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All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Mage
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the sixteenth 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. It's also the first installment with a title that rhymes! The Mage is the foremost master of magic in the Warcraft universe. Although all the other classes excluding the Warrior and the Rogue use magic of one sort or another with equally wonderful effects, the Mage is the class that's named after the stuff.But what is magic? What does it feel like to harness it? Does the mage have to do a strange ritual or utter incomprehensible words in an ancient language in order to cast her spells? Other fantasy settings often have one or more of these elements together, but as far as I can tell, Warcraft lacks them.Arcane magic in the World of Warcraft is an ever-present energy field surrounding the whole world. Mages access it by concentrating in the magic energy within themselves, feeling it rush through their body, and directing it as they please. Those spells that require reagents need an extra focusing item with magical properties of its own in order to bring about the desired effect, but for the most part, fireballs, frostbolts and arcane explosions can be created through the mere act of will on the part of a properly educated mind.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Horde Warrior
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirteenth 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. The Warrior is not merely a well-trained fighter who loves his weapons and armor and takes great care to wield them well -- inside each one is a boiling cauldron of rage and passion. By and large, warriors feel at home on the battlefield because it is the one place where they can express themselves, where they can finally let go of all the restraint society imposes on them and unleash all their emotions. Without his raging passion, a person would be much better suited to some calmer form of work -- it is this unquenchable fire which sustains a warrior, driving him into action in the midst of mortal peril.Alliance warriors tend to focus more on training and weapon mastery, sometimes downplaying their rage so much that you hardly even see it. Some warriors like this (even in the Horde sometimes) may be so stoic that even they do not believe that they have any emotions whatsoever, although I doubt anyone who watched them fight could really agree. Something's got to make you willing to put on all that armor and risk death every day.But Horde warriors are more likely to display their rage, bloodlust, and other aggressive emotions much more freely. Of course, it's possible that a Horde warrior could have a collection of stuffed animals, write poetry, and even play hopscotch with children, but their rage lurks deep within, and the essence of their profession is to let it loose.
Forum Post of the Day: Angry title and coffee with gin
I don't know why I laughed out loud when I read the following quote from Ghostcrawler on a trollish forum post, but I did: DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO EXERT A CALMING INFLUENCE WHILE NOT ACCIDENTALLY INSULTING ANYONE AND/OR SHOUTING EXPLITIVES AND/OR REVEALING THAT I HAVE GIN IN MY COFFEE MUG.Yup. Just like that. Caps spam and all. Throw in a "Don't nerf me, bro!" or "To the ground, baby!" at the end of that and you have yourself a real Ghostcrawler statement.Now this might be some unabashed fanboi-ism on my part, but the question I have after reading that is "What kind of gin do you drink?" I have to imagine Ghostcrawler is the kind of guy who enjoys some top shelf liquor. I'm sure he's making enough at Blizzard to afford it. Perhaps some Tanqueray Rangpur? Or some Anchor Junipero?Personally I enjoy Bombay Sapphire and the Rangpur, though I've been known to grab some Beefeater if that's all that's available. If Ghostcrawler is reading this, we'd love to know what kind of gin you drink. Feel free to drop us a note on our tip line and we'll update this post.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a tauren
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the sixth 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. The first cultural influence you'll probably think of when you see the tauren and walk around in their villages is "Native American." That's fine as far as it goes, but you should remember that they're mainly based on the stereotypical image of what Native Americans are rather than their actual reality. I'm hardly an expert on Native Americans, however, so rather than try and speak for these differences, I'm just going to put the whole issue aside and take tauren as tauren rather than parallels to any human culture. Besides, aside from certain aspects of architecture, music, clothing, and mythology, the tauren are really their own species. They are quite general enough to remind us of all kinds of different cultures around the world, many of whom cherish the earth, revere their ancestors, and try to live in harmony with the world. Some people say that the tauren are the noblest and most peaceful of the races in World of Warcraft, but for most of their history, they have been at war with the vicious centaur -- though not by choice. The centaur have always been very hostile towards tauren, driving them out of their ancestral homelands, slaughtering them and even cannibalizing them whenever possible. In a way, the centaur seem like four-legged versions of the nastier trolls who never joined the Horde. When Thrall came to Kalimdor and encountered the tauren in the midst of their struggle against the centaur, it marked the beginning of one of the greatest changes in tauren history.
