Memeorable: "Meme memee me"

This weeks MemeOrable is a 1 & 1/3 deal. Lets jump in, shall we?

An internet phenomenon from the ancient days of Flash, HOMESTAR RUNNER!!!!

My fiance loves it and used to follow it much more back in college. I like it but some of the humor falls short for me. I do love certain selections though, like . . .

Speaking of Trogdors, I used to know one in WoW, I know there is an actual mob named Trogdor, but this was a RL guy we would run dungeons with on occasion. (back in my day before them new fangled randoms) and I'm sad I no longer remember exactly what race or class he was as it was THAT LONG AGO (old timey wow player is old).

Another amusing anecdote is when I was playing some PvP in wow, and there was a player with a character named "Thecheat." I took note, was vaguely amused and went along trying to defend the farm (Arathi Basin). He helped save the zone a few times, but then, he did something infuriating, started fighting enemies out in the middle of the battleground as far away from any flag as you could possibly be. So, I called him on it:
"No thecheat, we had these flags installed so you can fight on and off the node, not so you can honor farm." And he replied: "meh mehh mememe meh." I then offered: "Come on, lets pour that into homestar's mt dew. I hear they have to pump your stomach if you drink that stuff." And several OTHER people in the raid were amused by the exchange.

LEEROY Vs. Freak Out

Why I think Jenkins is brilliant but the kid shoving a remote in his hole is not, yet knowing full well, both are fakes.

I'm sorry if I have shattered all of your illusions, but yes, both were revealed as fakes.
Leeroy, by any wow player who was playing hardcore in vanilla.
Freak out, by Tosh.0

Just to refresh your memory



Lemme think about this for a second,
I'm willing to argue, that the Leeroy video is from a much more honest place than the kid was. L. Jenkin's is obviously a video of WoW players, playing WoW, and displaying a common occurrence in Azzeroth and it's denizens one interacts with. I guess it's a bit of self sado-masochism, watching the thing that happens all the time and you can't avoid it, and for SOME REASON you keep raiding/pvping with this guy. Also, I think it has something to do with the fact that we've all been this guy at some point, or desperately want to be. I know I have often yelled "(CLASS) ROULETTE!" and ran straight into a pat of elites or a boss and hit my aggro drop button (FD. Vanish, whatev.) It's a thrill to scream a battle cry and rush into mobs, its exhilarating.

The freak out kid, nah. I don't like the idea of a kids who get sooooo worked up that they have break downs. Especially when two kids set up a scenario where they fake it in order to gain internet fame. I've seen/heard actual freak outs over WoW, it's very, very sad to me on many levels.

WOA! WOAH! woa. Wow.

Less than two and a half hours I was on WoW after the new big patch and I have already had my mind blown by the changes, gotten two achievements and started my Forsaken Hunter out of Deathknell and into level 6-8 territory.

And as I have said and will continue to say, "I'm FREAKIN out, man!"

So, ever since the first mutters of the huge changes to Azzeroth I have been cautious and vaguely ignorant and resentful of many of the changes.

BUT, I will have to concede that this is an excellent change in order to want me to play WoW again.
It almost feels like an alternate universe and I guess it kind of is considering the World is "new" but still very familiar.
I am VERY anxious to learn all the new nooks and crannies that have been placed. I also resolve to play ally side more in order to get "my full experience." More and more it dawns on me that I have been jipped half a game experience because of my "horde only" mentality. and while I will remain Horde Loyal in all disputes, I will make a conscious effort to experience as much ally side content as Horde.

However, being who I am, I will also shed a tear, raise a glass, pour out a drop from the bottle, for vanilla WoW. I will miss lvl 12 Gamon, painfully trekking across barrens with no mount or speed increase, getting ganked by a world dragon in azshara trying to get a stupid quest done, getting lost in 1k needles cause you cant find your way in all that brown/gray with nothing but pillars and walls around you. I will miss much, much more, and I honestly feel strange about the idea no one will ever experience that again.

