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The MMO Report: Chocolate makes you fat edition

Brianna Royce — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Humor, The MMO Report, Miscellaneous

This week on The MMO Report, Casey delivers a Valentine's Day rant before moving on to the latest news -- namely, The Secret World's release date rumors, Wakfu's PvP, and the sunset of sci-fi sandbox Earthrise. He also rounds up the latest Blizzard headlines, noting the lawsuit against Valve, World of Warcraft's recent sub losses, and the "valiant and pointless exercise" of rebuilding Azeroth in Minecraft.

Finally, Uncle Casey's Mailbag provides a forum for the debate over just how we're supposed to pronounce "SWTOR." All this and more in the video behind the break!

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The MMO Report: Chocolate makes you fat edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world of World of Warcraft recreated in Minecraft

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture

Minecraft players are well-known for their insane, over-the-top LEGO building projects, but one may have all the rest beat. A player named Rumsey is in the process of recreating the entire world of Azeroth from World of Warcraft inside the game, and while it's not completed quite yet, it's already incredibly impressive.

Rumsey says that he had to cheat a little: Instead of placing every single block by hand, he wrote a piece of software that helps to automate the process of making full-scale version of the world. He's recently completed one continent -- Kalimdor -- and has plans to do the others as well as all of WoW's dungeons. He says that the only problem he's run into is Minecraft's height limit of 128 blocks, so he's had to employ mods to get around that.

When the project is complete, Rumsey has hopes that it will be hosted online for tourists to visit this much blockier version of their favorite WoW stomping grounds.

The world of World of Warcraft recreated in Minecraft originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Game Archaeologist's World of Warcraft confession

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, Opinion, The Game Archaeologist

As you may well know by now, I wasn't an early adopter of the MMO scene apart from a brief exposure to BBSes in the '90s and Anarchy Online and Final Fantasy XI in the early 2000s. To be honest, I found that MMOs were as intimidating -- and fascinating -- to me as pen-and-paper RPGs. You see, in high school I started buying RPG manuals and devouring them cover-to-cover, but I could never find friends or like-minded people with whom to play. The genre was a spectator sport for me; I was looking in from the sidelines and imagining what would happen if I actually got to be part of a D&D session.

Likewise, MMORPGs in their earlier forms appeared as user-friendly to me as that house on the block with overgrown shrubs, a rusty iron fence, and a mangy, ever-barking mutt in front of it. Maybe it was really cool inside, or maybe it was a death trap from whence there was no escape, but I never had the courage to find out. Let me put it this way: I purchased and read the entire Star Wars Galaxies Prima Guide three times over without once signing up for the game.

I'm sharing this with you because I always want to remember that what we take for granted today -- that MMOs are friendly, fun, engaging, and a downright natural part of many of our gaming lives -- isn't always true for those curious lookey-loos who feel intimidated by the scope, busy UIs, subscription fees, or the often bizarre attitudes that long-term MMO players exhibit. For me, it took one game that tore those barriers down to extend a welcoming hand to me, guiding me into these awesome games.

Of course, that was World of Warcraft. And even though my geek cred would be so much higher if it were something earlier or, well, not so mainstream, that wouldn't be the truth. So today I'm going to share my story of how I got into MMOs and why the early days of WoW were some of my most treasured gaming memories.

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The Game Archaeologist's World of Warcraft confession originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: World of Warcraft's next expansion has been named

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, Rumors

First there was The Burning Crusade, then Wrath of the Lich King, and, most recently, Cataclysm. World of Warcraft's expansions have been the lifeblood of literally millions of gamers' playtime, which is why many fans are anxiously awaiting word of the fourth expansion pack to the hit MMO.

Today we may know the name of the expansion: Mists of Pandaria. According to MMO Champion, Blizzard filed a trademark with this title on July 28th, which is exactly in line with how the company has procured titles for the previous expansions. The trademark specifies that this is for "computer game software."

The Pandarens are one of the more light-hearted races in the Warcraft franchise, with kung fu panda bears from a secret empire somewhere in Azeroth. Despite being fan favorites, the Pandarens have been rarely seen in WoW, while Blizzard has used them in a couple different April Fool's jokes in the past.

We'll be keeping our eyes on Blizzard for any official confirmation.

