AhnQiraj
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Free EU character transfer destinations revealed
Toward the end of August, European CM Vaneras had announced the closure of a few English-speaking EU servers due to the great success of their Russian localization, with a note that destination realms for free character transfers would be announced later on. Later on is, apparently, last night. Thundgot has posted the destination realms, and each set includes one that is part of the same battlegroup as the realm of origin. From Molten Core you can transfer to Burning Steppes*, Deathwing, Dentarg From Shadowmoon you can transfer to Boulderfist, Spinebreaker*, Xavius From Stonemaul you can transfer to Ahn'Qiraj, Burning Blade, Jaedenar* From Warsong you can transfer to Auchindoun, Bladefist*, Haomarush If you call one of the four closing realms home, I strongly recommend you go research your options and choose your destination while you still can. If you haven't moved yourself somewhere by the time their nebulous deadline (post-patch 3.0.2) hits, you'll have your destination chosen for you when the realms are ultimately brought down. Make sure you end up somewhere you'll like.
Breakfast Topic: Does the levity mess up the lore?
Warning: Wrath spoilers ahead! Blizzard's pretty good at Lore when they want to be, with the whole 2.4 storyline, the Battle of Ahn'Qiraj, and many epic storylines promising to come out of Northrend. At the same time, they also have their own offbeat brand of humor that is never far gone from their design philosophy, and it shows up in their stories too. Sometimes it serves them well and adds a bit of levity, but other time, it seems to take on a life of its own, a life that can strangle what could have otherwise been something compelling and interesting. Zul'Aman is perhaps the most pertinent example. What could have been the last attempt of the Farstriders to shut down the troll menace threatening their people, what could have been a revival of the Troll killing tradition of the Arathi, or an examination of the High Elves who stayed loyal to the Alliance but still hate the Amani, instead turned into a cheap redneck treasure hunt. It killed much of the allure of the zone and turned what could have been a epic struggle against a former hero of the Horde into a run of the mill bunny bashing session.
All the World's a Stage: Center of the universe
All the World's a Stage returns today after a week off due to reasons beyond the comprehension of mortal man. Mysteries abound in World of Warcraft, and roleplayers are there to enjoy them.In roleplaying, one's own character is never the center of the story -- this is true. But from another perspective, your character is always the center of the story -- and this is also true. It seems like a paradox, but it's actually a way of understanding your own relationship to the world.In most stories, the main characters are usually the ones who have the most impact on the world around them: they are the heroes who save the day, fall in love, and make the choices that determine the ultimate outcome of the plot. In a way, the whole story circles around them, like planets around the sun. The structure of Warcraft lore is built with the stories of characters like this, whose choices made the World of Warcraft what it is today: Arthas, Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore and the like.But the roleplaying community of imaginative characters is not such a centralized system. When immature roleplayers fail to understand this, they end up with a chaotic mess where everyone wants to steal the spotlight. But mature roleplaying environments are quite the opposite: they are cooperative rather than competitive, and quite unlike traditional storytelling patterns. Where traditional stories are like a solar system, with main characters around which all the other characters revolve, roleplaying in WoW it is like the expanding universe itself: a web of interconnected stories and characters in which the center appears to be nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
WoW Moviewatch: Opening of the AQ gates
A lot of readers seemed to enjoy Ahn'Qiraj: The Movie yesterday, including Drewbie. He contributed a video that Macheath, his production partner at Oblivious Films, created about the opening of the AQ gates on the Malygos server. The process to open the AQ gates takes months, so obviously, the anticipation was intense when the time finally came. Hundreds of players were there, anxiously waiting for the moment to arrive. However, the person who was to ring the gong couldn't even do it without crashing! Then there was the blinking and falling ... You never forget your first, though![Thanks, Drewbie!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Ahn'Qiraj, The Movie
After seeing Baron Soosdon's Blackwing Lair video a few days ago, Durendul was reminded of a favorite video of his that featured Ahn'Qiraj. Coming in at 22 minutes of pure action, if you're into artistic PvE machinima, you'll enjoy this. Created by Jack Hunt two years ago, we couldn't find any other linkable video for it besides one on YouTube, so we'll link to his Warcraftmovies page as well.However, the soundtrack may make you laugh. I've never seen a more diverse selection in the same machinima video. It has the opening theme from Prison Break, Linkin Park, Hans Zimmer, Coldplay, LotR music, Paul Oakenfold, and some Mariah Carey for good measure.[Thanks, Durendul!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Know Your Lore: Azjol-Nerub