What's In a Character Name!? Forsaken

How do you name your characters?

This segment will deal with naming conventions in various gaming situations.

This installment will go over WoW, Forsaken characters specifically.So, over the last sixish years I've named several undead Forsaken characters, as well as "justified" character names for others I know when using them in fan-fic situations.

My main guideline involves, when the corpse re-animates, or gains sentient will, the first utterance from its lips is it's name. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, many Forsaken keep the names they had in life, but many of them never left the lands of their pre-unliving experience, where many "adventuring" undead have much more obscure and unique monikers. EXAMPLES!

Rah'Tin: My Forsaken Forest Troll from the d20 system table-top RPG. Our DM at the time was my buddy Jubblea sand he allowed me to be very creative with this particular creation. My idea was that it would be a nice joke to have his name sound like "rotten" but when the "corpsetenders" dug him up, his lifeless lips breathed the sound and his first friend in unlife agreed "yes, you really are, aren't you?" So the name stuck.

Termenus: my mage main, you might have met him in the past. It comes from a weak push of breath with the tongue pressed to the upper teeth with the air moving the tongue out of the way and the mouth closing "Term." Then air through the nostrils (he was moving his new undead peices about, having been a caster in life, this was his focus) and continuing, produced a hissing sound (vital for many incantations and spells [draconic languages, D&D nerds anyone?] ) which gave him "en" and "oos."

Doohoohoohoom: A warlock name I have saved on a few servers should I ever decide to stack dots & more dots. This one is actually a result of his loss of lower jaw (at least on the original avatar I used) and because he has less verbal control expels more air than necessary when speaking.


You might have also noticed by know, a second, and even more important element of naming Forsaken WoW characters, a cool, dark, multi-level-meaning, name. My friend Jubble's character was named Necrus, an obvious allusion to "necro" or death. Termenus was derived from "terminal" or "terminus" meaning "the end." As well as with Doohoohoohoom, I have often taken a long breath to pronounce DOOOOOOOooooommmmm!!!! upon enemies in other gaming situations. This leads me to another example of names used, perhaps allusions to HOW these characters came into their un-living state.

Bellamuerte: My fiance's mage, obviously a romance language is great for unique and provocative names, but in RP terms, in one of the stories I have not yet confirmed with her (so it's not 'canon' so to speak) is that her character's cousin, Termenus, saw her in her newly returned state and proclaimed, "beautiful death, my cousin." And her freshly re-awakened mind took a liking to it and used an obscure language she knew to keep the moniker.

Gruetouched & Gruette: Warriors, this is an obvious nod to RPG's of old, where wandering about in the dark without a light source meant certain death. And so is the case with this name. The story is that these two were wandering about in the dark and SOMETHING, killed them to allow The Plague to take over OR even affected their change. So when asked of their origins by other undead, they chose to keep the honorific as their identifiers.



Finally: Something I haven't been able to do too much in "normal WoW" that I miss, is the REAL RP. Most Likely in the future I will bore you all with the Most elaborate RP never RP'ed in World of Warcraft. A glimpse of it is actually one Rogue and one Hunter Pet.

BillyBones: my Rogue who is under 40 and GM of my family guild, partly named for the "old Captain" from Treasure Island, but also, in life his name was William Schreckwind, brother to Asthemus (who would die and return as Necrus) and Twin to Maxwell (who would also die and become BlackMax, a rogue that Jubbles rolled).
also,
Blackmax: my hunter Ribeyejack's pet cat (Humar the Pridelord) named after the fore mentioned rogue.


And so, yet another peak into my H47, with RP, WoW, and The Forsaken in mind. I would also say these similar rules might be applied to some DeathKnights, but even as I type, I think there would be other factors to consider, so don't quote me.
as always, see you around Thw Warcrafting World, and Dark Lady Watch Over You!

Dieing to See Stockades

How to get anywhere in WoW. The art of the corpse drop!

Today's segment comes to you, thanks to the mind of my good friend Jubbles, who suggested I write about something we know a lot about, Dieing, and how to use it to your advantage in the Wide World of Azeroth.

