Project Lore

With all the Patch 3.2 hullabaloo (and it's impending release on the PTR), it's easy to forget about other things that might be going on in the World of Warcraft. This Sunday marks the beginning of the seminal Midsummer Fire Festival, a gala event that recognizes the Summer Solstice and runs through the United States' real life Independence Day. Though most people don't celebrate the Solstice on Earth, it's an important holiday for Azerothians the world over. Despite the relative absurdity of lighting fires on the hottest days of the year, there's a lot more to see and do since its makeover in 2008. Below, I will detail what you need to check out to, ahem, "get your fire started." Update: Apparently, Blizzard has added fires in Northrend this year. Unfortunately, it seems as though you cannot repeat any of the fires you honor/extinguished last year for more blossoms, possibly preventing you from being able to complete the Midsummer set for the pole-dancing achievement. Word on the street is that this is a bug, but we have yet to receive an official response. Keepers of the Flame

Most world events have you running around willy-nilly collecting all sorts of strange objects, and Midsummer is no exception. If no new ones are added in Northrend, there are a total of 62 bonfires spread throughout the other three continents. These tend to be stationed at various faction-specific outposts in nearly every zone (there are none in the Plaguelands, Searing Gorge, Deadwind Pass, Azshara, Un'Goro Crater, Moonglade, or Felwood). When you come across one of your own faction, you're offered the chance to "honor" it and will earn 5 Burning Blossoms (the event's currency) and some experience (or several gold if you're level-capped). Likewise, if you find one of the opposite faction, you can choose to stamp it out for 10 Burning Blossoms and more experience (or about double the gold). Be warned, though, that it will flag you for PvP and, as other players are likely to be participating in the event, you'll might have to get a little sneaky. Many of the achievements for the holiday are centered around honoring or extinguishing these fires, so it's well within your interest to do so if you're itching for some points. Save for a few, it's not terribly hard to find all of them, just time consuming, and you actually get a nice chunk of extra change or xp out of it for relatively little effort. Note, however, that you can only honor or douse each fire once for the duration of the event.

Stealing Fire

It wouldn't be WoW without a little bit of racial conflict thrown in, would it? Each of the eight main home cities has its own sacred flame pit which you can "steal" by looting. Obtaining one will allow a player of level 50 or above to activate a quest in which they simply have to turn to the flame in to a Festival Talespinner. For each turn in, they will have their choice of event-themed consumables and a whopping 25 Burning Blossoms. Of course, turning a flame in is the easy part. Getting it in the first place is where the challenge begins! As a rogue, I had an immense amount of fun trying to sneak into the Alliance's cities. Sometimes avoiding the guards was tougher than avoiding the players. Enemy faction players still pose quite a problem, though, as there will almost certainly be plenty near the flame, where most of the daily quests and mini-games take place. I can't speak from an Alliance perspective, but each of their cities posed a unique problem (aside from, perhaps, The Exodar). Making the run for Darnassus' portal resulted in several deaths last year (note, this is not necessary for the City Flame, but it is for the bonfires in the Night Elves' starting zone, which you might as well grab if you're in the area), Ironforge's flame is located on the complete opposite side from the city's entrance, and Stormwind's practically demanded a dangerous trip right through the Trade District (though the addition of the Docks area may or may not make things easier). Let's not forget about the wandering superguards that can see through any manner of stealth, either. If you don't have a character capable of sneaking about, expect people to organize regular raids on the opposing factions' cities. While they sometimes end up in an "every man for themselves" kind of melee as people scramble for their chance to grab the flame, just keep on trying and you're sure to get it eventually! Turning in all four flames will open up A Thief's Reward, a simple quest that will allow you to obtain the Crown of the Fire Festival, which is necessary to complete one of the Achievements.