Things heat up in new Mines of Moria screens
Turbine has released a new batch of screens featuring the Forges of Khazad-dum for the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion Mines of Moria and they're tempting us to use the "boy are they hot" pun, because they're literally filled with lava. Come to think of it, first it was fire and now we've upgraded to lava. Even some of the Trolls (we're pretty sure they're Trolls) are lava-infused. Ah yes, we dub thee Lava Trolls! Don't get us wrong though, we love the idea of dungeons and zones full of hot, bubbling lava.Give the image above (or gallery below) a click to check out the screens and all that burning liquid. There's also a pretty cool armor set, some impressive architecture and various vanity shots of those Lava Trolls. The more we look at them, the more we're diggin' their spiky-yet-bulbous design.%Gallery-18340%
The best of WoW Insider: September 2-9, 2008
It's dancin' time in Azeroth -- the Wrath of the Lich King expansion is just around the corner, and we couldn't be happier. News is flying off the beta, all the classes are getting upgrades, there's new content to explore, and it all just makes us so happy we can't help but get on down. Here's the top stories from the past week in Warcraft, courtesy of Joystiq's sister site, WoW Insider. News New racial abilities for WrathBlizzard unveils the tweaks to what your Trolls, Taurens, and Humans can do. Ten of our favorite achievementsHere's a quick gallery look at ten cool achievements we found coming to the World of Warcraft. Shaman glyphs in beta build 8905Glyphs will tweak your spells in the expansion, and here's what Shammies have to look forward to. Karazhan three-manned in the Wrath betaAs if there was any doubt that old content would be trivial when the new expansion dropped, here's proof. Boat crews return in the Wrath betaFinally, the boats have some people on them again. More news in here about riding around towns, too. Features Guildwatch: 10 guilds kicked me in a rowOur weekly look at guild drama is even more dramatic than usual -- /gkicks and /gquits abound! Tiers: The past, present and future of dungeon and raid setsA quick retrospective on what kind of stuff has dropped from the dungeons so far. Skill Mastery: Mirror ImageFinally, a new spell Mages aren't crying over. Ask a Beta Tester: All about Inscription and a few other thingsWant to know what's going on in the Wrath beta? Ask a Beta Tester! The ten people you need to know in WoWWe break down the archetypes of the friends you need to make in Azeroth.
Ask a Lore Nerd: And two stealthed rogues
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.We'll start off with Cole's write-in question...Why can Rogues use Maces but not Axes? What's so sneaky about hammers but not about edged blades of death?Well, this is likely more game mechanics than anything. They need to split up which weapons can be used by what classes evenly, or you get a severe loot imbalance. If you want to justify it in-character, maces are really, really good at stopping your opponent, rendering them unable to fight back, or fight ever again. A cut leaves a scar, a shattered bone leaves a cripple.The Mace Spec that everyone hated so much in PvP? That's pretty much how it goes with maces in real life. You thonk someone on the head, and they're out of it. I could see a Rogue playing dirty like that. Coming up from behind, cracking someone over the head, then swinging low and shattering the next guy's kneecap.Why can't they use axes? Probably no compelling reason besides game balance, though I'm sure they would be harder to use in a Rogue-y fashion than swords, daggers or hammers. Axes are probably the most unforgiving of all of the bladed weapons. You want a hard swing, not so much an elegant stroke, a well-placed shiv, or a busted joint. Axes tend to be more about being heavy and using momentum to cut, rather than sharp edges. Not always, but that's their tendency. Maybe they weren't graceful enough to make the cut*? Who knows.Eternauta asked...Why did they retcon the Draenei lore from WCIII to WoW BC? What was wrong with the original lore (ugly, thin, primitive Draenei).
