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WoW Moviewatch: Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies style trailer
Spoiler warning: This machinima contains footage from loads of Warlords of Draenor cinematics. This isn't what I would call a traditional machinima, it's more of a clip reel of Blizzard's best cinematic moments from Warlords of Draenor -- but man is it ever put together effectively. Youtuber J103Baronski spliced together Warlords of Draenor - Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies style trailer with the intent of doing a Warlords of Draenor trailer in the style of the trailer for the last Hobbit film, using the soundtrack from the Hobbit trailer and pairing it with Blizzard cinematics. It doesn't sound like much, when you put it that way, but the end result is a finished trailer that had me pretty floored with just how effectively the different video and voice clips were pulled together. I could honestly picture this on the television as a commercial for the expansion -- give it a watch, you won't be disappointed. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: Doodad Orc Cannon 003
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. I find it a little odd that there are so many clickable objects in the Horde garrison, yet none of them actually do anything. Some of them are even labeled as if they were meant to do something, as in the case of the level 3 War Mill and its Doodad_Orc_Cannons. With a name like that, I sort of hoped I could launch orcs across the fortress I'd built, circus-style. Because nothing says I'm in charge like the threat of a rousing game of Peon Cannonball. ScottLeyes asked: Is it possible to get to Draenor WITHOUT killing anyone/anything? I have a "pacifist" toon as a bank alt, she's never killed anything and gotten to level 63 on holidays, exploration and daily quests. I'd love to eventually get her a Garrison, but not if she has to kill stuff. You cannot get a garrison established without doing the lead up quests, and those quests involve killing things whether you are Alliance or Horde. While you could have your alt summoned to Draenor, said alt wouldn't really be able to do much of anything except maybe hang out in Warspear or Stormshield. The savage lands of Draenor are no place for pacifists, unfortunately.
WoW Moviewatch: The Eve of Winter Veil
So just what is the true meaning of Winter Veil? We're not entirely sure, but we are pretty sure that the two questionable heroes in this video by Mooclucking haven't figured it out, either. Using the holiday season to rob the affluent homes of Stormwind City by sneaking down chimneys (how do they fit?), the duo's crime spree seems to be quite successful (having netted a Ragnaros action figure that Blizzard clearly needs to merchandise themselves). Of course, since it is the holiday season, the two are struck by a rather explosive crisis of conscious which leads to a Grinch-style change of heart. How long this crisis will last is anyone's guess, but judging by our heroes, it might not be long... so let's enjoy the holiday spirit while it lasts. Happy Winter Veil, everyone! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: Shark Attack
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. When I was a kid, my brother and sister and I all wanted the Shark Attack game for Christmas because the commercial made it look so incredibly fun. But that idyllic little slice of life shown in that commercial was far, far from the truth, friends. There was no giggling and happy shouting with this game. Oh no. The commercial has it all wrong. Picture if you will three children frantically shrieking bloody murder at each other to roll the dice whilst edging ever closer to that invisible line in which we start using the profanity we've heard our parents use off and on again for years, throw in a few tears of desperation and you've got a much better idea of the experience. Oddly enough, most of the card games my siblings and I now play as adults during holiday gatherings involve much the same thing. Our family gatherings are things to be treasured. Let's answer some Warcraft questions! Maelzrael asked: Q4tQ: What would be, in your opinion, the most likely new system or feature in the next expansion? I would say this xpac it's obviously Garrisons followed by New Model Updates. Most likely would probably be the overhaul to the transmogrification feature and/or the tabard and heirloom storage tabs. Both of those have been bandied about as being in progress or at least still being thought about, so they seem like they'd be the most likely selections. Or, you know, the Dance Studio.
The Queue: Boxing Day, Warcraft novels, Did Thrall cheat?
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi will be your host today. Today's first question is about Boxing Day. I didn't see that coming when I wrote today's Breakfast Topic. JeffLaBowski asks: Canadians: What is boxing day like? Do people have nice meals and exchange gifts? Are stores closed? Do you go to church? Any fun traditions? Non-Canadians: Do you have any day after X-mas traditions? I usually like to head out to a store or two (in the afternoon), if I got a gift card I wanted to use. Might go see the new Hobbit movie. I already talked about this in today's Breakfast Topic, but basically, around here at least (here being Edmonton) Boxing Day isn't very dissimilar from Black Friday - there are a lot of big sales and special deals and stores open early to accommodate people coming in to make exchanges or spend Christmas money. It differs from Black Friday mainly in that there's a lot fewer stories of people trampling each other on Boxing Day. I happen to be non-Canadian, despite living in Canada, and so I could theoretically answer the second part of the question. But frankly, I don't have any fun traditions.