Enjoying the Festival

If you're not one for traveling (or you're simply not a high enough level to fully participate in hunting flames), there are still other ways to enjoy Midsummer (although "enjoy" may not be the operative word). You see, near the City Flame of each home town, there are several mini-games that you can engage in, even at a lowly level one. The problem is that my memories of them contain no merriment or fun, only pain and a heck of a lot of suffering. OK, well, Torch Tossing isn't so bad. This game requires you to stand near a bonfire and, within a specified amount of time, toss torches so that they light up braziers several feet away. The goal is to aim at the braziers lit up with an arrow, which will change constantly, much like the classic game Whack-A-Mole. Timing is key, so make sure that you bind the torches you're given to a hotkey, so that you only really have to worry about aiming the green reticule that appears on the ground. It may take several tries to get Torch Tossing down, but at least it's not as treacherous as the dreaded Torch Catching. Starting from the bonfire, you have to click on the lit torches in your inventory, which will send it arcing behind you in a semi-random direction. Your goal is to run over to where you think it's going to land and "catch" it, which will toss it back up in the air again. The initial quest asks you to do this four times in a row, while the daily version requires ten volleys. This may not seem very difficult until you actually try to catch a torch for yourself. First of all, it's not entirely accurate. I found that, last year, I had to slightly lead where I expected the torch to fall in order to catch it. Second, the shadow that you're supposed to use as a guide has a habit of fading out or or disappearing altogether. Considering that the last time this event ran there were no advanced shadowing options, this problem may have been rectified by now. Lastly, there are probably going to be other players attempting to catch torches at the same time, and it's not hard to lose sight of which one is yours, causing you to miss completely. If that weren't enough, missing a torch will cause it to explode on the ground, scorching you for several thousand damage in the process. If you are not careful, you can die catching torches! So why would you want to do this? Once you've run out of flames to honor/douse/steal, which may happen during the first several days of the event, this is going to be your primary means of obtaining more Burning Blossoms (5 for each, plus some gold). After you've worn yourself out playing with torches, why not relax by spinning around a giant blazing pole? Sounds like a blast, right? In Midsummer's version of a ribbon dance, simply clicking on the flagstaff will send your character whirling, accompanied by a stream of multi-colored flame. There's an achievement for dancing around for 60 seconds in full Fire Festival Regalia (this does not require the crown obtained from the City Flame quests, only the shoes, mantle, and dress, which can be bought from event vendors); otherwise, it will give you a 10% stacking experience buff (3 minutes added per 3 seconds of dancing, up to 60 minutes).

Frost Lord Ahune

You think everyone would just like to chill out during the hottest days of the year, but Azerothians have to battle the cold, literally. A holiday-specific boss called Ahune, The Frost Lord appears in the depths of The Slave Pens, a 5-man dungeon underneath Zangarmarsh in Outland. Frost Lord Ahune The questline needed to fight him begins with a Festival Talespinner and you must be level 70 in order to complete it (though, I believe it is possible to participate in the encounter, even if you're a few levels lower). There are two different encounters with Ahune (who looks like a dark blue version of Murmur or Ragnaros), one for either the normal or heroic version of the dungeon. This is not a hard fight at all, and since Blizzard has not upgraded him from last year, it's going to be even easier. However, there are a few quirks that make it fun. The first phase is an add phase, during which Ahune only takes a quarter of the damage inflicted upon him. Ranged DPS can do little to hurt him, and melee shouldn't even bother at all, as Ahune will flick them away if they try to get too close. So forget about the boss and focus on his summons, which should comprise of one elite elemental and several smaller ones. After 90 seconds, he will submerge and go into Phase 2. At this point everyone should be attacking his exposed core. He will not summon adds while submerged, but he will cast Ice Spears that will shoot up from the ground and knock players into the air. Likewise, be wary of the ice slicks covering the ground, as you can slip and fall on them. After 30 seconds, he'll come back up again. This cycle will repeat until you defeat him, with the only change being that he will summon additional adds every time he goes back into Phase 1. As for rewards? He gave out some pretty sweet cloaks last year, and there are a few of the usual, unique trinkets event bosses tend to hand out like a Scorchling Pet or the Deathfrost Enchantment. Also, by returning the Shards of Ahune he drops, you have your choice of two tabards.

