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WoW Moviewatch: The Patchie Chronicles
When an enterprising goblin miner, Patchie, accidentally releases an orc that has been frozen for years, they have a lot of catching up to do. Starting at patch 1.05, they take us on a storytelling journey, seen through the eyes of the major characters. Along the way, there are epic battles, potion selling, and a friend using his fortune to open a ... zoo? As Patchie and the orc arrive at their destination, with golden piggy in hand, the orc has an opportunity to meet his hero, Thrall. After becoming disillusioned and temporarily losing his way, he sets off to be a hero in his own right. However, everything is not as it seems!The AFK PL@YERS, a Taiwanese machinima team, created The Patchie Chronicles to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of WoW launching in Taiwan. Most viewers will have to pay close attention, as it is narrated in Chinese, but subtitled in English.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch...
So, why DO you play opposite your gender?
It's a tired cliché at this point: asking a man why he plays his favorite MMO as a female character, and getting the response 'I'd rather look at a chick than a dude'. But there's both so much more to this question and so much less that it bears a glance.First of all, where is it written that one must play their own gender? Is anyone asking 'Why don't you play as a human instead of an Orc/Night Elf/Undead/Hottentot?' MMOs (and many videogames in general) have the distinct attribute of genderless play; there is no specific, inherent strength to either sex. Why not take advantage of that?
PTR Notes: Hypothermia reduced, weapon racials changed
In what must surely be the final build of the patch 2.3 PTR, which was pushed last night, few changes seem to have been made. Which makes sense, because they're only going to have a week to test it. As far as the good folks at World of Raids can make out, here's the list of changes in the latest build: [Mage] Hypothermia changed from 45s back to 30s. Human and Orc weapon racials changed from 1% crit to 5 expertise. Expertise is a new weapon stat that reduces your opponents' chance to dodge or parry your attacks; 5 expertise grants 1.25% dodge/parry reduction. Expertise has replaced weapon skill elsewhere in the game (except on ranged weapons, which get +crit/+hit instead), so it makes sense to see it here, as these racials were in the form of weapon skill pre-2.3. And I assume the Hypothermia de-nerf can only be seen as a good thing. I've seen some quite upset mages around, and indeed, 30s already seemed perfectly long enough to me.Since there were no updated patch notes for this build, it's always possible that there are additional changes that no-body's noticed yet. If so, please feel free to post them in the comments and I'll update the post.
WoW Moviewatch: Rocket Boots, part 2
This movie is the sequel to Rocket Boots, with improved stunts and multiple songs (including a Bill Cosby-esque Pokemon gag I always love)! It's kind of funny to watch the orc jump off of various ledges with his rocket boots and wonder where exactly he'll land -- as well as if he'll live through the landing. When it's my own character, I find falling to be very suspenseful. Whenever I accidentally leap off Aldor spire, for example, my heart skips a beat and I hold my breath. I straighten up in my chair and and instinctively look for a parachute cloak or something something I can use to prevent my death, even though I know in my head that this character doesn't have any slow-fall items or spells. There have been times when, on an engineer alt, I was similarly tempted to jump off huge ledges just to see where I would end up; at the time I told myself that the prospect of having to retrieve my body from who-knows-where was just too painful -- but now I wonder if I just find falling a bit too scary, like one of those dreams where you fall and fall, sure that you're going to die, only to wake up just before you hit the ground.
Night elves are latest shrinking shoulder casualties
First Orc males, then Draenei, and now Night Elves? It appears that Night Elf shoulders have shrunk (just a bit-- not nearly as dramatic a change as the Orc shoulders were) over on the PTRs. We talked about this on the WoW Insider show last week: what is up with Blizzard's code that changes like this are happening? What variables are they editing that makes the weird stuff like this happen?At any rate, there is good news. Hortus says the issue is unintentional, and will be fixed in an upcoming PTR build. So your Night Elf will still be able to wear his broad shoulder pieces with pride.
WoW Moviewatch: Chawana's Rocket Experiment
This is an epic tale of love lost and honor forgotten as two star crossed lovers pine for what they once had while -- I'm just kidding. It's five minutes and forty-five seconds of a L70 Orc blowing unsuspecting Alliance toons into next week with his Rocket Launcher. Over and over and over. To operatic power-metal. Does it get any better than this? I think not.Previously, on Moviewatch...EDIT: Corrected the music genre. Consider my mind expanded.
Killing off the Horde and their heroes
Ketsumei of Bleeding Hollow makes a pretty good point on the forums: we're killing off Horde heroes, and Alliance are getting a pass. Actually, the Horde heroes point isn't quite a valid one-- yes, we've taken down Kael'thas, Rend Blackhand, and eventually Zul'jin, but we've also killed off Emperor Thaurissian, the Architect of Stormwind (many, many times), and Mekgineer Thermaplugg, not to mention that eventually we'll be killing the number one figure in Alliance lore, Arthas himself. Oh, and some lady named Katrana Prestor, usually found sitting on the left hand of the throne in Stormwind, has been killed as well. But it's true that more instances, especially raid instances, are featuring the deaths of Horde races rather than Alliance races. Especially in the endgame, we're fighting Trolls, Orcs and Blood Elves, not Humans and Draenei.So what's with the imbalance? This Horde-heavy enemies list is actually a very recent thing-- Scarlet Monastery is full of Humans, as are the Deadmines, and BRD is full of Dwarves. But as we've headed to Outland, the Burning Legion seems to have a thing for recruiting Blood Elves and Orcs, and Zul'Aman will bring about the death of many, many Trolls. Far many more Horde cries of death are being heard lately, and that's just racist.There's only one thing for it-- as players suggest, we should be allowed to kill a corrupted Malfurion Stormrage in the Emerald Dream expansion. No arguing now-- let's say he's gone insane from fighting the Nightmare and he's got to be put down. We need an instance full of Night Elves to kill over and over again. Oh, and while we're at it, let's have Arthas bring Uther back as a Scourge, and kill him, too! And what's the King of Stormwind up to-- isn't time he died, too?
