Project Lore

In early December 2007 Blizzard Entertainment was part of a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games.  The deal was essentially brokered to offload debt France's Vivendi SA had acquired, and give Activision something it severely lacked, a successful MMORPG.  It worked, creating a total (estimated) transaction of almost $19 billion.  In perhaps the most expensive example of monday quarterbacking, Robert Kotick, Activision's President and CEO, admitted to Game Informer that he believed Davidson & Associates was "insane" to pay $7 million, that's with an 'm,' for Blizzard back in 1995.

“That year Activision probably had 60 million in revenues. They said they paid seven million dollars for Blizzard. I’m like 'Are you out of your minds? They’re like a contract developer! They have Warcraft but what else do they have? You paid SEVEN million! That’s insane!

"I was talking to [Blizzard founder] Mike Morhaime the other day and I said, 'You know, I could have bought you for seven million and instead it was seven billion.' [Laughs]
He said, 'Yeah, could you imagine if I had just held out for the seven billion instead of the seven million?'”

You've got to hand it to Davidson & Associates for spotting this diamond in the rough.  With only a couple of quality titles before Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (they were released under a different company name, no less) Blizzard was largely unheard of, let alone highly respected.  Buy Blizzard it did, and D&A reaped the benefits for years to come.

Could you imagine if Blizzard wasn't given the proper time to execute on Warcraft II, Diablo, StarCraft or Battle.net.  Or how meh StarCraft: Ghost would have been when it was forced to ship.  I highly doubt BlizzCon would have ever of happened.  Who knows if WoW would have even been created.  And without WoW it's doubtful ProjectLore would exist!

My brain hurts.  Time to stop contemplating the mass implications to our space time continuum.  Let's just hope things remains solid going forward.

Like the pic?  Then buy the shirt.

Wow, WoW, you're going too fast for me! It seems like only yesterday that the Plagueworks opened, and now today we'll get the blood-thirsty minions within The Crimson Hall for our stabbing pleasure. But are we ready?

It seems like most groups venturing within Icecrown Citadel have started to get a feel down for defeating the first four bosses in the instance. But with only a couple of weeks under our belt for the three bosses in Plagueworks, I know there are still many groups struggling with these new encounters. My personal raid group has nearly gotten Rotface down, had an epic wipe the one and only time we faced Festergut, and has yet to see the face behind that ever-amusing voice of Professor Putricide that echoes within the hall.

We're progressing, which is a start, but I would hardly say that the encounters have become routine yet for anyone. So this is why I'm somewhat torn.

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Playing World of Warcraft is good.  Playing it as a group is better, and playing it with a group of people you actually know is downright fantastic.  If anecdotal evidence tells us anything, it is that the more comfortable the group is, the better it will perform.  This is the basic reason so many of us join guilds.  In World of Warcraft guilds are a way to meet requirements for raids, with the ultimate goal of seeing content that's unobtainable to an individual and the chance atshinies .  Being social creatures, we inevitably begin to converse and interact with those around us, but do we ever really get to know these people?

Tobold believes that "In most cases you know nothing about your online "friends", beyond that they share one common interest with you." I have to disagree.  Either I am the exception to the rule, or nearly all of the guilds I have been a part of in WoW are.  For those keeping track at home I did feel like an outcast in two of my Wrath guilds, but one of those was because all the other members were such good friends (that spoke in another language).

My current, and original 40-man, guild are more than just a bunch of online "friends".  Most of us know each other's names, our other hobbies (cars, computers, etc), our daily schedules ("he gets home at 8:30"), relationship status and our bedtimes.  We chat in Ventrilo for the sake of chatting.  We've extended our love of video games beyond WoW and into other games like League of Legends, Global Agenda and Team Fortress 2.  Together.  I keep in touch with a handful of former guildies, after they quit the game.  I have had that drink at a bar with many brothers in arms, and even hosted numerous guild get togethers at my domicile.  Hell, I had two people I meet in WoW over my house this very weekend.

There's no reason why your online "friends" needs to be in quotes at all.  In all honesty, you'll get back what you put in, just like any other relationship.  If you only want acquaintances to help you get through a challenging dungeon as you relax away the day, that's cool.  But I believe that making those deeper connections, forging online friends (not Facebook-style "friends"), makes for a better guild.  One that's less hateful, more accepting of failure, and capable of delivering more fun than just downing the next boss.

What about you?  What kind of social structure does your guild subscribe to?



Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne or subscribe in iTunes for notifications of new videos!

  

I complete my quest to become the BB King by wandering Exodar to find Prophet Velen. If you want high quality videos, check out Protip in iTunes!

Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne for notifications of new videos!

   

I easily sneak in and out of Darnassus and take an easy shot at Tyrande as I near my goal of being the BB King.

The WoWInsider show is an audio podcast by the crew at WoW.com. It is recorded live weekly at 3:30 EST on Ustream, and syndicated over iTunes the following Monday. Tomorrow (January 15h, 2010), Heartbourne (Timothy Tusing) and DJTyrant (Jimmy Blocksom) will be on the show with WoW.com bloggers Michael Sacco and Matt Rossi. Head to the Ustream page at 3:30 EST to listen. If you miss it, don't worry, just check this page or wow.com on Monday to listen to the show and read about what we talked about. Hope to have a bunch of Project Lore fans in the chatroom tomorrow!

