Ruins of Lordaeron

(Update May 1, 2010 - putting this at the top of the Blog since it's the video I created.)

One of my favorite tourist destinations in WoW are the Ruins of Lordaeron just outside the Undercity. If you walk through it with the music off and the environmental sounds on, you can experience the ruins and echoes of a former capital city.

Well, I finally documented those sights and sounds in a video clip. You might want to turn up the sound to hear the ghostly whispers.



When I brought the Ruins up to a friend of mine, he suggested I would enjoy the ambience ten-fold if I had played the human campaign of WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. So I did.

Wow, was he right. If you don't know what Arthas went through to "save" his people, I would recommend either playing the campaign or reading about it (Arthas Menethil in WoWWiki or Wikipedia).

In short, Arthas was the prince of Lordaeron who would do anything to save his kingdom, even slay his own people - eventually setting his sights on revenge against his father, the king, for trying to stop him from doing what he felt had to be done. But of course, his chosen path corrupted him.

This video is the ending cinematic of the Human campaign. Arthas returns home to Lordaeron to see his father:

Warcraft 3: Human Ending Cinematic


Voila, context.
Those are Arthas's words that whisper in the royal chamber. Cross the same bridge in the courtyard. The hall is littered with the rose petals that welcomed home the tragic hero. The bells still toll for his return.

Perhaps the citizens wouldn't have welcomed him so heartily if they had known what he had done. Or that their graves and ghosts would litter the courtyard today.

Much appreciation to Blizzard for the tie in to the Lore. Thanks also go to Emp for suggesting I play the campaign. And kudos to this video creator who remixed the cinematics and added a great piece of music to really give Arthas's story the epic feel it deserves:

Arthas destiny - Loreena McKennitt by Ohkami

Murlocs <=> Morlocks

Just an FYI for those who were as in the dark as me - I was surfing around the internet and was looking at this post of artist M.S. Corley's depiction of horror characters in literature. I saw a "Morlock" and by picture and by name it reminded me of a murloc. I have to admit not knowing where this creature was from and had to rely on my good friend wikipedia to tell me what they were.

Here's the first paragraph:

Morlocks are a fictional species created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel, The Time Machine. They dwell underground in the English countryside of A.D. 802,701 in a troglodyte civilization, maintaining ancient machines that they may or may not remember how to build. Their only access to the surface world is through a series of well structures that dot the countryside of future England.

That's what I get for watching Malcolm McDowell and not reading the book. For a flurry of furry Morlocks check out this Google image search. And apologies to all who are slapping their heads right now saying 'no duh, welcome to the party.'

Jimmy Fallon and WoW

Just a quick post to share this video of Felicia Day's helping Jimmy Fallon with a new WoW toon:

Inscription Reference

Patch 3.0.2 (Link to Blizzards 3.0.2 Patch Page) included the advent of the Inscription Profession. Here are some links to reference material and a few quotes:

Overall:

• Blizzard's Inscription Page
• Inscription Guide in from the WoW Forums
• WoW Wiki's Inscription Page
• Inscription Guide by El
• WoW Insider posts marked "Inscription"
• Thottbot's Inscription Portal
• wowcrafterstome Inscription Page (mostly a list of glyphs)

Short Video introducing Inscription (by El) 2:15:


Quote from Eyonix on including Inscription in the Patch before the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion:

Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

Trainers/Vendors:

• How to Unlearn a Profession to make room for Inscription
• WoW Wiki Vendors Section
• WoW Wiki's List of Inscription Trainers

Quote from Blizzard's Inscription page on Getting Started:

Lastly, when getting started as a scribe, a character should not neglect to purchase a Virtuoso Inking Set from an Inscription Goods vendor. Without this item in his inventory, a scribe will be unable to progress in his craft!

Glyphs:

• Glyphs are spell and ability enhancements that can be created by Inscription.
• WoW Insider's Brief Introduction to Glyphs
• Thottbot List of Glyphs
• Jump to the Glyph section of the Blizzard page
• WoW Wiki Glyph Page

Quote from Blizzard's Inscription page re: Glyphs:

Lastly, just as for enchanting or for gems, once a glyph is inscribe to the glyph sheet, it cannot be removed. However it can be overwritten with another glyph should the character wish to change his glyphs at a later date.

