Selling/giving epics, roleplay and endgame

Recently, I finally got a chance to catch up on WoW Radio's Farm Status show. One of the topics discussed was endgame guilds inviting people to instances and selling them epics.

On my server (EU Defias Brotherhood, RP/PvP), there's plenty of players who have no access to Molten Core. Not because they don't know how to play, but mainly because they don't apply to endgame guilds at all. Why? Roleplaying. Many guilds on our server were founded for that. For example, a tauren-only guild would lack the numbers, attendance, interest and the classes required to do endgame. However, there are always some players that like their RP guild atmosphere and their events, but would like to see endgame.

I was one of them. I started in a troll-only guild Second Gurubashi Empire at day 1 when the server went online. Because the guild had been planned for a while, it was one of the largest for quite some time. Because trolls have access to most classes (except druids and warlocks), we were planning to do at least Zul'Gurub on our own. However, problems started arising when the first people dinged 60. While they were happy doing other instances for a while, they eventually got the gear. Endgame was the only way to go to progress in PvE. Because not all of us were level 60, doing endgame in-guild was not an option. Eventually, they got frustrated waiting for the rest of us and joined endgame guilds, one by one. When a few more people dinged 60, some other 60ies left. We were almost able to do Zul'Gurub for several months.

The inability of the guild doing even the planned endgame (Zul'Gurub) was creating a lot of guild drama, causing tempers to flare. In-character grievances got mixed up with out-of-character grievances. Nasty stuff. Eventually, a solution was worked out. Raiding alliances. Find a few other large roleplaying guilds and do endgame with them. Raiding alliances have their own problems, so I'm not going to discuss them at length. Raiding alliances are not an option to everyone. Very small guilds would get rejected from raiding alliances, and managing a big alliance is hard due to incompatible egos and guild dynamics (how much weight should a small guild's voice have?).

At the same time, some endgame guilds on the server were getting bored doing Molten Core. Some people still needed one or two pieces of gear from there, but doing a full clear felt pointless for just a few items and a bunch of Nexus Crystals. Attendance suffered.

So there were plenty of good players interested in endgame scattered around the realm, but would not want to leave their current guilds due to various reasons. At the same time, there were endgame guilds with a temporary shortage of players.

Some time ago, one of the major endgame guilds (Last Stand) on our server started inviting people with them to Molten Core. Write a good application, and you can join them and pick up any epics they don't need. The guild gets a little temporary help and still gets plenty of core leather, fiery and lava cores, the loot they still need and other stuff. The lucky applicants get gear they couldn't even dream of, and valuable experience. They also get to stay in their own guilds and not "compromise" their characters' personality by giving up IC principles. Win-win.

WoW addicts at Australian TV

In other news, Australian TV discovers that it's not easy to play WoW when your guild is several timezones apart from you. In addition, getting angry over a videogame can leave lasting marks on your walls, sleep rhythm and even accent.

South Park Warcraft

The South Park episode about World of Warcraft is now online. Enjoy it while you can.

Pay no attention to the missing guild bank behind the curtain

AFK Gamer tells us about one of the most interesting ways to steal a guild bank.

Can DKP ever be fair?

Tobold raises an interesting point about the fairness of DKP. In my opinion, no loot system is perfect, and you need to take everything into account about your guild when choosing a loot system. Mine uses a loot council. While it can take into account a lot of different things, it's not perfect either. It's just better than the alternatives for us.

The Unguildables

AFK Gamer continues his adventures in the land of Guild Drama.

Screenshot of the new LFG system

The Nogg-a-holic team has released a screenshot of the new Looking For Group system.

Jeklik got a buff

About time.

Game theory in action

Apparently the PvE ruleset encourages cross-faction cooperation, even with PvP quests.

Ganking contest

Apparently there's a new contest in progress on the other side of the Atlantic. Gank someone, get a screenshot and you can win gold coins.

Absinthe elves

Lore Sjöberg gives us his.. unique view on the upcoming expansion.

Sons of the Storm

This extended maintenance has given me a chance to go through some of my link backlog on del.icio.us. While shifting through the links, I realized that I never checked out the galleries of Samwise & TwinCruiser on Sons of the Storm. I even found a bigger version of the gnome warrior I talked about earlier.

Extended Maintenance

Apparently Defias will be down for the day. I had some RP scheduled for today, so it must be rescheduled. Oh well.

Patch 1.12.1 imminent

Tomorrow is patch day. Included in the changes is the overhaul to the mount system I mentioned before. Other changes are fairly small, mostly bugfixes to the Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands World PvP objectives.

/me needs a hug!

The Emo Tank needs a hug.

Virtual sweatshops

The Times has an article about virtual sweatshops, as they call goldfarming operations. Nothing new there. But they are also mentioning "virtual muggings", where someone's account is stolen via a keylogger, his gear and items sold and profits mailed to the goldfarmers.

Interview of a Gold Farmer

Black Enterprise has interviewed a Gold Farmer.

Pictures of Burning Crusade bases

I stumbled upon some pictures of Burning Crusade bases, courtesy of the Second Gurubashi Empire.

Getting multiple mounts will be cheaper

Apparently, Blizzard has completely turned the current riding skill around. Learning to ride normal mounts now costs 90 gold, and learning to ride epic mounts costs 900 gold. Conversely, a normal mount costs only 10 gold, while epic mounts cost 100 gold. While this will practically have no effect on people who are just buying their first mounts, it will make having multiple mounts much easier. Because the riding skill is shared between all of your faction mounts, getting a different racial mount will be much cheaper. All you need is Exalted reputation and 100 gold per mount, not 1020 gold per mount (riding skill 20g, mount 1000g). However, the mounts are now bind-on-pickup, so you can't ask your friend with both the PvP and reputation discounts to buy the mount for you.

Update: Blizzard has now confirmed several times that the net effect will be the one that I described above. In addition, there will be a seamless transition for characters who already have mounts. Warlocks and Paladins will receive their appropiate riding skill when they finish their respective mount quests. AV and PvP mounts are a bit different, though. PvP mounts will only require the apprentice riding skill, despite being as fast as epic mounts. Alterac Valley mounts will require the journeyman skill. However, players who own either a PvP mount or an AV mount will receive the journeyman skill. All in all, it seems that this change should not cause any concerns for players that already have their mounts, and will help players who wish to own more mounts.

The festivities have started

The Anniversary War is in full swing. One of our "celebrities", Eain/Faye/Jhess wrote a piece about what Defias Brotherhood means to him.

Welcome to the Great Show

Relmstein is having some problems with one of my favourite bosses, Jin'do the Hexxer. He's got some of the tactics required right, but there's a few tidbits his guild hasn't noticed yet.

First of all, a feral druid tank. Bears can't get mind controlled. Secondly, DoTs are very effective on shades. They continue to tick even when the curse expires. Multishot and Chain Lightning also work. Finally, I think that they are not switching targets fast enough. Anyone who has the curse on him should DPS shades. If there's no shades in sight, then healing totems should go down ASAP. Then mind control totems. And only if there's nothing else to DPS, then the raid should DPS Jin'do. Thanks to the healing totem, you can't slack off even at 1%, because he'll quickly heal himself.

And to those who are wondering why I'm posting it here, the answer is simple. I have a Blogger Beta account, and those accounts can't currently post comments on normal Blogger blogs.

Burning Crusade mage clarifications

The Defias Messenger got new information on upcoming mage changes on the Burning Crusade. Apparently the Water Elemental is not on a timer, and won't despawn on his own. It's not intended as a tank, but as a source of extra ranged DPS. This makes the reagent cost much more tolerable. Ice Lance is currently underperforming, and will probably be changed as well. Invisibility will wipe aggro, but the post doesn't say whether it can be used on raid bosses.

Interactive Outlands map

Blizzard has released an interactive map of Outland. The interesting thing about is the large number of neutral and capturable towns. Almost every zone has one.

Packrat syndrome

I'm not alone. Other players also have problems with bag space. I also have to carry around my roleplaying gear and any trinkets or novelty pets I have.

So angry over a radio show!

Apparently there have been some.. differences in opinion at WoW Radio. KikiJiki, the former guild leader of Violent Noise and co-host of EPIC is leaving:

Just a small post to let any fans that I do have that [EPIC] shall not be airing again with it's original hosts. It's been made clear to me that the station doesn't want my input so I'm off.

There's no reply from TotalBiscuit yet, so I'm hedging my bets and waiting what he has to say.

TotalBiscuit has replied. Nothing on the reasons of the departure, but apparently if there is going to be a new show, it won't be called EPIC. He will tell more on Saturday.

A Voice from de Past

Melnerag,
originally uploaded by Shalkis.

One day, my work was interrupted by someone who I had.. worked wit in de past. I gave him a quick tour of de place, explained wat de bugs were and why I fought dem.

He filled me in on de news of de world. De Strand was movin', and mutual threats were once again on de verge of bein' forgotten. To fix dis, he had a plan dat required my cooperation. An overly optimistic plan, ya. But perhaps a leetle charade would prove useful in odder ways.. I agreed.

