Traitor to the Light

It shouldn't be allowed

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:48:00 +0000

I've been neglecting Tennant over the past few days. The fact is, Agyeman and I have been rather enamoured with our hunter/warlock team on the US realms. We tear through mobs at a pace that's frankly shocking. What we lose in XP for constantly playing as a duo (we have a deal – no one's allowed to solo-play these characters for the moment), we more than make up for by just turning in quests at an astonishing rate.

At level 10, after I helped Agyeman with his voidwalker quest (and that was tough – I don't see how he could have soloed it), we hopped over to Ghostlands, where we're currently based. It's been a nice, easy run there so far – all the better for getting used to the patch 2.4 improvements. I'm loving the combat log (although I'm looking forward to this week's 2.4.1, which apparently addresses the fact that it won't save settings after log out), and I can't praise Blizzard enough for the incredibly sensible redesign of the interface options menu. That old one was a huge, imposing, confusing panel of 'buh?'; now it's a breeze, not a chore, to hop in and change various settings.

I also like that there seems to be a built-in tab for handling your add-on options. We've been trying out Omen (and I'm also playing with Fizzwidget's hunter mods), and the ability to easily find the settings for those – in a sensible place – is a hell of a boon.

2.4 introduced Quel'Danas, and 2.3 put Mudsprocket and its attendant new content in Dustwallow Marsh. I'm really hoping this is a pattern, that each new patch puts a significant chunk of stuff in the game. As was the case with Dustwallow Marsh, there's plenty of space in the 'old world' for new towns, quest hubs, features or whatever. You don't need to build a whole new island every time. (If there's one place that could do with an overhaul, for example, it's the Badlands. Does anyone actually go there to quest?) And adventuring in Ghostlands – as well as looking forward to Mudsprocket with Tennant – I'm reminded of just how much better Blizzard has got at making content since the start of the game. So, yes: more please!

Updating

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:45:00 +0000

The US WoW client is installed, and accounts set up, for both Agyeman and myself. We've created our characters and, inspired by our upcoming summer holiday in Italy, we have picked a pair of lovely names.

Me: a troll hunter named Tuscany (for I have tusks, you see); him: Umbria, an orc warlock. When I get my first pet, I'm so naming it 'Florence'...

It's too early to say how much I like the hunter, but I will say that a hunter/warlock combo just eats through mobs. So far, we're unstoppable, and I can only see that getting better when I have Florence in tow.

We played a little bit on the US servers at the weekend and, even from over here in the UK, noticed no nasty lag. Although there was an astonishing amount of power-levelling whisper-spam while we played in the Valley of Trials. I haven't seen anything like this for ages – Outland EU has its fair share of gold-selling /say spam in Orgrimmar, but I've yet to come across that horribly invasive /w business there. At least it stopped when we stepped outside into the wider wilds of Durotar.

We played for an hour or so on Easter Sunday and managed to grab a couple of Noblegarden eggs each – but there was nothing more exciting than sweets in any of them.

Now, of course, patch 2.4 has been released on both sides of the Atlantic. Having left my level 70 for dead, it's going to be a long time till I see the Isle of Quel'Danas, but I'm intrigued to see the improvements to the combat log. I also want to see if Warsong Gulch games play out faster, now they've introduced the debuff to the flag character.

And I like this tiny change: "Ambient level 1 creatures will no longer be picked as subsequent targets by chaining spells and abilities." I once inadvertently offed a squirrel with my paladin's Avenger's Shield, having crawled nobly through 50-odd levels without once spanking a critter for the fun of it. As well as being upsetting, it was a total waste of damage.

That said, we've not played since the weekend, due in part to real-life obligations and in part to the collapse of our net connection for a couple of days. Maybe I'll hop on there tonight and see what's been spruced up.

