dwarves
Latest
Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for your Dwarf
Have you decided to roll a burly dwarf in the Lord of the Rings Online and need a name to match? Not keen on making yet another "Thorinn", "Duurin" or "Gihmli"? Have you already chosen one of these unfortunate names and are looking for a change? This guide will walk you through choosing the perfect name for your dwarf. If you are a role-player or simply confused about finding a surname, this is a great way to learn a bit about dwarf culture, language, and names.Khuzdul is the language of the dwarves. When a dwarf is born he is granted a name by his parents in this language. However, the dwarves are extremely secretive about their language. Their Khuzdul name is usually known only to themselves and their immediate friends and family, and therefore is rarely shared with anyone. If you are a role-player you may choose a name formed from this language for your dwarf, but keep in mind that out in the world of Middle Earth he (or she) will go by a different name meant for outsiders and everyday use. A dwarf wouldn't be caught dead using his private name with an outsider, and neither should you!
TurpsterVision : Oh and one more Ding!
Every Tuesday TurpsterVision is LIVE (kind of) right here on Massively! Take the 'T' from 'Tuesday' and the 'V' from 'LIVE', smash them together like its going out of fashion and you got yourself TV for TurpsterVision - the best video podcast LIVE right here on Massively! Welcome back, it's been two weeks too long - though I blame that on the fact that its been time to party! Forgetting that, today is a special post, its a game close to my heart, and it isn't a review. It's World of Warcraft folks; there is no need to review it, what do you want me to say? Honestly, it's THE World of Warcraft, there aren't any imitations that even come close, well, maybe one. So I won't bore you with a 5 minute long video reviewing what we already know, instead I have made a 9 minute long video showing off my mad PvP/PvE skills in my recent DINGSTRAVAGANZA! (An event which saw my Shadow Priest finally tip the scales and join the big boys at level 70) It is also a friendly plug/invitation letting you all know that I will be at the World Wide Invitational this weekend in Paris and if any of you guys are out there then I urge you to come seek me and my camera out and share the love!
WAR's Dwarf mounts are real head turners
MMO mounts come in an almost endless variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and types. From the mighty Kodo to the agile Chocobo, there's a generally accepted level of convention when it comes to mounts. They're usually organic (or at least they replicate being organic), walk on legs, and have some way for players to sit astride them. Mounts that buck this trend are really few and far between.So you can imagine our surprise then when Avien over at the Warhammer Alliance forums posted several links to the new Dwarven mounts (also featured in the newest Warhammer newsletter) for Warhammer Online -- in the form of personal gyrocopters. They're certainly not what we would have guessed would be their mount if you had asked, but thinking about it, there's something so distinctly Dwarven about the idea of strapping a gyrocopter to your back and flitting about a battlefield. In any case, the concept art is extremely amusing both if you plan to make a stuntie yourself or if you aim to have them fall at your feet.
Inside the mind of Metzen
Cecil Vortex has a long interview up with none other than Azeroth's rockstar mastermind, Chris Metzen. He actually describes himself as a "world creator," and that's about right -- he's the guy (along with everyone else at Blizzard, obviously) who's come up with the entire universe that the World of Warcraft exists in -- from Orcs to Dwarves to Titans and Old Gods, Metzen is the guy who dreamed it.And for a guy who's created everything in this gigantic universe, he's remarkably "geeked" about it -- he still talks like he's a guy sitting at his basement table creating D&D quests (which, don't lie now, we've all done at one point or another). The second part of the interview is even more interesting -- Metzen talks about his creative process and just how much of a group process it is at Blizzard. Since they're all in the target audience, every group member censors each other and pushes each other to bigger and better heights of storytelling.Metzen also mentions a non-Blizzard project called Soldier: 76, about a guy making his way through a second American Civil War. It came out a while ago, apparently, but would definitely be interesting to see what Metzen does outside of Blizzard continuity. And as if there was any doubt that Metzen was a rock star, he ends the interview exactly the way you'd expect a creative superstar to end it: when "you've tapped into something beyond the individual," then "it's off to the races."[Via Blizzplanet]
Your least favorite races
We all have our favorite races, whether we actively play them or not. Personally, I have a thing for playing Humans and I desperately want to play an Ethereal one day. At the very least, have an Ethereal presence in Wrath, even a small one.What about your least favorite races, though? We all have those, too. We don't always have good explanations for it, but for one reason or another there's just something that drives us absolutely crazy. My #1 most hated race in Warcraft would have to be Gnolls. What do they even do? Their most famous member is Hogger, who doesn't even do anything. Okay okay, they kill people and that's bad, but they don't do do anything. At least Kobolds mine stuff up.Tell you what, I'll go ahead and give my Top 5 after the jump. If you're interested, go ahead and read on!