Let my Orc shoulders grow
Change comes a lot in this game. Some changes are small, and some are big. Some changes players hate at first, and then they learn to live with and even like them. But some changes are simply and totally unacceptable. And of course when I say that, I mean the change to the male Orc shoulder size.We male Orcs are especially proud of our powerful, broad shoulders. I love my shoulder pieces-- I once ran UBRS countless times (and I do mean countless times-- just ask my guild, who I dragged through with me) just to get the Pauldrons of Elements. We have broad, towering, expansive shoulder armor, and we are respected, loved, and feared because of it. Your male Orc Warlocks, your Warriors, your Shamans, Rogues and Hunters all stand proud knowing that each of our shoulder pieces is as big as our head.Or at least they were. Now, after the patch, they're small, a fraction of their former size. They're diminuitive, tiny, and a paltry shadow of what they should be. They're-- dare I say it-- puny and pathetic. We are male Orcs! Like Thrall, we are the real heroes of Warcraft. We're the ones who rage into battle at a moment's notice. If anyone deserves gigantic shoulders, it's us. We are true heroes, sung and unsung-- we are Orc males, and our shoulders must be large, majestic, and befitting of our muscular stature. Blizzard has acknowledged the bug, sure, and they say it'll be fixed in the next major patch.But this-- this, my friends, is a true injustice. The next time you see your favorite male Orc, don't make jokes about whether size matters or not. Resist the urge to mention "shrinkage." We are our shoulders, their size, their width, their girth-- when they suffer, we suffer as well.[ Thanks to all who sent this in-- I feel your pain, my brethren! ]
Orc & Troll "monsters" oh my!
Many people have crafted cool WoW-themed items for their friends and families. We've seen cool WoW cakes, nifty paper non-combat pets, We've even seen different takes on people's characters. Recently, I was gifted with a "monster doll" of my own character -- the Troll Rogue on the right. She now sits above my monitor, protecting my desk from any bad guys who decide to raid it. (Sadly, my dear little monster Rogue is not terribly effective at staving off the dreaded Housecattus Napimus though.) In the interest of sharing some of the neat things dreamed up by the WoW community that are out there, I sat down with the artist, Nicole, to find out more about these WoW 'monster' dolls!
WoW Moviewatch: So that's where that dance came from!
We've all seen the videos of different dances. We've had ones where they all dance together, ones where the original source is cited. We've even seen video of a guy dancing like a Night Elf Female. Now we have another dance movie. There's one thing about this one that sets it apart, however. This is the first one I've seen that does a really good job of putting the dances side-by-side with their inspirations. As Bowzerblack on the WoW LJ said: "I didn't know that about ogres!" All I can say is that I didn't either. And yes, I know it's the Boomkin dance too, but you don't see a lot of (completely-bare) topless Boomkins running about. Which, now that I think about it, is probably a good thing.Previously, on MovieWatch...[via the WoW LJ community]
Rosez ar red, Blizzard es blu, Ork rite luv poetry just fur yu!
Reader Chris emailed this to me-- he and his guildmates in Gnomeburgers on Suramar-H were running around doing the Valentine's Day quests together. One of them, an Orc named Gruulok, punched out a few lines of Orc poetry, and they are hilarious. (Yes, I know the image to the right is a Night Elf, not an Orc, but didn't you ever learn that Love is blind?)Sure, you might think that Orcs aren't very good at poetry, but I've heard my own Orc speak a few lines himself-- something about coming from the Orcs, eating with spoons and forks, and he loves to eat his pork. Gruulok's poetry is perhaps the best love poetry ever written in... well, I'm not quite sure what language this is. Orcish? If you're feeling a little Hordie (get it?) this evening, feel free to share these lines with your sweetie, and have a great Valentine's Day.Tru Ork luv leevez skarz an brewzez, an eben browken nowzez,but vilent luv iz much mor fun den duzenz o steenky rowzez. Wen hartz brake an teerz duz fawl, datz wen tru luv endzez, but watch yerz bak cuz Orky gurlz nowz how ta take de vengenz.
Choosing your race...
Do racial abilities play a part in choosing your race? Does the home city factor into your choice? Or does it come down to pure aesthetics when you are choosing?I know some races offer preferential abilities for certain classes, for example; gnomes gain a 5% bonus to intellect, which is desirable for mages and warlocks. Orcs on the other hand, gain a passive pet bonus and an active melee talent, more suited to hunters and warriors, in my opinion.Perhaps the choice of faces or skin color plays a part? Maybe it is the wicked hair choices offered to the undead that draws your eye...Which race do you prefer? What plays a factor in your choice?[Edit: Thx Brandon for the spelling correction :) ]
