Category Archives: wow-players

Breakfast Topic: Who’s the most unlikely WoW player you’ve met?

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

I first started playing WoW during the open beta right before launch. It was my freshman year at college, and I had eagerly awaited its release since reading a magazine article almost two years before, as I had been playing since the first Warcraft RTS game. While I was excited like a 6-year-old bound for Disneyland, however, very few of the people I knew even knew of the game's existence.

A few weeks after release, I came into my dorm room, which I shared with an international student from Malaysia. Although we were both computer science majors, the cultural and language barriers had yet to really be broken. Surprisingly, when I walked in, I noticed him at his computer, riding through Desolace on a human mage. While I was, am, and always will be a Hordie, WoW managed to break the ice for us.

A few years later, I was working at a pizza shop full of non-gamers. One of the guys working there, a mohawk-sporting gearhead, just so happened to be another fellow WoW player (albeit another Alliance). Shortly after returning to the game late last year, I was working with a person who was on work release from prison. While I was giving him a ride back to the jail one day, he revealed that he couldn't wait to be finished with his sentence so he could try out ToC, which had just dropped at the time. Even more exciting, he was another Horde player.

I've met some unlikely WoW players in real life, and it's made me some unexpected new friends. What about you? Tell us about some of the most unlikely WoW players you've met in your real life.

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Breakfast Topic: Who's the most unlikely WoW player you've met? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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15 Minutes of Fame: In search of fascinating players

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From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame.

We're looking for fascinating people! 15 Minutes of Fame is on the lookout for people who've managed to work WoW into or around their lives or play the game in new and interesting ways. Know someone who fits the bill? Is there a type of player you'd like to hear more about? Tell us!

I know this guy ... Know someone exceptional? It could be someone who plays the game in an interesting way or has achieved remarkable goals in game, or it could be someone who does something interesting outside of the game and manages to bring those ideas and perspectives to the game. Maybe you don't know this player personally, but you know about their accomplishments in game or out and are curious to learn more about their approach to World of Warcraft. Tip us off -- maybe we'll feature your nominee! Tell us in one paragraph what makes your nominee a remarkable WoW player. (We've met a lot of inspirational guild leaders in our time; if you're going to nominate a GM, give us specific examples of what makes this leader stand out from so many others.) Send us your tips, including a way or at least an idea of how to reach your nominee, to lisa@wowinsider.com.

Looking for members Is your guild planning to hit Cataclysm content completely blind -- no spoilers, no strats, no foreknowledge of what's to come? We want to hear from you! But wait -- blind raiders are far from the only players we're searching for. We're looking for a whole host of different types of players for a possible turn in the 15 Minutes of Fame spotlight. Hit the jump to find out if you might know (or be!) any of the players we're currently seeking.

Continue reading 15 Minutes of Fame: In search of fascinating players

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15 Minutes of Fame: In search of fascinating players originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1.Local]: Gigantic

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Yes, I am just naming this column after Pixies songs so I can embed them and not even attempt a theme. Thank you for noticing. I do have a gigantic love for many of our comments, though. They are fun to read and the threads are gigantically entertaining. I also really like when a gigantically different viewpoint is presented for discussion.

My love for the new guild perks in Cataclysm is gigantic, and so is Cyanea's:
This list is the reason why we couldn't have "guild talents" and why we get all of them instead.

Any hardcore PVE or PVP guild that doesn't have either the Honor point or the Hero point gain talent is not going to be competitive. A lot of more casual guilds could've easily picked them both up, but when you're in a hardcore guild striving for world/realm firsts or whatever the equivalent is for PVP you're going to go for the most effective point distribution, forcing players who do both (like me) or who are in a primarily PVE guild and mostly PVP and vice versa to leave their friends and find other guilds just to stay competitive.

All that whining about Guild Talents was pointless.
Pointless indeed. Turn the page for some more gigantically fun and/or interesting comments from the past week.

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[1.Local]: Gigantic originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1.Local]: Where is my mind?

