WoW Moviewatch: Looking for Group

Looking for Group by Michelle Madison is a fun WoW spoof of Lionel Richie’s Hello, is it me you’re looking for? The video was created using in-game footage, so there’s not many fancy machinima techniques. This seems to be Michelle’s first machinima video, so a lot of the production values are at that opening level of sophistication. Michelle did a great job of the vocals, and I enjoyed her singing. I think she managed to nail a WoW-version of Richie’s singing, which is a pretty interesting trick to have pulled off. The video was fine for this level of work. It doesn’t have a lot of flash-bang, but mostly exists to complement the lyrics of the song. Overall, this was a fun video to watch. I hope Michelle gets enough feedback that she continues grow a repertoire. If not, then I hope she at least enjoyed dipping her toe in the waters of machinima creation.

Around Azeroth: For the greater good

Calco of <Rotten Luck> on The Scryers writes, “I was leveling my warlock the other day and I finally got to Icecrown and started doing the Argent Crusade quest line. You know what I realized? The Lich King is right there, in Scourgeholme. I figured, “Who needs a raid? Who needs to wait another couple of weeks for the last wing of ICC to open? I’m a Warlock, I’ve got a Proto-Drake, I’ll take down the Lich King and save Azeroth right here and now … or not.” Thanks for the screenshot, Calco, and go Vikings! Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please

WoW Moviewatch: How to Punt a Gnome – Method 1

How to Punt a Gnome – Method 1 is the first episode in a new machinima series by Bloodvein Movies. The series has a basic premise, which you can probably easily noodle out by reading the title of the installment. In summary, it’s all about different methods for gnome punting. How to Punt a Gnome has several great touches. I like the general animation style, of course, and it shows that Bloodvein has decent notions about how to accomplish machinima. For an old gamer like me, though, the Mortal Kombat sequence is probably the finest part of this video. While I was always a die-hard Scorpion fan, any Fatality is a good Fatality. My only significant criticism of the video regards the undead’s voice. I had to crank the volume up very high and listen to the soundtrack many times to make out what that character was saying. That could be a YouTube issue, maybe, but it was definitely distracting from the overall movie.

[1.Local]: What alliances we have

Reader comments — ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Tomorrow’s the Big Day for one of WoW.com’s own. Join us in congratulating Michael Gray and his bride Katherine on their marriage. It seems that this couple has been treading on geeky ground from the very start. Now, Michael has given us permission to share excerpts from the ceremony with the gang at [1.Local] here today. We’ve tucked in the wedding benediction at the end of this week’s column … Best wishes to the happy couple! And now, on to the week’s comment highlights. Is it Warcraft, or is it Avatar? Discussion about plans for the upcoming Warcraft movie inevitably turned back to movie behemoth Avatar. Aldarion: Nay, Avatar was — at least story-wise — a rip-off off Pocahontas (just think about it, you’ll see). But yeah,

Blood Pact: Leveling a warlock, 40 to 60

Blood Pact is your weekly warlock digest brought to you by Dominic Hobbs. “Closer! Come closer… and burn!” ~ Keli’dan the Breaker Once again Blood Pact turns its gaze towards those up-and-coming warlocks; those who are learning the craft, battling foes to hone their skills and sharpen their minds. I’ve said before that leveling a warlock is great fun and part of this is due to the diverse ways in which you can go about it. By the time you start getting a decent pile of talent points to spend you can shape your lock in many and varied forms. There’s the unstoppable train of death that is the affliction lock, cursing and corrupting all around it as it passes smoothly through the world. The demonologist, pouring their power into their minion and pushing them into the fore while sitting back and calmly picking off their foes. And of course, the destruction warlock, blazing a trail of raw power in an explosive display of mental prowess over physical

Totem Talk: Goodbyes

First off, yes, I’m leaving Totem Talk. It’s been a good ride, and no, I’m not quitting the shaman class nor WoW.com. You’ll still see me around on Know Your Lore and The Care and Feeding of Warriors for the foreseeable future, and I’ll be writing Totem Talks until we have a replacement. The reason I’m leaving Totem Talk is simple: I don’t think I’m giving enough coverage to all the different specs and playstyles anymore, and frankly I don’t want to have to try and respec every few days to catch up on spec mechanics for roles I don’t want to play. For some classes I play, this isn’t an issue, but I’m straight up never ever going to like elemental as a spec or a playstyle. I’m not a ranged DPS player, I never was, I never will be. There’s a big difference between personal preference and a spec not being good, mind you. I don’t dislike elemental, I simply don’t like standing in the back

Death Knight manga is as good as it gets

The first of Tokyopop’s class-themed manga hit the shelves early in December. World of Warcraft: Death Knight written by Dan Jolley and illustrated by Rocio Zucchi, the manga is a self-contained 166-page story detailing the life of a notable Death Knight, Thassarian, the first of the Lich King’s rune-wielding champions to join the Alliance. I’m a huge fan of Tokyopop’s comics made for the Warcraft universe and think that the Warcraft Legends series contain some of the best stories told about the Blizzard franchise. The Death Knight manga kicks off a new direction in Tokyopop’s Warcraft manga series, taking a break from short story compilations and focusing on a lore character representative of a specific class. The story of Thassarian, as previewed in October last year, explores the World of Warcraft in-depth through a biographical story that follows the hero’s origins as a soldier of Lordaeron who falls and is raised as one of Arthas’

The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day one – Steelseries gear

For the final give away of WoW.com’s 12 Days of Winter Veil contests we thought we’d end big. How big? With a pack of four Steelseries gaming accessories worth $275. It includes one of each: World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Mousepad World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lick King Z-board Steelseries Siberia v2 Full Size Headset The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm ET Sunday, January 3, 2010. Please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact you should you be the winner. You may enter only once and one winner will be selected randomly. That winner will receive 1 World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse, 1 World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Mousepad, 1 World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lick King Z-board and 1 Steelseries

Lichborne: 2009 in review for death knights

Welcome to Lichborne, where Daniel Whitcomb has decided that Boom Boom Pow is our class anthem for the new year, if only because those chickens are totally jackin’ our style. So here we are, at the end of 2009. This marks the first full year of the Death Knight class, and it’s definitely been an eventful year as Blizzard’s balanced and rebalanced our class to help us fit into the ranks of the more established classes. We’ve been called flavor of the month and overpowered. I dislike the former label on philosophical grounds but grudgingly admit that the latter label has probably been correctly applied at certain points in time. Still, overall we’ve definitely had the ride of our lives over the last year as the devs have worked on a patch by patch basis to get us all figured out and settled in. Lets look at each tree and look back at the highlights and lowlights. Blood In a lot of ways, Blood is a very underrated tree. While Unholy is flashier and Frost

One Boss Leaves: A landslide win for Anub’arak

Two Bosses Enter … but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com’s series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to what’s nearly the end of the current round of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let’s get ready to rumble! It’s no surprise, really, that Anub’arak took control of this week’s Two Bosses deathmatch with a 73% pounding of the Tribunal of Ages. We’re not sure that voters really considered any realistic scenario when casting their votes, but we did get a few interesting setups from spectators. The quality of the floor, in particular, seemed to be a sticking point for many. Tyr: Wouldn’t Brann fall through the floor if Anub keeps burrowing holes in it? I mean, I’m sure that in Azjol-Nerub, his own kingdom, he has enough escape holes pre-burrowed to hide in, but an old titan complex just waiting to be condemned? Brann’ll be lucky if the ceiling doesn’t collapse and crush him on his way