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The Perfect Ten: MMO mascots
Everyone knows that a good mascot can make a difference between a video game's death and rabid popularity. Mario, Master Chief, Duke Nuke 'Em, Pac-Man, Samus Aran, Pyramid Head -- each one of these mascots isn't merely an aspect of the game, they are the virtual spokesperson (or spokesthing) which represents the game itself. Yet when you think about it, MMOs have had a tougher time producing mascots than other video game genres, partially because unlike other games, you don't play as the mascots, and partially because when you have a cast of thousands of NPCs, picking out one to elevate above the rest is a difficult job. Difficult, that is, but not impossible. Today we're going to look at ten MMO mascots (MMOscots?) that studios have tried to promote as the face of these games, to varying degrees of success.
Know Your Lore: The mysterious connection between spirit healers and the Val'kyr
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. They are about the only thing you're happy to see when you're dead. Beings of ghostly blue, these winged saviors of Azeroth's adventuring masses have been there since the very beginning of WoW, and are the closest thing Azeroth has to angels. They possess the power to bring the dead back to life, when said adventuring masses have had their adventuring cut abruptly short by accidentally pulling one or two more murlocs than they could handle. Gracious and kind, it seems that these beings only exist to help Azeroth's lost find their way back to the world of the living. You only see the true scope of their power when you're dead, and it's safe to say if you're coherent at the time, you're probably not prepared or happy for what comes next. From quietly resting beneath the earth to a shambling mass of undead material, these ghostly creatures exist to pull the dead back to life -- at a cost. Where once was a whole and complete adventurer, now there is only forsaken; a living corpse with free will, although it's questionable as to how much of that will is actually free. One brings players back to life; the other curses them with a life of undeath. Is there a connection between the benevolent spirit healers of Azeroth, and their dark doppelgangers, the Val'kyr? It's a question that's been posed to me on more than one occasion, and since we've slogged our way through the order of the Warcraft cosmos, it's one we can take a look at now.
Know Your Lore: The Warcraft cosmos, Tinfoil Hat edition
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Last week, we wrapped up the second half of the Warcraft cosmos series and covered the additional planes of existence within the Warcraft universe. These layers of planes and the way they interlock is a tricky topic that, quite frankly, gives most people a headache when they think about it too long -- myself included. However, now that we've got the basic layers and interaction between all these planes of existence, there is an incredible amount of speculation to be done. That's right; today's a Tinfoil Hat edition of Know Your Lore. If you are unfamiliar with the Tinfoil Hat concept, these are columns in which we take existing known lore and place our own spin on it to try and speculate on future events. None of the Tinfoil Hat columns should be taken as actual lore by any stretch of the imagination. However, there is a great deal of fun to be had in picking things apart and trying to predict, so let's see what we can come up with, shall we? But first, let's clear up the matter of demonic death.
The OverAchiever: Mountain O' Mounts in raids
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we return to flogging the guts out of bosses that might puke up a horse. Today we're going to look at mounts that drop in (or, in one case, as part of a quest within) raids. I'd initially expected to include mounts like the Ulduar proto-drakes and Icecrown frostwyrms, but they're really more the result of a series of achievements rather than encounters themselves. Otherwise, there are more than enough pure drops to keep us occupied today; Blizzard's always been fond of making unique mounts the potential reward of difficult raid encounters, and you'll get a few extra feats of strength if you nab some of these beauties. Also read: Combining The Ambassador and Mountain O' Mounts Mountain O' Mounts in Outland Mountain O' Mounts in Northrend Mountain O' Mounts in 5-man dungeons
Blizzard updates Wrath art gallery with familiar vistas
The Wrath of the Lich King art gallery has been updated with six awesome shots of clean artwork that features familiar locales and loading screens. Art from the Pit of Saron, Eye of Eternity, Forge of Souls, Wintergrasp, and Trial of the Crusader are available for ocular enjoyment. The art for Wrath of the Lich King has always been some of my favorite concept art because of how easily the look and feel of the pieces convey what the entire expansion and Northrend itself was supposed to be. Success, indeed. Check out the gallery here. WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
Raid Rx: Raid healing horror stories that taught us a thing or two
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. A new PTR build went online a few days ago. We're getting closer and closer to a release. Two weeks, perhaps? End of March? Ides of March even? Who knows? The Spirit Link totem has officially been added on the PTR. I've never heard Joe Perez squawk with so much glee before after using it in Zul'Aman. If you want to read more details on the totem, go read up on Joe's post about it. Other than a shortened cooldown on Tranquility for resto druids, still nothing on the defensive front. Chakra for priests now lasts a really long time! In fact, it lasts so long that the effect won't go away until it is canceled. I liked the whole Chakra volleying mechanic. It was an interesting way to add additional thought for holy priests. The last big change I want to note is the pushback protection that druids and priests are getting. Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, and Tranquility now have 100% pushback protection from damage. For those that didn't know, a pushback effect is caused when you take damage. When you cast a spell, it might take a little longer than normal because you've been hit by an enemy. This causes the casting bar to move back slightly. This week, I want to share some healing stories. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry; and some will simply make you plant your face in your palm.