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

I can tell you where my mind is. It's still pole dancing outside of Booty Bay after the Midsummer Flamefest. At least, that's where I think I left it. That's the last I remember knowing where it was. I should probably go check. Before I do, we have some comments to nod our heads and/or snicker over. First, the Roleplaying Spotlight goes to Bobury aka Razell:
Hi! It's Razzell here.

My parents were great researchers. If you could name it, they would study it. They studied alchemy, herbs, various creatures, blacksmithing, etc. Unfortunately, they were killed. I was at their house when Gnomeregan was invaded. My house was overrun with troggs. My parents were killed, their research destroyed. I escaped. I do miss them so. It is a good thing we are taking back Gnomeregan. For the Alliance, For Gnomeregan, and for the parents!
I, uh, hope you weren't expecting a theme this week, because I don't have one again. But go ahead and turn the page for some more themeless fun.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Where is my mind?

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[1.Local]: Where is my mind? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1. Local]: I’m a slacker

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Hi. My name is Robin Torres and I'm a slacker. I have totally slacked on my [1. Local] duties for weeks now, so I have tons of goodies stored up for this time. I know that the above video is called Loser and not Slacker, but it still seemed appropriate. I would have embedded the Glee version, but those never stay up very long. Anyone who has ever worked retail must appreciate that version of the -- oh, great. Now I'm slacking and writing at the same time.

A couple weeks ago, we talked about a guy named Mr. Green and a Spineless Jellyfish GM in Drama Mamas. An alternate solution to ours was suggested:

Russ: You could always lure Mr. Green into the Billiards room, hand him a candlestick, and drag Mr. Body into the room and accuse him of murder!

Grovinofdarkhour: But everybody knows, it was Professor Plum, in the Study, with the Revolver. So that would never work.

I hope you weren't looking for continuity this week, because that's not going to happen. We've got too many fun and insightful things to go over to try to squeeze them into a coherent theme. It's all my fault, because I'm a slacker. So let's just turn the page and have at it.

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[1. Local]: I'm a slacker originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1. Local]: Tooting of horns

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Tootoootoootoooooot! Yeah, I'm about to toot my own horn -- well, the horn I share with fellow Drama Mama Lisa. We so rarely get to hear the results of the advice we give on Drama Mamas, but last week we got the best feedback ever. Tootootooooot! We told AFK to make it work, and he responded:
Hey, Drama Mamas!

I really appreciate your answering my questions. You weren't kidding when you said that you were going to do a lot of finger wagging.

I read your answers, and I read the comments as well. I found Arann and Soonerwolf's comments especially helpful. I talked to my wife today about setting a date night every week for just the two of us, a family day to spend uninterrupted time with our toddler, and a personal day where we are to pursue individual activities. She actually really liked the idea. My wife has told me that she feels neglected before, but I spend every moment that I am not at work with her. I guess guaranteeing her a night together every week was something she wanted all along.

Lisa, Robin, and all of the commentators: thanks so much for your input,
AFK
Tootootoooooot! We've got more horns to toot. I may even toot my own horn again, I haven't decided yet. You'll just have to look after the break to see.

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[1. Local]: Tooting of horns originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 17 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1. Local]: Hey

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Hey.

Reader comments have been cracking us up all week. From completely inane threads to humorous ways of explaining things, compiling this week's sampling has given me the giggles. There were some serious, insightful comments as well, of course. In fact, we'll start off with one from Drama Mamas. We answered a letter about some loot nastiness. A priest accidentally rolled need and won a weapon that a rogue wanted. Drama ensued. Scooter offered some added insight:
My friends and I call this situation the "Ticking Loot-Bomb Scenario". Basically the rogue was all set to go off on someone and the priest happened to cut the wrong wire. Everyone goes off like this at least once in their lives. It takes a level of maturity to recognize this in yourself and take action to calm down. Unfortunately this is something that even most adults never obtain.

It's also important to recognize when people do take that important deep breath and either calm down or remove themselves from the situation. The rogue should have just left the group. True, this inconveniences any friends/guild mates also on the run but 10 minutes of waiting for a replacement is still an improvement over 10 minutes of yelling.
There's a ticking funny bomb waiting to go off on the next page.

