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One Shots: Welcome to Booty Bay
One of the things we really like about some of these One Shots is showing how things have changed from the early days to now. Take, for example, the above screenshot sent in to us by Gorlac, Orc Hunter from the guild Astrum Brumalis on the Kil'jaeden server. This was taken from back in the days of World of Warcraft's "Friends and Family" alpha. The water's a little murkier, the details aren't as clear, and there's a human statue... wait, what? That's right folks, the statue in the background in Booty Bay was originally a human male, arms outstretched to welcome you. We heard the tales about it being goblinized due to being too similar to a certain religious statue in Brazil, but we just like to think that it's more in keeping with the Goblin nature; those scamps will market anywhere. Have you got a screenshot that shows off an interesting quirk of the landscape, or some cool bit of history? If so, send those over to us at oneshots@massively.com. (full-size, please!) We love to look around the MMO landscape, so any and all MMOs welcome!%Gallery-9798%[Additional statue image courtesy of Dopefish]
The Lunar Festival is underway in Azeroth!
World of Warcraft has a ton of special holiday events all year 'round, most of them in homage to real-world events. The Lunar Festival is no exception. Coinciding with Chinese New Year, the Lunar Festival has more to offer players than just eye candy. Inhabiting every major city in Azeroth, on both sides of the fence, stand elders of each race, ready to provide special Coins of Ancestry to those who show respect. These Coins may be redeemed for various novelty items.And don't forget to check out the fireworks celebration in each city that begins after sunset and runs each hour. This event will run until February 23rd, and today, which marks the actual Lunar New Year, there will be festivities Stormwind, Thunder Bluff, Booty Bay, and Moonglade. For a complete listing of elder locations and rewards, check out this link. Kung Hei Fat Choi, warriors!
Breakfast Topic: Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2008 from WoW Insider! Most of you were probably at home or out with friends watching the new year come in, but some of you surely celebrated the new year with fireworks in Stormwind, Orgrimmar or Booty Bay, enjoying the festivities online friends as well as offline. Did you have any special new year festivities in Azeroth?
New Year's Eve in Azeroth
Just in case you aren't headed out to a party this evening, let this serve as your reminder that it's New Year's Eve in Azeroth this evening as well. As usual, there will be hourly fireworks in all the major cities after sunset, free drinks in public areas, and revelers aplenty (make sure to blow them a /kiss). Additionally, while it's not listed on Blizzard's official page, there are two quests available (one for each faction), and tradition says that the guards in Booty Bay will get drunk and pass out, which means PvP is going to be welcome in the neutral port town (usually, attacking someone there will get you beat up).Wherever you are this evening (in Azeroth or the real world), here's hoping you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve! Thanks for all you've done for us at WoW Insider in 2007, and we'll see you in 2008!
Around Azeroth: The welcome committee
Though screenshots do not, by default, have sound enabled, I can very nearly hear this smiling Goblin heartily welcoming us to Booty Bay. (Of course, being a Goblin, he would immediately segue into selling us something.) Reader Elaynea of Lightbringer sent us this shot with the title "Rio de Goblineiro" -- and, well, with that much Goblin on-screen, how could it be anything else?Haven't filled your Goblin quota for the day? Send us your Goblin-themed images to us on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!%Gallery-1816%
77,000 goblins killed? Party time!
We really love these player-run parties (how did that AzerothCross go the other week, anyway?), so here's another one for you this weekend. This time around, your host is Kernhoof on Silver Hand (finally, the US realms get their own event), who wants to celebrate his unthinkable accomplishment-- not only did he grind up Bloodsail rep to Honored, but he then went back and killed tons of Venture Co. goblins to bring his Steamwheedle Cartel rep back to neutral. So now he can wear the Bloodsail hat with pride, and walk around Booty Bay without getting stomped on by the bruisers. Awesome.Sounds like cause for celebration to me. The party kicks off this Sunday, October 28th on Silver Hand at 1pm server in Booty Bay, and since the guards there aren't going to be drunk or anything (like they are on New Year's Eve), it probably won't turn into a bloodbath. Probably. But even if it does, should be a good time no matter what-- sounds like Kernhoof has even invited a few GMs to show up. As always, if you go and check it out, make sure to send us your screenshots!
