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All-DK guild squeezes WoW in ice-fisted military death grip
Most players seem to have some form of love-hate relationship with death knights. They adore the solid utility of the class, or they deplore its highly tuned versatility. They embrace launching a character from the relatively rarified atmosphere of level 55, or they scorn the ranks of players who are still trying out class mechanics and tactics in Burning Crusade and Wrath content. Most players seem to loosely string together all of these opinions, leaving death knights blinking like deer in the headlights when facing the wall of preconceptions in a pickup group. You'll find no such equivocation in The Knights of Menethil. This all-DK guild on Moon Guard (US) roleplays its military aspect and origins in vengeance-soaked lore with an icy-fisted gauntlet of iron. The group has turned the story of death knights into what officer Eredis calls "as engaging a storytelling experience as any other class that people play" -- not only for itself but also for the rest of the realm. The Knights of Menethil are what you might call approachable creeps. "[Approachability is] vital for any guild, but especially for one where the bosses appear to be grim, paranoid, morally ambiguous hard-noses when in character," says Valdiis, also a guild officer. We interviewed the leading triumvirate of the Knights of Menethil to trace what GM Celuur calls an evolution of its original story of vengeance against the Lich King and true service to the Alliance in the name of the last true king of Lordaeron,Terenas Menethil II, to the new goal that finds a place for every undead knight.
A peek inside The Insiders with WoW Insider
Just like this headline, there's a lot to get inside of in this particular feature -- in particular, the WoW Insider family of guilds, which loosely connect our website with readers and fans in game. While a handful of WoW Insider staffers have ended up in the same raiding guild after this many years, most are just like you and me, following friends, family or changing raiding opportunities to different realms and different guilds. There is a place, though, where WI writers, editors and readers come together to enjoy in-game holidays, meet and greet events where readers can chat with WI staffers, and a year-round home for casual players: the WI family of guilds on Zangarmarsh (US-Horde). This loose collective comprises It Came from the Blog, an open group for anyone who'd like to run holiday events with a gang of other WI readers; My Other Guild is Full, an overflow guild for alts; and The Insiders, a casual guild of players who enjoyed the atmosphere in ICftB so much that they stuck around with their mains. In the thick of all that activity is Kijani, a once-alt who's become an officer with The Insiders, helping an enthusiastic team of other "blog lords" build a group that's offering more and more to its huge group of members. "Kijiani exemplifies what is great about the members of The Insiders (as well as It came from the Blog)," says WoW Insider's Robin Torres, who leads It Came from the Blog special events. "He helps make guildchat and group activities fun. While he is enthusiastic, he's also relaxed. I'm happy he's representing such a wonderful guild."
Real-life Going Down achievement nets donation for Make-A-Wish Foundation
Sometimes it's not the biggest events that demonstrate how a love of World of Warcraft can inspire real-world achievements. Sometimes it's the tallest. When McChoppy of Cenarion Circle (US) heard about a Make-A-Wish event that would send him down the side of a 32-story Austin, Texas, high-rise to raise money for children with life-threatening medical conditions, the first thing that leapt to his mind was WoW's Going Down? achievement. It was fate both online and off -- he knew this was one achievement combo he just had to nab. By drumming up a fat pledge total for Make-A-Wish's Austin Over the Edge, McChoppy earned a spot along with more than 170 other supporters to rappel off the edge of the city high-rise. The project raised more than $175,000 for Make-A-Wish, enough to cover 260 wishes for kids in central and south Texas this year. So was his real-life slide slightly scarier than the somewhat silly splatter McChoppy scores in the more seemly spaces of Stormwind? With no spirit healer in sight as he perched on the edge 32 stories up -- resoundingly so!