WoW Moviewatch: Frozey the Snowman
Wowcrendor is definitely having a great Winter Veil with his 10 Days of Winter Veil countdown and a new machinima every day. We're half-way through the countdown now with Frozey the Snowman, an appropriately Azerothian take on on the Frosty the Snowman story. So just how do you make Frosty the Snowman into a uniquely Warcraft creation? Well, I'd hate to give away the ending, but maybe bringing a random snowman to life just isn't the best thing you could do with a magical hat. Maybe. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: I am not Santa
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi will be your host today. I am, however, incredibly vain and egocentric. WalterAnderson asks: Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? If not were you happily surprised with what you did get? Honestly, I didn't want anything. I tend not to want things aside from books, and I usually buy those for myself, so I'm an incredible pain to shop for. Get me an Amazon gift certificate or hand me fifty bucks and drive me to a bookstore, and I'm good. I'm writing this Queue Christmas Eve, so I don't know what I got yet, but I'm sure it was good.
WoW Moviewatch: WarCraft: Armies of Azeroth
Perhaps the biggest downside to the success of World of Warcraft is that we haven't seen a Warcraft RTS since Warcraft III in 2002 -- or 2003, if you'd prefer to count from the release of The Frozen Throne expansion. Either way, that's a long time to go without any classic RTS Warcraft goodness. The Armies of Azeroth team is trying to fix this problem with a StarCraft II mod that recreates Warcraft III on the StarCraft II engine. From the trailer above, we've got to say that the results look awesome. Sure, we've played Warcraft III plenty of times, but, while there's no release date for this mod, we're eager to check it out all over again with the tech updates the past decade has made possible. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Cataclysm in Reverse
Sure, the Cataclysm seems like a bad thing. Dragons, destruction, more dragons, more destruction... who wants that? (Or wants to clean up afterwards?) But if you tell the story of Cataclysm in reverse... suddenly you have the tale of the helpful (but mis-named) dragon Deathwing helping put out wildfires and rebuild a ruined Azeroth. Now that's the kind of happy tale we can really get behind -- and machinima-makers Slightly Impressive have stepped in to tell this important story of Azerothian history. (Or Azerothian un-history, as the case may be.) So if you want a happy story from Azeroth, this is one of the few. Just ignore the fact that it's fictional... or more fictional than the rest of the world. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: Queues, Sorting, and Santa
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today. Today's queue is a bit late. I blame my packages not getting here when I was told they would, so I had to punt and go shopping in the real world today. It was terrible. Way too long of queue lines. Rustin asked: could you ever see blizz putting in an alt queue finder? Like queue toon A for a raid while I switch to toon B to do some questing at lower lvls. More often than not I feel like I'm just sitting around waiting when I could be working on my alt army.
Blizzard opens new dedicated Ashran forum
If you have an opinion about Ashran, now there's a place for you to take it. Blizzard CM Kaivax posted that there's a new forum dedicated solely to Ashran. It's right here, although it doesn't appear to have a counterpart in Europe yet. Ashran's been a hot topic as of late for problems with queue times and difficulty in balancing it - with some players having used Ashran to gear up it's not not uncommon to see people discussing one faction utterly dominating the zone now. If you're interested in Ashran and possibly in contributing your voice to the discussion (you may have a good suggestion for fixing the issues, or just a perspective that hasn't been considered yet) then head over to the new official forum for the PvP zone and make your voice heard.
The Queue: Owl worship
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Goooood morning, WoW Insider! ScottLeyes asked: Is there a "best time" to queue for LFD? Or, more appropriately, are there "better" times to queue? I usually try to queue in the early evening, thinking there are more people online, but Saturdays seem horrible, and Sundays are hit and miss. Opinions? Data?
Know Your Lore: Cinematics, character development, and story in 2014
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Last week, we began to take a look at 2014 in review for World of Warcraft -- not from a general game standpoint, but from the standpoint of lore and story development. While we had some written material and media released midway through the year, in game the year didn't really get started until the release of patch 6.0 and the next expansion, Warlords of Draenor. But despite only being out for a little over a month, Warlords has made an pretty sizeable impression so far. From a perspective of sheer story delivery, the leveling game in the new expansion is hands down the best thing Blizzard has ever delivered. There's not really more than a moment or two that you aren't being hammered with story from one direction or another, whether it's the unique struggles of two different factions on two different sides of the world as they establish their bases on Draenor, or the struggles of Draenor's natives as they deal with threats from the Iron Horde and beyond. Obviously, quests are everything -- what else contributed to lore in 2014?
