Wandering Goblin's got Murky envy-- Elvyra was lucky enough to go to BlizzCon 2005 and get the special Murky pet while there, but she redeemed it on the EU servers, and now plays on the US servers, so no Murky pet for her. Despite pleading with ingame GMs and even the higher-ups, she hasn't been able to get the Murky back. And while she did go to BlizzCon 2007 and get a Murloc suit, it's no comparison-- not only does it break on combat, but it just doesn't fit. That doesn't mean it's not fun, though-- if you're waiting to hear about yours from the podcast on Saturday, wait just a little longer-- we'll be contacting the winner tomorrow.

Still, Elvyra's problem isn't the biggest one with the Murky suit-- most people have the problem of not getting one at all. Yes, it's special that Blizzard gave it out only at that convention, but people who now want the pet can't currently ever get it again. Blizzard did give it out once more-- they gave Lurky out to folks who had problems with the CE of Burning Crusade-- and so why can't they do that again? Even if we never see Murky given out, what about Gurky? Or Turky (a Thanksgiving item, obviously)? Or Jerky, who's a little meaner than the other Murlocs?

Doesn't matter much to me-- as I said before, I'm not a huge fan of Murky. But there are some good ways to let people in on the fun while still keeping the original pet exclusive.

With BlizzCon going down as we speak, what better item to cover than the hookup lots of people got at Blizzard's last big event (this event, you'll remember, we're all getting the Murloc Suit). And on a more personal note, let me just say that: God, I hate Murky.

Name: Blue Murloc Egg
Type: Noncombat Pet
Abilities:

• Summons Murky, an annoying (some say "cute"), periodically dancing Murloc
• When you click on him, he even makes the Murggurguguglglgg murloc sound, which you can actually download from the WoW Wiki page. Although I don't know why you would-- it sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball while trying to sing.
  
• God, I hate Murky. Whenever my guildie pulls him out, I just feel the urge to punt him (even moreso than gnomes). Murlocs are bad enough as it is, but when they're cute and tiny... Ugh. Hate, hate, hate Murky.

How to Get It: You can't, unless you attended BlizzCon 2005-- Murky was one of the giveaways to attendees there, and Blizzard hasn't given him out since. They have given away a Pink Murloc Egg to European players (after they messed up their Burning Crusade netherwhelp pets)-- that summoned a very similar (but pink) dancing murloc named Gurky. And with all the possible name combinations (Lurky, Turky, Jerky), and green, purple, and orange baby murlocs found within the game files, there may be more baby murlocs coming to a giveaway near you in the future (ugh, I hope not). But for now, if Murky's not yours, he never will be.

Good riddance, I say.

Getting Rid of It: See? Vendors hate him too-- they won't take him. So the only way to get rid of him is by destroying the egg-- I recommend high-velocity punting.

We've all seen the videos of different dances. We've had ones where they all dance together, ones where the original source is cited. We've even seen video of a guy dancing like a Night Elf Female. Now we have another dance movie. There's one thing about this one that sets it apart, however. This is the first one I've seen that does a really good job of putting the dances side-by-side with their inspirations.



As Bowzerblack on the WoW LJ said: "I didn't know that about ogres!" All I can say is that I didn't either. And yes, I know it's the Boomkin dance too, but you don't see a lot of (completely-bare) topless Boomkins running about. Which, now that I think about it, is probably a good thing.

Previously, on MovieWatch...

[via the WoW LJ community]

So Burning Crusade is now live on the European servers, and one mistake has already been made. It's also been fixed, however, and the fix is pretty darn sweet.

A few players opened up their expansion packs to find that their code for the Netherwhelp pet didn't work, and they weren't able to get their pet ingame. But Blizzard wasted no time in fixing things: they put up new instructions to get the pet, and they compensated players with not only the Netherwhelp pet, but another pet named Lurky the Murloc (brother, we assume, to Murky, the Murloc pet available at Blizzcon, and Gurky, the pet Blizzard has been giving away in a few places). In addition, they gave 2 free days of play to people affected.

On one hand, I'm impressed that Blizzard fixed things so quickly, and was so generous in doing so. But on the other hand, I'm wondering: maybe my expansion could be broken somehow? Please?

Well look who showed up in Booty Bay unannounced! That's right, as of the latest maintenance (or maybe the latest patch, I hadn't noticed him before), Landro Longshot, he of the collectible cardgame in-game rewards, is standing by in Booty Bay for your code. He's offering everything they promised he would be, including some cool tabards, a hippogryph pet, and the fantastically awesome riding turtle.

And just in time, too, because just in case you've forgotten, we'll remind you that the card game due to come out tomorrow, October 25th. Being a CCG rookie, I have no idea where you'd find such a thing (are there actual CCG stores? Maybe just look in a gaming store), but if you want it, boxes and packs will be there for the selling. I haven't quite decided whether I'm going to pick it up or not yet. I don't have anyone to play with (because card games are for, y'know, nerds), but then again, I'd really appreciate a turtle mount. I guess if I happen to be out somewhere and see them in front of my face, I might grab a pack or two and try my luck.

And speaking of upcoming dates and prizes, Neth reminds us all that the Blizzcon gift cards (with beta key and Murky the murloc pets) will expire at the end of the week, on October 28th. If you've still got a card, use it, for Thrall's sakes! And if you're not going to use it, email me, because I'll pay you to ship that thing to me as fast as Fedex will go. Not because I love Murky (I want to drop kick that thing every time my guildie pulls his out), but because I'll take any chance I can get to check the expansion before 2007 shows up.

Update: Um, scratch that last note. Zollo provides us with a link (thanks!) that says Blizz is giving everyone plenty of time to turn in their pets at a special page just for redemption. On the other hand, if you already dropped your card in the mail to me, you lost your chance. Sucker!