Back! Back to the Fu... er Azeroth!

I know Marty! But we've got to go back, back to Azeroth! Great Scott!

A Dwarf, a Night Elf and a Human walk into a bar...

The core members of The Allegiance are back together, after Crag took a long sebatical raiding with Earthen Pantheon on SWC (EU). To cellebrate the Dwarf announced they should all head to Iron Forge for 'A drink or two...'

So from all the fun of the Dark Moon Faire, the 3 did catch the tram to Iron Forge and partake in a little Dwarven hospitality...

Selen' got them started with a table dance...

Swear Allegiance, and support!

Pay attention in class!

The announcement of the new Monk class has me stoked! Taking it beyond Pandas... what does this mean for other classes? More importantly - what does it mean for race lore...]



For Dwarves, the brewmaster tank brings a perfection in synergy. Finally our diminutive battle masters will be able to do what they love best, DRINK! FIGHT! DEFEND THE KEGS!

Learn Pandanese in Five Minutes!

Really works! I can TOTALLY understand everything they're saying! 

Screw it... Lets do it!

Does anyone else feel like there is someone new at the helm of WoW? I mean we know there isn't we just saw Chris Metzen and Mike Morhaime standing up there on that stage at Blizzcon and announce World Of Warcraft: Pandas and Pokémon... we can see it's the same people, so why is it they suddenly seem to be throwing caution to the wind and letting their, previously conservative, imaginations run wild?

If Warcraft was, to date, a steady ride through a well polished fantasy world, then the man at the front just threw the leaver into roller-coaster mode and we're in for a great ride!

What I mean is this, this is what we had been told a year ago:

"We will not allow players to change their characters"

"We want every race to have a unique silhouette, so no race can ever be in both factions"

"We will never allow you to turn real money into in-game gold"

"You'll never see a 'neutral' race"

"Pandaren are a joke, you will never see them in-game"

Oh really Blizzard?

From the moment I saw the Tier 13 Rogue set, something made me think the conversations in the Blizzard offices where more and more, going something like this:

"So I've got this really cool idea for X!"

"No... that's ridiculous, it's way out there... although..."

"The players will like it..."

"I was just thinking that, hmm, screw it, do it!"

And the first conversation I imagine was "Hey boss, why don't we make Rogues look like The Goddamn Batman?!"

I think it was an awesome move. I imagine the next few going something like;

"Hey, we should totally bring in transmogrifying!"

"Ah but that would change the silhouette, but then, is that really so bad, screw it lets do it!"

Which could have been quickly followed by;

"Hey... if we don't care about silhouette, we could give both races one race, so we could focus all our development on that!" and perhaps: "So what one race do both sides really want?... oh yeah... PANDAS!"

Couple that with the Real Money Auction House in Diablo 3 and the similar (though much more reserved) auction-able Blizz' Store pet. The old school 'homage' that is WoWkémon Pets and who knows what else that we have yet to see. It's starting to look like the gloves are coming off for the Blizzard developers!

'If it's cool, make it!' is definitely a mind-set I can definitely get behind, even if I'm not sure what triggered it... Is it the increased competition of games like Rift triggered and games like SWTOR and Guild Wars 2 are threateningto be? Is Warcraft reaching the end of its planned finite development life(Level 100 is but 2 5-level expansions after Pandaria)? Or has Blizzard simply decided, in it's quest to always up the Epic, that it's going to start breaking eggs (and rules) to make it's omelettes? I certainly couldn't speculate, but whatever the trigger; it works for me. I'm on board for another year, and let's see what crazy fun awaits!

Screw it! Lets...

Swear Allegiance

Playing the Bad Guy

Like many people in a civilised society I have been brought up, to borrow a phrase: "Lawful-Good". I've also been brought up by prerequisite of an XY set of chromosomes Male, and by want of stellar placement: Human.

Because of this I have a habit of siding with the humans when choosing a character, and usually plump for male characters... that said this is role-play so I sometimes like to be a little more creative, dive into fantasy races and cultures... I have a fondness of stout tech friendly, ale quaffing Dwarves, and I've been known to try female characters when the class lends itself away from lumbering meet heads; mage, healer, or stealthy type.

So why do I have a real problem, it seems, suspending disbelief when it comes to playing the bad guys...

Just me and my big red pet...through the ages

If you guys have read any of my blog posts or heard me on any of my podcasts appearances, you'll know I'm a wrath-baby, not that I'm a QQ'ing n00b (hush Damarai...) I'm taking the wrath-baby title back guys, wear it with pride, we're the ones not burnt out yet!

But... As a wrath baby it means the end of Cataclysm marks the first time I've played a class from one expansion to the conclusion of another, and it has to be said, Hunters have had their world rocked a fair bit...

Join me as I don my Rose Tinted Goggles and drop a hindsight trap.

Don't Mention the (World of) War (craft)!

We are absolutely not fighting in the World of Don't mention the War(Craft!)

Free to (Role)play

So, my twelve month placement for university finished today. I promised myself and Raz that I'd pull my finger out and do some writing, so hear goes with a little idea I've been working on.

