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EverQuest Next video talks about Ogres and Dwarves
When you talk about basic fantasy races, Dwarves and Ogres are up there as the classics. But which do you find more interesting to learn about in EverQuest Next? The latest episode of the game's Workshop Show is available now; art director Rosie Rappaport and creative director Jeff Butler are joined by lead content designer Steve Danuser to show off the style and lore of both races while players vote over which one should be the next workshop focus. Dwarves, for their part, are fairly familiar to anyone who has played EverQuest or EverQuest II (or pretty much any fantasy game from 1967 to the present): short, stocky, bearded, ancestral, and traditional. Ogres, meanwhile, have changed a lot, with a renewed developer emphasis on making the race more appealing to players in general whilst offering a wider range of available style options for players. You can watch the full show past the break, but be forewarned: It's a long one.
Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The terrifying, living world of Draenor
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. We don't really know much about Draenor. Certainly we know plenty about Outland, the shattered remains of a world once called Draenor, but that shattered world is a mere remnant of what Draenor actually was. In the Warcraft cosmos, the only planet we are incredibly familiar with is Azeroth -- and even then, Azeroth holds plenty of mysteries and riddles that have yet to be solved. But Draenor bears very little resemblance to Azeroth, touted instead as a savage land on which we'll have to fight to survive. That statement is far more literal than you'd think. And if you thought the Iron Horde was the biggest problem we were going to face on Draenor, you'd be very, very wrong. In a universe of benevolent Titans, bastions of order, what makes a planet fight not just with aggressive invading forces, but itself? Please note: The following Know Your Lore contains spoilers for Warlords of Draenor. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.
Know Your Lore: The others of Draenor
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. Draenor, like Azeroth, is populated by more than just one sapient people. We've talked at length about the orcs who were born on Draenor, and the draenei who landed there and named the world as their refuge. But there were others. Some have vanished entirely since the creation of Outland, while others escaped to Azeroth or continued to exist on the remnant continent itself, floating in the Twisting Nether. Thus, our trip to this new Draenor will allow us to come face to face with beings we barely know, as they were before the destruction Ner'zhul unleashed, and with beings we've never met or seen, entities of legend. While we still don't know exactly what we'll find on Draenor (I'm sure it will be savage) we have enough clues to start talking about the denizens of that unknown (to us) world. So, who were these others?
My Warlords of Draenor dreams
I worry that I'm getting too excited for Warlords of Draenor. Letting my head run away from my heart, so to speak. I've done it before - pretty much before every expansion, I got super excited and imagined up a whole host of ideas for what the expansion was going to be like and all the cool things we were going to get to do and sometimes they came true and sometimes they didn't. Wrath of the Lich King ended up disappointing me greatly, because the Northrend I'd imagined wasn't even close to the Northrend we got (and to people who loved Wrath I probably sound like a crazy person) while Cataclysm ended up going so far beyond the revamp I expected that to this day I'm still very fond of it as a 1 to 60 experience. It started the transformation of the Horde/Alliance balance to one of much closer parity. Mists has been an interesting experience in that regard, in that I simply didn't expect the Pandaria we got at all, but I'm fairly happy with that - the hozen, jinyu, mogu, grummies and saurok are all far more interesting to me and did a lot to make Pandaria far from a monolithic experience. And so, I sit here imagining all sorts of things for Warlords and wondering how much of any of it I'll get to see.
Spike VGX round-up: Telltale's new projects, Cranky Kong, No Man's Sky and more
Despite ending with musical performances that closely resembled a form of torture, the Spike VGX show packed some decent surprises! Joel McHale and Geoff Keighley endured four three hours of nonstop programming, and they only seemed to want to murder each other a handful of times. Let's recap everything that was shown: Telltale Games' success with the first season of The Walking Dead seems to have granted them a Golden Key to any partnership they desire. Naturally, they've revealed Tales From The Borderlands, a collaboration with Gearbox Software that will be set in the Borderlands universe. They've also started work on a Game of Thrones series, which will be based off the HBO show. Both projects are slated for 2014. Cranky Kong has had it with these youngsters and their rambunctious romps through jungles, so much so that he's decided to chase them all as the fourth playable character in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Cranky must have gotten a few good strikes in with his cane for that delay, too, because the Kong family has settled on braving the Wii U's incoming frost on February 21. Titanfall had already shown a decent arsenal for blowing up buildings with, but in case you doubted its capabilities, Respawn Entertainment debuted two new mech types tonight. Aside from the Titans, Ogre and Stryder mechs will spread destruction across Titanfall's cityscapes. Ogres will be slow, clunky and powerful, while Stryders will focus on outrunning everyone on the field. Hello Games, the developer of the Joe Danger series, brought along the show's biggest surprise - No Man's Sky is a procedurally generated, exploration-focused sci-fi game planned for 2014. The game's trailer showcased vivid landscapes before blasting its way through asteroids in spacecrafts.
