Review: I am Murloc

The Vitals:
"I am Murloc" is an original song written and performed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Cheiftan, a metal group made up of Blizzard employees who will be playing at BlizzCon in just a couple of weeks. The accompanying video reflects their Blizz-insider edge.

Story: 1/5:
What story? Unless you count murlocs jumping Aquaman among the great epic tales of our time (which you might), you won't be moved or motivated by the story of "I am Murloc."

Text and Titles: 3/5
L70ETC was considerate enough to give us subtitles of every line... Including those of the murlocs. Despite the psychedelic whirlpool backgrounds of many shots, the titles manage to remain visible, if not exactly inspiring. If you've ever wondered what iMovie can do for you in the realm of titles, "I am Murloc" is a good example of basic functionality.

Camera and Effects: 5/5
What can I say? Backdrops that look like they were ripped right off a tie-dye shirt, uncountable spell effect and camera-shattering pelvic thrusts. I'm a fan. L70ETC managed to create a pretty genuine feeling rock video complete with the lead singer stomping around the stage looking pensive. The band had access to the kinds of options the rest of us will never be able to wrestle out of the game or modeler, and the results show. The camera work was nicely done, including arcing aerial shots and dirt-scraping underbelly shots of running murlocs.

Music and Editing: 5/5
Whether or not your a fan of metal, "I am Murloc" is a cute and fairly clever jab at one of Azeroth's more feared denizens.

Overall Score: 3/5
I've replayed "I am Murloc" a dozen times now and it still makes me chuckle. The production values are good, though the privilaged use of Blizzard material and engine somewhat dampens my appreciation of their creativity.


Want me to review your video? Send me a link at ShC.Strider@GMail.com.

About the Author:
E.D. Lindquist is a multimedia consultant for a newspaper association. She has produced video for a major daily newspaper and helped to create standards for online production throughout California.

The Gold Record

This week’s Gold Record finds unusually high prices for basic trade goods on both Horde and Alliance auction houses. Goods on both sides jumped roughly fifteen points in value, as demand soared despite high supply.

On the Alliance side, incredibly high values for both Copper Ore and Wool Cloth (worth nearly two times and four times their values last week, respectively) pushed an already high trend, bringing the average value of Alliance goods to 105 points. Despite this push towards expense, both Mithril Ore and Netherweave Cloth have come in slightly under their averages, at 75 and 81 points respectively.

On the Horde side, continuing high prices in Iron Ore keep the market elevated, although Silk Cloth, Wool Cloth and Mithril Ore also contribute strongly. Silk Cloth fluctuates wildly; it is currently pushing a three-month high at 171 points. Save your money unless you desperately need silk – last week our averages place silk at only 83 points. Working against the effects of these goods, Linen Cloth continues to come in below the average, although, at 85 points, it has recovered dramatically from last week’s score of 45 points.

Editor’s Note: Jason Coleman has recorded auction house values for both Horde and Alliance. He has monitored many of the raw trade goods (common ores and cloth) that are constantly on the auction houses, employing them as an indicator of market health. Taking averages from his data, each material has been given a value of 100 points (or percent) and is analyzed based on deviation from this value. Continuing each week, the Shadow Council Strider will post his analyses in this article, the Gold Record.

Blizzard: 9 million subscribers play World of Warcraft

Today Blizzard announced the number of World of Warcraft active subscriptions has reached 9 million.

According to the press release, this subscription number includes active accounts, prepaid card accounts, and accounts that are still within their first month of play but have not necessarily subscribed. It does not include expired subscriptions or promotional accounts.

Just last January, subscribers totaled 8 million—2 million on North America realms—and the Burning Crusade expansion pack sold more than 2.4 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release.

While Blizzard has not released its game sale numbers, both World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade are at the top of most PC game sale charts, according to the Gamasutra’s Saling the World column.

“Since it is a subscription based game, the number of active subscribers is the more relevant statistic,” commented Bob Colayco, associate public relations manager for Blizzard, via email. “I can tell you though that both World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade have been almost permanent fixtures in the weekly PC Games top sales charts in the US and elsewhere in the world.”

--L. Waymire

Warcraft player with brain cancer has birthday, last treatment Friday

Editor's note: The story below is an updated version. To view this story in its original form, click here.

Friday Ezrah Chatterton, the fifth-grade World of Warcraft player with brain cancer from Riverside, Calif., turns 11 years old and faces his last radiation treatment.