Rumor: World of Warcraft's next expansion has been named originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Them's fightin' words: RIFT commercial takes on WoW

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, MMO industry, RIFT

"We're not in Azeroth anymore," Trion Worlds' new TV commercial proclaims before a rift gobbles up the words. This 30-second spot for RIFT features a hero opening a rift with a jewel, a dragon roaring, an ogre on the warpath, and adventurers gearing up for the fight. The commercial ends with an invitation to pre-order the game.

This comes hot on the heels of RIFT's launch date announcement and signifies the next step up for Trion Worlds' marketing department. You can watch the new TV spot after the jump!

Continue reading Them's fightin' words: RIFT commercial takes on WoW

Them's fightin' words: RIFT commercial takes on WoW originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Perfect Ten: MMO cataclysms

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, City of Heroes, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, MapleStory, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Humor, Champions Online, Post-Apocalyptic, Perfect Ten

Today sees the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which represents a destructive "reboot" button on the world of Azeroth. The old has been made new by virtue of fiery explosions that have rent the very earth in twain, and WoW gamers will have to find their footing all over again. As you might imagine, it's made one big-ass mess, which is compounded by the fact that there are no janitor classes in the game to sweep it up (the next hero class, perhaps?).

However, the notion of an in-game cataclysm is hardly the sole domain of Activision-Blizzard; on the contrary, large-scale apocalypses pop up all the time in MMOs. After all, nothing grabs the attention like the end of the world (but hey, you still feel fine)!

In a list that in no way is meant to capitalize on any expansions that may or may not be on the market, we're going to strap on our Kevlar suits, slather our arms with 1000 SPF sunblock, and take a brief tour of 10 worlds that have dated cataclysms -- and lived to tell the tale.

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The Perfect Ten: MMO cataclysms originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively's World of Warcraft Cataclysm launch day round-up

Brendan Drain — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, in-game, Expansions

In any discussion on MMOs, industry titan World of Warcraft always makes an appearance. Despite being in operation for over six years now, WoW still manages to maintain an unfathomably large lead in the MMO market. After all this time, however, the original content the game shipped with was beginning to look a little dated. In developing the game's two major expansions, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has refined its winning game design formula and improved the quality of new content being released. Until now, the old game world that came with the original game in 2004 has been largely unchanged. With the release of WoW's third major expansion, Cataclysm, all that has finally changed.

In addition to new endgame content and the usual new areas expected with every expansion, Cataclysm contains a complete revamp of the entire old game world. Old quests and zones have been changed to bring them up to Blizzard's new design standards and hopefully breathe new life into the early game experience. The opportunity to replay the low levels in a changed world has attracted a great number of previous players who had previously become bored with the game. The expansion officially released today, with servers being unlocked this morning. If you've ever played World of Warcraft or are thinking of giving Cataclysm a try, take a peek at our launch day round-up to see what's new in Cataclysm.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector's Edition, unboxed
We're still some hours away from the midnight launch of the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. It won't be long before Deathwing wrecks shop, so we thought we'd take some of this downtime to share pics of the Collector's Edition which recently made its way to our doorstep. Peruse the gallery below,http://geeked.org/roundups/rounduppr-thumbnail-WI.html and stick around for a giveaway later today.

WoW Rookie: What is Cataclysm?
Sites like WoW Insider have been absolutely buzzing with information about the new expansion to the World of Warcraft. While we bloggers, journalists and fans are so accustomed to hearing about the upcoming Cataclysm that we don't think twice about it, a brand new player probably has no clue what the heck is going on. So with that being said, let's take a week and catch up our rookie brother and sisters by answering, "What exactly is Cataclysm?"

Continue reading Massively's World of Warcraft Cataclysm launch day round-up

Massively's World of Warcraft Cataclysm launch day round-up originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard unveils Cataclysm system requirements

Jef Reahard — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions

Conventional gaming wisdom holds that World of Warcraft is such a lean, mean GPU-conserving machine that it will run on everything from a 386 to a scientific calculator from the early 1970s. Rumor has it that there are even some punch-card computers and difference engines that will run Blizzard's game with a bit of tweaking.

Sadly, those days are numbered, as the forthcoming Cataclysm expansion is planning to destroy not only the world of Azeroth, but also any thoughts you may have had of running WoW on your older Mac or PC hardware. The official system requirements for the new expansion have been released, and -- skipping right over the minimums -- we find that the recommended setup is a dual-core CPU, 2 GB of system memory, and a graphics card with vertex and pixel shading capability. While it's not exactly state of the art, it may necessitate a bit of an upgrade if you're still puttering along with your Burning Crusade or vanilla WoW equipment.