WoW TCG Assault on Icecrown Citadel 4-player game now available
Grab three friends and roll the dice to see who gets to be the Lich King -- Cryptozoic Entertainment just released the Assault on Icecrown Citadel four-player game! The game is built on the WoW Trading Card Game, but rather than having to build and use your own deck, you take control of decks themed around Icecrown's biggest heroes: Tirion Fordring, Sylvanas Windrunner, and Jaina Proudmoore. Each hero plays differently, and you'll need all of their unique abilities and weapons to defeat the Lich King, also controlled by a player. To top it off, it's packaged with a special Treasure Pack containing cards unique to the set and Worldbreaker loot cards. I was lucky enough to get to play the game before its release, and I can vouch for its fun factor. Being able to play as a lore hero instead of an average Joe gives the game a really epic feeling. The Assault on Icecrown Citadel game retails for $39.99 and is available at retailers now.
Cryptozoic announces Assault on Icecrown Citadel raid deck for March 1
Coming soon to a store near you is the latest offering from Cryptozoic's World of Warcraft Trading Card Game: Assault on Icecrown Citadel. This new raid deck pits players taking the part of Tirion Fordring, Jaina Proudmoore, or Sylvanas Windrunner against the Lich King. Complete out of the box, the four-player game features loads of new art and allows players to take the part as one of the three heroes or as the Lich King himself. The best part? Each deck comes with that hero's legendary weapon, from Ashbringer to Frostmourne. And of course, there are other perks to be had -- each Treasure Pack holds the chance of getting a nifty loot card that can be used in game. The Icecrown Citadel Raid Deck and Treasure Packs are scheduled for a release date of March 1. Check out the official WoW TCG site for more information about the game, galleries of TCG artwork and tutorials on gameplay, as well as information on where you can pick up the game for yourself! Follow after the break for the full press release from Cryptozoic Entertainment.
Know Your Lore: Sylvanas Windrunner, part 2
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Sylvanas Windrunner had a very important question to answer both for herself and her people at the end of Wrath of the Lich King: "What now?" Since their emergence as an ally of the Horde, the Forsaken have sought ultimate vengeance against the being responsible for their unfortunate fate. At the end of Wrath, the Forsaken and Sylvanas attained that goal; the Lich King was dead, and the Forsaken were left with ... well, nothing really. Sylvanas had a lot to think about as a leader, her people were looking to her for guidance and a new goal to singlemindedly march toward. What Sylvanas discovered in her pondering was that she'd forgotten about one simple fact regarding the Forsaken -- they were undead. Ever since the beginning of World of Warcraft, new Forsaken were introduced as being former soldiers of the Scourge who had broken free of the Lich King's control. With no Lich King, there was no Scourge, and with no Scourge, there was no way to bolster the Forsaken's numbers. Without new Forsaken, Sylvanas' people would quickly die out. Please note: The following post contains spoilers for the Forsaken storylines featured in Cataclysm content. If you have not played through Silverpine, Hillsbrad Foothills or the Western Plaguelands, turn away! And go play through those zones, because they are amazing.
