Character Analysis: Lady Khoura Everroot

This is re-posted from my old blog, circa July 28th, 2011.

Khoura is my second favorite character to role play within the World of Warcraft, and she's actually much more personal for me. I rolled her originally at the end of Burning Crusade on the PvE server I was on at the time, Arathor. As I began to collect more random stuff and run out of bank space on Lycannon, I decided I needed to make myself a guild bank. I also wanted to play a druid specifically to be a tree, wanted her to be an herbalist and alchemist because it seemed to work well with a druid, and so thus, Khoura was made.

Rumor Alert: Those Other Guys

Long time, my friends. Life gets crazy and one finds themselves either at work, asleep, or still trying to play the game that I made this blog for. Hello again.

A few months ago I was inspired to make an emotional post about Blizzard as a company because of the shocking news that they laid off 600 of its employees. Scary, but not altogether unexpected, which I also went into detail about in the post.

As I've said before, I always have to remind myself that Blizzard is not just Blizzard Entertainment. The company does a good job of making you think that while you're playing 'Blizzard' games or browsing the Battle.net site, but the reality is that Blizzard is subsidiary, co-dependent on Activision, and when one side starts slipping, the other has to either bring up the slack or trim the rot.

You can read more after the jump.

Born this Way - Retrospect

As Mists of Pandaria sits on the horizon, drawing ever closer, the longest and craziest storyline I've ever done within the World of Warcraft is drawing to a close.

On July 5th of last year I began the Born this Way storyline, written for two close friends of mine, Kiwi and Auramis. Sitting at Part 86 as of this post, BTW focuses on the last of Lycannon's demons while forcing other characters involved to look at their own. What started out as an arson mystery has evolved into a full fledged, mind bending ghost chase for the players, and the final battle is underway.

Ashandarei Dawnborn, Falkoen Moonshadow, Kaludra Meraan, Lycannon McSars and her son Daelin, and Torsyth Cair'Dazar have been gone for a whole year, and they have no idea that the world has shifted in their absence. The Firelands have been tamed. Deathwing has been defeated. Tensions between the Horde and the Alliance are hotter than ever. For them it feels as if only a month or so has passed by. What will happen if and when they all make it out?

And it's not just them. The rescue party that started out strong has divided, reformed and dwindled down to just four unlikely allies - Auramis Lightbourne, Kiserai Dawnborn, Elicoor Meraan, and Khoura Everroot. They set out against seemingly impossible odds, each having their own motives, and they have no choice but to run straight into traps set for them by the one man controlling the entire situation.

Gideon is a powerful wizard and necromancer from Argus, and has altered the free-floating nether energies from within the Netherstorm to form his own paradise sitting high above the broken chain of islands. His arena, named Safeena Altair and called 'The Boat' by regulars, draws its main income from the spectators betting on the gladiators he employs. The complex is kept well guarded and hidden by unknown means, with visitors having to teleport in by way of meeting a magi at a random location... And for good reason. While Gideon sits on the piles of gold he makes from the bets in his own complex, he also siphons the souls of those slain to make himself more powerful magically.

The twist is that this man is supposedly Elicoor's father, and to everyone involved, it appears that his motive is plain , crazy and simple. He is getting back at Lycannon for shaming him on Argus... But things are never as they seem.

There is a wildcard involved, an emotionless spectre named Zorana enslaved by Gideon and bent to his will. She is by all accounts the spirit of Lycannon's first child, and works as Gideon's eyes, ears and blades on Azeroth. She has worked to trap other characters and bring them to the necromancer, using an array of magically imbued daggers to stab the target and pull their soul into the Astral Plane where she then whisks them away to Gideon. Khoura appears to have been split in half on purpose by this, and her other self is now a Druid of the Flame, working as the man's lapdog... cat.

When Ash comes into possession of a particular pendant belonging to Gideon, Zorana is suddenly only loyal to her, revealing a major flaw in the wizard's defense. The only thing it seems he has left now is Lycannon, and he uses his control over her to set her upon the rescue party and any that stand in her way. With two people already down, what will Ash do with her new-found power? Will they have to kill Lycannon to get to Gideon? Is anything what it seems? Find out on the next episode of Dragonbal-... I mean... Really, what will happen?

For you guys involved, get ready for the kicker. Please don't hurt me.

