Project Lore

WOOT! OMG... OMG... OMG... Woo-Wooo-WooooooT ! Oh yes, oh yes. I win. Okay. Maybe that was a bit too excited, but tell me if you wouldn't be doing a little happy dance if you got what I just got. So let's back it up a bit and start from the beginning. Several months ago I, like many of you, saw an interesting banner on the official WoW website. The banner promised to bring my toon to life in a real 3D existence. I clicked and the banner took me to FigurePrints.com. FigurePrints creates 3D miniature replicas of WoW toons in a plaster-like substance, sealed with resin and painted to look just like the in-game character. The technology to do this is a form of rapid prototyping that manufactures have used for years with CAD machines - great for making new car engine part prototypes and now AWESOME for making WoW figures. As you might have guessed, hundreds of thousands of people instantly wanted their very own figurines to immortalize the effort and joy received from playing the game of WoW. But FigurePrints didn't have the man / woman power to met the demands, so they initiated a lottery system to select the people who would have a chance to get their character rendered in plaster. So each person had to register, fill out a form, and wait. And wait. And pray to win that lottery and hear the words, "Let's make your toon." Well guess who won the lottery. ME! WOOT! And no there was no funny business between me and them. No favors or backroom deals to get their name here or have me yap about how cool they are. No. Fair and square I won it. Just like I won that roll oh so many months ago for my favorite trinket, the Serpent-Coil Braid. Now of course I will be paying a little RL money in exchange for FigurePrints' fine craftsmanship - a mere $125 +S&H for a truly one-of-a-kind piece of artwork that commemorates my digital WoW accomplishments. It's a small price to pay, if you ask me. Now, after a few months in WotLK, I might have to enter that drawing again. The point is this: most everyone I know who plays the game would love to have their toon immortalized in plaster and paint. With FigurePrints, this is a reality that might just come to you. Check out their gallery and let me know what you think. And when mine arrives in about a month, I'll let you know how well they did.

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Thank you ladies for all of your kind responses to my last blog. I'm glad to see that the women who play WoW and the men who love them are kind enough to share their perspective about playing WoW. While I'm on the topic, I'm interested in a few things that I wanted to ask the ladies. Now guys I suppose you could chime in, but really these questions are for the ladies. First, as a player that just happens to be female, do you think that there is anything that Activision / Blizzard could or should include to make the game more appealing to a greater audience of woman? I know from your posts that you enjoy WoW and like playing MMORPGs and I just wondered what you thought might increase your enjoyment of the game and a woman's enjoyment of the game. Second, as a female that happens to play World of Warcraft, do you think that there is anything in the game that is marginally offensive to women or potentially derogatory towards women in any way? I only ask because, while as a hetro male in RL I from time to time enjoy the WoW digital eye candy, I don't have a perspective of being female and am not sure how those 'ideal bodied' barmaids in WoW come across to the RL ladies. Then again, the digital dudes' physique in WoW would be the envy of most pro football players and they would probably topple over iRL being so muscle bound top heavy... lol. And third, is there anything that you've wanted to say about in-game play or players that really frustrated you but you never had the forum to vent and get it out? Write about it here. Be kind and PG-13 if possible. And if I like the post, maybe I'll do a series on it. It'll be fun. So as a player that just so happens to be female and as a female that plays WoW, I'd like to invite you to write a few world here. Maybe we can stir up a discussion or two, maybe even get the WoW developers to take notice and drop a patch on us with your suggested improvement. Who knows? But for now... It's ladies' nite, and the feelin's right. Oh yes it's ladies' night, come on and write. Don't you want to write? ( you're singing the song right? lol )

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I know a few women who play WoW. I have talked with them on Vent and they are real. I also know several people who claim in chat to be women. And of course there are dudes who roll female toons, for whatever reason: sometimes for asthetics, sometimes to get more loot 'cuz they're a chic' or sometimes to see themself dance... weird. Now I'm a guy in RL and yes I have a few female toons and it's fun. Somehow it's so much more gratifying to have a woman toon go kick the crap of of a dragon or hold their own in bgs. For some reason, it seems to me that female toons get treated a little kinder, sometimes get loot preference but are hit on far too much. It's kinda awkward being a dude and having some young pup of a kid ask my female toon to dance for him... again weird. Anyway what I really what to know is how many women play WoW. Really. And it's not to pick up on them. Trust me, I've got that area of my RL covered quite nicely thank you very much. I am in LA, by the beach, living the dream: playing WoW, getting paid and enjoying this life. There are plenty of RL women around whose company I enjoy. So I'm just curious how many women play WoW and why do they do it? Is it for some of the same reasons I play? Do they like killing things or gaining rep or making pretty dresses (Yes I have an alt the makes pretty dresses and I Love It - Rich Purple Silk Shirt for the AH Win!) Do women play WoW with their partner or by themself? Do they get hit on all the time? Do they like kicking the crap out of people in PvP? Just curious. If you're a woman - a real life woman and not some dude who wants to pretend they are a chic - then comment here and give us your thoughts. What do you like about the game and what would you change? And Dudes - again, this is for the ladies. Don't mess it up. If you're smart, you could learn how to treat a lady by listening to what she says here. So for your sake, and for this post - shut it. Ladies, the microphone is all yours...

