Posts with tag wow-interviews

Hauntingly beautiful music from a hauntingly beautiful voice ... You'd have to have the soul of a black dragon not to be transported by the strains of video game music composer, arranger, and musician Malukah of Monterrey, Mexico. Malu's evocative cover of "The Dragonborn Comes" from Bethesda's video game Skyrim catapulted the unassuming musician to more than 8 million views across her own channel, Bethesda's blog, and countless other gaming sites that couldn't get enough of her ethereal voice.

And wouldn't you know it? She's a World of Warcraft player. While she was reluctant to discuss exactly which WoW track she's been toying with for an upcoming cover (but come on, given her style, is it so difficult to figure out?), we did get her to chat with us about her music and her love of gaming: Malukah, on the cusp of becoming a musical force to be reckoned with.

It's been a big week or two for Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Beyond his resolute focus on the field, the former WoW player has been juggling an avalanche of media interviews after lighting up the internet with a ferociously profane tongue-lashing on equality and gay marriage. When a Maryland legislator tried to tighten the screws on Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's support for marriage equality, Kluwe unleashed a tirade on sports blog Deadspin that quickly went viral.

"Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level," Kluwe wrote. "I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won't come into your house and steal your children ...They won't even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population."

While we couldn't actually print the Kluwe's most choice quotes on a safe-for-work site like WoW Insider, Kluwe most assuredly made his point. The Maryland delegate backed off, and Kluwe's been snowed under with interviews. One of those interviews was with yours truly at Tecca -- and we concluded our discussion with an email conversation about that other thing you've all been waiting to hear about: his love of gaming and history with World of Warcraft.

We've all heard about weddings that get taken over by overbearing relatives and fussy wedding planners -- celebrations that end up bearing not the slightest resemblance to the hopes, dreams and plans of the hapless bride and groom. Even when the couple keeps a firm hand on the steering wheel, some personal touches get shut outside the circle for fear of seeming inappropriate. You guessed it -- we're talking about geekery of all sorts, from gaming to sci-fi and fantasy and all the way down to garden-variety nerdiness. It's hard to find a place to give a nod to these sorts of interests in a more formal or traditional setting.

Then there are those unabashed couples who let their so-called freak flags fly high and proud. But we don't think there's anything freaky at all about the wedding of World of Warcraft players Amanda and Jeremy. They encapsulated their WoW romance in a traditional celebration that nonetheless managed to pack in game references in ways even the uninitiated could appreciate. A talented artist, Amanda toiled for two months to create all the WoW-themed details. It was personal, it was romantic, and it was truly the event of a lifetime.

I don't run Alterac Valley because the Horde always loses there.

Are you a Horde player who craves a win in Alterac Valley? Does the inevitability of the Alliance zerg leave you feeling spent and hopeless, devoid of your former lust for battle? Do you dream of complete Alliance annihilation, caroming atop an endless stream of Honor Kills?

What you need, my friend, is an injection of the renowned Rath Strat, the PvP premade team strategy refined by Rathamus of Nathrezim (US) that focuses on battleground domination and savage player-versus-player combat. Rath Strat games are all about rack and roll -- racking up HKs and rolling over the opposition with a prolonged, satisfying crunch. The premades that have sprung up around this strategy thrive on its ability to bring the spirit of PvP back to a battleground that's become a ghost of its former epic glory.

Savvy strategy or premade steamroller -- is this even true PvP at all? "Some argue that what we do is not PvP," Rathamus explains about the concept's detractors. "However, when we defend Galv, we are fighting players. When we retake our towers, we are fighting players. When we kick the Alliance out of our Keep, we are fighting players. Taking bunkers? Yup, player combat. Our push that has been coined 'The Death March' phase of the strategy? We are fighting players. The failure to stand and fight as a team nearly always results in a Stormpike Graveyard (or cave) HK farm fest."

Is that blood lust we see beneath that hopeful expression? Read on, dear Hordie -- the Rath Strat may be just what General Drek'Thar ordered.

So it's mid-afternoon. You've shoved back the clutter of paperwork, settled in with a drink (a cup of hot spiced tea, in my case), and pulled up a fresh playlist (better idea -- just click on the WoW Soundtrack video above). It's time to surf you some internet. Ahhh, here's WoW Insider. How about a behind-the-scenes interview with ... who? Who would you like to read more about?

15 Minutes of Fame is looking for players who are making waves in the game world or weaving their love of WoW into their lives.