Another WTF ACTI-BLIZZ Blog Post

Or "Some French Guys Own Blizzard".

If you check out the official forums on the World of Warcraft sub-site of Battle.net, you'll probably find a thread all about what I'm going to post here, and in no particular chronological order.

So those who keep up with the news of Blizzard already know that BlizzCon '12 is not happening this year. While that sucks, I am also glad because it gives me extra time to prepare for BlizzCon '13... If it's worth attending. Here's to hoping they have some really awesome Titan stuff prepared for then, or maybe another cool easter egg the community has yet to dig up.

Then there was the news of Blizzard laying off 600 people worldwide (which created a domino effect with a few small developers, forcing them to lay people off as well), and mostly in customer service. That means GMs and Tele-center reps, as well as a few other slots. I was personally shocked to hear the news, even if it wasn't exactly something to be unexpected. After having lost about two million subscribers to WoW during Cataclysm, something scary like this wasn't far behind. Activision-Blizzard also hired a new CFO shortly before the layoffs.

Need I mention the WoW Annual Pass?

And of course, there is the Blizzard Store having released their in-game pets and mounts that you can buy with real money, with one pet in particular that can be sold on the Auction House for in-game gold. They slowly began putting these things into the game in Wrath and have ramped up since Cataclysm, the newest being a shiny asian-style dragon mount that doesn't really fit anywhere in the game (though I suppose that will change with Mists).

Two days ago Blizzard announced their revamp of the Scroll of Ressurection system, designed to bring back players whose accounts had been inactive since March 4th of this year. With the new SoR... Well, here:

Once your friend accepts your scroll and pays for at least 30 days of game, you unlock your choice of the following rewards:

• A Free Spectral Gryphon
 for an Alliance character

• Or a Free Spectral Wind Rider 
for a Horde character

And, to enable you and your friend to play together in Cataclysm’s newest content, any friend who accepts your Scroll will also receive the following epic benefits:

• A single character immediately boosted all the way to level 80 
-- DING!

• A FREE upgrade to Cataclysm 
-- regardless of your friend’s original box level

• An optional FREE character move 
-- to your realm and faction so you can play together

• 7 FREE days of game time 
-- available immediately

A few other prerequisites apply -- such as a free upgrade to a Battle.net account for players who haven’t played since 2009 or earlier -- so be sure to check out the FAQ below for full eligibility details.

The SoR thing has been around for a long time, and  it's no surprise that such a thing was redone after seeing how poorly Cataclysm did when compared with the expansions before it.

We also can't forget the cutting of the World of Warcraft magazine, which might have been the first sign (albeit small) that finances over at Activision-Blizzard weren't doing that great even though finance was never stated when they called it quits. Finance is always an issue.

The main thing to remember here is that Activision-Blizzard is a company, owned by another company called Vivendi, headquarted in Paris, France. I have to remind myself sometimes that Blizzard isn't just Blizzard Entertainment anymore, it's attached to another entity which are both underneath a giant 'international media conglomerate' which isn't going have the heart that Blizzard by itself has had in dealing with its holdings. Both Activision and Blizzard were started by nerds, for nerds, and I'm sure either by themselves would be more than willing to lose a few profits for the community if they had to. The problem is that the Activision and Blizzard Entertainment of 30 and 20 years ago (respectively) have grown up quite a bit, and Vivendi has owned Blizzard for the better part of that 20 years. The point is, the bigger a company gets, the more robotic it gets, and the passion that started it in the first place gets swallowed up by corporate grind and money.

Have a look at the Activision-Blizzard Wiki. (Wiki, I know, sue me.) The three key people it lists aren't people from the hometown of Blizzard Entertainment. The first guy is a french businessman named Jean-Bernard Levy, and the second guy is Michael J. Griffith (who has no Wiki but can be looked up here), and Robert Kotick from Activision - President and CEO of Acti-Blizz. Supposedly Kotick's down with pushing the 'independent developer', but you can never really tell with those business-suity guys. It gets a bit scary when you read on his page his supposed quotes... especially the 'exploiting' part. Knowing this, when reflecting back on what just World of Warcraft has gone through in the past year, not looking at any other games underneath the Acti-Blizz umbrella... Well, I personally just get a sinking feeling. If the top guys at Vivendi tell Acti-Blizz to create profit and trim fat, the top guys at Acti-Blizz are going to turn to their lower people and tell them to get to it. The lower guy representing the Blizzard arm of the company is Mike Morhaime, and he did his best to gracefully let the WoW community know what was up with the layoffs, as well as reassure everyone that everything is okay.