The Ones That Shall Not Be Named

Bot hitlists are once again a hot topic on Defias Brotherhood. And as always, I'm two minds about it. On one hand, interfering with bots can put a damper on their income. On the other hand, it's easy to slip into vigilantism and griefing of innocent players. In any case, there is a better place for bot sightings.

Scammers abound, film at 11

Apparently scammers are at it again. And like many other scams, World of Warcraft scams rely heavily on others' gullibility instead of some undetectable trick.

Trouble in de North

Reports are comin' in dat de Shinies are pickin' a fight in de North.

The Anniversary approaches

Defias Brotherhood, the server I play on, is almost 1 year old. To celebrate it, there are several World PvP events planned, ranging from normal town raids to capital city assaults. All of it is roleplayed, of course.

Tempers are flaring due to renewed fighting in Silithus and the Plaguelands. Old hatreds fester beneath the calm surface. Agents of chaos will try to assassinate a well-known and respected voice of peace. The resulting blame game will send both sides into a frenzy. Retaliation after retaliation fans the flames of war, driving all towards the brink of destruction. Meanwhile, guilds and individuals on both sides are trying to find the real perpetrators before all hope of peace is lost. And hope that there is still someone alive on the other side to talk to.

And of course, I won't be able to attend any of this.

Andonsius

Apparently, there are rumours of a little bonus available for people who reassemble the Atiesh.

Casual raiding

Jennie Lees of WoW Insider recently talked about hardcore raiding. I've been doing endgame raids for a few months now. I first started raiding in a roleplaying guild that was part of a raiding alliance, then moved to a mixed RP/PvP/PvE guild, and then moved into a PvE guild. I'll probably qualify as a casual raider. My current guild raids 5 days a week. 3 days on 40-mans (mostly BWL) and 2 days on 20-mans (Zul'Gurub, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and Onyxia).

Looking back at all that, raiding was most stressing in the beginning. Raid encounters have less room for error, and coordinating 20 or 40 people is a challenge in itself. We started in Zul'Gurub and eventually proceeded up to Hakkar. In the beginning, the most difficult thing to understand was cause-and-effect on bosses. Once you saw all their attacks in action and wiped due to them, the tactics started to be obvious. But that took a lot of wiping and a lot of bitter moments acknowledging that a certain boss wouldn't go down that night.

At the same time, I got my introduction in the so-called purple fever and the drama it can cause on guilds. Especially on bosses that you can down only rarely, seeing that once piece of loot you want drop can induce the "me me me"-syndrome in the best of people. If you don't know when you'll get another chance, you'll want to make the most of the chance you have now.

With the second guild, I got a taste of an another frustration in raiding: Not being able to kill a boss solely because of bad class balance or poor attendance. On day 2 in the new guild, half of the members left and founded a new guild. They were killing Majordomo Executus when I joined, and couldn't even get a Zul'Gurub group up at the worst.

So, on to guild number three. Jackpot. A casual guild that was close to killing Ragnaros when I joined. While being able to breeze through those encounters that were a headache before was certainly a bonus, the best thing was the atmosphere. Raids were not all-serious, nor required intense blame games after wipes. They were places to joke around and chat while getting nice loot.

In my opinion, there were two major reasons contributing to the atmosphere. First of all, it was a PvE guild, pure and simple. Everyone knew that PvE was why everyone was there for. Raids were not a distraction or something you did to keep existing members. It was the primary purpose of the guild, so people actually did prepare for raids. People did read tactics and discuss about what they needed to do. People who didn't know some details, were instructed without judging. People prepared their gear and consumables. And when the fight started, everyone was focused. Knowing that people next to you were doing their best was very reassuring.

The second major contributing factor was the loot system. Unlike the DKP system we used on the other guilds, this one uses a loot council. Because the councilors do reward sportsmanship, good attitude and generousity in addition to the usual metrics, boss kills ceased to be bloody fights about loot. Allowing someone else to get loot meant that you had better chances of getting loot later.

Sure, we wipe. Sure, sometimes tempers do flare afterwards. But day-to-day raiding is mostly hassle-free. We go in, have fun and kill bosses and get nice loot while doing it. We do focus just enough to take farmable bosses down. We're the kind of people who run to Garr's adds to get a free flight across the room. We have healers that moonfire Mandokir down. Our rogues tank Vaelastraz if the tanks are down. Our warlocks tank Onyxia. But we do have full focus on progress raids. We might not be the fastest guild progressing in endgame, but we do have loads of fun on the way.

Burning Crusade pics

Burning Crusade models have been dug out from the Alpha with the WoW Model Viewer. Some of them are untextured, but look quite interesting nevertheless. For example, the Naaru do look the same as they did in the early pictures. Apparently being an energy being gives you some liberties when it comes to body shapes.

Groundhog day

Have you ever felt that no matter you do, nothing changes? How many times have the town criers proclaimed victory against some for or another, only to do so again tomorrow? Congratulations, you have figured out that you have been living the groundhog day.

In World of Warcraft, the world is static. Anything you kill will be back sooner or later, even players. Why? Because a dynamic world would need an army of content developers and gamemasters to maintain. Let's deal with PvE first, because it's easier.

The current method allows the content to be re-used. Let's say that we start with a new server, and everyone starts at level 1. Eventually people are going to level up enough to clear the Deadmines and kill Edwin Van Cleef. Now what? Since he's dead, nobody else can kill him. The content designers will have to design something else for players to do. Now imagine that you have a few hundred other servers full of players as well. Even if you had an army of developers and gamemasters inventing new quests, you still wouldn't have enough. You'd always have more customers than staff.

The sad truth is that content is consumed faster than it's created. This is even clearer when dealing with endgame content. Let's look at Naxxramas, for example. It had been under production for months, maybe even years. Only bugs are holding the leading guilds back from completing it. Static PvE content is all about reusability. Players that have just recently started playing World of Warcraft have a huge amount of content for them to explore. Even players who have played WoW from the beginning still can enjoy a nice instance run or a guild raid. And if they start a new character, they have as much content as a newbie at their disposal. If they have played on just one faction, they have almost half of the game's content still unexplored.

PvP content is a bit trickier. A common complaint about PvP in World of Warcraft is that it doesn't change a thing. No matter how overwhelming you are in Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin or Alterac Valley, the next match is basically the same as previous one. The effect is even more apparent in World PvP, especially town raiding. Any guards you kill will be back in a few minutes. Even faction leaders will respawn in few hours. Even the skeletons disappear in a day.

But what would dynamic World PvP look like? We now have a glimpse of it in the form of Eastern Plaguelands towers. These can be captured, and the faction controlling them receive zonewide buffs. So far, so good. The buff's effect is minor enough not to unbalance the factions. No important NPCs are near the towers, so PvE content is not disrupted. The frequent killing of NPCs and the resulting impact on opposite faction PvE was the reason why dishonorable kills were implemented in the first place.

Those who were playing World of Warcraft at the time the honor system was introduced probably remember the Tarren Mill battles. While Blizzard did design the Hillsbrad Foothills as a hotspot, I doubt they anticipated the effect the introduction of the honor system had. Because Alliance had the majority on many servers, the Forsaken town of Tarren Mill was frequently sieged and all inhabitants killed. Combined with the major latency caused by several hundred combatants, the whole zone was practically unhabitable for Horde. Even if you could reach Tarren Mill before dying, all questgivers, vendors, innkeepers and even flight masters were dead, so there was nothing you could do there.

Due to the latency issues and resulting server instabilities, Blizzard had to intervene. They implemented two new features to discourage these crippling town raids. First, there was the concept of dishonorable kills. If a player killed a low-level important NPC, he would be penalized immediately with loss of honor. Somewhat paradoxically these civilians were also given a new skill: calling for backup. Civilians could yell for help and spawn some guards. At first these guard spawns were just a mere distraction, but then Blizzard changed it that guards would spawn for every player that wandered too close to a civilian. That meant that a 20-man raid group would spawn 20 guards per every civilian they passed. Even with a full level 60 raid, that is a significant hindrance. Pass a few civilians and you suddenly have hundreds of guards upon you. Thus, if you wanted to survive, either you stayed well away from the civilians or killed them very quickly.

The introduction of instanced Battlegrounds solved many problems. They offered lag-free combat among willing participants with no risk of dishonorable kills. The queuing system tried to ensure even teams. However, this PvP heaven came with a cost. Because it was simply faster to gain honor (and thus tangible rewards) with Battlegrounds, World PvP simply withered away on many servers.

In all it's flaws, World PvP had something that Battlegrounds have been unable to achieve: immersion. Defending the free orcs of Hammerfall against the human enslavers is completely different than chasing a piece of cloth in Warsong Gulch. Fighting on the blood-covered streets of Stormwind is different from spending a few hours fighting on an icy lake.