Lexicon of Power:

• A glyph created by Inscription requires you to be located next to a Lexicon of Power in order to install the glyph on your character's Glyph sheet.
• Blizzard's Lexicon of Power section of the Inscription page
• WoW Wiki's Lexicon of power Page

Other Ingredients (Vellum, Ink, etc.):

• Most inks require a pigment to create. Most pigments are produced from using the milling on herbs.
• Vellum is made with inscription for Enchanters to make scrolls.
• WoW Wiki Ingredients Page (Milling, Pigments, Ink, Parchment, Vellum)

Quote from Blizzard page on something else a Scribe can do:

A scribe can also create small Darkmoon Faire decks from which they, or others, can get rewards. For more information about the Darkmoon Faire decks that scribes can create, check out our Darkmoon Faire rewards page.

All Things Easter

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it, and to those who don't, Happy Noblegarden. Here are some links to previous posts as well as a new video for you today:

Easter Eggs:
Northrend Easter Egg
Easter Eggs and Pop Culture References in WoW

Lamenting the Noblegarden holiday event:
The subtlety of the event
The shortening length of the event

And now for something brand new, Spiffworld and Jonathan Coulton bring you something for your Sunday best:
Mr. Fancy Pants - 1:56

WoW Phishing

We know to be wary of emails asking for our Banking password, but would we be as wary of an email asking for our WoW Password?

WoW Phishing Noteworthy
Phishing emails aren't new, and neither are WoW phishing emails. But they're now prevalent enough for security software companies to take note. Last week Trend Micro highlighted a recent trend to target WoW players in their blog (via securitypronews).

Blizzard talks account security in this "Support Article" which shares that:

The vast majority of account compromises originate from one of three sources:

1. "Spoof" websites and emails
2. Downloading hacks, cheats, or other executable content
3. Sharing account information and/or using power-leveling services

I guess it's just a matter of time before we see this:



The above fake, pretend, mocked up, imaginary, parody of a WoW mail item (let no one say I wasn't clear) is modeled on an example of one spoofing for ebay account info. It uses a trick or two I learned while researching how to identify fraudulent emails - particularly from this paper Anatomy of a Phishing Email, which included tricks I had never heard of before - highly recommended.

WoW Account Management is Easy
And one last note - To date, World of Warcraft has always done a fine job of making logging into my account an easy task from their home page. Navigation within "Account Management" has also been a cinch, so hopefully I will never feel that it would be easier to just click the link in the email rather than go to worldofwarcraft.com myself.

Christmas WoW Videos

One last Christmas video, short and sweet.

Crafting Worlds: 1:01


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Christmas Videos: Musicals

Baby It's Cold Outside by Windspire 2:30:


Hark! Hear the Wails by Oxhorn: 2:20


It Looks like Christmas: 3:58

Christmas Videos: 12 Days

12 Days of Winterveil by Oxhorn: 5:12


Bob & Doug's 12 Days of Christmas: 3:22


12 Pains of Christmas: 3:40

Christmas Videos: Ode to TV

Heat Miser: 2:53 (1:55 plus 1 minute of Credits)


Snow Miser: 1:31


Grinch: 3:43 (Murlocs killed at 2:40 - cause that's what's really important)


Kidnap Sandy Claws: 3:55

Christmas Videos: Ode to the Chipmunks

Podsafe Christmas Songs by Spiffworld:


Cute & Simple version of the Chipmunk's Christmas Song: 2:42

Christmas Videos: Chiron Beta Prime

In celebration of the Christmas Season, I'd like to kick off a series of posts of World of Warcraft videos with Christmas, Winterveil or Holiday themes.

I'm glad I waited until December 1st to do it because Spiffworld was kind enough to post a new video today with music from Jonathan Coulton.

Chiron Beta Prime
By Spiffworld: 3:33


By zeedoos: 4:00


And if you're in the mood for one more - here's a Chiron Beta Prime video that's unrelated to WoW.

WoW Commercial Videos v2

Bravo to Blizzplanet. They found the William Shatner World of Warcraft Commercial I was looking for as well as a Mr. T Commercial I hadn't seen.

Here's the link: Blizzplanet...

... and here are the commercials:

William Shatner: 0:33


Mr. T: 0:33


Updated 11/27/07 with new youtube links.

WoW Commercial Videos v1

I just had the craziest dream ... there was a new World of Warcraft commercial. And, get this, William Shatner was in it. Heheh, ... how crazy is that?

