Wowhead recently showed us some images of the different options for female trolls, male trolls, female tauren, male night elves and male humans. They all look pretty good, but given that I've not made any of those except female trolls, I'm unable to appreciate the improvements in the differing faces.
The female trolls on the other hand I'm a tiny bit disappointed with because the differences between the faces still aren't as drastic as I had hoped, but they're each undoubtedly a massive improvement on what we have now. Even the cute one looks a little more grown up and less baby-faced, and I can say with confidence that I'll be changing Daeaye's face to something a little more aggressive the moment I'm able to. I also like the slight changes of colour for most of the hair, too!
A brilliant cinematic, as always, but what I loved the most was that Grom gave the same killing blow here as he did in Warcraft 3, but instead of being killed by the explosion, he's saved from it. It's a nice little extra something there :D
They've also released a new mini series, similar to that of the Burdens of Shaohao mini series with the same sort of animation, too. So far only one episode is available; I'm not sure what the release pattern will be, but I think the Burdens of Shaohao was one a day for about a week? This could be similar.
The Collector's Edition is the same as normal, with a behind the scenes DVD, soundtrack, mouse mat, art book, mount/pet combination, Starcraft 2 portraits and a Diablo 3 pennant, with the addition of 'card backs' for Hearthstone, a level 90 boost, and, of course, the game itself. It's priced at $90/£60. Amazon do have their price promise, but it's not likely to drop. Either way, I pre-ordered my copy way back in March.
The two things I love the most about collector's editions are the art books and soundtracks, and it took a while but I finally got a copy of the Burning Crusade art book not too long ago. Yay!
They also released a video of the game content - I've not watched it, I'd rather see it all for myself when the expansion is released, but I've included the video here:
I always said what I hated about the female troll faces was that there was one cute one, and the rest were hideous. No, trolls aren't supposed to be the most attractive of races, but what I really wanted was something between cute and hideous, because I liked the viciousness of the hideous ones. And I think they really nailed 'something in between'. She looks great! My single complaint is the lack of abs. I had hoped for more musculature. Seeing the concept art for female trolls in the original World of Warcraft art book made me think it was a possibility, as did the model for High Priestess Mar'li (who I realise is a boss so she gets special treatment) so I am a wee bit disappointed there. But otherwise I have to say that, for once, I'm happy :D Although I am a little concerned that the cute face is going to be made even cuter, in which case I'll have to buy an appearance customisation.
The males look good, but I'm not seeing a massive difference to be honest and I had hoped for a little bit more, but I can live with it all ^^
Yeeees, just like everyone else, I wanted to answer these questions, too. I've returned to WoW lately after aching to see the Jade Forest again, and I finally made a Death Knight (I'm a little behind, I know) which I've managed to get alllll the way to level 64. Go me.
I've been keeping up with MMO Champion, but I admit to doing my usual tricks and avoiding too much info about the next expansion, which means I've been ignoring a lot of the blogs I'd usually read, too, so I'm feeling a little isolated. Dead keen for the 40-man Molten Core, though! I'm curious about its difficulty - on one hand I want that mount, but on the other I don't want everyone to have it, you know? Also, being very inexperienced with raids and lockouts, I'm wondering how it's going to work if the raid only lasts a week (I'm assuming it's lasting a week, at least), so if anyone has any info on it I've missed I'd appreciate a hint!
1. Why did you start playing World of Warcraft?
A friend of mine showed me a video of the male Undead dance when we were in school (who really did anything useful in IT class?) and I immediately fell in love. I asked my parents if I could have the game but it was an out-right "no", but what can you do? It wasn't until a few years later that I was finally able to give the game a go on my boyfriend's account. He lost me for a while after that!
2. What was the first ever character you rolled?
Undead Warlock - female. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed with the dance. Her name was Nocnitsa, and after I left my boyfriend's account to join his brother's so I could play with him I remade her as Spinegrinder, and remade her AGAIN when I got my own account. It was only after I'd made my current Spinegrinder that I made any other characters.
3. Which factors determined your faction choice in game?
The Undead dance. I wanted to play Undead, I didn't really think about factions, but since all my friends played on Horde it was a natural occurrance. I have since become pro-Horde, and while I have played as an Alliance, I've never really enjoyed it, likely because I felt out of place running towards blue flags for safety. It's not an easy thing to adjust to.