But is everything really okay (with Warcraft)? I respect Blizzard Entertainment, it's the guys sitting above them I'm worried about.

Tabula Rasa

"Purge their minds of memories grim,
Of pains from recent slights and sins.
When the fire burns out, when the crystal turns black, the spell will be cast.
Tabula Rasa, Tabula Rasa, Tabula Rasa."

Buffy, anyone? For those that aren't familiar with the TV series, it had to do with the characters losing their memories and exploring what could happen if they did. In the end, everything gets set right... mostly.

Drama happens, both in character and out.  The trick is to balance the two and attempt to keep the two worlds separate, but it can be difficult sometimes. If two people are dating, it's not uncommon for their characters to also end up together, either one or many. You find a really good role player who thinks you are also a good role player, and you'll end up wanting to RP all the time because it is just so fun to do so. You get to know the player behind the character, and that extends to any type of playstyle within any game. I met one of my best friends through World of Warcraft, and it had nothing to do with RP. Relationships form, bonds are forged, and life is great.

But what happens when things start to turn sour in real life? If you find yourself not being able to RP, raid, PvP or whatever with that person you used to like doing said things with because of real life problems? The answer is always much more simple than the execution, especially when it comes to RP and keeping it afloat. Can all parties involved simply stick to RP? Is it healthy to even do so? Does a retcon need to take place? These are all really good questions, some I find myself asking. 

My current Lycannon storyline has been almost a year in the making. It is my last story, as I plan on taking a break from creating them for a while. As such, I wanted it to last as long as it has, though it has been sluggish lately from me getting a new job and general lack of interest in the game itself as of late. Those who know my Lycannon also know she's been through hell and back, and gone through a ton of stuff, but she's not the only one. Every character that has been involved with her stories and her past has also earned their colors, as usually they are the ones jumping into the fray with her, either to get her out of danger or help her overcome something for someone else. Usually it's the former because Lycannon attracts trouble like a moth to flame. That's just how she is, and it is her most outstanding flaw - Bad luck. She has always had it. Tie that in with raging berserker and free spirit, and well, you have my lovely warrior. As I've come to get to know people and make friends, her direction changed from the general perspective I started with (in the World of Warcraft, at least,) to what she is now, two years later.

The people and their characters I've come in contact with all had a hand in shaping my main character. For instance, Lycannon originally had three children, all of which were dead when I began to RP her. Over time I created stories and thought 'what if', and went with it. Somehow she ended up with six, and the added three all came after I met the friends I did. One of these children came to be because a friend of mine needed a backstory for a character, and asked if the character could be Lycannon's kid. I said sure, why not? Because really, why not? I always try to do my best to accommodate people if they want to RP with me or be a part of my stories, because I think it is important to keep the mindset of: 'How would my character be involved' instead of: 'My character wouldn't do that because..." You don't find RP by thinking of reasons not to, after all.

To bring this all to a point, Lycannon is/was/something married to a man named McSars. The player of this character and I became really close, and the person was a really great role player. McSars became my favorite character because most people don't want to RP an actual soldier type, one that has believable trauma and a believable broken mindset to go along with the age that would match it. While the player may not have seen or intended to have much depth with the character, I had thought that these traits were actually what gave him the deepness that a lot of good characters lack. If one was sharp enough, one would realize that the reasons this character may be berating another aren't just because he is the 'soldier type', but because he is the soldier type that has seen enough shit to last a lifetime. If you saw a horde of undead slavering to gnaw at your guts, perhaps people you once knew (or at least knew to be human), you would not be alright after you managed to survive something that traumatic. I know I definitely wouldn't be alright even though I might seem like it if I had to experience something like that. Those with PTSD are the same way. It's the same concept, and I hardly see it translate or executed well in a setting where almost everyone should have it, like World of Warcraft. So, McSars became my favorite because his depth was not so glaringly obvious, he was believable, and he was not a shiny hero.

I really loved to role play with this character, and both Lycannon and McSars developed over the past two years we spent RPing them together. They were married. They had a kid. Most importantly, they had to learn to be human (or well, you get my drift). Lycannon was emotion. McSars was logic. Both were in the extreme ends of the spectrum. Because of that, the characters worked very well together, and gave me what will probably be the best RP I've ever done. It was awesome, and unfortunately it stopped.