• Send up your tips! Who's doing something intriguing, something useful, or simply playing the game in a way that makes you say, "Wow, that sounds cool!"? (Examples: An all-dwarf guild, a player who collects dresses, the duo behind a transmog business.) Let us know what they're up to.
• Send us your nominations! While an interview with 15 Minutes of Fame isn't exactly designed to be an achievement award for good behavior or service to the gaming community, we'd love to talk with anyone out there who's doing good stuff. (Examples: A guild for players with social anxiety, the quadriplegic player compiling resources for other disabled players, the raider who plays "guide dog" to a blind guildmate.) Know anyone out there who's doing it right?
• Send us your requests! Who's the Mr. Nice Guy behind that warrior on your realm that everyone seems to know and like? Who's the gnome behind the WoW-themed crochet patterns you download as quickly as can post them? Who's the savvy player behind your favorite class resource site? We'll find out.

Tip me at lisa@wowinsider.com or @lisapoisso on Twitter.

Azeroth's Most Wanted List Maybe you know someone who fits the bill from the list of players we've been searching for. Check out our Most Wanted List after the break.

We all know the Blizzard blues -- no, no, not the pre-expansion doldrums (although yeah, we know those too), but rather the fine folks from Blizzard who come out on the official forums to clarify and enlighten with posts highlighted in bright blue text. Supporting them are the greens, best described by Blizzard blue poster Zarhym as "a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition." Most greens shepherd issues in a particular part of the game that's captured their heart -- for instance, green poster Eldacar specializes in PvP.

And then there's green poster Alona. Alona's area of interest is -- well, everything. A self-described "frantic personality," Alona turns up all over the forums to lend a helping hand. With such a broad perspective, you can bet she's developed some rules of the road for making the best of a World of Warcraft experience -- and some insights into what sorts of things detract from that. We've got her top five tips for a good WoW lifestyle, plus her own thoughts on the most challenging issues facing the WoW community and Blizzard itself.

Fun and games -- that was the original focus of this article. I was all set to write up a good old-fashioned romp through the community-wide events being run over on Baelgun (US-Horde). As it turns out, the resounding success of Bless the Martyr's public events -- kicked off with a Gurubashi tourney and chased by current plans for a level 1 draenei footrace -- are merely pointers toward an even happier turn of events.

This is the story of a competitive raiding guild that had already transferred realms once in order to escape the inevitable neck and neck with another world-class raiding guild. It was an all-business move that worked. Their leadership was still solidifying, though, and some members' conduct was less than stellar. They didn't cement the realm as a friendly home.

With a new leader and a new attitude, Bless the Martyr found themselves in agreement that it was time to pick up and scoot their stuff to a new realm yet again. Would they be able to find the sense of community they craved? How long could they expect to spend as the new kids on the block? Would their transfer upset the apple cart, saddling them with a realm full of resentful players shrugging off every chance at interaction? Would established raiding guilds slam the welcome wagon door in their faces?

Doggedly determined. Drunken. Daring. Dogmatic. It seems that all the adjectives I associate with dwarves seem destined to draw me into another setup for commenters to rag on me about my fondness for alliteration. But those dwarves -- they may be small, but they're a little intimidating, really. I mean, when dwarves get together to do something, they tend to go right over the top. As Harrison Jones should have said: Dwarves -- why'd it have to be dwarves?

That's why the idea of a den of dwarves fomenting world PvP (defiant derring-do, or dastardly deeds?) from the depths of a dwarf-only guild seems downright devious to me. The Three Hammers? Sounds like a dwarven hangover remedy to me. I'm sure whatever they're doing over there is all done in the spirit of back-pounding, beer-swilling brotherhood, but I dunno. You tell me if you'd feel entirely at ease alone in the inn with this crowd of hooligans. I might just scurry back to my night elven abode among the trees before someone spills dwarven ale all over my robes ...

---

Although my working file name for this interview was 15Dresses, there are much more than a mere 15 dresses involved here. Asukachan of Al'Akir (EU) has managed to collect -- of all things -- more than 100 dresses since the earliest days of WoW. Now, we've featured collectors and their in-game collections before, from armor set and pet collections to items tied to game lore and even a museum of gray items and assorted oddities.

But Asukachan? Asukachan just likes dresses.

"I do keep cool items around that I'd like to wear sometime (silly hats from seasonal events, cool weapons and shields, oversized shoulderpads and what not) as well as all my old tier sets obtained while raiding," explains the troll-loving Swedish player. "In the end, it really does add up to a lot of bag and bank space (and a full void storage), but the only collection I feel really serious and passionate about is the dress collection."

We've all sweated through those teeth-grinding firsts: that moment when you step into your first guild raid or zone into your first Arena or even first click into the Dungeon Finder without the moral support of your best buddy. Sometimes WoW can seem like an intimidating, unfriendly place. But for players with social anxiety, those feelings persist, blocking them from the ever-expanding range of activities the game offers. Some tremulous players, however, have found a way around this roadblock: a guild designed especially for players with social anxiety.

... To be quite honest, I had doubted the idea of a guild created for the socially anxious or shy. I expected everyone to be quiet and to stick to themselves or to be divided into tight, unapproachable cliques.