Guild ratchets to level 25 on 100% pure, steam-driven gnome power
"This makes me super happy. I want to join this guild." What sort of guild does it take to evoke that kind of reaction from Community Manager Zarhym on the official forums? Gnomes -- lots and lots of nothing but gnomes. "Gnomes are tiny little bundles of concentrated awesome," writes Forbidra, the GM of an all-gnome guild on Wyrmrest Accord (US). "They have endured so much hardship, and yet their indomitable spirit and insatiable curiosity shines through. Gnomes attack their problems with their intellect and ingenuity, rather than with brute force. Still, many players consider gnomes a joke race and don't take them seriously. We in Gnomeregan Forever respectfully disagree. Many of us in G4 not only love roleplaying our characters but actively strive to combat gnomish stereotypes and discrimination on our realm. We believe that gnomes can do pretty much anything any other group of players can do and have heckuva lot of fun doing it! "Oh, indeed we do! And honestly, all joking aside, most people seem to secretly love gnomes. Whenever our guild goes someplace together, people stop and stare. You can almost see thought bubbles popping over their heads: 'OMG, gnomes!!' Sometimes they will follow us. They have no idea what we are up to, but they figure with that many gnomes, it's gotta be fun, right? All gnomes. All fun. All the time. Meet Gnomeregan Forever.
Behind the scenes of the recent solo heroic Alysrazor kill
At this point in WoW's evolution, we've become somewhat accustomed to reports of gutsy solo boss kills. However tricky to pull off, most of those accomplishments involve content from a previous expansion and rely on the particular skill sets of a determined death knight or paladin. But soloing current raid content, let alone current heroic raid content? Not so much. So when shadow priest Shantál of Al'akir (EU) recently pulled off an eye-popping kill of heroic Alysrazor, the WoW community sat up and took notice. With a painstakingly developed strategy that carried him outside the flame wall and exposed him to increased damage, Shantál picked his way around each road block in the encounter to achieve a uniquely remarkable victory.
Transmog dealers excavate gold and renewed gameplay from old instances
Transmog sets are hot, hot, hot -- just ask the guy who gave away 1 million gold after building his personal fortune by selling gear destined for transmogrification sets. It's the rare player who hasn't caught on to the fact that selling those dowdy old leveling greens can rake in surprising amounts of gold in today's mogging era. Taking things a step further by assembling and selling full transmog sets, however, is the province of fewer players -- a select few indeed, according to Mickél of The Blackest Rose, a transmog set dealer on Madoran (US-H). "We were the first to do it on our server, and I have a feeling one of the few in game who is selling complete mog sets," he explains. "My partner works on making custom sets from the random greens we have; hers are often very clean and perfect-looking. I use the named sets, i.e. Emerald, Righteous, Abjurer's, etc." Before you cry, "Aha! Must do this!" -- think upon the sheer amount of time and effort that goes into a transmog dealership done right. Mickél and his partner Aridas have to farm up each and every piece of gear. No set is complete without every last piece that shows, whether it drops quickly or not. The team needs to develop and market customized, themed looks and then farm up whatever's required from the four corners of Azeroth. They have to find a profitable way to offload all the random pieces picked up along the way. And what about those teeth-grinding runs when a piece that's needed just won't drop? Run it again. And again. And again. So why would any player in his right mind spend hour upon hour grinding for lowbie gear?
Quadriplegic player establishes resource beachhead for other disabled gamers
Could you play World of Warcraft if you were totally blind? What if you were legally blind and suffered from progressive hearing loss, too? Or let's say you could see and hear just fine, but you suffered from a panic disorder -- and you were a tank. Perhaps you were physically disabled, but you had someone to help you out in the game -- or then again, maybe you played all on your own. If we haven't already lost you to the inspirational barrage of the previous paragraph, consider one more possibility: Would you still play World of Warcraft if you were quadriplegic? Quadilious of Drak'thul has been DPSing his way through endgame raids for years now -- and now, he's building a site for other disabled gamers. Quad's slowly but steadily refocusing his website as a resource for others, sharing his years of experience overcoming WoW's mechanics and contacting medical professionals and other disabled gamers to round up ideas, tips and inspiration for disabled gamers in general. On the back of a dragon from the seat of a wheelchair, Quadilious returns with an update on Dragon Soul, smaller raid teams, and adaptive gaming.
