Posts with tag gnomes

I'll admit it. I rolled a female gnome warrior alt because I enjoyed the idea of a perky short gearhead chick kicking the ass of a big hulky green dude. But you know what's kept me coming back? The voice. Whenever I spam heroic strike and hear my gnome warrior insisting that she "needs more rage" I get a little bit giddy. It seriously is about the most adorable thing in game. She's just so enthusiastic about getting some rage and beating up bad guys and I want to hug her and why is everyone looking at me like that? She's just adorable, all right?

Michael Gray is feeling a little under the weather, so I've kidnapped his column. He can have it back in exchange for his puppy. Moving on, we've got one of the winners of the Alienware Rise to Power contest who's name should be familiar -- Baron Soosdon, who's delightful works such as T for Thunderfury, No Point: Stretching Time, and Sex, Gnomes And Videotape: So I Went To France have been featured before here on WoW Moviewatch. World of Gnomecraft 2.0 is another solid addition to his stable of machinima videos, and honestly, it's no wonder it was a winner.

World of Gnomecraft 2.0 is presented as a movie trailer of sorts about... well, gnomes. Gnomes that have had enough. That's really all I am going to say so as not to give anything away. This is quite possibly the most gnomes I have ever, ever seen in a machinima. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, I haven't decided yet -- but the whole piece had me cracking up about thirty seconds in. I could not stop giggling. There was no voice work to speak of, just the music and the text -- so let me point out, I love fonts. I collect fonts. I want whatever font he was using in this thing, and I am surprised I don't have it yet.

Typography geeking aside, the video itself was simply fun to watch. The effects were clean and smooth, the transitions were well done, the music went remarkably well with the subject material, and it had every ounce of visual flair I've come to expect from Baron Soosdon. Plus, gnomes -- and a cameo from King Varian Wrynn that had me in stitches. Congrats to Baron Soosdon on his prize -- he earned it.

P.S. Dear Baron, do you give lessons? I want to make pretty things. I may have a puppy to trade when Michael gets back!*

*I won't really have a puppy. :(

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A lot of new sound bites have popped up in the latest PTR patch build for 3.3.3. After some digging, listening, and arranging, we've figured out the basic script of the Operation Gnomeregan event. There's a lot of good gnomish humor in there as well as an explanation of events to come. Please note that this is just an assembly of transcripts from all of the sound files put in what appears to be a proper order.

After five years of squatting in other races' capital cities, gnomes and trolls will have their starting zones revamped, developers confirmed through the recently concluded chat over Twitter. It probably isn't much of a spoiler now after the developers talked about it, but discovered among the files in Patch 3.3.3 were quests and Achievements related to the retaking of Gnomeregan and Echo Isles.

It's been a long time coming for two of the game's original races who got the shaft when Burning Crusade introduced two new races with their own capital cities while gnomes and trolls continued to squat in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, respectively. Over the chat, developers mentioned that they were looking at revamping all the original starting zones, with particular focus on the two races. Now that Cataclysm is on the horizon and Blizzard plans to introduce two more races with the worgens and goblins, it only seemed fitting that gnomes and trolls get their due.

However, the developers were quick to point out that the zones won't get as "epic" a feel as the two new races in Cataclysm. They did reveal that they have "big plans" for the two races, hinting at the events set to come in a future patch, if not Patch 3.3.3. Blizzard also reminded everyone that they planned to overhaul all the starting zones with Cataclysm, which improves gameplay, quest flow, and overall experience. Now that these squatter races are finally getting equal status with the others, maybe Blizzard will finally let us see a gnome in the Cataclysm cinematic?

While we didn't get the full fledged Maelstrom expansion that some people were predicting, Cataclysm still promises to have some water-related content, such as the Abyssal Maw, the elemental plane of water. And where there's water, you need a boat. The recent Twitter developer chat revealed that we will, in fact, be using new transports to get to certain places in Cataclysm, and that these transport would be submarines, built by the gnomes and goblins for their respective factions.

The patch 3.3.3 PTR has a bunch of cool pre-Cataclysm content added to it that was datamined by MMO-Champion. Massive spoiler alert, so don't click on that link or follow us after the break if you want to avoid spoilers!

Those party hosts in Sleeper Cartel on Perenolde are at it again -- they're holding yet another in-game party, this time to celebrate Halloween, and it sounds like another player-run blowout: free food and drinks, costume and trivia contests, and lots more. There's something called the Dead Man's Run, and we have no idea what that is, but it sounds like a bunch of low level gnomes will die, which is always run. They tell us they're planning on having a live DJ spin tunes, just as they did at their summer party. And they'll have player-run questlines to do as well. You have to give it to them: Sleeper Cartel never seems to run short on creative things to do in-game.

I'm sorry to say that, as much as I've reported on these, I've never actually been to one. But I think that'll change with this party -- it kicks off at 7pm MST next Saturday, October 24th, on the US server of Perenolde, and they're holding it at what they say is one of the creepiest places in the game, the Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave (a.k.a. the Death Knight starting area, sans leveling Death Knights). I just marked it on my calendar, so I do believe that I will see you there.

