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The Daily Grind: What race will your Death Knight be?
After the news came out recently confirming that people would indeed be able to make Death Knights of whatever race they chose in Wrath of the Lich King, we got to thinking about what might be some of the best races. You have both the Burning Crusade expansion races -- the Draenei and Blood Elves -- who have pretty good racial abilities. Female Gnomes have to take it for being the most kawaii in a very evil, short, and giggly way. Lots of arguments could be made for several of the different races, depending on what you're looking to do with your Death Knight.This morning, we thought we'd ask you; assuming you are going to be jumping into Wrath of the Lich King, what race will you choose to roll your Death Knight? Or will you buck the trend and not roll a Death Knight, just because you know everyone and their brother will be playing one?
WWI '08 Panel: Death Knight
Understandably, everyone is begging to know more about the Death Knight class. At WWI, the Blizzard developers discussed the class in depth at both the main Development panel as well as at the Q&A panel. So you don't have to go fishing everywhere to find what you want to know, here's a roundup of new information about Death Knights from WWI so far.Starting AreaThe Death Knight starting area will be an extended area in Northern Plaguelands. The developers feel strongly about keeping people interested in playing in the Old World so they are creating this new zone. I personally hate every zone that has the word "plague" associated with it. Admittedly, I didn't reach either of the current Plaguelands until after I'd upgraded to The Burning Crusade, which meant I really had no time for grinding there since Outland awaited alluringly. However, it will be interesting to see if they make changes to the existing Western and Eastern Plaguelands along with adding content to the North to make these areas more interesting to players -- be they Death Knights or not.
Know your roots have changed; 4E launches a new world
Even while creative maestro Metzen experiments with making World of Warcraft unique among its fantasy peers, there's not much denying that WoW has some pretty solid roots in, and respect for, Dungeons and Dragons. You can see proof of that in the patch notes from 2.4, which were dedicated to pen-and-paper legend, Gary Gygax. Many of us cruising Azeroth have some experience with good old D&D. WoW has pretty strong, deep roots in D&D, and those roots changed with the newly released 4th edition. What's new in the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons? The class system is radically different, spells work differently, healing works differently, and fights work differently. Okay, it seems everything is pretty much different. But there's one big change that will probably make more than a few folks happy: no more Gnome PCs. Gnomes are now monsters, and not available for play in the core rules. A lot of the speculation about these changes is that D&D might be trying to distance itself a little from the World of Warcraft juggernaut. It's a good thing Blizzard isn't still following its roots. I'm looking forward to my Gnomish Death Knight in Wrath of the Lich King.
Barrens Chat: First posts make me hungry
Greetings fellow travelers of time and space! Welcome to the first official posting of Barrens Chat, a soon to be weekly implement of random craziness. Although I know I'm not the first comic strip, and likely I wont be the last to grace these glorious virtual pages, I invite you to take a romp with me, Megan, as I drag forth those silly comments people make that they hope no one noticed, and glorify them with fancy colors, and ever-changing art.I will point out that although all of this is will all be incredibly funny to everyone who reads it, including me; it may end up being a "you had to be there" moment. In that case, come back next week! I'm sure it'll be funnier then. No really, it will. %Gallery-22361%
Blizzard developers are out there
An interesting discussion went on in the Community Service forums yesterday concerning the role Blizzard developers play in those very forums. A poster was obviously attempting to troll and start some argument, asking if the Blizzard devs actually do read what people write or pay attention to the community at large. Kisirani, a Blizzard developer, responded that indeed they do.A few interesting things came from subsequent blue posts that help outline the roles of the developers and community managers. First, it is the job of the community managers (CMs as we call them) to do just what their title says: manage the community. This includes the forums and everything that goes on in there. Kisirani tells us that they regularly collect feedback and suggestions and pass them along to the developers. Kisirani makes it a point to say that they don't have enough time to read everything themselves, and if they were to read everything the game itself would not be developed – and again, this is where the community managers come into play.
