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[1.Local]: Where is my mind?
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. I can tell you where my mind is. It's still pole dancing outside of Booty Bay after the Midsummer Flamefest. At least, that's where I think I left it. That's the last I remember knowing where it was. I should probably go check. Before I do, we have some comments to nod our heads and/or snicker over. First, the Roleplaying Spotlight goes to Bobury aka Razell: Hi! It's Razzell here. My parents were great researchers. If you could name it, they would study it. They studied alchemy, herbs, various creatures, blacksmithing, etc. Unfortunately, they were killed. I was at their house when Gnomeregan was invaded. My house was overrun with troggs. My parents were killed, their research destroyed. I escaped. I do miss them so. It is a good thing we are taking back Gnomeregan. For the Alliance, For Gnomeregan, and for the parents! I, uh, hope you weren't expecting a theme this week, because I don't have one again. But go ahead and turn the page for some more themeless fun.
15 Minutes of Fame: KC Royals pitcher Kyle Davies
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. For all the flak gaming gets over its notoriously time-sucking qualities, World of Warcraft seems to make a surprisingly good lifestyle fit for professional athletes. Olympic swimmer Megan Jendrick takes refuge in a nice, anonymous PUG raid after a hard day in the pool. MMA fighter Jens Pulver pounds a whole roster of characters after a day in the octagon. And squeezing in Icecrown Citadel in lonely hotel rooms on the road is the perfect downtime release for Kansas City Royals pitcher Kyle Davies. Opening the 2009 season as the No. 3 starter, Davies is well known for his work ethic. Despite a contract guaranteeing him some $1.3 million this year, he chooses to spend the off-season toiling away on his dad's construction crew. And despite a hectic road schedule that limits raiding opportunities to PUGs, Davies has managed to clear ICC with both his mains and is chipping his way through hard modes. We caught him in between game dates for a quick run-down of how he and his teammates let off steam in the World of Warcraft.
15 Minutes of Fame: When the guild family is literally all family
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Looking for group? Not in this family. We've featured players before who share playtime with family members, but we're not sure that we've ever visited with anyone who actively plays WoW with every member of her immediate family ... and then some. First, there was Fizzcrank (US-A) player Artio and her husband Anomoly. Then Artio's 59-year-old mother decided to investigate what the couple was up to all the time. Hooked, she brought Artio's father into the fold. The oldest sister followed suit. Look who's playing now: Artio and her husband, her mother, her father, her two brothers, her two sisters, two spouses, Artio's two brothers-in-law and four grandchildren ... Not to mention the "extended family" of real-life friends. Does this family run its own groups and 10-man raids? Of course! "My dad loves his pala-tank and becomes quite obsessive about gearing him with the best pre-ICC gear he can find, while my mother's hunter is doing more damage to the wildlife than Nesingwary," Artio reports. "It's a wonderful feeling to have three generations of WoW players together tackling anything from old-school content to newer heroics." Follow us past the break to meet this WoW-playing family.
[1. Local]: I'm a slacker
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Hi. My name is Robin Torres and I'm a slacker. I have totally slacked on my [1. Local] duties for weeks now, so I have tons of goodies stored up for this time. I know that the above video is called Loser and not Slacker, but it still seemed appropriate. I would have embedded the Glee version, but those never stay up very long. Anyone who has ever worked retail must appreciate that version of the -- oh, great. Now I'm slacking and writing at the same time. A couple weeks ago, we talked about a guy named Mr. Green and a Spineless Jellyfish GM in Drama Mamas. An alternate solution to ours was suggested: Russ: You could always lure Mr. Green into the Billiards room, hand him a candlestick, and drag Mr. Body into the room and accuse him of murder! Grovinofdarkhour: But everybody knows, it was Professor Plum, in the Study, with the Revolver. So that would never work. I hope you weren't looking for continuity this week, because that's not going to happen. We've got too many fun and insightful things to go over to try to squeeze them into a coherent theme. It's all my fault, because I'm a slacker. So let's just turn the page and have at it.