Nothing like a June wedding ... in Azeroth
Soulbound! When World of Warcraft devotees become devoted to one another, do their characters get in on the action too? Some players save their gaming passions for a WoW-themed wedding cake, but other couples prefer to tie the knot in Azeroth as well. Are you a real-life couple who's also celebrated your love through an in-game wedding? Here's your chance to declare your love before your fellow Azerothians. Send us a recap of your in-game ceremony, and we'll consider you for a special June wedding profile of your characters' big day. We'll select one couple for a full-length WoW Insider interview to run in June, traditionally the month for wedding bells. How did you meet? Where was the ceremony? Did you wear a White Wedding Dress, or did you take a different angle to wedding day fashion? Read us your vows! Did the other faction leave you in peace? And pictures -- don't forget to include screenshots of your special day. Keep your recap to 500 words or less, and send no more than four .jpgs of the event. (We'll get more info and images during the interview for the couple selected to be featured.) Send the glorious details to lisa@wowinsider.com no later than the last day of April. We can't wait to dish!
Why Game of Throne's Hodor has come back to the World of Warcraft
When Game of Throne's Hodor, actor Kristian Nairn, showed up to talk Star Wars: The Old Republic and RIFT on the podcast of our sister site Massively back in February, we knew it marked a temporary state of affairs. As enthusiastic about lightsabers as the Belfast resident was at the time, we suspected he'd eventually make his way back to Azeroth, the gaming world that's captured his heart and imagination. ... Which is how I found myself logged into World of Warcraft late last night, merrily ignoring my deadline for transcribing the final pieces of this interview, as Nairn and I struggled to find a Game of Thrones-themed guild name that hadn't already been devoured whole by hungry fans of the critically acclaimed HBO series. (Meanwhile, the Riders of Brohan were keeping my Decline button busy with repeated invitations to their own spin on a fantasy-named guild. Folks, if you're an aspiring Bro, this is your big chance -- this guild's obviously riding hard in search of a full roster.) After a crazed evening spent losing signatures to the Bros and new character deletions as quickly as we could recruit them, success was had. A guild was created, my final interview with Nairn was completed, and I logged out to finish cobbling together a handful of meandering conversations with Nairn conducted since February of this year. Does the man have more than a monosyllabic "Hodor" to say about why his heart lies with Azeroth? Why, yes -- yes, he most certainly does.
Can playing WoW improve your brain power?
Can playing World of Warcraft maintain or improve your brain power? When it comes to specifics like improving cognitive function, there really haven't been many significant, sizeable research studies that can put hard numbers on the line. WoW player and early onset Alzheimer's disease sufferer Bill Craig would certainly attest to the power of gaming in maintaining brain function -- he's living proof that WoW can be a vital part of a brain-healthy regimen to stretch and maintain cognitive function. (If you haven't already read Bill's story, you owe it yourself to follow that link. It'll make your day.) So when news of a fresh research project looking at WoW's effects on cognitive abilities in older players started making the rounds in the national media, Bill was one of the first to ping us with an excited email. "Tell us something we didn't already know, right, Lisa?" he crowed. "Guess I might be called a 'pioneer' of sorts, huh?" Indeed, Bill, you're totally my hero -- and look out, because it looks like the scientific world is starting to catch on and catch up to our secrets. This week, WoW Insider interviews Dr. Jason Allaire at North Carolina State University, who co-authored the recent study showing that playing WoW can boost certain cognitive functions in older adults. Himself a former WoW player and long-time MMO player, Dr. Allaire shares a gaming-filtered view of how his research and WoW interrelate to show that indeed, World of Warcraft can be good for your brain.
Mists of Pandaria: Female pandaren
From the moment that pandaren were announced as a playable race, the internet had one major concern: "But what will the females look like?" I came out pretty firmly against the way female worgen ended up, and I'm certainly not alone in those thoughts. Blizzard reps told me that they knew it was a high priority to make sure that female pandaren were available and visible as early as possible -- and that they looked great. We got a good look at the female pandaren model at the press event, and I have to say I'm really just super pleased with it. Unfortunately, we only have the one screenshot, but I'll go into some detail here as to what worked so well with them. First, before you jump to conclusions based on the image provided, let me tell you about female pandaren customization.
