Ark's Ark » World of Warcraft http://www.arksark.org/blog Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming, Current Affairs, and Random Stuff! Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:10:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 World of Warcraft : Some Chuck Norris Facts.http://www.arksark.org/blog/5524/world-of-warcraft-some-chuck-norris-facts/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/5524/world-of-warcraft-some-chuck-norris-facts/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:21:01 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=5524 Last month, Blizzard was caught up in something of a backlash, after they promoted the antics of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, screening a rather pathetic homophobic rant at Blizzcon, and holding him up as a model player.

Suffice it to say, Blizzard were forced to apologise:

Dear members of the Blizzard community,

I have read your feedback and comments about this year’s BlizzCon, and I have also read the feedback to the apology from Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain. I’d [...]

World of Warcraft : Some Chuck Norris Facts. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/5524/world-of-warcraft-some-chuck-norris-facts/feed/ 8 Mists of Pandariahttp://www.arksark.org/blog/5415/mists-of-pandaria/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/5415/mists-of-pandaria/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:02:33 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=5415 This trademark filing has been getting a lot of attention today. T’is said that the code numbers used are ones only used for actual games, rather than books or comics. The implication being that Mists of Pandaria is going to be the next World of Warcraft expansion. At any rate, that’s the assumption that a whole lot of gaming sites are running with.

While Mists of Pandaria sounds intriguing, I find it hard to believe that World of Warcraft is [...]

Mists of Pandaria is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/5415/mists-of-pandaria/feed/ 0 World of Lordcraft Shut down By Blizzardhttp://www.arksark.org/blog/5400/world-of-lordcraft-shut-down-by-blizzard/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/5400/world-of-lordcraft-shut-down-by-blizzard/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:48:30 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=5400 Long-time readers may have some recollection of a series of posts I made about World of Lordcraft, an Evony clone that stole as much as is possibly could from World of Warcraft. I’m happy to report that the World of Lordcraft website now redirects to Blizzard’s site.

There have been quite a lot of visits to my Lordcraft posts from Blizzard over the last few months, and I hope they found them useful :) Though, you know, if I saved [...]

World of Lordcraft Shut down By Blizzard is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/5400/world-of-lordcraft-shut-down-by-blizzard/feed/ 4 Gearscore becomes Playerscore.http://www.arksark.org/blog/4311/gearscore-becomes-playerscore/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/4311/gearscore-becomes-playerscore/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:13:21 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=4311 Gearscore, the World of Warcraft app which decides how good your equipment is and assigns you a score, is loved by some, and despised by many others. It has long been used as a way for raid-leaders to decide who is worthy to join them on their terribly important expeditions, without requiring them to waste any thought on treating the candidates as individual human beings who are more than the sum of their equipment slots.

Today, Gearscore has been taken [...]

Gearscore becomes Playerscore. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/4311/gearscore-becomes-playerscore/feed/ 9 In which I Agree (as usual) with Optimus Primehttp://www.arksark.org/blog/4301/in-which-i-agree-as-usual-with-optimus-prime/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/4301/in-which-i-agree-as-usual-with-optimus-prime/#comments Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:28:05 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=4301 I’ve been feeling a little low as so many of my friends are brimming with excitement over World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm expansion that is coming out in the next few hours. I’m not particularly jealous of the game itself, but that “Night Before Christmas” feeling is something I haven’t really felt about a game or expansion release in a while. Am I getting old and jaded beyond repair, I wonder?

But then I look at Optimus Prime dressed as Father [...]

In which I Agree (as usual) with Optimus Prime is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/4301/in-which-i-agree-as-usual-with-optimus-prime/feed/ 1 WoW: Osgard is on a goat.http://www.arksark.org/blog/3680/wow-osgard-is-on-a-goat/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/3680/wow-osgard-is-on-a-goat/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:37:57 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=3680 Osgard is on a goat.

Och Aye! Get yon axes ready it’s about to go down (yeah, shawty) Everybody in the place hit the blasted deck (yeah, shawty) Who ye calling shorty? Pass the alekeg, let’s go.

I’m on a goat (I’m on a goat) I’m on a goat (I’m on a goat) Everybody look at me cause I be ridin’ on a goat (ridin on a goat) I’m on a goat (I’m on a goat) I’m on a [...]