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a troll
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the third 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.Trolls are based on the "wild savages" you've seen in the movies or on TV, from King Kong to Discovery channel. If you've seen people hunting with spears, walking around in the forest without many clothes on, or dancing around in costumes and face paint in some kind of ritual you've never heard of, you've seen the apparent inspiration for trolls in World of Warcraft. The culture of Warcraft trolls are a mishmash of all the different myths and rumors that have grown up about some of the earth's indigenous peoples that live outside modern society: Strange voodoo beliefs and rituals? Check. Bloodthirsty headhunters with a taste for cannibalism? Check. Witch doctors, shrunken heads, human sacrifice, and rampant superstition? Check on all counts.It's important to note here that troll culture is based on the myths about some indigenous people, not on their reality. Cannibalism, for instance, has been rare among human societies, nearly always viewed as anathema, but among the trolls of Azeroth, it appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Unbiased study of the world's primal religions has shown them to be far more sophisticated than early (and prejudiced) Western explorers ever imagined. Don't listen to the Jamaican accent trolls have in the game and assume that trolls are based on real life Jamaicans. There is nowhere near the correlation here that we might find with the dwarves and the Scots, or even the draenei and the eastern Europeans that they sound like. Indeed, one could argue that the choice of a Jamaican accent to represent the trolls and their culture reveals a great deal of ignorance we Americans have regarding Caribbean islanders -- but that's a discussion I'll not go into today.Suffice it to say that as a member of the Darkspear tribe, the only tribe of trolls to join the Horde, your character living in a time of great change for your people. Your tribe is the first to embrace the more modern values promoted by Thrall, to take up the spiritual practices of shamanism, and to integrate itself with other races. Although the Darkspears have officially given up human sacrifice, cannibalism, and now tell you to "stay away from the voodoo," these practices are all elements of religion and superstition that your character would have grown up with, and may find it hard to let go of completely.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Skeletons, slavery, and the shadows
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below (or e-mail us!), ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer your question in a future installment! Be warned, ladies and gentlemen: There are a couple of minor spoilers for Wrath of the Lich King in this week's Ask a Lore Nerd. I don't think they're very substantial ones personally, but the choice is yours whether you want to continue reading or not.Soirgriffe asks...What tribe, if any, did the dire trolls come from and if not a tribe, where in general?Just how dire trolls come to be is largely an unknown, but they don't seem to be an independent race. They're just bigger, stronger versions of a troll. All of the tribes seem to have dire trolls.There are a couple of quests in Wrath of the Lich King that might suggest dire trolls are regular trolls who have been 'empowered' but to avoid spoiling too much, what goes on in those quests is pretty different from seeing Jin'rokh the Breaker hanging out with the Zandalari. So all that we really know is there is no racial distinction between Dire Trolls and Regular Trolls of the same tribe. One is just much, much bigger and stronger for some reason.
WoW Rookie: Embracing the official forums
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. I spend most of my evenings perusing the North American and European WoW Foums for interesting topics for our Forum Post of the Day feature. I've come across all kinds of threads from the uplifting, to the whiney, to the popular discussion. They are a great resource for tips and strategies. Blizzard welcomes constructive criticism and suggestions from the WoW community. You are welcome to be a part of it as well. There are a few things you should know about the forums.
Giving players some more race variants
I have to agree with Michael on WoW LJ: it would be nice to have a little more variance in the types of races that we choose at character creation. Of course, due to lore reasons, all the trolls we create are Darkspear Trolls, and likewise, all of our Taurens are of the Bloodhoof variety. But it would be nice to have a few more options, especially since we now know that some of the "foreign" tribes and clans might have a member or two interested in joining the Horde.None of Michael's suggestions would really work -- the Taunka are almost a completely different race, the Forest Trolls can't be very happy that we've killed their leader, and neither the Dark Iron Dwarves or the Iron Dwarves are very friendly to either Horde or Alliance. But there are possible variants out there -- the Zanadalar tribe might have some members interested in joining the Horde, and certainly the Mag'har Orcs are friendly to players. Alliance doesn't have as many options come to mind, though all players are Bronzebeards, I believe, and surely the Stormpikes are Friendly by now.We've got new hairstyles coming in the next expansion, of course, but it would be nice to vary up the races a little bit, and have even different backgrounds within the race choices. RPers would love it for sure, and even for other players, it would give a little more meaning and power to playing through the various racial areas in the game.
