Project Lore

No matter what your level or experience or race or class or faction, you can always make a change. Always. What sort of change? Well that's up to you. What do you want to change? You want to be a tailor? Do it. You want to level up fishing? Go fish. Want to switch servers? Do that, like I just did. WHAT!?! Yep that's right. I switched servers from a PvP to a PvE, from Frostmane to Moonrunner. Why you ask? Plain and simple: most of my friends switched there so there I went. There's also the added benefit of not getting ganked while grinding it out from 70 to 80 in the next few months. It was a easy choice, really. I'm more interested in the content and storyline rather than mindlessly killing someone else's toon 'cuz they just happen to be there. Don't get me wrong, I've had moments where I've ganked a few people who were camping a lowbee, but it's not my favorite thing in the game. For me, it's crushing Magtheridon or finally putting Illidan in his place. The point is this: you can always make another choice, whether in WoW or RL. If you think things would be better, funner or so much easier doing something different in your WoW or RL, then make the decision and do it. It's your choice. It's always up to you.

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Recently, I was interviewed for a feature on Nihilum's site. Nihilum is one of the most well known and amazingly dedicated guilds in the world, and they have claimed many world first kills. They are also one of the guilds that has completely beaten all of the Burning Crusade content, including the final boss of the Sunwell Plateau, Kil'jaden. The interview covered all sorts of subjects, from behind the scenes info about our videos, to Alexis' Wrap-Ups, Alex's CNN interview, and the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Check out the interview on Nihilum's site!

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SK-Gaming announced yesterday that the guild is splitting up.  No, no, the guild isn't dieing by any means but splitting into two distinct guilds, a PvE and PvP guild.  First, let me hit you guys with some details. The organization actually started way back in 1997 with the Quake franchise.  Later, the team transitioned to Counterstrike, where they received most of their fame, and has lived on in all things competitive gaming since.  The company runs various teams for numerous games including Counterstrike, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft.  SK-Gaming has been a part of World of Warcraft for only a few months, since they teamed up with Curse shortly before the launch of Sunwell Plateau.  So, now you know some background on the team. The break-up is more than name only.  There will not be a SK-Gaming PvP guild and PvE guild.  Instead the teams will be completely separate, as the SK-Gaming brand wants to focus solely on e-Sports titles, of which they consider WoW's Arena ladder to be one of them. The decision speaks a lot for Blizzard's e-Sports hopes and the ability to manage two vastly diverse playing styles.  It should be pretty apparent that WoW is now an accepted e-Sports franchise.  I mean with millions of dollars in prize money being offered by various tournaments, how could you disagree?  It also should show just how drastically different the gear, playstyles, management and mindset need to be for players to be that hardcore in both aspects of WoW. For their part, the Curse/SK-Gaming PvE guild was the most dominate in Sunwell, with a combined five world first kills including Kil'jaeden.  So it isn't like the team wasn't working out.  They likely just did not feel comfortable surrounded by all the e-Sports guys, as it was reportedly their decision to leave.  There is also the issue with content generation.  How is a sponsored company like SK-Gaming supposed to keep people coming back after the newest PvE content is cleared?  There are things  they could do like training videos (we have that covered) or joke raiding videos, but that may not keep their members happy.  Perhaps that is why they have reformed under the new banner of “Put Your Name Here” and continue on with their previous benefactors, Curse Gaming and World of Raids. What does this mean for PvE?  Probably nothing.  Guilds, including the "splinter" PvE guild, will still race for world first kills, content will get cleared and then another dull period will ensue.  Same old, same old.  Life will go on, but as recocered hardcore raider, the changes interest me nonetheless.

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The United States stock market has been more random than a raid against Gruul in recent weeks. Since the House shot down the proposed 700 billion dollar bailout bill – glad they did by the way – the market has become even more tumultuous.  The Dow Jones had a record decline of nearly 800 points after the bill's failure, followed by an increase the next day from short-selling. But analysts have found one market that seems to be a bit insulated from the crashing economy, video games.

It is no wonder why world renowned economists are claiming that Azeroth's economy is currently the strongest economy in the world. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke states that “Azeroth's economy is the strongest market that I have seen in years. Inflation is low and well managed by Blizzard, consumers are spending at incredible rates, and goods are being bought and sold within days of creation. The current market trends in Azeroth could not be more polar opposites to the rest of the world.”