Finally, a leveling guild worth calling home
Join a leveling guild? More often than not, I find myself advising players to steer clear. My Drama Mamas mailbox is overflowing with tirades from players stranded by the inevitable explosions of time-bomb guilds that've been hastily duct-taped together by random new players. Even the groups that manage to gather a congenial group of people almost unfailingly burst into flame when members reach the endgame and hit Real Issues: loot rules, raid group membership, scheduling conflicts, rules of conduct ... In these rudderless, inexperienced groups, drama is unavoidable. Most disintegrate sooner rather than later, with members moving on to guilds with more formal organization, rules, and missions. But then we heard about a European guild that seems to have a lock on this whole leveling guild thing. Tipster Ben jumped the English language barrier to clue us in: "This guild is different. People recently start to create leveling guild mostly for the perks, and this people are here way before the perks. I believe they are around for helping and not for making gold." We investigated and found a guild that's focused not on reaching the endgame but the journey there -- special events and grouping and friendships and contests and retro raids and teamwork ... And the officers seem to enjoy organizing it all as much as the players do participating in it. Why would an experienced WoW player keep coming back to a level 54 character to spend a massive slice of her time and energy leading a guild full of players who are toddling through content most players are more than happy to speed-jump? It's all about The Leveling Agony.
All-druid guild shreds Dragon Soul by tooth and claw
Why is there something inherently funny about a bunch of druids all together in one place? Whether it's a flock of squawking, Moonfiring moonkin or a genial pack of dancing bears, even the most dedicated lore fiends among us have to admit that the design for these characters is all a wee bit silly. No matter how you cut it, the mere thought of a gathering of all druids evokes a grin every time. What's not so silly, though, is this all-druid guild's rampage through WoW's most challenging raid content. Druids of the Beast is no gentle gathering of roleplaying night elves, drifting through Darnassus to pluck at the tangled knot of druidic lore -- no, this is a full-on, endgame raiding guild that also happens to be comprised entirely of members of the druid class. You'll find no army of declawed alts in this guild, no buffing machines parked outside raid instances. Druids of the Beast's roster represents pure, unadulterated druidic power, and its progress through Dragon Soul is among the world's leaders for all-druid raiding.
Heroic Madness on 7 hours a week -- the shape of guilds to come?
Raiding on two nights a week is certainly nothing novel in this day and age. Casual raiders can often devote no more than two nights to WoW. Fans of the Raid Finder find twice a week a reasonable fit. Heck, more than a few of the most dedicated raiding groups have lightened their weekly loads to two nights in light of end-of-expansion doldrums. Even so, three nights per week is probably still the norm among groups that consider themselves dedicated raiding guilds. But two-night raiding may be building a steamhead as the playerbase matures along with the game. "A couple years ago, you did a feature on a two-night guild when they killed heroic Lich King," wrote reader Oatz of Full Spectrum on Alleria (US). "Well, when Cataclysm started, that inspired me to create my own two-night guild (seven hours per week). I am now proud to say that our two-night guild has just killed heroic Madness, making us not just the #1 two-night guild but also #24 on 10-man and #62 overall in the United States." Impressive, yes -- but what caught my eye about this email was Oatz's almost off-handed conclusion about the stability of his guild's roster. "It's interesting how raid groups are evolving over the years as the playerbase gets older," he mused. "Our guild is full of professionals in their 20s and 30s, many with spouses and kids, and none of us can raid more than two nights. I'm a practicing lawyer myself, but I started WoW back when I was a lowly college student." "I remember back in vanilla, even, when there were no server transfers," he continued. "Raiding guilds were always competing for recruits based on progression. It seems now that as the raider playerbase has increased and gotten older, for the majority, it's more based on schedules and other niches." WoW on demand vs. WoW as a time-gobbling behemoth -- is this where the serious WoW hobbyist stands in 2012?
