Posts with tag skype

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Mondays. Even working from home cannot make Mondays a more exciting day. I think we should just eradicate all Mondays and replace them with a new, more awesome day. Who's with me?

Erinorofdarkspear asked:

Am I going to be able to play through Operation Gnomeregan after Cataclysm comes out, or am I going to need to reactivate my account before Cataclysm hits and do it?

This is really interesting -- our friend Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live recently did a show in Austin, Texas, and during the performance, they actually brought former Blizzard composer Jason Hayes up on the big screen via Skype and chatted with him about the Warcraft music they had just played. Hayes worked on some of the cinematic music for Warcraft III, and though he is no longer with Blizzard, he put together some of the new music you're hearing now in Wrath of the Lich King as well.

Hayes talks about how he works closely with the cinematic team to try and come up with an appropriate mood for what's happening on screen as the music plays. Even with early animatics, he says, you can get a good sense of where the scene is going and what the story is about. He also says that the Latin lyrics in his songs aren't necessarily Latin -- he uses a translator online and picks and chooses what sounds best. So not exactly historically accurate, but it's Warcraft -- as long as it sounds good, they can justify it however they like. It's definitely a fun little chat with one of the people behind some of the sweet sounds of Azeroth.

[via WorldofWar]

Bummed that, unlike last week, our podcast is back on Saturday this week? Worry not -- we've got a special dose of WoW Insider podcastery goodness midweek for you. Tonight, over on PixelatedLIVE's Ustream page, they're broadcasting a special World of Warcraft-themed show, and they've asked us to appear, along with our good friends Matticus (from World of Matticus and our own Spiritual Guidance Priest column) and Medros of All Things Azeroth as well as Erin from Eringames.com and Darren of MyGameMug. Whew! It'll likely be a Warcraft extravaganza, and as a bonus (or a penalty?), they're even broadcasting video, so you'll be able to see my ugly mug on screen while I'm on. Make sure to send your young children and weak-willed women out of the room first.

The show starts at 7:30 pm Pacific (use this to figure out what time that is where you are) over on Ustream. And they're having a trivia contest, too -- they're looking for people who have a Ustream account (you can get one here), Skype installed, and a good headset to come on the air with them and answer questions to win prizes.

Seems like quite a party. Definitely stop by and tune in tonight (I'll probably be Twittering while I do it, so you can follow us there as well), and of course if you can't make it, our official podcast will return to our own page on Ustream this Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern.

I have to compliment Blizzard on paying attention to the tools the players are using. They've made many changes to the User Interface to integrate those tools into the World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, like the voice chat interface, many of those changes have had bugs and have not been widely accepted by players. As you progress through the levels you will find that you will likely have to download third party programs to facilitate your play.

Ventrilo and Teamspeak are some of the most widely used third party applications used in WoW. These tools facilitate voice chat which is necessary when quickly coordinating activities. In most cases you will find yourself excused from a raid or premade battleground if you do not have the proper tools.

What would happen if you let your child stay out of school to explore whatever she is most interested in doing, for as long as she wanted to do it? Would she end up playing World of Warcraft all day long? This week, meet a mom who not only lets her kids play WoW whenever they want to – but many days, she's the first one to log in. For the members of The Venture Co. server's <Horde of Unschoolers>, it's a lifestyle and educational approach that's not as outlandish as it might sound. It's called "unschooling," and thousands of families find it just the ticket to a creative, individualized education.

Meet <Horde of Unschoolers> matriarch Takulah, mom to two WoW-playing unschoolers and a WoW enthusiast in her own right, after the break.