Joystiq has your stash of criminally complete GTA IV news!
Posts with tag questions

Beta opt-in F.A.Q.

More beta news for everyone to enjoy tonight. Bornakk has posted what Nethaera promised earlier in the day, a Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in F.A.Q. The complete F.A.Q. is republished here for your convenience, and is definitely something everyone should read and re-read. Some of the key things to come out of the F.A.Q.:
  • You are not guaranteed to get into the WotLK beta if you have a BlizzCon or WWI beta keys. These keys might go to another beta (like Diablo III).
  • You can opt-in on multiple accounts, but each account can only opt-in once.
  • If you get a key with one account, you can use it on another account of your choosing. However the key can only be used once.
  • Opting in early does not necessarily mean you will get a beta slot early. Everything is random (as we previous reported).
  • If you get a beta key from another source and are selected via the opt-in process, you can give your key to a friend or family member.
Full F.A.Q. after the break.

Continue reading Beta opt-in F.A.Q.

We want your guild apps!

No, I'm not trying to poach your applicants. I don't play that way, even though we all know people who do. What I'm after are your actual applications.

I'm working on compiling a smorgasbord of guild application questions for an upcoming article, and I need your help! What I need from you, oh dear and faithful readers, are copies of what your guild uses as application questions. You can post the ones that you think are unique, funny, and insightful in the comments here. Better yet, you can copy and paste your application and send it to me in its entirety to adam.holisky@weblogsinc.com. If your application is easily accessible on the web, shoot me a link to your guild's website and I can check it out there too.

What's the benefit of helping me in my quest to write this article? How about fame and my never-ending appreciation. Also a credit at the end for your help. And who doesn't like seeing their name in virtual-print?

All the World's a Stage: Free your mind

All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, commentary, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.

Some people don't want to worry about staying in character; they just want to come home, play a game and chill out. That's fine, they have the choice to be a regular player and do what they enjoy. But for those of us who seek the path of the roleplayer, we ought not to stop there.

We spend a lot of time in WoW doing all the same things other non-roleplayers are doing, whether it's questing, instances, or PvP. In the process, it can be easy to let one's character slowly drift away from a genuine personality, and into a mere avatar for your own personality as a gamer in a computer game. After all, your character must do a lot of things in order to progress, many of which are game-oriented goals rather than story-oriented goals. You need boss loot, Badges of Justice, Arena points and a bunch of other things that don't always translate well into very interesting character motivations.

It's easy to rely on old standby motivations so much that they become excuses. We might say, for example, "I'm trying to help the Shattered Sun Offensive to prevent Kil'Jaeden from entering Azeroth!" or "I'm hoping to attack Pathaleon the Calculator and take from him his prized sword: The Sun Eater!" And these are fine reasons for characters to do things, but we must remember, there's nothing really new or interesting about them. Every one wants to prevent disaster, or acquire new weapons -- but what about such a desire reveals who your character really is? How can you make normal gaming goals and activities into an opportunity for interesting performance and immersion in a fantasy world?

Continue reading All the World's a Stage: Free your mind

Forum Post of the Day: Ask a CM


Who knew that all we had to do to solve Blizzard's communication problems was, y'know, ask? Azarialle puts out the idea of what you'd ask a CM if you were sure the question would be answered fully, and lo and behold, Drysc appears in the thread actually answering questions. Of course, he strays away from the big stuff (he adeptly dodges a question about Tseric), but he does provide some pretty honest answers on everything from the ghost wolf problem to the voice chat implementation in patch 2.2 and what classes he likes the least as a player (pet classes -- he doesn't get them). Very interesting stuff.

Blizzard is aiming towards doing some of this stuff with Blizzcast, but I could definitely see a benefit in doing a weekly honest Q&A session like this. If you ever played Dark Age of Camelot back in the day, you know that the weekly Grab Bag was a fun way for CMs to answer player queries, and I don't think Blizzard would suffer from doing this a little more formally maybe once a week.

We've had lots of questions about the game, and it's super nice to clearly get some open and honest answers. Hunting around the forums is all well and good (to their credit, the CMs do try to answer questions like this, only it's in random threads on all the different forums), but it would be nice to put question and answer in the same place on a weekly basis.

Blizzard wants you... and your questions

Bornakk has sent out a request on the forums for player questions to be used in the next BlizzCast, and I can only say that I hope, hope, hope that that delivers as much comedy as it promises. As you may know if you attended any of the Q&A sessions at BlizzCon, players and their questions plus developers equals the funny.

