Immortalized Through FigurePrints

Eszti, General, Teca 7 comments.

FigurePrints is a company that came up with an interesting idea a few years back.  It provided World of Warcraft players with the opportunity to immortalize their characters by creating one of a kind statues that rely on information from the Armory to create.  According to their website:

FigurePrints are one-of-a-kind, custom statues of your World of Warcraft® characters created using high-tech 3D color printing machines. Our artists pull your character from the virtual world and bring it to life.

Status are printed, relying on equipment capable of taking three-dimensional models from the computer and then created layer by layer.  People who have worked in any of several technology industries — particularly those that deal heavily with prototypes — may be familiar with the equipment.  I’ve personally seen machines like that twice and was fascinated by the shapes the evolved as each layer was carefully and precisely added with machine efficiency.

FigurePrints are unique in that you can’t just place an order to acquire one.  Due to the popularity of the company’s service and the limited amount that its eleven employees are capable of producing each much¹, customers are chosen by lottery each month from a pool of interested individuals.  Out of the pool of potentially over 25,000, up to 1,400 win the right to have their characters immortalized through the FigurePrints process.

Original prints were met with an underwhelming success, as many customers complained about the dull appearance of their characters or even paint entirely missing from the models in splotches.²   This appears to have been somewhat rectified over the past year, though this increase in quality — or the number of statues that were sent back due to defects or damage — has resulted in a thirty dollar increase from the original price tag, resulting in a 130USD price tag.

When I learned of FigurePrints over a year ago, I quickly jumped on the bandwagon with many other World of Warcraft players and eagerly waited for the email that would announce that I was selected to create my characters on their site.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  After reading about the many problems people had had with their company³, seeing the price increase, and then still not having received an email, my interest in having one waned.  Compounded with the fact that I rarely check the email I signed up with due to the overwhelming amount of spam that has inundated it in recent months, I was rarely reminded of the fact that I had once expressed interest in having one created.

Until I received this in my mail last month:

I find my interest piqued again.  The best part of having finally received this email is that I get to play with their website and see the possible results of my efforts  And, despite having acquired all of Tiers 4 and 5 for a handful of my characters, I find that I’m outfitting them in their normal, everyday outfits because that’s what really suits them.  In other words, there’s not an epic — and, in most cases, not even a rare — to be found on my girls.

I have a few more that I would like to test, but the Armory is being finicky and I can’t properly view the gear that the characters are wearing.  So, at the moment, I’m left trying to consider if I want to spend the money for my girls⁴ or if I’ll just spend my time playing with the creator.  The overwhelming word has been that these statues aren’t worth it, but I’m having fun imagining what it would be like to have a miniature Eszti on my desk!

Related Posts

1. We’ve Got Spirit — How ‘Bout You?
2. Blizzard Announces World of Warcraft Security Token
3. Just the Way I Like ‘em

Sparking a Change or Two

General, Rahel, Teca 6 comments.

It’s been a couple of days since I last posted and quite a few things have attributed to that. I’ve been working on a project for a friend, trying to work with two friends to do another project that may be related to this site, have been attempting to gird myself for NaNoWriMo with a close friend breathing heavily down on me so that I’ll mindlessly pursue my goal and he can read the results, and working on a variety of alts. For one, Rahel Isera’duna — my cantankerous priestess and former Discipline doll — has fully embraced the dark side of the priestly trees and emerged as a Shadow priestess.

The decision was the only viable one left to me, since I’d forsaken Holy for Discipline with the perky priestess and couldn’t condone having a Holy priest again since the class didn’t appeal to my playstyle.  Having two Discipline priests seemed sillier than my earlier decision to have not one but two healing priests, even though their specs and intended functions originally set them apart.  This was a big step for me, since I hadn’t played a Shadow-specced priest beyond thirty since those naive pre-The Burning Crusade days.  It’s surprisingly been a lot more fun that I recall and the new changes that have occurred since¹ make the return to Shadow much more intriguing.

Like many people, I finally settled on a 5/0/56 raiding build that seems to be very popular at the moment.  It’s worked very well for me thus far, though I am trying to decide on how much benefit there is to be gained from Improved Shadowform.  In a way, it seems more like an improved version of Fade rather than an actual viable talent to acquire, and those remaining two points might be better spent on talents like Improved Power Word: Fortitude or picking up two points in Improved Inner Fire for when Rahel reaches 71 and the spell increases Spell Power in addition to Armor.  I go back and forth on the issue, since I don’t know if I could train myself to use Fade enough to make the talent worthwhile, but can see the benefit of it in raid scenarios where splash damage tends to run rampant.

I’ve been letting the matter mull in my head while I work on yet another alt, my draenei warrior and former Vindicator Teca e’Veritas.  She had managed to reach the vaulted status of 50 prior to Patch 3.0.2, though I had managed to work up the gumption to play her a handful of times in recent months.  However, the changes that made soloing as a Protection warrior more viable intrigued me and I took the opportunity to gleefully return to the Protection tree from my prior Fury build.  She’s currently 0/0/43 and I’m floored by how much fun I’ve been having playing a Protection warrior.  When I had first begin leveling Teca, I had attempted to do so using some horrible Fury-Protection hybrid that I’m almost ashamed to admit that I test, but as fun as it was to gather up a bunch of enemies, I found it frustrating to spend a singnificant amount of time trying to wear them down.  Post-Echoes of Doom, however, it’s been beyond enjoyable to multi-tank targets for quests; I gleefully round up a group and tear into the with surprising ease.

I think that I’ll enjoy leveling my warrior prior to the expansion.

Regarding Politics

Today we held our elections within the United States, including the presidential elections.  The results are out and there’s a lot to be said regarding the changes, but I’ll borrow a bit from the “Autobiography of Mark Twain” in saying:

In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.