The Rest of the Fest

Festival vendors offer the following items (and their costs, in Burning Blossoms) for purchase:

• Handful of Summer Petals - 2 BB - Using these will shower a fellow player in the sweet flowers of Summer.
• Mantle of the Fire Festival - 100 BB - Equipping these will post two large braziers on your shoulders (also festive during Hanukkah!).
• Vestment of Summer - 100 BB - A nice, long Summer dress that casts an orange glow over your body and causes your hands to flame up when you /dance
• Sandals of Summer- 200 BB - Wearing these shoes causes a small fire to form around your feet, though being a troll, I'll never know the pleasure of fine footwear!
• Brazier of Dancing Flames - 350 BB - Dancing? Fire? I'm noticing a trend here... this brazier will summon a tiny, hot-footin' female elemental (looks like a Draenei) to shake it for you. It will respond to your emotes and using /dance while targeting it will turn your character into a larger version of the elemental.
• Captured Flame - 350 BB - Summons a "Spirit of Summer" pet, which looks like a small, red-colored wisp.
• Elderberry Pie - 5 BB
• Fire-toasted Bun - 5 BB
• Midsummer Sausage - 5 BB
• Toasted Smorc - 5 BB
• Bag of Smorc Ingredients - 5 BB - Allows you to create the Summer favorite at campfires around Azeroth.
• Fiery Festival Brew - 2 BB

Note that, even if you collect every Blossom possible during the event, you will not be able to purchase everything. If you're going for achievements, I'd spend all of your Burning Blossoms on the clothing first, which should leave you enough for either the Brazier of Dancing Flames or the Capture Flame. The former, in my opinion, is the better reward. On the note of Achievements, it seems that the Alliance and Horde will received slightly different titles upon completion. Here's the lineup:

• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in the Eastern Kingdoms.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Kalimdor - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Kalimdor.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Outland - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Outland
• The Fires of Azeroth - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• Extinguishing Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Eastern Kingdoms
• Extinguishing Kalimdor - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Kalimdor.
• Extinguishing Outland - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Outland.
• Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance) - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• King of the Fire Festival - 10 AP - Steal all of the opposing cities' flames and complete the quest "A Thief's Reward."
• Ice the Frost Lord - 10 AP - Kill Ahune, the Frost Lord in the Slave Pens.
• Burning Hot Pole Dance - 10 AP - Dance around a ribbon pole for 60 seconds while wearing all three pieces of the Midsummer clothing set.
• Torch Juggler - 10 AP - Juggle 40 torches in 15 seconds in Dalaran.
• The Flame Warden - 20 AP - This is the event's meta-achievement. You need to complete: The Fires of Azeroth, Ice the Frost Lord, King of the Fire Festival, Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance), Burning Hot Pole Dance, and Torch Juggler. Your reward is either the title of Flame Warden (Alliance) or Flame Keeper (Horde).

I would personally recommend completing all of the fire honoring/dousing/stealing achievements first, so that you have plenty of Burning Blossoms to buy all of the Midsummer clothing with. Ahune can be done at pretty much any time, and the others are relatively easy to complete. There are a few other, minor aspects to the event, including the ability to receive buffs (or extinguish them) utilizing the bonfires scattered throughout Azeroth, as well as a daily quest from the Earthen Ring called Striking Back, which asks you to kill a Twilight Cultist out on the Zoram Strand in Ashenvale.

Personally, I'd have to say that, since its revamp, this is one of my favorite world events in the game, and probably the first one I took seriously. I won't lie, I look forward to stealing the Alliance's fires all over again! What about you guys and gals? Share some memories or thoughts about the Midsummer Fire Festival in our comments section! This is a lengthy article, and it contains a lot of information, but I may not have covered everything you wanted to know. If you have any questions, please feel free to post those, as well.

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Last week you guys might remember that I wrote a bit about my love of the Dragonblight zone and all of its lore-tastic quest lines. And I should have known I can't sneak anything past you guys! As several of you pointed out, I excluded from my post the major Wrath Gate cut scene and epic event that follows. Well, that's partially because I hadn't finished that quest line yet. But it was also because the quest line was so grand that I thought I'd dedicate an entire separate post to it. **Possible spoilers for anyone who hasn't played through WotLK content!!** You have to work to get to the awesomeness. As a Hordie, I worked through four quest lines to prove my worth: Into the Fold, Victory Nears, Strength of Icemist, and The Forsaken Blight and You: How Not to Die. From there Overlord Agmar offers The Kor'Kron Vanguard:

The time has come, the moment is now - our elite soldiers at the Wrathgate need you. The son of Saurfang awaits your arrival at the Kor'kron Vanguard. Go now, northeast to the Wrathgate.

