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Behind the Mask: Six editions of legacy can't be all bad
Before we get into today's discussion on the merits of Champions Online's lore, I want to do a quick brief on the pet pass and the Demonflame update for those not hounding the forums. Demonflame is a little under a week away on PTS and about two weeks on live; you can get the skinny from Poz here. The pet patch is currently on PTS, and it's not bad, but it still needs some work. If you're interested at all in bashing out pets I strongly advise getting on PTS, going to the boards and dropping some feedback. A few other things have been tweaked too. This week on Behind the Mask, we're going to talk about lore. I'm not talking about the game's lore, although I'll cover some of that too. I'm talking about the book lore! I finally gave in and picked up the PDFs (you can buy them from the Hero Games website), and I browsed through a lot of the lore content. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the content in Champions Online consists of parodies of comic and MMO culture, and those elements dilute the serious and interesting lore content that is available. If you've read the lore entries that you can find throughout CO, you'll find that most of them actually sound kind of cool. Unfortunately, that lore is scattered and doesn't show a lot of the big picture. Fortunately, I blew a ton of cash on PDFs (including even the rulebooks) to get a good sense of the game's lore.
Know Your Lore: Orgrim Doomhammer, part 1
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. He is the father of the modern Horde. His name became the name of the great city built by the orcs. He found in the son of his oldest friend a protegé who would lead his people, and he passed his family's greatest treasure down to ensure that prophecy was satisfied. To his people, he was one who never forsook them. No attempts to run away from the consequences of their actions, no dissembling -- simply forthright, pragmatic action. Alone of the Blackrock Clan, he refused the taint of the demon blood, yet found himself marked by it as it spread through his people. Called the Backstabber because he killed his direct superior, Blackhand the Destroyer, he ruled the Horde until its final defeat at Blackrock Mountain. To his enemies, he was death. He beheaded his own chieftain and seized power in one brutal moment, crushing any opposition by the swift assassination of his enemies.He destroyed Stormwind and nearly brought down Lordaeron. He killed the majority of the warlocks of the Shadow Council and removed the position of Warchief from the role of a puppet ruler, leading the Horde in truth. He asked for no quarter and gave none. He countenanced the capture and forced breeding of the dragon queen Alexstrasza and her consort Tyranastrasz, using the juvenile dragons as mounts. He allowed Gul'dan to live, even though he suspected treachery, because the old warlock promised him a weapon that could counter the magics of the humans. He was never one to put his conscience ahead of what he saw as his duty; even as he suspected the orcs were being lied to and manipulated, he took part in the slaughter of the draenei. In the end, his own pragmatism cost him the victory in the Second War, as the treacherous Gul'dan proved that placing victory above all sometimes means giving someone too much rope -- Gul'dan's betrayal of the Horde in its moment of victory effectively destroyed all of the hard work of its Warchief. Orgrim Doomhammer, last of the Doomhammer line, Warchief of the Horde, chief of the Blackrock, was an orc, give him all in all. You shall not look upon his like again.
All the World's a Stage: How Blizzard supports roleplay
"Blizzard doesn't support roleplay." I'm not pointing any fingers, but I come across that statement from time to time. The phrase usually shows up when someone's getting their disgruntled on about how Blizzard clearly never enforces the roleplay naming policy. But you also see this phrase get trotted out when someone wants to illustrated how you rarely see a "content patch" focused on roleplay issues or such. The phrase tires me out whenever I see it. It's a rather hackneyed complaint that presumes a whole lot about why people play the game, why they roleplay and even how they roleplay. In some MMORPGs, you can barely interact with the environment and spend the whole time in a single pose or two. In Dark Age of Camelot, I'm pretty sure we could only sit or stand. But I have great memories of roleplaying in DAoC. But, still, it might help if we took the time to review some ways in which Blizzard does support roleplay. If we can count some of our blessings, we might have a better idea of their existence.
Know Your Lore: The Council of Tirisfal and the last Guardian
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. He was the last Guardian and one of the most influential people in Azeroth -- but he never meant to be either one. Of all of the myriad and varied heroes in World of Warcraft, there is one man who is responsible for the majority of the events we see in Azeroth today. This man was solely responsible for the presence of orcs, responsible for the Horde, responsible for the ever-evolving conflict between Horde and Alliance. He was responsible for the original destruction of Stormwind, for the death of Anduin Lothar, King Llane Wrynn and many other heroes whose exploits didn't make it into the annals of history. He was responsible, indirectly, for the corruption of Arthas and the subsequent death of King Menethil, the razing of Stratholme and the rise of the Scourge. He arguably has more blood on his hands than any other being in Azeroth. And yet he was also responsible for the first tenuous threads of peace stretched between Alliance and Horde. He was responsible for the rise of some of Azeroth's greatest heroes -- he was the man that made Varian Wrynn who he is today, he was the man who turned Thrall from an orc with dreams of peace for his people into a leader of action. He was responsible for saving Azeroth from being razed and torn asunder by the Burning Legion. He was a man of many talents, and a man of many regrets. His name is Medivh.