That said, I’m certain that for many of you your servers’ global channels were full of posts regarding today’s elections — just as they were on the Feathermoon US roleplaying server today and in previous weeks.  While some of the discussion was actually quite interesting and engaging, most of it was just mindless babble from unwashed masses that really served little purpose other than incite others.²  I, for one, am glad that the elections are over because it might mean that Trade and General can return to some semblence of normalcy.

There were, however a number of noteworthy quotes that I managed to capture this evening just before the results were announced!

Related Posts

1. Embracin de Shadow
2. Spirit on Arena Gear — Absurd!
3. Arena Shape-Up — Redux!

Friday Five — Living Arrangements

Rahel, Roleplaying No comments.

Anna from Too Many Annas posted her Friday Five this morning, thereby giving me a topic to wrte about on a day that is usually dedicated to raid preparations and five hours of raiding.¹  In “RP Friday Five - Living Arrangements,” Anna wants to know more about where your character lives.  She asks:

1. What does your character’s living room look like?  (If they don’t have a stable home, describe an inn room that he or she has rented steadily.)
2. Does your character have any pets?
3. Does your character collect anything? Is that collection of any value to anyone other than them?
4. Does he or she have any “side” jobs or professions, other than their class and/or talent professions?
5. What would you find in his or her sofa cushions?

Contrary to previous weeks, I’ll be answering these questions for only one character and this time for the cantankerous kal’dorei priestess Rahel Isera’duna.

What does your character’s living room look like?

Rahel resides in a modest-sized single room home in the Forlorn Cavern of Ironforge.  She chose to live among the dwarves because, well, she didn’t feel any connection with her kin, on bad days she can’t tolerate the frenetic humans, and despite being a cantankerous bitch she does require some sort of social interaction.  However, the dwarven lifestyle emphasizes a need for structure and law that the kal’dorei desperately craves.  Her sole room reflects this.  There is a small desk against one wall with a wobbly chair beside it, a clothes chest, and a bed large enough for a six foot kal’dorei to sleep in.²  The bed is immaculately made in the strictest military fashion.  This is a place where someone comes to sleep, not live.

The only sign of any sort of person actually living here are a number of empty bottles that litter the floor by the bed, a jarring presence in an otherwise empty room.

Does your character have any pets?

None.  The end.  Pets are just a hassle and Rahel has enough to do with tending to her own business, thank you very much.

Does your character collect anything of value?

No, not really.  The room is ridiculously sparse and the kal’dorei has very little attachment to anything.  Hidden beneath her clothes in the chest, however, are a number of novels that follow stories of a more amorous nature.  It’s of little worth to anyone else, but the kal’dorei would rather that nobody learned of its existence.

Does he or she have any “side” jobs or professions?

Rahel fancies herself a bit of an engineer, which isn’t as surprising as it should appear.  At well over 12,000 years old, she remembers a time  before the sundering of the world when the kal’dorei pursued interests that included the arcane and even technology.  She sometimes wanders over to the the Library in the Hall of Explorers to see some of the artifacts that the dwarves have collected and surmise are elven in nature due to their age — though she’d never tell.

Despite her lack of -– or stubborn unwillingness to build -– a rapport with others, Rahel is something of a logistical genius and has an eye for details.  The kal’dorei can be relied on to find a way to get things done efficiently and effectively, albeit amidst a continual torrent of complaints and thinly-veiled curses.  Until recently, she was serving as an officer in The Regiment, an independent military force located on Azeroth.  Until another such opportunity arises, Rahel’s skills languish.

What would you find in his or her sofa cushions?

Rahel’s house lacks any extraneous furniture beyond a desk, chair, and bed, so this question isn’t quite applicable.

Related Posts

1. Friday Five — The Important Things
2. Friday Five — Speed Edition
3. Raptors, Tigers, and Bear Mounts — Oh My!

Battle Suits Her

Csilla, Player versus Player 5 comments.

It may not be much of an accomplishment in many players’ eyes, but the perky priestess finally managed to hit 10,000 Honor Kills this afternoon after a string of winning matches in Warsong Gulch with friends and guild members.  And, contrary to what I learned in “Holy is for Killing Blows?“, not all of them were acquired by killing my opponents.

Healing on the battlefield: snatching your killing blows at the cusp of victory one by one!

Related Posts

1. Holy is for Killing Blows?
2. Suffering From ADHDPS
3. Amani War Bear Spotted!

Yes, I am Well Mounted!

Csilla, Raiding 8 comments.

I have brazingly stolen today’s witty title from a guildie who commented in “Guess It’s a Lucky Week for Mounts,” but I don’t care.  Want to know why?  I bet you do.  Who wouldn’t want to know why Cynra is so gleefully happy at this very moment?

Amani War Bear.  I have it.

This would have been a post written with Cynra dancing in her chair at the sight of such an amazing thing, but it’s late, I’m tired, and repeated wipes on Azgalor in Mount Hyjal this evening following a raid last month that managed to one-shot Archimonde and complete a full run in an hour and half leave me feeling a little bit cantankerous.  However, know that this item was won during what seemed like an impossible endeavor after two wipes and numerous numerous deaths littered through all of Zul’Aman.  I have no idea how we managed to successfully complete this run¹, but, man, am I ever glad that I decided to put off sleep for a little bit longer!

Now we just need to acquire three more mounts for our remaining three members.  And, sadly, they’re all Aussies!  Someone in the raid blamed it on the time differences between the server located within the United States and Australia.  Either way, here’s hoping that they get their bear mounts in our remaining three attempts!

Related Posts

1. So Many Mounts and Nothing to Ride!
2. You Want Me to do What?
3. Weekend Musings