Last May Blizzard and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America teamed up to give him a tour of Blizzard’s studio in Irvine, Calif., where Chatterton was able to design a new weapon and quest giver with his own quest. The quest involves finding and feeding Chatterton's dog, Kyle (pictured below). The new content was added to the game in June. His character, “ePhoenix” of the Norgannon server, was artificially leveled from 63 to 70, and given new armor and gold during his visit to Blizzard headquarters.

Prior to his cancer diagnosis, Chatterton and his father used World of Warcraft as a way to bond. In an interview with the Orange County Register, Chatterton’s father Micah said, “We would talk about what kind of character do we want to create. This costume as opposed to that costume. We would make decisions together. Neither of us would feel comfortable about making a big decision without consulting the other.”

In a phone interview Sept. 11 with The Strider, Micah said, “He and I have always been very close… I don't want to say ‘best friends,’ because you always have to be a parent. We rely on each other.”

Members from Chatterton’s guild, the Thirty Second Fleet, say they have seen an outpouring of support from the gamer’s community for the boy.

“(We’re) getting used to the ‘level 1 quick question round,’” said his guildmate Delvanius in a chat interview. Players from other servers would create new characters on the Norgannon server just to ask how ePhoenix’s player was doing, and to send him well wishes.

“He is an awesome young man, always respectable and helpful,” commented Olathedyami, the guild’s Horde-side leader, in a chat interview. “Our guild wishes nothing but the best for him and his family.”

When he can get online to play, he likes showing off his gear and mount, she said. “He enjoys doing that and people enjoy seeing it. He tires easily, so his time online is limited a lot.” She asked that well-wishers let him play while he is online, and invited them to post letters to him in-game or on his guild’s web site.

“I feel for the family for sure,” Olathedyami said. “We didn’t realize he was so ill. We recall him talking about his headaches. Then he pretty much was offline for a bit.”

His guild, the Thirty Second Fleet, tries to make Chatterton’s time online enjoyable.

“We pride ourselves on being a family guild,” Olathedyami said of the Thirty Second Fleet. She plays in the guild with her husband and four grown children.

The guild has been active for seven years. It began as the “32nd Fleet” in the game Starfleet Command, and from there, it migrated through a series of games before landing in the World of Warcraft, where it now has branches on both the Horde and Alliance sides of the server Norgannon.

Because of its origin as a fleet in Starfleet Command, its ranks are built with a military structure. Ephoenix’s rank is “CNSLR,” which stands for “Counselor.”

Fleet Admiral Olathedyami said the guild hopes to take Chatterton in the next few weeks to see Karazhan, a new 10-man raiding challenge in Deadwind Pass on the Eastern Kingdoms.

“Even though he (was) one of the first to see Black Temple… Karazhan will look pale in comparison,” she said.

The Thirty-Second Fleet wishes their counselor a happy birthday.

“And may he have many more,” guildmate Shadowcry added.

--L. Waymire

Warcraft player with brain cancer has birthday, last treatment today

Editor's note: An updated version of this story has been posted here. A follow-up story is posted here.

Today Ezra Chatterton, the fifth-grade World of Warcraft player with brain cancer from Riverside, Calif., turns 11 years old and faces his last radiation treatment.

Last May Blizzard and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America teamed up to give him a tour of Blizzard’s studio in Irvine, Calif., where Chatterton was able to design a new weapon and quest giver with his own quest. The quest involves finding and feeding Chatterton's dog, Kyle (pictured below). The new content was added to the game in June. His character, “ePhoenix” of the Norgannon server, was artificially leveled from 63 to 70, and given new armor and gold during his visit to Blizzard headquarters.

Prior to his cancer diagnosis, Chatterton and his father used World of Warcraft as a way to bond. In an interview with the Orange County Register, Chatterton’s father Micah said, “We would talk about what kind of character do we want to create. This costume as opposed to that costume. We would make decisions together. Neither of us would feel comfortable about making a big decision without consulting the other.”

Members from Chatterton’s guild, the Thirty Second Fleet, say they have seen an outpouring of support from the gamer’s community for the boy.

“(We’re) getting used to the ‘level 1 quick question round,’” said his guildmate Delvanius in a chat interview. Players from other servers would create new characters on the Norgannon server just to ask how ePhoenix’s player was doing, and to send him well wishes.

“He is an awesome young man, always respectable and helpful,” commented Olathedyami, the guild’s Horde-side leader, in a chat interview. “Our guild wishes nothing but the best for him and his family.”

When he can get online to play, he likes showing off his gear and mount, she said. “He enjoys doing that and people enjoy seeing it. He tires easily, so his time online is limited a lot.” She asked that well-wishers let him play while he is online, and invited them to post letters to him in-game or on his guild’s web site.

