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One Shots: We can't stop here
While we normally hear about Goons in EVE Online, the group has an enormous presence that spans many, many different games. And when it comes to doing crazy things purely for their own enjoyment, that's absolutely in the Squad's nature. Today, we have a great visual treat from Final Fantasy XIV due to two intrepid Goon Squad adventurers -- Drinkfist and Goth -- who decided to set out on a long, strange trip. Since their note is lengthy, I'll simply say if you'd like to take part in One Shots, send in your screenshot, name, and story to us here at oneshots@massively.com. With that said, on with the letter: "This is the end result of our three hour hike through the amazing scenic MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. We set out from the island city Limsa Lominsa and landed in a desert that spanned quite some distance. After dropping off the kids at Ul'dah in the desert, we headed north for Gridania, only to have to navigate the labyrinth that is the Black Shroud to reach the city. After changing our Nikes, we set out for a more dangerous zone to the west called Mor Dhona, which looked like a god smote the zone due to all the destruction and insane-looking mobs. Discovering that Evil Eyes are in fact evil, we fled north to Coerthas. Rather than being relieved to see such a cool looking mountain range, my friend had to open his mouth and ask about the tower labeled on the map 15 malms (clicks) to the north. We raced each other to it, setting death checkpoints at Aetheral Gates and camps -- even the deer of the zone didn't appreciate our presence. (They hit for 4000 when we only have a max hp of 800.) Finally, we reached the spot on the map and bore witness to a locked city that could only be called one of the coolest castles I have seen in a game. That image is what you see here. Now all that's left is exploring the actual zones we just walked straight though. (:sigh:) Lots of area to cover." %Gallery-85937%
Goon Squad downs Tirion Fordring
Perennial pariahs Goon Squad, Horde-side on Mal'Ganis-US, have really carved out a niche for themselves in the World of Warcraft. Well, two niches. The first is a rock-solid reputation of being the foremost trolls and griefers in the MMO market, period -- a reputation perpetuated by a community that operates mostly on word-of-mouth and lovingly crafted by the guild itself. The second is providing some of the best and most hilarious WoW videos on the internet. This one is no exception -- they managed to score a victory for the Lich King by defeating the dread paladin Fordring. It's a rare ability, possessed by Goon Squad and a few other community figures, to be able to take the building blocks of the game experience provided by Blizzard -- strictly compartmentalized and defined by sets of incontrovertible rules -- and then cobble together something wholly new and, frankly, ridiculous out of them. You're not supposed to be able to bring together two often-'shipped faction leaders for an impromptu date. You're not supposed to be able to blow the Wintergrasp fortress wall to smithereens in a minute's time. You're certainly not supposed to be able to kill the head of the Argent Crusade who, by the way, should learn to cast Consecrate.
Free character migrations for select realms
As of yesterday afternoon and lasting through January 28th at 2:00 PM PST, a number of free realm transfers have opened up in the US in an attempt to repair some harsh population imbalance. Bornakk does warn, however, that if they fulfill the transfer quota before January 28th, they will end transfers early so they don't end up in the exact same situation on opposite ends. If any of the below transfer offers suit your fancy, get it done before it's too late. What's interesting is that in a few of these instances, they're only extended the offer to Horde players. These servers include Illidan, Mal'Ganis, and Warsong. Considering Mal'Ganis is home to the infamous Goon Squad, this isn't the most surprising thing in the world. Interesting, yes. Surprising? Not in the slightest. For further information on the available transfers, hit the forum thread. You can also check out the source and destination realms behind the cut below.
Insider Trader: Gadgets for the modern Engineer
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Engineering has quite a few useful tools in addition to their famous repertoire of toys, but not every player knows how to make the most of them. There are many reasons for this, including: Not being informed on the latest improvements. Consumables may be less cost-prohibitive, for example, than the last time you checked. Believing the "Engineering is useless" hype that lingers from darker days, and feeling creatively blocked after an expensive and tedious leveling process. Being an irrational yet strangely normal cooldown and consumable saving individual. Awkward Zombie illustrates the latter nicely, and we've talked about stingy cooldown use in the past. This week, Insider Trader is going to discuss a handful of the Engineering tools that you really should be using to the fullest, and why.
Warhammer Online CE head start launches, revs up the buzz
The first day of the Warhammer Online head start is over and several servers are already full of players picking sides and clashing foreheads. Another thing that's already started is the reaction around the wider web. The buzz is strong with this one. Here's a round-up of news bits relating to Mythic's newest MMO that you may find a bit surprising: Something Awful's Goon Squad takes to Warhammer Online like Chaos flies to a smoldering pile of Orc poo. Is this a good or a bad sign? For the extreme completionists out there that need to know how to unlock everything in the Tome of Knowledge, you may want to check out the newest Allakhazam site. It should be interesting to see how/if Mythic evolves the ToK to compete with websites like these. If you bought the Collector's Edition and gotten your head start code, then you were part of the group who got in today. Wondering where that special racial head for your character is at and how you can get it? Mythic would like to tell you. The ever-vigilant Mythic community reps have posted a bit more information on the how and where of getting your CE quests, which come with special titles and other rewards. GOA sort of makes up for earlier slip-ups by getting EU players into their CE head start nice and smoothly. Let's hope this is the start of a pattern for the EU WAR service. Mark Jacobs writes letter of thanks and excitement to everyone involved in the official beginnings of WAR.
