Project Lore

Up until the past couple of months, I always stuck with Horde characters. Sure, I've tried out Alliance here and there, but never found them quite as intriguing. I'm sure the fact that my RL friends I play with are all Horde also plays a role. But now that I've been true to the Horde since the WotLK release, I decided to try out an Ally once again. And the fact that I wanted to roll a character on the Executus server so I could play in the Alliance Project Lore fan guild gave me a good push. I know my way around gameplay pretty well, and I expected a refreshing change of pace when I rolled a draenei hunter. But as I've been leveling with her, I've been surprised by how much it has changed my perception of the game by adding to it. Obviously, Alliance is a new faction, and draenei a new race for me. And therefore, it's a new starting area to learn my way around. Pixie is my first hunter character (but thankfully I have a little guidance on how not to be a huntard). I've tamed my first combat pet, Artemis, and started training fishing and cooking for the first time to support his dietary needs. I picked up a couple of professions I've never leveled before - herbalism and alchemy -  just to keep the excitement going. And the friendly group of players in the guild that I'm new to have done a good job of making me feel welcome. So how has all this affected gameplay? Well, there have been a couple of funny moments. Like the first few times I came back from questing and initially thought it was weird that I was walking into a group of Draenei and not getting attacked. Then, realizing I'm one of them now. Also, the first couple of quests to kill Bloodelf spies or other Hordies tore at my heart a little. My Locomomo started out just like them! And now that I've pointed out differences in how we speak in vent, I owe my guildies some props. I've gotten a lot of help learning my way around the Alliance areas that up until now, I've only ever heard of and never fully experienced. And, I learned how to cluck at a chicken until it laid an egg that I now have for a pet. That confirmed my suspicions that indeed each faction has a few surprises up their sleeves. So all this new stuff makes it almost like I'm playing for the first time again. But at least I know the basics and lingo to help get me through. And it's making clear to me just how wide the world of warcraft can be, if you choose to utilize all it has to offer. One aspect that I'm looking forward to seeing in action will come once I leave the starting area. This is my first time on a PvP server. Have mercy! Has anyone else had a similar experience when starting up a new character?  And how long did it take you to get into the groove and past the feelings of awe that come along with the unknown?

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A few nights ago I was on WoW, not unlike a lot of other nights that I play. But unlike most other nights, I was in a particularly reflective mood. It had been at least a week since my previous jaunt around with Pixiestixy, my alt draenei hunter on Executus, in the alliance Project Lore fan guild. So I logged on to get a quick level or two and to chatter with whoever was online. While running a couple of questlines on Bloodmyst Isle, I noticed someone spamming guild chat with information for logging onto a Ventrilo server. Personally, me and my main character guildies prefer Teamspeak. But a while back, I DLed vent for just such occasions. So I input the info, connected to the server and listened in for a couple minutes. I realized right away that these were not the voices that I had imagined I might hear. One person clearly spoke with a Spanish accent. Another had a boyish, high-pitched voice. I heard a kid screaming in the background of one player's audio. And while I'm used to hearing east coast, and often southern drawl common in Virginia, I picked up from those few short moments of just listening that we were a diverse group. I'm not listing our differences to poke fun or to point out what separated us. I rather enjoy the idea of playing with people from all over the world. But I suppose my perception of their character names didn't match up to what I heard. I could compare it to meeting a giant, rustic Tauren druid who opens his mouth and sounds like an irritated 6-year-old girl. I stopped thinking so much about it and finally introduced myself (and immediately heard exclamations that I was a RL girl.) Apparently, I broke their perceptions, too; They assumed that I would be a guy. A couple minutes later, one of them whispered me, asking how old I am. 26, I replied. Then I realized something. My voice makes me sound much younger than I really am. Or, so I've been told. Another misconception. I'm still unsure whether that's a good thing. I don't usually think that any of this would matter; it's a game, and what someone sounds like doesn't change how the game is played. Unless maybe you're roleplaying through Vent. But it does make me curious - how many of you have ever connected to voice chat and been surprised by what you heard on the other end? Or are you the one providing surprises, if your voice doesn't match up with your character?

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