Know Your Lore: Sylvanas Windrunner, part 1
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. It can be reasonably argued that of all the faction leaders currently featured in Cataclysm, none are quite as questionable in both motive and actions as Sylvanas Windrunner. The history of Sylvanas and her role in Wrath of the Lich King has already been discussed in the Forsaken politics article from earlier this year; at the point it was written, we had no real idea what exactly she was going to be doing in Cataclysm. Now we have answers, and those answers do nothing but raise even more incredibly disturbing questions. Where do the Banshee Queen's loyalties lie? To the Horde, to her people, or to some other power entirely? Sylvanas' past was fraught with grief and horror; her future seems to be teetering on the brink of something even worse. With the introduction of the worgen, Sylvanas has something to focus on -- but what exactly are her motives, and who is it that she's ultimately fighting for? Please note: The following post contains spoilers for the Forsaken storylines featured in Cataclysm content. If you have not played through Silverpine, Hillsbrad Foothills or the Western Plaguelands, turn away! And go play through those zones, because they are amazing.
Know Your Lore: The Third War, part 3
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Last week, we covered the campaign of Prince Arthas Menethil across Northrend, the destruction of his soul and subversion of his homeland under the forces of the Lich King, and the summoning of the demon lord Archimonde into Azeroth. Dalaran was destroyed, most of the ancient kingdom of Lordaeron annihilated, and the forces of the Scourge placed under the direct control of Tichondrius, a trusted dreadlord. This left Arthas and Kel'Thuzad at loose ends just as the Lich King had anticipated, for he had plans of his own for his most powerful minions that didn't involve them working for the Burning Legion. Ner'zhul, the spirit that had been twisted and deformed by the Legion's master manipulator Kil'jaeden, had nothing but bile, scorn and contempt for his purported masters and sought to use his influence as the Lich King to free himself from their control. As the Legion and its Scourge army prepared for the next move of its invasion, other forces had gathered and made their own plans to deal with the coming darkness. Both the young orc warchief Thrall and the human mage Jaina Proudmoore had been driven by the words of a mysterious prophet to gather as many of their people as they could. Each made their own independent journeys across the large sea to the west, not knowing what lay across its waters. And each separately encountered the legacy of a time long since lost to history. For unknown to them, to the west lay Kalimdor, the land of eternal starlight, and on its shores, both groups would find a new future and the ultimate battle against an old enemy. For it was on the slopes of the mountain named Hyjal that the World Tree Nordrassil grew over the successor to the Well of Eternity, the same font of power that the Legion had fought to possess 10,000 years earlier. And it was that World Tree that Archimonde and his forces would ultimately seek to destroy.
"The Raid" movie documentary examines WoW raiding
If there's anything I've learned over the years as a gamer, it's to approach films and TV shows about games or gaming with extreme caution. Be it cinematic game-to-film monstrosities like the Street Fighter movie or sensationalist "documentary" garbage like the fifth estate's Top Gun, there always seems to be a disconnect between the people operating the camera and the subjects they're trying to portray. World of Warcraft in particular has received plenty of positive and negative attention, but in recent years, there has been an increasing movement among geeky creatives to try their hand at explaining the game and the phenomenon of its popularity through all sorts of projects. The Raid is one of those projects. The Raid is a short, 20-minute documentary that sets out to understand not World of Warcraft itself but raiding in the game. What raiding is, how it's different than in other single- or multi-player games, and what makes it so compelling are all touched on by the documentary. Some of the topics might seem rudimentary to actual raiders, but that's because the target audience of the film isn't raiders but rather their friends, family, and any other outsiders who struggle to understand what it is that we're doing within the game. That doesn't mean actual players won't have a reason to watch the documentary, though; raiders will easily be able to connect with the narrative of the film and the players featured in it.
Spiritual Guidance: Finishing Wrath raids as a 4.0.1 healing priest
Every Sunday at WoW Insider, you'll find Spiritual Guidance, a guide to healing as a discipline or holy priest. Priestess Dawn Moore will bring you the latest in news, discussion and advice for priests in the World of Warcraft while simultaneously battling her shadow priest rival, Fox Van Allen. This week Dawn is able to take a break, since Fox is busy promoting the musical tour of Foxlight, his Hannah Montana-esque alter ego. Previously on Lo -- Spiritual Guidance, I assaulted your eyeballs with monoliths of text describing what's going to be happening in patch 4.0.1. This week, in response to a couple of emails I got, I'm going to scale it all back and talk less about the nitty-gritty and more about how to apply the patch to whatever it is you're still doing in the game. Working on heroic Lich King? OK, we'll talk about that. Halion? Sure, we'll do that too. Farming Invincible? Err ... Well, I guess I could draft up some sort of farm content. ICC drinki -- An ESRB rating falls on Dawn's head. Yes, well, let's get to it, shall we?