Check out all the details courtesy of our friends at WoW Insider.

Blizzard unveils Cataclysm system requirements originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What are your favorite player-run events?

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Opinion, The Daily Grind

The adage goes that no matter how fast developers put content into MMOs, players will blow through it even faster. The end result is a good crowd of antsy gamers with a lot of time on their hands and a desire to do something... anything. Enter player-run events, special games and activities created by players, for the players. These cover the gamut from parades to scavenger hunts to suicidal charges deep into enemy territory.

Some of my favorite memories from MMOs come from participating in -- and even creating -- special events. Level one gnome runs across the world of Azeroth used to be a popular pastime in WoW, City of Heroes is well-known for its constant costume design contests, and not a day goes by without some sort of concert peppering the towns of LotRO.

So what are your favorite player-run events? How have you seen the ingenuity of your fellow gamers blossom into memorable experiences? Did you ever run one yourself? Wake up, splash your face with scalding-hot coffee, and dish!

The Daily Grind: What are your favorite player-run events? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Quests, PvE, Opinion

Mistakes of World of Warcraft

Kaplan was quick to note that Warcraft was far from perfect, and he wanted to highlight some of his own mistakes inside of the design.

The first mistake was the idea of the "Christmas tree effect," otherwise known as having so many quests in a quest hub that the minimap lights up with exclamation points like a Christmas tree. While players enjoy this, Kaplan wanted to say that the developer loses call control over the player at these points, as the player will not read any quest text in their clicking frenzy. There's no control over what quest leads into what or which order the player will do the quests in.

The second was the internet adage of "too long, didn't read." Quest designers don't need to write a book to get their point across with the quests. He brought up that video games had a type of "medium envy," where sometimes they get too preachy with their topics. Games should be fun first, story second.

Mystery also falls in this category. The story can provide mystery, but the quest log should never have any mystery to it. The quest log should always point where to go and what to do, but the overall story of those quests may provide some solution to some mystery.

Also avoid poorly placed quest chains, like the Chains of Myzrael questline in Arathi Highlands. The Myzrael line was hard to find, ended up spanning 14 levels, and ended with killing an elite mob that was level 44. This quest line was a "brick wall" according to Kaplan, because most players never stuck with it.

It's good to have quest chains that span content, but quest chains like this break down trust the player has with the developer. When the player runs into a chain that he can't finish with a monster he can't kill, the player loses trust in the developer's sense of guiding them to fun.

He also emphasized to avoid inserting "gimmick quests." His example here was part of the Oculus dungeon where players ride on dragons. These types of quests center around doing something the client may not be able to properly handle. Warcraft was not designed to accommodate vehicles. When developers resort to putting in parts of the game that center around a gimmick, it can detract from the fun of the rest of the game.

The horror of collection quests

Kaplan's speech ended with an analysis of why people hate collection quests so much, and a few tips on how to make collection quests into a better experience.

His problems with the quests stemmed from three areas -- dense creature population, too few of a creature to kill, and having a wide variety of items required for the quest. Having a dense creature population can put off people, especially when there's a lack of the monster required for the quest. If someone has to kill four lions for every one raptor required for the quest, then there's a problem.

His other point was that collection quests shouldn't require an insane amount of items. To everyone's amusement, he brought up the Green Hills of Stranglethorn quest chain (a chain he wrote) as the exact thing a designer should never do. Collection quests should be an easily obtainable number of items, and not such a long grind fest with the hope that your required item might drop.

Lastly, never have the player question why they're collecting the item required -- it should be clear from the onset. Kaplan brought up the infamous gnoll paw collecting quests, in which gnolls may or may not drop paws upon death, where obviously a gnoll has four paws and not a number between 0 and 1 (which everyone applauded at loudly). Quests should make sense and not become a gimmick in their own right. This causes the player to once again, lose trust.

Most of these points that Kaplan has brought up pertain to Warcraft, but can easily be applied to any game on the market. With all of this in mind, perhaps we'll get to see some better design in our MMOs from other developers, now that we're all on the same page... of the Green Hills of Stranglethorn.

GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Quests, PvE, Opinion

At GDC09, we got to talk with many people and listened to a variety of panels on all aspects of game design. But there was little doubt as to which panel attracted loads of attention -- the Jeff Kaplan panel on quest design in World of Warcraft.