Kojima clarifies the 'ogre' in 'Project Ogre'
Slowly but surely, sparse details regarding Hideo Kojima's "Project Ogre" begin to coalesce in the dark, nebulous void of unannounced games. We already know that Project Ogre will be an open world game with 100-plus hours of content, and that it will be a "very subdued experience," but what that experience actually is has remained a mystery.We have learned, however, that Kojima's use of the word "Ogre" in the project's codename is literal, rather than figurative, and that the game will deal with actual ogres in some capacity, according to a tweet translated by Andriasang. It's also interesting to note that the Japanese word for ogre, "oni," can also be translated to mean "devil" or "demon," so we may end up with one of those rather than an actual ogre. Our prediction is that this whole thing turns out to be a licensed Urusei Yatsura dating game.
Know Your Lore: The orcs, 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. Their name is on the freaking box. The very first Warcraft product ever released is called Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Orcs get top billing. In terms of pure history in the Warcraft setting, orcs have a lot to discuss. In their time, they've gone from a shamanistic society of hunters defending itself from the hostile gronn and ogres to a united war machine led by a figurehead, to a demon-blood drunk engine of genocide and finally out the other side, to a shamanistic society that keeps elements of the war machine alive.
M. Bison, Xiaoyu, Akuma, Jin and Ogre confirmed for SFxT
Street Fighter X Tekken's character roster has had more leaks than a Civil War-era submarine; this time, the unannounced character details come courtesy of a move list card deck included in a Taiwanese collector's edition of the game, which happens to include cards for five unannounced characters: M. Bison, Xiaoyu, Akuma, Jin and Ogre.M. Bison and Xiaoyu were leaked once already, but this is the first we've heard of Akume, Jin or Ogre's inclusion in the game. This collector's edition also includes a 46 track soundtrack and a Yoshinori Ono bobble-head figurine (!!), so we're desperately hoping that the US will get a similar package.
Allods Online cheekily promotes Game of Gods expansion
Say what you will about Allods Online; at least it has a sense of humor when it comes to its own publicity. While most MMOs would use the opportunity of an upcoming major patch for a serious, percussion-heavy trailer fraught with sword swinging and landscapes, Allods decides to go... another way. We don't want to spoil it, so suffice it to say that it begins with an epic confrontation between an ogre and a hermit crab that might well go down in history as one of the most nail-biting battles of the minds. The trailer is a promotion for Allods' upcoming Game of Gods expansion and includes brief glimpses into the update's new features -- including the not-at-all prancing Bard. (Bards rule, by the way.) You can watch the full trailer after the jump!
Forsaken World unlocks the Chains of Kluer
Call your pets and mount up, Forsaken World players, because the newest update Chains of Kluer is upon you. This newest addition to the free-to-play MMORPG brings a number of new features to the game. For starters, the level cap is being raised from 70 to 80. New events are being introduced, including "the revamped Eternal Faith, a Hunting Festival, and an advance pet catching dungeon." Guilds can also now upgrade their guild bases to level three, which includes "higher construction buildings" and lower maintenance fees. Pets can now assist players on their daily quests and events, and death can come more quickly than ever with the addition of mounted combat. To top it all off, in order to commemorate the new update, Perfect World Entertainment is running a contest for players. Anyone who manages to bring down the eponymous ogre Kluer will be entered into a drawing to win a $300 statue of the ogre, an in-game Kluer pet, or an item that will transform players into the creature itself. Good luck, players. Get out there and show that ogre what for!