Two cool in-game events we've heard about recently:

• First up, our friend Gutrot, the naked Troll Warrior, is finally hitting 80, and he's throwing another party over on EU Aerie Peak to celebrate. He had another party about two years ago at this time, and it went pretty well, so expect this one to be fun, too: he'll have some drinking and merriment (Brewfest will be going on, so that will be fun), lots of naked dueling, we're sure, and probably an Alliance capital raid as well. That all starts on EU Aerie Peak a week from Saturday, September 26, at 9:30pm UK time. If you're on the EU servers, roll a Troll and go say hi.
• If you're more of the Gnomish persuasion, there's a party for you, too: Slice and Dice is throwing a Gnomestock party this Saturday, the 19th, and it sounds like a good time, too. There'll be Gnaked Gnome Racing, two mini-games going in Ironforge, a zonewide game of hide and seek, and since Saturday is Pirates' Day and the sponsoring guild is called Bucklers of Swash, there'll probably be some piratin' going on as well. That's this Saturday, 9/19, at 7pm Eastern (which is also 6pm server) on the US realm of Mug'thol.

As usual, if you go to either event, please do take pictures and send them along -- always fun to see big player-run events like these.

All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one player in his time plays many roles.

As you know, the new race and class combinations coming up in the Cataclysm will open a whole new set of doors to people who want an alternative character choice that goes against the grain of their typical racial customs, to one degree or another. With the exception of a couple combinations that feel as though they should have been there from the beginning (such as blood elf warriors, which need no discussion here), each new possibility presents roleplayers with an opportunity to play an outcast of sorts, a character who has made a significant break from the traditions his or her race usually represent.

The lore behind each combination is not yet fully clear. We know tauren paladins will probably worship the sun and call themselves "Sunwalkers" for instance, but not much more than that. Some things are clear, though, and there's a lot to get the imagination going for those roleplayers who yearn to play something a little different.

Happy Up Here is the new machinima by that maestro of Gnomes, Baron Soosdon. He spelled out the premise of the video best when he said, "So, I was flying around in Elwynn and found this lonely little house in mountains. It had no residents so that had to be changed!"

Happy Up Here shows the same inspired music choice as the Baron's previous works. According Soosdon himself, he's not done "area creation" before this video; he just wanted to make a video that would help folks smile. Considering the laughs and smiles the gnomes seem to be having, I think he succeeded. The little gnome resort he's created looks like it would be a rolicking good time, complete with dance space, rockets, swimming pool, bars, and more.

This is definitely a fun video to watch, though I could see some folks might be confused if they're looking for something like Little Nikita's action. This video just doesn't work that way. It's a short vignette of fun, and just meant to be enjoyed in its bite-sized lightheartedness.

If you have trouble with the YouTube stream, you can also see Happy Up Here on Vimeo or WeGame.

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We've very closely covered the lack of Gnomes in any of Blizzard's major cinematic pieces so far. We had hoped to see them in the Wrath cinematic, but of course Blizzard went a completely new direction with that one (retelling the story of Arthas rather than showing players fighting), and so they weren't there either. In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that at least one person has remade the Burning Crusade cinematic, filling it with Gnomes just to see what it would be like. And while we've gotten some snide comments from the Blues before ("they're there, they're just too short to fit in frame"), Bornakk has finally given us an honest answer as to why the Gnomes haven't been show in cinematic form: they're just not awesome enough?

Wait, that's not what he really said? Well that's what we heard -- he says that the cinematic folks go for what seems most awesome, and Gnomes have just never been a part of that combination. He says Trolls have gotten nearly the same treatment, and while that's true, you can see a Troll for a split second in the Burning Crusade cinematic -- they haven't had the complete shutout that the shorter denizens of Azeroth have had so far.

In fact, Murlocs have gotten more screen time than Gnomes have. But the good news is that the more Blizzard leaves Gnomes out, the more awesome it'll be when they finally appear. The cinematic team can't leave them out of the game forever, right?

And now, for something completely different, check out Yumfries's Sisqo + WoW = The Gnome song. I was tipped off to this video by Selserene, and I'm really quite glad for it. This video is a lot of fun, and it has more than a few "laugh out loud" moments.

The lyrics to the song are hilarious. I think the poetry touches an inner gnome in all of us. Who hasn't watched a Shetland Rogue get their groove on, and thought, "I like it when the gnomes go boing boing boing"? Yumfries was clearly aiming at comedy with his parody, and he did so in a light-hearted, harm-free way. I prefer parody that isn't mocking or belittling, and Yumfries isn't out to make fun of anyone in particular. He's just poking fun at the whole too-seriousness in all of us.

The video itself is pretty funny, too. Behold the glorious battle between Gnome and Draenei. I have it on good authority from D.E.H.T.A. that no actual stags were hurt in the filming of this video. Like the lyrics, I'm pretty sure Yumfries was just out to have a good time with his animation. It held my attention and made me giggle. The movie has a couple cut scenes with additional jokes and skits, so it's got a little something extra for those of us with short attention spans.

My hat's off to you, Yumfries. You have joined the Gnome Hall of Fame for a great parody video. I have to admit, when I saw this video for the first time, all I could think was "Brilliant!"

Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.

Hello, hello! In this week's edition of Ask a Lore Nerd, some of our questions are followups to our Fallout edition. If you find yourself confused by the premise of any of these questions, you might want to go back and read that one so you understand what caused these questions to come up.

Sweet Sweet SoulShards asked...

"Why is the undead all over Northrend glowing orange? Is there more of an answer than the lame 'It's a new plague?' "