leeroy-jenkins
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WoW Archivist: Upper Blackrock Spire
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? You may have taken Upper Blackrock Spire, Warlord Zaela, but the classic version lives in our hearts, where your orc friends can't get to it. In 2005, UBRS was the dungeon everyone desperately aspired to run. They begged to run it. They paid to run it. They sat in capital cities for hours just hoping, dreaming, that someone, somehow, would put together a UBRS group. The dungeon was the pinnacle of content for classic WoW's "nonraiders" and the gateway to raiding for raiders. Quests here attuned you for Onyxia's Lair and Blackwing Lair. (And who doesn't love a good lair?) Another quest allowed your Molten Core raid to summon Majordomo Executus. No endgame PvE'er could avoid UBRS, even if they wanted to. We didn't avoid it, though, because the original "Ubers" (OO bers), as players affectionately called it, was awesome. What made it so special? Why was it so revered, and why are some players sad that it has been removed from WoW forever? Let's turn back the Empowered Hourglass to 2005 to find out. Ascension UBRS, like many of WoW's classic endgame dungeons, required a key to enter. It was not nearly as simple as grinding out some reputation -- click the link for the full rundown of just how painful getting this key was. Even the quest giver knew trying to get a key would be awful. He told you, "Understand this, mortal: the chance that one of the three generals of the lower citadel would carry a gemstone at any given time is rare. You must be vigilant in your quest. Remain determined!" In early 2005, when many players were finally hitting the endgame, very few had a Seal of Ascension to grant UBRS access. To put this in perspective, by the end of classic, my guild of more than 200 people only had about five or six keys. If you had a key, you had two choices. You could hide in your guild and only do guild runs. Or you could advertise that you had one to your realm, find yourself on everyone's friend list, and get requests day and night, every time you logged in, to run UBRS. Even if you tried to keep it a secret, someone in your guild may have outed you. Once that cat was out of the bag, your WoW experience changed dramatically. You were now a realm celebrity.
World of Warcraft's garrisons will send Leeroy Jenkins to protect you
Part of the potential fun of owning, building, and operating a garrison in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is that you'll be leader to several NPCs known as followers. A new garrison dev diary today talked about the acquisition and benefits of followers and how that will change your gameplay. Followers can be obtained through several means, including quests, reputation, and a once-a-week headhunter service. Once there, followers can be sent out in missions alone or as a group in order to bring back rewards for their kind and generous master. Players can accumulate up to 25 active followers of various quality types and can level them up over time. Probably the most interesting facet of follower ownership is the use of a select handful as bodyguards. Players can attach a bodyguard to them for general world questing, asking such famous figures as Leeroy Jenkins to fight by your side. Once enough reputation with that NPC is reached, the bodyguard will attain several helpful abilities, such as being able to summon friends or create a portal back to your garrison.
Five more must craft neutral Hearthstone cards
It turns out that people get oddly passionate about card lists, which is honestly a pretty great sign for Hearthstone. The first list we dropped two weeks ago was met with agreement, and also a lot of 'where is this card?!', despite warnings that there would be more to come. There was also some disagreement with the Wild Pyromancer choice, but I'm hoping that Amaz and his skilled use of the fiery minion at Dreamhack Summer has opened some eyes. It's incredibly powerful with the right complements. This week we'll take a look at another five sub-epic cards no one should be without. The only ranking to the list is mana cost, so we're not saying that one's more important than another. That decision is up to you and what decks you want to play.
Life after the tutorial in Hearthstone
It turns out Illidan was wrong. You were prepared, in Hearthstone, at least. After a climactic battle you bested the Betrayer and closed out the Hearthstone tutorial. What do you do after that? Unfortunately, Hearthstone's very minor narrative ends there and you're left to fend for yourself in what can be a horrifying world of Leeroy Jenkins', Ragnaros' and more. Your opponents are dropping legendaries and you're just trying to figure out how to keep Goldshire Footman out of your mage deck. Today we'll take a look at how to move forward in a game that features little in the way of linear progression. While you'll receive some quests early on to take your deck out into the wild against other players, go ahead and shelf that idea for a bit and head on over to Hearthstone's practice area. In this safe environment you'll get the chance to play against the AI, while also unlocking all of the other classes. You won't need to worry about making other players wait while you try and figure out your moves, nor will you need to feel any sort of pressure over potentially losing. These beginner AI decks are designed to teach you the basics of the various classes and in turn help you grow your understanding of the game as a whole.