Real life problems affected the role play, and despite efforts to reconcile, we just could not make it work. I kept my characters either suspended or I kept playing in character as if nothing ever happened in real life, and that has gone for the Born this Way story that is currently in progress. Honestly, I was not sure what to do with the characters that had ties to this player's. Could I completely erase the past two years and pretend it never happened for them? I don't believe I was ready to at the time, which is why I kept going how I have so far. Lycannon is confident that her broken knight will come find her where she is. He is the love of her life, her husband, and he has come through for her so many times before. Of course, I knew this was not going to happen and had for some time into the story, but Lyc won't find out until the end... And what will she find out?

It really is unfortunate that I doubt I will be able to RP with McSars' player again. Part of me was still a bit hopeful that one day we could pick it up again without any inclination to real life. Two people, simply RPing. Of course, it is never as simple as that, and the hammer has recently fallen on the character I loved to RP with. In his place, I have been given a shell of his former glory in the form of an NPC, cast off to make room for a new version of McSars that I will consider alternate universe. It is a bit of a slap in the face, as I was never approached about the change, but it is what it is. It is a shame, and I am deeply saddened.

So what will I do with Lycannon? Kaludra? I do not know. For now, I will continue with my story the way I had thought it out, and figure out the ending as I go.

Return of the Legion?

EDIT: Bam. Confirmed Eye of the Legion and Demon Hunter's Aspect are TCG items. Thank you WoW Insider.

Yesterday, MMO-Champion put up information they datamined from the upcoming patch (4.3.2), and some of the items they found really caught my eye.

The Feldrake, a flying mount (recolored black drake):

The Eye of the Legion, a companion pet (eye of Kil'rogg):

And the Demon Hunter's Aspect, which makes you look like a demon hunter for 5 minutes.

These three things are what I would expect to see in the best WoW expansion of all time The Burning Crusade. The Feldrake has the symbol of the Legion floating over its head and on its saddle, The Eye of the Legion is pretty self explanatory, and the Demon Hunter's Aspect screams Illidan. With Mists of Pandaria being the next expansion, supposedly focusing more on Horde vs. Alliance than any other expansion of WoW, what the hell are Burning Legion related things doing popping up in the files for the next patch?

Thone of Kil'jaden

Of course, when I saw these three things, I nearly had a heart attack. Burning Legion? Upcoming patch? Could this mean more Draenei lore? Seeing the Feldrake, I already started to come up with theories as to how it was possible. It's a black dragon skin, maybe it is one of the black dragons from Deathwing's clutch sent to Draenor? The Legion was pushed back, but not defeated in the Burning Crusade. After all, everyone knows Kil'Jaeden really slipped on a banana peel and fell back into the Sunwell. Sargeras is still floating around somewhere. Is the surfacing of this mount and the other two items along with it a sign of the Burning legion regrouping for another assault on Azeroth? WILL THERE BE DRAENEI LORE?!

Honestly? I don't think so. The mount, the pet and the use-effect seem like trading card game items, though usually the TCG themes follow what is going on in World of Warcraft. (Scourgwar for Wrath of the Lich King, Worldbreaker for Cataclysm, etc.) Perhaps the Legion will make a brief visit to introduce Mists of Pandaria, not unlike the scourge invasion and elemental events before the release of the previous expansions. If so, is that Blizzard's way of trying to tell us, "Hey, the Legion is still out there guys. Don't forget that while you're busy tickling pandas."? Perhaps. It may be part of the next Kil'jaeden or Halion raid that got released after the supposed 'end' of the expansion. (Though Halion was used as a pre-cursor to Cataclysm, followed by the elemental invasion.)

I'm excited to see where the Feldrake, Eye of the Legion and Demon Hunter's Aspect fit into the game currently. Hopefully it won't be stupid, but I'm prepared for a letdown. Blizzard did make a blue post about lore on the forums, and we'll see where it takes us.

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.

WTF Lycannon?

Yeah, I know. I don't forget to update so much as I get caught up doing other things. I'm a terrible person.

I could talk about the changes they're thinking about for warriors. I could rage about how rage normalization is scary, but I wasn't around when it was (if that tells you anything about how long I've been playing this game). I could talk about rend dancing, and how it actually gives you a DPS increase if you know how to use it. Don't worry newbies, that's not for you.

