I’ve made another foray back into roleplay, this time on Horde side. I’d started a Blood Elf hunter, played her up to 22 or so and really enjoyed her, so I rolled a Blood Elf priest. Couldn’t handle the extremely awkward wand animation, and the non-synced sound that went with it, so I rolled a troll and ran her up to the belf starting area. When she’s of a comparable level with my hunter, I want to try dual-boxing them and roleplaying them both at the same time. (Might be tough, I admit!) I want to play her as a foster-sister who has no idea why she’s so big-boned, why her feet are too big for boots, let alone glass slippers, why her parents never fixed her teeth when she was little, and why her mean, blonde sister keeps making fun of her.

She’s found no love among the Blood Elves, unfortunately - as you can see by the image of Mr. High-and-Mighty above, who refused to let her repair.
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This weekend I rolled a Blood Elf hunter, and played her up to level twenty. Blood elf because I haven’t seen any of their quests yet (aside from a peek into the belf starting area at the beginning of TBC, where I was turned off by the bright Candyland feel and never went back), and hunter because there are no rich mains Horde-side to bankroll or boost her. She needed to be good at soloing and grinding, which hunters excel at.

And I totally loved her, despite the broken bow-drawing animation. (Blizz, really! Who on earth authorized that spastic motion as being ready for primetime? Back to the drawing board!) I rolled her on a roleplaying server, and although I may not play her up to 70, I’d like to spend some time rp’ing the cutest, meanest girl ever…if you’re on Moonglade, watch for a skinny belf with big, blonde hair killing kittycats. That’s her. :)

Then again, maybe I’ll go Horde, and make her a main. It’s really tempting. What about you - if you were a diehard Alliance or Horde player, have you ever abdicated to the other side? Or do you have mains on both sides?
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I recently heard someone (I’ve forgotten who - sorry!) on The Instance mention the Draenei in the context of the other Alliance races - what is their deep, dark secret? Every other Alliance race has a tarnish, from the gnomes’ senseless forays into uncontrollable technology to the elves’ storied flirtations with dark forces. But the Draenei seem to lack a shadow; they come across as big, blue, hammer-wielding teddy bears.

As a kind of answer to that question, I offer two narrative points: that the Draenei don’t need a dark history and that they probably shouldn’t have one.
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The first real guild I joined Twisting Nether was “The Crimson Watch.” They were a role-playing/endgame guild when I joined with nightly scheduled runs or RP events. By far the most popular event was our guild induction ceremony held every Saturday afternoon on Dreadmist Peak in the Barrens. This is the mountain whose top is covered in black fog and cultists and contains a jewel that lowbie players must shatter.

We would meet in this cave, with the jewel, and dress in our ceremonial crimson robes. Everyone would be walking, not running. Everyone would be in character. Our guild leader, Morghul, would stand atop the plateau in the cave and the officers of the guild would kneel beside and behind him. The entire guild was expected to come to these ceremonies. The screenshot above is one that I took during one of our inductions.

Inductees would be given a speech about our motivations and about the goals of The Crimson Watch. Then they would be called forward one by one and asked to perform three tasks: donate one gold to the guild, prove they had spilled Alliance blood, and then spill their blood before the guild. This was done using the /emote command, of course. If they satisfied these requirements and also spoke once over Ventrillo, then they were given crafted crimson robes and were official guild members.

Every week after the ceremony the officers would dream up new challenges for the recruits. They would have to duel the strongest warrior. They would have to hold themselves underwater until they died. They would have to sneak into Teldrassil and leap from the tallest branch into the sea. They would form a raid and attack Ashenvale. They would be summoned to the starting area for Dwarves and Gnomes and would have to occupy the buildings there. Every week it was different, and every week it was fun.

The role-playing built guild loyalty in a way I haven’t seen elsewhere.

After a long, unfortunate break from our game of choice, I have returned with a new lease on life, or unlife, as it were.