Considering that the podcasts are pre-recorded and not live, however, so odds are Blizzard will go for informative rather than confusing and awkward, but let me tell you: the latter has its advantages for sure. If you've got a question for BlizzCast, you can apparently send it to BlizzCast (at) Blizzard dot com, and hope it appears on a future BlizzCast.

And speaking of podcast questions, don't forget that the WoW Insider Show is also a podcast that answers questions, and you can ask us questions at theshow@wowinsider.com. Unlike Blizzard, we will include the funny ones, so send away.

A question of culture clash

Just a few days ago, I was questing on a new alt in order to check out how the roleplaying was on a new server I'd heard good things about. As I went through Ironforge to pick up my Winter Veil presents, I saw one of those ads for a new guild, "<Guild Name> is a new RP guild looking for mature new members! PST to join!" and I thought, "Why not check it out? At least there'll be someone to talk to." So, when I whispered this person, his only real question for me was to ask my age. Satisfied by my answer, he sent me an invite.

I wrongly assumed that guild chat was in-character, and immediately introduced myself in what I hoped was a humorous way. A couple members said "lol," and the leader introduced himself as a former Horde player who was getting started on a new server too. Somewhat disappointed that this guild was not so "RP" as it had advertised, I proceeded to ask some questions about the status of roleplaying on this server. I must not have impressed them this way, however, as I logged in a couple days later to find myself kicked out of the guild already.

One of the members I remembered from that first day happened to be online, so I asked him what had happened. "Oldman" (who's name I changed somewhat in this story) replied that, in the view of his "elder" guild members, I was "too wordy" and also "too juvenile." Thoroughly perplexed, I asked him what exactly I had said that was so juvenile. He told me that was itself a juvenile thing to say, and then used "/ignore" on me. I had been disappointed enough to leave that guild anyway, but to be dismissed offhand like that was rather hurtful until I made a realization: These "elder" members must think that asking questions is itself "juvenile" behavior, especially questions they deem unimportant; while according to my worldview, sincere questions of any sort are paths to more knowledge and understanding, and in themselves a sign of ever-growing maturity. Besides, completely ignoring someone just for asking questions doesn't seem like the pinnacle of maturity to me, either, but who am I to judge? Maybe there was some good reason I don't know about.

Have you ever encountered social situations in WoW that left you completely befuddled? Have real-life cultural values and judgments ever gotten in the way of your gaming, especially in ways that caught you by surprise?

L2p Paladin with Eyonix

Earlier today, Eyonix created a rather unique thread on the official WoW Paladin forum. He made it clear that he wasn't asking for feedback to give to the developers on the class, but rather that the questions would come from him as a player of the game. Apparently he made a Paladin alt a couple of weeks ago and is seeking advice regarding the best leveling strategy.

Threads like this pop up in the class forums quite commonly. When faced with the grind from level one to seventy, players often turn to the more experienced members of their class for advice on talent builds and leveling strategies. Of course, those players are not also community managers, posting with the hallowed blue text.

As you can imagine, the thread is already quite long and only promises to grow longer since Eyonix has mentioned that he'll be keeping it updated through the week with new questions. It's interesting to see a Blizzard employee posting his talent spec and asking typical player questions and there is actually a lot of good advice on playing the class. Head on over to the Paladin forum to check out the thread yourself and L2p Paladin along with Eyonix.

Another way to get started with roleplaying

In last Sunday's All the World's a Stage column, we talked about one way to get started with roleplaying, using mainly a character description made of two simple words that highlight the essential qualities of your character, without too much concern for background and details just yet. The idea here is that you can start with a basic character idea, and fill in the details later on as you get involved with other roleplayers.

Over at WoWBlues, however, Nairuil has a different way of getting started. She has a list of questions for you to answer that are designed to help you think of your character's background, as well as give you some helpful tips for what sorts of backgrounds would be inappropriate for WoW (such as the cliche "vampire" idea), all before you actually get started roleplaying in game.

Which approach do you find more useful to you personally, and why?

Questions answered at BlizzCon

There were so many questions I as I stood in line on Thursday to pick up my BlizzCon badge, and now looking back, I am surprised at how many of them were answered. There were just as many questions that popped up because of BlizzCon, I'm not exactly sure if I'm better off.