Instead of all the technical stuff, I'm actually going to talk about why I even like playing, and role playing, a warrior. What's so special about them? They don't use magic to defeat their foes. No shiny lasers or sparkles to heal people with. Warriors are nasty, gritty juggernauts. Some are more disciplined and refined in their practice, while others are mindless, berserking killing machines who tear through whatever, however. They are the most basic of fighters, and if you can pick up a weapon, you can be one too.

Warriors don't need to skulk around in the shadows to kill their foes. They are up front and in your face. Killing seems to come natural for them, and being covered in blood and gristle at the end of the day comes with the job. They aren't always noble, but they always seem to have a reason to fight and kill. (Even the berserkers). 

I've always liked the warrior class, no matter what game I was playing. Standing far away and shooting stuff at my enemy never appealed to me. I guess I could blame my mom for that. She's always had a thing for mythology, especially Greek mythology. Her favorite goddess is Athena (or Minerva, for you Roman lovers). Now, if you know anything about her, she's the goddess of war, wisdom, and heroic deeds. I knew this ever since I could remember, and I grew up with that. It's not surprising that I too like the idea of a female heroine who isn't afraid to get mean.

Enter: Lycannon. She's not a new character. In fact, I created her a long time ago for a forum based Sci-Fi RP. For this, though, we'll use her draenei incarnation. She used to throw sparkles at people (Paladin), then terrible things happened (Battle of Shattrath) and she turned into a vengeful, dangerous bitch (Fury Warrior). She's mentally unstable with a deadly lust for blood and battle. When she's fighting, she teeters on the edge of completely losing all self control and killing everything in sight, be it friend or foe. She's a good person (really), she just has a huge chip on her shoulder. Really huge. Like, sun huge.

Of course, I've developed this character since that original idea. One day, her friend invited her to go on a mission under the lead of a particular Corporal McSars. This old man was a grizzled war veteran who didn't give a damn about anyone. Lycannon eye rolled and wanted to show him up. In the end, they impressed each other. Throw in some playful jibes, flirting, lust, and general relationship progression, and you have two angry warriors who love each other very much. Awww.

Since then, I've gotten better at playing the warrior class, and better at what I wanted Lyc to be as a character. With the end of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion on the horizon, I figured that the release of Cataclysm would be the perfect opportunity to 'fix' all that I felt was wrong with Lycannon, both RP and game play wise. I never liked Titan's Grip, and I think that I've let her be psycho long enough.

So, she's dead. I'm not sure I'll bring her back. I may continue playing the character, but I may not role play her. I could also be saying this to bullshit you. Maybe. I dunno.

TL;DR version: I love warriors. I love role play. I love role playing warriors. So should you.

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior Follow-Up

Ouote Bornakk:

Here are some follow ups based on what is being discussed.

Q: Will the rotation for a Fury Warrior just be Bloodthirst and Slam with Heroic Strike to burn off rage?
A: We think Fury is going to end up needing another attack in there for single-target fights. Furious Sundering was intended more as having to Sunder being less of a penalty, but at only 3 stacks, it may not end up being a big deal and we don’t want Fury to feel like they have to purchase a talent that they may not always use. We don’t want Whirlwind to be a good button against single targets however. It essentially gets “free” damage against groups of targets when it’s effective at using against single targets. It’s okay if warriors still do more damage in fights where they can use Cleave and similar attacks often, but right now it’s too extreme.

Q: Are one-handed Fury warriors going to be competing with rogues for one-handed weapons?
A: This is unlikely. Rogues and shaman will want one-handers with Agility, while warriors and death knights will want them with Strength. I won’t be surprised when one of these classes picks up the other’s weapon as it could be an upgrade simply based on the damage, but it won’t be optimal.

Q: Why are warriors not getting some kind of AoE tanking tool?
A: We think the newly buffed Thunder Clap plus Shockwave are sufficient abilities for AoE tanking. The design of Vengeance should make sure that threat generation doesn’t start to slip behind as the dps characters gear up. It’s not our intention that tanks face a constant struggle to generate enough threat, even in group situations, but we also don’t want threat to be totally irrelevant either. The danger for tanking too many creatures should also be tank death not threat management.