What would dynamic World PvP look like, then? In the early days, Blizzard promised plenty of World PvP, even siege engines. There are ballistas and catapults scattered around the world, but they are simply props. They serve no functional purpose whatsoever. Even if we stay at the level of Warcraft 3 and allow siege engines to destroy only trees, buildings and units, implementing them will be quite difficult. The concept of destroyable buildings is already in the game. The World of Warcraft engine is not capable of true structural damage (like in Red Faction or Silent Storm), so buildings would have hitpoints. Even controlling siege engines and designating firing zones would not be a problem. Mind Control and various devices already allow players to control other units. The details have been already solved by several real-time strategy games (including Blizzard's own).

However, the whole concept of destroyable buildings is troublesome. But what does this have to do with a static world? The sheer scale of World of Warcraft continues to be a problem. Even in it's miniature from, Azeroth is large. If destroyable buildings were implemented, the world servers would not only have to keep track of every mob and player in the world, but also the buildings. It also has reprecussions on client side. A common trick in many 3D engines is to include only those parts of the world in the calculations that the player can see. Because these visibility calculations can be costly, they are usually done beforehand. World of Warcraft also uses such visibility calculations. In addition to terrain, static objects like buildings, bridges and tunnels block visibility. But if those objects can be destroyed, the calculations cannot be done beforehand and thus the game cannot take advantage of them. Imagine how slow Stormwind would be if you could see the whole city from the Trade District.

But enough about mechanics. Let's get to the true killer of a persistent world: Lack of faction balance in numbers, attendance, levels, gear, skill and organization. Eventually, one faction will gain the upper hand. In a persistent world, they will be able to press that advantage, further skewing the balance. And eventually, they will capture or destroy all enemy settlements and defeat the racial leaders. A miniature version of this happens every day in Alterac Valley. So once the racial leaders have been killed and the capitals are in flames, now what?

While the war up to the final victory/defeat might be fun, it is also anticlimatic. And unless you want to run into the same problems in PvP as in PvE (running out of content), the world would have to be reset after every conclusion of the war. Or the ultimate victory/defeat would have to be prevented by a GM. Both distrupt immersion. Which is more immersion-breaking? Moving from one nondescript day to an another, or having a continent in ruins miraclously restored?

More serious problems arise after a few rounds of the war. Due to human nature, we prefer to be on the winning side. So if one faction starts to dominate, they will attract more people. The faction balance will only get worse. The winners will be bored of easy victories, and the losers are frustrated with fighting against impossible odds. They will switch factions, servers or quit altogether. Eventually, there will be nobody to fight. New players will shun the losing faction, because leveling up when the enemy controls 90% the world will be quite difficult. There are already servers where the faction balance is 90-10.

There are of course games which try to have a persistent PvP world. But they have once advantage over World of Warcraft: Multiple factions, or even player-created factions. A three-way struggle for power is more likely to end in a stalemate. Warcraft, on the other hand, has always been about two warring factions, only deviating slightly in Warcraft 3. The only currently possible candidates for the third faction would be either the Goblin Cartels, or Illidan's servants. With the inclusion of Blood Elves in the Horde and the Draenei in the Alliance, Illidan's possible faction lost a lot of the uniqueness, leaving only the Naga as an unique race. And the goblins currently have a very cushy position as a neutral faction, with an income flow from both factions. Open warfare would be quite costly. So it is very doubtful that there will be a third faction anytime soon, and thus no persistent game world for PvP.

Burning Crusade profession rumors

Apparently alchemists can now get specializations, and engineers are deputized to help in potionmaking. Enchanters get a bunch of new enchants, including a +12 spell damage ring enchant. Judging from the engineering item names, the new metals will be Fel Iron (probably minable near Hellfire Citadel), Khorium, Adamantite and Eternium. There's one thing that caught my eye, though. A portable mailbox. Great, now I have two things I can make for raids.

I want you to.. %&!?!% my $#&%¤

Shiro got her hands on some Draenei and Blood Elf voice emotes. While the Blood Elves seem to be able to make friends among their new allies quite quickly, I think that the real winners are the Draenei. Any race that beats gnomes and uses goblin jumper cables in their mating rituals can't be that bad.

Delusions of Grandeour

Boosting can be dangerous.

Light in the Dark

Silithus. The land of sand, crystals and forgotten sorrows. The wars are over, the armies returned, old horrors forgotten.

The champion of the Bronze Flight has not been seen for months.. Rivalries have once again arisen, and former cooperation is only a distant memory. Former comrades in arms fight over.. dust, and the Bronze Flight has turned away in disgust. The Spider Queen has not contacted me, so I have spent my time on trivial things. But that was about to change.

It was quite a surprise when they proposed it. To re-establish contact with the Timeless One and his servants.. A reasonable plan. Among the chaos, potential friends must not be forgotten. But.. why me?

I am not the most diplomatic one among the Noise, nor the most heroic. Sure, I had made a small contribution in the Second War of the Shifting Sands, but.. Me?

The desert was as repulsive as always. The everpresent humming had not quieted down, quite the contrary. Sand still got into every nook and crevice. And the heat.. This is no place for a Frostmane. Windclaw's nervous movements suggested that he was not fond of this place, either. Most wildlife had tough exoskeletons, and those that could be cracked open were often poisonous. I would have to do most of the hunting without him. I rode towards Cenarion Hold. The guards have stopped giving me dirty looks. But the mistrust of others still lingers in the air like the breath of a dwarf. I best do my business here quickly and start my work.



Nalith picked up his glaives from the rack. The freezing winds howled around the tower of Cenarion Hold. This is the shift he hated the most, just before sunrise. Elune's light would soon be replaced by the blinding, scorching, merciless sun.

"Elune'dora, Nalith."
"I hate mornings."
"We all have our burdens to carry, Nalith. You were lucky that Commander Mar'alith let you off so easy. A month or two and you'll be back on night shift."
"The sun isn't up yet, and it's freezing."
"You could have ended up in the midday shift."
"Point taken. Wait.. what was that?"
"What was what?"
"That flicker of light.. Over there, in Hive'Ashi."
"Oh, right. You haven't been on the night shift."
"Stop reminding me. What is it?"
"It's a troll."
"Troll? You're not making any sense. "
"She sets off every evening. She always picks up some combat assignments, and then comes back in the morning. She doesn't even read them."
"What did you expect? It's a troll, right?"
"What do you think is causing those flashes? She has the stench of magic on her. I think she can read well enough."
"But if she.. It is not there for serving the Circle, why.."
"I know what you are thinking, Nalith. She is not one of the cultists."
"How can you be so sure?"
"You'll see, or rather smell it yourself when she comes back. Last time Innkeeper Calandrath sent the troll to Un'Goro to bathe before she allowed her to touch her beds."
"Ugh. Savages."
"It seems that you'll have to wait a bit longer, though. The flashes are moving towards one of the entrances to the hive."
"Enough of the troll, please. It's almost dawn. You should get some sleep, esteemed sister."



High up in the sky, a lone beast glided along, blocking out the stars..

Choose Your Weapon

Baromir is at it again, this time lecturing about primitive guns and their effectiveness against armor.

Anatomy of a Gold Farmer

There are five stages in any gold farming operation:

1. Gathering
2. Storage
3. Marketing
4. Sales
5. Delivery

There are ways to interfere with any point of the chain.

First, gathering. This is done via a small army of automated programs. In other words, bots. These bots are usually hunters, and are equipped with easily obtainable loot, like bind-on-equip rare items. These bots are then sent to work on carefully selected areas of the world, where there's appropiate prey that can be safely killed with the limited intelligence of the bot, yet drop good enough loot to be sold. Popular places for bots are Felwood, Burning Steppes, Blasted Lands, Deadwind Pass, and pretty much any area where there's high-level non-elite mobs or easy elite mobs. Hunters are the most popular bot type because of their pet and Feign Death. The pet keeps the bot itself from any harm, and it can Feign Death when necessary to save it's life.

The gatherer bots generally don't do a very good job at impersonating real players. They rarely responed to interference, unless the bot is directly attacked. While the bot is clumsy and can be easily dispatched by a human player, attacking the bots is in general a futile attempt. Blizzard has a hard time detecting these bots, because they technically do nothing that could automatically be monitored and detected. Vigilante players can hunt the bots and even make the bot lose gold instead of gaining it. This is accomplished by tagging the target mobs before the bot can hit them, causing the bot to gain no benefit from killing that mob. Unfortunately, the only loss at this case is the wasted use of ammo, which is quite cheap. Another trick that can be used is to either draw additional mobs to the bot, or weaken the bot by attacking it so that the mob it is fighting can finish it off. This results in repair costs, and if done enough, can force the bot to return to a city to repair. However, even this effect is neglible. Why? While it does make the bot less efficient, it is still relentless when compared to human players. No human will harass the bot 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When the human gets tired, the bot will resume making pure profit. In addition, there are usuall multiple bots scattered around the world, so distrupting one will only make a slight dent in profit. Reporting a bot can shut it down altogether, but a smart goldfarmer uses multiple bots to make sure that the gold keeps flowing. In addition, Blizzard seems to favor banning lots of bots at once, instead of banning them one by one.