Browsing my previous posts easily shows that my penchant for creating multiple alts that get to about level 10 or so and float aimlessly through the long-forgotten limbo of whatever random server I happened to choose at the time. I see no reason why this character should be any different. I like to be predictable.
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Last night, I logged on to read this as my Guild Announcement of the Day:
“Help a cool person out. Mootrain has been hacked. We are setting up a fund to get his stuff back.” Mootrain is the the number one PvP’er on my server, and he just made High Warlord last week. Now, he is a naked High Warlord.

When I first started playing WoW, I rolled Alliance. I played a human lock for nine months, though I never reached 60 (I was in grad school at the time, and had to be “responsible). In those nine months, I never knew any of the big players on my server (Windrunner). I was abandoned by guild members when they all switched to full-time raiding. I had made one online friend to quest with, but I had to /ignore him when his flirtations became more earnest. I only knew one person in real life who played, my boyfriend, and it was his account that I was using. I was lost in the vast sea of subscribers.

That all changed when I rolled Horde.

After reaching the level to run Wailing Caverns, I found that people I put on my friends list actually /whispered me when I logged on. I recognized names when running Warsong. I could negotiate better deals on auctions about to expire from folks that I has given healthstones to because I was about to log off. I am aware that this warm fuzzy feeling might have something to do with Thorium Brotherhood being a RP realm, but I really think it’s the Horde factor.

And this Horde factor is causing an wave of outrage on the behalf of the greatest warrior on the realm, and an outpooring of generosity. He’s like NOLA, hacked by Katrina. Stay strong Moo, you will be avenged.

This morning, I signed in to check my auctions, only to find discussion of the Death of Steve Irwin. A small sample follows:

[3. Trade][Rokusha]: died from stingray barb tot he hbeart

[3. Trade][Ampersand]: so sad

[3. Trade][Gunor]: YEAH

[3. Trade][Bigjim]: thats what he gets for f’n with animals.

[3. Trade][Carnivera]: the stingray rolled a crit with its barb “20″

[3. Trade][Aborted]: that was a 62 elite Stingray tho

[3. Trade][Halfmoo]: Probably named as well.

[3. Trade][Clownshoes]: I can’t beleave that happen by a sting ray

[3. Trade][Halfmoo]: Only a named stingray could bring down my man steve.

[3. Trade][Crilogan]: and it was a named raid boss

[3. Trade][Carnivera]: yep.

Every culture grieves uniquely. We’ll all miss Steve and our thoughts go out to his family.

About four months ago I wrote a post in response to a ‘heated discussion’ Jonas Luster and I had regarding Alliance v. Horde. I promised him I’d take him up on his challenge and level a Horde toon to 30.

Well, I failed. In the midst of a new raiding guild, AQ40/Naxx and everything else, my little troll fell by the wayside and probably got kicked out of We No by Sean (which is okay, as I won’t be coming back to her). I was enjoying my five-day-a-week raiding schedule and my shiny new gear and all of the great people I’d met in my new guild on my 60 Alliance Hunter (Night Elf, too!).

About a month ago though, a few things happened: a very good friend of mine stopped playing WoW, and I started suffering from raiding burnout.
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With Blizzard recently announcing the inclusion of Dranei shamans and Blood Elf paladins, the gulf between the Alliance and the Horde is now even greater. In a game balance sense, there is more parity between them, but I foresee an even deeper fracture between players. Faction loyalty is pretty rampant as it is, as I recently observed.

I wanted to explore the Horde content, so I made a shaman. How many people do the opposite, explore the Horde content so they can make a shaman?
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I’m getting a little antsy with my main, and a little bored with my alts. With the exception of one level 18 Undead Rogue, I have yet to really experience the Horde content. There’s a whole other game over there (so I’ve heard), and I’d love to see what the Bad Guys have in store for me.

So, there’s something I need from you lovely readers: what server should I join?

I ask this only because I don’t make friends very easily when I just drop into a new server; I like to have at least one or two ready-made buds to chat with while I grind up my levels. A kick-ass and friendly social guild might be nice, too. A few caveats: I know I’m going to play a Shaman (only class I have yet to try, even a little), I’m a somewhat busy person and thus casual player, and I get along with anybody who can put a sentence together.

Any suggestions? Anybody want to be my friend? Anybody want to make another alt and enjoy the other side with me?