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The top 5 misconceptions about WoW roleplaying
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Imagine walking through a park or tranquil forest and coming across the scene in the video above. What would your reaction be? What would you think about it? Live action roleplaying, or LARPing as it's commonly called, looks just a little strange to anyone who isn't familiar with the concept. But the truth is, it's just a bunch of people playing a game. Sure, the game's got different rules than most, and the uniforms are definitely not your standard fare, but in the end it boils down to this: It's a game people like to play. World of Warcraft isn't like your standard video game. There isn't one set goal. There isn't a big "the end" when you finish everything, because you can't really finish everything in it. There are different focuses within the game -- fighting in scripted encounters for loot, fighting other players, doing quests, and for some players, roleplaying. To everyone else, roleplaying looks just as strange as that video above, and a lot of people tend to make a lot of false assumptions not just about roleplaying itself but about roleplayers, too.
WoW Rookie: Alliance newbie zone revamps in Cataclysm
New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide. Spoiler alert: Today's WoW Rookie is nothing but one big spoiler of the changes Cataclysm will bring to existing Alliance newbie zones. If you're aiming to hit the expansion spoiler-free with fresh, unsullied eyes, you'll want to re-join us two weeks from now (since next week's WoW Rookie will look at Cataclysm newbie zones Horde-side). But for those of you who are itching for a glimpse into what's in store for newly created Alliance characters in the expansion, we've got brief highlights and screenshot gallery samplers of the gnome, dwarf, night elf and human starting experiences. There's not much new to report for draenei in the Exodar, save that their flight point has been moved inside the city. And as for the new Alliance race, the worgen, we've given them their own detailed gallery and write-up, and you can head over to our YouTube channel to watch video of several worgen gameplay segments. Come back next week for a similar look ahead at the newbie zone revamps for Horde races. And now, screenshot galleries (one last spoiler alert for the road -- Cataclysm spoilers abound!) of each starting area plus written highlights, after the break.
Blizzard to patrol Moon Guard's Goldshire for harassment, erotic role playing
Blizzard announced via the customer support forum that it will take proactive steps to quell some of the unsavory behavior on Moon Guard (US), a server notable for its infamous Goldshire inn naughty shenanigans. After a father posted about canceling his son's account because of the general and trade chats on the Moon Guard server, Blizzard customer service responded in definitive terms -- Moon Guard's Goldshire will be actively "patrolled" by customer service team members. Check out the full Blizzard response after the break.
All the World's a Stage: Location, location, location
It's probably simply a reflection of my own, long habits in terms of MMORPGs, but I tend to put a lot of thought in where to roleplay. I mean, a lot. When I first started seriously roleplaying in Dark Age of Camelot, one of my favorite areas was out by the docks. The sound and sight of water lapping against the shore appealed to some mawkish, maudlin post-teenage angst in me. Then, in City of Heroes, I was introduced to a different way of roleplaying in video games. The heroes (and story-based villains) gathered in a small stretch of park next to a danger zone. Hunkered against a lake in Galaxy City, dozens of players would come together to roleplay with whoever happened to be around. That reminded me of my MUD days, of course, and it seemed the best option to get everyone involved. As I cruised different "servers," the roleplayers always seemed to gather in that same, exact area. The reasons were obvious -- it was a safe place for newb toons, and it lent itself naturally to the kind of casual roleplay most folks prefer. But now that I'm firmly in my World of Warcraft life, natural locations for roleplay seem a little harder to find. Every server seems to have their own preferences. If I'm not forearmed via the official forums, I'm regularly flustered when trying to find the roleplayers gathering anywhere. However, good locations for roleplay can be difficult to find. Where can you (safely) get newb toons and older toons together? What locations provide the right ambiance for casual, ad-hoc roleplay? Let's take a look behind the jump where I'll list some of my favorite (or infamous) spots.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Noblegarden achievements
UPDATE: This guide has been revised for Noblegarden 2010. In honor of Noblegarden, we're running a special-edition OverAchiever today, dedicated to what you'll need for the meta-achievement Noble Gardener. Should you finish, not only do you get a spiffy new title, but you also get to check off another set of achievements toward What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, the yearlong achievement-palooza rewarding a 310% speed Violet Proto-Drake. Because Noblegarden has been extensively reworked, most of what you'll be doing this year is completely new, and some of this guide is going to be comprised of educated (or not-so-educated) guesses as to the difficulty of the achievements on the live realms, and tips on how to get them done. I'll let you know if I just plain don't know something or have to hazard a guess based on PTR information, but fortunately most of the holiday is pretty straightforward. We're only going to cover the achievements you need to worry about for the meta, as everything else you can achieve is really based on luck and doesn't count toward Noble Gardener. Let's get started!
