All the World's a Stage isn't just a column for loony and creative geeks, playing with roles every Sunday evening.
The Lunar Festival has been with us for a few days now, and I can tell you as one living in China, the real life version of this holiday, the Chinese Spring Festival, is quite the treat. Everyone seems to walk around charged with a special happiness, traveling all around the country, glad to be reunited with family after spending months away. Shops are closed, streets have more people walking than driving, and nights ring loud with the sound of fireworks bursting from all around you.
The WoW version is a pale imitation, to be honest, but it does manage to capture a portion of the Spring Festival's spirit. While setting off fireworks is not the awesomest eye-candy, it's not that bad; also, traveling all over the world to visit the Elder ghosts scattered all around Azeroth is charming in its own way. The main thing that's missing, however, is a real understanding of what the holiday is all about.
Few Westerners realize that the annual attack of the monster "Nian" (on which the story of WoW's Omen is based) forms the mythological backstory for the Spring Festival -- sort of an equivalent of the Nativity story of Christmas. The Chinese words for "Celebrate the New Year," Guo Nian, could also be literally translated as "The passing of the Beast." If we look at the symbolism behind this Chinese myth, it can give the Lunar Festival new meaning for our characters in Azeroth as well.
Did you grab your Clockwork Robot Bot from under the tree this Winter's Veil? I did, and I was thrilled to find that the little wind-up robot is more or less what we asked for a while back-- when two of these guys are summoned next to each other, they'll battle it out. Now, they only have a few HP, so really, just one hit from one usually takes the other out.
Unless you can buff them, that is. A few people found that you could cast Power Word: Shield and Power Word: Fortitude on the bots when they first came out, which meant that you could give them more health and make them invincible for a few seconds. Unfortunately, Max Bliss found out that's not the case any more-- Blizzard has performed a clockwork nerf, and the bots are now unbuffable. Lame.
Sure it may be imbalanced that some people can buff their bots and make them live longer, but this is hardly an instance of life or death. Let the bots be buffed, Blizzard!
When a human sets off for that perfect holiday tree, he doesn't expect to encounter competition. Not ready to give up his territory, he takes the petty way out and pelts the elf with a snowball. As the elf gathers a posse, the human has no choice but to do the same, erupting into an all out snowball war. When they take their eyes off the prize, well ... you'll see what happens!
Kryll is a lonely goblin, holed up in a mountain where no one will bother him, or so he thinks. When the children of the village decide to harass him, he sets a plan in motion that will shock and destroy the townsfolk. However, the Christmas spirit finally takes hold of him and he only has a few precious moments to save the town. Will he be able to do it?
When we come back from vacation, it's nice to ask each other how their holidays were, and hear all the interesting stories about what made the holidays so special. For those of you who played WoW on Christmas day, I wonder if you had any experiences which made that day special, somehow different from other days. Did you do out of your way to be especially kind, or encounter other players doing so, possibly even to you? Did you see lots of people saying "Merry Christmas!" in the various chat channels of the game? Did you do anything special with your friends in game?
This is a season of holidays for many people around the world, and indeed many of you may be faced with the peculiar situation of logging on to WoW only to discover that your entire guild is off with the family instead of playing online. So there you are, thinking of what to do, not entirely excited about joining a PuG with some random elf, and suddenly the idea comes to you: why not roleplay the holidays away? Even if your friends are online during their vacation time -- do you really want to just kill the same old monsters? Why not roleplay as a form of celebration?
In this edition of All the World's a Stage, we bring to you the Holiday Roleplay Top Ten. Some are serious and some are silly; some are great for spontaneous fun with random strangers, while others can be a bit more theatrical and planned out with trusted friends. Read and discuss them all, then add any of your own ideas in the comments!
Let the countdown begin:
10. Have a friendly snowball fight: Any snowy region in the game has these handy [Snowball]s just lying around for you to pick up and throw at each other. I myself have enjoyed running around trying to hit my friends with these things while at the same time dodging their tosses by hiding behind walls. You can count hits if you're feeling competitive, or else just toss recklessly and have a blast. Be sure to express your playful glee with /giggle and /rofl, and say things like "Ha ha! Gotcha!"