Another quest line later, some Scourge defeated, and the fun begins. Start in-game cinematic. I'll admit it. the first time I saw this was before I did any of the questing. But the second time, after all that work, left much more of an impact on me. We (who aren't DKs) get our first in-game glimpse at the Lich King, and it's an epic one at that. Both Bolvar and Saurfang Jr., along with a ton of their accompanying forces, get fandoozled by the Scourge (who are parading as the Forsaken). I knew those creepy apothecaries were up to something sinister! After the scene ends, everything has changed. In place of Bolvar and Saurfang Jr. stand Alexstrasza and Korialstrasz, who you met in previous questlines in their humanoid forms atop Wyrmrest Temple. Those who still are alive are running around screaming, mourning the dead. And you're left to inform either Saurfang or King Varian Wrynn of the casualties, and deal with the remaining aftermath. I've heard that some thought the cutscene was a rip off Lord of the Rings - and I can definitely see the resemblance. But regardless of where Blizzard drew its inspiration, I think this was a huge step in the right direction. The movie gets both Alliance and Horde energized for the big event to come, which is another big WIN for Blizzard - The Battle for the Undercity. Whether you're battling Varimathras alongside Thrall and Lady Sylvanas for the Horde or smacking up Grand Apothecary Putress with King Varian Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmoore for the, in this case, ill-informed Alliance, the battle for the ruins of Lordaeron is one of the most entertaining events I can recall for many reasons. Not the least of which is getting constant buffs that transform your character into a badass as you battle hell-minions who obviously are confused about their place in Azeroth. But there's also a ton of great lore in there for those of us who love the storytelling aspect of WoW, and we see some insight into the current relationship of Horde-Alliance. The phasing of areas we usually see much differently was pretty damn neat, too. I had a difficult time tearing myself away from the computer after all that excitement. Blizzard's movie site explains a bit about their thoughts behind the cinematic that triggers it all:

One of the design goals for Wrath of the Lich King was to elevate storytelling in World of Warcraft to new heights. Northrend is brought to life by engaging quests, memorable characters, beautiful environments, and the introduction of a brand-new feature: in-game cinematics. The first of these cinematics, The Wrath Gate, is now available for viewing and download on the Wrath of the Lich King website.

Now since this is the "first" of the "cinematics" (plural!) I really hope that means more of this is to come in the future. I'm not sure whether they're considering the Ulduar cinematic to be another of these, since it's really more of trailer than anything resulting from quests. But at least it adds on to the storyline, too. And Blizzard has put out plenty of trailers in the past, but the in-game Wrathgate morsel really seems like more of a reward and motivation to me. It may be unrealistic knowing that cinematics have got to be pretty expensive to make. But I can't help it - I just want more! Don't you!?

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In the past few weeks here at Project Lore, we've had the pleasure of watching the crew battle their way through Naxxramas, until finally reaching the powerful "Kel' Thud." And while they've been busy up in the necropolis in the sky, I've also been busy leveling down below in Dragonblight. This zone has got to be one of my favorites in the game. The fantasy elements of WoW are a big draw for me, so a zone dedicated to the lore around dragons sucked me in. The valley wasteland known as the Great Dragonblight is a somewhat mysterious land littered with the corpses of all different kinds of dragons who have come for their final rest. But the Lich King and his Scourge legions have found use in the remaining skeletons, many which have been reanimated into undead frost wyrms such as the tragic Sindragosa and the very Sapphiron who now resides within Naxx. As for quests, the Dragonblight's offerings range from level 72 to 75 in the long grind to level 80, with a good few group quests, some giant elites to battle in the north and also several dailies. Both factions can pick up some sizable XP rewards (especially if you take advantage of rested XP when killing mobs) through questlines messing with the Scarlet Onslaught. Yes, the same baddies formerly in the Scarlet Crusade now have moved into Dragonblight in hopes of destroying the Lich King - and anyone else who stands in their way. I'm still trying to find a PUG to finish up Do Unto Others and the end of the Horde line. Another good line with some fun dragon lore lies in the Ruby Dragonshrine. And again both factions can partake, which is a plus in my book. But for me, the real fun came with visiting the holy Wyrmrest Temple, riding a dragon to the top and taking on missions from Alexstrasza, the queen of the dragons and guardian of all life on Azeroth. Plus, her character model looks really damn cool. She and Lord Afrasastrasz are involved with Horde, Alliance and neutral quests alike. And if you just can't get enough of her majesty, there's always the Defending Wyrmrest Temple daily that opens up after completing the Rifle the Bodies questline. You'll get to shoot down dragons while earning a little money, some xp and a bit of rep with the Wyrmrest Accord all at once. And as an added bonus, if you can manage to complete the quest in under two minutes, you'll earn the Rapid Defense achievement. That's my kind of quest. There's actually a ton more about Dragonblight that has really made me love this zone. I just have a couple more group quests to finish up before dinging 74 and moving on, probably to the dreaded Zul'Drak zone. I'm going to miss it. Has anyone else felt a kind of attachment to Dragonblight? How about any other zones? I'll admit it, I also still get nostalgic thinking about the many, many hours I've spent leveling in the Barrens.