Warcraft has come extremely far in terms of their UI design and quest implementation since the game launched back in 2004. Just between 2007 and 2009, Kaplan revealed that over 8,570,222,436 quests have been completed, while the daily average was 16,641,409. With those numbers in place, it's safe to say that World of Warcraft players are driven by their questing.

Kaplan's panel revealed a few tricks of the trade, as well as his beliefs regarding questing, so without further adieu let's get into the meat of his panel.

Gallery: GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth

Continue reading GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth

GDC09: Spending time with the cruise director of Azeroth originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wrath of the Lich King ranks in Edge's top games for 2008

Kyle Horner — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, News items

It's been a good year for the second expansion to World of Warcraft, but things just got even better. Edge Magazine has tossed up it's top 30 of 2008 and Wrath of the Lick King placed at number sixteen. The expansion is the only MMO on the list, which is saying a lot in a year when Warhammer Online and Mines of Moria came out, impressing many players.

The placement is attributed to Blizzard's re-imagining of what's possible in Azeroth through new quests and zones, as well as the addition of the Death Knight class. We've got to agree with them there, which is why Massively awarded Wrath with the best expansion of 2008.

One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Wrath of the Lich King ranks in Edge's top games for 2008 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lich King begins assault on Azeroth, starting with Orgrimmar

Kyle Horner — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:45:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Events, in-game, Expansions, News items

World of Warcraft players are experiencing a world event leading up to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. No, it's not another invasion of flesh-craving zombies -- but it's just as cool. You see, the Lich King is currently launching attacks on Orgrimmar via Frostwyrms and Aboms. The event restarts every 20 minutes and is specifically located in the Valley of Honor. We're unsure how many servers the event has begun on, so if you run into yours and find it peaceful and serene don't feel discouraged as you may only need to wait a little bit before the frost bolts start raining down.

Gallery: Orgrimmar is under attack!

One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Lich King begins assault on Azeroth, starting with Orgrimmar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Digital Continuum: Player abuse, redemption and revolution

Kyle Horner — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

Lets go back about ten years or so to the original EverQuest. Now it isn't my intention to pick on any one game, I just happen to be more familiar with it than Ultima Online or Meridian 59. For the sake of immersion let me assume the role of a 1999 copy of EverQuest that you happen to be playing on your gaming machine back in the last year of the last century.

You just died in EverQuest. How dare you die! Since you had the nerve to be defeated in combat, you'll now be required to run from your binding point -- which could potentially be very far away -- to your dead body, which contains all of your equipment and bags that just happen to hold all of your inventory. If you fail to do this, then you lose all of these items. Oh but you've already lost some experience and possibly de-leveled if you happened to have recently leveled up.

Hey! Why are you logging out? So what if you think you'd rather play Half-Life right now, this is the game you're paying for monthly. Don't you think you'd better get the most out of it? Hah! See? I knew you were only bluffing. All right, now get to running, noob.

Continue reading The Digital Continuum: Player abuse, redemption and revolution

The Digital Continuum: Player abuse, redemption and revolution originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: A beautiful snowy night

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

With all the exciting news coming out of Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational this year, many people are turning their eyes back to World of Warcraft to see what changes are coming. Today we have a lovely One Shot from Brumbleby the Dwarven Warrior, who decided to send this snowy shot along, evoking the icy feel of so many of the Wrath of the Lich King promotional materials we've seen to date. He sets up the scene for us: "After examining his prey to see if it had anything of use on its person, Brumbleby looked around and noticed that, amidst all of the carnage, bloodshed and loss, the world of Azeroth still was beautiful."

Are you once again (or perhaps for the first time) turning your eyes to the Azerothian skies? If you've snapped a lovely screenshot from your favorite game (no matter the MMO) we'd love to see it! Send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your quick description of what we're seeing in the screenshot. Yours could be next!

Gallery: One Shots

One Shots: A beautiful snowy night originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fight that WoW pudge with the Wii Fit board

Akela Talamasca — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Video, Game mechanics, Tips and tricks

When you watch the video embedded above, you may think it's just another weird hack by people with too much time on their hands. But right about the 00:44 mark, suddenly you see the potential: working off that World of Warcraft bulge!

Yes, these enterprising souls have managed to turn the Wii Fit balance board into an alternative method for traversing the Azerothian landscape. Of course, the health benefits are mitigated by the fact that there's no way you'll be able to balance on the board while trying to manipulate a keyboard at the same time, even if you are a macros master. But if you're desperate for some sort of exercise and can't abide the thought of actually going outside, this might be the device for you.