When three friends decide to check out a party, they have no idea what they're in for. Oxhorn has released a Christmas Special like no other. It contains all of the elements of a quality tale, including an epic adventure, l33t-speak, a heroic battle against a reindeer, and pie! There's even a hilarious commercial break that mocks those cheesy late night CD commercials on TV.
My only complaint is that my future husband, Hat, is not only absent, but insulted in this machinima. However, Oxhorn does take light jabs at whiners like me at the end, so point taken. You can read the full script on his blog, or check out the high quality version of this Special on Stage6.
This Moviewatch is technically guild-related, but highlights plenty of holiday loot in-game. To the tune of a cheesy Mariah Carey song, each Bad Company guild member hops through a portal that transforms them into a gnome. Then, in true Christmas spirit, they go raiding.
This video isn't going to blow you away with special effects or sweeping camera angles, but it does make me feel warm and fuzzy. Has there been a Winter Veil machinima that made you feel that way?
Every Wednesday World of WarCrafts features a recipe that shows you how to make own real life version of in-game recipes and items.
In the spirit of upcoming ChristmasWinter Veil parties I thought that a drink might be a needed component. Now the drinks in WoW aren't exactly something you would want to serve at a party, Refreshing Spring Water, Ice Cold Milk and Moonberry Juice don't seem very....... festive to me. BUT! What about Healing Potions? Now hear me out. There has to something about those things if you have to wait two minutes to drink them.
So, to that end I decided to create Healing Potion Punch.
WoW is a big part of the time my husband and I spend together. If we're not actually playing, we're usually talking about strategies or our in-game goals. Likewise, I spend a ton of time with my guildmates, either raiding or just joking around. These are people I consider good friends.
So with one of the major gift giving holidays just around the corner, I've been working on ideas for WoW-themed presents for the lot of them. And I'm certainly not the only one. The folks over at Warcraft Chicks have been compiling a list of inexpensive to legendary items you can buy or make for your loved ones. There are also alotofpostsover on WoW Ladies about gift ideas. Likewise, Grumble N' Autumnn has compiled a list of in-game toys.
At this point, though, there's less than a week before Christmas. Yikes! So in the interest of time, I'm going to put together one giant list of WoW-related holiday gift ideas and where you can get them.
rocko1016 must be feeling nostalgic. He put together a machinima based on a character, Snow Miser, from the 1974 Christmas movie, The Year Without Santa Claus. In the movie, Snow Miser has the ability to control the weather to make it cold all over Earth, but in the machinima, he can control it in Azeroth.
The video itself doesn't consist of much, but the timing and animations are great! It reminds me of my childhood, spent watching the Care Bears battle Professor Coldheart.
Pure Pwnage and ROFLMAO Productions released a special video to let their viewers know it's Christmas Time in Dun Morogh. They're reminded of the early days of leveling in scenic Coldridge Valley, where there's always snow. As they reminisce about quests, they introduce you to some old friends. Along the way, they find romance and kill bunnies.
Forgive me for being sappy, but the music was great. If you were as distracted by the sweeping shots as I was, Pure Pwnage has kindly posted the lyrics to the song. Combined with the visuals, it made for a humorous, yet romantic take on Christmas in WoW.
Oh my. The folks from The Guild have assembled this short montage of holiday songs refitted just for your (you Warcraft players) enjoyment. If you're a huge Guild fan, you'll probably love it, and if not, you'll probably be a little turned off by the awkward singing in the beginning.
But I have to say: stick with it. Because the last song parody is pretty much golden. If you've ever spent a major holiday playing World of Warcraft, you'll know exactly what he means. Happy holidays to you too, Guildies!
Oh, sure. You may think that July's an unfavorable time of year for reindeer, but I argue that this screenshot proves otherwise. Unfortunately, these festive mounts can only be acquired once a year -- at December's Winter's Veil celebration. Says Spencer, who sent us this shot, "Who says we can't be festive all year round!"
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
Reader Nell of Bronzebeard sends in this shot taken in the Emperor's throne room in Blackrock Depths. The snowman, though? I'm pretty sure he'd melt long before making it to the throne room -- but I suppose we have to give some leeway, considering we're talking about a magical fantasy world.
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
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