WoW Moviewatch: Pointless Top 10 Winterveil Things
Wowcrendor is on a roll with the 10 days of Winter Veil celebration he's got going on on his Youtube channel. The latest submission is one of my favorite things -- a pointless top 10 list! Yes, the feature has made a short return with a list of Pointless Top 10 Winterveil Things that you'll see scattered around the world. It didn't take long for the video to completely win me over. Number 8 on the list pretty much sent this particular pointless top 10 to the top of my favorites. I think my favorite part of the film however was the moment in which Wowcrendor was suddenly struck with the idea for a new video while creating this one. There's just something infectious about gleeful excitement (and the video idea was a really good one that I hope we see!). As always, if you like what you're seeing, be sure to check out Wowcrendor's Youtube channel for more holiday hijinks and Warcraft machinima. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: Blame the bird people
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. Anyone remember the Simon Says Apexis crystal game in Ogri'la? Supposedly it's the arakkoa's fault, and the ogres of Ogri'la just found all these Apexis crystals and relics lying around, picked them up, and got very smart in the process. We might not be playing Simon Says in Draenor, but there's a horrifying reminder of the thing in a lone mine deep underground, oddly enough. Which makes me wonder -- was this irritating game of disastrous, zappy consequences really a relic of the arakkoa, or was this just the Titans playing their version of the buzzer-in-the-hand practical joke? bushogg asked: question for the que: does the level of my follower assigned to my barracks matter? If I am level 100 and my bodyguard is 94 should I level him to 100 or does it not matter? Nope! He'll scale right up along with you. Feel free to take him along on whatever journeys you feel appropriate!
WoW Moviewatch: Kilrogg Shoots His Eye Out?!?
Happy Winter Veil! In the latest Winter Veil video from Wowcrendor, we meet young Kilrogg, who's just been given a sweet air-rifle as a Winter Veil present. Between that and the video's title, you can imagine how the plot plays out from there... so just how did Kilrogg lose that eye? The answer involves a cameo from Greatfather Winter because it's the holidays so of course it does. If you're looking for more holiday cheer, Crendor is doing a series of Winter Veil videos, so check out day 1 and day 2 of his 10 Days of Winter Veil countdown if you've missed them. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: In which stuff got weird
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today. This week has been kind of strange. I put together an image in Photoshop last year of Elsa in the Lich King's armor, because it was kind of funny. Then I stuck the image on Twitter, and a lot of people liked it. This week, it popped up on a news site with an article about how Elsa dolls have dethroned Barbie dolls as the dolls of preference this holiday season. A lot of people told me about this, I found the whole thing very amusing, and then the image was pulled. Ah well. I still have the mental image of Barbie resigned to a Bolvar fate in my head, and that's enough for me. Lamneth commented: The dungeon system I miss from WoTLK was the Frozen Orb. They should make savage blood available via the LFD system. Even if it was just 1 or 2 at the end that everyone got to roll on. Would encourage people to stay for the whole dungeon and give me a reason to sign up for them when I already outgear them. If they put Savage Blood in as a drop reward for completing a heroic dungeon, I would start doing heroics again immediately. Without question. As is stands, the amount of time I have to spend in queue as DPS and the lack of any rewards that are at all currently useful to me make heroics largely useless as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure there are plenty of other people still getting use out of them, I'm just not one of them.
WoW Moviewatch: Villain Holiday Party
Think your holiday party is awkward? At least you're not a World of Warcraft villain, because their get-togethers never seem to go well. The real question, of course, is whose terrible idea was it for them to have a holiday party -- complete with gifts and strained conversation -- in the first place? Whoever's on the planning committee for this, at least we get to sit back and watch everyone's misery courtesy of Wowcrendor. This is second part of a Winter Veil series of videos by Crendor, so we can only expect more holiday mayhem in the days to come. We're going to count that as a solid entertainment win. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: I'm turning into Rend Blackhand
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi will be your host today. If you read today's Breakfast Topic, you know why I said this. It's a really surreal feeling, let's just go with that. Merkavar asks: Q4TQ anyone else miss the way dungeon rewards worked in wotlk. where you got one bonus reward per day but you could save up to 7. so you could smash out 4-7 dungeons in one go instead of doing one a day. im not on every day so it would be nice if one or two days stacked I feel much the same way. The weekend is the best time for me to get in some uninterrupted WoW time, and it would be nice if I could do a bunch of dungeons on Saturday/Sunday instead of trying to log on every day. I get why they made the change, but personally I miss the flexibility to my schedule this provided.
WoW Moviewatch: Battle for Town Square: Winterveil Day 1
Khadgar seems to be everywhere. He's giving you quests and following you around Draenor, but he's also set up camp in the capitol cities of Azeroth to try to recruit fresh faces for the battle against the Iron Horde. (We'd ask how he does it, but the answer would probably involve complicated magical theory and we just don't have the patience.) It's a practical plan: of course Khadgar would want to stake out the busiest areas to catch the attention of adventurers... but it seems to have set him at odds with Greatfather Winter, who's recently arrived to ring in Winter Veil. The latest machinima from Wowcrendor sets us up for a holiday-themed series that pits Khadgar against Greatfather Winter... but as to who will win and who will lose in this epic battle, we'll just have to keep watching. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