Know Your Lore: The Prophet Velen, the light and the darkness
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. There will be spoilers for Cataclysm in this post. The Prophet Velen plays a long game. He thinks ahead and considers not only the past and the present but the future, which befits one who has lived for over 25,000 years and can see into the future (however malleable that future might become). To the Prophet, racial grudges, territorial acquisition, even revenge for injuries done to his people -- none of it matters. Even the great Cataclysm is unimportant. Because Velen has seen that all the battles we've fought are merely harbingers and the greatest conflict in the universe is approaching. And every son and daughter of the Light, no matter how tenuous his or her connection, no matter what forces he or she has chosen to consort with (be they divine, elemental, arcane or even fel), will have to make a choice and pick a side. The final battle approaches. The world of Azeroth has been chosen. Good versus evil, light against darkness, life opposing death. What side will you choose?
Know Your Lore: Gnome priests and the failure of the flesh
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. In the however many years I've been playing World of Warcraft, there has always been one constant that has stayed popular opinion since the games launch: Gnomes. People hate gnomes, for whatever reason they use to justify it. I've heard every excuse in the book from "They're short" to "They're so cheery and annoying," but none of the reasons have any real meaning behind them -- it's just popular opinion. The other side of the equation are the people that love gnomes and think they're the best thing since sliced bread, and will not tolerate any disparaging remarks about this tiny and affable race. With Cataclysm's launch comes a new class for the gnomish race -- gnomes will now be able to roll the priest class and heal right along with their Alliance brethren that have been doing this for years. By and large, gnome priests have already existed in some fashion -- Gnomeregan had the presence of a group of gnome "medics" that were healers. When you're dealing with a society that is constantly mid-invention that may or may not accidentally detonate, it's probably a good idea to have a medic or two on hand to patch people up. But these medics didn't really seem to follow the path of the Light, something that dwarves and humans have been using for years as a tool for healing. Gnomes, however, are very good at inventing -- so it may be that they simply found a way to utilize their creations to heal people, hence the medics. The gnome priest of Cataclysm is an entirely different creature, however -- these gnomes appear to use the Light just like their dwarven friends. There are two ways you can look at the gnome priest in Cataclysm -- the easy way, and the more difficult (yet in my mind, more entertaining) way. Since gnome medics already existed in Gnomeregan, and even now players on live servers are working to retake their irradiated home, you could simply assume that the gnome priests are medics that were rescued. Or we can look at gnomes and their past -- and how recent discoveries may be altering how they view their future in a big way.
All the World's a Stage: One night to roleplay
I am neither a man of great leisure nor a man of excess time. Not only do I write for your pleasure, but I work a day job, I have a home, a family, more pets than are healthy, and am struggling to find the time to read a book. These are all things that require the expenditure of that most precious commodity: time. So while I'd like to spend every night rockin' out in Stormwind park, randomly chatting with my friends, I rarely have that kind of time on my hands. Usually, I find myself gifted with a single night "off," or with a handful of an hours. So I do a lot of "one night stories." There are just short modules I play with a handful of other roleplayers. You can do them as complete stand alones, or do them in succession to build a longer story. Whichever way you do it, the goal should be to keep all of the significant action and material within a few hours play. I like to write a little bit about the story before I actually start playing to help keep the pacing moving forward. Getting a sketch out ahead of time to help make sure your roleplay doesn't go off on a tangent will help you make the best use of your time.
Know Your Lore: High General Turalyon
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. He saved his people. Not many people can say that, but High General Turalyon can. On the slopes of Blackrock Mountain, when the greatest warrior the humans of the world of Azeroth had ever produced went down to dusty death, one man turned shattering defeat into hallowed victory. That man was Turalyon, paladin of the Order of the Silver Hand, strategist of the combined forces of the Alliance of Lordaeron during the Second War. It was Turalyon's hand that raised Lothar's broken sword in outrage over orcish perfidy. It was Turalyon's voice that roused the fury of the Alliance at the sight of the dead hero. And it was Turalyon's will that broke the orcs once and for all, that drove Doomhammer to his knees in defeat. Turalyon beat the Horde at Blackrock Mountain. Turalyon led the Alliance to the very site of the Dark Portal, where Khadgar destroyed its physical form. And beyond that, it was Turalyon who led the Alliance Expedition beyond that same portal, to face the shaman Ner'zhul and his twisted ambitions. Turalyon's forces managed to seal the Dark Portal and prevent Ner'zhul's destruction of Draenor from affecting Azeroth, and in so doing, possibly saved the world entire. Since then, no word has of his ultimate fate reached those he led, saved and left behind. It is indisputable that this paladin is one of the greatest heroes of his people, possibly even the greatest paladin who has ever lived. (With all due respect to Uther, Turalyon's record is unambiguous in its greatness.) Yet Turalyon never felt himself to be great. Struggling with doubt every day of his life, convinced the death of Lothar was his fault, he endured and pressed on, steadfast unto the edge of death and perhaps even past it.