Fight that WoW pudge with the Wii Fit board originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gameplay Wishlist: WotLK travel guide

Akela Talamasca — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, Culture, Expansions, Opinion, Academic

Our recent in-depth look at the flood of information concerning World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion gave us some cause for speculation. Specifically, the news about the multiple-rider mounts has given us an intriguing idea for a new way to make money in-game.

There are two levels to this idea, and they both revolve around players who don't have access to high-speed mounts of their own. One briefly wonders why this change in transportation was implemented, but only briefly. Once the possibilities become clear, there will undoubtedly arise new uses for the piggyback functionality that are still somewhat nebulous at this stage. With no further ado, our ideas after the jump.

Continue reading Gameplay Wishlist: WotLK travel guide

Gameplay Wishlist: WotLK travel guide originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 May 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Azeroth a red state or a blue state?

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Real life, Contests, Events, real-world, Professions, News items, Politics, Humor

We knew there were geeks in the writer's stable at Comedy Central, but now it's confirmed: there are gamers, too. For their Indecision 2008 site, Comedy Central has put together a handy one-sheet of the three major candidates, and what they will need to focus on to win the votes of various classes in World of Warcraft.

Anyone with general knowledge could have put this together, but there's one particular bit that makes us think at least one writer is a WoW player: For the Druid vote, Hilary Clinton needs to understand that they dislike that "Her dominant stance disrupts Feral Combat spells." Look over the list and see if you can find the candidate who best represents your character!

[Via TenTonHammer]

Is Azeroth a red state or a blue state? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Someone at Legends of Norrath has been playing too much WoW

William Dobson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Trading card games, Humor

File this under "Hilarious", and "Fairly Embarrassing". Featured at Cuppytalk, we see a screenshot taken from Legends of Norrath (click the picture for a full-sized version). It appears an epic battle has just been won, and upon close examination of the stirring victory message, something isn't quite right:

You have defeated the Bridge Keeper and all three of the Royal Family of Di'zok to become the rulers of the castle of Chardok! The bards and troubadours of Azeroth will sing your praises for years to come!

That's right, your great deed is so immense that it transcends game universes. Now all that's left is to find out where the portal between the two is, so that you can meet up with your new fans in distant lands.

Someone at Legends of Norrath has been playing too much WoW originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comic Watch: Shakes and Fidget explain the Burning Crusade races

Akela Talamasca — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Opinion, Comics, Races, Humor, Comic Watch

Oskar Pannier & Marvin Clifford are the creators of 'Shakes and Fidget', a webcomic set in the World of Warcraft universe. Shakes and Fidget are a human and gnome, respectively, and they travel Azeroth for the sole purpose of getting into trouble, apparently. This works out well for all of us, as seen in this strip, entitled 'A New World', as they travel through the Dark Portal and meet the two new races from the Burning Crusade expansion.

I have to hand it to any author who uses the word 'invidious'. In fact, I'm gonna start up a webcomic wherein every episode features a ten-cent word for your reading pleasure. The main character is a dinosaur named Thesaurus Rex. You can make Paypal donations to my personal email address.

Comic Watch: Shakes and Fidget explain the Burning Crusade races originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Outdoing WoW at its own game

Kyle Horner — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion

Yesterday, Tobold made a post concerning the question of whether or not World of Warcraft can be, well, "out-WoWed" -- as he puts it. The game he proceeds to create via his list o' features is aimed at an even more casual audience than the one already playing in Azeroth. After reading through the list and considering its intent to draw in a much more casual market, we sort of feel confused.

Continue reading Outdoing WoW at its own game

Outdoing WoW at its own game originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Here Without You

Moo Money — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Video, Cinemassively, Machinima

One of the best machinimas created in World of Warcraft was actually made almost three years ago, and still lives on in machinimators today. With over 20,000 videos uploaded to Warcraftmovies, Here Without You, by Dimoroc, was one of the first 1200. Many filmmakers have since tried to replicate the raw emotion evoked in this video, but few have succeeded.

Here Without You centers around the origin of a Forsaken, from how he came to be, to how he's haunted by his past. Using only music and interactions, instead of dialogue, Dimoroc was able to create a moving display of love. After posting this video, he disappeared, which is a real shame, because he helped pave the way for so many talented machinimators after him.