Secondly, there's storage. After the gold has been gathered, either by farming or selling the gathered items, it needs to be stored to wait for potential buyers. A naive way to detect storage accounts would be to monitor the amount of gold in the account. This is easily thwarted by distributing the gold evenly across multiple accounts. In addition, this reduces potential loss if Blizzard does shut down one of the storage accounts. A better way to detect storage accounts is to follow the money. Unlike normal exchanges between players, the flow of gold is overwhelmingly one-way. Farmer bots get gold and send it to storage accounts. Storage accounts then send it onwards. While the goldfarming operation might try to "launder" the gold by sending it through multiple accounts, the general flow still remains. If Blizzard were to employ a retired financial crime investigator, for example, methods could be devised to detect these flows of gold automatically.

Third, there's marketing. Once the gold is collected, the goldfarming operation needs to find buyers. This is mostly done with website ads. The websites are beyond Blizzard's control, so they can do little to stop this. There are plenty of ISPs that do not honor takedown requests from American companies such as Blizzard. However, some marketing is done in-game by throwaway accounts. Bots spamming advertisements in-game are easily detected. Not only they use predetermined phrases, they also tend to annoy a lot of legit players, which in turn results in the advertisement bots getting banned quickly. However, the profit margins of gold farmers allow them to just buy (or otherwise acquire) a new license and resume advertising. Advertising bots do not even try to hide themselves.

The fourth phase is making the sale. This is overwhelmingly done via the goldfarmer's website, so there's little Blizzard or individual players can do to stop it from happening.

Finally, there's delivery. While the goldfarmers might try to "launder" the gold or items by funneling them through several accounts, the buyer still needs to receive an unusual amount of goods. Large transfers of gold can be detected easily, so a smart goldfarmer will probably use several accounts to transfer the merchandise in small amounts. Still, the end result is the same. A certain player received a sudden influx of money. And this is what Blizzard can easily detect automatically and start to follow the flow of gold back to it's source. However, this process is somewhat slow, because verifying each chain of the link requires some manual labor. Blizzard does not want the bad publicity of accidentally banning large amounts of innocent players, who might have bought items in-game from the farmers, not knowing that they were doing so. Eventually, Blizzard will map the whole network of the goldfarmer and then ban all of the farmer's accounts in one sweep.

It has been argued by TotalBiscuit and others that banning accounts in batches is not enough. While Blizzard tracks down the farmer's network, he can continue making profit. So when Blizzard finally closes down his operation, he can simply start over with the profit he has already gained. On the other hand, banning farmer bots quickly will reduce the time they will generate merchandise for the farmer. However, this leaves the rest of the farmer's "network" intact. While Blizzard can obviously follow the money from the banned account and track down at least some other accounts, it will not shut down the farmer's operation altogether. All they have to do is to acquire some more licenses and set up more bots. In addition, banning only certain bots will alert the goldfarmer that Blizzard has caught up to them. Unless the gold farmer itself is caught by law enforcement, banning individual bots is a hindrance at best.

The Four have fallen

Death and Taxes have downed the Four Horsemen. That's an another world first for them.

New Forums

The new Forums of Defias Brotherhood are now online.

Addons are bad, mmkay?

Whily I symphatize with healbots that raid, some addons can simply be hazardous.

It's a small world

Athlithuil points out that the Azeroth we know is severely scaled down, so there's lots of room for locations for roleplaying stories.

As always, I'm two minds about it. On the other hand, I am for promoting realism, not being constrained by game mechanics and thus improving immersion. But on the other hand, I am against taking too much liberties with the lore. It can easily lead to a bunch of player-made retcons whenever a new RPG book or a novel is published. And there is always the temptation of godmodding and making yourself a bigwig of some imaginary village.

The Azeroth we know is a miniature version of the true Azeroth. Even traveling between zones would take days. In "Day of the Dragon", it takes days to fly from Southshore to Wetlands. The in-game flight is five minutes at most. This miniaturization is necessary to keep the game interesting with the current amount of content. We'd need a lot of semi-randomly generated filler content, like in Oblivion. But Oblivion also has a time-accelerating autotravel to keep players from getting bored when they do not want to explore all of this fluff. That can't be done in an MMORPG. So players need to imagine all of this. Imagine if just getting to an instance took 45 minutes or more. Imagine if just moving a PvP raid to the location took hours instead of 30 minutes. Miniaturization is necessary to keep the game interesting.

The Sandman

It seems that there's a new super-villain in town.

Kill, kill, kill

Another day, another whine. The Alliance Watch, the largest guild doing World PvP on Defias raided Tarren Mill. And then they raided it some more, until there were nobody to raid. Then the resurrection timers started running out, and there was again people to raid.

Having been on the receiving end of a TAW raid on several occassions, I have to say that resurrecting is a challenge, to say the least. The question is whether this is intentional or just a side effect of town raids. Especially when you attack places with a big guardspawn, like Tarren Mill, Refuge Pointe or Stonard, it is hard to see whether that enemy on half health just resurrected or was simply wounded from fighting one of your friends.

Resurrection timers are also problematic, because it's easy to think that you gave your enemies time to mend their wounds and regroup properly, when they have simply been waiting for a chance to resurrect. Making an another attack whenever the resurrection timers are up can easily be seen as corpsecamping, even if there was no ill will.

The Chapter

The Chapter is recruiting. It is a roleplaying guild that mixes the medieval Catholic Church with the official Alliance belief in the Holy Light.

This is interesting for a variety of reasons. First of all, the Holy Light is obviously inspired by the real Catholic Church. In fact, in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, there are direct references to God, angels and demons. These references were later replaced to references to more generic terms. God got replaced by the non-personal philosophy of the Holy Light. Angels got replaced by the Naaru and demons got replaced by the various races of the Burning Legion. The Chapter attempts to change this back somewhat. While I'm not a Blizzard developer, I would guess that the change was originally made to avoid any clashes with current religions. Warcraft was originally released a year after Doom, in the middle of the controversy about Doom's infernal imagery. Warcraft 2, which was released a year after Warcraft 1, had already gotten rid of God, angels and demons.

Now the Chapter is adding elements from medieval Catholicism into the mix. This can open a huge can of worms. There are already Christian guilds on many servers that actively recruit only Christian players and try to convert others. What happens if someone cannot keep the in-game religion separate from the real-world religion? Let's say that a Christian member of the Chapter encounters a staunch atheist, and tries to convert him in-character. Any insults could be taken very personally. Religion in general is a subject where calm, rational discussions are somewhat rare.

The second interesting aspect of the Chapter is that they rewrite some lore. They claim (at least in-character) that their holy book has been written by Uther Lightbringer himself, a very important (and deceased) NPC in the Warcraft universe. They also claim that prominent paladin NPCs in the game endorse them. This smells strongly of metagaming, because the NPCs can neither endorse or rebuke them. In essence, the Chapter is latching on to the credibility of the NPCs, so this decision can result in heated discussions (both in-character and out-of-character), of what Uther did and did not do. Again, these discussions could turn personal quite quickly.

End of the Bell Curve for PvP, Bloodlust for Shamans!

WoW Insider is reporting some big news about the Burning Crusade.

First of all, the current ladder system of PvP will be abdolished. This is great news. This eliminates the problem of having to compete with your own faction. This means that your team will no longer focus on killing enemies instead of trying to capture the flag in Warsong Gulch, exclude you from their Arathi Basin premade group, or have to work out High Warlord / Grand Marshal rotations for different weeks.

Second, there's information about the new shaman and paladin skills. Paladins get an AoE taunt buff that will help them function as offtanks in an emergency, and shamans get bloodlust. Finally. While it may not be as powerful as in Warcraft 2 (+50% melee damage), it's still great news.

What they didn't mention was how they are going to keep the factions different enough from each other to make the choice matter. Personally, I would love to have racial spells and skills for each class. The priests have them, and fighting a dwarven priest is somewhat different from fighting a Forsaken priest.

Torment, And A Woman Starts to Die

Heresy is feeling moody once again.

New Born

Gharb is feeling romantic again. And what better way to woo undead females than a killing spree?

Honor?

WoW Insider has done some math on the new Honor kill diminishing returns.

Basically, instead of losing 25% honor each kill, you only lose 10%. So opponents will stop giving honor after the 10th kill, instead of 4th kill. While this does increase honor received from each kill, it does not result in getting ranks faster. Everyone else is also getting more honor, so the net advantage is zero.

The other changes are more interesting. Blizzard will also tweak the maths to increase the allowed number of top-rank players on a server, so getting ranks will be easier. But the real kicker is a rumored change to the honor decay formula. In effect, you currently have to regain 20% of your total contribution points every week to avoid losing contribution points. While the effect is barely visible in lower ranks, it does make the last few ranks a grueling experience. Think of it as an accelerating treadmill. You have to run faster and faster just to stay where you are. Getting the last ranks does require unhealthy amounts of PvPing.

The rumored change would reduce the decay rate to 5%, which means that keeping ranks is easier and the majority of effort actually goes to advancing in ranks instead of maintaining the current rank. This can dramatically cut down on the time that aspiring Grand Marshals and High Warlords need to invest in full-time PvPing.

