Filling the Gaps of Draenei Lore

In my post about creating an RP character, I talked a bit about why I was drawn to play a Draenei, and since my Draenei was my main, it was inevitable that I would eventually look into them as a race of people just out of curiosity. When I began role playing within the World of Warcraft, I searched even deeper to find every single piece of information I could, including reading the novel Rise of the Horde.

The Draenei. They are benevolent, ageless creatures who look like demons and came from a different planet called Argus, and possibly a different dimension altogether. The number that followed Velen and the Naaru across the cosmos 25,000 years ago was only in the hundreds, and after the great majority of Draenei were slaughtered on Draenor with the orcs, even fewer remember Argus and what happened at all. Unfortunately, Draenei do not have the memory to match their lifespans (perhaps to have a 'reason' to the lack of lore). Two of my Draenei characters, Lycannon and Elicoor, are both from Argus, and they only remember the most impactful events from then, and even the several thousands of years after they fled are foggy at best. Of course, it would have been easier to RP characters that were born on Draenor or just before the Draenei landed there, but that's not something I wanted to do.

One of my favorite subjects to talk about regarding WoW is the lore of the Draenei (and the lack of it). If you have a Draenei and have speculated about what they were like as a culture before they left Argus and the arrival of the Naaru, or are just curious about their missing history in general, I highly suggest giving this a read. This is all speculation, as that's pretty much all you can do when regarding their lore, and it is just my take on it. Please feel free to comment, share and give your own opinions, as that's all we really have to go by.

I'll warn you, this is rather long. You can continue reading after the jump.

5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part Two

Continued from 5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part One. You can view the updated MoP Talent Calculator here.

As expected, the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator has updated, this time with some big changed for warriors. Otori listed many of the changes over on EJ, and I'll list them below.

• Deadly Calm now has 1 min CD.
• New talent Bloodbath
• New talent Storm Bolt
• Gag Order changed to work with Storm Bolt
• Enraged Regen changed to heal for 15% health and another 15% over 10 sec.

• Enraged mechanic change to be triggered by special abilities critical strikes and critical blocks.
• Removed Overpower CD.
• Added 1.5 CDs to every stance.
• Changed Berserker stance. Increases damage by 20% whenever an attack hits 4+ targets.
• Battle Shout increases attack power by 20% (akin to current attack power buffs like Blessing of Might, Trueshot Aura, etc).
• Rallying Cry back in.
• New skill: War Banner
• Shield Wall and Spell Reflection require shields again.
• Fury got CS back.
• Protection got Vengeance (though with the old incarnation)
• Shield Block cost reduced to 60 rage. Blocks next attack and increases block chance by 25% for 6 sec.
• Last Stand rage cost removed, 3 min CD added.
• Devastate armor reduction effect corrected.
• Sword and Board effect increases rage generation from Shield Slam by 5 (old incarnation increased by 10%).
• New ability: Shield Barrier. 60 rage, decreases magical damage taken by 25% for 6 sec.

Check out the rest after the jump.

Making a (RP) Character, Part Two

Continued from Making a (RP) Character, Part One.

How did I create my main role play character? Those that know me know that my main on WoW is my warrior, Lycannon. When I first created her it wasn't for role play, in fact I didn't even know you could RP on WoW when I began playing the game.

I had RPed a lot before on forums using Lycannon across different genres and universes. Every time I rolled her she was always a warrior or something melee. I can thank The Legend of Zelda for that influence. It was the first game I played and playing a character that got up in a bad guy's face (most of the time) just felt right. She had a few different incarnations and I changed the name 'Lycannon' to fit into whatever universe I was playing at the time. Kate, Candy, Lycandra, Candryss - The list goes on. She originally came from a futuristic, post-apocalyptic sci-fi RP I had been doing with some online friends. She was a field medic of Middle Eastern descent with platinum, almost white colored hair. That is a nod to Storm, my favorite of the X-men and the first ethnic woman I can remember being in a leadership role. (I was like 3 or 4 at the time. 90's cartoon, if you were curious.) She had a spicy 'soldier type' attitude that I built her around, and she was proficient in martial arts and blasting aliens with her plasma gun.

Go ahead and ponder why the hell Forge is wearing a speedo. The rest is after the jump.

5.0 Unofficial Patch Notes - Warrior Edition, Part One

Because we all like different parts and I feel like eating turkey at some point today. Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans.