WoW Archivist: 11 moments from WoW's history that should become scenarios
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Next year is WoW's tenth anniversary. It's hard to believe, but it's true! If the typical timeline holds, the next expansion will release a few months prior to that anniversary. You have to believe Blizzard wants to pull out all the stops for this milestone. What better way to celebrate ten years of WoW than by crafting scenarios to relive the best moments? It's possible that Blizzard is planning a time-based expansion centered around the Bronze Dragonflight. The Keepers of Time could send us on missions, much like the Caverns of Time dungeons of expansions past. Only instead of lore moments from the distant past, they could be moments from WoW's own history, including events driven by the community and removed content that players may not have been able to experience. Here are 11 examples that I would love to see. 1. The Blood Plague What: The Alliance seizes a rare opportunity Where: Original Orgrimmar When: Patch 1.7 As WoW Archivist previously covered, the Corrupted Blood plague began when players used "creative game mechanics" to export a boss ability into the general population. The unstoppable and highly contagious plague debuff devastated cities around the world as thousands of players and NPCs alike succumbed to it. The resulting chaos became an excellent model for how real-world diseases could spread. This scenario would take place at the height of the plague and have different versions for Alliance and Horde. Alliance players would accompany NPCs on a strike into Orgrimmar. They would take advantage of the deadly outbreak to make an attempt on Thrall's life. Horde players would defend the city and their Warchief while trying to contain the plague. Why Orgrimmar? Due to the time frame, Blizzard could reintroduce the original version of the city.
The drama! The suspense! The Leeroy!
It may be the "all your base" of the WoW world, but the Leeroy Jenkins meme will always be with us. Recently, the Worldwide Film Festival asked three directors to reimagine some of the world's most notorious viral videos as short films, and Finn O'Hara chose the Leeroy Jenkins video for his. O'Hara's version of Leeroy Jenkins, featuring the raid members as bank robbers and Leeroy as, well, a Leeroy, is certainly faithful to the dialogue of the original. Sadly, O'Hara chose to leave out "At least I have chicken," but one could see how it wouldn't really fit in with the rest of the film. Another entrant of note is Jeff Chan's Charlie Bit My Finger, which will result in flashbacks for anyone who's ever been overrun by zombies in a first-person shooter and totally ruined the cuteness of the original. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Leeroy Jenkins gets his own movie
Are you tired of the seven-year-old Leeroy Jenkins meme? You better not be because it is never going to die. Not ever. You know why? Because now he's a major motion picture. Well, a minor motion picture. Director Finn O'Hara shot a short three-minute indie film called (of course) Leeroy Jenkins. The difference between the short film and the infamous YouTube World of Warcraft video is that Jenkins and his team have been transformed from a dungeon raiding party to a gang of bank robbers. The translation works surprisingly well, with the bulk of the film dedicated to the leadup to Jenkins' charge. The film was created for the Worldwide Short Film Festival, and you can watch it after the jump.
WoW's 18 easiest achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the phrase "low-hanging fruit" comes to mind. While I collect suggestions for our next article on evil achievements, I thought it might be amusing to turn toward achievements that are considerably easier to get. The 17 achievements (and one Feat of Strength) in today's column are all things that you can do without any real preparation. I'm going to ignore the super-obvious picks (Shave and a Haircut, anyone? You don't need me to tell you about that) and head straight for the more esoteric stuff. I'm also going to bypass extremely expensive achievements that, while quick, will bankrupt the average player, so nothing like Grand Ice Mammoth. (Looks like I need to update OverAchiever: Straight to the poorhouse, come to think of it.) I briefly considered including achievements that you can only get at the end of a long quest chain or reputation grind but canned that idea too. For example, Skyshattered is relatively easy these days with a 410% mount and a little practice, but you'll only be able to access it after a quest grind, so nuts to that. I also eliminated You'll Feel Right As Rain, Critter Gitter, and Fungal Frenzy for that reason. They're all easy, but you can't just toddle off to get them unless you've already put some work in. These are all achievements that the average player -- assuming a friend or two, a tiny bit of luck, and a little time -- can just run out and get whenever he or she wants.