“I feel for the family for sure,” Olathedyami said. “We didn’t realize he was so ill. We recall him talking about his headaches. Then he pretty much was offline for a bit.”

His guild, the Thirty Second Fleet, tries to make Chatterton’s time online enjoyable.

“We pride ourselves on being a family guild,” Olathedyami said of the Thirty Second Fleet. She plays in the guild with her husband and four grown children.

In addition to being family-friendly, the guild has members in the United States as well as New Zealand and Australia. “Delvanius,” whose player lives in Wellington, New Zealand, has been with the guild since before Warcraft was even released.

“We’re a bit odd by WoW standards, we actually pre-date the coming of WoW by a few years,” Delvanius said in a chat interview.

The guild has been active for seven years. It began as the “32nd Fleet” in the game Starfleet Command, and from there, it migrated through a series of games before landing in the World of Warcraft, where it now has branches on both the Horde and Alliance sides of the server Norgannon.

Its ranks are built with a military structure. Ephoenix’s rank is “CNSLR,” which stands for “Counselor.”

Fleet Admiral Olathedyami said the guild hopes to take Chatterton in the next few weeks to see Karazhan, a new 10-man raiding challenge in Deadwind Pass on the Eastern Kingdoms. “Even though he (was) one of the first to see Black Temple… Karazhan will look pale in comparison,” she said.

The Thirty-Second Fleet wishes their counselor a happy birthday.

“And may he have many more,” guildmate Shadowcry added.

--L. Waymire

The Gold Record

This week, auction house values are returning to normal, with the larger Alliance population inspiring more competition and thus slightly lower prices for basic goods than are seen on Horde auction houses. Current values place Alliance Average Goods Value at 90% mean values, whereas the Horde Average Goods Value is currently at 103% mean values.



On the Alliance side, surprisingly low demand for both Tin Ore and Netherweave Cloth have worked to drive down the average, although an increasingly strong demand for Adamantite Ore has been keeping the average up. The demand for Runecloth, while still well above normal, has taken a slight drop over last week’s values.

Making a dramatic change, Iron Ore on the Horde auction house has nearly tripled in price over the past week. This is most likely indicative of a short, high demand burst of need (such as a small group of high level individuals changing to a profession that needs iron ore to skill up) and is not likely to set a long lasting trend (although prices will likely remain inflated above the mean value for several weeks to come). Despite the current high value of Iron Ore, low demand for both Copper Ore (which was inflated last week) and Linen Cloth have worked to keep the Horde Average Goods Value in line with typical numbers.

Jason Coleman monitors auction house values for common ores and cloth each week on both Horde and Alliance markets, employing these values as an indicator of market health.

Update: Diamond unveiling postponed

Unveiling of the Blue Badger diamond has been postponed for a week. Organizer Nicholai of the Meddlers has rescheduled it for 8 p.m. server time Thursday, July 19.

The Gold Record

Editor’s Note: For the past three months, Jason Coleman has recorded auction house values for both Horde and Alliance. He has monitored many of the raw trade goods (common ores and cloth) that are constantly on the auction houses, employing them as an indicator of market health. Continuing each week, the Shadow Council Strider will post his analyses in this article, the Gold Record.

Current financial trends on Shadow Council’s auction houses have flipped this week, with Horde goods averaging 24 points lower than Alliance goods (typically, Alliance goods are around 15 points lower than Horde goods).

Dramatic increases in the Alliance-side value of both linen cloth and runecloth have propelled an already expensive market into a 10-week high, surpassing the past high recorded on the week of June 18.

Countering the soaring demand for linen cloth on Alliance auction houses, linen cloth is the lowest that it has been in seven weeks on the Horde auction houses.

Despite strong demand for both runecloth and copper ore, it is an excellent time to purchase Horde goods. Low demand for both iron ore and linen cloth have contributed strongly to the current state of the Horde market, although we can expect iron ore to make a strong recovery in the coming weeks.

Events this week: Diamond unveiling

This week some unique role-playing events are open to Shadow Council players. The Strider talked to each of the organizers to see what they’re all about.

Unveiling of the “Blue Badger” (Updated)
When: 8 p.m. server time Thursday, July 19 (Updated)
Where: Ironforge Explorer’s League Museum
Organizer: Nicholai of the Meddlers

Thanks to this totally not fake newspaper article, Alliance characters know the valuable “Blue Badger” diamond will be unveiled at the museum in Ironforge Thursday evening.