Good news everyone! Blizzard has opened up free realm transfers on a few realms: Source A (PvP)
Arthas
Emerald Dream (RP-PvP)
Illidan (Horde Only)
Kel'thuzad
Mal'Ganis (Horde Only)
Tichondrious
Warsong (Horde Only)

Destination A (PvP)
Agamaggan
Anetheron
Auchindoun

Source B (RP)
Moon Guard

Destination B (RP)
Farstriders You have until January 28th to make your move, though they might start closing transfers sooner if enough people move. Get a move on! These are great choices for realm moves. Blizzard obviously have all the data at their disposal to make these decisions, but if the data from warcraftrealms.com is to be believed, Illidan, Mal'ganis, and Warsong are some of the most populated Horde-side realms. Its curious that Arthas and Kel'thuzad are also on that list, as they aren't nearly as populated. The destination realms seem to be very small, and will likely have a big change in culture with players from all of these big servers possibly heading over. I really hope that my home realm of Proudmoore has transfers open up for Alliance players to leave. The estimate is around 20,000 Allies to 5,500 Horde players. Again, these are ballpark numbers. My guild, Taint, has over 5,000 unique members, so its unlikely that these numbers are completely accurate. It doesn't change the fact that our Wintergrasp battles are one versus one hundred, though. And all those Allies clogging my tubes when I'm in Dalaran! /shakefist Have you ever used a free realm transfer?

I got the unfortunate notion last week that I wanted more flying mounts. Specifically, those glowy, bright Netherwing dragons that look awesome as they streak through the sky, leaving a luminescent haze in their path. So for the past 4-5 days, I've been questing in southeastern Shadowmoon Valley and soaking up a dose of that Burning Crusade content that I missed out on during my break from WoW in 2008.

And so, this is how I came across the Dragonmaw race questline. It starts with a race against Oldie McOld. You, upon your epic flyer (and disguised as an orc upon a netherwing) must fly within range of your opponent and not get dismounted as he weaves around crystals and twists through the sky, heaving pumpkins at you all the way. The races get progressively more difficult, and so does dodging whatever your opponent throws at you -- be it skulls, lightning or meteors. If you successfully get through all six races, you earn the Skyshattered achievement.

And now thanks to a 3.3 change, the achievement is much easier to get. I read right over this change in the 3.3 patch notes and didn't think much of it:

• Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.

As it turns out, the change is huge to this particular questline, which used to be probably the most difficult quest while flying in the game. Now it can still be a bit tricky, but as I understand it, not nearly as much as before. So those of you who have avoided this rep grind or even this achievement in the past have reason to try again.

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Welcome to The High Inquisitor, where Project Lore pokes fun at all those crazy, unexplained WoW impossibilities. While the answers to these great mysteries of Azeroth often are a matter of game mechanics, here we’re less interested in that aspect, and more interested in exploring our own unique brand of lore that could happily provide explanations. The inquisitor will make her own suggestions, and the best comment(s) with more possibilities will be highlighted with the next edition’s inquisition.

It's the dead of January, and my usually decently warm spot in the world on the eastern coast of the U.S. is downright frigid. Even my friends in Florida have been seeing wintry temperatures below freezing. It's days like today that I'm happy to escape to Azeroth. ...But wait!

The different zones of Azeroth remain basically the same year-round. Northrend is a chilly place no matter what time of year, seemingly stuck in a perpetual winter. And Durotar... well, have you ever seen snow there, or anywhere else that it doesn't fall regularly? What is going on with the seasons of Azeroth!?

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The Icecrown Citadel gunship battle may not be the most challenging of fights in the raid, but I would definitely argue that it's one of the most fun. The jetpacks you get to strap on to your back coupled with a coordinated effort to bring down the other ship before they can shoot yours out of the sky brings an exhilarating thrill unlike any other fights I've previously seen in WoW. (Added bonus - get a druid to use the jetpack while in bear form. Hilarious.)

Both times my raid group has gotten to the battle, we defeated it pretty easily once we got in the groove. As a melee dps class, my primary job has been to man one of the guns on the ship. I shoot the heck out of the other ship and strategically use the stronger cannon once enough pressure has built. Once our cannons are frozen by a meddlesome sorcerer on the other ship, we rocket on over. The tank and healer go first, then I and the other gunner charge in, too. We get her down, and come right back to the canons that are now free to be used again. Those of you who already have seen the fight know there's a lot more going on, too. While the gunners have their own mess to work on, other members of the raid group have a whole 'nother set of problems.

But it's easy to get sucked into a bubble while concentrating on your designated task, as I found out the hard way last night. Our cannons were about to get frozen again, and the rocket group was preparing for another trip over to the enemy ship. We've gotten the timing down SO quickly -- the tank and healer rocketed over as I got booted from the gun, and fractions of a second later I also clicked my rocket to board the ship. But we were so engrossed with our duties that we didn't realize we had already won the battle.

The realization sunk in pretty quick, though, as the three of us (the second gunner stopped short) flew through the air, and our destination ship pulled further and further away.

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