All the World's a Stage: Pop culture and its impact on roleplay
My original title for this post was going to be "You got your pop culture in my roleplay!" "No, you got your roleplay in my pop culture!" But that doesn't fit, and it isn't a very descriptive title. Still, this issue of "how many cultural reference is okay in game" is an argument I see come up in roleplay alot. WoW, tabletop, and LARP all seem equally plagued by it. My example is, of course, the above video. It's not a WoW roleplay thing, but it's still a pretty good illustration of my point. The LARPer is taking the part of Baron Samedi, who is attempting to convert some snake-worshipping vampires to his own religion. I don't know enough about the game dynamic to evaluate it on anything except the obvious; the video's creator is performng a parody of the Old Spice commercials in a very in-character manner. (Thanks to OWbN for the example.) In my opinion, the creator did a pretty good imitation of the vocals, and mirrored the Old Spice commercials pretty well. With the technical evaluation out of the way, we're left to wonder if it makes sense that an ancient vampire god really spends that much time cruising YouTube. But on the other hand, the video's kind of funny, and probably some people had fun with it. Isn't that kind of the point of roleplay?
Know Your Lore: The dark past of the Darkspear
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is absolutely full of trolls -- not the trade chat kind, the actual race. Whether you're traveling the southern continents or icy heights of Northrend, the trolls are everywhere; vanilla WoW and both expansions have all included troll content of some kind or another. The original game had Zul'Farrak, Sunken Temple and then later Zul'Gurub. The Burning Crusade didn't see much of the trolls in Outland (beyond a few settlements, of course), but trolls played a large part in high elf (now blood elf) history and currently plague the Ghostlands. Eventually we saw the release of Zul'Aman, and with Wrath's release, we were introduced to the ice trolls of Zul'Drak and their capital, Gun'Drak. While there have been vague hints -- stone tablets and other records -- documenting the history of the race, there's very little solid information regarding the trolls. Big events have been documented, but the day-to-day life and the origins of the trolls aren't really addressed beyond "they have been on Azeroth since the beginning." Of all the various troll tribes, only one is playable -- the Darkspear tribe that now makes its home on Kalimdor. The trolls of the Darkspear have not only made a new home for themselves upon Cataclysm's release, but they've also found two new paths to follow; players will be able to choose troll druids and warlocks with the expansion's launch. In order to understand the Darkspear, a closer look at its origins and the origins of one of the bloodiest wars in Azeroth's history is necessary. WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain spoiler-free, do not continue.
All the World's a Stage: Robot Devil tells you how to portray emotion
In the episode of Futurama titled The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, Fry manages to swap out his sausage-like digits for a pair of sweet, sweet Robot Devil hands. Using these hands, Fry is able to compose and perform an opera. The problem is that the hands enhance his musical skills, but not the man's imagination. So the writing for the opera is, apparently, pretty bad. The Robot Devil is offended and screams, "Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel!" And then to provide an ironic counterpoint to his argument, the Robot Devil finishes up "That makes me feel angry!" However, when the Robot Devil finishes that exclamation, hopefully the audience is already quite aware of how the character is feeling. It's useless, it's just underlining the proof of "Show, don't tell." It's considered ineffective at best or vulgar at worse to simply have your character announce how they feel, especially if that exclamation is the only method you use to tell the audience about the relevant emotion. As such, you should be on the look out for how to convey emotions like grief or love to other players. Let's review some tips for that.
