Posts Tagged ‘Warcraft’

Nostalgia

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Boy, does this bring back memories. I do miss Vanilla WoW sometimes – those were very good times. I miss how epic 40-man raids felt, before the artificial playstyle of hardmode dances. I miss world bosses. I miss just exploring. I miss the friends that I had. I don’t miss running half-way across a continent just to turn in a quest, but I miss actually experiencing the environment that I passed through. I miss having to work for things rather than just power-levelling in easy mode (although I’m not a fan of grindfest games). I miss that sense of wonder.

 

My Favourite Holiday

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

I love Hallows End in Warcraft. I love most of the holidays, such as Winter Veil, but Hallows End is the best. I would have posted a screenshot of my mount from The Horseman’s Reins, but again I have the WORST LUCK IN DROPS EVER. EVER!

 

Ravven at 85

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Ravven, the first character that I ever created in an MMO, dinged 85 last week. I haven’t played here in ages, but it was still a rather nostalgic moment. Had I known back in 2005 how much time I would waste on MMOs…well, yeah, I probably would have done it anyway. :) Since then I have undeniably wasted shedloads of the aforementioned free time, but I have also made a lot of new friends and opened up a world that I am very glad to be a part of.

Ravven dings 85

Work Avoidance

Lil Tarecgosa

More Work Avoidance

That’s a whole lotta work avoidance there. :)

Stories of Kitsune

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Wow Insider had a post this morning on Where do you want your character to die? Interesting thought, although I kind of like the idea of Kitsune carrying on after I am gone, rather than the reverse. I know that sentiment, and the concept of game avatars having lives of their own, is incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t play MMOs. If you do, though? You will probably understand.

Hey, I’m not embarrassed to admit that I used to log Kit out in pretty areas sometimes, even when she was levelling or when it was a pain to get her there. Just she and Ennui, her boar, kicking back by a roaring campfire. It made a pretty picture, and I’m not so adult that I am embarrassed to share that little secret. :)

I’ve levelled characters who weren’t “people”, but I didn’t care very much for them and it was difficult at times to put the time into them. Kitsune has always been a person to me, right from the moment that I created her. She kind of sprung into life complete with a personality and a backstory. I’ve been with her for so long that she feels like a friend, someone who I’ve actually known. She’s me, or the flip side of me…solitary, smart, sarcastic, and a fighter. Once you have her loyalty, though, she would fight to the death for you.

Where would Kit die? Fighting heroically for a lost cause, or against insurmountable odds. Alone, probably in some icy winter pass far from her beloved autumn woods of Azshara. I can see her in the snow, knowing that she couldn’t possibly survive the encounter, but throwing herself into the fight anyway. And Ennui would be with her until the end.

This is why I game. Who can be a hero in real life? I guess that this is important enough to me for my very first tattoo to be her name – and I would never have a tattoo that didn’t have a very personal meaning.

Such a Girl

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

With all of the news lately about patch 4.3, what am I most excited about? Transmorgrification and the new Darkmoon Faire. Such a girl.

I have outfits for most of my characters, some skanky and some not. Kitsune is going to be happy to finally look like a proper hunter. Hunters shouldn’t be dressed in orange and purple, we shouldn’t have massive glowing shoulders that would give an orc back pain – how can you stealth through the forest wearing that? Sheesh! She’s going for a dark ranger look, with a near-black outfit and a non-silly bow. I would love to give her crossed swords on her back, but unfortunately I seem to be permanently stuck with polearms. I’m considering a black pet component to match her armour, but would hate to give up Artaius, her spirit bear.

I have to confess, I love Darkmoon Faire even in its current format, with very little to do. A spooky island with games, shows and quests? Oh yes, please. If there was one in real life, I would run away and join the carnival.

“Catch a show at the marvelous main stage or witness a dazzling fireworks display. But don’t stare too long or you might miss the stunning spectacles that surround you. Gaze in awe of our magical menagerie, get your fortune told by the amazing Sayge, go on a pony ride, experience the healthful effects of carnival food, and more!”

And the “replicas of long-lost suits of armor”? Oh, please have a Judgement set for my pally. I think that was the best set of armour that Blizzard ever designed, and it must be mine.

 

Mists of Pandaria

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

There are a lot of conversations going on this morning on the newly-trademarked Mists of Pandaria.

The comments on the Massively article were interesting – I had always believed in the statement that Pandaren were originally scrapped because you weren’t allowed to represent pandas in such a way in China. Evidently, that is not true, and as one commenter pointed out, Perfect World has playable panda characters. (I would hazard a guess that Perfect World may have a larger player base than Warcraft -I could be wrong- but either way that clearly demonstrates that China doesn’t have a problem with panda characters.)

Another commenter provided these to images to illustrate the point that China didn’t have a problem with Pandaren, but they did take exception to Chinese pandas wearing Japanese armour. Fair enough.
 

 

If this trademarked name isn’t simply a red herring, think of the possibilities.

What would I like to see? Make the Pandaren a new race and hero class (battle monk) which avoids the massive snit-fit that would ensue if you “gave” them to one side or the other. Or, make them a neutral race that either side could play…which would be a massive departure for Blizzard. If you don’t make them a neutral hero class race, then you would only have battle monks. If they areĀ  a neutral race, allow them to any class, and give them their own capital city.

And that idea opens up something that I would LOVE to see…a Chinese-themed fantasy city done as only Blizzard could do it. I’ve always loved the feel of the Eastern cities in Guild Wars, the Dragon Festival and so on, and I think it would be amazing in Warcraft.

*sigh* We can dream, can’t we?