One Shots: Cliffwalking in Ashenvale
Today's One Shots is of an area that many Alliance may not have seen in World of Warcraft, but many Horde have. This particular area in Ashenvale is (from what we can tell through the haze) Demon Fall Canyon, which Horde players should recognize. Demon Fall Canyon is the location where the Harvest Festival quest "Honoring a Hero" sends you. Once there, you will find a monument to Grom Hellscream, considered to be one of the Horde's greatest heroes. Of course, if you don't want to go through all the demons to get to the monument, you can, as our reader Dan appears to have found out while running around on his Gnome, cliffwalk to the location a couple of different ways. Do you have any areas you've found by cliffwalking around your world? Any interesting screenshots from areas that are off the beaten path? How about bizarre graphic glitches that make you laugh? If you've got any of those -- or just lovely areas, interesting people, or the like -- send them our way! Add in a quick blurb on what we're seeing, what game it came from, and who you are then toss it to us at oneshots@massively.com! Without your shots, we're going to have to start using these Barbie Horse Adventures screens I got from the staff, and trust me, you really don't want that....%Gallery-9798%
Gank Frank parts 4 and 5 posted
Fenrix of Bloodhoof was nice enough to ping us and say that the next two installments of Gank Frank -- his awesome little graphic novel about a gnome with a taste for vengeance -- have been posted on the Funkytown forums. As before, the storyline continues to follow the movie Kill Bill, with a few extra gnomey (and WoW-related, although there's a Simpsons reference in there as well) twists and turns. And the graphics look terrific. Along with our own Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn, those crazy machinimists ain't got nothing on these graphic artists.Great job as always, Fenrix, and we can't wait to see the rest of the story.
Breakfast Topic: Non-combat uses for combat spells
Obviously, all of our classes have a bunch of combat spells, and we use them in combat all the time. But when it comes to standing around the city, all of us might as well be clowns mocked up in different outfits, because we don't use our magic unless we're killing something. Of course there are also a lot of non-combat spells, such as mages summoning food and water, or warlocks summoning you and me. But is there any use to some of our combat spells for those times when we're not in combat?The greatest non-combat use I can think of for combat spells is in roleplaying, such as the frost-mage gnome I featured in an article, who had such a horrible cold all the time -- she would sneeze and Frost Nova at the same time for a really fun character effect. I'd love to hear some more of these roleplaying ideas, but I'd also like to hear from non-roleplayers as well. How do you use your spells to entertain yourself or your friends, without killing something at the same time?
Around Azeroth: Scratch my back?
Reader Minou of Alonsus sends in this sad but true story of an unfortunate Ogre who managed to bury himself chest-deep in the ground. Alas, this Orge is not even as tall as a Gnome and totally unable to escape. Says Minou, "Poor thing was going crazy from the itch in the middle of his back."Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! %Gallery-1816%
All the World's a Stage: Something to remember me by
All the World's a Stage is a column for creative minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.The best characters in novels and movies often leap into your mind from the moment you first see them -- something they say or do sets them apart and captures your interest, and from that time on, you're hooked. Likewise, when we roleplay, our characters should always have some memorable trait which can hook other people's interest. Too often, I see roleplayers focusing too much on dark secrets that they only reveal to their closest friends, and neglecting those mannerisms which could give everyone they meet an instant and profound impression of their character. Of course, if some people prefer to roleplay this way, that's fine. But to my mind, roleplaying is best when it avoids cliquishness, and the best roleplayers are those whose characters stay with you, even if you never see them again. When I'm creating my own characters, I think of such memorable traits as "gimmicks," but that word usually has a negative connotation that doesn't apply in this case. For now, the best word I can think of is "quirk." It's an instantly recognizable pattern of behavior or speech that can let others know who your character is right away. Below you will find some of my favorite quirks I have seen people use in their roleplaying in WoW, each of them entertaining and inspiring it its own way.
