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All the World's a Stage: So you want to be an orc
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the second in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.If you've seen Lord of the Rings, or read any other fantasy story in which orcs are portrayed, you probably think orcs are hideous humanoid monsters charging mindlessly forward to slaughter helpless innocents. Azerothian orcs are significantly different, however, with a shamanistic culture that prides honor above all other virtues.But unless you've played World of Warcraft or Warcraft 3, you probably wouldn't know that. The orcs of Warcraft 1 and 2 were pretty squarely in "bad guy" territory, and it is only with the story of Thrall's rise to power and return to shamanism that we find out what the orcs' true history is.Ironically, the story of the orcs is a bit like that of the horrors of modern Nazis and the lore of the ancient Jews mixed together. Imagine that the vast majority of your species came under the sway of a terrible and evil leader, utterly determined to commit genocide against your peaceful neighbors. After carrying out this deplorable task, your people sought a new enemy, and found a new world to destroy. In the midst of this conquest, however, your people's political leadership failed, the way back home was cut off, and you all ended up as slaves in exile, lethargic and utterly without hope. Suddenly, a hero appeared to unite your people, overcome your former masters, restore your ancient faith, reclaim your dignity, and establish a new homeland. What follows is a brief account of the events most orcs know about or lived through, and a glimpse of the effects they would have had on your character.
Officers' Quarters: For all the peons out there
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Typically I use this column to address the quandaries and concerns of the people who are kind enough -- and crazy enough -- to run the guilds that make World of Warcraft a rich social atmosphere rather than a selfish, solipsistic mess. But this week I got a question from a regular, run-of-the-mill guild member (oh, how we officers sometimes envy you!), and it struck me as an intriguing idea for a column: What can a "lowly peon" do to stand out from the crowd and get the officers to notice you? Here's the question:I only recently read your post about grading your raid and well, I'm having a few problems myself being graded. I recently transfered servers and well, before that I spent like 2 months without playing because I hated my server. I was waiting so I could play with my RL friends. So, it turns out my friends got me in the top raiding guild of the server, and well, despite the fact that I'm really new, I get the feeling that I'm not welcome in their raids. My gear sucks [. . .] and therefore my DPS sucks, and well, they'd rather take any other hunter except me for the raids. My trapping skills are (I think) pretty damn good, [because] even if the mob or AoE-happy mage breaks it, I can handle the situation and re-trap, and continue chain trapping. However, I don't go into heroics because well, 1) I'm not keyed, and 2) they don't trust me enough for that. In an attempt to remedy all of this, I've been asking people to do 5-mans for rep and loot, but again, no one wants to go with me because they don't know me. I get this feeling that the officers don't like me despite the fact that they really like my RL friend. What do you suggest I do to get on their good side so I can help the guild progress? Thanks in advance.
