Project Lore

Have the the Hallow's End festivities been keeping you busy? Between the daily slaughtering of the Headless Horseman, trick-or-treating hourly to keep up my chances of collecting all those masks, and running around "wanding" my guildies, I've been trying to enjoy the event to its fullest. But what about Halloween IRL? You know, that on which our WoW event is based. Well, there's still time to incorporate a little Warcraft in that area, too.

You all probably have seen the host of RL WoW-themed masks and make-up in the Blizzard store in years' past. For the hordies here, there's plenty of options, each which run about $35 to $40: the standard male orc mask, a Thrall-inspired mask, a male troll mask with plenty of tusk, and my personal favorite: the male forsaken mask. There's also the ear prosthetic kits that will set you back about $12 each, in both blood elf and night elf varieties.

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The first day of BlizzCon, as you have seen from numerous news coming out here at Project Lore, was an amazing time with a cataclysm of news (ba-dump-shh). Some of you may also be living it up at the convention, some are undoubtedly watching the organized chaos unfold from pay per view at home, and others of you surely have been refreshing your browsers as news comes out for you to soak up. So what about the other, fan-centered aspects of BlizzCon, beyond the news? Yes, I'm talking about contests. Costumes, sound-a-likes, dances, fan-art, songs and videos - all were showcased at the close of BlizzCon day 1. And although all the news has got my heart pumping in anticipation, I think the contests have been my favorite part so far. It's the first BlizzCon I've attended, or really even followed that closely. As iTZKooPA's photos showed, the halls are packed with a whopping 26,000 in attendance. And I don't want to play down the sheer amount of fun that being here has been so far, but the experience has been overwhelming at times. I found myself in a sea of other spectators, frequently lost and sore from carrying a ton of swag around because I didn't want to take the long hike back to the car. Not to mention the somewhat staggering nature of LA alone, for us non-locals. The contest was a time to sit back and marvel at the lengths some fans will go to show their dedication. Jay Mohr led the competitions with constant, expertly delivered comic relief (which is apparent by my constant laughter in the videos). As with previous years, we saw a hodge-podge of the good, the bad and the ugly. Costume-wise, I was smitten with interpretations of Queen Alexstrasza, several succubi and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner. And somewhat frightened, but very impressed by the overall winner who donned an unbelievably intricate Diablo Mistress of Pain costume. Amazing. Then dancing and sound-a-likes ensued, and many impressed. My faves: a blue, costume-wearing troll female shaking her thang for the audience, a band of "ninjas" doing the infamous Napoleon Dynamite dance and a seemingly husky man who surprised everyone with his tap-dancing prowess that translated perfectly to the dwarf female's moves, and won him first place in the process. The sound-alikes also were interesting for the most part, but the panel ran long. Each contestant had 30 seconds to mimic something heard in-game. Many chose speeches that bosses give when they attack or die. Some chose side effects or emotes. And we heard a whole group of Orc peons at "work, work." Between performances, Blizzard lit up their big screens with images of  the winning fan-art, and videos, and turned up the volume for excerpts from the winning original songs. I must say, I nearly fell out of my seat laughing at one video about a human man begging the moon not to get full because his wife is a Worgen and would rip his guts out. And again at an epic video about a player whose alt gets ganked over and over again. Finally, he gets his main and is ready to kick ass as he heads to confront the ganker. Then, a rogue unstealths and the pair team up to kill him again anyway. Loved it. Anyhow, who else here gets revved up by fan contests? How'd you feel about the costume winners? I'm curious how many of you would be brave enough to strip down and dance in front of tens of thousands of people watching (many with video cams) ? Personally, I've been known to enjoy costuming from time to time. But hell if I'd ever do a dance on stage! ...Now get pumped for Day 2!

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The Line As We Approach Launch

I pulled up to Gamestop last night just after 10:15 PM to see about fifteen people milling around outside the store.  After fumbling with my bikelock in the 46 degree weather for a few minutes, I finally joined the crowd and jumped in on my first discussion, QQing about Retribution Paladins and how badly they need to be nerfed.  Not that anyone would care two hours from now, when they are home and installing Wrath of the Lich King. The kind employees at Gamestop invited all the fans in while they began processing last minute transactions.  Thankfully, the Philadelphia midnight launch did not have any credit card problems.  After the first batch of purchasers completed their transactions and the murmurs grew louder, I loudly introduced myself to grab their attention for a highly unscientific poll.  “Who thinks the servers will be playable in the next 24 hours?!” I asked. A few hands went up, but the general consensus was that lag, stability and over population (queues) would cause issues for many players.  A few players told me that this thinking was exactly the reason they decided to attend the midnight release.  They figured they would have the servers to themselves for a handful of uninterrupted, non-laggy hours to get ahead of the curve.  As of press, my server (an original server) is still fine, although there are reports of trouble out there. After we had warmed up and purchased our copies, the kindly employees threw us out into the cold again (“Line up outside if you want to get Wrath”).  As the line grew, passersby asked us what the hell we were in line for.  Being the angst-filled, impatient, basement-dwelling gamers that we are, we made stuff up.  Halo 4, Gears of War 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, free STD tests, and a few others that I can't print.  I also heard a few other items of pure gold while in the chilly air:

• Question: “What do you call a gnome escaping from Alcatraz?  A small medium at large.” (Player)
• “Aren't you too old to be waiting in line for a video game?” (An old lady after I told her what we were in line for while taking the picture).
• “All right you little warlords, up against the wall if you want the game.” (The cop helping out with crowd control).

These fellows demanded that they be put on the interwebs since they were in the front. Thanks to Patrick Mulhern for the pics!

The line ended up extended well around the corner by 11:30 PM, with every copy the store received reserved and paid in full.  By 12:30 the line had been cut in half, with the second purchaser sprinting out of the store, game in hand, as he shouted something like 'I'll be the first to 80, bitches!'  He was running so fast that I couldn't hear him clearly.  Needless to say, he was excited.  By 1:00 AM the line was gone, but the employees were still cleaning up in the store.  Sorry guys. How did your midnight releases go?  We didn't have a single cosplayer!

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