For those that read or listen to WoWcasts you may know that Raz can be a real sucker for WoW lore, he's a roleplayer at heart; hence all these little short stories scattered around the blog.

I, myself do enjoy RP but not generally in WoW (the shock!). I often create a persona for whatever character I'm currently playing, but don't often enact it.

For the last year WoW has been my relief, my downtime after many hours dealing with adolescents who've lost passwords or changed keyboards to spell a witty profanity. RP for me requires conscious thought (not something I can afford most days after work), making it hard to do in game when I'm trying to wind down.

Thinking back, one of my most enjoyable moments for roleplaying was an old PBEM (Play by Email) game based on Star Trek. In the fifteen minutes it took to compose a post and send it off, I could be in character and react how I like. It got me thinking, could I do this in WoW?

Raz and I are heavily invested in The Allegiance (myself especially), we may be on other servers or joining other guilds to branch out a little. But the Allegiance is always there, its given us a forum and a source of endless entertaining regardless of its Guild level. So I want to do the old girl some justice and maybe a new lease on life.

Our short stories have created back stories for many alts, such as Crag (& Stout) our beer swilling marksman. Olwenrhea, dubbed the "Bitch Queen of Knives", Selene our fantastic pocket druid (be it as the Feral fiend, healing or that emergency tank, she has it down) and my own Bert, who will be appearing really soon in the first installment of stories starting with his training.

I'd love to see all these branch out, but since we often play multiple characters it's a little hard to get them all together on the Stormwind Docks for a powwow.

So, the idea... Join the Allegiance and write your own story with us, outside the realms/game, even guest post on the blog. Lets start our own lore (maybe it will spill into the game) and still enjoy the game we all enjoy playing. Perhaps you know an erstwhile druid associate for Selene, a brother-in-arms for Bert and Vicheal or another member of the lost 1st Dwarven Rifles brigade?

Drop us a comment and let us know your idea, lets see if we can tempt some people over to the Allegiance. Worry not about your main hidden away on that PvP server, bring them over in words! Swear an oath and lets write our own expansion. You might want to join us eventually an put those words into practice!

So come on, comment and maybe you'll...

Swear Allegiance

Tree-Huggin' hippy crap!

So... 900,000 people have left WoW in the last 6 months. How does that make me a hippy? huh?

It's enough to get anyone sounding the death-knolls... except it's really not. A game like wow with 11million constant subscribers and 13million peek subscribers, is going to see variations of 900,000 all the time. Do I think that's made them step back and think? Yep! Do I think that makes Cata' a failed expansion? hell no! As someone who came in in Wrath but learnt the game from a much more long term player, I can happily say I loved both the difficulty ramp up, and Azeroth post Shattering to pre.

Just about everything felt dated and clunky in Wrath starting areas, I rolled a Space Goat, then a DK, to avoid the vanilla starting areas. All together I've rolled a Palladin, a DK tank, a Holy Preist, and my faithful Dwarf Hunter. Happy times. Righteous golden fury or mechanical pet-and-gun derived death. What more could you ask for?

Now, however, a leveling project with friends has seen me roll a Night Elf Druid... tall, poncey, glowy eyed, hippy, tree-hugger... it is the antithesis of my stout dwarf hunter with a gret' big feckin' gun!

Unfortunately Tree-huggin'-hippy-crap is turning out to be an awesome class. Thee only class that can not only heal/tank/dps but also chose between melee and ranged DPS... in fact one of the best DPS'ers in WoW at the moment (on US realms at least) plays a Boomkin.

This works out well for me because I have really enjoyed tanking in the past, I am surprised just how much I enjoy my first healer (holy priest), I know I like range DPS from my hunter but then again it'd be nice to get stuck in at close range.

It surprises me that Druid is the only class that can do EVERY role... this is also the one available to only 2 alliance classes...

To my mind Shamans should have a spec where they summon a stone elemental and tank along side that.

On that note, as BM remains a useless spec for Raid Hunters I belive it should be made into a ranged tanking spec.

It is at this point I refer you to an awesome post by one Matthew Rossi, where Warlock, Mage and the long needed Hunter Pet tanks are discussed. (Do this Blizzard!)

And then we come to Mist of Pandaria. Will this bring a Monk speck? If it does I can see the class being a melee DPS/Tank/ and Heal type, with the emphasis being on what they can do with their hands, in close combat or healing touches... Monks don't strike me as a ranged class, so Dr00ds will once again have a ridiculous share of the specs

In the mean time I'm the nature lovin' dr00d who keeps getting asked to slaughter innocent animals... they'll take away my tree-huggers card!

Cast regrowth, then

Swear Allegiance

"Smaller more frequent patches" - Totally...

Breaking news (broken news?), in line with their policy of... no... wait... flying completely in the face of - the whole "smaller patches more often" thing, Blizz' treated us to lovely, lovely 4.3 details! Curiously via an interview for the German gaming site www.gamona.de (hit up that Google translate button) and later via WoWInsider

So What are we getting?

Void Storage!
Transmogrify'ers!
New Instances!
Deathwing!

What does this all mean? click on through...

Give The People What They Want!