Narrowing down

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:39:00 +0000

OK, so we're looking for a character for my US server exploits. I don't want to waste time messing around with alts (I have my EU account for that), so I want to find something I'll like – and something that preferably I haven't taken to high levels before – to take up my time on the other side of the pond.

So, what kind of things do I like? Casters, mainly. If I'm playing a game where magic use (or something similar, say the biotic abilities in Mass Effect) is an option, that's the one I'll pick. It's a flavour thing for me: I just like magic.

Therefore, that discounts warriors and rogues. Is that cutting off two decent options? Maybe for some, but not, I think, for me. I've only ever taken either of those classes to the mid-teens, simply because they've never really chimed with me. Rogues are too much like hard work, if you ask me, skipping about to always have the tactical advantage against your enemy... Guh. That's not for me. And warriors? That almost wholly railroads me into the tank role at high levels, and I'm not sure I can hack the responsibility. (Although I have tanked as a paladin in some instances, and quite enjoyed it...)

I need something that's just out-and-out fun. That's for definite.

I'll also need something I can level quickly. This character, basically, has a two-year lifespan. I don't want to spend all that time levelling.

I can already see my options narrowing down to two classes: hunter and warlock, both of which are reputed to be the fastest levelling classes in the game, and perfect for soloing thanks to their combat pets. I've taken a warlock to something like level 28, and kind of enjoyed it. The reduced-price mounts are tempting, too. But, but, but. Another clothie? And given that Tennant is shadow-specced and I want him to stay that way, another shadow-based clothie?

OK, so what about a hunter? I've never really taken one far out of the teen levels, and those first ten levels hurt, without a pet to keep you safe. Also, I hate having to lose one bag slot for ammo – but then, if I went with a warlock, I'd lose a bag slot for all my soul shards too. But the pet really appeals: unlike the warlock, having the freedom to choose what creature you work with is an appealing prospect. And, having faced them (and hated them) in PvP quite often now, I know just how spectacular hunters' damage output can be...

When I sit back and think about it, as well as hunters and warlocks, I feel drawn to mages and shamans (if we're discounting priests, anyway). If we're avoiding cloth-wearing classes, that brings me down to hunters and shamans. Shamans? Hmm. The totem-management thing really annoys me. I don't think I want that level of micromanagement.

I think I know what I've talked myself into. And if I am called a 'huntard', and am playing in 'easy mode', then so be it!

Oh, and...

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Agyeman and I have – and I can't quite believe this – bought tickets for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris this June. May as well make the most of Europe while we're still in it!

I'm really looking forward to it – it should be great fun. And I'm very excited to find out what my new vanity pet will be...

Interesting times

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Since hitting 30, I've been concentrating on levelling instead of indulging my passion for battlegrounds. It's slow going: partly because life on a PvP server means you spend some time dodging ganks (or – *cackle* – handing them out...), and partly because I've been spending time adventuring with one particular guy from the guild. It's always great making firm friends in-game, but it cuts into your XP haul! But a new real-life development has thrown an interesting spanner in the works...

It looks like, in a few months, my partner and I will be relocating to San Francisco for a couple of years. When we do, we're going to start playing on the US servers. That's a definite – the US copies of the game have already been bought in preparation! The big reason for wanting to do this is that we have two good friends who live and play over there: Iresine and Shadrachgrey. They play on Earthen Ring (a US RP-PvE server), and are part of Alea Iacta Est, a guild heavily connected with The Instance, among other podcasts. (Is that enough links for you?!) We hear great things about the guild, and it would be a hoot to play with those friends, too.

So, that's all fair enough. The thing is... Tennant may only be level 33 right now, but I already feel heavily invested in him and his life on EU Outland server. I feel really strongly connected to this toon, more so than any other I've played in a long time. It only takes a small amount of thinking to realise why: the switch to Horde and a PvP server has made me work more to get connected with the character; because it's such a leap from my play experience over the last three years, that work has resulted in a totally fresh approach and a totally fresh appreciation of the game. It feels like I'm taking nothing for granted, which has made my love of the game sparkle anew.