WoW: Osgard is on a goat. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/3680/wow-osgard-is-on-a-goat/feed/ 2 Where in the Multiverse is Osgard Blatterzarn?http://www.arksark.org/blog/3668/where-in-the-multiverse-is-osgard-blatterzarn/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/3668/where-in-the-multiverse-is-osgard-blatterzarn/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:35:26 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=3668 Just a little update regarding what I’m up to at the moment, as I’ve been a bit wretched at posting recently. Quite a number of my MMO-blogging twitter pals have been talking about World of Warcraft’s upcoming Cataclysm expansion in recent weeks. The old world zones are going to suffer great upheaval, with a lot of old content being replaced with new content that possibly even more densely exudes a sense of loss and corruption.

It got me thinking that [...]

Where in the Multiverse is Osgard Blatterzarn? is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/3668/where-in-the-multiverse-is-osgard-blatterzarn/feed/ 0 World of Warcraft: My thoughts on the RealID debate.http://www.arksark.org/blog/3627/world-of-warcraft-my-thoughts-on-the-realid-debate/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/3627/world-of-warcraft-my-thoughts-on-the-realid-debate/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:20:28 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=3627 I don’t tend to write a lot about World of Warcraft, only having played it for a month or so in its first year. Still, as the biggest MMO by far, what happens over there matters, as you’ll generally see it happening 6 months later everywhere else. So it is with WoW’s new RealID.

Essentially, your real name (or at any rate, the real name you gave when you signed up years ago, having no idea that it would later [...]

World of Warcraft: My thoughts on the RealID debate. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/3627/world-of-warcraft-my-thoughts-on-the-realid-debate/feed/ 4 In which my artistic intentions exceed my artistic ability.http://www.arksark.org/blog/3028/in-which-my-artistic-intentions-exceed-my-artistic-ability/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/3028/in-which-my-artistic-intentions-exceed-my-artistic-ability/#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:38:53 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=3028 WoW jumps the shark.

Update: This confused the heck out of a non-MMO playing friend of mine. Sometimes I forget such people still exist. My lovely drawing was a reference to World of Warcraft’s new 25 dollar Celestial Steed which is making the MMO news at the moment.

My views on this sort of thing are pretty well known (hint: I dislike them profoundly), and I’ll resist repeating them again, today at any rate, especially as I don’t actually [...]

In which my artistic intentions exceed my artistic ability. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/3028/in-which-my-artistic-intentions-exceed-my-artistic-ability/feed/ 0 Thinking too hard.http://www.arksark.org/blog/2941/thinking-too-hard/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/2941/thinking-too-hard/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:41:28 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=2941 It is not a new phenomenon. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Someone trained as an ecologist, such as myself, is prone to look at things through the lens of environmental adaptation, and competition. When you’re a sociologist who specialises in religion, everything starts looking like religion.

I was reading a New Scientist interview with a chap called William Sims Bainbridge, who has written a book called The Warcraft Civilization.

In the past, you’ve [...]

Thinking too hard. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/2941/thinking-too-hard/feed/ 1 World of LordCraft – Don’t Play, My Lord.http://www.arksark.org/blog/2892/world-of-lordcraft-don-t-play-my-lord/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/2892/world-of-lordcraft-don-t-play-my-lord/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:24:00 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=2892 After my last post on Lordcraft’s theft of the Warcraft IP, if I had any remaining doubt in my mind that World of LordCraft is by the very same people behind Evony, that doubt has been extinguished.

I don’t know if this is a new advert. I’ve certainly never seen it before today, but if it did not have a big “World of LordCraft” logo, anyone would assume it was an Evony ad, complete with the “Come Play, My Lord” [...]

World of LordCraft – Don’t Play, My Lord. is a post from: Ark's Ark

]]> http://www.arksark.org/blog/2892/world-of-lordcraft-don-t-play-my-lord/feed/ 9 World of LordCraft – Evony decides to take on Blizzardhttp://www.arksark.org/blog/2848/world-of-lordcraft-evony-decides-to-take-on-blizzard/ http://www.arksark.org/blog/2848/world-of-lordcraft-evony-decides-to-take-on-blizzard/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:10 +0000 Arkenor http://www.arksark.org/blog/?p=2848 There is much to say about World of LordCraft, the latest addition to the world of browser games. Little of it is good. It is essentially an Evony reskin, though with the addition of a Might and Magic type battle system, and the hero-equipping features of Kingory. It also has the kleptomaniacal tendencies of Evony, having plundered World of Warcraft for every ounce of lore they can manage. Races, placenames, and history have all been pulled directly from World of [...]

World of LordCraft – Evony decides to take on Blizzard is a post from: Ark's Ark

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