WoW TCG: Aftermath: Throne of the Tides adds monsters to the mix
As the Worldbreaker series comes to an end, we now turn to the aftermath of Deathwing's destructive awakening into Azeroth and the continued battle against the elements and the Twilight Hammer Cult. The newest WoW TCG expansion, Aftermath: Throne of the Tides, puts players in control of murloc, naga, and ogre heroes as exciting new additions to the WoW TCG hero lineup. Playing as some of the more monstrous races in the World of Warcraft universe is pretty cool, with all new keywords and abilities to take advantage of during gameplay. In addition, Throne of the Tides has been built from the ground up to be a smoother draft and sealed play experience, preparing even the newest players for fun, engaging tournament play. Read on to learn about the Epic Collection and the new in-game goodies that await TCG fans.
Breakfast Topic: Fun with kiting
The Spousal Unit came home from work the other day to find Overlord Mok'Morokk hanging out in Orgrimmar. He joined the fray for a couple minutes and then started the night's raiding schedule. Hours later, he found the ogre from Dustwallow Marsh still there. Though the battle had been kept up the entire time, the Overlord just couldn't be brought down. All of the bank alts in the AH were subjected to periodic AOE stuns and the constant sounds of battle while trying to conduct business. Of course, this isn't the first time someone has been kited into a major city for the sake of mayhem. Players have been doing this since the beginning of MMO time. It can be annoying but also breaks up the monotony of the atmosphere. Some, however, view it only as griefing. What is the most unusual NPC or creature that you've seen kited to a major city? Do you think this kind of activity is fun or annoying? Have you ever had the patience to kite something this far yourself? Edited to add: Link to a reunion of Jaina and Thrall.
More Halloween masks uncovered, mayhem ensues
In what may be an attempt to throw everyone off the recent speculation that Goblins and Worgen just might be the next playable races in the World of Warcraft, new Halloween masks with both male and female versions were found in the latest PTR build. The discovery sent players into a frenzy, and got everyone speculating about the next expansion and what it holds. During last weekend's WoW.com radio show, Turpster said he wished that the whole Halloween mask thing were planted by Blizzard to confuse the player base, and it turns out that they just might be... except that it might be the other way around and the devs are trying to cover up the Goblins and Worgen discovery.MMO Champion, the data-mining heaven, has the full image of all the "new" Halloween masks, which include Murlocs, Vrykul, Naga, and Ogres, including a never-before-seen-in-game female ogre! However, astute readers point out that the female ogre is actually a "direct copy-paste of an old drawing from one of the RPG books." Closer inspection of the female ogre mask will reveal some rendering inconsistencies compared to the other skins, which were lifted from in-game models. Clever Blizzard - could these new masks be a red herring? Or could the red herring actually be the Goblin and Worgen masks, and this is just one elaborate ploy to obscure the big announcement at BlizzCon? Let the mayhem commence!Oops, forgot this earlier... thanks to Malfural of But Wait, There's Lore for the tip! EDIT: Whoops again! Malfural has nothing to do with BWTL, but says he's a great fan. Thanks for the tip, anyway, BWTL reader!
Feitan offers up even more WoW icons for your enjoyment
Feitan has posted another terrific set of WoW-related icons over on WoW LJ. Combine all of those with the first set, and throw in all of the other ones we've collected for you in the past, and you've got a really nice set of perfectly-sized choices from World of Warcraft to use as your icon on whatever service needs an avatar.Like, for example, our own comments. While the cartoon Ogre we've got as the default is quite cute, you might want to make yours a little more personal -- all you've got to do is click your name after commenting, and you'll be taken to a page where you can log in and edit your profile, see your comments so far, and yes, update a new profile picture. If you're still using the default commenter icon with our brand new commenting system, now is definitely the time to make the upgrade.
The Queue: Zordon, no!
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.A lot of people were confused about the picture I used in The Queue a couple of days ago. You know, the one with the German writing on it. That edition of The Queue was titled Mercenaries, and the person depicted in that picture was Götz von Berlichingen, a German mercenary from the early 1500s. He literally had an Iron Fist. As in, his hand was crafted out of iron. Go read up on him, he rules.idkanything asked..."A question on guild leadership. Our guild leader has decided to stop playing WoW but he didn't transfer the guild to someone else before he left. (It's a long, not very exciting story.) We don't want to just disband and reform under a different name because of the gold in the gbank. Does anyone know the procedure for getting the guild transferred to another person? Is there a certain amount of time that has to pass?"