Anyway, why don't we take a look at a few of the WoW commercials and commercial parodies out there. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Office Space: 0:32


WoW Coke #1: 0:43


WoW Coke #2: 0:47 (because apparently the Coke in the first commercial wasn't Soulbound):

More about the iCoke Event in China

Valentine's Day Commercial: 0:52

iWoW Chicky: 0:39


It's Good enough for Spidey: 0:39


X-Play's World of Warcraft Libido Commercial: 1:20


Ironforge Bank Identity Theft: 0:52 (30 seconds then credits)
#1:


#2:


Toyota Tacoma: 0:29


Converse: 2:07

World of Warcraft Television Appearances

I've been seeing World of Warcraft popping up as a "guest star" in several television series lately. (Perhaps it needs an "episode list" on imdb.)

WoW Insider recently posted about a reference on Judge Judy. And we all remember the "Make Love not Warcraft" episode of South Park.

Now this Fall's television season has added two more shows to the growing cache of WoW television exposure. Perhaps a long writer's strike won't just send viewers to their PCs to play WoW, but the writers as well. When they come back we may see this list grow.

How I Met Your Mother (Season 3, Episode 5):


Big Bang Theory:
#1 - (at 0:31)


#2 - 1:41

(Updated 11/20/07 to fix sound alignment.)


Older Appearances:

Stargate Atlantis:
#1 - 1:26


#2 - 0:48


Jeopardy: 0:14

3 Years and No Veteran Rewards in WoW

Happy 3rd Anniversary World of Warcraft!

World of Warcraft was first launched on 11/23/2004. As we approach this third anniversary, I find it curious WoW hasn't implemented a Veteran's Reward Program yet.


What is a Veteran Reward?
It's a unique item or privilege that a game gives its players after paying ("actively subscribing") for x number of months (3, 7, 12, 24, 36, etc..) of game time. Not to be confused with:

• Items with "veteran" in the name
• Rewards associated with Honor Points and Battleground Tokens or
• Reputation rewards

... because a "Veteran Reward" is simply a thank you to players without regard to level, xp, reputation, accomplishments, etc...

All players have their own ticking clock based on when they started. Although obviously large groups of people will hit milestones (and gifts) at the same time (e.g. a group who started when the game launched in their country).

Veteran Rewards in World of Warcraft
For some reason World of Warcraft hasn't embraced this concept, even though it might add to the consideration of some players who have left WoW but are thinking of coming back. (ahem)

Although to be fair, during holiday events WoW offers one or more free and fun items with at least something for every level. I haven't seen that in many other MMOs, and to the extent that another MMO may have free items at a holiday event, I would venture that they were inspired by World of Warcraft.

Now if only World of Warcraft would be similarly inspired regarding Veterans Rewards.

Blizzard's comments so far (that I've found):

• In November of 2006 someone on the EU forums suggested veterans rewards. There was no Blizzard response until another poster suggested a pet cat that got fatter with each year's subscription. A blizzard poster responded with: Hehe, a fat cat would be cute ;). This was telling only in that it was a complete waste of blue ink.
  
• Then In September 2007 Drysc commented that:

  It's something we've talked about, to be sure, but we have no plans at the current time to implement any such [Veteran] rewards.

Examples of Veteran Reward Gifts in other MMOS:

• Tabula Rasa's 1-Month Emotes (They're getting started early.)
• City of Heroes Wings (See more in video below)
• Star Wars Galaxies Deeds (and the plethora of other items) Also includes sample "Anniversary Awards" for anyone who is playing at the time of an anniversary.
• Ultima Online
• EQ2 Potions, etc.

This City of Heroes video highlights some of the first gifts available in their Veteran Rewards Program:


And if you find yourself laughing ... "Bah! World of Warcraft players wouldn't care about stupid kilts, even if they're free." - then I have just this to say to you...

... Turtle Mount...

...hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Subscriber Growth 2007

I just updated my old table of Subscriber Press Releases to reflect the changes since I posted it in 2006. But I wanted to see it graphically, so here's the result:

It has its faults but it provides a rough idea of the growth. The Press Releases are timed based on other events so the mention of the number of subscribers is likely rounded down and several months old at the time of the release.

Is it too soon to say that this product is in its maturity phase?

For more charts showing subscriber levels - check out the continuously updated charts at mmogdata.voig.com. In particular you might want to see their chart that tracks all MMOs with over 300,000 subscribers.

Mouselook and World of Warcraft

Are you considering playing World of Warcraft but aren't sure if it uses mouselook? The good news is that it doesn't. There is a button you can hold to turn mouselook on and there are third party mods to improve on it (aka lock it), but the default is a nice third person perspective.