15 Minutes of Fame: Film pros shoot raiding lifestyle documentary
Video has NSFW language near the beginning. 15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. It used to be that any mainstream media coverage of gaming that didn't completely denigrate gamers rated rabid cheering and high-fives all around. Things have gotten better in recent years, but we're often left with a sense of lingering embarrassment when journalists miss the boat and ask all the wrong questions from all the wrong angles. It's with great relief, then, that we report on documentary project that's working hard to get it right. LFG Productions, the brainchild of two film industry vets who are also WoW players, is filming a behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of hardcore raiding and real life by following a top-ranked PvE guild through the post-ICC lull and into the coming expansion. (See a sample of some of the raw footage they've collected at last year's BlizzCon, above.) Documentary co-creator John Keating, aka Xod of <Royal Militia> on Bleeding Hollow (US-A), has been corresponding with us for months now about the LFG Productions team's efforts to put its finger on an accurate portrayal of the hardcore raiding lifestyle.
15 Minutes of Fame: Classic raiders keep a different pace
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. The old days are long gone, Gramps; take off the rose-colored glasses and play Wrath, where raiding is better than ever. So goes conventional wisdom in the comments whenever anyone espouses a little nostalgia for the old days of vanilla WoW. Raiding was a far different animal back then. Players who raided were still considered hardcore -- "casual raiding" wasn't on the radar yet -- and devoted week after week of angling for a 40-man raid slot in hopes of earning the chance at a purple drop. Even though strategy sites for WoW raids blossomed sooner rather than later, videos and the trustworthy guides remained relatively sparse, and many early guilds developed their own tactics and jealously guarded alternative strategies. Standing at the mailbox in Ironforge with a massive, raid-sized weapon on your back meant wielding a badge of achievement that attracted a small crowd; bearers would be flooded with awed whispers asking where it was from. A thoughtful look back at WoW's 40-man past yields both positives and negatives. It wasn't simply the size of the raids that made them feel so different than today's raids ; it was the interplay of raid size, the inexperience of the raiding player base, the scarcity and difficulty of rewards, the lack of universally accepted tactics and strategies ... A whole host of influences that simply can't be replicated today. But while the era may long cold and dead, the content is still very much alive. Beyond the bored, pre-expansion players who are fending off burnout by sightseeing in vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade instances lies another layer of players who are attacking old content with level-appropriate characters. These classic raiders aren't fruitlessly attempting to recreate the past; rather, they're enjoying an entirely different pacing for the game.
15 Minutes of Fame: Star Trek's Nog talks with WoW.com
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. We continue our conversation this week with battlegrounds fan Aron Eisenberg, who played the youthful Ferengi Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. With five level 80s, two WoW-playing sons and an insatiable appetite for mixing it up in BGs, Aron's a WoW player to the core. "I noticed that people want to say hi or something in BGs," he emailed us after last week's interview, revealing the name of his main level 80, Vasuna. "Maybe we should tell Allies to /salute if they see me -- then let the fighting begin. Might be a fun way to give a nod and let the game begin, so to speak." So here we go: /salute, and let's talk more with Aron about what he's doing professionally these days, plus his thoughts on what lies ahead in Cataclysm. Read Part 1: Deep Space Nine's Nog gets his BG on 15 Minutes of Fame: So we understand you're spending more time behind the camera than in front of it these days, running your own videography company. Tell us about your new emphasis. Aron Eisenberg: Basically, I did that because I wanted to make movies some day. But I couldn't go to film school because I had two boys that I needed to raise. So I thought I would do this so I could learn more about editing and using a camera and going behind the scenes, so when they're older and out of the house, I can then push myself into making films and movies. It's a plan; I don't know how well it'll come to fruition.
15 Minutes of Fame: Deep Space Nine's Nog gets his BG on
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. WoW feels more like "Battlegrounds Galactica" when Aron Eisenberg, who played the youthful Ferengi Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, logs in. The battlegrounds aficionado is a huge WoW player and Blizzard games fan, with five level 80 characters, two WoW-playing sons and an easy familiarity with WoW.com's features and content that could possibly rival that of some of our own staff members. The admiration is mutual; we've been known to bring the Ferengi perspective to our articles. Speaking of perspectives, Aron has plenty of his own to share in this two-part 15 Minutes of Fame, as well as an appearance on this week's WoW Insider Show. Beam past the break for part one of our exclusive interview.
