[1.Local]: The all a-Twitter edition

Watching the pros play WoW
Many WoW fans say they'd gladly follow PvP tournaments -- if only they could follow the action. "Arena Tournaments could benefit greatly from instant replays, slow motion and camera angles beyond the third-person view," wrote listereo. "These aren't available due to the limitations of the software. If a 'spectator' player could be present, a la Quake 3, who could fly around the action on a non-player client to act as a sort of cameraman, then that footage could be pulled down to a video source and played back. 'Slow motion' could be available if the client frame rate was high enough and the recording media was able to record on a frame-by-frame basis instead of a set 24 or 30 frames per second, but just the same, it would need to be pulled down as fast as it's read from the screen to a source that could be readily manipulated.

"Going forward, match recording similar to Halo 3 ought to be explored, live spectator modes should be considered, and options better than capture cards and cameras mounted to the monitors need to be developed, if there's any hope of instant replays or slow motion highlights similar to what we enjoy in major league sports coverage. Such things would pull resources away from developing the fun and balance in the game."

Would you watch a match "broadcast" under those conditions?

The lore of Ulduar
Nothing brings in the comments like a good foray into lore. WoW.com's Matthew Rossi revisited a post about the lore of Ulduar with some juicy speculation: "See, I'm not entirely sure that Loken was fully controlled by Yogg. Because if he was, why would he deliberately set up a confrontation that ended in his death and the impending reformatting of Azeroth by Algalon?

"My theory is that Yoggy can influence powerful Titan/Titan servants (I'm still not sure if the Watchers of Ulduar are intended to be considered Titans the same way that Golganneth, Norgannon, etc., etc., are), but he can't make them totally act out of character so much as he can emphasize/exaggerate their natures. So Mimiron becomes more interested in his gadgets than in lives; Thorim seeks sport through combat and forgets his duty (subtly aided by the 'Sif' entity created by Yogg); Freya becomes an avatar of nature's impartial cruelty; and Hodir is lost in delusions of the rampaging strength of winter. We go in and slap them around, but Loken was too far gone for that.

"So he sets up the Iron Dwarf army for Yoggy, but he also sets us up to kill him, thus reformatting Azeroth and *once and for all killing Yogg-Saron*. The Titans couldn't kill the old gods without destroying the world, remember; since they're going to destroy the world anyway, it's a safe bet that they'll take the time to kill the old gods this time, instead of letting them continue to interfere with the development of their experiment.

"After Loken dies, Yogg's in a race against time to get out of Ulduar before Algalon arrives to sterilize the planet. If he can get out and enslave the mortal races, he'll have a power base from which to fight Algalon off and fortify Azeroth to stand against the Titans when they come to personally whup his butt. So he needs the Iron Army, but he doesn't *trust* it, since it (and Loken) are creations of the Titans and might regain their loyalties if pressed. He intends to use them as fodder in his war of conquest, and then discard them before it's too late. Hence his sticking them in front of the Archivum: he needs it guarded, but at the same time, it's a relatively minor concern for him.

"Likewise, Yogg himself is the one who lets the Twilights into Ulduar, much as C'thun made use of them in Silithus. They're insane cultists who worship the old gods via their elemental lieutenants, perfect minions because there's zero chance they'll betray him and side with the Titans.

"This is all speculation on my part, mind you."

A plausible theory?

Surviving summertime raiding
To have and to hold, in sunshine and student schedules and in health ... Does summertime play havoc with your guild's raiding schedule?

"Maybe guild leaders should try to enjoy the summer too instead of wasting their lives trying to hold together a guild in a video game?" wrote Netherscourge in reply to frustrated players trying to keep raiding groups rolling forward. "I mean, if other people in the guild are out having fun in the fresh air, maybe the guild leaders should consider doing the same thing? Summertime should not = more time to play WoW. It should = more time to enjoy real life. Just a thought. But hey, if you love camping out in your basement and adjusting DKP spreadsheets all day long, more power to you."

Others took umbrage at Netherscourge's angle. "I don't see how going outside is more 'real life' than sitting inside playing a game," wrote toxicityj. "A lot of school-aged children/teens and college students spend a majority of their day at school and for some at work during most of their free time. Maybe some people would enjoy their time off playing a video game, catching up to their friends who hit 80, starting a new 'toon, raiding the hell out of Naxx in preparation for Ulduar, etc. Juts because you would rather spend your time outside than inside playing a game doesn't make your preference more 'real life' than someone else's. Please get off your high horse."

"How kind of you," agreed Kirklees. "Except some of us work for a living and don't get summers off. 'Summer' is exactly the same as every other month of the year for me, except some of my employees take trips with their family and there is more work for the rest of us to go around. Perhaps if you opened up your scope of who plays the game, rather than trying to talk down to those of us who don't have the luxury of having a few months free and still want to be able to unwind from our daily lives with the game that we enjoy."

What's summertime like for you and your guild?

