta-drama, I will say that, from an experiential point of view, avoiding them was the right choice for me.

That's not to say I've simply been bumbling about. I've been looking at the quests that land in my log and trying to figure out the most efficient way to get through them; and I'm at what I think is a respectable level 32 after around 52 hours /played (a number I've only hit because I am playing this game as part of my job).

I'm also not a complete vegan. I'm using the modernised in-game quest map marker, like some kind of oldschool pescatarian—though I will say that we did have these back in vanilla. They're just part of the UI, now.

But I've also not been sweating the small stuff. Did I do a quest chain in an order that means I've gotta hoof it back across Darkshire? Sure. Did I miss a dungeon quest? Cool, whatever. I'll either come back to it later or just not do the quest. I have free will and an "abandon quest" button.

And, more to the point, I've occasionally been taking holidays from that efficiency to go and do stuff that's way out there. For instance, the "Fire Hardened Mail" warrior questline, which sent my alliance character all the way to goddamn Razorfen Kraul in the Southern Barrens.

While there, I met an incredibly chill group of fellow allies who informed me there was a quest a little ways into Thousand Needles and, together, we hopped down the lift, grabbed a book, nattered a touch, ran away from centaurs, and then—like, 40 minutes later—finally got into the dungeon, where I tanked the whole thing as Fury because pickings were slim and nobody in their right mind would've made this trek.

Another warrior questline—this one mandatory—asks you to take the hike from Theramore all the way up to an island off the coast of Ratchet. And it's here that the Forever of it all kicked in, and those hand-crafted, zone-specific weather effects and lighting tricks instilled such a deep feeling of zen in me.

It was pouring it down with rain as I jogged up the beach from Theramore. I had to dodge a bunch of murlocs on their islands, snagged a few ore deposits on the way, and swam through stormy, turbulent seas to the Barrens' coastline. When I got there, it was sunset and considerably less rainy, so I jogged through the shallow waters to Fray Island just as the sun kissed the ocean.

And hey, it turns out that this time, I did actually more-or-less take the most efficient route—but this questline, a mandatory class quest to get all your stances, has a lot of experiences like it mirrored in other quests that are actually off the beaten path.

The actual Fray questline isn't anything special. On paper, it's just a "stand in a spot and beat a few mooks to get your stance". But the fact I had to do all of that nonsense made it memorable. Similarly, while my Fire Hardened Hauberk is a pretty nice blue, it was objectively not worth my time to do the long, arduous quest to get it. And yet, I had a great adventure anyway.

And it got me thinking: When was the last time I had an adventure in WoW? Not a quest, not a delve, not a seasonal track, but an actual honest-to-god adventure? One I chose to engage with, one that required me to think about how best to get to some far-flung place, one that required me to talk with other players (the horror), and one that—more importantly—took a lot of time I could've used elsewhere?

For some players, that whole journey is replaced with an arrow, or a 'do this next' prompt. And I'm not saying you can't enjoy the game in that way. For some, efficiency is a sport, and they should get to play ball. But boy did I make the right move for my own personal enjoyment, and I'd recommend that if you're feeling a little pale around the gills about questing to unplug and do the same.

The Steam Deck is the most popular handheld gaming PC, and no doubt a lot of you own one already. It's also far from the most powerful handheld on the market, meaning devs have to get optimisation just right to allow the Deck to maintain 60 or even 30 fps. Now, Valve is letting everyone see exactly how well those optimisations are made by listing average Steam Deck frame rate data on game store pages.

Valve explains that this applies to any game that's been tested for Steam Deck compatibility, not just Verified ones. It applies to 'Verified', 'Playable', and 'Unsupported' ones. Apparently that means thousands of games right now.

The data is based on what different users have opted in to provide, which, despite only being for opt-inners, presumably still gives a big sample size. We've known about Valve collecting this kind of data since at least February this year, and we heard about Valve handing it over to game devs just last month.

Now, Valve is letting us all get in on the action. To look at a game's average frame rate data, go to its store page, look on the right-hand side for where it lists its 'Steam Deck Compatibility', and click 'Learn more'.

Once there, you're shown the average fps, and if you click the down arrow, you can view a "framerate histogram... breaking down the percentage of data samples at each framerate." The bigger a particular bar, the more of the game session (on average) is enjoyed at that frame rate.

I checked the Elden Ring data, for instance, and found that the Steam Deck OLED averages 42 fps and the Steam Deck LCD 38 fps. The latter seems mostly split between 60 fps and 30 fps, with most at 30 and little in between, leading me to believe most players lock their frame rate for more stable gameplay.

The biggest benefit, though, will probably just be the ability to quickly view the average frame rate. It will mean less guessing exactly how well a game should perform on your Steam Deck before you decide to purchase. And that can benefit other handheld gamers, too, as if you have a more powerful handheld, you'll know you can achieve at least that frame rate or higher.

In a new episode of Nightdive's Deep Dive podcast releasing later today, legendary voice actor Stephen Russell spoke about his experience portraying the protagonist of the Thief series, Garrett. We also got final confirmation of something Nightdive had been teasing for awhile: Russell will be reprising the role in the new Shattered Mirror expansion coming with the Thief remaster on December 3.

I don't think I realized before this interview that Thief was Russell's very first videogame role. Before working with Looking Glass, he had experience in theater, radio and "medical reads" where he had to pronounce complex disease names in an even, doctorly cadence.

Russell said that he felt able to let loose for the first time as Garrett, channeling Clint Eastwood to nail the rogue's singular noirish rasp. Russell hadn't been much into games, with his main frame of reference being simple arcade and educational fare, so he was struck when he first saw an early build of Thief, still remembering "the incredible claustrophobia they had created."

Recalling the creative ferment of Looking Glass in the '90s, Russell said that he had "never seen so many sleep-deprived people in [his] life." He also affectionately recalled the studio's habit of pulling devs out of their office chairs to fill out games' VO roles alongside the professionals: "Having got my start as an actor in community theater, it felt very familiar," Russell quipped. "You're not painting the sets today, today you're playing the lead role!"

Even after a long career appearing in the likes of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Dishonored, Russell still counts Garrett as one of his favorite roles, and said that playing both the protagonist (Garrett) and antagonist (Father Karras) in Thief 2⁠—and having so few people realize he was voicing Karras⁠—remains one of his proudest acting achievements.

And Russell seems chuffed to be returning to the role of Garrett so many years later. "The writing this time around is just as strong as the first time and honors what was created originally," Russell said, adding that it was "great to be back with the old guy."

It's honestly just lovely to see how much this role still means to Russell, and that he's as happy to be returning as Garrett as we will be to hear him. Tarnished Mirror is shaping up to be a real "our powers combined" sort of project, as development was headed up by the team behind the beloved Thief: The Black Parade mod from 2023. You'll be able to listen to the full interview on Nightdive's YouTube channel later today, and you can wishlist Thief Remastered on Steam.