4. What has been your most memorable moment in Warcraft and why?
Being a low level in Tirisfal Glades and running towards the Bulwark. I was told it was a level 50 zone, but did I believe them? No. Why the hell would there be a level 50 zone next to a level 10 zone? It made no sense to me, so I ran off, keen to explore. I stood corrected very quickly. I miss being a noob. I'm still a noob as far as rotation, damage etc is concerned, but not to the game :(
5. What is your favourite aspect of the game and has this always been the case?
I suppose initially it was the fantasy, as broad an aspect as that is, as I'd never really played games before and had only fell in love with Fantasy a few years before when The Lord of the Rings came out. As time's passed, though, I find it hard to see the game as fantasy. It's...just World of Warcraft now, you know? In time my interest changed simply to exploration, but it was only really in Cataclysm that that blossomed because of all the little secrets hidden everywhere, from the Gnome suicide pact in Ashenvale to Prince Lakma in Feralas. Mists of Pandaria added to it, particularly with all of the spires and the houses, sights and people on top of them. 6. Do you have an area in game that you always return to?
I suppose I'm in love with a few places for different reasons. The Jade Forest is gorgeous, so I'm always itching to get back out there and run around the lakes; I love Caer Darrow because of the traumatic history so I often go back there with my Spectral Essence, and to the Throne Room of Lordearon for the same reasons; I'm partial to Icecrown if just for the fact that that area is still the freshest in Wrath of the Lich King - a lot of the best quests were there, and a lot of them only became unlocked after reaching 80 so it's not something you really bothered with when Cataclysm took over as the newest expansion. 7. How long have you /played and has that been continuous?
Across my 5 most played characters I've got 227 days, and it certainly hasn't been continuous, mostly because when we reach a certain point in the expansion a lot of people move off elsewhere, and we reached that point months ago. No new content until the next expansion isn't an inviting thought, especially when said expansion is goodness knows how many months away. I do return every now and then, as I have now, and I always think "I'll get soandso to 90!" and I usually gain, like, 5 levels at best before buggering off again. I've done well this time, I managed 6 levels on my Death Knight and 1 level on my Monk. Woo!
8. Admit it: do you read quest text or not? There's quest text? In all seriousness, I try to read the quests if I'm in a new zone because they can relay a lot about the place, its past and the current situation, or small storylines, and someone has put a lot of work into writing them when it comes down to it, but it never lasts very long. The only quest I really recall reading was Waptor Twapping. 9. Are there any regrets from your time in game?
I regret that I didn't raid while I lived away from home. Being a full-time carer doesn't allow me to put my time into something like raiding so I really missed out on a lot, even if that opportunity was only during Wrath of the Lich King. I moved back home to be a carer before Cataclysm came out so the only raid experience I have has been when I had already outlevelled each place. 10. What effects has Warcraft had on your life outside gaming?
It's been really good, actually. You'd be surprised. As well as offering escapism when I need it, it also helps me with my writing as I'm able to dive into a broad fantasy world easily, and I often create rough representations of choice characters by looks, race and class (eventhough they're far from accurate since the races in WoW don't exist in my books - and you'll be hard-pushed to convince me to include Elves in my writing - but like I said, very rough representations). Seeing the depth of the history and cultures also gives me examples of structures and guidelines for shaping my own, which is an area I've always struggled with, and from that I've learned that a world without history, whether that history is ever mentioned or not, is a world without depth.
There was no way the whole Horde/Alliance Chopper thing was going to work out how they wanted it, people were going to complain whatever happened. Alliance got upset when Horde won, Horde felt superior for their voting prowess, and now that it's been announced that the Alliance can have their mount, albeit for a 'hefty sum of gold', a lot of Horde are upset that they're not so special anymore.
I admit I was a bit miffed, for the entirety of a second, when I read the news, but at the end of the day a mount's a mount, and the two factions can't ride eachothers'. The idea behind it was that the winning faction wouldn't have to pay for their mount, it would be free, so as far as I'm concerned the Horde have still won. And I also think it's better that the Alliance chopper is sold by a vendor for a bucket-ton rather than in the Blizzard store, at least it could stay exclusive that way.