Verne Troyer is a Gnome Mage; no one is surprised
Back when Blizzard released the new World of Warcraft ads featuring Mr. T and William Shatner, it also announced that a Verne Troyer ad was forthcoming. It's finally here, and it turns out that, like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mini-Me is a Mage!If you liked the first two English-language WoW TV spots, you'll like this one, though I don't think it's quite as exciting because we all knew what was coming; he's a Gnome. What a surprise! It's still awesome and you should all check it out. I don't need to tell you that, though, do I? I'm still holding out for The Hoff. What class would he be, I wonder? And if they could get Schwarzenegger, they'd have to create a Governator class. Hey, they already made a Mohawk class for Mr. T. Okay, this is getting silly and I'm getting carried away![Thanks, Chris!]
WoW Moviewatch: Lemmings raid Undercity
I know what you're thinking. You've seen capitol city raids before. You've seen hundreds of them! You've participated in them! But hold that thought -- this video is worth a watch before you come to any snap decisions, because this raid has style. Anyone can gather up 40 players and head to the nearest capitol city, but on Aszune (EU), this group of players decided to raid the Undercity as green-haired Gnomes, all dressed in blue. (Don't get the reference? Then you need to catch up on your classic games, friend!)Previously on Moviewatch...
Around Azeroth: New and improved Shatterspear Village
Reader Sparticatina of Ysera sends us this excellent shot of a new take on Shatterspear Village (otherwise known as the dancing Troll village hidden away between Moonglade and Darkshore). In my humble opinion, the scenery is much improved by the addition of Gnomes, thanks to the Brewfest beer goggles!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
Breakfast topic: The world from a gnome's eyes
Gnomes are not necessarily exclusive only to World of Warcraft, but as a race, the WoW iteration of the people is quite unique. We recently got a chance to see, via the Beer Goggles, what the world would be like if it were populated with gnomes, and a scary, scary distopia it would be. Whenever I am turned into a Leper Gnome as a Hallow's End trick, I spend the hour fighting from their perspective, as if the game camera were hovering just inches off the ground. And that's pretty much it for me, it's all I can take not to turn off the costume at once. I often wonder what it would be like to live within Azeroth, and try to imagine what it would be like to actually be a troll or an orc. The perspective of a gnome brings all kinds of challenges, and is one I don't think I would ever knowingly pick. I have had two gnome characters in my time, but each time the camera perspective has frustrated me to the point where I had to delete them and move on. Despite the issues with their height, I can imagine that living in Gnomeregan when it was, you know, clean and such, was a complete blast. An entire community of tinkerers and engineers, obsessed with creating their inventions despite how dangerous they might become. I'm sure the roleplay opportunities are endless when you play a gnome, and I have seen nothing more amusing than a gnome warrior charging into fight Void Reaver. But still, the world from a gnome's eyes has got to be pretty skewed, and I don't know if I could ever get myself to do it long term. Unless, of course, the gnome were a Death Knight.
All the World's a Stage: Getting started with roleplaying
All the World's a Stage is brought to you by David Bowers every Sunday evening, investigating the explorative performance art of roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.For a long time now I've wanted to write an introductory guide on how to get started as a roleplayer. After all, roleplaying is something a lot of people would like to try, but really don't know how to begin. The problem with getting started is that various misconceived assumptions may sometimes block us from trying and dampen our enthusiasm. In the particular case of roleplaying, these mistaken assumptions might be along the lines of: "Roleplaying is lying to people about who you are," and "roleplaying is something weird people do," and "roleplaying is a waste of time for noobs." To the contrary, we have seen in previous articles that roleplaying is actually an exploration of who you are, a way to understand and connect with other people, and, in fact, a variant on things perfectly normal people do all the time anyway. So now -- where to actually begin? Certainly there is no perfect way to begin as a roleplayer, so today I'll outline three basic steps, which you can try and see if they work for you. I would be particularly interested in feedback from people who try out this method as first time roleplayers: if you do try it and have a great time, please come back and tell us about it; or if you try and something doesn't work, come back and tell us what went wrong. It's been a long time since I was a beginning roleplayer, and though I'll do my best to plot a path into this hobby, I only got to be a beginner once! Perhaps other beginning roleplayers will also share their experiences below, and you can see which path suits you best.