WoW Moviewatch: The ultimate Warlock PvP video
One of our readers thinks that he's the best Warlock out there. I'm almost inclined to agree. After getting his S3 gear last year, he became bored with the arena and began looking for ways to spice things up. He created this compilation video of 3v1, as well as some 4v1, PvP. Although he discusses some of the motivation in his thread on the official WoW forums, I wanted to get a little more in-depth with it.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...Read on for some strategy tips on Warlock PvP ...
Goon Squad reunites Jaina and Thrall
Dipex from Goon Squad contacts us to report on the guild's having brought Jaina and Thrall together for a -- uh -- tempestuous reunion in Orgrimmar. The video above can be seen in a higher quality version here, and it's quite a sight. On occasion I've entertained thoughts of the stunts I'd pull as a GM in WoW, and high on that list would be pitting raid or faction bosses against each other for an ingame version of Two Bosses Enter. Well, Goon Squad actually pulled it off. I won't spoil the video for you, but apparently Thrall and Cairne aren't immune to Jaina's teleportation ability...I can't begin to imagine the kite job this must've been, but if you take a look at their video of Jaina going postal on Org, you get a sense of just how many people it took. Dipex writes toward the end of the first video that this is the quest-spawned version of Jaina, which I can only assume means they were kiting her from her spawn point in Dustwallow Marsh where the Alliance quest "The Missing Diplomat" ends. This certainly would have simplified matters; getting her out of Theramore would have been significantly more difficult, and I daresay this was an elegant solution. Elegant? Do I mean elegant? Maybe I mean something else.
WoW Moviewatch: I Summon People Off Cliffs
Sometimes you have to admire the sheer maliciousness of WoW players. This is a classic "PVP" video from the Goon Squad guild on Mal'Ganis, famed for holding the Theramore flightmaster hostage. The Goon Squad warlock Dipex formed an "Azeroth Airlines" guild solely for the purposes of summoning people to their deaths. The general focus is summoning over cliffs, but the video also features summons over a waterfall, over the edge of Felwood, and down the Undercity elevator. There's also an impressive selection of hate mail. Previously on Moviewatch...
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We're in your docks, kidnapping your flightmaster
With the disappearance of dishonorable kills, many people are hoping for the return of innovative world PvP. As an example of "innovative world PvP," and how angry people get when it actually occurs, we present last month's Mal'Ganis Flightmaster Hostage Crisis. Mal'Ganis is a fairly overcrowded PvP server, hosting both some of the world's best guilds (Ret, Elitist Jerks) and some of the world's best drama (the guildmaster who threatened to kill a guy who gquit after spending a month in the hospital.) One of the native Mal'Ganis guilds is Goon Squad, a giant Horde crew that was formed from readers of http://www.somethingawful.com. Goon Squad is known for pranks and odd ideas, the most well-known of which is their "I Summon People Off Cliffs" warlock PvP video. On the night of November 4, Goon Squad snuck into Theramore and kited away the Alliance flightmaster. Soon after, they posted a ransom demand on the Mal'Ganis realm forums: If the Alliance bought out two Lightforge Belts listed for 1500g each in the neutral auction house, Goon Squad would free their hostage. If not, wrote Stuul from Goon Squad, "It would be very unfortunate if we were forced to hold him for the weekend while you try to raid." To encourage the Alliance to pay up, they also camped the Ratchet boat and kidnapped the Auberdine flight master. A large group of Alliance joined in the fun and vowed to hunt down their beloved flightmasters rather than pay the ransom. Goon Squad soon posted that the hostages were in Bael'Dun Keep in the southern Barrens, and challenged Alliance to come and get them. Unfortunately for the Horde, enough people complained to GMs that the incipient world PvP battle was nipped in the bud. Five hours into the hostage crisis, GMs struck down the kited flightmasters with instant Curse of Dooms, killing them and allowing Alliance to fly free in Kalimdor once more. "Your flight masters were slaughtered by a overexcited GM," Arktdnonoobs wrote. "We had no part in their deaths." Goon Squad received commendations from both Horde and Alliance on several servers. Even a CM on the Customer Service Forum, Batta, noted that while the GMs had to kill the flight masters to keep them from being "lost", he admired Goon Squad's ingenuity in pulling off the caper. So is this an example of innovative world PvP, or a bunch of Horde being jerks? Do you have any plans to spice up your server's PvP in the future?