Know Your Lore: Stalvan Mistmantle
Welcome to this week's edition of Know Your Lore, bought to you today by assistant lore nerd Daniel Whitcomb. Stalvan Mistmantle, an inhabitant of Duskwood, is one of those guys who just sort of sits there in lore, provoking admiration in some, malaise in others, and a lot of questions in others. Most Alliance have likely at least heard of him, but if you've leveled exclusively in the Horde, you may never have met him. His story is presented in a very sinister fashion, but as to the man behind the quest, and how exactly he came to surrounded by Necromancy and horror, that is a little less clear. As an Alliance member, you first hear of Stalvan through a vision of Death received by Madame Eva. Specifically, she senses Death in the future for her granddaughter, and hears a name in her visions - Stalvan. Heading to Daltry, the town clerk, you begin your investigation. As you continue it, you find out more and more about Stalvan's life. Strangely enough, although it starts out benign, and in fact paints him to a pleasant fellow, an itinerant wanderer and country teacher, spirits appear and try to end your investigation violently. In addition, you often find yourself cursed simply from handling his old belongings.
15 Minutes of Fame: Slow road to max level
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – both the renowned and the relatively anonymous. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com. How long does it take you to get to level 70? This week's 15 Minutes of Fame shines its spotlight on a young player who has drifted placidly along for one and a half years, up to the grand old stature of level 49. Molii of Argent Dawn has spent most of his WoW life roleplaying. As time has crept by, though, his perception of the game and its myriad goals and attractions have morphed, and Molii is hearing the siren song of raiding and the Arenas. Will he get serious about leveling? Where will he end up focusing his game time? We'll peek inside the motivations of an eighth-grade gamer to see where he might be headed next.
My log off spot
Many of us that have played the game every day over the years have developed some habits of sort. One of the habits that I've found myself doing night after night is logging off in the same spot. For me, this spot is at the staff vendor in the Aldor section of Shattrath. I find myself logging off here almost every night since I hearth back to Shat when I'm done raiding, and then go and repair immediately (less I get yelled at for not being fully repaired).I can imagine that there are some better spots than others to log off at. In particular the PvP servers I'm sure pose certain pragmatic limitations on where you can disembark from the game. In the PvE world, I could (if I wanted to) log off anywhere in the wild. Save for the wandering aggressive mob, I would be just fine. However, I don't think this would be too good in a PvP environment.
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn: Premiere!
Welcome to the very first edition of my new weekly column, Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn! For a long time, I've wanted to share the stories I've dreamed up or have been inspired to write by Warcraft. And with such a rich, lore-filled universe to draw on, the world of Azeroth is the perfect place to tell these tales.I've always been a fan of graphic novels, so it was an easy choice for me to decide to present these stories in a comic book style format. Each week, a new page of the story will be uploaded for your viewing and reading enjoyment. For the premiere of this new column, however, I'm giving you the cover and the first two pages!I'm looking forward to exploring many different types of stories in this format as well, from murder mysteries to full on epic tales of battle. I hope that you will enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoy creating them! So, without further delay, click the gallery below to start reading the first issue of Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn!%Gallery-11275%
Socialtext announces press conference inside WoW
MBAzeroth points us to what might be a first in the World of Warcraft: Socialtext, headed up by CEO Ross Mayfield (a.k.a. Kalevipoeg of We Know on Eitrigg-A) is planning to hold Azeroth's first ever press conference. On December 1st, 5pm server time in Goldshire, Socialtext is going to take questions from players in the game. About what, we have no idea, but considering that Second Life has been getting all the marketing attention lately, it's interesting to see a company trying to mesh the real world with WoW.If that's what they're doing, that is. Socialtext's site has no announcement about a December 1st press conference anywhere on their blog, and Mayfield's "announcement" of the conference includes more than a few jokes-- no ninjas allowed, "questions will only be taken from journalists in PVP mode," and a link to Project Azeroth (for those Hordies who might be a little confused by all the Common going around). I'm not quite convinced this is a serious commercial entry into Azeroth-- it could just be a dig at companies like Dell who "hold press conferences" in communities like Second Life without actually incorporating the community they're entering. The guys at We Know, umm, "know" Warcraft, and it could be they're suggesting holding a press conference isn't possible (especially not in Stormwind-- you should hold it somewhere fun like on a run through Deadmines, guys).But you never know-- the only way to be sure will be to log into Eitrigg on December 1st and see what you can find in Goldshire. Mayfield's announcement does promise "those that survive the experience will gain 1 gold piece and a Socialtext tabard" (whatever that is), so it could be a money-making opportunity for both parties, in the real and the virtual world.
More on the Children of Goldshire
With all the attention these kids seem to be getting, perhaps this video will be of interest. Yes, they've been there as long as I can remember, and I've never found any quest or in-game text that explains them. Eerie!
The Evil Children of Goldshire?
After seeing The Omen remake earlier & looking for some discussion of its lameness, I was browsing the official WoW forums & came across this interesting thread, which makes it seem like the peaceful little town of Goldshire might not be so bright & sunny under the surface. It seems that some folks have spotted a group of unexplained, evil-looking children, standing in a pentagram-type formation, appearing sporadically in one of the houses in town...because you know you can't go anywhere these days without tripping over a satanic toddler. Nobody seems to be able to interact with them, and creepy music is reported to be heard in their presence. I've read through a ton of the over 666 posts on the thread, and I still can't figure out whether this is always in the game, or the result of an event or quest, so I'm going to go check it out myself as soon as possible; I'll report back after I investigate. As soon as I'm sure I won't get ganked for going within 100 yards of the Faire, that is...