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The Project Lore Horde lowbies find themselves facing Taragaman the Hungerer in Ragefire Chasm. Watch Project Lore Horde down this boss and get loot in this old school instance.

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Project Lore find themselves transformed into Horde lowbies in Ragefire Chasm. Find out how our Project Lore adventurers roll Horde Old School style this week on Project Lore

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This toon also happens to be a RL girl.

Have you ever wondered how many of the female toons that you see in game are actually controlled by a girl player? Considering how many comments on Project Lore I’ve seen about guys trying (oftentimes without much luck) to get their girlfriends or wives to play WoW, my guess would be the percentage isn't too high. I’ve noticed that most girl gamers, including myself, prefer to roll girl characters. That's true for RPGs, fighting games, adventure games and especially in WoW, where you really bond with your toon and stick with them for a long time. But guys? I’ve always thought that it's strange, but I've known plenty who could roll either way. Especially when it comes to the female toons that look good (generally not female orcs). Being a Horde player and a lover of all things cute, my current character is a female blood elf (the cutest feature of all - when she runs, her ears wiggle!). And since I also am a big fan of the interactive side of WoW, I tend to team up with friends for much more than just running dungeons or raids. We'll set up a time to log on for quests, exploration, achievements, leveling professions, and generally running amuck, too. My most frequent partner in crime is another female blood elf played by none other than my husband. So I’m always curious – when we /flirt, /hug, /kiss, /love, /lick or /em (insert provocative thing here) – how many other players out there are seriously unsure about what’s going on? For all they know, it could be two RL guys who are both cross-playing girl toons. Who would guess that it’s actually a husband and wife team just spreading the love? Maybe others don’t even think much about it. But when I see a girl toon, I‘m always wondering – is it a girl in RL, or a guy? If my girl toon /dances with them, and the RL player is a guy, do they think I’m flirting with them? Maybe we’re not meant to know who the RL person is – that adds a whole new level of mysticism to the game. So, what’s been your experience? Do most girls really play only female toons, as I’ve noticed? How many guys out there roll either way? And do you ever wonder about toons' RL identities, or am I the only one?

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So we’ve probably all heard by now of the infamous death grip bug. The one that drags unsuspecting duelists, PvP’ers and joyriders alike all the way across Azeroth and into a ghost ship in the nether realm. The music video-inspired footage and numerous threads on the WoW forums are hilarious enough to make basically any DK (and there are a lot) say, “I have GOT to try that.” But here’s the bad news: all the hype caught on, the bug caused GMs a lot of headaches and help tickets, and perpetrators now face warnings of getting banned. But all hope is not lost for those of us who want to have fun with what I would argue to be one of the most powerful abilities in the game. There are still plenty of options for death grip pwnage that don’t involve getting banned. And I’ve been running through a few of them to find the most thrilling. Option 1: Massive slaughter Nothing makes the somewhat overpowered DK revel in their glory better than death gripping a weakling and one-hitting their asses. This is a good option for those of us who play mostly PvE. So when you need a quick fix, run into whichever low-level area you’re closest to, and start pulling any gray beasts who have the misfortune of being close to a bloodthirsty DK. Unfortunately, the 35-second cool down can be a buzz kill. Not ideal. Option 2: PvP The best part of death grip is making your target come to you - whether they want to, or not. So when you see that little gnome trying to escape with the Horde flag: death grip!! There used to be a lot of complaints about death grip being broken for PvP play. But it seems players have simply adapted by rolling their own DKs. Now from what I've noticed, about half of all battleground players are Death Knights. Which leads to the next fun choice. Option 3: Double death grip!! With all the DKs running around battlegrounds, it’s not hard to see that sometimes two DKs of opposing factions will death grip each other at the same time. Imagine the scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Harry and Voldemort duel, their wands connect, and everything goes haywire. It’s JUST like that. Or close, anyways. The dual death grip sends you both flying through the air. And if you time it just right, you’ll unexpectedly land behind each other. Try it – you’ll be delighted. And there’s still endless possibilities to try out. Want to run around Northrend pulling all PvP members of the opposing faction off their flying mounts, just for kicks? By all means, have at it. Let me know how it goes. Just don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do. Especially not anything involving the boat on Booty Bay. *wink*