I could talk about the 4.3 patch notes but I'm not going to just yet because let's face it - The major overhaul to the game that will revolve around an April Fool's joke Mists of Pandaria is way more interesting at the moment. Maybe that's just me. I don't know if I'll be playing seriously in the next expansion as I'm not doing that much in this expansion, but I'll go ahead and talk like I am anyway.

After the jump, I'll get my hooves dirty.

Making a (RP) Character, Part One

So you want to make a new character?

In World of Warcraft, creating a character to play usually takes a while for me to do. This is mostly because  when I create a new character I intend to role play it, so usually I make up a quick background, pick an alignment and roll with a general idea of how their attitude, personality, etc, will be. The character develops as I RP them, and sometimes they end up like Xena at the end of the TV series. No, really.

Sometimes people don't care what their character looks like, what its name is, and even what class it is, which is fine unless you seriously plan on role playing them seriously for serious. Banking toons are a good example of this, because usually all they will be used for is, well, banking. They run back and forth between the Auction House, mailbox and bank, happy to be slaves for the higher level characters they share server space with. On Moon Guard we experience an extra phenomena where people make level 1 (58 for Death Knights,) characters, and head straight for Goldshire to cyber at each other. Moon Guard is notoriously famous for it.

This video explains it better:

Now that you're scarred for life, I'll continue. How do you make a character that has seriously serious RP potential? To be honest, you could make a HERPADIN, run him to Silvermoon and start cranking out dialogue and emotes, but it probably wouldn't receive very good reception. You'll probably get ignored, told to go away, and/or maybe even reported for harassment. Really though, that's obvious.

I think one of the first steps in creating an RP character is thinking of an alignment, that thing that pretty much dictates how your person will act and react to others, and how they carry themselves in the world. It governs their judgement, actions and attitude, but really it just helps people figure out how to RP that character.

Alignment can change as you develop your character. Maybe you start out thinking your person will be Lawful Good, and later on down the road discover that Chaotic Good fits them better. There isn't anything wrong with that; it's just part of building and discovering your character.

Another first step is having an idea of what your character is, and alignment can help with that too. Maybe you always thought that making a Wildhammer Dwarf would be fun to play, or perhaps a Forsaken Priest. After you think of an idea (or a few), I would suggest doing research on the lore of those things. Even though all Dwarves and Forsaken start out in the same starting zone (with the exception of Death Knights, of course), that doesn't mean your character necessarily has to from a story point of view. Wildhammer Dwarves wouldn't start out in Dun Morogh with their Bronzebeard cousins so easily as it is, and they only recently rejoined the Alliance. I personally use Wowpedia to help me get my background correct since it is readily available, but there are also the Warcraft novels and information off of the World of Warcraft portal on the Battle.net site.

You really must do your homework on making sure you know as much about the lore behind your character as possible. Information on their race, their race's background, the background behind that, how they as a people respond to things, etc. For instance:

This character is pretty much screwed in terms of role play. Why? Besides the ridiculous name I made up for educational purposes, attaching 'strasz' or 'strasza' automatically tags the character as a dragon. A red dragon, to be more exact. Dragons are pretty much a 'no-no'. Not only is it kind of dumb for a dragon, a respected force of nature, to be strolling about in Stormwind (since they can take on humanoid forms) or any other major city just because it can, I shall quote a poster from the battle.net forums with whom I agree:

"I think the line has to be drawn somewhere before you get to RPing your character as being a race which is inherently more powerful than humanoids, lives forever, and has abilities and powers to which the character itself will have no claim."

So even though the idea of RPing a dragon or any other magnificent thing may be alluring, I highly suggest against it, tenfold if you are new to role playing.. You can come up with quite an original character just starting out with 'Wildhammer Dwarf', for instance.

Be sure to stay tuned for Part Two of Making a (RP) Character - How I came up with my main, Lycannon.

When You Know It's Time to Leave

Been a while, huh? Over a year now. Welcome back. Let's not waste any time.

Almost anyone you ask who plays World of Warcraft daily for long periods of time will tell you that WoW is more than 'just a game'. When you add the human element; getting to know a person, creating friendships and working together, it becomes another entity entirely. For some it becomes like a job, others it is a lifeline that helps them escape from the 'real world', and even more see it as just something to do when they get off work, to unwind and enjoy. One logs in, sees people they know, and begin chatting about their day, what happened in the game - any number of things. It is no different than walking into a place and seeing those same friends. The same thing would happen. 