As a side note, the camera is so flexible I've been able to take every picture in this blog myself. Including pictures:

From Behind:	From the Front:
Even From the Side:

My Mouselook-in-Hellgate-London Experience:
I'm one of those unfortunate people who gets sick after playing games with Mouselook. I would blame a bad habit of whipping my mouse around too fast but even when I reign that in, it's still a problem. Too bad for me, First Person Shooters (FPS) thrive on it. I might still be dabbling with the likes of Star Wars Battlefront if it weren't for that problem.

Being in the market for a new MMO, I decided to give Hellgate London a try. Many of the Diablo group founded the company so that was promising. My research showed that they wanted to mix FPS and MMO into one game and they offered both first and third person perspectives. So I placed my pre-order on Amazon and signed up for Hellgate's Beta.

Long story short - I canceled my order. Unfortunately you can't get around the mouselook (there's no option to turn it off) and the third person perspective was simply the ability to zoom out and see your character from behind.

The cynic in me mused that they thought adding "vanity cam" (a button that allowed you to see yourself from the front) was what they thought MMO players wanted. That was the only thing besides WASD that felt familiar. I also notice they don't advertise the third person perspective as a choice anymore.

Lest I speak too poorly of the game, I should say how thankful I am for the opportunity to have tried it in Beta before having to commit to the purchase. That worked out well. For those considering it now, you can buy the game and play it without a a monthly fee, then later decide whether or not to participate in the subscription-based content (read more in this Hellgate London Q&A).

Appreciating WoW More:
Also, trying one more MMO made me appreciate yet again how easy WoW is to learn from scratch (apart from say someone who is unfamiliar with a mouse). And those cartoony looking avatars that almost stopped us from switching to World of Warcraft three years ago are now my "norm." I have to really look past that when I am so smartly picking up a game to judge it by its cover (or youtube gameplay footage).

Future Game Purchases:
Lucky for me, Tobold experiences the same mouselook issues and has even found a little background to explain it in his post: Mouselook and video game motion sickness.

He also mentions this type of interface in his reviews so that should be helpful to those of us who must now be wary of it in MMO games. In his early Tabula Rasa Review, for example, he mentions the forced mouselook interface. Interestingly, since then the Tabula Rasa folks have added a patch to allow for a more traditional MMO perspective. I hope that trend develops.

Now if I could just find an MMORPG comparison table like this that also shows the mouselook-perspective (and the Economy) I'd be set.

Ghosts of the Lordaeron Video

Happy Halloween!

For some spooky fun check out these previous posts:

The Ruins of Lordaeron video or

The Haunted Children of Goldshire post.

Today, here's some more information about the Lordaeron video.


You may notice:

• On the way IN - there are (apparently) no ghosts in the courtyard
• But on the way OUT - the ghosts show up

What's with the ghosts?

• Who are they? - They're Citizens of Lordaeron.
• Why are they there? - Check out this Warcraft III Footage in which Arthas must kill the Citizens of Lordaeron. They had contracted a plague that would turn them into servants of Mal'Ganis. Arthas killed them before Mal'Ganis could to prevent this.
• How can you see them? - Find a friendly neighborhood Warlock to cast "Detect Invisibility" on you. Voila. They they are.

I didn't have a Horde Warlock of a level high enough to "Detect Invisibility" so I had to ask around for one. It took a while to get someone to do it.

The discussion in General Chat was pretty much like this:

"Is there a Warlock in Undercity who could cast Detect Invisibility on me?"
... silence ...
Then I waited few minutes to ensure I wasn't becoming a spammer...
"Are there any Warlocks in Undercity willing to cast Detect Invisibility on me?"
... silence ...

It took a while.

Every once in a while someone would tell me to do a /who warlock, but I hate when people do that to me. As a priest I would get cold "tells" all the time and I hated them.

Eventually I got a response:

"Why?"

I explained it was to see the Ghosts in the Lordaeron courtyard and I was summarily laughed at.

After an amount of time I'm not willing to admit to trying my requests in "General" chat, I finally remembered my Cialdini (people will more likely respond when asked individually rather than when asked as a part of a group). So I walked around Undercity until I found a Warlock that looked like I wasn't bothering. Sure enough, he was happy to give me the buff I needed.

Brewfest Resources

The new Brewfest holiday runs from October 2-16.

Blizzard's Video: 1:12 (Also: find the same Brewfest video here)


Find Info at:

• Mortal Ken
• WoWWiki
• Official Page
• Girl Meets WoW
• WoWInsider

A video of the Beer Goggles (Alliance): 0:24