In the heart of the plague

Etienne is rescued in the brink of time, Syskae can breathe easily. At least for a moment.

The Cat that tamed the Dawg

Jondalar, the poetic elf, has a new female on his sights.

Chronicles of the Gold Farmer 2- Ni Hao This!

Continuing on the goldfarmer theme.. TotalBiscuit is at it again, tormenting goldfarmers. The previous episode of the Chronicles is also available.

Hunting season

Apparently some players on Defias Brotherhood have become sick and tired of bots and started dealing out vigilante justice. While I despise gold selling and acknowledge that the server ruleset allows and encourages hunting, I also expect that this vigilantism has all the downsides as real vigilantism. In other words, lots of innocent people get ganked.

Roleplaying power?

How do you roleplay differences in power in a world where game mechanics say that everyone is equal?

I recently got engaged in a flamewar about a roleplaying incident, which led to accusations of godemoting. Basically, in the incident a noble was talking with his friend in a known player-run bar, the Smoking Blade. He was repeatedly asked to leave, but he refused. Was this bad roleplaying or not?

If you look at the incident in pure in-character perspective, the bar staff would probably have been unable to eject the said noble by force. Still, there would have been consequences to be involved in a bar fight. Yet, because of game mechanics, there were no consequences. Actual fighting was impossible, and the NPC guards would not interfere. And both sides knew this. If the noble didn't want to move, the bar staffers could not make him to do so.

Out-of-character, the incident was much tougher to judge. Both the bar staff and the noble (along with his friend) are completely equal. Both pay the same amount to Blizzard. Neither of them can really own the building.

Now let's muddy the waters a bit. The Old Town Syndicate is well-known for Smoking Blade. It is generally accepted that the building belongs to them. So should they be able to dictate what happens in that building? What about the noble then? He has an elaborate backstory which establishes him as a noble. Thus, he should be able to command some puny peasants around, right?

No. The Old Town Syndicate does not own the building. No, the noble does not get to boss people around just because he wrote an elaborate backstory. Why? Both sides' power is all about consent. The majority of people on Defias Brotherhood has consented that the building belongs to the Old Town Syndicate. Similarly, people have consented to be the noble's underlings. But here's the problem. The Old Town Syndicate has not consented to respect the noble's rank. Similarly, the noble is disputing the Old Town Syndicate's position. He has not consented that the Syndicate is the law in that part of the town.

Elaborate backstories don't give you any authority by default. What gives you the authority is other people. People like the Old Town Syndicate's roleplay in the Smoking Blade, so they consent to it. People like the noble's roleplay and backstory, so they consent to be his underlings. Nor does rank 14 give you any real power over your faction. By definition, it just means that you have PvPed more than the most of the server. It says nothing of your leadership skills. If people like your leadership, they will follow you. If they don't, they leave you fuming alone in raidchat or WorldDefense. Similarly, people could walk to the Smoking Blade like the Old Town Syndicate was never there.

Consent is the key to everything in this game. I consent to paying Blizzard to play. I consent to follow the Terms of Use. I consent on getting ganked by rolling on a server with PvP ruleset. I consent to the RP policy by rolling on a RP/PvP. I consent to joining a party. I consent to duels. I consent on joining a guild. I consent to staying in a raid. But when we deal with roleplay within the same faction, the implicit consent is no longer there. Especially when dealing with roleplay involving strong emotions or violence, I have to get the other player's consent.

All it would have taken is a few out-of-character whispers to tell the other side about your viewpoints, so that consensus and thus consent could have been reached. That didn't happen.

In the Heart of the Plague

Unfortunately for Syskae, Etienne is nowhere near Kalimdor.

A Warning and a Plea

Shalkis: *lifts her gaze from a book*
Syskae: By the Light!
Shalkis: I told you that security here could be improved.
Syskae: *syskae throws his cowl back* You are... Shalkis, are you not? Melnerag wished to warn you.
Shalkis: *motions towards the chair*
Syskae: Not here. Catacombs. I have been spied on before.

Syskae: Melnerag did not expect to see you here, but the fact of the matter is that the Shining Strand is going to raid Ogrimmar. He wished for you to be safe, or prepare. Whatever. I speak in his name, I suppose, if only by chance.
***Syskae concentrates on somethign for a moment, as his armor is summoned on his body.
Shalkis: Tell me something that I don't know. Like what is that outfit for?
Syskae: [hesitantly] It is a gift from Melnerag. The Strand knows it, but not my monkish outfit. I would rather be discovered wearing this, than have the outfit spoilt.
Shalkis: Yes, I see his handiwork. I assume he has told you many things that you previously did not want to hear.
Syskae: [wrinkling his nose] Melnerag likes to talk, yes. Many things he says I find agreeable, not the least his goals if not always his methods.
Shalkis: He dos have less success with other individuals, though. Has he recovered his eye yet?
Syskae: No. Though I find the method you recommended quite abhorrent. Surely you cannot be serious, that a human should take up such barbarous practices.
Shalkis: Melnerag does have less messy methods in his disposal, but surely this is nothing new to the humans?
Syskae: True. But the Gearholder has a bizzare lust for experimentation, it would appear. I only follow this curiosity up to a point, as you might imagine. However, I did hear reports that you were in elvish lands earlier on. As I was.
Shalkis: Yes, I was travelling around that area, gathering samples for my research.
Syskae: I was looking for Etienne. Perhaps you caught sight or smell of him?
Shalkis: I encountered only a few humans, but not her.
Syskae: [confused] Her?
Shalkis: It sounds like a female name.
Shalkis: Not that it matters much, humans do not usually introduce themselves to me.
Syskae: He is not aggressive at all. A young Westfaller, but 20 years of age, golden haired, and pretty if I might put it such. If ever you chance to encounter him, I will pay handsomely .... he left me and I know not where he is.
Shalkis: If a human fled into areas the elves have claimed for themselves, the first place that I would look for is Nijel's Point.
Syskae: Why there?
Shalkis: Although I did see no bright-haired humans there. The ones I saw were all wearing helmets.
Syskae: [slowly] I will go look there.
Shalkis: Nijel's Point is one of the few settlements where there are more humans than elves.
Shalkis: Including some of your associates.
Syskae: The Crusade thinks me dead after Melnerag got me out of there. I fear this is for the best, for now, with Stormwind after me.
Shalkis: If.. one wanted to forget things, the barren flats of Desolace would be a perfect place to gather one's thoughs. And an ample ground for a recruiter to instill new ideas into youths searching for themselves.
Shalkis: I have found Shadowprey Village quite.. serene myself.
Syskae: Etienne told me he was safe. I doubt he would go there, but ...
Syskae: I should get going before we are detected here. Unless there is something you wish to convey upon me.
Shalkis: I have just one question. Do you now accept the truth about the Grand Crusader?
Syskae: [gruff] Something may be afoot. I should see for myself one day. Right now, the Grand Crusader is very far away. With the voices of the Sphere in my head he feels quite distant. It matters not, at any rate, as the fight for Lordaeron is a fight against the Scourge.
Syskae: *begins to walk away*
Shalkis: That'll do for now. May the Spider Queen's web catch you, should you fall.
Syskae: I'd rather not be entangled by Troll allies. Light bless you, Shalkis.

Research Journal

Feathermoon Isle
Inspected three guards because of aggressive behaviour. No obvious abnormalities detected, samples retrieved for further study.

Inspected Shandris Feathermoon for abnormal hostility even for an elf. Samples retrieved for further study.

Nijel's Point
Lack of aggression in elves suggests that no interesting mutations would be found. Nevertheless, inspected two specimens and retrieved control samples for further study. Also encountered two Dryads and a Keeper. While they identified themselves as working for the Cenarion Circle, they declined to comment further. Left at their original habitat for reasons of diplomacy.

Footnote: one of the elves showed signs of aggression, retrieved some more samples for study.

Stonetalon Peak
Lack of subjects proved to be a problem. Took samples as control from the local flight master. Obtained several samples from the denizens of the Talon Den.

Ashenvale
Proximity of corrupted water elementals suggested that elves near Mystral Lake might be corrupted, provided they use the lake for drinking water. Obtained samples from the four aggressive ones.

Addeneum: Encountered a highly aggressive specimen. Pacified for sample collection.

Addeneum: While collecting samples from the watchtower near Raynewood Retreat, encountered one highly aggressive specimen. Unfortunately, the specimen vanished before any samples could be obtained.

Addeneum: Shortly after specimen 1 vanished, encountered an another specimen with severely degraded motoric skills. Distinguishing features noted for later sample retrieval.

Addeneum: Attempts to locate specimens 1 and 2 unsuccessful. Collected five samples from Astranaar.

Addeneum: Retrieved interesting samples from an elf maintaining the Shrine of Aessina. Coloration of flora in the area suggests a high degree of corruption. Visible discolorations and abnormal texture of samples noted. Preserved for further study.

Personal note: I am being followed by a stealthy human. His motives are currently unknown.

Addeneum: Sample collection aborted at Maestra's Post. due to human interference. However, specimens showed an unusual lack of response to physical stimuli. Noted for further study.