Secretary of Treasury and guy who is incredibly sure of himself Henry Paulson believes that “The economy in Azeroth is fine. No problems there, of course I did say the same thing about the US economy recently. But, this time I mean it. Put all your gold in Goldman Bags, they will be just fine.”

Mad Money's Jim Cramer exclaims that “HOLY COW, I HAVEN'T SEEN AN ECONOMY THIS HEALTHY SINCE I BEGAN SHOUTING AND THROWING THINGS ON TV. THE MAINLAND OF AZEROTH IS RAKING IN THE DOUGH WITH THE TRADE DEFICIT HEAVILY IN THEIR FAVOR. IF YOU COULD BUY STOCK IN AZEROTH I WOULD RATE THEM ALL A “TRIPLE BUY,” BOOYAH!”

Need an opinion from a real person, someone you know? Well, Solidsamm of Magtheridon agrees with the eggheads. “I can't believe this market. It is ripe for the picking. The auction house is truly a buy-low, sell-high market right now. I picked up a few thousand Netherweave Cloth for just over 250g, transmuted it to Heavy Netherweave Bandages and vendored them for close to 400g. That is almost 150g in profit with no risk! And with Wrath of the Lich King coming soon, things can only get better!”

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We've always been all about our community here at Project Lore, and we really want to get your input on our videos. Through our first eight episodes, we sped up the trash pulls in order to get you quick, short episodes with one boss per episode and one instance per week. This week, we changed it up a bit to show you a whole lot more of Utgarde Keep in the WotLK beta. You're getting one boss per week and all of the guys' interactions through the entire run. So, which do you guys enjoy more? Keep in mind that due to our production schedule we may not be able to completely use one way or the other, but we would love to get an idea of how you feel about it, so vote below! If you've got any extra comments, leave them on this post.

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Alex Albrecht AKA DrDark was interviewed about MMO's, World of Warcraft, and Project Lore for CNN's weekly video game segment, Get Your Game On. Check out the interview:

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You'll never guess who we found in the studio one day at the end of shooting. That's right, our own Alexis Knapp. A lot of you guys have been saying that she can't play. Well, we hope this puts some of that speculation to rest. (And yeah, we did blur out a couple screens for the sake of her privacy.)

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As we all know from his answer in the Episode 6 Wrap-Up, Juggy is a bit of a rolling stone. Since his answer to Rory's question was released, we've received numerous reports of sightings similar to those in the video.  Of course, Juggs don't remain in a single place for too long, and we at Project Lore don't even know where he is at any given time. If you think you've spotted him crafting in Kobe, respeccing in Rio de Janeiro, or owning in Omaha, mock it up using this photo of the Juggybox (png, gif) and your favorite image editing software, then send it in with the name of the location to editor@projectlore.com. We're sure everyone would love to see where Juggy might be found. Maybe eventually we can convince him to make a video like this one. (View in high quality for full effect). We can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

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Once again, fan clamor gets things done. You guys have been so enthusiastic about Project Lore, and one of our top requests has been for Project Lore shirts. Well, we at Project Lore are extremely excited to announce that we have partnered with J!NX to bring to you the Lore Store, accessible from www.JINX.com/projectlore. Initially, we'll have two great shirt designs, available on September 5th: the Classic Logo design, as seen on this week's wrap up episode, and the Wings of Victory design, featuring silhouettes of all the World of Warcraft classes. You can sign up to be informed when they are available using the notify me tool at J!NX. We can't wait to start seeing you guys wearing 'em!

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All of us here at Project Lore have recieved a lot of great feedback and enthusiastic community interaction. Earlier this week, one fan named Rob created this awesome Goggins theme that we thought you guys might enjoy. Maybe it will help hold you guys over until we release the next episode, which has been pushed forward to Thursday. Thanks, SaintGermain! So without further ado, It's Goggins by Rob Houghton. We at Project Lore all got a kick out of it, so let us know what you think. Also, if you've any remixes of songs or anything else super cool like this, send em in to editor@projectlore.com! Just to reiterate, due to fan clamor, we'll have episode 6.2 for you guys tomorrow with the wrap up at 3PM PDT on Friday!

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