Tipster unearths treasure chest of classic WoW raiding memories
Do you ever wonder what you missed by not playing WoW back in the early days? You've seen the classic instances, of course, as you've swatted aside their bosses during mining expeditions for transmogrification gear -- but what were these viragoes like back in the day when conquering them took 40 players at the top of their game hurling themselves against the storm, before modern levels, gear, abilities and game mechanics reduced them to mere echoes of their former fury? Screech "rose-colored glasses!" all you like -- WoW classic and The Burning Crusade were far and away the eras that pinned me most devotedly to my keyboard, smitten by the game. (Others think very differently, as demonstrated below.) You can't really relive the classic experience today; there's simply been too much water under the bridge. Still, I'd love to be able to give newer players a taste of those old raid instances in a way they just can't get from muscling through the instances today. But if playing through won't do the job, neither will videos from the past. Boss kill and strat videos cast an analytical eye on the proceedings, remaining aloof from the atmosphere and focusing more on the spray of combat text and special effects. On the other end of the spectrum are roleplaying epics that, while entertaining, represent the particular personality and experience of a specific group of players. If you've got time to burn, though, you might enjoy sinking into these vanilla-era flavor films by Order of Watchers on Ragnaros (EU). WoW Insider reader Karol discovered these old-school gems ("Maybe it just found me in a nostalgic mood, but I think both of them are masterpieces from the old times and worth a mention" -- we agree, Karol, so thanks!), tipping us off to this abstract of one Hungarian guild's march through classic encounters and The Burning Crusade. Somewhere between a guided tour, a roleplaying narrative and guild memory book, these videos attempt to preserve a glimpse of the wonder the guild felt on the path through the earliest endgame content in World of Warcraft.
Trade skill crusader brings back customer service and sweat equity to crafting
WoW players today tend to consider the deterioration of the in-game community in terms of relatively recent influences like the Dungeon Finder and then the Raid Finder. We sometimes forget that design tweaks and new systems have been chipping away at the paradigm of Azeroth as a place to forge ongoing personal relationships for years now. Take a gander at the beginning of this analysis I wrote on the death of the Azerothian salesman all the way back in the hyper-modern era of The Burning Crusade circa 2007: Forget the endless debate over hardcore versus casual -- there's another moniker that we here at Insider Trader hold dear: salesman. What's that? You don't know any salesmen in WoW these days? You're not alone. Times have changed since craftspeople toiled to build reputations as the go-to traders on their servers ... when Ironforge was the hub of civilization, where a few elite enchanters held court over the entire server with coveted formulae from such exotic locales as Stratholme and Scholomance. It's a brave new world in today's Outland. Most enchanters don't enchant for the general public at all, unless you provide mats and a tip. And in any profession, with so many other players on the servers who have the same patterns (even rare patterns are generally available from more than one player) and so many easy ways to make money (hello, daily quests!), there's little reason to hang around town to build a regular clientele. Components provided or created by other professions are readily available on the Auction House -- there's no need to seek out and nurture relationships with another player from a complementary profession. Have the conveniences Blizzard has developed for today's crafters meant the death of the salesman? Most WoW players would agree that convenience and self-service is the way of today's game. But for one stubborn tradesman on Sentinels (US), life as an Azerothian salesman is anything but obsolete. Daen, a dedicated craftsman and proprietor of Daen's Crafting Emporium, single-handedly maintains what may be one of World of Warcraft's last remaining bastions of personal craftsmanship and trade skill service -- with a twist. This proprietor not only aims to provide personal service, but he does it at no charge, with the insistence that customers devote sweat equity to their mutual creations as well.
Behind the scenes with a Blizzard forums MVP "green"
Who are the "greens," the shining emerald jewels of the posting community on the official World of Warcraft community forums? How does one go from being, say, Eldacar the PvP enthusiast to Eldacar the forums MVP, who recently unleashed a volley of questions on the current state of WoW PvP that gathered a virtual storm of opinions and insights on the official PvP forums? Who is this guy, and why is everything he posts on the forums in bright green letters? Here's your answer -- the scoop on a green straight from one of the blues, Blizzard Community Manager Jonathan "Zarhym" Brown: "Eldacar's posting style and contributions to the community first crossed my radar during Cataclysm beta," Zarhym explains. "He had created some very useful guides on the beta forums detailing good feedback and bug reporting etiquette. I stickied his information and had brief contact with him via email and in the beta around that time. "In the fall of 2011, once the community team solidified plans for expanding the MVP program, his name popped back up in part because of some PvP-related posts he was working on," he continues. "I really make an effort to try and hang onto the names of constructive, eloquent posters -- whether or not they're critical of some of Blizzard's decisions. The MVP program is really meant to be a reflection of the diversity within our community. Its members are just a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition. I think Eldacar's a damn fine example of this." A "damn fine example"? Frankly, we're with Zarhym -- Eldacar's thoughtful approach and obvious passion for his subject matter made trumpeting his recent call to arms for player feedback a no-brainer. So who is this guy? And how'd he get so damn fine, anyway?
