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Night elves are latest shrinking shoulder casualties
First Orc males, then Draenei, and now Night Elves? It appears that Night Elf shoulders have shrunk (just a bit-- not nearly as dramatic a change as the Orc shoulders were) over on the PTRs. We talked about this on the WoW Insider show last week: what is up with Blizzard's code that changes like this are happening? What variables are they editing that makes the weird stuff like this happen?At any rate, there is good news. Hortus says the issue is unintentional, and will be fixed in an upcoming PTR build. So your Night Elf will still be able to wear his broad shoulder pieces with pride.
The voices of Azeroth
Last week we looked at who made the soundtrack of Azeroth (and I heard-- and saw-- those very people at the Video Games Live BlizzCon concert), and this week, olanthe on WoW Ladies wants to know who's behind the other, very memorable part of WoW's audio: the voices.Unfortunately, just like the music, Blizzard doesn't actually credit the talent part by part, so while it's easy to find a list of who's voiced something in game (the IMDB entry is probably the most comprehensive, as it contains all the names from the booklets to both shipping WoW and Burning Crusade), finding out who's done what is a little harder. Tony Jay did the intros for all the races, and Cam Clarke has been pegged as the male Blood Elf (among others, including Nexus-Prince Shaffar and Medivh). Voice actress Erin Fitzgerald has done quite a few voices in Burning Crusade, including Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, as well as Sarannis and the Essence of Desire in the Black Temple. Kath Soucie, another well known voice actress, has also done voices in BC, as has Michael Dorn (yes, Worf).But most surprising on the list is probably the sheer number of Blizzard employees-- some, like Samwise Didier, Chris Metzen and Mike Morhaime, are well known, but others, like Tracy Bush, Derek Duke, and Glen Stafford, are usually working on the music of Azeroth. And even others-- Michele Arko, and I'm sure a few other names that I just don't recognize, work in completely different departments of Blizzard, from QA to Administration. So it seems like they invite a lot of their local employees to come in and record voices for their games, and not until recently, with the Burning Crusade, have they turned more often to more high profile actors.Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly answer the question of who the female Night Elf is. But especially for the shipping game, odds are that it's someone who works at Blizzard, not a professional voice actor.Update: You guys are the best. A reader of ours is friends with the Night Elf voice, so here she is: Debi Mae West. And yes, her goods really are of the highest quality. Apparently, she was also Meryl in Metal Gear Solid.
Shifting Perspectives: If you were a druid, what would your life be like?
Druids have some of the best lore in the Warcraft universe. Unlike any other class, this lore is often a binding area of common ground between Alliance and Horde druids, and many druids say that they will help each other regardless of their faction. Certainly this is partly because the Cenarion Circle is the official druid organization in which both tauren and night elves work together peacefully, but also this has to do with the spirit of loving nature -- a sense we bring from our real life experience that nature requires her champions to put aside other differences in order to keep the balance. Many of us who play druids in the game share a genuine concern for the environment of the earth, and the symbols used for druids in the game have a real meaning to us. I'm a roleplayer, so learning background information about druid lore and visualizing what my character's life might have been life is useful to me. But for any player, whether you roleplay or not, it can help you get a more immersive feeling out of your game if you can really imagine yourself in your character's skin,... or fur, as the case may be. So, if you were a druid in Azeroth, what would your life be like? The one certainty would be that a strong connection to nature would have been your primary concern from a very young age, whether as a night elf or as a tauren, but your path to becoming a druid would have been very different depending on which race you were, with great changes coming to you and your people in the very recent past.
A quest to switch sides
Even though almost all you hear from players is Horde pride or Alliance cheerleading, let's face it, there have to be a lot of people out there who believe they've made a mistake. Personally, I love the first character I made-- Hunter is still my favorite class, and I'd love to finally get my first Hunter all the way up to 70 and into some epic gear. Why haven't I? Because it's a Night Elf-- I was young then, and confused, and I accidentally rolled Alliance. I can't really play without my awesome Horde guild now, so that Hunter has been sitting there at 59 for a long time.So there are probably plenty of people that want to switch, but there's no way to do so without completely rerolling. Yet, anyway. Here's the best idea I've heard on the subject so far: create a quest that would let players change factions.Yes, I know, there's lots of reasons for Blizzard not to do it (not least of which is the whole interfaction communication thing). But consider it seriously-- it would be a once-in-a-lifetime quest that would have serious costs (so no nightly switching back and forth), and take a long, long (maybe even a series of daily quests) time to get done. This isn't some frivolous thing-- it's a serious decision, a second chance to reconsider a faction choice you might have made 70 levels ago. Right now, you only get once chance to choose a faction, and it's before you even know your character. Surely you should get one chance to reconsider, right?And originally I was thinking that a faction change would be a "Horde in Durnholde" kind of thing-- if you're an Orc, then you suddenly become Human forever. But Blizzard could even work it so that you could stay the same race, and just switch sides. Imagine it-- Gnome and Undead Rogues alongside each other, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Although it would get confusing in the battlegrounds, wouldn't it?
Gamers on the Street: Attunement changes
Hello all, and welcome to Gamers on the Street! In this column I will be logging into a different server each week to create a character and ask completetly random gamers of both factions their opinions about things that are currently impacting players in World of Warcraft. In this way we hope to reach out to the community and give some everyday gamers a chance to talk about some of the things going on in game.This week, I picked the Gnomeregan server by asking someone in the <It came from the Blog> guild to name a server for me. It was the first one that was given to me. I rolled my two characters -- a Gnome Rogue and a Troll Rogue, which I dutifully leveled past one so nobody thought I was a gold spammer -- and headed for the major cities nearby to ask my questions. Amusingly, getting anyone to talk to you at level five (Alliance) or three (Horde) was difficult to say the least...