And our guild, on the whole, rocks. A clear effort is made to get to know the real people behind the toons, displayed most obviously in the use of everyone's real first name, constant Ventrillo chatter and a Facebook group. This is no anonymous in-game-only guild: these are people who have something in common (we're all gay – there I've said it!), and give a damn about each other, not just the pixels on the screen.

So, I don't want to give up on Tennant and walk away from the EU game for two years. Nor do I want to miss out on the fun of adventuring on a PvP server. What I'm hoping, therefore, is that I can hit 70 with Tennant within the next six months or so – which is how much longer I'll be in the UK. BY doing that, I can stay involved with guild business, whether that be raiding or PvP or whatever, without feeling like I've got to put levelling time in on that toon. So, that leaves me free after that to concentrate on playing around on US Earthen Ring, levelling up with a new bunch of people and hanging out with my US friends.

I can't quite believe that, going forward, I'm going to end up having two ongoing WoW accounts on opposite sides of the Atlantic. That's a bit bonkers, isn't it? But there's no way I'm walking away from Tennant and my guildmates for two years; equally, I'm not going to miss out the chance to get into the US side of things while I'm out there for such an extended period of time.

Sorry, I've gone on a bit again! I've all sorts of gank stories to impart (some frustrating, some glorious), and I still want to talk about the biggest annoyance I've found about Horde adventuring in the Eastern Kingdoms. And I want to start talking about all the classes in turn, mainly so I can start to make my mind up about what to level when I'm in the US (because, love them as I do, I'm not having two priests as my two mains). Maybe I'll get to these topics over the next few days...

You learn something new every day...

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Oh my word. I'm ashamed to say this, but I had no idea that the priest spell Mind Control was usable against players of the opposite faction. For some reason, although it's a CC spell – like a mage's Polymorph, which I've seen used countless times in PvP combat – I'd always assumed it was solely a PvE thang.

I've just been reading Misery, a rather nifty shadow priest blog, which is where I discovered this. Prior to that, my only experience of the spell was in some Shadow Labyrinth runs, with my old guild and my old nelf priest. Just as we were coming up to Blackheart the Inciter (one of my all-time favourite bosses in the game – I've no idea why people hate Shadow Lab so much, when you've got him and Murmur, both tough, but both incredibly good fun), I would be asked to Mind Control a mob or two as we were clearing the room.

(Incidentally, I never enjoyed using the spell. OK, there was the vicarious thrill of turning the mob against its fellows – the Shadow Lab mob (and I'm sorry, but I can't remember what it was, but it could have been one of these) had a useful buff I could pass on to my guildmates, which is why they wanted me to Control it, I guess. But having to very quickly get used to a new control scheme, and figure out a new set of abilities, all before the minute (maximum) the spell lasts is up, was a little bit too much for my feeble brain.)

But now I know I can throw down the MC on those hated Allies in the battlegrounds... Well, you can count on me doing it as soon as I ding 30, and get access to the spell. Just the idea of taking one of those godforsaken rogues in Arathi Basin and running him underwater, keeping him there till he drowns... <sighs with pleasure>. Or, when I hit the high levels, taking control of people in Eye of the Storm and just running them off the edge of the floating Netherstorm islands... Or taking over the mind of the enemy flag-carrier in Warsong Gulch...

Oh, the possibilties are endless.

Violence breeds violence

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:50:00 +0000

I was just ganked a couple of times by a pair of Allies accompanied by a level ?? friend. I passed the love on when I saw a lone, unprotected druid running down the road a little later. HKs FTW!

(Dear Druid: you have Entangling Roots, no? Entangle me, then try to run away! Silly.)

Today was my first Warsong Gulch at level 29, and therefore at the top of the bracket. And it was a stormer. Note in the picture below the elapsed time – WSG fills my heart with dread, because you never know if it's going to drag on and on. But not this time. And it was the daily quest, so hello to some bonus honour, experience and extra silver. Lovely.