The OverAchiever: Pimp thy ride
As you've probably already read, players will be able to purchase 310 percent flying speed from trainers in Cataclysm. While this is good news for people who hate raiding, think arena was shat into existence by the most sociopathic among the development team, or spent School of Hard Knocks trying to drown themselves in the nearest body of water, the bad news is that buying your way to super-fast flying will run you a cool 5,000 gold. Outrageous, says this dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate. For anyone else who'd rather die than part with a centavo of hard-earned gold, the good news is that having even a single 310 percent flyer in your stable is enough to get you the skill free. Fortunately, there's plenty of time to snag yourself one of these coveted mounts before Cataclysm hits, and just as fortunately, each mount is the reward (or subject) of an achievement. Strategy guides for obtaining each of the remaining 310 percent mounts is definitely beyond the scope of this article (although I'll probably devote an edition of OverAchiever to nabbing the Rusted Proto-Drake, above) but we can take a visual tour of the fast flyers that any hard-working player can still get in Wrath of the Lich King.
15 Minutes of Fame: Raiding on 8 hours a week
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. What marks the line in the sand between "hardcore" raiding and "casual" raiding? Is it an attitude, time spent ... both? We're not going to get into the debate here -- but you're sure to come away with new food for thought after this interview with the GM of <Skunkworks>, which recently downed the Lich King in 25-man heroic mode -- the 244th guild in the world and only the 70th in the United States to do so -- on just 8 hours of raiding per week. 15 Minutes of Fame: Let's start with some introductions. Chupa: My former main (I'm currently on sabbatical for school) is Chupadruid, a healer in <Skunkworks> on Balnazzar (US-H). Before that I raided on my warlock, Chupavida. I founded the guild as <Casually Serious> on Crushridge (US) in September of 2008, in anticipation of the release of Wrath of the Lich King. How did you arrive at the idea of a limited-schedule raiding guild? I started playing the game in August 2006 to join some friends from work in their extremely casual adventures. As a married student dragging myself through undergrad, I didn't have time to join any of the guilds on my server (which all raided three to five nights a week). I also had no interest in joining a raiding scene where racism, vulgarity and general internet douchebaggery were the norm. As a consequence, my experience with raiding was limited to ogling the guys in T2 as they idled in Org and getting blown up in WSG by T3 premades. I did take my warlock to some feeble attempts to clear ZG and AQ-20, but those runs were lucky to kill trash, let alone bosses.
Breakfast Topic: I am the lucid dream
Recently, I was talking to Matticus and Kinaesthesia on one of our podcasts about Ruby Sanctum. Toward the end of the discussion, Kina mentioned how much he loved Halion's voice actor, Matthew Mercer (granted, we didn't know that was his name at the time.) We agreed his voice acting was excellent, and Kina suggested Blizzard ought to keep bringing him back for more parts. To date, Mercer also has done the voice of General Vezax in Ulduar and Overthane Balargarde in Icecrown. Anyway, some days later while we priests were tossing the PoM around, the subject came up again, and Kina quoted the line Halion says when you enter phase 2: "You will find only suffering in the realm of twilight. Enter if you dare." He gushed at the inflection on the word "suffering," while I stated my preference for the way he taunts you with, "Enter if you dare." Our talk led to other memorable lines from Wrath. I immediately brought up Sara from Ulduar and quoted her haunting, "I am the lucid dream." Plus, who could forget a first visit to Ulduar? I remember my sleepy raid's wandering into the Antechamber around 1 a.m. the first night that patch 3.1 went live. After accidentally completing Crazy Cat Lady and distributing loot, we stood around deciding where to go next. Vent had gone quiet while we all tabbed out to read up on Hodir until a deafening scream cut through the silence of the Observation Ring. Everyone on Vent promptly freaked out: "What the hell was that!?!" I loved it.
Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics -- the humans, part four
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. All right, you guys have read through almost everything there is to see with regards to the current political situation of the human race. The first three articles covered the history of the Alliance -- both old and new -- and the struggles of Varian Wrynn and his life as the "leader," so to speak, of the human race. The word leader is used in quotation marks because, to be perfectly honest, Varian wasn't much of a leader; he was brooding, depressed, not really willing to see anything that was going on around him, and the Council of Nobles was pretty much running the show. The only "real" leader available to Alliance humans at the outset of World of Warcraft was Jaina Proudmoore, the leader of Theramore, who wasn't really much of a leader either. This was largely due to her somewhat unpopular beliefs that orcs were capable of peace and her attempts to work towards some sort of peaceful agreement between the orcs and humans of Kalimdor. So here we have the human race, largely left to its own devices -- but they seemed to be doing, if not amazingly well, at least OK for the most part. It's Varian's return and the events of Wrath that directly affect what's going on headed into Cataclysm.
Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics -- the humans, part three
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. To date, we've covered the beginnings of human politics, from the forming of the Arathor Empire and the original Alliance to the dissolution of the Alliance of Lordaeron and the evolution of the Alliance we know today. Along the way we've discussed Jaina Proudmoore and her progress from a young girl of Kul Tiras to the leader of Theramore, and the growth and subsequent kidnapping of King Varian Wrynn. Varian's story is far from over with the death of Onyxia however, and his influence on the Alliance is an interesting matter in and of itself. When last we left King Wrynn, he'd just finished rescuing his son from the clutches of the black dragon Onyxia, who'd spent the majority of Varian's reign disguised as Lady Katrana Prestor and subsequently running Stormwind into the ground. Fresh from the victory over Onyxia, Jaina chose this moment to suggest that Varian resume the peace summit that he'd been on the way to when he'd been kidnapped -- an idea that didn't really appeal to the King at all. Once again, Prince Anduin stepped up and persuaded his father that it would be an excellent idea, and Varian reluctantly agreed to it.
Raid Rx: Healing the Lich King
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Welcome to the end boss. It is possible to heal through Arthas with a less than ideal composition -- my first kill with 25 players was done without the presence of any holy paladins. If your guild is still struggling with it and the issue might be from the healing side of things, maybe I can help you out here with some additional pointers. If you're not quite sure about the overall mechanics of the encounter, refer to Kinasthesia's awesome tutorial videos: Part 1 and Part 2.
Wrath Retrospective: Lore and the art of storytelling
With the final content patch of this expansion on our doorstep and Cataclysm following close behind, we'll be taking the next several weeks to look back on Wrath of the Lich King and everything that made it what it is, for better or for worse, in WotLK Retrospective. Wrath of the Lich King wasn't just an expansion -- it was an experiment in progressive storytelling featuring story lines and lore that we haven't seen since Warcraft III. While Burning Crusade tackled new issues and races, it did little to further any of the Azeroth stories we'd seen in the earlier Warcraft games; Wrath took a step backwards to move the prior stories forward. Along with this change in direction, we saw the introduction of a few things that hadn't been seen in Warcraft before that made a large change to the way we view stories and quests in World of Warcraft, and a re-introduction of many of the heroes and prominent figures that we'd only caught glimpses of in vanilla. Today, we're going to look at Wrath lore: what worked, what knocked it out of the park and what failed to impress. Phasing Quite possibly the biggest technical advancement in storytelling was the introduction of the phasing mechanic. This allowed players to play through quests, and as the stories progressed, so did the world around the players, giving a new and unique feel to story line progression. Suddenly, instead of playing through a zone with no indication that you'd made any changes to the status quo, the world changed around you -- the chain of events in Conquest Hold in Grizzly Hills and Frosthold in the Storm Peaks both actually ended with NPCs being replaced as a direct result of player interaction. In the quest chain of The Battle for the Undercity, both Alliance and Horde players are teleported into a phased version of Orgrimmar, designed as a vehicle to further the story line -- and as a way for Alliance players to interact with Thrall without being attacked.