If a person has been raiding with, PvPing with, RPing with or any mix of those things with their guild for years, seeing the same people over and over (given that said people don't leave within that time period), they tend to become attached to the group they've bonded with. They're proud to see The Stonemasons, for example,  above everyone's heads. When the guild is doing well, people are generally happy. The quality of the game and life are raised. Of course, just like any other human relationship, it is almost guaranteed that problems will arise at some point. In WoW it can range from compatibility issues to getting bored of game mechanics. Usually it's a combination of things, and one spark can set off a giant powder keg if more than one person is involved. When this happens to a guild, things can get ugly.

Sometimes you can tell when the ship is sinking. The expansion has been out for a while, sitting on the same patch for what seems like an eternity. Other guilds that used to be at the top of the leaderboard have crumbled, the RP is stagnant, PvP is old or the season is over, and people are leaving the game. Sure, finishing out Firelands on heroic is an option, getting those last few achievements is too if one is into that sort of thing. The end of an expansion always tends to put guilds through the wringer, but what happens if the guild never quite recovered from the last time that happened? Wrath of the Lich King was especially hard on people due to its nature as 'the easy expansion'. In Burning Crusade, there were still guilds who were working on Illidan or The Sunwell. It was harder to accomplish things back then. So fast forward to the end of WoTLK, when nearly everyone and their mom had finished everything in the expansion, both on normal and heroic, and people were just waiting for it to tick over into Cataclysm. It was brutal. If the guild never got over that hump and stumbled into Cata still wounded, then spent the majority of the expansion hobbling on weak legs, it is only a matter of time before the braces holding it together snap.

If people aren't communicating their problems to the rest of the guild and/or the people that need to know how one feels (because they may be thinking about leaving), that sets the stage for that spark to happen. Not happy with a change in authority? Talk to the guild leader. Not happy about how loot is being distributed? Talk to the raid leader. Not happy with a person or people in the guild? Talk to them. Lack of communication is what kills guilds, and correcting that problem before it gets out of hand can decide whether the group survives or dies. The officers should tell the rest of the guild (and each other) what is going on, and keep the guild leader up to date on the rest of the guild. When there is meeting, people must speak their mind if they have a problem in order have a remedy or compromise, and be willing to work with what comes of that. In the end, if the guild and the game are still making you miserable, one needs to step back and have a reality check.

After BlizzCon last year, I took it upon myself to create a costume with the intention of wearing it to BlizzCon the following year. I stopped playing World of Warcraft entirely for almost six months, and it was the best decision I ever made regarding the game after having been playing for about five years straight. I had fun not being tied down to a raiding schedule, not caring if I was going to pull decent DPS, not worrying if I should leave the guild or not, and not wondering if the guild was going to eat itself from the inside out before I got back. When I did return, I had a different outlook on the game, and despite problems with the guild going from bad to worse, I was confident in knowing that I took care of my shit before hand. I did my best to get my feelings across to the guild leader before I stopped playing, the one I felt needed to know how I felt about my raid and the guild. 

I returned when problems were coming to a peak. There was nothing left for me to say when the guild finally crumbled, when the keg finally exploded. It was a long time coming. People were crying, yelling at each other in guild chat, learning things that should have been said after the damage was done - after there was a mass exodus of members from the guild. I went with them. It was a sign that after two years with the Masons, it was finally time for me to go. 

I've never had as much fun as I did with this guild, and I know there will never be another like it. I'll miss it and fondly remember Grover yelling at us to get out of the fire and stop sucking because we're all failed abortions, jumping into Wintergrasp on Tuesdays and showing the rest of the Alliance how the Masons roll, being the third best guild on the server, getting promoted to officer chat, one shotting bosses and wiping on trash, Hazrat popping heroism as soon as someone said any word that began with an 'H', Cleanshot raging at Kit, Helen levitating Grover repeatedly, not giving a shit what the rest of the server thought of us, Ceyla hanging her computer out of her window, having the sacrificial warlock, Niz telling people how the fuck it is, being the only warrior in the raid, Aeter rage quitting and rejoining, Umeko's gender being unknown forever, Keebler elfing it, Frodo's numbers song, being the 500lb asian gay man, and most importantly, being a part of the G'damn Stonemasons.

Thanks for being the best guild ever.