This is the ranking by number of HKs, and there's me at number two:

And the next one is ranked by the number of killing blows – and I didn't do too shabbily there, either! Note (if you can, by looking right at the top of the image) that we won three-nil. It was a spectacular match, hugely good fun. For a long time, we had the Alliance on the ropes as we gathered in a huge mob just beneath their graveyard. They ploughed into the battlefield valiantly as they were resurrected, only to be met by messy death at our hands...

And if you look carefully, you'll see that I was ranked number three on the total damage dealt. After all that worrying about joining a PvP server... Well, the phrase "like a duck to water" springs to mind.

Shinier, please

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Blog Azeroth is running a shared topic at the moment on what you would most like to see included in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Not many people seemed to have jumped on the topic yet, which surprises me – surely everyone's got some sort of opinion on this one?

A day or two before I saw that post, though, I had been thinking of one specific thing I'd like to see happen at some point soon – if it's included in the next expansion, fine, but if not, I'd like to see it included in a patch sooner or later. It's this: since The Burning Crusade was released, most of my new characters have been either Draenai or, more recently with the switch to Horde, Blood Elf. Part of this is down to the new starting zones included for these two races: the quests are better, the design of zones more interesting, and they're basically newer. Much as I love Dun Morogh, if I ever started another gnome or dwarf, I think I'd go mad going through that same old stuff again.

But a large part of the appeal of these newer races is simply that they're technically better made. If I remember rightly from the build-up to TBC, both Draenei and belfs (belves?) are constructed with a larger number of polygons that other races, so they simply look better. The models seem to have been designed and constructed with a little more thought. Their animations seem more varied, smoother and more swish. Aesthetically, they have the edge over the original races from the game.

So this is what I'd like to see in the expansion (or, strictly, alongside it): spruce-up the design and animation of the races already in the game. My undead priest is nice enough: I enjoy his shambling walk, and his air-guitar, horns-of-rock dancing, his position when he sleeps... It's all good enough. But his bony elbows look a bit clunky. The tattered sleeves of his robes are kid's-drawing simple. His feet are weird and flat and lumpen. His jumping animation seems to have a few frames missing. And there are various other little things that could be smoothed out and improved, such as was done with TBC's new races.

It's surely not too much to ask? If the technical improvements of the Draenei and belfs (no, really – belves?) didn't make anyone's systems keel over, surely it won't step too far away from Blizzard's (very sensible) low system requirements? From what very little we've seen of WOTLK so far, we know they're improving fire animations, and there seem to be some sort of cool-looking mists being introduced to the new zones – so they're cranking things up, graphically, already. Surely it's not too much more to ask to give the old races a bit of spit-and-shine?

A bloodthirsty moment

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:59:00 +0000

Seeing red

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:52:00 +0000

My partner Agyeman and I spent a little time in Hillsbrad yesterday, doing a couple of quests. (Well, much as I'd like to, I can't spend all my time in Arathi Basin. I've got to level at some point.) We agreed beforehand that, if we saw any Alliance types of a reasonable level (ie, not so low that it was mean, but not so high that it was implausible) we would attack them – on the very reasonable grounds that we were protecting our lands, of course.

We narrowly avoided the gankhammer of a level ?? rogue first of all...
Then we saw a level 31 dwarf priest, and chased her as well as we were able, with me dispelling her buffs and throwing Shadow Word: Pains at her, and Agyeman trying to swipe at her fleeing form with his ickle kitty claws. We got her down to around 90% health at our most successful point – and then she ran into a crowd of mobs that outlevelled us and it got a bit messy. We turned tail and, honestly, barely survived...
Maybe she had friends. Shortly afterwards, two level ?? night elf druids appeared out of nowhere and ganked us. They corpse-camped for a little while, but then gave up.