How much do you love your pirate faction?
What pirate faction, you say? The Bloodsail Buccaneers of Booty Bay have their own limited faction gains and rewards. Killing goblins and doing the few available quests will get you a pirate outfit, but not much else.Player Bloodysaber of the Uldum server would like to see more. He'd like to see it so much, he wrote up an entire faction design document for Blizzard to follow. This document not only including quests, NPCs and faction rewards, but also new pirate gear with stats, a pirate title and a pirate town in the form of a boat parked off shore with vendors, flight masters, engineer trainers and quest givers.If you're in the pirate mood today, head over to his thread and give him your support.
Around Azeroth: Under the loving arms of...
Reader Aryc sends us a unique perspective of the well-known Goblin statue in Booty Bay. We've seen plenty of shots of this iconic image standing in the distance in the sunrise/sunset/starry sky/etc, but this is the first time I've seen our Goblin friend up close and personal -- I can only presume that both myself and many Around Azeroth readers never bothered to swim over to the island to take a closer look. (And now you don't have to.)Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Duh nuh... duh nuh..
Though it looks threatening, I doubt that this particular shark is coming to get you like the classic Jaws shark might. For one, it's hanging upside down by its tail in the middle of Booty Bay, which really hinders its movement. Sent in by reader Astinius, it's an interesting angle on a standard Booty Bay image! Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Our favorite view in Stranglethorn Vale
For today's episode of Around Azeroth, we're wandering away from Outland to revisit one of our favorite views of the old world. And if you don't recognize the shot above, I have to say I'd be very curious to know where you leveled between 30 and 45 or so! But for those of you who don't know what we're looking at, it's a shot of the Goblin statue that stands on a tiny island just outside the port of Booty Bay. In this sunset shot, sent in by reader Kalku of Dath'Remar, it looks quite tranquil.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
"Stranglethorn Hole" and the doom of casual WoW?
Recent reports that the general population of WoW players may be going down for the first time cause some concern, enough to even have our post on the subject listed on the BBC for a while. Our readers gave lots of reasons why something was missing from The Burning Crusade, from problems with the new raids, new items, or even lack of anything actually "new" at all. Granted, it is too soon to say whether people are leaving WoW en masse or not, but the concerns raised here are still valid.One of the main problems our readers cited was leveling boredom. The game before Outland is a bottleneck for casual players who want to explore other classes and playstyles but find that getting where they want to be with their new favorite alt would take more tedium and repetition than they're willing to tolerate. Some have the patience and dedication for it, but for others it feels like an impassible jungle.Stranglethorn Vale, sometimes called the "Stranglethorn Hole" (coined by Tobold in reference to black holes, I think), has been the prime example of 1-60 leveling boredom, because at some point between levels 30 and 45, quests in most other areas just dry up, and you're left with little choice other than to help out the goblins in Booty Bay. The Gaming Fascist complains that he couldn't get any characters through the Vale without it feeling like "an affliction or a chore, something I don't really enjoy and fall back to when times get too boring." This was especially infuriating for him since he apparently chose a PvP server and he got ganked a lot there. Anyone tends to feel frustrated and hopeless when your goal is so far away that you have no reasonable means to achieve it.We took a light-hearted look into the future a couple weeks ago, to see what solutions might present themselves in a few years as this problem gets increasingly severe. The fact is that has to be done for casuals who can't or don't want to go raiding, and if trying out new classes and isn't really a feasible option, then what's to prevent them from feeling stuck with nothing to do? More reputations to grind?
Around Azeroth: Above Booty Bay
If you're anything like I am, when you manage to climb to a high place with a scenic overlook, you can't help but leap off it in a dramatic fashion. (Preferably yelling "Wheeee!" on your way down.) However, reader Lee seems to prefer celebrating the view through dance. I didn't quite realize you could get to this precise spot with such a panoramic view across Booty Bay, but I suppose I've never tried terribly hard. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part. If yours isn't posted immediately, don't fret! Shots are posted (more or less) in the order received, and yours will come up eventually.