Gruul looking as hot as he'll ever be, relatively speaking
Well unfortunately, it seems my request is not to be. As commenter so2 pointed out the other day, Illidan is not actually a humanoid, so he's not affected by the Beerfest goggles that turn everything into a Gnome (Alliance) or a female Orc (Horde). Bummer-- I really wanted to see Illidan as a tiny little Gnome guy.However, as you can see above, Gruul is technically a humanoid. And thanks to reader Nate S., we've got a picture of Gruul in his lair, looking as attractive as a female Orc can look. I don't know how much Mudder's Milk you have to drink to make Gruul look that attractive, but it's got to be a whole lot of alcohol.Of course, the other thing about Gruul is that as the fight goes on, he gets bigger, so I'm still curious to see if, while wearing the Gnome glasses, you could get a picture of the raid fighting a giant Gnome (heck, who needs the glasses-- Blizz, here's my official request for a giant Gnome instance boss in Northrend). And I think a lot more experimentation is needed with these goggles, anyway-- can we see Thrall as a Gnome or Bolivar Fordragon as a female Orc?Update: Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks, myrlin!
Ask WoW Insider: Far from home
eNorox sent along a great question to Ask WoW Insider for you readers to answer this week. He's thinking about starting up a Gnome rogue, but he's tired of leveling through old Azeroth yet again:I want to try something different so I decided to level from 1 in the Draenei starting area. The only thing is... How could I get there the fastest and what can I do about leveling a rogue in a place that has no rogue trainers?I think us alt-o-holics out there have all done this at some point-- I have fond memories of leveling my Orc Shaman through the Forsaken starting area (because I had never seen it before), and in that case, I got real familiar with the Zeppelin, going back and forth between UC and Orgrimmar. But what do you all think of putting a Gnome on Azuremyst Isle? How can he get out there, and once he does, what's the best way to ensure fast travel between the Rogue trainers and his leveling area? And what other weird leveling locations have you chosen, even though it cost you more travel time to the trainer?
WoW Moviewatch: 40 Gnomes vs. Hogger
There's something about the people who play Gnomes... perhaps it's their diminutive stature or the fact that other races commonly joke about punting them, but they often seem to feel the need to prove themselves, as in this level 1, all-Gnome raid on Hogger (though they seemed to have picked up some friends by the end). Though it's a bit long at 7 minutes, this video documents the perilous journey from the Gnomish starting area all the way to Hogger's domain in Elwynn forest. (Warning: some not-entirely-safe for work language over voice chat when the raid starts the Hogger encounter.)Previously on Moviewatch...
Around Azeroth: Olympic Gnome racing
Sure, you've seen Tauren racing, but it's just not quite the same as seeing an equal number of adorably tiny cotton-candy-hair Gnomes racing. This shot, sent in by reader Svenn of Aggramar (EU) shows a crowd of the charming beasts preparing for the Gnome race portion of the Laughing Skull Olympics, held on Laughing Skull (EU) at the end of July. And if this screenshot is to be taken as evidence, I'd venture a guess that the event was a blast for everyone involved!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Escape Artist facing raised cooldown?
Are they toying with the Escape Artist cooldown? I sure thought this thread, after reading the first post today, would get closed down but quick, but instead, after a player asked for Escape Artist to be removed from the game, Drysc offered the compromise of a cooldown.Wait, what? Was he joking? Escape Artist, the Gnome racial ability that allowed them to ditch any roots once per minute, got a nice buff and was made instant cast at 2.0, but I hardly think it's overpowered enough that it deserves a cooldown. Drysc's comment seems a lot like a joke (and an MVP shows up later in the thread to "deny" the change), but could the ability be facing a nerf in the form of a longer cooldown?Advocates for it point to Will of the Forsaken, another "break free" racial ability (it allows Forsaken to break fear once every two minutes, and if EA is nerfed, it would probably be given a two minute cooldown). But WotF also provides 5 seconds of fear immunity after being used, and EA doesn't provide any immunities at all.Hopefully this is all a moot point, and Drysc was just messing with Gnomes (a hilarious pastime to be sure). But it could also mean that the little kneebiters are looking at an upcoming nerf.