I know, for instance, that my three favorite lost concepts will finally get treatment, namely the creation myth surround the dwarves in Uldaman, Dalaran the bubble city, and the mysterious Grim Batol. I also know that one of my favorite characters from the War of the Ancients trilogy will finally get into the game, the red haired mage Rhonin. But what happens to his twin children, and his wife, the sister of Sylvanas? What will happen to the area where Dalaran is currently? Will they update the quest in Uldaman to reflect the additional info about the creation myth?

You see what I mean? The more questions are answered, the more arise. It's a vicious, tantalizing cycle, and one I am definitely enjoying being caught up in.

Adventures in Beta: What do you want to see?

I recently won a Burning Crusade Beta Key and have just begun messing around in the new areas of Azeroth (my main, sadly, has yet to transfer over.) Elizabeth Harper and Paul Sherrard are also participating in the beta. I am planning on doing pictorial guides for levels 1-20 for a draenei shaman and a blood elf paladin. My question to you, the readers is: what else do you want to know about the Burning Crusade? Are you interested in jewelcrafting? The new PVP arenas? How fast the quest rewards will outstrip epics?

Post your questions/ideas here. Hopefully, all our mains will transfer over soon, and we'll be able to step into Outland as a blog!

Have Questions for the WoW Developers?

Well, World of Warcraft Stratics has been given the chance to interview the game's developers and is taking questions from you.  They will be selecting 15 of the best questions to forward on to the development team.  So if you have questions, here's a chance to get some answers.  The deadline for entry is May 7th, so you have a couple of weeks to consider.


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (190)
Worldwide Invitational (104)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (46)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (36)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (21)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (43)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (51)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (25)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (51)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (31)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (55)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (26)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (25)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (63)
(Professions) Insider Trader (63)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (26)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (44)
Hybrid Theory (20)
New Players' Guide (3)
Tank Talk (6)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (89)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (27)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (14)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (523)
Ask A Lore Nerd (9)
Barrens Chat (9)
Know your Lore (58)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (515)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (25)
About the Bloggers (28)
Ask WoW Insider (63)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (725)
Build Shop (35)
Forum Post of the Day (21)
Gamers on the Street (24)
Guildwatch (81)
He Said She Said (4)
Illusionary Tactics (2)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (92)
The Colosseum (0)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (27)
World of WarCrafts (26)
WoW Insider Show (67)
WoW Rookie (40)
[1.Local] (13)
Classes
Death Knight (97)
Druid (319)
Hunter (288)
Mage (180)
Paladin (305)
Priest (255)
Rogue (181)
Shaman (286)
Warlock (197)
Warrior (219)
News
Account Security (23)
AddOns (256)
Analysis / Opinion (3160)
Blizzard (1662)
Bugs (220)
Burning Crusade (378)
Contests (232)
Economy (198)
Events (465)
Expansions (637)
Fan stuff (919)
Features (674)
Forums (283)
Guilds (504)
Hardware (41)
Humor (805)
Interviews (164)
Lore (315)
Mounts (142)
News items (1602)
NPCs (213)
Odds and ends (1716)
Patches (1153)
Podcasting (78)
Ranking (55)
Realm News (295)
Realm Status (244)
RP (177)
Rumors (68)
Virtual selves (676)
WoW Insider Business (304)
WoW Social Conventions (155)
WoW TCG (57)
Wrath of the Lich King (420)
Strategy
Alts (115)
Arena (257)
Battlegrounds (157)
Bosses (361)
Buffs (129)
Cheats (74)
Classes (325)
Enchants (36)
Factions (166)
Guides (406)
How-tos (413)
Instances (682)
Items (882)
Leveling (302)
Making money (194)
PvP (779)
Quests (381)
Raiding (773)
Talents (153)
Tips (586)
Tricks (232)
Walkthroughs (92)
Media
Comics (80)
Fan art (49)
Galleries (193)
Machinima (601)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (67)
Screenshots (673)
Races
Alliance (118)
Draenei (66)
Dwarves (21)
Gnomes (46)
Human (21)
Night Elves (48)
Horde (119)
Blood Elves (72)
Orcs (29)
Tauren (51)
Trolls (27)
Undead (26)
Professions
Alchemy (80)
Blacksmithing (63)
Cooking (76)
Enchanting (77)
Engineering (112)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (51)
Inscription (14)
Jewelcrafting (87)
Leatherworking (66)
Mining (50)
Skinning (31)
Tailoring (71)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08
    Worldwide Invitational goodie bag
    WWI08 Costume and Dance Contest
    Worldwide Invitational 2008
    World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
    June 2008 splash screen speculation
    Blizzard splash screen speculation
    Midsummer Fire Festival

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: