Project Lore

A guild castle from Runes of Magic.

Overlooked captures smaller news stories that didn't have the legs to stand on their own, or have just fallen through the cracks of the blogosphere.

Hey, we can't be everywhere all the time.

This week we look back at the recurring idea of guild housing, and Upper Deck Entertainment's thoughts on the WoW TCG issue. Also, don't forget to name our podcast!

Blizzard Shoots Down Guild Housing For The 143rd Time

Guild housing has been a dirty world in World of Warcraft since the title launched many moons ago.  The ability for a player to mark their territory  in the world - the numerous toilet quests do not count - was to be one of those features added to Azeroth at a later date.  It was brainstormed, discussed, hinted at, but never realized.  Blizzard wants to give in to this somewhat common MMOG feature, but the developer continues to be unhappy with its creation, as Bornakk discussed last week:

"While this originally came up before I was around, I think this has been answered at some BlizzCons since then. While we think this could be a fun idea, we also like the idea of seeing a lot of people in cities and don't want to make main cities feel like ghost towns - if you need an example of this head to Silvermoon (yeah, that's a cheap shot, I know). So for now this idea remains an interesting idea but we'd have to make sure it fits into the game well and meets our expectations which are pretty high for something like this."

He later added that:

"It's also hard to say that letting people run off to their own cabin to relax in peace will really be a big bonus to the game for the vast majority of the playerbase."

I gave up on guild housing in World of Warcraft a long, long time ago.  It only seems like the devs could implement housing in the current world if the housing area(s) was instanced.  What would be the point of instanced housing?  Town setups would be very cool, but that'd make Bornakk's fear come true.  Seems like only an expansion that lacked formal cities could easily handle the feature.  We know that Blizzard (finally) fears sanctuaries, so there's a chance the fourth expansion could do the town idea.

Upper Deck Entertainment Responds To Losing The WoW TCG/Miniatures License

Last week, we reported on the news that Blizzard Entertainment will no longer be allowing Upper Deck Entertainment to distribute the WoW TCG.  The well-off card game was pulled for unspecified reasons, which lead the entire Internet to speculate.  Did UDE lose the rights because the company was caught creating counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh cards?  Did Blizzard realize that the company could take over every aspect of product easily?  Or less conspiracy based, was it impossible for the companies to come to terms on a new agreement?

Blizzard had its say, and now it's time for UDE:

"Unfortunately, due to gradually declining sales over the past few years and the overall downturn in the economic climate, we have had to make the tough decision to discontinue our World of Warcraft product lines."

I believe this is the first confirmation that UDE will no longer be making the Miniatures game, as well as the TCG.  Seems that the once popular TCG isn't meeting UDE's standards of return. 

As part of the announcement, UDE disclosed the closing plans for the company's final products.  All current products will be available until the end of March.  Meanwhile, upcoming products - the Class Starter Deck, Wrathgate Booster, Souls of Vengeance Starter, Deluxe Starter and Booster - will not go into production.

Whatever the reasoning behind the move, Upper Deck and Blizzard remain on good standing, at least in their PR materials.  UDE closed the announced with the follow:

"We are currently working with Blizzard Entertainment to facilitate a smooth transition as they work on their own plans for a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game."

Name The ProjectLore Audio Podcast.  Please.

Do you like World of Warcraft? Do you like prizes?  What about World of Warcraft-based prizes?  How about WoW-based prizes valued around $150?

Now that I have your attention, please head over to the Name The Project Lore Audio Podcast & Win Prizes post and help us name our podcast.  The grand prize winner receives the entire Tokyopop collection of Blizzard manga. 

There's only a week remaining to submit your entries.  Hop to it.