Fake guilds in WoW
I don't like to call attention to trolls on the internet; I think they're vile little beasts who need to be put out old-school DnD style with a roll of a six sided die and a cast of a flaming arrow. But one thing in particular some trolls are doing has caught my attention: a fake WoW guild being as annoying as possible on the forums.I won't name this guild's name, or tell you where they're from, since I don't need them tracking me down in game or getting a bigger head. What they do to annoy the frack out of everyone (and that was my obligatory Battlestar Galactica reference for the week) is pretty lame - they post updates to bosses they haven't killed. For instance, right now they're claiming they've downed Brutallus. They even have a clearly photoshopd kill picture to prove it. However they haven't, and if you look at their armory profiles no one in the guild is above Kara level gear.This guild will go and post in progression threads, taking up page after page of space. Eventually these threads have to be closed since they become full, and new ones started. However the trolls are right there to start everything again. 99% of the people on the realm ignore them, however there is always the 1% that gives them the attention they desire.What can be done about this?
Funcom seeks volunteer forum moderators
Funcom posted a bulletin seeking volunteers to moderate the official Age of Conan forums. The game will be launching in just over a week, so if you're a particularly passionate member of its community, this is probably a good time to jump on board.All you need: strong English language skills, an infraction-free couple of months of history on the AoC forums, "organization skills," and a little bit of forum moderation experience. It's too bad it's not a paying gig, but there's no doubt that there are people out there who are committed enough to the game that they'll help out for free. So if you're one of those people, head on over; Funcom has provided a application for you to fill out.Just don't be too shocked when you end up spending hours every day battling level 80 elite trolls.
One Shots: TGIF
It's Friday in the virtual Massively HQ, land of ethernet, cheetos and way too many pop-culture jokes! That means it's time to make plans for the weekend's events. We figure a lot of people are going to be doing some of the same things that we'll be doing here -- checking out the new Iron Man movie, or perhaps playing GTA IV, or just relaxing in our MMOs of choice. As such, we have today's awesome One Shots, courtesy of Vital Spark who had been putting the smack down on some Trolls in City of Heroes, and realized this was a perfect shot to lead into a great weekend of fun! Do you have any MMOing on tap for this weekend? If so, you should snag some screens and send them our way! There's a lot going on out there, and we want to see what you're up to! Pop them into an email to oneshots AT massively DOT com, and relax. We'll do all the work from there!%Gallery-9798%
LotRO lorebook update features Tl Bruinen
Tâl Bruinen is the focus of a new article in the Lord of the Rings Online lorebook, and we get to find out why the area is so uninhabited. Once upon a time, there were many small settlements in Tâl Bruinen (which is located in The Trollshaws, south of Rivendell). Now only a few camps of fisherman and adventurers remain, but it's no great mystery -- ask yourself if you would stick around when your home is the subject of repeated Troll-raids. These Trolls are still around, but there are other nasties now as well to make sure that no one feels like moving back -- Orcs, worms, and Gauredain stop most people from feeling safe enough to settle down in the area. However, it's not all bad, as those in the low 40's will find plenty to kill and a few quests to boot. View the lorebook entry for more screenies and the usual map.
Breakfast Topic: Your WoW personality
I have a friend who doesn't play WoW, but his roommate does. As a psychologist, my friend is a more astute observer of individual behavior than I am. At lunch one day, he theorized that we tend to play World of Warcraft with the same attitude that have in the real world. On this surface this statement seemed to be correct. People in game and in life vary from kind, helpful souls to nasty boorish trolls. I like to think of myself as WYSIWYG (what you see what you get). I try to portray myself online with the same values that I feel define me as a person. I set goals and work hard to achieve them. I consider myself a good friend. Every once in a while I go too far and take on the role of martyr in both game and in life. This is something I'm proud of; on the contrary, I wish I could stop myself from doing it.