WoW Archivist: The legacy of Leeroy Jenkins
The WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Leeroy Jenkins is easily the most recognizable name in all World of Warcraft. It isn't Thrall, it isn't Arthas, it isn't Chris Metzen or Ghostcrawler. It's Leeroy Jenkins. Leeroy has transcended the realm of geekdom in a way that no other aspect of World of Warcraft can. While World of Warcraft may have made appearances in shows such as Stargate Atlantis, Leeroy has found a place on How I Met Your Mother, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, and beyond -- he has become a genre and a trope unto himself. Leeroy Jenkins has been mentioned and plugged so many times in pop culture that the days of his being a World of Warcraft reference are in decline and we're coming to a point that most of the world has no idea of the origin of the joke. It's just a funny thing that exists, disembodied from its nerdy, video game roots. So who is this Leeroy Jenkins fellow, and why is he so gosh-darn funny?
Wings Over Atreia: What's in a name?
Classic balladry informs us that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Would the same hold true of an Elyos or an Asmodian? OK, maybe sweet-smelling and back hair don't necessarily mix (and let's not even ask how long that Elyos has been stuffed in all-encompassing armor), but there is no denying the impact a name has in Aion. Unlike those handed us at our birth (and with few exceptions kept throughout our lives), names in games are completely self-inflicted; we have control over what the floaty text above our heads announces to the rest of our pixel world. And announce it does -- more than many people even stop to think about. A name is so much more than just a convenient way to send whispers or in-game mail to others within Aion; with only a glance, your name implies much about you, your playstyle, and your personality. It is not uncommon for people to actually base their grouping decisions, their legion recruitment, their trust in you, and more on just a simple glance at your in-game moniker or your legion tag. Whether the impact is born of reputation or of first impressions, others have a reaction to and make decisions based simply on names. Fly past the cut to see how different monikers influence the world we live, fly, and fight in.
WoW Moviewatch: Leeroy 10 - Nesingwary
Today's Moviewatch begins with a somewhat melancholy note. For two years now, we've been able to enjoy the stellar fun created by Herculean Productions. They have chronicled the ongoing adventures of Leeroy and his friends as he struggles to level up, explore Azeroth, and generally have a good time. A lot of these folks are busy working in college at the same time they make these movies, so Leeroy has clearly been a labor of love and devotion. Now, however, it seems like that time may come to an end. While I hate to see them go, I want to thank Herculean Productions for all their hard work. You'll always be one of my favorites. Leeroy 10 - Nesingwary features the arrival of none other than the mad-man himself, Hemet Nesingwary. (His arrival was necessary and inevitable.) Meanwhile, Celeste and Silverglade continue to seek out more attractive, more powerful gear. They get sent down to old Stranglethorn Vale. I don't want to say too much about this video. But if you've been a Leeroy fan, make sure you don't miss it. Again, thanks to Herculean for the great time. I hope you stay in touch. Click here to see it yourself. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
The OverAchiever: Dungeon and raid titles, Part 2
After taking a two-week detour into guides covering the Love Is In the Air and Lunar Festival holidays, we're going to return to the list of titles available from dungeon and raid achievements. You can find part one here, covering everything from Argent Defender to Grand Crusader. This week, we'll pick up where we left off. Herald of the Titans (requires an Algalon-10 kill under special circumstances) or Starcaller (requires Observed -- 10 player) Herald of the Titans, much like its ToGC-10 counterpart Argent Defender, requires you to kill Algalon in Ulduar-10 without padding the difficulty with gear from higher-level raids. The result is arguably the coolest Algalon-related title apart from Celestial Defender, but it won't come without a ton of planning and a lot of skill. Starcaller is the same deal, minus the gear requirement.