Know Your Lore: Taking flight with the Wildhammer
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The dwarves of Warcraft are an interesting bunch of characters -- though they haven't had much "screen time" in World of Warcraft, over the course of the expansions we've seen more focus on this odd race and its mysterious origins. Rather than evolving or being created as a natural being like the trolls or the tauren, the dwarves were originally a race called the earthen, created by the Titans with the specific purpose of shaping and documenting the progress of the world of Azeroth. The earthen were quite literally of the earth. Created from the stone and earth of the planet they watched over, these creatures shared a deep connection with the world itself. Each movement of the ground, every earthquake or natural disaster was felt by the earthen and affected them in a profound way. The explosion from the Sundering -- the destruction of the Well of Eternity which caused the continent of Kalimdor to split into the continents we know today -- affected the earthen deeply, and many retreated to the safety of the Titan cities from which they had originated after the explosion. WARNING: The following post contains some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain spoiler free, do not continue.
Know Your Lore: Grommash Hellscream
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. He is the destroyer. Drinker of demon blood, first slave of Mannoroth, he who ushered in the Blood Curse and the bloody haze of rage and battle frenzy it woke in the orcish heart. He was in the vanguard of the army that stormed Shattrath, the last and greatest of the draenei cities, and no axe can be said to have slaughtered more of them. No hand was more stained, not Gorefiend, not Deadeye, not Bladefist. In a sea of names that denote battle hardened warriors, his name stands out. He is the savior. He is the last survivor leading his people when most of their kind were imprisoned and defeated. He was the one who showed the young Thrall a free orc, taught him their language and pointed him to those who would show him his ultimate destiny. Tripped up by his fury and guilt, twice he stumbled back toward the blood haze that dominated his people, the curse he himself brought upon them. Finally, goaded beyond endurance, it is the same bellicose anger that has granted him his greatest successes and his greatest failure that frees his people. Grom Hellscream drank the demon Mannoroth's blood and led his people into slavery. Grom Hellscream slew the demon Mannoroth and led his people out of slavery. Few beings can be said to be the best and worst of their people at once -- but then again, few people can say they are the Giant's Heart. Who was Grommash Hellscream?
All the World's a Stage: Would a WoW LARP work?
I'll admit I have been known to participate in LARP. (I know, it makes me a horrible person, and I assure you that I'm amply ashamed of myself.) If you're not in that highly elite group of roleplayers who dress up and talk in funny accents, I'll explain for you. LARP stands for Live Action Roleplay. In this sublime RP, you physically act out the majority of your character's action, wear costumes and otherwise go for the deepest immersion possible. In my own time as a roleplayer, I've had the good fortune to LARP in vampire games, changeling games, steampunk games, fantasy games and even cyberpunk games. I think I've LARPed just about everything you can LARP. And with relatively few exceptions, I've loved it all. If you want to have a good time, there's nothing like standing around in the woods pretending to be a sparkly vampire or an elf. So, if you're like me, you'd be interested in playing a World of Warcraft LARP. It wouldn't be the first time I've written game rules out of virtually nothing, so I spent some time wondering about the challenges we'd have to overcome to successfully run this game. I saw four main issues. I should say that I don't consider any of these problems insurmountable, but they are issues any gamemaster would need to address.
Know Your Lore: Story analysis and the misconception of "lolore"
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Today's post was supposed to be an introduction to the Wildhammer, a dwarven faction that will be responsible for bringing the shaman class to the forefront of dwarven society; however, plans have changed. As I was writing the article, I kept going back to the comments on last week's post and addressing issues and concerns brought up by readers, as well as thinking about the people out there who believe that the storytelling is "shoddy" or "unbelievable." So I'm putting the dwarves aside this week -- don't worry, they'll be back next week, I promise! Some of Blizzard's decisions regarding new class and race combinations make more sense than others -- as stated last week, hunters aren't a big stretch for the imaginations of most players. Some take advantage of expanding upon existing lore, like the development regarding the forgotten eye of the Earthmother, An'she. There was a lot of commentary and discussion on the tauren paladin article regarding whether or not these decisions make sense, but what people seem to be overlooking is it's not a matter of whether or not these changes make sense. What it is about is storytelling -- the construction of a believable story that progresses in a fashion that isn't too out of bounds. While the draenei race was a stretch in many player's minds, the basic fundamentals behind their introduction and integration into the Alliance during The Burning Crusade wasn't as far-fetched as people first thought. Yes, the original story of the draenei involved one of the biggest "whoops" moments in Warcraft's history -- but even the misstep with lore could be explained in a logical fashion when looked at in the correct light.
