Whew! It has been a few weeks and SO much is happening. The release of Wrath of the Lich King coming out in November 13…and I can hardly wait. So, let’s keep filling in those maps for World Exploration!
PLACES TO SEE
This next place to travel and see comes from one of our listeners --Kever the Warlock from Uldum server ---who wrote in to remind us about the Caverns of Time instance “Escape from Durnholde Keep.” The instance in the Caverns of Time takes you back about seven years in Old Hillsbrad Foothills history.
In addition to the quest part of the instance which resides in Durnholde Keep, there are other areas of the zone are open for exploration at anytime including Tarren Mill and Southshore --Technically called Old Hillsbrad Foothills. There is a traveling merchant named Thomas Yance, who walks from Southshore to Tarren Mill and back again. He sells the Riding Crop leather recipe and is available for armor repairs.
But what is interesting about Old Hillsbrad is the NPC quest stars who inhabit the small towns. For example, in Tarren Mill two children are running around… Jay and Julie. In present day, Jay is Jason Lemieux a forsaken mushroom vendor who wanders Tarren Mill and Julie Honeywell becomes a young mage apprentice in Southshore.Of more notable interest are Kel’thuzad and Helcular who are still human in this part of history. Kel’thuzad you may remember is an ArchLich of Plaguelands. If you follow with them and their dialogue, you can get an idea of their mind-set which resulted in their decent into lich-dom. Also in Southshore is a variety of children that have names you may recognize such as Sally Whitemane, Renault Morgraine, and Herod the Bully who are bosses that you encounter in present day Scarlet Monastery. There are quite a few other notables around these towns, but I will leave that exploration up to you.
Unusual Quests
While you are doing Old Hillsbrad Foothills…there is quest called Don Carlos Famous hat or
simply “Nice Hat.”In patch 2.4.3 an NPC that was added outside Gadgetzan in the grave yard named Don Carlos. He starts a quest called “Nice Hat” at level 68. Don Carlos challenges you to defeat his younger self in Old Hillsbrad Foothills. In regular mod, you win just his hat, on heroic mode, the hat has a clickable feature which will allow you to summon a coyote spirit. The rest of Don Carlos’ outfit can be made by a tailor…and voila! You have a complete Zorro outfit for parties!
Role Playing Tips
One of our listeners was on hiatus from WoW for a while and came back to the game recently. When he returned to his RP server he felt a little bit out of the loop. He had some really great questions …
- How do Role-Players find RP on their realm...or any realm?
- And how do players and guilds increase RP opportunities?
With any long term game, the dynamics and game play itself start to become a bit of a grind. KEEPING THINGS FRESH is probably the number one key to longevity in the game and in role-play. Aspects that help keep a game fresh and new is in the discovery of
- new places
- discovery of new players
- changing outfits
- changing what a character looks like
- and exploration of new and interesting class, trade, or skill sets.
That’s great Star, but HOW do you find these role-players?
I interviewed Tharion Greyseer (Epic Dolls #31 iTunes URL) some months back and he gave some very helpful advice about this very topic. He said the first thing to do is to start reading through posts at the various role-play server forums at worldofwarcraft.com. If you read through the posts regularly, such as once a day… you can weed through the ramble and recognize stories, character ideas, people looking for other role-players, and posts about upcoming role-play events which are organized by players and guilds for both Alliance and Horde. If you start attending some of these events even if you aren’t active at first, you can get a great idea of the style and nuance of the role-players to see if this group is what you are looking for.I found everything from story circles, to huge story lines between guilds, to group gatherings at the Darkmoon Faire! I was actually surprised by the number of activities that were taking place throughout the week and had to start keeping them on my calendar. Also, please note that these types of events are organized by players…players who have lives outside of Warcraft and are giving their time to help organize events …so do participate, and participate with respect and be curteous to them and other players. How to Organize Events?
Maybe the events that other players are organizing and hosting don’t suit your own ideas…then perhaps you are interested in starting your own. Gathering people together inside a game is a challenge and is dependent on other people’s schedules and getting the word out about your event. Be sure to post your event regularly on the official server forums, bump the post up everyday so other players can read it and find it, and be consistent. What tends to draw people to places and events is continuity and regularity… even if it is just you and one other friend there at the beginning.
One of the most successful role-play events that I can recall, was a regular story night which was held every Tuesday evening. It was a tireless job, but role-players could count on it always being there because of the tireless determination of a small group of players who made a commitment to host it. Also, posting a news article after the event about what transpired is helpful as well. So, whether you want to host a regular story/poetry night or maybe a sightseeing tour be consistent, be open to other player styles, and have fun.
Music:
Music from World of Warcraft.
Seguidilla – Guitarras de Carman (Terry Muska)