Q: Is only Sunder Armor being changed?
A: Rogue Expose Armor and other abilities that apply a similar debuff are being changed accordingly. They will all provide the same debuff at 12% armor reduction.

Q: What about rage loss when changing stances?
A: We still want the act of changing stances to require more consideration than just clicking two buttons to use the ability you want. One idea we are going to explore is that you don’t lose rage when you change stances, but you won’t gain additional rage for a short period of time after changing. This lets you say swap to do an Execute without losing your rage bar, but still keeps the idea that shifting constantly comes with inherent efficiency risks.

Q: Is the intent of Gushing Wound that warriors constantly ask for targets to be kited around?
A: No, it’s intended to be a bonus when you’re in an encounter where the target either moves around a lot (Ex. BONNNNE STORMMMM-ing Marrowgar) or just has to be moved around a lot (say Lich King). Warriors shouldn’t have the expectation of forcing every PvE opponent to move but it would be entertaining to watch this (from a third party perspective). :)

Cataclysm Class Preview: Warrior

Our favorite class was just posted over on the Blizzard Cataclysm forums not too long ago. I'll post the preview and the Q&A, then /discuss. Quote Bornakk:

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring with it several changes to class talents and abilities. Here you will get a glimpse into some of the changes we have in store for the warrior. The information you're about to read is not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview for some of the exciting new things to come.

New Warrior Abilities

Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever the character reaches a full 100 Rage, he or she will gain a buff that causes attacks to consume 50% more Rage and do 15% more damage for a short amount of time. This is a passive ability so it won't need to be activated by the player. The goal for this ability is to provide a benefit for hitting max Rage instead of it feeling like a penalty. However, we also don't want warriors to feel like they're supposed to pool Rage and do nothing until they hit 100, so we'll be closely monitoring how this plays out during the beta testing, and making adjustments as needed.


Gushing Wound (Level 83): This ability will apply a bleed effect to the target. If the target moves, the bleed gains an extra stack and refreshes its duration, up to a maximum of three stacks. The ability is currently planned to have no cooldown, cost 10 Rage, and have a 9-second duration. Gushing Wound is designed to be weaker than Rend with one stack, but better with three stacks, which will be reached when fighting a moving target.


Heroic Leap (Level 85): This ability makes the character leap at their target and apply the Thunder Clap ability to all enemies in the area when they land. Heroic Leap will be usable in Battle Stance and shares a cooldown with Charge, but the Juggernaut and Warbringer talents will allow Heroic Leap to be used in any stance and possibly while in combat. The cooldown for this ability might be longer than the Charge ability, but it will also apply a stun effect so you can make sure the target will still be there when you land.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

In addition to learning new abilities, you'll see changes to other abilities and mechanics with which you're already familiar. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.

• Heroic Strike will no longer be an "on next swing" attack, as we are removing this mechanic in Cataclysm. To keep the niche of Heroic Strike as a Rage dump, it will become an instant attack, but will cost between 10 and 30 Rage. This ability will not be usable until you have 10 Rage, but if you have more than 10, it will consume up to 30, adding additional damage for each point of Rage consumed above the base 10. Other abilities, such as Cleave, Execute, and Maul (for druids) will work similarly. The goal is to provide players with an option where if you can't afford the Rage, you don't push the button, but if you have excess Rage, you can push it a lot.
• Battle Shout, Commanding Shout, and possibly Demoralizing Shout will work more like the death knight's Horn of Winter ability. Specifically, these shouts will cost no resources, generate rage in addition to their current effects, and be on a short cooldown.
• Whirlwind will hit an unlimited number of targets, but only for 50% of weapon damage. The intent is for this ability to be used in multi-target scenarios and not on single targets.
• Overall, heals cast by players in Cataclysm will be a lower number relative to players' health than the current game. So to make the Mortal Strike debuff less mandatory but still useful in PvP, Mortal Strike will reduce healing by only 20%. All equivalent debuffs, including the Shadow priest and Frost mage debuffs, will be for 20% less healing. At the moment we aren't considering giving this debuff to anyone else, though we will certainly consider PvP utility for historically under-represented specs that use other mechanics.
• Sunder Armor will be reduced to three stacks instead of five, and still provide only a 4% reduction in armor per stack. We want to make this debuff easier to apply and less of a damage swing when it falls off.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• The Furious Sundering talent in the Fury tree will make the Sunder Armor ability cause 25/50% weapon damage and reduce the threat generated by 50/100%.
• The Mace and Poleaxe Specialization talents in the Arms tree will be removed. These provided just passive stats, which are not the kinds of talents we want to design in the future. We will keep the Sword Specialization talent, but it will be changed to a talent that applies to all types of weapons.
• As a Fury talent, Booming Voice will increase the Rage generated by shouts.
• While we like how Titan's Grip plays, we recognize some warriors liked the Fury tree because of the really fast swings that dual-wielding one-handed weapons could provide. Therefore, we're planning to try out a talent called Single-Minded Fury that is parallel to Titan's Grip and will provide a large boost to the damage of a pair of one-handed weapons.
• Several talents that reduce the Rage cost of abilities will be changed to focus on increased damage for those abilities instead.
• The new Arms talent called Disarming Nature will make successful disarms cause the target to cower in fear for 5/10 seconds.
• Another new Arms talent called Blitz will make the Charge ability hit for extra damage. The amount will possibly vary depending on the distance travelled.
• Improved Pummel, a Fury talent, will cause a successful interrupt to generate 10/20 Rage.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Arms