[1. Local]: Tooting of horns
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Tootoootoootoooooot! Yeah, I'm about to toot my own horn -- well, the horn I share with fellow Drama Mama Lisa. We so rarely get to hear the results of the advice we give on Drama Mamas, but last week we got the best feedback ever. Tootootooooot! We told AFK to make it work, and he responded: Hey, Drama Mamas! I really appreciate your answering my questions. You weren't kidding when you said that you were going to do a lot of finger wagging. I read your answers, and I read the comments as well. I found Arann and Soonerwolf's comments especially helpful. I talked to my wife today about setting a date night every week for just the two of us, a family day to spend uninterrupted time with our toddler, and a personal day where we are to pursue individual activities. She actually really liked the idea. My wife has told me that she feels neglected before, but I spend every moment that I am not at work with her. I guess guaranteeing her a night together every week was something she wanted all along. Lisa, Robin, and all of the commentators: thanks so much for your input, AFK Tootootoooooot! We've got more horns to toot. I may even toot my own horn again, I haven't decided yet. You'll just have to look after the break to see.
15 Minutes of Fame: The Guild's Michele Boyd
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. You probably know Michele Boyd as "Riley" of The Guild, the so-called "stupid tall hot girl" who's into FPS and is a ranked Halo player. Now, get to know Michele as a WoW player and gamer in her own right. Does she game with her cast-mates from The Guild? What's she playing right now? What about work? After all that, does she ever feel "gamed" out? WoW.com's 15 Minutes of Fame gives you an inside view with this exclusive interview with Michele, chatting about how she blends The Guild (the show) with her guild (in game). 15 Minutes of Fame: First on everyone's minds -- what's your WoWstyle, Michele? Michele Boyd: I play on Zangarmarsh. I actually started out on Dark Iron, a PvP server -- but I gotta say, I enjoy not worrying about getting ganked every five minutes. Trying to level your way through Stranglethorn when you're watching your back for rogues upped the stress level quite a bit! l like the competitive nature of the quests and getting the best loot/gear. It's fun in raids when you're competing over who's top of the DPS meter, but the friendly atmosphere of a guild means you're genuinely happy for people when they win rolls on a best-in-slot piece of gear. Unless they beat you.
[1. Local]: Hey
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Hey. Reader comments have been cracking us up all week. From completely inane threads to humorous ways of explaining things, compiling this week's sampling has given me the giggles. There were some serious, insightful comments as well, of course. In fact, we'll start off with one from Drama Mamas. We answered a letter about some loot nastiness. A priest accidentally rolled need and won a weapon that a rogue wanted. Drama ensued. Scooter offered some added insight: My friends and I call this situation the "Ticking Loot-Bomb Scenario". Basically the rogue was all set to go off on someone and the priest happened to cut the wrong wire. Everyone goes off like this at least once in their lives. It takes a level of maturity to recognize this in yourself and take action to calm down. Unfortunately this is something that even most adults never obtain. It's also important to recognize when people do take that important deep breath and either calm down or remove themselves from the situation. The rogue should have just left the group. True, this inconveniences any friends/guild mates also on the run but 10 minutes of waiting for a replacement is still an improvement over 10 minutes of yelling. There's a ticking funny bomb waiting to go off on the next page.
15 Minutes of Fame: Deployed soldier games from Iraq
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Ahh, the life of an Iraqi farmer. According to WoW player FallenWolf, currently deployed in Iraq with the U.S. Army (FSC, 7th Engineer Battalion), farming is about all most U.S. military WoW players there can reliably expect to accomplish. Desert sand and insta-cast DoTs have not proven to be particularly compatible for this former (and soon-to-be returning) raiding warlock. We visited with FallenWolf about how he's managed to adapt to being halfway across the world from his guild and his wife (a frequent WoW partner), plus how he copes with an awkward schedule and ugly latency.
