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Jukebox Heroes: Elf music
As probably many of you know, I am no fan of the Elven menace. I won't rehash the reasons n this space, but I mention that because I do try to be a fair man. When I'm not trying to eradicate any pointy-eared immortal know-it-all tree-hugger in sight, I have been known to appreciate the Elves' musical culture. That doesn't make me a hypocrite. It just gives me slight pause before ganking the next Drizzt or Legolas. For whatever reason, Elves bring out the magic and talent in MMO composition. Elven themes are quite often among the best that a particular OST has to offer, particularly if you like airy, magical, ethereal tracks that are big on imagination and almost devoid of percussion. I've been noting the trend of excellent Elf music for years and figured I might as well devote a week to it here before going back to my Elf-bashing ways.
City of Steam schedules debut of a new playable race each alpha weekend
Players anticipating alpha testing City of Steam have only a few more days to wait before diving into the steampunk world as this weekend begins the first of three alpha testing weekends. Each weekend will focus on different aspects of the game and will debut a new bundle of playable races: July 20th through 22nd will introduce four types of humans, July 27th through 29th will bring two types of elves, and August 3rd through 5th will have the three greenskin races. Fans who do not yet have an alpha key but want to participate need to sign up for the City of Steam newsletter on the official site. The keys are limited, so the sooner you sign up, the better your chance. The developers are also offering a guaranteed way to obtain a key by purchasing collaborator packs filled with City of Steam swag.
The Perfect Ten: Why Elves are the scourge of MMOs
Astute readers of Massively or my personal blog Bio Break are probably quite familiar with my blatant prejudice against all things Elf. I hate Elves and everything for which they stand. And nowhere does this hatred blossom more brightly than in the fertile fields of MMOs. As the axiom goes, where there is fantasy, there are Elves. Blame J.R.R. Tolkien for popularizing a race of what used to be cookie and Santa helpers. Almost overnight Elves became in vogue in geek culture, and efforts to root them out with flamethrowers have been in vain. Any fantasy MMO that is announced is required, by some arcane law that can only be broken with the blood of a virgin god, to include Elves as a racial choice -- or, if the developers are feeling particularly sadistic, more than one choice. Wood, night, blood, dark, light, mystical -- take your pick. There are plenty of Elves for everyone! Well, I'm not having it. Elves don't get a free pass on my watch, and I'm not afraid to stand up to the powerful Pro-Elf lobby and nail my 10 theses as to why Elves suck on the doors of this blog. Consider your pointy ears on notice, you woodland freaks -- the jig is up!
Cataclysm Beta: Last call for Quel'thalas
One of the better kept secrets of vanilla WoW is a zone called Quel'thalas. (Be careful not to confuse this with the zone Isle of Quel'danas.) If you're not a lore buff, Quel'thalas is the kingdom of the Quel'dorei, or blood elves, as they're now known. (Check out Elven Evolution and Current Horde Politics: the Blood Elves for the full story.) The blood elf zones we know in WoW as Silvermoon City, Eversong Woods and Ghostlands are all considered part of Quel'thalas -- but those are not the zones I'm talking about today. The Quel'thalas I'm referring to is a tiny peninsula northeast of Tirisfal Glades. It isn't accessible by road or flight path, only water, and when you arrive you'll be greeted by ... nothing. There aren't any NPCs, enterable buildings or quest legs -- just an empty, unexplained mystery. Take a look. %Gallery-99822%
One Shots: Bridging cultural differences
Now this is something you don't often see in MMOs every day! No, not the grass, trees and sky -- or even the perky little flowers. The odd thing in this Lord of the Rings Online image is the presence of two very markedly different architectural styles, which you perhaps don't often see close to one another. Finudir, Captain of Gondor, sent us this lovely screenshot and explained:When I walked across these two bridge just before getting to Duilond, I thought "whoa, I have to send this in to the good people at Massively!" In this shot we see two cultures, two architectural styles that don't often occur so close together. The bridge on the left is of Dwarven mastercraft, and the bridge on the right is of Elven make. Nice, eh?Indeed. It's always great to see "foreign" cultures working well side by side in games. Now if we could just get our PUGs to go that harmoniously....Do you have something that caught your attention in your normal game world? Something just a little bit off the beaten path? If so, send it to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. We love to see what's going on in your game worlds!%Gallery-9798%