Leeroy-related extras on recent DVD releases
Recently two different movies have included their own versions of the world famous Leeroy Jenkins video in their DVD extras. Year One is the first -- the video, which you can watch after the link below, isn't a perfect reproduction, but it is funny to see Vinnie Jones and the other actors (including McLovin as Leeroy) try to wrap all of the WoW jargon and nonsense jokes from the original into their idea of a scene that makes sense. There's another Leeroy Jenkins related extra on the Monsters vs. Aliens DVD -- this one's just a set of storyboards, but it does feature the voice cast, including Kiefer Sutherland and Seth Rogen, doing their own little version of the scene. It's not quite as faithful as the Year One version, but it does feature Rogen doing the Leeroy yell, and that's worth watching by itself. You can watch that video after the break as well. Both are worth a chuckle -- it's wild to see a meme like Leeroy sneak out into mainstream media.
WoW Moviewatch: Leeroy 5 - For the Horde
Occasionally, we're reminded that WoW Moviewatch isn't just machinima. It can be live action movies, also. Today's film proves exactly that, because there's no way I could pass it up. Herculean Productions has released their new episode, Leeroy 5 - For the Horde.I love this Leeroy as much as I loved Leeroy 4. They're having fun, and totally rocking out with their enjoyment of the game. The little gags and spoofs are done with a deep affection for the subect, and that translates into a bouyant film experience. The special effects are just enough to convey the game events they're describing, and the team uses creative angles to make the "inside" of an instance believable.As a significant note, however, the predictable "Leeroy Jenkins" jokes finally made their way into the series. Considering the cultural history of Jenkins to WoW players, I found the references satisfying.So, click here to check out Leeroy 5. You'll either thank me, or flame me. Either way, I think you'll have some fun with this movie.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch
World of Warcraft as evolutionary model
This must be the time of year for zany social theories about videogames. First, we heard that World of Warcraft might quality as being a religion. Then we heard that it might make for better citizens. And now, in an essay over at Gamasutra on the event of Charles Darwin's birthday, Noah Falstein suggests that games like World of Warcraft are actually models for evolution -- as we level up with experience points, our characters get stronger and more evolved, and we feel comfortable with that because that's exactly what we see happening in the world around us.Technically, of course, you can't model Darwin's theory of evolution with a single character -- evolution isn't about one individual getting better, it's about a process of natural selection in a species over a period of time. To really model evolution, you'd have to play hundreds of alts, and quit them each time you ran into a problem, leaving you with just a few characters that worked really well. Wait -- maybe some of you are already doing that.But Falstein makes good points in saying that certain elements of what Darwin described as evolution have shown up in game design as well -- the idea of specialization for certain character classes, tribal and national allegiances, and even the idea of memes (which are certainly widespread in WoW -- anyone ever heard of Chuck Norris or Leroy Jenkins?) are all drawn from Darwin's thinking and definitely embodied in the game we play.
World of Warcraft miniatures game launches
One of the biggest names in the trading card industry is Upper Deck Entertainment. Given the success of their World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, they've released a follow-up game this week: The World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. The World of Warcraft Miniatures Game went on sale worldwide as of Tuesday, November 11th. There are 70 different miniatures, including Warchief Thrall, Varimathras, and yes... even Leeroy Jenkins. There's a bonus for your actual WoW characters as well -- miniatures booster packs come with sample packs from the WoW Trading Card Game which might include Loot cards. Essentially, they're unlocks for "cosmetic in-game upgrades for their online World of Warcraft characters". Check out the Upper Deck launch announcement for their World of Warcraft Miniatures Game for the full details. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Nihilum Arena wins CGS Championship
The premiere 3v3 Arena team from Europe of Cherez, Beasteh, and Hydra -- aka Nihilum Arena -- won top honors at the recently concluded Championship Gaming Series Arena Tournament. This win comes after their notable absence from MLG Orlando despite a 2nd place finish in San Diego. Considering the purse for the MLG series is $12,000 (and an HP Blackbird for each team member), Nihilum fortunately participated in this tournament, winning a whopping $25,000. Frag Dominant Duelists continued their strong showing on the pro circuit, finishing 2nd again after falling to Orz in MLG Orlando about a week ago, and placing first in MLG San Diego. FD-DGFG ran a double healer Rogue, Druid, Priest comp, taking home $12,500 after their defeat to Nihilum Arena's Hunter, Druid, and Priest. Two runner-up teams took home $6,250 apiece. The tournament used a format that pitted Europe's against the United States' best in the finals.The coverage was different from the MLG series, being much more friendly to viewers not overly familiar with the game or Arena tournaments, with extensive previews of the characters used by the players, and an overview of the Arena maps prior to matches. The shoutcasting was also much more casual-friendly, at a significantly slower pace than the MLG coverage. The choice of the infamous Leeroy Jenkins to commentate was definitely a marketing move, with more than a few mistakes (calling Scatter Shot Distracting Shot, saying Ice Block's cooldown as 2 mins vs. the correct 5, being fooled by Cherez' Feign Death, etc.). The level of analysis wasn't as deep as MLG's, which featured Arena pros for commentating. Camera view was also an overhead style as opposed to the third person view used by MLG. Both tournaments had good points, and it's exciting to see Arena play gaining a stronger foothold in the pro gaming scene.