Player documents the two-headed monster of his own WoW addiction
The slow, viscous slide into a life consumed by gaming has become a media tale standard, usually including a bleary-eyed shot of the player blinking in the thin light of the computer monitor. Penned by journalists unfamiliar with the enveloping nature of MMOs, these stories skitter across the surface of a passion turned fixation. Without an understanding of the many positive forces of games like World of Warcraft, writers are unable to do more than entwine readers within a Lovecraftian tangle of gaming's most mind-numbing temptations, pushing them back into the light at the end with a complete, triumphant rebuke of the game in question. The tale of Sevrin's descent into and return from Azeroth takes a different turn. A third-year film production student from the United Kingdom, Sevrin hasn't blocked World of Warcraft from his every thought -- instead, he spent months poring over his experiences to create a documentary of his experience. IRL: In Real Life, a short film featured last week on WoW Moviewatch (watch it again after the break), takes a frank look at how incessant gaming nearly pulled a young man's life off track -- and then provided the fuel for the creative project that's helping him move on. If anyone could understand this kind of rise and fall, this dance with the glamors that wetly suck players into the virtual vortex, only to spit them out coughing and gasping with a renewed appreciation for life, it's fellow WoW Insider reader Keelhaul, aka The Mogfather, the player who racked up an incredible 1 million gold only to turn around and give it all away. "Brilliant," he commented simply on last week's Moviewatch showing of Sevrin's video. "Change a bit of the storyline and that's me as well." We suspect it's many of us, to some degree. Let's look inside at Sevrin's take.
Why enmity means success to these vile rogues
So let's talk about ganking and getting ganked -- vile, nasty, evil rogues. How WoW players rage against rogues! You'd think an entire collective of them would be utterly reviled by the player community -- but not this group, which is such a straight-up gang that many of its sap-and-drop victims actually become cross-faction buddies. Vile Thorn of Defias Brotherhood (EU-H), an all-rogue guild that recently packed up shop and moved from another slowly stagnating roleplay, is probably the amicable gank squad you'll ever come across (or that'll come across you -- you know what we mean ...). With an ironclad one-kill rule and a hankering for cross-faction roleplay, Vile Thorn takes no prisoners when it comes to fostering realm-wide roleplaying and world PvP. Its roster shows no sign of tanks, healers or other DPS classes; this group is utterly dedicated to its dark duties. GM Arli reports a warm welcome from players on Defias Brotherhood, both in character and out, after the guild's weekend sprint in search of a wider roleplaying community. To gank, or not to gank -- why is death at the hands of the Vile Thorns so compelling that one guild of factional enemies even realm-transferred along with its nemesis?
70-year-old raiding grandma wields legendary and leads her guild
You don't get much more charming than the Knitting Grandma, the surprise hit guest at last fall's BlizzCon 2011 WoW Insider Reader Meetup. Remember her? She charmed our staff and meetup guests alike with her dry wit and talk of Thunder Bluff-themed socks. Today, we press forward from the warm, fuzzy territory covered by the Knitting Grandma with two window-rattling volleys in the battle against gamer stereotypes: You don't have to be a granny to knit and play World of Warcraft. Even the author of Clique, the preeminent click-casting addon, gets his knit on. Whether they knit or not, even grannies can be GMs. Of raiding guilds. Who've raided since original Molten Core. And top the DPS meters. Wielding Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest. (So yes, that does indeed qualify her to tell you kids to "GET OFF MY LAWN!") Meet Marthazon, the 70-year-old GM of Spartans on Dalaran (US-A).