• Melee Damage
• Armor Penetration
• Bonus Swing

Bonus Swing: This is similar to the Sword Specialization talent that is currently in the game, but Bonus Swing will work on all attacks and with all weapons. You have a chance to proc a free, instant weapon swing that hits for 50% damage.

Fury

• Melee Damage
• Melee Haste
• Enrage Intensity

Enrage Intensity: Every benefit of being enraged is increased. This includes doing more damage/healing/ etc. from abilities like Bloodrage, Death Wish, Enrage, Berserker Rage, and Enraged Regeneration.

Protection

• Damage Reduction
• Vengeance
• Critical Block Chance

Critical Block Chance: As we mentioned in the stat changes preview, block rating is changing to a chance to block 30% of a melee swing's damage. Protection warriors have a chance that the block will be a critical block and block for 60% of a melee swing's damage instead. There will likely be talents available to push the amount blocked even higher.

Vengeance: This is a mechanic to ensure that tank damage (and therefore threat) doesn't fall behind as damage-dealing classes improve their gear during the course of the expansion. All tanking specs will have Vengeance as their second talent tree passive bonus. Whenever a tank gets hit, Vengeance will give them a stacking attack power buff equal to 5% of the damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of the character's un-buffed health. For boss encounters, we expect that tanks will always have the attack power bonus equal to 10% of their health. The 5% and 10% bonuses assume 51 talent points have been put into the Protection tree. These values will be smaller at lower levels. Remember, you only get this bonus if you have spent the most talent points in the Protection tree, so you won't see Arms or Fury warriors running around with it. Vengeance will let us continue to make tank gear more or less the way we do today – there will be some damage-dealing stats, but mostly survival-oriented stats. Druids typically have more damage-dealing stats even on their tanking gear, so their Vengeance benefit may be smaller, but overall the goal is for all four tanks do about the same damage when tanking.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we're looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.

Why Are They Pigs?

It actually surprises me when I see blogs or forum posts complaining about why the warrior Tier 10 shoulder plates are pigs, or more correctly, boars. It seems a lot more apparent than the talk about the Tier 8 ram shoulders, and that's probably because the design is much more simple (more or less), and not as 'pretty'.

Still, I haven't found one post that actually explains the reasoning behind this. Is it because Blizzard thinks warriors are supposed to be untamed and wild or something? Well, sort of. I'll start from the top.

In the actual World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game, there are such things as barbarians. Quote WoWWiki:

"The barbarian is a ferocious warrior. He is uncivilized and brutal, relying on instincts, anger and raw physical might instead of tactics or fancy swordsmanship. His rage is frightening to behold, and it allows him to smash apart his enemies while ignoring all but the most brutal blows. He has a connection with nature's primal elements; this class is most commonly found among races that dwell in the wild." 

Sounds a lot like a Fury warrior, right? Well, if you go to the actual WoWWiki page on Barbarians and scroll down a bit (Hopefully you'll read the information on the page as well), you'll notice it has links to 'notable' barbarians. The first one listed is Agamaggan. Does this name sound familiar? Those of you who played before the introduction of the instant dungeon grouping might remember having to fight through the gauntlet of Quilboars if you wanted to run Razorfen Downs. You may also remember the skull above the entrance to the instance. Of course, this is only speculation that it is even an actual skull, but it is thought to belong to Agamaggan.