Addeneum: Encountered a specimen running from Darkshore. Specimen physical structure unable to withstand physical stimuli. Sample obtained for further study.

Darkshore
Encountered a non-hostile Ancient, with no visual signs of corruption. Specimen left in pristine condition for now. Accompanying elves show now isgns of aggression. Elf specimens are thus unsuitable for the purpose of this study.

Auberdine
Aggressiveness of speciments is increased, approaching expectable levels. Two specimens pacified and subdued at the docks. Samples preserved for further study.

Addeneum: Encountered the movement-impaired specimen again. Unfortunately, the specimen fell into water on it's own. Samples still unavailable for study.

Teldrassil

Aggressiveness reached nominal levels., and is uniform among most of encountered speciments. Starting the search for abnormal specimens..

Addeneum: Highly aggressive specimen encountered. Pacification required was comparable to specimens found assaulting Horde settlements from time to time. Several interesting samples obtained for later study.

Encountered a highly durable specimen. Sample collection aborted due to overabundance of specimens.

Research Results
Dissectation performed to samples obtained from Feathermoon Isle. Sample, texture, weight and contents is within nominal levels for specimens. Slight bluish tint detected. Samples frozen for further study.

Footnote: More samples needed from aquatic specimens for comparison.

Dissectation performed to samples obtained from Nijel's Point. Color nominal. Weight slightly more than expected. A slightly rougher texture detected. Samples frozen for further study.

Footnote: Samples delivered to the Royal Apothecary Society for analysis.

Dissectation performed to samples obtained from Stonetalon Peak. Sample coloration, texture, weight and contents within nominal levels. One sample contained oil. Samples frozen for further study.

Footnote: Requested comparison with known samples of oil used within various races, starting with goblins.

Dissectation and analysis performed on samples obtained from Ashenvale. Sample hormone glands are abnormally large. Signs of decay detected in specimen digestive tract samples. Lung sample obtained from the Shrine of Aessina contain a previously unknown substance. Substance is in the form of fine purple powder. Tissue in contact with the unknown substance changed color to a slight purple tint. Bone sample obtained from the final specimen is more fragile than expected. Sample was unable to withstand even nominal force. Splinters collected. Samples frozen for further study.

Footnote: Samples from unknown substance delivered to the Royal Apothecary Society.

Dissectation performed to sambles obtained from Darkshore. Vein samples show increased volume and toughness, but no discoloration. Intestinal tract samples show signs of decay and green discoloration, but lung samples show no unusual characteristics. Samples frozen for further study.

Footnote: Further sample collection required, especially from specimens encountered near bodies of water.

Dissectation performed to samples obtained from Teldrassil. Purple discoloration detected in lung samples and green discoloration detected in intestinal tract samples. Tissue texture is rough in all cases, suggesting increased resistance to physical trauma. Vein volume and toughness increased. Bone sample obtained from the unusually aggressive specimen shows new growth on bone edges and increased diameter. Changes suggest adaptation for combat. Samples frozen for further study.

Tags: In-character, Story

Illegal Danish

The Illegal Danish are back. Almost. Here's a trailer of their second episode.

Marx

I finally got time to watch Marx's video, and it was indeed better than I expected. There's the usual WSG, but also Maraudon soloing, 12-man Onyxia and even Marx's RP story (gasp!).

Recovery

An acquaintance of mine is recovering rapidly from a magical mishap, and is regainin' 'er skills wit a blade.

Invasions, round 2

Apparently Kel'Thuzad is not pleased with the progress of his troops. And like all evil masterminds, he is willing to try, try again.

Comic contest winner

Blizzard has chosen the winner of the comic contest. The winning entry talks about the difficulties of naming a baby.

PlayOn: Alliance / Horde Ratio Over Time

Apparently the Alliance / Horde Ratio Over Time doesn't change significantly during a server's lifetime. In PvE servers, there's an overwhelming Alliance presence, while PvP servers are fairly even. It'll be interesting to see how the Burning Crusade and the equalization of the factions will affect this.

WoW Trading Card Game art

New UDeck Covers for the World of Warcraft TCG have been released. All of them are very high quality, and the artists range from Blizzard regular Samwise to Gabe of Penny Arcade. I found it really hard to pick a favourite, so I'll have to go with Samwise's Gnomish Warrior.

Long time no see

I recently met an old acquintance of mine, a human called Seiken. He has now joined an organization dat has risen from de ashes. De Shining Strand.

De Strand was known for deir war wit de Second Gurubashi Empire and deir war against de Forsaken. De strain of fightin' a war on two fronts was too much for dem dat time.

Dere had been some attacks against Forsaken positions at Bulwark, and my sources in Stormwind said dat propaganda pamphlets blaming de Forsaken for attackin' supply convoys. I personally had inspected de situation and actually found de Forsaken guarding de caravans, and de Scarlet Crusade attackin' dem.

And now de Shinin' Strand has reformed. De Plaguelands are relatively calm. De Necropolises are gone, and former enemies have joined together to strike back at de Scourge. Argent Dawn. De Brotherhood of Light. Even members of de Scarlet Crusade.

Dis could ruin everyting. If de Forsaken strike back at dese.. agitators, we could have a new full-blown war in Hillsbrad. It could strech back to de Plaguelands, distruptin' de important work dere. I had to find out wat de Strand was plannin'.

Durin' our leetle incursion into Goldshire, I had spotted an old acquaintance wearin' de Shining Strand tabard. Seiken Trollbane. Because we had worked together before in de Shadowsun organization, I contacted de human warlock Melnerag to see whether a meetin' could be arranged. He said dat him and Trollbane were not on friendly terms, but he would try.



Today I got a reply. Trollbane would meet us at a house near de lumber mills of Elwynn Forest. I arrived early, to check for ambushes. Some time later Melnerag arrived, wit one of his eyes gouged out. Apparently someone decided to take de tale of Kilrogg Deadeye a bit too literally. He did not say who gouged his eye out, and I dinna care dat much.

Finally, Trollbane arrived. He was wearin' full armor, but had taken 'is helmet off. Not good. I had decided to dress less threateningly dan usual, and now I seemed relatively underdressed for de occassion. Even Melnerag was wearin' armor.

I voiced my concerns and explained de situation, but he was bein' evasive. I could see and [i]smell[/i] dat he was uncomfortable under all dat metal on a hot summer day, but he still dinna make any attempts to switch to more comfortable clothin'. And.. I smelled sometin' else. Not a human but.. an elf.



I asked Trollbane to invite his companions inside, but he feigned ignorance. Dis was a trap. He was merely playin' time to allow de cage's door to gradually swing shut. But was de trap for me or Melnerag? I had leetle time to tink, wen de smell of an elf became stronger. A simple scrying spell on Trollbane revealed de truth. Dere was an elf nearby, strengthenin' him. Now dat de jig was up, de elf revealed himself. He was accompanied by an another human, both dressed in de Strand's colors. Suddenly, de odder human made an attempt to grab Melnerag, but de warlock apparently had anticipated dis. De elf turned into a bear and knocked de human over. Seiken drew his sword and lunged at Melnerag. But de small house was not a good place for fightin'. Seiken swung wildly, hittin' mostly thin air or de furniture. On one swing, he nearly hit me, so I had to create a barrier to protect me. Dis was between Seiken and Melnerag, not me.

Predictably, Seiken was no match for Melnerag. De warlock toyed around wit him, until Trollbane collapsed on de bottom floor of de buildin', exhausted. Poor foolish Trollbane. I had arrived wit a perfectly reasonable proposition, and he gets all agitated over some feud. We walked outside, where de elf had already subdued de warrior. De meetin' was obviously over, but I'd need to move somewhere else before someone came to see what de ruckus was..

Ouch. I woke up wit my face in de dirt and my own blood fillin' my mouth. My head ached like I was hit by..

Seiken.. Seiken! Dat treacherous fool. Fine. If he really wants to play dese old games.. Behind a tree, I opened my backpack and took out my combat clothes. I disliked de color of my new robes, but de enchantments on de fabric were undeniably useful. I attached my bracers, my cloak and my shoulderpads. I welcomed de familiar coolness of my gloves. Finally, I lowered de mask on my face.

Seiken. He was dere, outside de building, talkin' wit de elf like nothin' had happened. My hands tingled in anticipation. De first frostbolt smashed harmlessly to de back of his head, makin' him to turn. Just in time to see de bigger bolt headin' towards 'im. I could hear de metal of 'is breastplate makin' a disagreeable sound. He attempted to charge me, but it was cut short by de ice caressin' his feet. He almost lost balance, but recovered enough to see de final frostbolt fly towards 'im. He lurched over, 'is feet still held still by de ice. Surprisingly, de elf dinna like dis at all. He too charged me wit no success. It was time to forget havin' fun and to take a breather. And *cough* to bandage my wounds. I ran towards de river. De forests of Duskwood would provide enough cover. I used my whistle, and Windclaw ran towards me. Seiken was up again, and still had learnt nothin'. Right when he attempted to strike me, his feet were again imprisoned by ice. He could not catch me on foot. De elf followed me to de river, but realized dat he was headin' towards a trap. He wisely turned around and returned to de mill.