Discover your inner ShrinkGeek
Buff geeks -- yes, they exist, and they're chatting it up on our post about a new web site designed especially for geeks who want to get fit. "As an avid health nut, I can tell you powders and pills are not the way to go," wrote Naix. "Your body need meats, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts. The human body can only process about 50 grams of protein at a time. So if you're working out, getting about half your body weight in grams of protein is way more than sufficient. Eat your big meals early on in the day. Eat smaller meals at night. Don't eat after 9 p.m.

"Stronglifts is the best workout program I have ever done. Lift for about 30 minutes, and you're done. It has compound exercise programs that make sense. I have gained about 30 pounds of muscle and am down to 12% body fat over the last year doing this program. The best part is it is free.

"When working out, form > weight. If the weight is too heavy to lift correctly or if you think you need a spotter, then you should not lift the weight. Period. Start at low weight, and keep adding weight until the 3rd or 4th set is your max. Do cardio after you lift and try and eat at least 20 grams of protein after your workout."

Rafe Brox offered a slightly less structured workout. "You could pair this with what one of my friends calls the 'Viking Workout,'" he wrote. "Pick up heavy rock. Throw rock. Chase rock. Repeat until no can pick up rock. "I'm not sure where the burning and pillaging comes in; maybe that's on the program's off days. ;-)"

Read about getting fit from a geek's perspective at ShrinkGeek.

What is casual?
It's casual! It's hardcore! It's ... it's ... it's ME!

Reader fauxbo settled the hardcore vs. casual debate once and for all: "It's easy to settle. A casual player plays less than you. A hardcore player plays more than you. See? It's not so hard."

What's your playstyle? Come see how other WoW.com readers characterize their own time spent in the World of Warcraft.

Upcoming mount changes: taking the adventure out of WoW?
Leveling a new character has never been easier, and now Blizzard is streamlining the process even more with changes to the mount system. "Blizzard is going the route of the only possible way in WoW 1," wrote Bossy. "A fantasy MMORPG can only be alive when you gather enough people in one place to adventure in. Today's limitations are server pops (3K to 3.5 K max online at once) and lag (when too many people are in one place).

"Since each content patch spreads out the public even more, you need to concentrate your efforts on the end game, meaning the last 10 levels of a game and its end content after 80. It may kill off the more adventure type-like players, but I have the impression the majority of WoW players these days are not really interested in the 'long adventure story.' I think most find other ways to enjoy this game, like playing the BGs or doing the last raids and having a go at the latest gear and or achievements.

"There really is no alternative (other) than to regroup to 3,000 players online in the last 10 zones and levels for this kind of game and try to make the journey to 68 as painless as possible. A lot goes away, of course, but it only is good if the new game play is as good as the old. And WotLK offers more than old WoW (despite the nostalgia glasses). So WoW 2009 is certainly no longer WoW 2005. More options, more different playing styles (casual - hardcore) in its end game, but less adventure to grow up in a living world."

Do you miss what Bossy calls "the adventure"?

The couple that WoWs together ...
Plenty of WoW players say playing together is an important part of their romance. "My (now) husband and I actually met online through a site, but we could only see each other on weekends due to living several hours apart," wrote Danielle. "I had just started playing Warcraft and asked him to join me. Neither of us are big phone talkers, so we spent most of our courtship running around Azeroth together. We used to sit and watch the sunset in Booty Bay after we were done leveling for the day. :) We eventually moved in together but still play WoW to this day and will be celebrating our third anniversary this year."

Awww.

Greg's experience has been similar: "While my wife and I have never actually used our WoW time to date per se, we do generally agree that WoW has been good for our marriage. Because of my job, I spend a good deal of time away from home. WoW has been an amazingly cheap, simple and fun way to stay in touch. It's really helped us to stay close during times when that would otherwise be difficult. I know the joke used to be that the game came bundled with divorce papers, but it actually can be a healthy part of life and relationships. Honest."

Looks like the couple that WoWs together, wows together.

A look at the Shroud loot system
If your guild is still running any form of complex loot system, could the Shroud system work for you? "I am raid leader for Leftovers on Silver Hand and been raiding since EQ in '99," wrote YuriPup. "Shroud is the best system I have come across and works with our unique structure very well. When you have 100+ raids a week, 700+ raiders and lots of potential churn, a simple, robust system is best -- and I am a huge fan.

"The one little change we have made to Shroud is adding a save level -- same points as a standard roll but lower priority, so that a raider at 0 points can still show they are interested in that tier piece over the experience raider who's building an off-off set. (LO loot problems were more likely to be of the 'No, you take' kind, and save helps that a lot.)

"The other bit that wasn't mentioned, at least about our implementation of Shroud, is there is no going negative. If you are at 0 points you can't shroud, but you can standard. And no points are earned until the end of the raid. New raiders can get loot their first raid ("Welcome to LO, here are your free loots"), but they can't shroud."

What loot system works best for your raiding guild?