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As I said earlier, I recently got my warlock his last ding until WotLK comes out. I have had a chance to bring him into a few instances, and I really enjoy it as a change of pace compared to my shaman. I'm definitely on the bottom of the DPS charts, but I can bring a few different things to a group as a warlock instead of a shaman. Don't get me wrong, I love my totems, heroism, and general ass kicking ability, but sometimes it's just fun to throw dots. I've still got a lot to learn in order to become more effective, but that's all part of the game. I'll get there eventually, but for now I'm ok with the fact that I am the weak link whenever I'm on my warlock. I must have run into a horde version of Xeno the other night while farming some Primal Life for a healing enchant. Of course, we all know that the horde consists of jerks and that warlocks are arrogant, so he decided to attack me. I, being a badass enhancement shaman, tore through his cloth wearing, emaciated blood elf face in a couple seconds. I then /apologized to him as I saw that he hadn't released, and then I engaged another level 62 bog lord nearby. As expected, the warlock used his soulstone and began attacking me again. Having been killed once again, I figured he had learned his lesson. However, just a few minutes later, I was forced to kill him once again. I can't help but wonder what made him keep trying. If it was me, I would have given up and run away with my freshly rezzed tail between my legs, as I have so many times (remember, I'm an enhancement shaman). Of course, with the mishmash of greens and blues on my warlock, I probably would have avoided screwing with a melee class that has beautiful badge weapons both enchanted with mongoose. Don't ever tell me horde are smart.

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Well, it's officially official. Activision Blizzard is now the world's largest publisher of video games. While Blizzard's FAQ states that the merger will have no effect on anything of much importance at Blizzard, the company has already started selling (and has already sold out of) plastic accessories designed to enhance the World of Warcraft experience. Remind you of any other games published by one of these companies? The problem is that this piece of plastic is just for security purposes, and all you do is punch in numbers from one screen onto another. What is this game, a giant spreadsheet? Far from a new game enhancment. Blizzard should grab a couple of developers from Activision to make a guitar that requires a kick ass solo before you can log in to WoW. Everyone knows that Vivendi could learn a thing or two from Blizzard, but Blizzard still has a ways to go with accessory based gaming experiences.

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To quote a famous song, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need."

Just because you farm for hours, does not mean you will get all those mats that you 'need'. Just like life, WoW is random. I've gotten blue and purple drops back to back in a one hour session, a Recipe for Savory Deviate Delight before I knew what it was for and even three drops on my second run in Gruul's.

Then again I've spent days and days trying to farm Recipe: Elixir of Giant Growth and finally bought it off the AH.

So when you're bitchin' about not get those motes of fire or the elusive Schematic: Stabilized Eternium Scope , just remember, life, and WoW life, is random.

And that you get what you need.

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You really want to know the secret, the real secret of making gold in World of Warcraft. No more bull$hit, no more hype, no more tricks that will make you a WoW millionaire overnight. Here's the simple straight-forward truth about how to make gold in WoW. It's three parts so be prepared. Are you ready? Here it comes... Rule Number One: Sell Everything Invest in a few high-slot bags, go kill stuff and vendor everything gray, DE ( or get a buddy to DE ) the greens and Auction House the rest. That includes blues and purples. Sell the DE'ed mats or, if your an enchanter, buff your own gear. Okay some greens are worth Auctioning, but don't AH ever one of them. Some just won't sell. Know what each class prefers and sell those greens. And if you really, really need a drop from a mob, keep it. Just DE the rest. Rule Number Two: Buy Low, Sell High Ah the free market economy in action. Finding cheap items and selling them back to people who have no idea what just happened. This takes time and an investment in knowing what people want, where to buy it for cheap and when to list it at the AH. You can do it. Without addons or data lists from web site. Each realm has it's own individual economy. Learn it and use it to your advantage. Rule Number Three: Don't Buy Crap You Don't Need Do not buy that epic sword that will be useless in 10 levels. Do not buy that little, over-priced firefly to scoot around after you. Do not buy a 28-slot engineering bag that will just collect dust in your bank after you've made your little airplane... UNLESS you really, really want to. All that stuff is fine to buy and enjoy in the game, but if you do not have your epic flying mount and your guildies are sick and tired of summoning your slow butt to every freakin' instance 'cuz they have to wait on you to fly from Shatt, then do not buy crap you really, really don't need. Now there are other super obvious ways to make gold in WoW - do quests, do dailies, farm motes, farm mats, kill monsters - but for those of you who do those are still don't have an epic flyer or bitch and moan about not having enough to get 20-slot bags, you either don't play enough to get the gold or you might be violating one or all of the rules above. So if you need gold, don't ask me. Even thought I am sitting on quite a nice pile of earned gold ( never bought even a silver from anyone ), I have no intention of handing out in Shatt just cuz some 70 noob can't make enough gold to buy a 20-slot bag.

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As we all know, Season 4 is almost upon us. What does that mean for me? It means Season 2 equipment will be available for Honor. Ideally, I would be grinding out Honor and tokens with the rest of the noobs who don't have Merciless or Vengeful gear yet. I'd love to buy a whole set of Epics, since both my Enhancment and Restoration sets have ugly blue holes in them. Unfortunately, I decided long ago that battlegrounds alone are much worse than battlegrounds with friends. Now, for me, this is pretty much the case with anything in WoW. But most of my time is spent dealing with guild organization (I had no idea what I was getting myself into), raids (same), or financing my habits, both in game and IRL. This leaves precious little time for battlegrounds and even less when friends are available. Alas, Season 2 gear, it seems we are not meant to be. I guess I will have to try and make those ZA runs in the future.

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I just finished uploading the first revision of the Project Lore Glossary! I think we have a pretty good start, but I'm sure you guys can think of some abbreviations or terms we are missing. Or maybe you've heard some phrase in game that you just don't understand. If so, just fire off an email to editor@projectlore.com and let me know what you think we should add.

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