Anyone is invited to attend and play into what Nicholai’s player calls “an evening of intrigue and tongue-in-cheek humor.”

From the organizer: “Who can steal the gem? Let's be honest - any self-respecting thief that read The Jeweler's Times and thought the Blue Badger was a real and priceless jewel without any sort of defense to speak of probably needs to hang up their lock picking tools. It's a fairly obvious trap.”

Carces Magister, the character organizing the event, is a scoundrel and jewelcrafter who dislikes being stolen from. After a very large crate of jewels was stolen from the Meddler’s shop, he decided to get even with the thief. “Not everyone gets even with a dagger in their hand, however,” Nicholai said.

The organizer said thieves are welcome to try to steal the gem, but he warns, “I very much doubt, however, that the thief in question will be entirely pleased with their prize...”

Opalissa DeLadrier’s Birthday Bash
When: 7 p.m. server time, Friday, July 13
Where: Stormwind Keep gardens
Organizer: Opalissa of the Meddlers

Dress is formal at this Alliance dance. No gifts are necessary, and anyone is invited.

“I decided that Opalissa's birthday and age would coincide with my own,” her player said about the event. Opalissa and her player both turn 26 this week.

Opalissa hosts parties in the World of Warcraft every few months, and used to host in-game parties every month. “It’s easier to do (parties) online than in real life, because there's no setup or anything for it,” her player said. “We just show up, do what we have to do, and that's it.”

Opalissa still needs volunteers to act as door announcers and guards. You can sign up to help out here, or contact Opalissa with an in-game letter. Volunteers will be paid.

The Laughing Zevrah (Recurring weekly)
When: 7 p.m. server time, Thursday, July 12
Where: The Laughing Zevrah Tavern, Ratchet
Organizer: Khabiba

The Laughing Zevrah is a player-run tavern, designed to be a roleplaying hot spot. According to the organizer, “It is open for anyone, including the occasional Alliance.”

Khabiba began running the tavern when Tundrarunner stopped. It has been a Horde-side roleplaying hot spot for Shadow Council players for nearly two years.
--L. Waymire

Review: Teenage Gnomelock Superstars

The Vitals:
Teenage Gnomelock Superstars was shot and produced by Amalie and Rabbly, set to (My First) Big Break by Cut Chemist.

Story: 2/5
There's not much of a story to this video. It seems to revolve entirely around homage to a pair of young, short demon mistresses and their abilities. I wasn't exactly bouncing in my chair or going for the Kleenex. That being said, in two and a half minutes, you don't always need a compelling story. I was pretty entertained just watching the little ladies get their Shadow on.

Text and Titles: 4/5
Clean text, not too many lines per screen, subtle effects on the type: All bonuses. The bouncing effect made it a touch hard to read at time. Spunky and well-timed to the music. Nicely done, gnome ladies.

Camera and Effects: 4/5
Special effects in the footage itself were pretty minimal. A few short scenes show Rabbly and Amalie in bright light and soft focus, highlighting their "not evil" side. The camera work is smooth and used to great effect, only rough in a very few spots. In-game effects, like the hearts that appear when you're taming or being tamed, were nicely chosen and well-used.

Music and Editing: 5/5
I'm not a drooling fan of the music Rabbly and Amalie chose, but I have to admit that it's not obnoxious and matched the video well. Moreover, the edits matched the timing perfectly. Gomelocks moves well, never staying on one scene long enough to bore but not jumping from scene to scene like a gut-twisting Michael Bay movie, either. All in all, the video was skillfully created.

Overall Score: 4/5
Well done!


Want me to review your video? Send me a link at ShC.Strider@GMail.com.

About the Author:
E.D. Lindquist is a multimedia consultant for a newspaper association. She has produced video for a major daily newspaper and helped to create standards for online production throughout California.

Shadow Council boasts finalist in music video contest

A Shadow Council player’s music video made it into the top-10 list of finalists in the World of Warcraft music video contest, and may have been in fourth place when voting closed.

“Selserene,” a 28-year-old housewife from eastern Pennsylvania who plays a level 70 night elf druid on Shadow Council, made “To the Fairest,” a music video to the song “Not Capable of Love” by Ataris.

On Monday, Blizzard announced the winners of its music video contest. While “To the Fairest” did not place in the top three, all signs at the close of voting indicated it was in fourth place, according to Selserene.

“The only types of videos I'd done before were boss kill videos,” Selserene said in a chat interview. “Combining my WoW addiction with something creative and engaging is a great way to expand the hobby, in my opinion.”