Springtime set to invade hearts of LotRO players
It's been just about a year since Lord of the Rings Online launched. Even though there's a lot of interesting stuff happening at Connect08 later this month and a one-year anniversary coming as well, that doesn't mean LotRO players aren't getting a cool, love-filled spring festival. So worry not, players can expect some very interesting events to take their mind off the encroaching evil from the edge of the world. We've got the beef, so to speak, after the break.
Choosing your race in Middle-earth: Dwarf and Hobbit
Here is the second half of our Lord of the Rings Online guide to races, which covers some tips and tricks to help players starting out in Middle-earth and those who've been wandering its lands as well. As we said with the first half of our guide, its purpose isn't to say which race is the best pick for which class --but to just give some insight. So without further delay, lets get to everyone's favorite cranky, stout race -- Dwarves!
AddOn Spotlight: Fizzwidget's Trackmenu
Do you suffer from buttonitus? (I'm amused that word didn't trip a spell-check alert.) Symptoms of this dreaded disease include having more spells and abilities than you have buttons, exploring assorted action bar add-ons that allow you to have more buttons than the default UI, and overall general frustration. Although this plague is not limited to a single class in World of Warcraft, hunters in particular have it worse than most. In addition to the usual combat abilities, the shots, the traps, and whatever other profession-based buttons a hunter may have setup they have an added burden: tracking skills. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that nobody can track as many different kinds of things as hunters, especially if the hunter is a miner or herbalist as well, or even a dwarf. So, listen to me hunters (and others). Look at your action bars and all the tracking skills you have hot-keyed there. Now describe to me in a hundred words or less (in the comments section if you wish) the happy dance you will launch into if you could reclaim each and every one of those buttons and use them for something else. Allow me to introduce you to Fizzwidget's Trackmenu. Installation of the add-on could not be simpler. Simply open it in your archiver of choice and extract the folder into your \Addons folder as per usual. Then launch World of Warcraft and look where the tracking indicator used to be on your mini-map. In it's place is the Trackmenu button. Click this button, and a list of all your tracking skills will drop down allowing you to make a selection. Unless there are some you want to hot-key you can now safely remove all your tracking abilities from action bars. Enjoy one of my absolute favourite add-ons. You can look forward to further reviews of other Fizzwidget products in the future. He's got what you need!
WoW Moviewatch: Betty and me
In this edition of Moviewatch, we drop in on an excited Dwarf and his lovely Night Elf wife who are expecting their very first baby! With a little help from their Doctor, that is... Kind of makes you appreciate just how strong that Dwarven ale must be if he hasn't been able to figure it out. Although when taken together with Oxhorn's Anti-Elf Anthem, suddenly you begin to understand why those Dwarves don't trust Elves either. Previously on MovieWatch...
Body images in World of Warcraft
I know, I know, I mentioned the WoW Ladies just yesterday, but they talk about such interesting stuff over there. Today it's body images in WoW-- one of them, Tsuraibara, saw someone on the EU forums calling human female characters fat "couch potatoes," and couldn't believe what she heard.Personally, I'm with Tsuraibara-- I find the human females pretty darn attractive. I'm even one of those guys that plays a human female priest just so I can watch that holy body do its shadowy casting thing all day. Of course, I have a male gnome warrior, too, just because I love the look of a tiny bundle of doom charging Horde in PVP. Although I have to disagree with Tsuraibara about the Tauren females-- she plays two, and I don't think there's any way I could ever stand to look at one of those enough to get her past level 10. Elsewhere in the thread, someone sings the praises of Dwarf females, and I have to admit, while they're not classically attractive, the emotes especially make it seem like Dwarf females might be fun to hang out with. UD females are another matter entirely, though...Now, we're no Guild Wars-- I once attended a conference where a professor of game studies couldn't believe how those women ever made it out of a battle with so little armor on. But at the same time, this ain't no text adventure, either-- WoW's graphics are cohesive and defined enough to make judgements on what the "models" look like. Have you judged your characters or other characters' looks? Is it wrong to do so? And the other question brought up in the thread is interesting, too-- is it only the female characters that are judged? Or are male Night Elves and Orcs getting checked out, too?