WoW Moviewatch: I feel fantastic!
Here's another in a long line of videos made by Spiffworld using the music of Jonathan Coulton. This one deals with a day in the future when we might have a "buff" (pill) for everything, and whether or not that might be a good thing... Also, be sure to keep an eye out for a special appearance by a previous video character who is once again up to no good.Previously, on Moviewatch...
WoW Moviewatch: Starcraft 2 boogies down WoW style
Reading through WarCry I came across this fun little morsel. Evidently, it looks like the devs for Starcraft 2 are having a little fun with their game play, at least in pre-alpha. I knew that the WoW dances are infectious, but I didn't know they bridged genres. In this video, note the dancing figure on top of the building to the right. It's WoW's own Night Elf female making a cameo appearance. The caption might be slightly off, but they are right about the figure being an elf, though not a Blood Elf. I imagine that this image will eventually be replaced by unique animation, but for the moment the placeholder certainly looks familiar. Previously on Moviewatch... [via WarCry]
WoW Moviewatch: Betty and me
In this edition of Moviewatch, we drop in on an excited Dwarf and his lovely Night Elf wife who are expecting their very first baby! With a little help from their Doctor, that is... Kind of makes you appreciate just how strong that Dwarven ale must be if he hasn't been able to figure it out. Although when taken together with Oxhorn's Anti-Elf Anthem, suddenly you begin to understand why those Dwarves don't trust Elves either. Previously on MovieWatch...
Female elf hypothermic syndrome: Won't you help us find a cure?
As Children's Week approaches, we turn our attention to the needy of Azeroth. The poor orphans, only looking for some companionship and a nice vacation, who end up dragged into Magtheridon's Lair. The elderly, who disappear somewhere once they're too old to fight. The homeless, the gnomeless, the disenfrancished and the disemboweled. But today, I ask you to think of a different kind of need. I ask you to think of the female elves. The poor paladin pictured above was a perfectly happy blacksmith until she hit level 40 and started wearing plate. Then, suddenly, her chestpieces started losing arms. Then necklines. Then midriffs. Then other areas of the breastplate that should probably be there to protect against swords and stuff. Today, she is only clothed in two pieces of metal attached together with what appears to be duct tape. And the mail pants ... well, I bought the pants for emphasis because there weren't any plate pants I could wear on the AH at the time. Still, they appear to be a fur loincloth with two mudflaps on the side. Considering where the blood elf's hands are placed when riding a horse, it looks pretty NC-17. And the frostbite ... oh, God, the frostbite. Especially the ears. But my elf is not the only victim. Read on, if you dare ...
CGI night elf stuns European forums
The uncanny valley is a longtime hypothesis about human reaction to robots and computer-generated images. The basic gist is that people like robots/CGI figures that aren't made to imitate humans --- thus the cartoonish style of WoW. We notice the humanlike characteristics of the non-humans and empathize with them. But as the robots get closer and closer to looking like humans, we become strongly repulsed and tend to notice the small things that set them apart from real people. Eventually, though, someday someone will make a figure that looks exactly like a human, and the uncanny valley will disappear. And it looks like we're pretty close to that point, at least going by the CGSociety article going around the European WoW Forums. If it weren't for the step-by-step tutorial, I would have sworn that this picture of a night elf -- made by artist Max Kor for a Blizzard fan art competition -- was of an actual woman in night elf makeup. The eyes, which are usually the big thing that catches people in CG, look totally normal. Forumgoers are also pretty impressed; Megg of Scarshield Legion says, "In 15 years, that's what WoW4 will look like." What do you think about this art?
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Machinima contest runner-up
We've made it to the last of our grand prize contests in the Countdown to Burning Crusade, and it's high time to announce the prize winners. The runner-up, who will take home a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for her efforts, is Myssiing on Stonemaul, aka photochik02, who sent in the following video pitting night elf versus blood elf in an Annie Get Your Gun-style sing-off to the death (no, to the pain!). Grats to Myssiing, and stay tuned for our first place machinima winner!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Day 7
Horde lovers, yesterday you had a chance to win an I survived Barrens chat t-shirt, and today is the day of the Alliance. The same deal applies as yesterday -- you need to provide the best caption for the image above in order to take home a Team Paladins shirt in your choice of size. We'll choose 10 finalists from all the entries received by 2pm EST tomorrow, January 7, and put it to a vote to let the popular opinion determine the winner. Happy captioning!P.S. Don't forget to get your entries in for the lyrics, fan art and machinima contests!
Breakfast Topic: First loves
How many characters did you go through before you settled on one to take to 60? Is your first your only character, or have you hopped from class to class and race to race before you felt comfortable?The first character we create can hold the fondest memories; we made newbie mistakes together, we learnt the game and explored the world. On the other hand, sometimes mistakes made as a newbie can have far-reaching effects; especially if that high-powered guild leader is someone we accidentally stole a mob from who still bears the grudge. Unlikely, but there are times we wish we could rewrite those first bumbling steps, go back and give ourselves all the expertise we have now.My first character was, maybe predictably, a Night Elf. I chose a Druid because shape-shifting sounded unbelievably cool, and after a few nasty experiences with spiders and getting lost in Teldrassil, I made it to Darnassus, then undertook the pilgrimage to Ironforge. After leaving the character there for months so I could play around with everything else the game has to offer, I recently dusted her off and it's a lot of fun coming back to that very first creation, even if it does mean dealing with a bank full of rubbish and extremely ill-suited equipment.