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Maybe they’re just bitter about being killed by the plague. Or they could still be holding a grudge against the Lich King and his Scourge legions. Perhaps they just love torturing people with their creepy, oozing concoctions. Whatever it is, apothecaries and all the messed up lore surrounding them gives me the chills. Now, I’ll cheer on my Horde comrades any day, but these witch doctor guys only seem to remain allegiant out of convenience. Within the first few levels of rolling a Horde character, toons are tasked with completing numerous quests for these macabre NPCs. As a Forsaken starting out in the eerie green haze of Tirisfal Glades, you’ll be asked to turn a captured mountaineer into a ghoul, cause the flesh to rot off a Scarlet Zealot, and, of course, contribute to the spread of a new plague. How’s that for payback to those nasty humans who condemned you to undead life? And that’s all just in the starting area. At least if you roll undead, you have some good motivation for causing all this mayhem – revenge. What about the rest of us unsuspecting Horde toons? Many of us aren’t even aware of the Dark Lady’s ulterior motives to wipe out all civilization. But when members of the Royal Apothecary Society are offering sweet gear in exchange for our deeds, it’s not hard to lure us into poisoning the occasional captured human. Or two. Even when the reward is quite satisfying, I can’t help but feel tainted. So it’s not hard to see why I wasn’t sad to leave my old home of the Undercity and put some distance between my rogue blood elf, Locomomo, and Master Apothecary Faranell’s dungeon of bubbling vials and experiments gone awry. I dinged level 58 and got the hell out of there. But lo and behold, the Forsaken have brought their grudges with them to Outland, and then again to Northrend. Where will the madness end? These Royal Apothecary dingbats still weird me out. But I guess it’s the greedy, sneaky rogue in me that just can’t help but complete even the darkest of quests in exchange for upgraded gear. I’m in Howling Fjord, and working toward earning a nice Featherweight Claymore simply by contributing to a new plague specifically targeting the giant vrykuls.  I’m also helping Plaguebringer Tillinghast create a new and more sinister plague that will infect humanoids and creatures alike. I can’t wait to see how that one turns out. At least “Hacksaw” Jenny seems to understand. All this plague business has ruined her prospects for finding bones suitable for her own questionable uses. So she’s asked me to go collect some from reanimated skeletons on Shield Hill, and is paying me handsomely for it. This is the last time I'll work with these hooligans. Honest.

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Being a defiled DK is the only thing that makes this OK

It’s been about five months since I rolled my blood elf rogue, and I’m at level 68. I just made it to Northrend, and I’m starting to get anxious to level up so I can raid with my level 80 buddies. But there’s so much other fun stuff to do in-game that I keep getting distracted. So it’s slower going, but I don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing. As long as I’m having fun. Like last week, when my toon and my husband’s alt, a blood elf DK, were running around slaughtering all the Talbuk in Nagrand. Meanwhile, another Horde group in the area was working on gaining control of Halaa. We were counting down as the number of Alliance guards went from 15 to 0. So when the chat window announced that Horde was gaining control, we both cheered them on in the local defense chat. And although we were in the middle of questing, I suggested that we head to Halaa to help with the final capture of the area. So we dropped everything, and went to chat it up with the other players. Yeah, it delayed our leveling. But it also was a good time. Or another time was when I dinged level 55 and promptly rolled a troll DK as an alt. I went ahead and played through the first few levels, got all the awesome blue gear, and headed back to Orgrimmar for redemption. But, wouldn’t you know it, I got to the Valley of Wisdom and an Ally group had just raided the city. Thrall was dead, with no hope for respawn for about two hours. And I was still in disgraced status, so of course the few guards who already had respawned were throwing rotten fruit at my pretty blue face and yelling for others to get a rope. No problem, I could have switched characters back to my main and come back at a better time. Instead, I joined a group of fellow DKs who were passing the time by /dancing from Thrall’s empty throne. Silly? Yes. But fun? Abso-freakin’-lutely. And I can think of numerous times I’ve been in UC as a raid comes through. Each time I’ve been too low level to defend at all, but I head to the Royal Quarter anyways. Just to observe. And try to distract the Allies by  squawking up a headache as my hawkstrider stands right on top of Lady Sylvanas. I like to watch those Allies squirm. Am I the only one who gets caught up in all this random fun stuff? Not that I need anything else to keep me from leveling, but what are some of your favorite distractions?

