28Aug

Have I Mentioned How Much I Miss My Guildies?

Here I am, stuck with a subpar computer¹ and unable to play World of Warcraft for any extended period of time. Which might be a good thing given the quality of the computer that I’m currently using; I can surf the internet and make a post here or there², but the idea of doing anything more engaging than hitting the Battlegrounds while in-game is completely out of the question.

In this dearth of World of Warcraft time, I find that there’s one aspect of the game that I miss most: raiding. I love the social interaction inherent in my raids and just being able to gab and joke between pulls — or even during! In particular, I miss the Friday night antics of the lovable crew over at the Drunken Badgers. The guild is very awesome, between the oft-eclectic personalities and the overwhelming success that we’ve had since starting up our twenty-five man raids.³

Overall, I’ve had a lot of fun with these guys and am really ecstatic that they gave me the opportunity to raid with them on my kal’dorei huntress all of those months ago. I’m sure that you all know how difficult it can be to get into raids as a hunter, especially when people know that you have a fully geared healer with which you are pretty damned good!

A previoulsy unmentioned guild member who may or may not have been the topic of “What Not to do When Meeting a Guildie that First Time” took the opportunity to discuss this with me on Sunday. We both miss raiding, though his absence is mainly due to his busy work schedule. I’m hoping that when the container chock-full of my stuff arrives sometime early next week⁴ I’ll be available in time for my weekend raids, including the Badgers’ twenty-five man raids, my weekend raids on the perky priestess, and the bear mount run.⁵ I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to hang out with everyone again and down some bosses.

This topic is at the forefront of my mind today because of a message that I found in my mailbox this morning when I logged in to wile away a slow morning by owning some pukey Horde. Guildmate Zivilyn — a character who became near and dear to our hearts with his antics as reported in “A Boss Strategy Even I Can Understand” — had sent me a message recently. I decided to share it with the internet today because it really is that endearing!

Isn’t that just awesome? I think that I may have shed a single tear when I read that today. That’s almost as wonderful as the gifts I received when I finally decided to join the Drunken Badgers after a few months of not-so-subtle hints that I should accept an invite: between the booze, Delicious Chocolate Cake, Bundle of Fireworks, and the Gnome Effigy⁶ I could have held one hell of a party!

I’m borrowing the only other one available in the house at the moment! ↩
Barely! ↩
During our last Hyjal Summit raid — which I was sadly unable to attend due to the Big Move — we managed to get Archimonde down to 10% and some change. You can read more about that final exciting attempt in Jezrael’s post “Bite me Archi!” at DPS: We Deliver. ↩
It’s currently in South Chicago, IL, and will theoretically arrive next Tuesday. ↩
Which really is the highlight of my raiding experiences each week! I love that run! ↩
Belive it or not, I still have the blasted thing in my bags. ↩

27Aug

Loremonger: The Troll Wars

Lore, Roleplaying

2 comments.

The Troll Wars were a series of conflicts between the quel’dorei¹ found in the forest regions north of Lordaeron and the indigenous forest trolls who were affronted by their efforts to build a new home following the War of the Ancients and the sundering of the world. The wars spanned millennia and culminated in a final battle almost three thousand years before the First War.

The quel’dorei were unaware at the time that their new home had been built on top of land known to be sacred to the forest trolls of the region. As the centuries passed following the high elves’ arrival to the area now known as Quel’Thalas, the conflicts between them and their neighbors escalated, eventually requiring use of the same magic that had resulted in their exile from kal’dorei society. The superstitious trolls fled in fear and the new kingdom of Quel’Thalas was left in relative peace other than the occasional skirmish with its more primitive neighbors.

Four thousand years later confrontations against the indigenous Amani trolls had escalated; united by their mutual dislike of the quel’dorei, the once bickering tribes descended on the Thalassian kingdom, beginning what was later known as The Troll Wars. Desperate to save their race, the high elves turned to the humans of the nearby land of Arathor for assistance. The two nations formed an alliance after a bargain was struck: in exchange for their aid, the quel’dorei would begin instruction in the arcane arts for one hundred humans.

When the time was deemed right, the quel’dorei instructors and their charges left the Arathi capital of Strom and traveled north alongside the armies of Arathor. There they met up with a contingent of quel’dorei magi who would be fighting alongside them in the upcoming battle at the foot of the Alterac Mountains. Though the fight waged for many days, the high elven lords held the full extent of their magical might from the forest trolls until a time that they deemed it necessary; when they did unleash the full fury of the heavens, the troll armies were set ablaze and together the allies crushed the Amani empire.

Following the conclusion of The Trolls Wars, the quel’dorei kept in contact with the people of Arathor and what had originally been a military alliance evolved into something more. Furthermore, the kingdom of Quel’Thalas possessed a debt that was later repaid during the Second War, when the quel’dorei joined the Alliance under Anduin Lothar, the last descendant of the Arathi bloodline. The quel’dorei sent a small contingent to aid the alliance in its fight against the orcs.

The introduction of magic to the humans changed the course of history. Hedged in by the desire to limit the use of magic by Thoradin, leader of the Arathi tribe of people, the fledgling wizards eventually decided to leave Strom and establish their own kingdom, one dedicated to the study and use of magic. Known as the Magical Nation of Dalaran, the magocratic city-state became a focal point for magi and the study of the arcane. This defection paved the way for other groups to do the same, such as those that did following Thoradin’s death, effectively splintering the human empire.