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[1. Local]: Hey originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 May 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1. Local]: Psychology

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

It's an interesting coincidence that so many quotables this week had something to do with our mental processes. For example, when Brian Wood pretended to interview Ghostcrawler for Scattered Shots, the faux-Ghostcrawler said the following:
Anyway, so the chimp has a lever, and when it pulls the lever it gets a piece of lettuce. Chimps like lettuce; it's tasty. So the chimp loves the experiment to death. Pull the lever, get more lettuce, eat the lettuce and pull the lever. Then after a while, the researchers change things up. One time, the chimp pulls the lever and gets a grape. Chimps love grapes; they're way better than lettuce. But then the chimp pulls the lever again and it goes back to getting lettuce. Now the chimp gets pissed off and throws the lettuce at the researchers.

So just a minute ago the chimp was loving the lettuce, and now it's insulted to be given that garbage. The lettuce didn't get any worse or any less tasty, but the chimp's perception of the value of the lettuce changed. MMO players are even more extreme -- in an MMO if the players even hear that we considered giving grapes, they'll suddenly be insulted with the lettuce that they loved until that point. So while we can't avoid every nerf, we really try to avoid as many as we possibly can.
Brian's favorite response was from Undra:
Ghostcrawler promised me a grape!
Promises, promises. I promise we have more psychology related comments and some that only slightly have to do with what's in our noggin. And I also promise no mention of sparkle ponies. Well, except that one. I broke my promise while making my promise. Wrap your noggin around that.

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[1. Local]: Psychology originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 02 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1. Local]: Chariots and cheats

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Dominic Hobbs, our warlock columnist, speculated about flying mounts for warlocks in this week's Blood Pact. He found the following suggestion the best one from the readers (though there were many):
Tidelord:

Dear Hobbs,

While I agree with your idea of Metamorphosis or sprouting wings, I find the thought of being carried by my shoulders by a Doomguard to be utterly demeaning, and if you have seen the model for Invincible and the new "Sparkle Pony," you would see that while the wings are ingenious, the steed itself has legs stumpier than a dwarf's!

No, my dear friend. For a warlock, the only mount suitable for us masters of shadow and fire is nothing else than an enormous, obsidian-black chariot with wheels made of the bones and skulls of magi, pulled by a pack of at least ten or twelve fel-green hellhounds.

The animation would be so full of demonic splendor and top-of-the-line graphics that it would cause the video card of any cowardly mage to explode violently.

Grow In Shadows-
Caneyn Ravenshield, Future Worgen Warlock
Continue reading for an in-depth discussion of cheating -- and what's this about breeding WoW.com staff?

Continue reading [1. Local]: Chariots and cheats

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[1. Local]: Chariots and cheats originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[1.Local]: Celestial RMT and the Fresh Steed

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Would it be wrong of us to lead off this week's [1.Local] with a comment from someplace other than WoW.com? This comment on Blizzard's astounding sales of the Celestial Steed comes from our sister publication, Massively, where one would think readers would be a little more objective about MMOs and microtransactions as a whole.
Pingles: I play Allods, a free-to-play cash shop game and have purchased items to support the game. So at first I was a bit perturbed at how anyone can accept a subscription game charging for things in a cash shop but I think that Blizzard may very well get a pass on this one.

The reason: WoW is a behemoth. People don't mind throwing $25 at something that ALL of their friends are going to see and that they envision spending the next few years playing with. This isn't just a game to some folks. This is a social and long-term commitment.

I have to admit that when I purchased a bag in Allods I wondered whether I'd be playing the game a year from now. I don't think folks wonder the same thing with WoW.
Back here at home at WoW.com, opinion about the new ride seems fairly split. Pull up a seat and let's chew on it some more. Oh, and you'll want to be sure to check out a truly epic take on the situation from [1.Local] regular (cutaia), whose fiancée Autumn Kosik created the headline photo, above. (Thanks for sharing!) Most definitely worth a trip to the end of the post.

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[1.Local]: Celestial RMT and the Fresh Steed originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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