Know Your Lore: The Old Gods, part four -- their dread shadow
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. To date we've discussed C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, the Old Gods that have to date made an appearance in the game. But they're far from the only Old Gods on Azeroth, and the Old Gods on Azeroth are far from the only Old Gods in the entire Warcraft universe. As we discussed before, the Old Gods are a universal phenomenon, spreading chaos and destruction wherever they go, whether they're being summoned into Outland's Shadowmoon Valley or having their servitors corrupt the former prison wing of the naaru vessel Tempest Keep. So far in the Cataclysm beta, we've seen the Twilight's Hammer more or less in full on "Let's bring the Old Gods back!" mode. They're running excavations in Darkshore and the Twilight Higlands, their camps have sprung up on the shores of Thousand Needles' new submerged environment, and entities like Soggoth and Isorath have been discovered. (Until I hear differently, I'm still assuming that Isorath is an actual Old God, because if not man, that's one really big mess of tentacles for a servitor.) But these are far from the only potential places where the Old Gods' presence can be felt.
Know Your Lore: An'she and the Holy Light
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. When considering the new race and class combinations that Blizzard has to offer, some are immediately recognizable, such as human or Forsaken hunters. It stands to reason they'd exist; they already have in game since the very beginning. Some take a little more research, such as the history of the Shen'dralar and how that effects new night elves that would like to study the arcane. However, some of these new race and class choices are so far out there and so inconceivable that the very mention of them existing seems completely out of place. The tauren race has long been a follower of nature, the spirits of the elements and the mysterious "Earthmother," as well as the elusive Mu'sha -- also known as Elune by the night elves. Yet in Cataclysm the tauren will be following the path of the Holy Light -- the paladin and the priest class. At first, the announcement seemed entirely out of line for the nature-loving race, but examining the tauren a little more closely gives the answers and the explanations we're looking for. To explain the tauren paladin and priest class, we first have to go way, way back to the dawn of tauren civilization and the only know records of tauren history, the Thunder Bluff scrolls. WARNING: The following post may contain some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain spoiler free, do not continue.
Know Your Lore: The Old Gods part three -- Yogg-Saron
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. To pick up a thread from our original Old God post, we now have a name for the entity that may or may not be an Old God in the Twilight Highlands (and I'm gambling that it is): Isorath. This demotes Soggoth the Slitherer to "really, really powerful servant" status, but it's worth keeping in mind that Great Cthulhu himself was not an Elder God, merely a Great Old One, and perhaps we're about to discover a similar division in Warcraft's lore. We now almost surely know the names of three Old Gods; it's too soon to call. However, that's for the future. This week, we turn our eyes to The Beast With A Thousand Maws. Tremble before the God of Death! If you've run Ulduar, you've probably run into the handsome fellow above, who dwells therein. Its blood is power, its thoughts madness; few can resist the power of the lucid dream.
Know Your Lore: Nathanos Marris and the dark rangers of the Forsaken
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. When looking at the new race and class combinations that are coming out with Cataclysm, some are far easier than others to digest, such as the addition of the hunter class to the human race. Of course the humans can be hunters, that's not a terribly far-fetched statement at all. But what about the other new race that, as of Cataclysm, gets to take up the bow and tame beasts as well? I'm speaking of the Forsaken, of course -- the thought of an undead creature holding a biscuit and coaxing a wolf to be his new best friend is just a little off-putting. In Wrath, we've seen a sudden return of the dark rangers -- the forsaken remnants of what used to be Sylvanas' corps of elven rangers. As Ranger General of Silvermoon, Sylvanas led and commanded the Farstriders back before the Third War. After the events of the Third War, Sylvanas found herself turned into a banshee, and then after regaining her body, a dark ranger -- the first dark ranger of the Forsaken. But the Forsaken we play in game aren't really elven -- they're humans, the former residents of Lordaeron. How do they fit in? There's a few different and absolutely reasonable theories kicking around, but first we should take a look at the first and only human ranger lord -- Nathanos Marris. WARNING: The following post may contain some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain unspoiled, stopping here would be advised!
All the World's a Stage: Sound bites and one liners for worgen and goblins
One of the most endearing emotes in World of Warcraft is the /silly. In this classic command, you order your character to tell a brief, audible joke. Everyone around you can hear it, of course. But the fine voice acting of /silly and /flirt are some of the most sought-after content of each expansion. Some are racy and risque, but all of the emotes speak to fundamental concepts about each race. The goblin voices, for example, talk a lot about crime and money. That's not by accident. In any kind of roleplaying, sound bites and one liners both tend to be a big deal. They evoke memories and define characters. They help frame action into a resounding "heck yeah!" kind of moment. Comic book heroes are known for their quips. Stand up comedians make fine art of the one sentence joke. It is, in a word, some good stuff. To help encourage folks to prepare their own worgen and goblin one liners, I thought I'd spend some time going through some examples. I'll drop the line or quote, share where I got it from, and why I think it reflects on the worgen and goblin. Don't worry; I promise to avoid Metallica and Linkin Park lyrics. Then, let's play in the comments and create a bunch more.