Sprucing up your commenter icon on WoW Insider
I have to say, it takes a lot for you commenters to hurt me, but I was a little hurt that no one, as far as I've seen, has noticed that you're all Ogres now. Our own Zach Yonzon created some fun little Ogre art, and all of our default commenter icons (if you haven't yet changed yours by clicking on your name after commenting and logging into Blogsmith) are now grinning cartoon Ogres. I thought people would be shocked when we first put the change in about a month ago (we also considered turning everyone into Murlocs and/or Peons), but it doesn't seem like anyone noticed at all.Hopefully you have noticed now that we've pointed it out, and if you'd rather not be an Ogre, I'll remind you that there are plenty of Warcraft icons out there -- we've posted some from LJ before, and now Sarah has posted another set of holiday-related icons to choose from. Of course there are the official icons, and we've even got our own gallery of commenter icons for you to look over, not to mention that you can always take a screenshot in the game and upload a 64x64 crop of that as your own icon.As I said, if you want to change yours, just click on your name after you make a comment, and then you can login on that page with the password you normally use as a "Returning Member" in our comments (and yes we know the system is lame -- if you have issues, usually the best thing to do is to leave a comment as a "New Reader" again, and use a new email address if you haven't ever gotten the email that gets sent to you). Maybe you all just like being Ogres, but if you want to show a little personality with your icon in our comments section, feel free.
Cro Threadstrong and his crushable apples
I love Cro Threadstrong. Ever since we arrived in Shattrath, the guy's been yelling about the Fruit Vendor's cart blocking his way, and this isn't just an annoyed angry, it's a full-on, all-out, apple-crushing war kind of angry. And though we somehow missed this in among all of the Wrath beta news lately, we've now been invited into the trenches -- Cro is now selling his own crushable apples so players can walk right over to that Fruit Vendor, crush apples in front of her, and tell her ourselves: "YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME, FRUIT VENDOR!!!"So much fun. As you can see in the gallery below, the apples let you cast a quick spell that shows a spurt of red juice flowing out from beneath your feet, but the real fun here is yelling for no discernable reason. "Did you see that, Fruit Vendor? The Ogre will not protect you! Do you not value the life of your apples?!?" And how funny it would be if Granny Smith really did turn out to be masterminding a war.%Gallery-29281%
WoW TCG hosts an Ogre Smash and Bash this weekend
Upper Deck is hosting a fun little TCG event at various stores around the country this weekend -- the Two-headed Ogre Smash and Bash is a new event they have planned in which two players (so you and a friend) show up and fight together against another team with constructed decks (which means you show up, and they give you cards to make decks with, without having to bring your own). It seems like a lot of fun, and even if you're not a huge WoW TCG fan, if you can bring along someone who knows what they're doing, they can probably carry you (just like real Two-headed Ogres).There's a $40 per team entrance fee, but the good news is that you get to keep all the cards you play with (eight booster packs, and you never know, there might be a loot card in there), and additionally, everyone who turns out for the tournament gets a code for one of those fireworks trinkets (that sets off fireworks at will), and the winner of each tourney gets an Ogre disguise to wear ingame.There's a list of tournament locations over on the website -- the TCG probably isn't for everybody, but we've never really seen a more beginner-friendly event for the card game, since the fact that you've got two players here means that you can back each other up. Seems like fun -- if you go, definitely be sure to tell us how it went.
World of Warcraft music player updated
A few short days ago, Blizzard updated their browser-based music player with the fan favorite track "Power of the Horde" by Tenth Level Tauren Chieftain, now known as Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain. If you've never heard of this music player before, don't feel too bad. Most players haven't. Heck, I hadn't heard of it until recently, which is a bit of a shame. There's a lot of great music available here, ranging from the World of Warcraft to Warcraft II. It doesn't provide all of the Warcraft music, you need to buy the CDs for that, but there's enough there fuel some nostalgia or get you in the adventuring mood. Plus, you can check out some of their old holiday specials, which lie somewhere between 'amusing' and 'hilarious.' Oh yeah, there's a dancing ogre. Those are always good. I... think.
Around Azeroth: There's no place like an ogre home
Ogres are homeowners, too. They work hard to keep those stone huts full of moss and trash (and the occasional campfire or maybe treasure!) And they don't like it when adventurers go trespassing on their grass, trampling their daises and probably grinding exp by killing the neighbors. When one player stopped to peek at one ogre hut, he caught this shot. And all I can think is he's yelling that old refrain: get off my lawn! Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it 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! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it.%Gallery-1816%