Mill. Melnerag.. Fortunately he had seen 'is chance, and had already fled. We met at a safer place. After a small discussion about his.. condition, he gave me a letter dat he had acquired from de Strand. Seiken had unknowingly revealed much of de Strand's plan, but dis letter revealed deir next target. Bold and utterly foolish one it was, wit no hope of success. My associates would be very interested in dis knowledge. Very interested indeed. After discussin' proper responses to dis incident, we left. Dere was much to do..

Bolvar down by Taiga Clan

On the heels of our recent victory against the gnome king, the Taiga Clan sought out a more difficult target. And they did find him. Congratulations.

Roleplaying combat and wounds

I recently spotted several interesting articles about roleplaying combat. Of course, I chipped in on the effects of various types of magic damage in World of Warcraft.

Here's what I wrote:
One thing about iron and steel is that they conduct heat quite well. While your plate mail may absorb the physical impact of a fireball, it does nothing against the heat. That particular piece of armor will warm up and burn your undergarments/flesh inside. If a warrior loses to a fire mage, his armor may be unharmed, but the person inside is quite crispy.

Frost works a bit differently, but the principle is the same. A frostbolt is basically a projectile of superchilled ice. The heat from the armor and the victim is transferred to the projectile, melting the frostbolt and chilling the victim.

One particular quirk about freezing objects is that they become quite brittle at low temperatures. Many of you have probably seen demonstrations where liquid nitrogen is used to freeze and then shatter previously strong objects. If a frost mage uses Frost Nova or procs Frostbite, the next blow could be quite fatal.

Arcane damage is somewhat trickier. Instead of emulating natural forces, Arcane is pure energy. Combat applications of Arcane would probably shape it to become antimatter. Inside an Arcane Missile bolt, there's a tiny grain of antimatter. When it hits anything made of normal matter, the two cancel each other out and both are turned into pure energy. Thus, Arcane both annihilates a piece of the victim completely and releases energy around the impact point. This energy gets translated into heat and burns the surrounding flesh. If you want a sample of the effect, you can look at the ending cinematic of Warcraft 3. Wisps surround Archimonde and begin disinterating him. Finally, they all strike him at once, and the resulting burst of energy scorches the landscape around Nordrassil.

Most nature damage in this game is in the form of poisons and acid, but druids do have the Wrath spell. Personally, I would assume that a Wrath bolt ignores armor completely, moving through it like it was never there. When it hits flesh, the effect could be like a spread of a tumor. The cells' growth goes uncontrolled, and the results would resemble a benign tumor. The "cancer" cells would also require nutrients and oxygen. Eventually, the victim's body can no longer supply enough oxygen, causing the victim to pass out and die unless the tumors are cut out. Someone killed with Wrath would be a gruesome sight indeed.

Shadow damage is a special case. It has a both physical and a mental component. A priest's Mind Blast spell, for example, attacks the victim's mind directly. In mundane terms, I would assume that this attack is in the form of very disturbing images and thoughts, designed to agitate the victim and drive him into a shock. Doing an autopsy on a victim of Mind Blast would probably reveal that he died of bursted blood vessels in the brain and the heart, as well as lack of oxygen caused by hyperventilation. Also, his heart would have gone into "overdrive", pumping so rapidly that the thrusts lacked strength to push blood around his veins. Similarly, Shadow Word: Pain fools the body into thinking that it's in great pain, causing it to overreact.

The physical component of Shadow would be somewhat akin to acid. The victim's armor and flesh would be dissolved by an impact of a Shadowbolt, for example. The effects of Warlock curses would be akin to a malignant tumors, corrupting healthy cells and spreading all over the victim's body. Healing a cursed victim can not be done via surgery, it would require magic or letting the body's natural defenses work their course.

Pest control

Today, we did sometin' quite extraordinary. We did de Alliance a favor. We cleansed two immoral places and doin' wat dey could not do demselves.

First we set up positions outside Goldshire. Our scouts reported dat discraceful behaviour was takin' place, in de full view of de locals. Den we cleansed de town. Some spitted, some cheered. Den de Alliance Watch came to clean up de bodies. Satisfied dat our job was done, we set out to our next target.

Tinkertown. I dunna know why de dwarves got so upset. De gnomes have been tryin' to kill demselves before, we were just helpin' dem out. Disappointed at dis response, we only killed High Tinker Mekkatorque, de one responsible for de near-genocide.

Mind controlling for fun and..

Well, mostly for fun. A priest catches a rank 14 warrior botting in Western Plaguelands and decides to have some fun.

PvE vs RP vs PvP

PvE vs RP is once again a hot topic. And as usual, it didn' t take long for the "discussion" to descend to personal insults. RP Nazis vs l33tkiddie epicfarmers. Flamewars such as this always create a morbid interest in me. It's like a car crash. It's awful, but you can't help looking at it. In this particular flamewar, top Alliance PvE guilds started taking potshots at each other. Finally, the whole thing was spiced with intra-guild drama, courtesy of Crimson Gauntlet.

Personally, I think that RP, PvE and PvP should be balanced on RP/PvP servers. If you want to do all of them, then you go to an RP/PvP server. If you just want RP and PvE, then you go to an RP server. If you want PvE and PvP, then you go to a PvP server. And if you only want to PvE without anyone whining about lack of RP or getting ganked, then PvE servers are for you.

The trouble is that the optimal balance varies between each player. Some like RPing all the time, spending days in your capital of choice. Some frequent the battlegrounds or gan.. practice World PvP. And some enjoy a nice raid. If you start telling other people what their personal RP/PvP/PvE balance should be, then you get problems such as this flamewar.

Fortunately, liberal use of satire can help.

..aand we're in business

So, this is a blog about Shalkis, a World of Warcraft character. She is a troll mage, playing on EU Defias Brotherhood.

I posted my backlog of stories as a starter. While those stories were completely in-character, this blog will also contain both in-character and out-of-character rantings and random thoughts about WoW as well.

Into the beating heart of the Alliance

Today they were going to pay.

That.. insult at Westfall showed that they have learnt nothing. Greater dangers loomed at the horizon and the stench of death was stronger than usual in the north. But still.. they went on with their morbid amusement. Even after the death arrived at their very doorsteps, they continued. Killing our kin. Their own kin. Even the people of the gray sun. The day of revelation and cooperation was turned into a sick mockery ot itself. The cycle of hatred refused to stop.

Fortunately, plans had been made. The tribes, the warbands, the brotherhoods, the cults were all called to assemble. The plan was presented, discussed, argued and agreed upon. Responsibilites were handed out. Then we waited. Waited for the call to arms. The invasions showed that the Alliance had grown even more prideful and arrogant. The events had proven the wisdom in the precautionary plan. Then the call came.

We assembled and evaluated our forces. As expected, some had provided support only in the form of words and promises. The absence of the Empire was not a surprise. Even when offered a chance to secure trollish supremacy over southern Azeroth, they had failed to grasp it. If they would not strike against the Soulflayer or the humans, who would they strike? But that was a question for later. Those who hailed from the dead, icy wastelands of Northrend were absent as well. Not even an ambassador was sent. More surprising was the absence of the Burning Dawn. I knew they were merely a shadow of themselves, but this? None of them were seen.

But there were others who had stayed true to their word. The Orphans. The Void. The Last Stand. The Old Lordaeron. The Conclave. We, of the Noise. And others. Not enough for the plan. So we adapted. The planner and the leaders agreed on a new plan. Some of them would start from the north. We and the Conclave would start from the south. A two-pronged attack. Crude? Yes. Bold? Definitely. Doable? Perhaps. Effective? That remained to be seen.

In the first phase we would cripple their supply routes. We assembled in the jungles of Stranglethorn. From there were started our work. The town supposedly protected by the Sphere was the first target. The Night Watch was trampled under the claws, paws and hooves of our mounts. The townsfolk were powerless to stop us. Their birds were put to death quickly. Even if the Sphere would arrive, they would not be able to pursue us. But none did. As always, their protection was the same kind that trade princes with shark smiles offered to their less successful colleagues. It was worth nothing when needed. No matter.

The next target was called. By the sounds of the bells, the Conclave had already reached Lakeshire. Our target was elsewhere. Sentinel Hill. The laughter of the scum still echoed in my ears- It was time to bring some fear to them. It was time to show just how powerless they were. A kill right in the middle of their encampment. A kill that was unenthusiastic and emotionless. A butcher's kill. The elf was dragged from the safety of his birds. We let him see the last moments of his treasured gryphons. But we were not cruel. We allowed him to join them just moments later. Two down, many to go.

The we rode towards Lakeshire. The Conclave had already moved on. They had not only isolated the town, but stripped it off it's pride. Figuratively and literally. Gryphon feathers littered the bridge, and the naked corpses of the birds floated on the lake. The bells tolled, but the streets were empty. We rode through, creating a swirl of feathers in our wake. Windows slammed shut when we passed the town. There were a few adventurers peeking from the treeline. There is one thing that I love about killing. It's not the combat. It's not the kill itself. It's that look. Not the defiant look. Not the look on their faces when they are in pain. Not even the look when life finally escapes them. It's that look when they realize that they are going to die. Right here, right now. Their wits tell them to run. But it's too late by then. Much too late. I don't believe that they even could take one step before dying.