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As you may have noticed this week, the guys are running lowbie Horde characters - quite a departure from the Alliance toons they usually run. Watching them run RFC as Horde is a real treat because, from my perspective, it shows that WoW is a fun game for both 'sides'. But as you and I are both aware, there is a dark side to WoW, a dark side far more angry and divisive than anything in Sunwell or Icecrown, and for some, it begins the first second they create a toon. It may not have been talked about before as candidly as I am about to and I think this week is the perfect time to discuss it and how it relates to this life lesson. As you know, there are two main 'sides' or factions in World of Warcraft: The Horde and the Alliance. These two side are pitted against each other by the forces of fate seemingly set in motion to create conflict and instability throughout the entire WoW universe. And it is in this illusion of opposition that cultivates perspectives which foster in some an unusual hatred of the 'opposing' faction. I have know some Alliance players who unilaterally vilify the Horde as all being monsters bent on destroying all that is sacred to the World of Azeroth, somehow believing that it is their duty to eradicate all Horde on sight. I also know some people who play Horde who believe that the Alliance is filled with do-gooders, pompous elitists, essentially zealots, bent on purging thought any means all those unlike themselves. These perspectives are from RL people who actually see other RL people who play opposing factions as enemies based solely on a story told to them, a story which basically says those not like you are the enemy. All of this stems from basic misunderstandings and cultural stories based on inference and conjecture rather than direct experience and personal evaluation which unfortunately escalated into open conflict. Being primarily an Alliance player, I know the lore and stories I have been told about the Alliance and their heroic efforts. I have been ingrained with stories of the Horde as the 'evil' ones and that it is 'my duty' to destroy the Horde whenever possible. But over time, I have met several Horde players in game that were kind and generous to me even when I was on a PVP server that made me reconsider all of those stories I was told about the 'evils' of the Horde. While I have never played a Horde character for any substantial length of time, I can appreciate some of the stories of a few of the Horde races. From watching the opening cinematics of each of the Horde races and playing a Horde toon up a few levels, most of them seems to be races of people thrown into conflict and doing their best to survive the circumstances thrust upon them. Paramount to their struggle is trying to change the perception by the Alliance, somewhat based on purely visual cues or the manipulation by others upon them, that they are essentially monsters while in truth they are just a race of peoples doing their best to survive. It also seems to me that the Alliance may be misunderstood by the Horde as well. The Horde may not understand how deeply the Alliance was affected by the events of the past perpetrated by an essentially mind-controlled group of peoples manipulated to do the bidding of another. Maybe the Horde's main struggle against the Alliance is to get the Alliance to understand that those horrible events of the past were not their true intention and that they just wish to live their life. While I know I will never play a Horde toon again, I can see why some are drawn to those races. I can appreciate why someone would choose to have their character's backstory be that of the Orcs or Tauren or any of the other Horde races. All of this points to a greater concern within the World at large, the RL world that we all venture into from time to time, usually on Tuesday mornings. If everything is, as I believe it is, a microcosm and macrocosm to everything else, than this game of WoW shows how some - only some - use inaccurate stories, limited perspectives and general omission of facts to create divisions and conflicts between peoples. The only way these falsehoods can be lifted is through direct experience and personal evaluation based upon internal criteria rather than external dogma or consensus. There are many people on this planet, many people, with many perspectives and beliefs and interests that it's a wonder small groups of us can agree on anything. Some would say that there are more than two factions in RL while I would say that there are none. It depends on your perspective. Do you choose to see disharmony or potential? Do you choose to see adversaries or opportunities? What do you choose to see? So here's the challenge to you, to put this life lesson into action, and it will only take one hour. Would you be willing to run a toon on a different faction up to level 10? Would you be willing to do that? And if you do, let me know what you think. It's only one hour, but that hour may change your perspective of your entire world. At least , that's my perspective.

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