[1. Local]: Psychology
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. It's an interesting coincidence that so many quotables this week had something to do with our mental processes. For example, when Brian Wood pretended to interview Ghostcrawler for Scattered Shots, the faux-Ghostcrawler said the following: Anyway, so the chimp has a lever, and when it pulls the lever it gets a piece of lettuce. Chimps like lettuce; it's tasty. So the chimp loves the experiment to death. Pull the lever, get more lettuce, eat the lettuce and pull the lever. Then after a while, the researchers change things up. One time, the chimp pulls the lever and gets a grape. Chimps love grapes; they're way better than lettuce. But then the chimp pulls the lever again and it goes back to getting lettuce. Now the chimp gets pissed off and throws the lettuce at the researchers. So just a minute ago the chimp was loving the lettuce, and now it's insulted to be given that garbage. The lettuce didn't get any worse or any less tasty, but the chimp's perception of the value of the lettuce changed. MMO players are even more extreme -- in an MMO if the players even hear that we considered giving grapes, they'll suddenly be insulted with the lettuce that they loved until that point. So while we can't avoid every nerf, we really try to avoid as many as we possibly can. Brian's favorite response was from Undra: Ghostcrawler promised me a grape! Promises, promises. I promise we have more psychology related comments and some that only slightly have to do with what's in our noggin. And I also promise no mention of sparkle ponies. Well, except that one. I broke my promise while making my promise. Wrap your noggin around that.
15 Minutes of Fame: Olympic swimmer Megan Jendrick
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. There's only so many training hours you can spend in a swimming pool; that's why Olympic medalist Megan Jendrick fills her dry-dock time in World of Warcraft. Surprised to find an Olympian such as Megan in WoW? The very private Jendrick likes it that way. WoW is her private time to destress, let her hair down and turn the laser focus of a champion to something entirely entertaining. "My first main character was a moonkin druid, which I actually started because I thought it was funny that they had aquatic form," she laughs. "Then I started playing a rogue when I got more into PvP, because I didn't want to heal for arena. I had to go with DPS, because I think I'm just a little too competitive to have to rely on someone else to win matches."
[1. Local]: Chariots and cheats
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Dominic Hobbs, our warlock columnist, speculated about flying mounts for warlocks in this week's Blood Pact. He found the following suggestion the best one from the readers (though there were many): Tidelord: Dear Hobbs, While I agree with your idea of Metamorphosis or sprouting wings, I find the thought of being carried by my shoulders by a Doomguard to be utterly demeaning, and if you have seen the model for Invincible and the new "Sparkle Pony," you would see that while the wings are ingenious, the steed itself has legs stumpier than a dwarf's! No, my dear friend. For a warlock, the only mount suitable for us masters of shadow and fire is nothing else than an enormous, obsidian-black chariot with wheels made of the bones and skulls of magi, pulled by a pack of at least ten or twelve fel-green hellhounds. The animation would be so full of demonic splendor and top-of-the-line graphics that it would cause the video card of any cowardly mage to explode violently. Grow In Shadows- Caneyn Ravenshield, Future Worgen Warlock Continue reading for an in-depth discussion of cheating -- and what's this about breeding WoW.com staff?
15 Minutes of Fame: Jace Hall Show producer Todd Roy
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Behind every successful star stands a savvy, creative, inspired producer. In the case of TV and video game producer Jace Hall (The Jace Hall Show), that producer is Todd Roy. Todd pretty much epitomizes today's casual yet completely gung-ho WoW player -- only he does it from a perspective that includes rubbing elbows with some of the most well known figures in gaming and geekdom today. We talked to Todd about finding time for WoW while working a Hollywood-paced schedule, cracking up over Stan Lee's infectious laugh and whether or not Olivia Munn really is that hot in person ... All after the break.
[1.Local]: Celestial RMT and the Fresh Steed
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Would it be wrong of us to lead off this week's [1.Local] with a comment from someplace other than WoW.com? This comment on Blizzard's astounding sales of the Celestial Steed comes from our sister publication, Massively, where one would think readers would be a little more objective about MMOs and microtransactions as a whole. Pingles: I play Allods, a free-to-play cash shop game and have purchased items to support the game. So at first I was a bit perturbed at how anyone can accept a subscription game charging for things in a cash shop but I think that Blizzard may very well get a pass on this one. The reason: WoW is a behemoth. People don't mind throwing $25 at something that ALL of their friends are going to see and that they envision spending the next few years playing with. This isn't just a game to some folks. This is a social and long-term commitment. I have to admit that when I purchased a bag in Allods I wondered whether I'd be playing the game a year from now. I don't think folks wonder the same thing with WoW. Back here at home at WoW.com, opinion about the new ride seems fairly split. Pull up a seat and let's chew on it some more. Oh, and you'll want to be sure to check out a truly epic take on the situation from [1.Local] regular (cutaia), whose fiancée Autumn Kosik created the headline photo, above. (Thanks for sharing!) Most definitely worth a trip to the end of the post.