I am pleased to know that I was incorrect in my assumptions.

After my application was accepted, I was invited into the guild and welcomed warmly. No one asked about my spec, gear level, age, gender or location and I doubt they ever will. At the same time, any questions I had the courage to ask in guild chat were answered in a polite and constructive manner.

In the brief time that I have been a member thus far, I have seen every request for help answered (even if it was a polite decline), and the kind of generosity and friendly interaction one should expect from a guild. I have not felt the isolation and awkwardness associated with being the "new guy." There are also guild events on many different nights of the week, so everyone has a chance to do something regardless of scheduling.

... With that said, if you are considering Swords, give it a try. There's no pressure even if it's not for you. You never know unless you try.

-- Kuro / Anatole

For so many World of Warcraft players, the game is all about connections. It was connections (a glowing recommendation from gaming industry insider, WoW player, and previous interviewee Liz Danforth) that led us to contact Australian librarian Ellen Forsyth for an interview (not coincidentally connecting even more dots, WoW-playing educators and innovators Peggy Sheehy and Lucas Gillispie, in the process). And it's connections that Forsyth draws for a living in her work as a professional librarian who both studies and advocates for gaming in the public libraries -- that's right, gaming for the people!

"Libraries, games, reading, content creation, stories and a few other things as well" -- that's how Forsyth's Twitter profile characterizes her interests, a fairly delectable concoction for the typical WoW Insider reader. We played the WoW card to tempt Forsyth into chatting with us about the regular academic symposia she moderates in Azeroth (the Ironforge library, to be exact), the growing influence of games as a public library resource, and the sweeping imaginative and technological vistas opening up as more and more readers discover the parallel worlds of gaming -- and of course, World of Warcraft.

Most seasoned WoW players eventually figure out ways to confidently move money and items across faction lines. On top of that, the proliferation of voice communications like Ventrilo, realm-wide forums, and the ability to make characters on both factions of even a PvP realm (it hasn't always been possible!) all make it easy enough to chat up players on the other side of the divide. It's sort of the reverse of what happened to Darkshore in the Cataclysm -- whereas picking your way across that ravaged zone today is perilous to hoof and limb, it's relatively easy to treat with the enemy across faction lines.

All those developments go out the window, however, if you're a roleplayer whose need for immersion and in-character realism trumps game mechanics. But speaking of trumps, lucky players on Cenarion Circle (US) and Thorium Brotherhood (US) hold a trump card when it comes to inter-faction relations: the services of the Anywhere Anytime Messenger Service, a set of guilds that provides delivery, translation and mediation services to Horde and Alliance characters seeking to breach the great faction divide. Our chat with the players behind the organization's CEO and branch manager positions is one of those interviews that'll make you want to create another character to join in this fun, social way to play (and the simple but charming guild jingle from the group's gnomish leader will earworm its way to your heart!).

Every now and again, we'll run a 15 Minutes of Fame interview with someone whose WoW personality simply overflows the standard interview format. In those cases, we have to resort to crazy bullet-point summaries before the break in order to have any hope of conveying the sheer reach of their awesomesauce. You'll undoubtedly recognize our subject from the pages of WoW Insider, yet his influence is felt far beyond its borders. It's true what they say: Sometimes the strongest, most potent things come in small (read: dwarf-sized) packages.

Who: Brian Wood, aka Frostheim, Grandpappy Frostheim
What: Dwarven hunter; blogger at Warcraft Hunters Union and WoW Insider; guild master of the massive, all-hunter Icecrown (US) guild Warcraft Hunters Union (WHU), recently responsible for the first all-hunter kill of a Cataclysm boss; podcaster with the Hunting Party Podcast; founder of the WoW Hunters Hall community portal; and eponym of the Recovered Cloak of Frostheim
When: Since 2005
Where: Icecrown (US-Alliance)
Why: Purportedly, being an "uncommonly good-looking hunter" has something to do with it.
How: Follow us past the break to find out!

Ahh, the buoyant peal of June wedding bells -- as poignant and brimming with joy in Azeroth as here on Earth. Now that meeting a spouse online is no longer the social scandal it was in the earliest days of MMOs, folding a game soundtrack selection, a Frostmourne cake-cutter or a set of wedding bands engraved with WoW-related mottos into a wedding ceremony have become common ways couples pay homage to the game world where their love blossomed.

But when players fall in love from opposite sides of an ocean, in-game weddings take on a whole new importance, standing in for the real thing until the couple can span the distance between them. That's not to say that players who are geographically closer together don't hold ceremonies in Azeroth, too. But still, for players separated by border, miles and oceans, the Azerothian equivalent among long-time gaming companions carries precious implications.

Help us celebrate the stories of three couples who tied the knot both in Azeroth and out -- two who fell in love across oceans and one for whom Azeroth has nurtured bonds since before she even played the game herself. How sweet love is!