With Wrath of the Lich King and the return of the Scourge to the spotlight, an old friend comes back along with them. The Nerubians! We haven't seen much of them in the World of Warcraft yet beyond being undead lackies, they have a long, quite interesting backstory. We saw a little more in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, but their story goes even deeper. In the big picture of Warcraft, their ancestors predate all but the Trolls, and maybe even them.In the beginning there were the Silithid. Insectoid horrors that crawled forth from the Well of Eternity just happened to grab the interest of the Old Gods. The most notable of them so far being C'Thun. C'Thun crafted avatars of war from the Silithid, twisting them into humanoid soldiers. These avatars became known as the Aqir. The Aqir are best described as 'evil' though that is always in the eye of the beholder.The Aqir were one of three super powers in the world at the time, roughly 16,000 years prior to the Orcish invasion of Azeroth. The other two came in the form of the Troll Empires of the Gurubashi and the Amani. The three clashed repeatedly, and the Trolls only managed survival by forging a loose alliance between their empires. The Aqir civilization of Azj'Aqir held up quite well, their war lasting thousands of years, and no ultimate outcome ever came to fruition.
Two Bosses Enter: Ragnaros vs. Ossirian
Two bosses may enter... but only one will get to leave in WoW Insider's fantasy deathmatch series. Every week we pit two of Azeroth's raid bosses against one another in a battle that your votes get to decide. This week we present Ragnaros the Firelord, coming all the way from the heart of Molten Core in Blackrock Mountain, and Ossirian the Unscarred, who's traveled from Ahn'Qiraj in the Silithus desert to participate in this match. Who wins and who loses? Ultimately, that's for you to decide -- so read on!
One Boss Leaves: Moam vs. Hakkar wrap-up
For the second time in our Two Bosses Enter competition, Zul'Gurub's Hakkar emerges victorious over a lesser World of Warcraft raid boss. Leaving our competiton is Moam, whom our readers determined would simply be overwhelmed by Hakkar's Blood Siphon ability. (Though, seriously people, how do you siphon blood from construct made out of stone?) But skipping past the blood/no blood argument: Hakkar is a God, and Moam a mere construct. In terms of raw power, it's clear Hakkar should have the upper hand in this fight, as our readers determined: Though last week's match is over, this week's match has yet to begin! Look for the next edition of Two Bosses Enter later tonight!
Phat Loot Phriday: Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal
They don't come much more rare than this baby-- you had 10 hours to get it, and the overwhelming odds are that you didn't anyway.Name: Black Qiraji Resonating CrystalType: Legendary Ground MountSpeed: 100%Abilities: Well technically, the crystal isn't the mount-- it just summons one. It's the bug looking thing you see above. It's called a Silithid Scarab, or more formally, a Black Qiraji Battle Tank. Can be ridden anywhere in the world. More on why that's so special in a second. And while this may be a "bug" (get it?), players are reporting that there's something special about the way this mount is summoned-- while you do have to be out of combat and unmounted to actually summon it (like all mounts), you don't have to be either when you start summoning it (unlike other mounts). So you could be in combat (like, in a battleground), start to summon the mount, and as long as you've left combat by the time it finished, you'll be mounted. How to Get It: You can't. At least, most of you can't. Lots of people can get non-black bug mounts-- they drop pretty regularly in Ahn'Qiraj 40, and can only be used in that instance (and not in combat-- apparently the bugs are very skittish).But the black qiraji mounts are very, very rare, and the reason is this: they were given only to players who hit the gong outside of Ahn'Qiraj only during a 10-hour period after the opening of the gates.So here's how to get one. First of all, if you're on a server where the gates have been open for more than 10 hours (which is most of them), you're out of luck. So you'll have to roll a toon on one of the newer servers-- yes, there are still quite a few servers out there who have not yet opened the AQ gates.Then, of course, you'll have to get your character all the way up to 60, so you can start the questline that will give you the mallet you need to bang the gong to open the gates. In order to actually finish this questline, however, (which starts in Silithus, if you really want to try), you'll have to go all over Azeroth and do all kinds of super heroic stuff-- in short, you'll need to be backed by a guild full of people who know what they're doing. Oh, and then there's the whole "War Effort" thing. If you were playing back when AQ first came out, you'll remember that opening the gates requires the whole server-- Horde and Alliance-- to collect tons and tons of items for "the War Effort."But after all that is finished (all in a day's work, right?), you can finally take your Scepter of Ahn'Qiraj down to the gates of AQ, hit the gong, and this black bug mount is yours. Oh, and if you're not the first to open the gates, you can still get the mount, you just have to hit the gong (which means you need to finish the quest also) sometime within 10 hours of when it is first hit. See why the mount is so rare?Getting Rid of It: You're joking, right? Vendors won't even accept this thing from you.