By the time we had wiped out Morgan's Vigil, messengers came. The Conclave was already cleansing Blackrock Mountain and Thorium Point. But there were grave news from the north. Southshore and Refuge Pointe had been isolated as planned, but they encountered heavy resistance at Menethil. They had fought through the city, but were pinned and pushed towards the sea at the docks. The decision was made. The prongs would strike like twin snakes. When one retreated and pulled the enemy away, the other moved in to strike. We were the snake that would sink its' teeth into the molten, hissing, whirring heart of the Alliance.

Ironforge.

We had the advantage now, and it was time to use it. There was no time to lose. We rode to Flame Crest and flew to Kargath. During my travels, I had discovered a rarely-used dwarven tunnel. It would serve as a shortcut. The simple locks proved to be no challenge to us. The portcullis was lifted and our troops stormed through, into the Valley of the Kings. The Conclave had also advanced. Screams from Thelsamar suggested that they were already done with it. The troops greeted each other, and the commanders exchanged reports from their scouts. The northern front had been reinforced by the Darkness of Sin, and the main enemy force was heading towards us. It was time to turn the twin snake.. into a hydra. The Conclave took over a dwarvish bunker and barricaded it. They would buy the rest of us time. We would move into Dun Morogh. The Northern front would commandeer a ship and move against Theramore. We rode on, mowing down any dwarves that were foolish enough to stand in our way. We quickly pacified Khanaros and started to make our way toward the grand prize itself. We were already storming the gates when our enemies caught up to us. The Alliance Watch had judged the Conclave to be too hard of a nut to crack, and moved against a more imminent threat, us. We fought, but were forced to retreat. They followed us. But when one head of a hydra pulls back, the others move in to strike. The strike force had reached Theramore, and were fighting their way up Lady Proudmoore's tower. And the Conclave was coming. The Watch was literally crushed. We attempted to lure more defenders out of the city, but the dwarves were not dumb. They did not follow us to the lake. Lady Proudmoore needed help badly, so they sent forces to aid her. One head pulls back, while the others move in to strike. We resumed our assault.

The reckoning was at hand. Our forces filled the ramp. We swept through the defenders like an avalanche. The last time I was here, I failed miserably. But today.. today it would be different. I was alone then, in my one-troll war. But now.. The dwarves foolishly relied on their mountain of Khaz'Goroth for protection. But even the strongest stone can be shattered. We would be the force that would crack the Alliance wide open. So we struck.

Cries of terror echoed in the caverns. We fought like warrior poets, bringing death with every blow. I fought and I fought until I could not fight anymore. Then I fought some more. When I ran out of spells, I used my wand. When the enemy got too close, I used my staff. But everyone has their limits, including me. Their forces were returning, and our numbers were dwindling fast. The call to retreat was issued. We had delivered a crack to Khaz Modan what would one day prove to be fatal. The day was ours. I crawled toward the edge of the lava ring and allowed myself to fall in. The grating rattled loudly when it caught me, but I think that the dwarves had other things to worry about. I bandaged my wounds and used my whistle. The dwarves would not hear it, but Windclaw would. And he did. Exhausted, climbed on his back. I rode towards the ramp up. And I rode straight into the Alliance Watch. Damn. Their presence here meant that the assault on Theramore had failed. I took advantage of the slight confusion and changed plans. The gates were obviously too well guarded. But the tram.. yes. The tram. I turned Windclaw around and head towards Tinker Town, with a dozen Alliance Watch at my tail. Good. That was a dozen that could not prevent I disagreeociates from retreating. I rode straight past the amazed dwarven guards and ran into the dark corridors of the tram.

It is surprising how several tons of steel whizzing by your head every few minutes can discourage pursuers. A gnome or a troll would have no problems navigating the cramped walkway, but a dwarf or a human.. It was too dangerous and they knew it. I hid myself in a dark alcove and waited for the next set of tram cars to pass. Just as I expected, they anticipated that I would try to escape through Stormwind, so they took the tram to catch me at the next station. Fools. Mages always have a way out. When the tram was far enough, I summoned a portal that illuminated the corridor and stepped through.

Humiliated

By the looks of it, Westfall had been a warzone for the whole evening. Bodies everywhere, with the land colored crimson from the blood. Sure, I had heard the rumors about the rose. I had heard the rumours about the Blackrock Mountain. But the Firelord would not let the mountain erupt. Not while he had something to lose. Nevertheless, the fairytale had served it's purpose, and provided an excuse for the bloodshed.

I had been scouting the area, gathering intelligence on the parties involved, patrol routes, response time, that kind of thing. Picking off one guard here, one guard there, keeping them on their toes.

Then they showed up. Three dwarves. From the Dwarven Rifle Squad, according to their insignias. They started to take aim at me. With a slight tug of Windclaw's harness, I was already upon them by the time they fired. Two of them fell easily, but the third.. He retreated to safe range while I killed his comrades. He was smart. His bullets were filled with potent poison. A poison I was too familiar with. I could feel my powers being drained. Even the simplest incanations were proving too tiresome. I needed rest, badly. With the last of my powers, I conjured a barrier of ice around me and head for the mountains. The local peasants were emboldened by my retreat, and ran after us. I did not get far. Just outside the town, I felt a sharp pain in my right ankle. The dwarf had shot right through my ankle. The bastard. Crippled, the peasants caught up to me.

I don't know how many times I lost conciousness, but every time I was awoken with piercing pain. The dwarf still stayed in safe range, shooting whenever I seemed to gain an edge over the peasants. I flayed on them with my wand on my other hand, and my staff on the other. The bearded bastard kept me crippled, like a source of some grim amusement to the jeering peasants. A few warriors, a gnomish demoncaller duo and a few others. It took me hours, but one by one I sent the peasents running. Only the demoncallers and the dwarf remained. Their spells burned my flesh, while my mind was tormented by the poison. They were getting thingyier. All I had to do is to feign exhaustion. I could not catch them with my ankle. I need to get them up close. And then..

One of the demoncaller gnomes found my sluggish movements quite amusing. He waited until I took aim on him with my wand, and then ran behind me. He became bolder. He waited until the last moment, and then dodged the bolts. The dwarf was reloading. Just a bit closer.. NOW!

I let my wand drop to the ground and grabbed my staff with both hands from the bottom end. I swung it around me wildly. I hit him right in his elbow. Realizing that he was too close, he started running. Too late, little man. My next swing hit him on his right leg, causing him to lose his balance. I limped on to him. He tried to scamper back on his feet. Too late, little man. Way too late. Do you think I'm some animal that can be prodded and taught tricks? I'll show you..

I grabbed a better hold on my staff and drove it straight down on him, like a spear.

The staff sunk to the back of the gnome, accompanied with two very satisfying crunches. Now the other. He starts to run, but too late. I pick up my wand. The bolt of ice hits his back, and he slumps down. The dwarf took aim, but the only sound that came out of his rifle is "click". He looks at me in disbelief. He runs. I return to the impaled gnome and pry my staff off him.

I need rest. But after that, I will go after the dwarf. And then.. I will find out just how much he likes games..

Sightseeing

My previous visits to Stormwind were kinda rushed, so now dat I had plenty of time, I decided to go on a real sightseein' tour.

I had just arrived to de Keep, wen dese two gentlemen asked me to leave. How rude. I asked why. Apparently, de excitable locals were.. agitated by my presence. Apparently dere was some kind of a meetin' at de Throne Room, and dey dinna like me walkin' around in de keep. Hmph. It's not like dis is my first time here..

So, I wandered around de city and found myself in de Cathedral.

De top floor was kinda borin', so I went into de catacombs.

Oddly, I found lots and lots of empty caskets. Were are all de bodies?

However, I found someting dat seemed quite out of place. An orc skull. Now wat was dat doin' dere? Stormwind was rebuilt after de Second War, including de Cathedral. So dere shouldn't be any leftover orc corpses from de war. So de only explanation is dat someone brought it here. But who was movin' pinkie bodies out of de cathedral and orc bodies in?


I was inspectin' de latest advances in human diplomacy when..

I got interrupted by dis rude fellow. A Scarlet. I should've known. I have seen deir interrogations and experiments at de Monastery. It's kinda fittin', though. De Scourge ships bodies out of Tirisfal and de Scarlets ship bodies in. Deir own graveyard is.. well.. unusable. It's full of understandably upset ghosts and undead. What were dey usin' de bodies for? I had to investigate more.


I first thought of askin' Archbishop Benedictus, but he didn't seem to be in a talkative mood. And de Cathedral is definitely de wrong place for aggressive negotiations. At least without additional negotiators. Dere was no more answers to be found here. So I rode out of Stormwind.

Fortunately, dere are other sources in more private locations..