CGS World of Warcraft Arena Championship
On Saturday, July 19th, the four finalists in the CGS 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Championship will meet in the squared circle of pixels to duel it out for glory. The four finalists are MoB Gaming (US), Frag Dominant (US), aÄa Agïta (EU), and Nihilum Arena (EU). The US teams will fight first, then the EU teams, and then the winners will face-off up to determine the final champion.The matches run in a best-of-five format, ending when one team reaches three victories. There is a 15 minute time limit for each round, and the show will be live streamed by the Championship Gaming Series. The matches will be shoutcasted by none other than the infamous Leeroy Jenkins. No, really. The show starts at 4PM Eastern, with aÄa Agïta versus Nihilum. MoB Gaming versus Frag Dominant kicks off around 5PM Eastern, and the US Finalist versus the EU Finalist will fight it out by 6PM. That schedule's going to shift a bit, obviously, if any of the match ups finish especially quickly. At any rate, we'll let you know who wins.
WoW Insider Show Episode 39 now live, with special guest Veronica Belmont
The latest episode of the WoW Insider Show is now online for your listening enjoyment over at WoW Radio, and it was an interesting show. The Internet's Veronica Belmont was kind enough to grace us with her presence, so we spoke with her about what she's been up to in the past with Mahalo Daily and more recently with Tekzilla, including her interviews with Leeroy Jenkins and The Guild, and we talked about all the most popular stories in the last week of Warcraft, including but not limited to: The infamous Wrath alpha leaks -- we didn't talk about specifics, but we did discuss with Veronica what this means for Blizzard, and what effect, if any, the leak might have on the expansion's release The Glider bannings, and all of the rumors swirling behind that one Whether Karazhan is for entry level raiders or not, and what that means for 10man raiding in the expansion And we talked about Age of Conan's release, and what WoW players thought of that game Additionally, we answered some reader email (including trying to decide what Turpster will do to ding 70 on his Shadow Priest) -- if you'd like to send us some of that, just drop a note to theshow@wow.com and maybe you'll hear your email on the next show. A huge thank-you to Veronica for coming by this past week -- don't forget to check her out on Revision3's Tekzilla every week, and if she does any more WoW-related broadcasts, you'll hear about them here for sure.And don't forget, we run the WoW Insider Show live every week right over on WoW Radio -- stop by around 3:30pm EST every Saturday (and drop into the #wowradio channel on irc.mmoirc.com if you'd like to chat with us live) to hear everything you already enjoy about the WoW Insider site right there in audio form. Enjoy the show, we'll see you next week.
Cinemassively: World of WifeCraft
(Viewers be warned that this video contains plenty of bleeped language and some innuendo.)Have you ever thought about what would happen if real life worked like World of Warcraft? The Fark.tv crew put that to the test in their sketch comedy, World of Wifecraft. We particularly enjoyed the reference to the legend that is Leeroy Jenkins.When the wives get fed up with their WoW playing ways, they bring their husbands to a special doctor, who tells them to "level up" with their spouses. However, the guys soon discover that it's not so easy to win their way back into the hearts of their significant others. Will they complete their quests and get to level 40, or will they realize that they are no match for their level 70 wives?[Thanks, Drewbie!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