Rumours (potentially quite correct ones...) of the new expansion title, has sparked a whole range of really great analysis and speculation about what the 'leaked' title and what that might mean for the progression of the world of Azeroth, but leaving aside what we might see in the new expansion, I'm having a think about why "The Mists of Pandaria"

Could this expansion be "Give The People What They Want"...

The following is total speculation on my part and should definitely not be taken seriously at all, In the slightest...

WoW Yourself

Literally translate yourself into WoW

I don't mean jump into RP, I mean take a good long look at yourself and translate yourself into a WoW archetype, see if you are playing a role or role-playing your self in another world.

What do I mean? Well lets do me:

I'm new in WoW, what am I?

Well I'm human, but we're all that, so that's ignored... so what am I? Well I'm 5'9 mid-to-short for my race, I'm square built with muscle and wide shoulders... I like a drink and have a British appreciation for the art of brewing drinks, I'm half Scotish, that's a large hint!

I'm religious, a liberal christian, the Holy Light would be a friend to me then, but... I don't think I'd ever want to be all up in a fight, no sir, I like to be well away from trouble, making a difference knowing I'm well away from harm (yes, I'm a coward, because it's sensible to be one!)... now add to that I'm pretty good with a rifle (even if I think gun ownership is /insane/!) and I'm a huge dog person. Oh, and I can only play good guys.... can't get my head around even marginally bad good guys.

Okay so that's my map, and you know what? My first character was an Alliance Paladin... I didn't like it because I don't like melee DPS, I'm not a natural gamer and having lots to worry about panics me and I make mistakes.

What am I next most like, an animal loving Dwarf with a gun! Bam! That's me. In this respect my main and I are unsurprisingly the choice I go for most in RPGs.

I translate into game pretty damn well.

On the other hand, other classes I enjoy playing? Holy Priest... I love the way priest mechanics work, I feel like I might actually be a more natural healer than anything else, but I haven't had much time with this...

and Rogue although I haven't played one past level 20, and dislike melee DPS, Rogues are the exception to the rule, because they are never the centre of attention and can stealth through everything, I really like them as a potential

So there we are then, WoW yoursef out: I'm mainly a short stocky animal loving, heavy drinking Dwarf Hunter, I probably follow the Holy Light, and have a simple pet that I have a big bond with, rather than a flashy one. I'm an engineer, and despite my faith put my stock in a bloody big gun in my hand.

Yeah, that sounds like me. What about you? Who and what do you HONESTLY think you match up with?

Are you playing a spec you love but would never really be? Or are you a master of a character type you can only ever fantasise about – or even would hate in real life?

We want your answers guys!

Answers first, and then ....Swear Allegiance  

All Azeroth's a Stage

WoW is an old game, 6 years old to be exact. It has, in this time of unequaled video gaming success, to my (mildly odd) mind, become like some great Shakespearian comedy, acquiring 7 ages of player:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

+50 Culture Points

The epic passage, and summary of the life of one man can be quite analogous to the growth and development of the WoW player, if you have as odd a mind as I dear sir...

The difference being, that for as long as they can, a hero of Azeroth attempts to stop the boat at a point that fits her play style.

Massively Multiplayer online Community - digital dreams, realised.

Wrath of the Lich King... Yeah, what we need y'all to do is kill The Lich King, because he's taking over the world with an army of undead!

Deathwing! Yes, we're glad you brought him up! What we would really like you to do is mess his shit up quite a lot, because he's all kinds of bad.... do you think you could do that for us?

The Titans, Blizzard, (f you've got your tinfoil hat on, The Old Gods,) ask a great deal from the WoW community.

Emerald Daydreaming

Join me if you will, on an Emerald (day)dream, toss and turn with me, if you will, on a few things that make the waking mind realise it's asleep.

Ponder, if you're up for it, why I've managed to post two blog posts in as many days?! … it must be world of witchcraft!

But lets press on:

Tiers before bedtime

I'm not doing very well this expansion, 4.0 drops and I'm levelling from 60-80. 4.1 drops and I'm not in a guild doing troll heroics. 4.2 drops and while I am now in a raiding guild, I'm out of the country for more than a week after it drops, and I chose to level in Vash'jir and have all of Hyjal to do first. Way to be a cutting edge member of the community, with your up to date news and views there Crag.

So I'm back and it's time to log in, what, I wonder... as I pick up my 2 piece Tier 11 items with JP's, is the word from the Blues and what are people talking about? Well... it seems there is some QQ'ing to be done, which is so unlike the WoW community.... yeah...

Bashiok sets the casual cat* amongst the elitist pigeons with this new(ish) line from blizzard:

Everyone remembers their first time.

So... I can type again! Sotra'... and I just lost my virginity tonight... raid virginity! You dirty scoundrels, I know this is a WoW blog... but give me some credit peeps! Cheezus!

I ATEN'T DED!

This might be a really bad idea. For those of you that don't know (meaning you haven't been following me on twitter and listening to me incessantly complain about it)  I am suffering with RSI in both arms that makes using computers right now painful,  hence the blog being so quiet... but:

Pratchet Lego! Awesome

So with rumours of my demise cleared up, what's been going on in Azeroth while I've been away?