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A winning WAR-mula
There's a tendency for everyone in the MMO industry to speculate how well an upcoming MMO will or won't perform and whether or not it'll take a chunk of the World of Warcraft pie. While that's all good and fun we sometimes forget that a game's success can be determined by some simple modifiers. The Warhammer Online blog WAAAGH! has taken some time to think about those modifiers and what they mean for EA Mythic and their newest MMO coming to market.It's essentially a list of ten things that WAAAGH! feels will either make or break Warhammer Online. After looking over the list with a steady eye our conclusion is that everything listed is something that EA Mythic has most of the responsibility for handling. Well, except for the marketing. Electronic Arts will be taking care of that for the most part, although we would hope that EA Mythic gets some say in how that's handled. As for the parts of the equation that EA Mythic cannot control -- such as timing, market climate, WotLK release -- we suppose they'll just have to hope for the best.
Just say no to bad guild names
There you are, poised at the ready. The guild you've created is almost complete! You've gathered a few friends for potential guild-mates. You've discussed the general focus of the guild. Now all you need is a name! You've come up with a few, but for some reason, your friends keep rejecting your suggestions concerning LOLcats, Prince Caspian or the latest song by the Jonas Brothers. What gives?!Well, according to a recent blog post by Syp over at the Waaagh! blog, you're just doing it wrong. Not to worry though, because Syp compiled a comprehensive list of what to avoid while considering a guild name or tag. Even if you've already created your perfect guild and you're just curious about the effectiveness of your name, check out the blog post. Chances are, you did it wrong.[Thanks Syp!]
The 10 Commandments of Altitis
The Waaagh blog, despite technically being about some other dirty little game, keeps churning out some pretty good posts. The latest is Syp's 10 Commandments of Altitis. I'm a recent convert to altitis myself. I pretty much stuck with one character on all my previous MMOs, with maybe one extra alt I played once a month. However, on WoW, I've been bit hard. With 3 70s, 2 60s, and 61, and various random characters in the 20-60 range, I know how the alt game goes. A lot of the commandments are things that I myself have discovered and follow unknowingly in my day to day play, but Syp lays them out in an understandable and easy to follow format. Some of my favorite points, in no certain order: 6. Go Off the Beaten Path. Seriously, just because you really want to reach level 70 ASAP does not mean that doing the STV grind for the 7th time is the awesome thing to do. I mean, I guess if your only goal is to get to 70, that's doable, but for me, trying out new quests and new zones, or at least quests and zones I haven't done in a while, is one of the joys of an alt. 9. Alts can cause Burnout. This is definitely true if you think you can get away with doing dailies every day on all of your 70s. As much as you want the exalted SSO necklaces for your Hunter, your Warlock, and your Druid, don't try to grind up the rep for all of them all at once, every day. That way lies madness. I have found that focusing on one at a time, or at least alternating days, is a much better way to go about it. 3. Alts deserve real names too. Honestly, you aren't clever for naming your Druid Lolferal. Sorry. But all of the points are nice and handy, so if you're a fellow altitis sufferer, or even if you just want to catch the bug, go check the article out. It's a fun read.
What WoW should learn from certain quests in and around The Barrens
So I've been thinking a bit about questing lately as I traverse Outlands on my latest project, a level 61 Blood Elf Paladin, working on the Outlands quests. I think my favorite part of playing a lowbie hordeling is how many quests there are to "stumble upon" in the oft-maligned Barrens. Technically, they're all very basic "find and kill these dudes" quests, but the presentation is such that I always get a big rush from doing them. They really do make me feel like a mighty hunter.
Character naming guide from Waaagh!
Okay, so technically Waaagh! is a Warhammer Online blog, but we'll forgive Syp this time, if only because S/he writes a pretty good article about choosing your character's name. The first part of it is, to me at least, good common sense. Don't choose a name you'll regret or a name that looks overly bad to other people. Naming after real life celebrities can get a bit tired. Naming your character "something naughty" is probably just going to make most people think you haven't cleared puberty yet. And yeah, it might be funny to call your character Rickroll NOW, but when Rickrolling is the next "All Your Base", everyone on the internet is going to point and laugh at you for being old and busted. The second part has some excellent ways to comb for new names, some of which many veterans already know, but it's a good compilation, and gave me a few ideas for my next name search. I can confirm to anyone who doubts it that Syp's Rule of Three really is true. I have known only 1 or 2 people who have been able to avoid having their name reduced to a 3 or 4 letter nickname that is used almost constantly in place of the whole thing. You can't avoid it, so sometimes it's not that bad to go with the flow and plan your name around it. Same thing with the similar names across characters thing. It works pretty well, if you like the idea, but woe to you if you accidentally take someone's naming scheme and join their guild or group of friends! If you're having trouble thinking of a new name, or plan to roll a character at some point in the future, give the article a read. It's pretty keen.
WHA tellz you grots bout da' WAAAGH!
One of the aspects about Warhammer Online's Greenskins that seems to endear them to players so much is that they present the opportunity to write in a hackneyed and entirely ungrammatically stunted form of english. Wut iz dees humies lookin' at dem shiny bits for? See, I slipped into character there. I bet you thought I was an Orc for a second. It's OK, you don't have to feel bad, I'm a pretty good actor.For those not already well steeped in the Warhammer lore via the tabletop game and pen and paper RPG, the folks over at Warhammer Alliance have been going faction by faction putting up guides to the various races. By some strange fortune, we somehow missed the fact that they had posted a "Guide to the Waaagh" last week, replete with biological information, sociological observations, and of course a gracious dose of Orc-speak. It's a short run-down, but well worth soaking up for anybody at all interested in fielding a Black Orc or Shaman into battle in Q2 of this year.Of course, if you really want to get serious about things, you should probably pick up the Orcs & Goblins Army book or bookmark the Warhammer Wiki for perusal at work.