Now, this is being written Pre-Cataclysm, but most of these guidelines are universal and I have not heard any major rumblings about if Blizzard will change death once Deathwing hits.

One thing I have always wanted to do in WoW (among, other things ) was to assemble a group and do the opposing factions lowbie instance. Thanks to dungeon finder, this is super easy and ally have done RFC and Hordies have rolled all over in Stockades. BUT, I would love to get a crew together of about level tewnty-ish, run down to STV, swim up the coast, and drop into Stockades, run it, and hearth out. Legit like.

Also, I had another companion, a "melee Lock," who ninjad an epic sword in ST long ago, who would bother me from time to time. I was out in Zangamarsh, finishing up the last quest there, that's about 66 right? And this kid, still not even 55, invites me to group and comes and finds me in the middle of a bunch of naga I had just cleared. He tells me that he has corpse drop explored, almost all of Outland before even hitting upper 50's. That he got a port around 50, and hasn't actually done a quest for two months.

So, the tips.

(Optional, because these feel a bit like cheating) Scout the target
Hit Wowhead , Thottbot , or even the excellent Wowwiki. Search it up, check the terrain, what kind of mobs are there, is it deep in enemy pvp territory (not that this is a deterrent, just good to have the info)? Then hop on your closest flight path.
Stock Up
Get yourself some pots (speed/health/stealth/water walk/water breathing) food, water for regen, make sure your hearth/ port mats are stocked and off cool down for when you achieve your target.

Do!:
Get Naked!

As many of us know, dieing means our gear takes a hit in durability, this is solved by taking it off as you are not killing anything (usually) your the one getting killed! Although do wear non-durability items, like off hand frills & tabards, and many of us like cloth hats, low repair bill, but the right combo means you die in style!

RUN!
Move out, your not going to get there standing naked at the FP, dive into the danger zone!

The 5 "D"s; Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive & Dodge!
This takes some practice but when you perfect the art it can prevent quite a few deaths, if you want to be VERY fastidious, practice in progressively higher level zones until you have it down. Basically, learn where aggro ranges on mobs are relative to your level and their level. This in turn feeds to scoping out clear areas between mobs. I love high mounds as that will often be enough to take you out of a threat range, or even along the side of a hill can keep you away from angry pats and gives you the distance from the large cat chomping on your tabard tails. Which actually leads into my next tip.

Location! Find a Good Plot.
So, you have a small army of kobolds behind you thumping away and you just ran into 30 more, your HP is dropping below 20% and at the rate they are hitting you, you have 2 more seconds of "aspect of the dazed" before your "feign death" becomes "method acting death." Find a good spot to die. You will need to run back to this spot and when you rez, take just as much time to check pats around you and which mobs are about, before you hit that "resurrect" button.

(warning: Crotchety old WoW player Rant)
Back in my day, we didn't have no, new fangled graveyards around every corner, or some zippidy do-da speed increase as ghost form. If that was your problem, you rolled Nelf, and many did. When we died, we had to walk all the way back across the zone, get back to our corpse, and by the time we'd walked back to our poor, outstretched forms all the mobs wed takin 2 minutes a piece to kill, had respawned. Whats the point of this rant? Well, dont complain about not having a graveyard close enough (except for BRM, that one is still silly) and suck it up and get walking, that's part of this seminar, your going to be walking around in that crazy gray-white world with that whooshing noise of "spirit wind" or whateverthehell it is (unless of course, you turn it off in the interface, but, well, that's no fun, unless of course, you're like me and are dead all the time).

Also Optional; Take a friend!
Nothing is more fun in WoW, than doing it grouped. Like many things in life and game-life, having a companion, even if that person isn't actually doing the crazy drops with you, maybe just some guildies in g-chat, can keep you company, share your triumphs, or, deride you for being silly and not asking for a high level escort.

Finally, but not cumulatively, take pictures! Pics or it didn't happen!















Happy Dropping!