The Troll Wars in Roleplaying

Incorporating an event that occurred thousands of years in the past can be difficult for roleplayers, but the impact of The Troll Wars can be still felt by the descendants of that conflict. Many of the participants — whether they were quel’dorei, human, or even trolls — would have maintained records of the conflict. In particular, the people of Dalaran would have a strong memory of these events since it put into motion the events that eventually resulted in the city-state’s creation. Furthermore, the quel’dorei — and by extension, the sin’dorei — most likely maintain a strong hatred for the trolls in the surrounding area, which may easily transfer over to all trolls, even the jungle trolls of the Darkspear Tribe who are currently members of the Horde as well.

However, it’s important to remember that these events occurred thousands of years in the past and records may be incomplete or even entirely wrong. For example, one of my characters is the spirit woman of a small tribe of forest trolls. They have no written record of the events that occurred during The Trolls Wars, though it has a large impact on their racial identity; instead, the tribe maintains the story through oral legend, which is told by members of the circle of elders and is brought to life by the arts of the spirit woman. These stories are understandably one-sided, in that they extol the strengths and courage of the Amani Empire in the face of the demonic pointy-earred bastards who used their foul magic against them. From the perspective of the humans or quel’dorei, the story would be skewed more into their favor.

A common misconception of the quel’dorei and sin’dorei is that they are as long-lived as their progenitors, the kal’dorei or night elves. However, this is not true. Following the exile of the Highborne from kal’dorei society, the quel’dorei somehow lost all connection with the both the Well of Eternity and the World Tree, thereby losing the immortality that the race had originally possessed. This occurred during the period in which the high elves were seeking a new home on the continent of Lordaeron, centuries before the initial series of confrontations with the forest trolls of the region that would be known as Quel’Thalas. Therefore, it would be almost impossible for a representative of any race — even the longer lived quel’dorei — to have first-hand accounts of The Trolls Wars without having found some other means of sustaining his or her life.

Who loves lore? Cynra loves lore! Loremonger helps World of Warcraft players learn their lore and then apply that knowledge to roleplaying within the game. Articles in this series may be found in the Lore category.
Have a topic that you’d like to see covered? Reply to this post!

A term referring to the high elves, but specifically meaning “Children of High Birth.” ↩

25Aug

What Not to do When Meeting a Guildie that First Time

General

8 comments.

Meeting fellow World of Warcraft players for that very first time can be a little nerve wracking. This can be particularly true if that person that you are meeting up with is a member of your guild. There are typically quite a few things running through your head simultaneously:Is he as awesome in person as he is in game? Is it a faux pas to wear my “For the Horde!” shirt despite the fact that we’re both in the Alliance? Was that picture she sent me her real picture? How long can we discuss the game before it gets too geeky? and Does my breath smell?

So in order to help you get through that first awkward meeting, Airee.net has a suggestion that might very well benefit both of you.

When meeting someone from World of Warcraft for the very first time, if she asks what are you both going to do next in this awesome journey on the highways of Washington state do not reply saying, “Stabbin’ time!” It doesn’t matter if you play a rogue within the game or that it’s your catch phrase that you’ve used for two years now; she may very well consider the merits of jumping out of a moving vehicle going on the highway at almost seventy miles per hour in the middle of a summer storm.

And, seriously, that might put a damper on your friendship.

This has been a Public Service Announcement (PSA) from Airee.net. Any similarity to events that may have occured yesterday afternoon is entirely coincidental. Really.

24Aug

If Your Name is Listed Here, You Should be Ashamed

General

11 comments.

Some people that I have encountered in World of Warcraft may be shocked to learn that there are rather specific rules regarding how users may name their characters. Yes, Blizzard does possess a naming policy, however — like many of their rules — they take a a passive stance in enforcing it. It is a fact, though, that these rules should be followed irregardless.

Tucked away on the Blizzard Support site concerning World of Warcraft, there is an article titled “Naming Policy Overview.” In it, the rules and subsequent punishment for infractions are outlined:

Names will be appropriate by Blizzard’s standards,
Will not include trademarks,
Will not include leet or dudespeak,
Will not include titles,
Will not have real world references, and
Will not possess complete or partial sentences.

Failure to comply with these rules may result in consequences such as being forced to rename a character, having a Game Master pick a new name, or even being temporarily suspended from the game.

That doesn’t sound too horrible, does it? And you would think that most people would intuitively shy away from selecting names that would be considered offensive to other people or include a trademarked name. However, did you know that is yet another rule regarding character naming that is specific to roleplaying servers? Looking at the support article “Roleplaying Policy,” we can further see that in addition to the rules applicable to all other servers, characters on roleplaying servers should not have “[a]ny Non-Medieval or Non-Fantasy names.”

Today I won’t be going into why many roleplayers decry that the naming policies aren’t enforced on roleplaying servers. For one, I just don’t have the time or energy to cover that topic. However, I have over the course of a single week in World of Warcraft compiled screenshots of people who have failed to adhere to these very basic rules. They span the gamut and include characters that I have encountered on both the Feathermoon US roleplaying server and the Scarlet Crusade US roleplaying server.

If your name is listed here, you should be very ashamed of yourself!

Oh, and if your name references — even obliquely! — the fact that you’re a tauren, you’re really not as funny as you may think.