From that point on, the tiniest glimpse of red on the screen was translated in my mind as 'ENEMY!'. I kept having to sweep my point of view around to check bushes, or slightly ruddy logs, to make sure that I hadn't just spotted the name-tag of an enemy on the move.

We both agreed – Agyeman's history with the game being practically identical to mine (ie, never played on a PvP server, and have habitually played Alliance) – that our experience with these new characters is almost like playing a new game. I don't want to denigrate PvE servers, because I've had three years of fun there, but this does feel like a 'tougher' mode of play, certainly riskier: there is a bigger complication to your play on a PvP server, and you do have to stay sharp while you're playing in contested zones. Couple this with a bunch of quests I've never done before, and the simple fact that arriving in Tarren Mill instead of Southshore gives you a literal point of view that is different from the norm, and this is a very refreshing experience indeed. It has enlivened the game for us, having felt like we'd hit a bit of a wall before embarking on these new characters.

Altogether, it's altered my approach: I can't imagine moving forward to 70 and not constantly fitting in play in the Battlegrounds, for example. They keep my PvP skills fresh – and that's bound to be useful out in the wider, wilder world.

I don't know if it would work the other way round (probably not), but if you're on a PvE server and reading this while feeling the edges of WoW burnout, give a PvP server a go. And don't be a chicken: pick a busy one, not one with low population. Choose the other faction. Make as wholly new an experience of it as you can. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Change of heart

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:17:00 +0000

Gosh, I've been bad at updating this recently. Main reason – I've ditched the blood elf mage in favour of an undead priest. Getting on with levelling Tennant has been taking up all my WoW time. At heart, priests are my favourite class in the game, and I was basically pining to play one again. I thought there was no point in dicking about with another class, when all I really wanted was to be all healy/shadowy, so I rerolled.

(I'll spruce up the info on the blog shortly, to reflect the new main character.)

And I'm, thankfully, having a whale of a time back as a priest. I've capitalised on my new-found love of the battlegrounds, even at (as of today's reckoning) level 23. I can get into Arathi Basin now, which has always been my favourite, and I've been involved in a number of hard-fought battles – most of which us Hordies have won. (And I'm rather enjoying the mismatched mish-mash of the Horde races at last.) It's been great fun, and I'm beginning to think I'm rather good at it.

1) I don't twink. I don't have the money, or the inclination. I'm a leveller, basically, and I loathe the idea of spending tons of money on equipment I'm only going to replace in a few levels' time. But I've come up against plenty of them and – although a well-placed rogue can, of course, bring me down in seconds – I'm managing to hold my own.

2) Now, with Arathi Basin, I'm low in the level bracket, but still I'm getting kills.

While most people seem content to skip right out of a battleground the second it's over, I'll always hang around to check out the statistics. And here, for your delight and edification, are a couple of them.

First of all, a Warsong Gulch match, from my days at 19:

That's me there at the top. I tend to rank the results by the number of honourable kills. So let me say that again: at the top.

And here's an Arathi Basin match from just a few hours ago:

Not at the top this time, but remember I'm six levels off the top of the bracket. I'd say both of those (which are fairly typical of my performance) are rather impressive. I never do the most damage – how could I, when I'm working with hunters and rogues? – but I'm my own little killing machine when I want to be.

And with kit like the Vengeful Gladiator's Battle Staff out there, waiting for me to hit 70, I reckon this killing machine will be very busy indeed.

Misery me

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:28:00 +0000

The switch to Horde was tough, primarily because I'm used to seeing a Tauren or an Orc and instantly thinking, 'Enemy'. That feeling still comes back now again, causing pointless moments of panic. Well, I hit 19 with Qordis, the mage, and thought I'd have a stab at Warsong Gulch – partly to bone up on my PvP skills (invaluable as I approached the prospect of questing in contested territories far more often), and partly because I was out-levelling my partner's character and it was a chance for him to catch up.