15 Minutes of Fame: WoW buoys autistic youngster
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Should little kids play World of Warcraft? Players and non-players, parents and childless alike seem to relish pontificating. Ultimately, it all comes down to active parenting -- you have to judge whether your child's development and personality are suited for a dunk in the waters of a massively multiplayer world, and you have to stay plugged in, yourself. For WoW player Tsiva, mother of an 8-year-old with Asperger Syndrome, the decision to bring her son into the game has paid off. "It's helped with his reading, counting, confidence, motor skills and it's provided him with a heck of an incentive to work hard outside of the game," she reports. Tsiva's been blogging since last summer about her son's adventures in Azeroth, in the hopes that their experience will enlighten other players and spread awareness of the ways playing games like World of Warcraft can be a positive force for many children, including those with disabilities.
[1.Local]: The lore according to James Cameron
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. When it comes to the chatter in [1.Local], sometimes it's the sidetracks and the tangents that pull up the most interesting results. By now, we've all heard comparisons between James Cameron's "Avatar" and Disney's "Pocahontas." ("Pocahontas in Space," anyone?) Leave it to our readers to take things a step farther. sherekhan88: Actually, maybe because of too much WoW, I was able to piece together Avatar as "The World of Warcraft movie, as envisioned by James Cameron." It goes like this: Guy log ins on his new Night Elf Hunter WoW character. He tries to cast Tame Beast on a panther that's too high level and almost dies. He gets Apprentice Riding and Exalted with Stormwind and gets a pony mount. He skips Journeyman Riding, but later gets Expert Riding in Outland. After much grinding, gets Netherdrake mount. Meanwhile, humans want to mine giant Titanium node under Teldressil. They use vehicles to raid Darnussus. The World Tree crashes, lots of Nelfs ragequit. Meanwhile, Sigourney Weaver tries to do a server transfer, but fails. Stuck with Blizzard's customer service for a week. Main guy finally gets Artisan riding and bags a Time-Lost Proto-Drake mount. He then epeens it in Shattrath. Nelves follow him. Gathers more people with Netherdrake mounts and Stormwind horses. Later they forgot Blizzard never gave them mounted combat. Main guy and Nelves defeat Humans using greens; midway through the battle main guy's game time card almost runs out. Humans ragequit after losing, Nelves call them noobs. Main guy Feigns Death for lulz, does server transfer, but comes back when he found out Paragon AND Ensidia are both on the same server. Coming up after the break: More (unique? lovable? twisted? overenthusiastic?) nuggets of wisdom, plus the World of Warcraft week in review from WoW.com's commenters.
15 Minutes of Fame: Actress and GM Michele Morrow
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Actress Michele Morrow makes no secret of the fact that she's a WoW player. In fact, she's let it be known that she's more than a little interested in appearing in Sam Raimi's upcoming WoW movie. You may recognize the raiding guild leader's face from horror and dramas such as "Basement Jack" (2009), "The Seer" (2007) and "Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun" (2005), as well as small-screen turns on CBS' "The Young and the Restless" and ABC's "Alias." Life and WoW have become inextricably entwined for the 32-year-old actress. "I told my guild (<Neverender>, US Thorium Brotherhood-H) that they aren't allowed excuses in raiding after reading your interview with Quad," Morrow told 15 Minutes of Fame. "I actually cried when I read that story; what an incredibly determined individual. I myself suffered a neck injury a few years back, falling on my head in a stunt accident in a movie ("Basement Jack") after being vaulted in the air 15 feet. I'm lucky I wasn't paralyzed. Really lucky. But being in a neck brace for a year is what got me into WoW. It gave my boyfriend and I something to do together."