Now, Agamaggan was a giant boar demigod. No, really. 

This same picture is on the WoWWiki page about him, and was taken from the Warcraft RPG books. If you read the page, it mentions how Agamaggan was "a juggernaut of raw strength", and that he "assaulted the stronghold of Azshara, the Eternal Palace, slaying thousands of Doomguards and Felguards with fury."

Is this the official Blizzard reason why warriors have pigs on their shoulders? No. It's just my theory, it makes sense to me, and I'm going to stick by it until they say otherwise. Lore for armor? Feels good.

Rage Normalization

How many of you Vanilla and early Burning Crusade warriors cringe when you see those two words together? How many of you end up saying "I really hope they don't normalize rage again" when you start talking about warrior mechanics? Well guess what. Via MMO-Champion:

We are going to take the opportunity in Cataclysm to try and fix some of the problems with the Rage mechanic for both warriors and druids. Some of these problems include:

• Warriors/druids in the lowest levels of gear can be Rage-starved.
• Warriors/druids in the highest levels of gear no longer have to manage their Rage when it becomes infinite.
• Warrior/druid tanks lose Rage income as they improve their gear and take less damage.
• The gameplay of warrior and druid tanks loses a lot of depth when massive boss hits means never having to manage Rage.
• Heroic Strike and Maul are effective, but tedious abilities for using up extra Rage.
• In general, warriors and druids don’t have enough control over their Rage.

To resolve these issues, Rage will be normalized in Cataclysm. This will make the Rage gained by characters more consistent and avoid drastic differences between low-end and high-end gear.

The concept of normalized Rage may leave a negative impression on some veteran players, as we tried it once before in The Burning Crusade and it wasn't successful, resulting in them feeling weakened. However, we think that the concept is still sound -- it was just that the previous implementation didn't balance the values correctly, leading to players being Rage-starved. That is not the goal. As part of the change, we want to give warriors and druids a lot of ways to control their rage, so even in the worst-case scenarios they won’t feel like they lack the resource to do their job.

Here are some of the ways the Rage mechanic will change in Cataclysm:

1) Rage is no longer generated based on damage done by auto-attacks. Instead, each auto-attack provides a set amount of Rage, and off-hand weapons will generate 50% of the Rage main hands do. This amount is based on a constant formula which factors in the base swing speed of the weapon. This means the Rage gained should be averaged out between fast and slow weapons. The constant formula also gives us the ability to easily increase the rage gained if it feels too low (or reduce it if is too high). We are also implementing the following mechanics, which will still allow rage to improve to some extent as you improve gear:



• If the attack is a critical strike, it will generate 200% Rage.
• Haste will accelerate swing times to generate Rage faster.

2) Rage from damage taken will no longer be based on a standard creature of the character’s level, but instead will be based on the health of the warrior or druid. Again, there is a constant that is multiplied by the rage generated in order to allow for fine-tuning. This calculation ignores all damage reduction from armor, absorption, avoidance, block, or similar mechanics, so improving your gear will not reduce Rage gained.

3) We will provide warriors and druids with more instant sources of rage. For example, the warrior shouts are changing to work more like the death knight ability Horn of Winter. Instead of Battle Shout consuming Rage, it will generate Rage but have a short cooldown. Both classes will have additional methods to generate Rage in an emergency or bleed off Rage when they have too much.

4) All “on next swing” attacks in Cataclysm are being removed. Heroic Strike and Maul will be instant swings that cost a variable amount of Rage. For example, imagine Heroic Strike costs between 10 and 30 Rage. You must have at least 10 Rage to use the attack, but it will consume all available Rage up to a maximum of 30. Any Rage consumed above the minimum will cause the ability to hit harder, and in some cases much harder. We will tune the ability so that it’s generally not a good idea to hit it when you have low Rage (unless everything else is somehow on cooldown) but becomes a more attractive button the higher your Rage.

We understand this change may be scary for many players, but keep in mind that the constants in the formulas for gaining Rage will give us the ability to make quick adjustments if we feel Rage generation is too low. Our goal is for each character's Rage to not be always high or always low, but rather a resource that needs to be managed properly by the player.

They're doing it again. Let's hope what they get it right this time.