So, off to Warsong I went. And I had a whale of a time. God, I'd forgotten just how delicate mages are, especially when you're up against the twinkiest of twinks. And, man, do I hate rogues.

Not that any of this stopped me racking up around 700 honor points in my first 24 hours or so. (I went a bit crazy, and it was WSG weekend, so it was easy to get into new battlegrounds without a long wait.) It was after my third or fourth match that I noticed one of my fellows was from Eonar – my former server, where my Alliance entrenchment began. Ha! It was true: I really had turned against my former allies, as my new server and my old server are both part of the Misery battlegroup.

As the hours went on, I even saw one or two familiar names among the Alliance forces. Not that that stopped me pummelling them with as many fireballs as I could manage. Before a bloody rogue unstealthed from behind me, anyway.

Flipping good

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Og's Ledger is a great blog – snappily written, funny, and full of useful tips, mainly of the money-making sort.

His 'Rags to Riches' series on Auction House flipping is of particular note. I've always heard that this is a reliable way of making gold, but had been sceptical of how well it actually works. No longer: Og demonstrates just how simple it is, going from zero to more-than-enough-to-buy-a-mount in a week. I can only imagine how the profit could snowball from that point on. Og's guide is highly recommended.

Having left behind my level 70 and his 3000-odd gold, I need to find ways to rake in some cash, and it looks like this could be it. I'm installing Auctioneer the minute I get back to my WoW machine, and I'll let you know how I get on.

Bye-bye, autopilot

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:29:00 +0000

So, I've been living life on Outland for a few days, and have only been ganked once. Those of you who have played on a PvP server are probably long used to it, but when that yellow zone name appears in the centre of the screen, a little chill runs down my spine. Contested territory. There's a real frisson of excitement: suddenly, I have to pay attention. I can't autopilot my way through zones as I have done so often in the past – now, my very life is at risk!

Last night, I was sent to the legendary Tarren Mill. As a long-time Alliance player, I knew to be wary of the place and its wandering Deathguards. Many is the time I've been running up that road north, into Alterac Mountains, only to accidentally aggro a small pack of these undead bastards and have to run for my life. Now, though, they're on my side!

I still suffer some sort of atavistic terror when I see one, though. The same goes for orcs. Any orcs. They're the bad guys! My number's up! I suppose in time these big, green lumps will register solely and always as friends – and then, God help me if I start seriously playing Alliance again!

Anyway, the run to Tarren Mill. I was wise: being in the US at the moment gives me a little advantage. I'm only level 19 at the moment, so I knew that the Hillsbrad mobs alone would be trouble, even if I stuck to the paths. And then, if I bumped into a 20-odd Alliance player in this contested zone, well that would be that. So, I waited until about 10.30pm US time – which is somewhere between four and five in the morning, EU server time. I figured there wouldn't be much opposition, and I was right. A couple of mobs chanced their arm, but a couple of thankfully unresisted frost novas saw me right, and I made it to Tarren Mill.

My first job on arrival was to get the flight path, so I could avoid repeating that long slog from Undercity. Ah, the flight path. This brings me to my 'first gank' story.

The current Lunar Festival offers a brilliant way for lowbies to quickly visit all their faction's major cities. (If you didn't know this, check out this post on WoW Insider.) I obviously wanted to do this, just so I could get the Thunder Bluff flight path, as that one is the hardest to reach if you don't start as a Tauren. (It's like the Darnassus of the Horde. I get it.) But, as part of the process, you have to spend some time in Moonglade – contested territory.

And it was there that some lvl?? Draenei decided to paste me into the flowerbeds. I was level 9 at the time. Fair enough, it had to happen. I may even have done the same if I were bored and fancied the total opposite of a challenge. But a Draenei? Come on, I love you guys!

And you'd think, after that, I'd be on my guard and thinking carefully about all my actions. You'd be wrong.