The Daily Grind: To forum, or not to forum?
It seems like no matter where you go on this World Wild Web, you can't help but stumble across all manner of trolls. Out of game, you can hear the echoes of "qq moar nub" as they rampage around. Indeed, this is why we suspect some games are loath to spend man-hours creating and manning forums, such as Tabula Rasa's stance on them. As routinely surfing forums on the lookout for news is part of our job, we can't help but notice that some companies do a fantastic job of keeping their forums under control, such as the CoX team. Other forums such as the WoW official forums are an absolute epidemic of trolls that seem to be far more pronounced than just about anywhere else. Now while we would definitely agree that the WoW forums undoubtedly suffer from more trolls due to sheer population density in comparison to other titles, we can't help but wonder... What would it be like if game companies opted to move all official forums to player-run and maintained setups and just popped in like Tabula Rasa has? Would it make more sense to do so and let the communities police themselves? Some of the player-run forums we read, such as different EQ, EQ2, and even WoW resources, seem to do a very good job of policing themselves and keeping the trolls to a minimum. There also isn't backlash into the games overall as they're completely separate. If you do something stupid on a player-run forum, you simply get banned more often than not. The trolls can't argue that they're a paying subscriber and deserve special treatment. (Not that it tends to hold a lot of weight on the WoW forums when you throw that around after a CM has gotten to you.) There are also generally lots of folks who will volunteer time just from the sheer love of the game, getting nothing in return save for a troll-free environment in which to talk about their favorite games. So this morning we ask you. Is it better to let the players run the forums, or the game companies? Do you think that player-run forums tend to be, on the whole, better than official forums, or do you really think it depends on the title involved? Are there any benefits you see with one over the other, or does it all perhaps just come down to a question of official forums needing more staff to deal with the trolls in their communities?
LotRO: Troll and Ranger Session Play out for now
Session Play in Lord of the Rings Online is a feature that allows you to take the form of a different character, and experience Middle Earth from a new perspective. From the official website, "You could play as a Ranger, a Troll, or... a chicken." Well, it looks as though your only option for now may be of the feathered farmyard variety, according to this post on Turbine's official LotRO forums.The announcement from Turbine Community Specialist Saffron tells us little other than that there have been unspecified issues with Trolls and Rangers in Session Play, and that they will not be available until further notice. These two character types were formerly playable in the Ettenmoors Monster Play (PvP) zone, with Rangers for the Free Peoples and Trolls for the Monsters. A quick visit to the Monster Play forums shows that Trolls and Rangers have already been a topic of hot debate, with many feeling they were overpowered. Perhaps they will be tweaked along with other PvMP updates due with Book 12 -- we will have to wait and see what changes have been made when they are made available for play once more.
Everything you wanted to know about Zul'Aman
Patch 2.3 drops tomorrow, and with it, what will surely become the most popular instance in Azeroth. Blizzard has yelled from the rooftops about how much players are playing Karazhan, and Zul'Aman is a brand new 10-man for groups who conquered Karazhan to find their way through.In preparation, WoW Insider has compiled everything everyone knows about the new troll city. From history, to quests, to bosses, to loot, it's all here. We've gotten great information from MMO Champion, World of Raids, WoW Wiki, our own Zul'Aman playthroughs and research, and guides all over the internet. We're all going to be headed to Zul'Aman tomorrow, so here's your chance to know everything you need to know today. It all starts after the jump.%Gallery-5517%
Breakfast Topic: Are you tired of Trolls?
Not the Internet kind, the Zul'Aman kind. I don't know about you, but visiting yet another troll based instance isn't ringing my bell. Maybe it has to do with my 15 level grind from hell in Stranglethorn Vale back in the day. Or some bad wipes in Zul'Gurub.Either way, I want to experience something new. Not something old with better loot. Plus, as Phaelia at Resto4Life pointed out, the better loot may not be worth the public humiliation.What do you think? Are you happy to revisit a classic World of Warcraft themed dungeon like Zul'Aman, which, despite its looks, has new mechanics and bosses or are you yearning for something new like Sunwell Plateau?