WoW Insider Best of 2006: Friend, Enemy, and Instance
All this week, we're announcing our picks (from your nominations) for the best of the year in Azeroth. Lots of great stuff happened in the World of Warcraft this year, and we've sifted through all of it to come up with the stuff we'll remember for a long time.Yesterday, we announced the awards for Server, Class, and Guild of the Year, and today we're proud to tell you our picks for Friend of the Year, Enemy of the Year, and Instance of the Year. Next year, we'll have all new foes (are you prepared?) and friends, not to mention tons of new instances. But before all the changes come, we're looking back at two NPCs that helped and hurt us this year, and the swirly portal we most enjoyed walking through. The winners are right after the break below.And don't forget to come back all this week-- we've still got Player of the Year and Best and Worst Blizzard Move of the Year to announce, so stay tuned.
Taking a PVE guild to the expansion
So the endgame guild I'm a part of (shout out to Gothic Bunnies on Thunderhorn-H!) is doing really well lately. We just got a nice influx of new members right around the time we started getting serious about MC and ZG, and just this last weekend, we finally made it to Domo (Rag, you're on notice) and, later the same day, downed Hakkar (that was an experience, let me tell you). So we're rolling right along-- we're already getting set for Onyxia, and by the time the expansion hits, we'll be ready for BWL.Oh, right-- the expansion. I'm not in a position of leadership in this guild (or any guild), but you have to think the sudden influx of great items, new instances, and ten more levels (I just kind of assume everyone in the guild plays WoW enough to buy it as early as possible) might throw things off a bit. What's the point in farming MC for tier 1 stuff when even quest rewards in the expansion look better? And how can you get a group of 20 together for AQ Ruins when everyone has to work up ten levels again, will be starting new alts with the new races, and LFGing (with the new system) for PVP and the new instances?In short, how do you keep a "mid-endgame" guild together when all the cool new stuff hits?Now, if you're in Naxx already and half the guild is dressed in Tier 3, I'm sure it's not that big a problem-- you'll probably all go to Outland and level up together. And if you haven't made it to 60 yet, you're probably not worried at all-- you haven't invested enough time in this raiding system to care too much. But it seems to me that things are going to be pretty scattered when the expansion hits, and it's coming right at a time when a guild like mine is hitting our stride on the old stuff. I do trust our leadership-- I'm sure that if anyone can strike a balance between leading the guild into the new content and staying busy on the "old" content, they can. But I expect it to be pretty tough. I don't think we're wasting our time on the "old" content-- even if my ZG gear will be outdated by the end of the year, downing Hakkar was an experience I'll never forget. But with all the new instances calling, along with the phat lewts and new encounters, will current "mid-endgame" guilds ever feel the need to go for C'thun? Or will AQ become the new Dire Maul-- an instance that has some cool stuff and fun encounters, but often gets overlooked on the way to endgame?