While I was in Moonglade, I thought, "You know, I really should get the flight path here, too, while I'm on my tour..."

So I jogged up to the flight master and right-clicked.

BAM!

Dead again.

Oh, that's right. I'm Horde now. I'd only gone and attacked the Alliance gryphon master.

And that was when I finally learnt to turn off the autopilot.

Shared topic: Character names

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:49:00 +0000

The wonderful Blog Azeroth forums regularly feature a 'shared topic', which any WoW bloggers are free to use as the basis for a post on their own site. It's a neat idea – and saves the need to brainstorm quite so hard about what to write about! I'm going to try and keep up with these topics, as they create a really nice, web-wide discussion on various ideas.

This week's topic is pretty straightforward: "How did you come up with your character names?"

My own characters are named after all sorts of things, with very little consistent rhyme or reason. Let's start with the latest, and move backwards. Randomly. And by no means comprehensively.

Qordis: named after a Sith Lord, mentioned in the book Jedi vs. Sith. Blood elf mage. Sith Lord. What's the difference, really? (Also, I'm a bit of a sucker for names starting with 'q', but not followed by a 'u'. See also...)
Qara: a deliberate misspelling of Starbuck's first name in the new Battlestar Galactica series. Qara, a female troll hunter, is one of the victims of the 'I just don't get this Horde thing' alt-spree. She's currently sitting on a catapult at Far Watch Post, neglected.
Keene: My first character. I was listening to Keane at the time I created him, but decided I couldn't just call him that. Deliberate misspelling is a common theme. When he transferred to a new server, he had to be renamed. Meet...
Kaius: Named after the vampire king of Karnath in Dungeons and Dragons' Eberron setting. I'm an all-inclusive geek. (Oh, and sorry about saying he's a vampire – that's a bit of a spoiler...)
Denn: My one and only level 70 to date. Bizarre, this one – he's named after my friend Den, just because it's a nice-sounding, simple name. Den doesn't know. (Note again – deliberate misspelling!)
Doctor Who-themed names: Oh, the many, many alts that luxuriate under names from the world's greatest TV show. There's Jast (named after a Dalek), Cessair (a villain from the Tom Baker years), Runcible (a Time Lord newspaper reporter)... and a few more I can't remember now. Most of these alts never got very far.
Duos: my partner and I have created a couple of pairs of characters, none of which we've gone on to play with any seriousness. There's Kagney and Lacey, and Clore and Statham (from Channel 4's fabulous Green Wing).

So, yes: basically, I name my characters after whatever I fancy at the time they're created. In a post from Chronicles of Undermine, Bunnyfer says:

"I feel coming up with a name should embrace your joys and interests. I like names that have meaning, whether from a book, movie or TV show, a name should be something you will be happy with for the long grind to 70, and eventually 80."

That pretty much sums up how I feel about it, and it's interesting to see that Bunnyfer names her toons in a style similar to my own: scattershot, but meaningful.

Bunnyfer also adds:

"Names that lack originality drive me crazy."

Oh yes. How many different spellings of Sephiroth can there be?! I get it: I get that we male Blood Elves look like the character from the Final Fantasy games, but dear God... I normally avoid duels as a waste of time, but someone called Sefiroth, or something, ran up to me in Tranquillien yesterday and challenged me. I just had to take him down. (I lost horribly.)

That's the key, surely, to choosing your name: use some imagination! You're stuck with it for a long time (paid name changes notwithstanding), so it should be something to be proud of, a label you're comfortable with.

Or, failing that, do what I do: nick your name from a book and just spell it wrong!

Switching sides

noreply@blogger.com (Tennant) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:37:00 +0000

'Traitor to the Light'. That's a strong way of putting it, wouldn't you say? Let's first go back just a couple of weeks...