[Via Warcraftmovies.com]

Cinemassively: Here Without You originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Escapist spends a day in the life of a WoW addict

Kyle Horner — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Events, real-world

So when you read the title up there, did you think that this story was going to be a downer? We did too, until it read through this very engrossing article. Written by Stacey Allen, the entire thing explores her rise to a gamer with the help of her husband and her (and his, of course) eventual magnetic meeting with World of Warcraft. It's a very enjoyable read that explores her various experiences with gaming more than anything else.

We couldn't help but feel a bit moved by the whole thing, which does end with a snap back to WoW. Still, when you hear about all those relationships destroyed or families torn asunder and then read this article it really puts a contrastive light on the whole issue. Stacey and Michael have found a way to stay close to each other, even if that happens to be traipsing around Azeroth each night. It would be nice if there were more stories like this, not just about WoW but about gaming in general.

The Escapist spends a day in the life of a WoW addict originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Moon over Bloodmyst

Elizabeth Harper — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

World of Warcraft's Bloodmyst Isle has a fascinating sky -- going from brilliant red during the day to this tranquil purple in the evening. Reader John sent us this shot with little explanation, so we can only take it at face value: as a lovely scene of the moon rising over Azeroth's shores. (Also available in wallpaper size.)

One Shots lives on a steady diet of your screenshots! Snapped a good screenshot lately? Tired of seeing the same old games featured? Send us shots from your favorite game! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com.

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One Shots: Moon over Bloodmyst originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Westfall can be a scary place

Elizabeth Harper — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:35:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

You wouldn't think that Westfall, one of World of Warcraft's starter (level 10-20 or so) zones, would be a scary place. However, perhaps for Twinkletowz, the level 13 pink-haired Gnome warrior (for those who don't play WoW, yes, there is such a thing, and those little anklebiters can be a fierce as any Orc!), this buzzard in the moonlight provided a confrontation of epic proportions. For animal-lovers in the audience, we're told that buzzards were harmed in the making of this screenshots -- virtual buzzards, at least.

One Shots lives on a steady diet of your screenshots! Snapped a good screenshot lately? Tired of seeing the same old games featured? Send us shots from your favorite game! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com.

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One Shots: Westfall can be a scary place originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: A Darkshore river

Elizabeth Harper — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

Reader Chord on World of Warcraft's Icecrown realm offers us this shot of Darkshore in Kalimdor. This particular shot of the forest catches the scenery at its most pastoral -- for much of the landscape maintains grey tones and a tired appearance of faded grandeur. (And if you like it, it's also available in wallpaper size.)

One Shots lives on a steady diet of your screenshots! Snapped a good screenshot lately? Tired of seeing the same old games featured? Send us shots from your favorite game! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com.

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One Shots: A Darkshore river originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Thunder Bluff in the morning

Elizabeth Harper — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:05:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

Arka of the World of Warcraft realm Dragonblight who tells us, "I have a hobb .. obsession with taking screenshots. I just love how realitic WoW is compared to some of the scenes you might capture with a real camera." In this particular shot we're looking out across the Tauren capitol of Thunder Bluff sparkling in the morning sun. So what do you prefer -- game screenshots or photographs? (Also check the wallpaper-sized version!)

Snapped any good screenshots recently? Send them to us so we can feature your screenshot and story for tomorrow's One Shots! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com.

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One Shots: Thunder Bluff in the morning originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ron Paul march in Azeroth

Mike Schramm — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Raiding, News items, Virtual worlds

Here's video via Gamepolitics.com of the march that took place last night in Azeroth (a.k.a. the World of Warcraft) to support Ron Paul, a Republican candidate for the president of the United States. We originally reported on this topic over at WoW Insider (which, if I may say so, was one of the reasons so many people showed up), and we'll have more coverage of the march last night there soon.

But while Gamepolitics gives a good man-on-the-scene writeup, they also avoid the real question here: does real-world politics belong in a world like Azeroth at all? No one questions it when politicians show up in Second Life-- in fact, the few Second Lifers I know take it as a badge of honor that their world is important enough to host those folks. And certainly there are places where politics don't belong-- on WoW's roleplaying servers, discussion of the real-world is a no-no.

But let's not forget that we players aren't just avatars in a game- we're real people with opinions of our own to express, whether they be political or otherwise. Whether they should have or not (and many players on Whisperwind, where the rally took place, where extremely unhappy with the queues and congestion on their server last night), they expressed those opinons last night.

Update: Looks like Paul also wins the presidential naming race.

Ron Paul march in Azeroth originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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