I was having dinner with a couple of friends in Seattle, a married couple who also play World of Warcraft. I'm over in the US on an extended holiday at the moment (I know, I know, lucky me), and had been considering grabbing a US copy of the game while I was out here, specifically so I could hook up with these friends in-game. But when the topic of WoW came up over post-dinner cocktails, I learnt the terrible truth: Chad and Nora were Horde. Unashamedly so. Nora even enjoyed PvP, relishing her not inconsiderable Shamanistic skills in crushing my precious fellow Allies. So, even if I had decided to create a US account, I'd have to switch sides just to hang out with them. US account, more money every month, the time-zone differences once I was back in the UK, and having to go Horde... it was all too much, and I very quickly gave up on the idea.

And now let's go back a little further, to just a week or two after the European launch of WoW – getting on for three years ago now.

My first character was Keene, a gnome mage on Aszune EU. He hit 60 when 60 was the level cap, and I decided to test the waters with some other characters. And I tried Horde, I really did, but just never felt it. My partner (whom I dragged into the game, experiencing very little resistance, very soon after I got it) felt exactly the same. At heart, we just weren't Horde. So we returned to our beloved Alliance, and both created new characters – me, Denn, a night elf priest; him, Fallow, a night elf druid (his second druid in a row!).

Over time, Denn and Fallow leapt over to Eonar EU (I can't remember why, but we did...) and both hit 70. We were part of a great guild full of sensible, mature, fun types, who were (without pressuring any members to do so) steadily progressing towards Karazhan. But then burn-out hit. Bad. I thought I'd be walking away from the game: I sharded all Denn's gear, sent it to the guild, cancelled my account and walked away.

Can you see where this is heading?

A few months later, I realised I missed the game. (This isn't some freakish addiction, I'm sure; I just really, really enjoy WoW, and was hankering for it at those times when I just didn't want to kill my time with telly, books, whatever else.) So, I restarted my account, and re-entered life on Eonar. But our guild had fallen apart: the GM had seemingly left the game and a new guild, formed of more hardcore-minded members, was now regularly running Kara. I considered joining them again, but it just felt wrong: I'd walked away and they'd, quite rightly, carried on. I couldn't just ask them to wait for me to catch up all over again. Plus, after the Great Sharding, all my gear was... well, bollocks.

So, I just diddled around as Denn, gradually shoring up money with the aim of buying an epic flying mount and just waiting for the release of The Wrath of the Lich King, so I could catch up and maybe reapproach different end-game aims when I hit 80. But I soon realised I was missing the companionship and chatter of guild life, but after trying out one or two guilds on Eonar with a couple of different alts, I couldn't settle on any one. Plus, my gear was bollocks, remember – if I'd tried to seriously get into raiding, I would have been the noobish laughing stock of my new guildmates. And anyway: did I really, really want to raid?

I'd hit a wall. Denn was broken and I was lonely, for want of a better word, in the wider game world. What to do? What to do?

To the forums! Dodging the usually banal, vicious and moronic posts on the EU forums, I sought out a new guild – I was happy to switch servers, if I had to, in my search for a new home. It wasn't long before I found what has turned out to be a great bunch of people, who are currently making life in-game far more enjoyable and rewarding.

But there was just one problem. Actually, there was more than one problem.

The new guild was on a PvP server; I'd only ever played on PvE servers, and never had a particularly good showing whenever I did wander into a battleground. They were a Horde guild, too. And if I ever saw the orange boredom of The Valley of Trials again, it would be too soon. Oh, and there was something else about them, something that attracted me to them in the first place...

I took the plunge, and am now dealing with the realities of all the above. And hence this blog: this is a way for me to record life on the Horde side of a very different kind of server. I'll deal with all the specifics of my new character, my new guild, and my experiences of life on Outland EU in posts to come. I'll also be keeping up with developments in the game, as they affect me. (Hey, it's my blog! Who else should I care about?)

But this first post is just to give you some background. I hope you'll stick around as I fill in some of the blanks: I promise I'll try to avoid being ganked long enough to write about my experiences!