She wanted her music video to be a classic story with a WoW twist. “And what is a more WoW moment than having Alliance versus Horde?” Selserene said.

In “To the Fairest,” the lead Blood Elf male follows a Draenei female into her bedroom to kill her (or, as the director put it, “to gank the Alliance”). His girlfriend sees the two together and misinterprets his intentions.

“That moment, even when the truth comes out, isn't enough for her to forgive and the relationship ends,” Selserene said. “The title itself plays on the Apple of Discord, from Greek mythology, where the goddess Eris began the Trojan war simply by making three other goddesses vie for a golden apple inscribed ‘To the Fairest.’

“It's the idea that something so small can become something so huge it gets away from that simple beginning,” she said.

The apple is a symbol that features prominently in her music video.

“I used the apple as a central part of the theme based on a number of reasons… The apple has so much mythos, that the flashes were both meant to be the ‘Kallisti’ apple, as well as a symbol of innocence and loss of innocence,” Selserene explained. “There was something in it that I think most people, regardless of background, would be able to really understand on a metaphoric level.”

Movies made from game footage are known as “machinima,” or “machine cinema.”
One of the challenges in making any “machinima,” Selserene said, is that the director is limited by what objects, costumes, and animations exist in-game already.

Selserene said she chose the blood elves and draenei as her lead actors because their animations were more expressive than the animations of other races.

“The blood elf female has some great facial expressions... although the male kind of seemed zoned out most of the time,” she joked in chat. “Kind of ‘This is my shocked face =O This is my happy face =O This is my 'crap it isn't what you think honey!' face =O .”

It took about three and a half weeks to finish, and she was scrambling to learn a program she had never used before.

“To the Fairest” was filmed partly in-world, partly using two programs known as Map Viewer and Model Viewer. It was edited with Adobe Premier Elements and captured with Fraps.

Her guildmate, a level 70 human mage called "Elythe" of Team Whiskers, said in a chat interview that he was not surprised to see her video made it into the top 10.

“She's always been pretty good at Photoshop and she was showing some real improvement in making videos for the guild,” Elythe said. “She might not have thought she'd make it, but everyone else knew she would.”

Though she is new to machinima, Selserene is already working on her next film, titled “My Favorite Things,” which she says will be a horror.

“It's about a little girl and her imaginary friend... and how that's a dangerous thing in the world of Azeroth,” Selserene said.

“I had a few people that kept me sane during the filming (of "To the Fairest")... Elythe, Rinaeya, Sarisa, Melindha. They kept me going even when I'd have problems I couldn't figure out how to fix and stuff.”

Guest appearances included Marrika, Perle, Sophaea, Glimdar, Skarlotte, Elythe, Rinaeya, and Elzabetha.

--L. Waymire, movie stills courtesy of Selserene

Contact Us

Do you have comments, suggestions, criticisms, or story tips? We want to hear from you! Email us at shc.strider@gmail.com. Please include your name and contact information.

The Strider's editor Lacey Waymire can also be contacted in-game on the Shadow Council server. Contact Walia on the Horde side or via private message at RP Haven.

About Us

The Strider is an independent web-based news publication for World of Warcraft players on the Shadow Council server. We strive to serve the community with professional reporting, in-depth coverage and original content.

Editor-in-Chief Lacey Waymire has been a journalist since 2002. Her articles have appeared in the Colfax Record, the Auburn Journal, Prosper Magazine and the Sierra College Outlook.

Movie Reviewer/Graphic Desinger E.D. Lindquist is a multimedia consultant for a newspaper association. She has produced video for a major daily newspaper and helped to create standards for online production throughout California.

Gold Record Auction House analyst Jason Coleman has reported for gaming sites such as Stratix and Casters Realm. Continuing each week he monitors raw trade goods on the auction house, employing their price values as an indicator of market health.

What is World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). This means each player has one or more virtual characters that exist in a virtual world. Each character can interact with other characters. They can quest for experience, which makes their characters stronger. They can buy and trade virtual items for virtual gold, fight virtual monsters, fight each other, and role-play.

There are more than 9 million WoW players worldwide. It would take an impossibly enormous effort to let all those people play together in one world, so characters are separated by different servers. Each server leads to different copies of the same virtual world. Effectively, servers limit a world’s population to a community of players in the thousands.

What is Shadow Council?

Shadow Council is one server, or community of players. It is a role-playing server, which means characters in it are expected to speak and behave as their character would—much like impromptu acting. Often players will write up fiction based on their own character. These characters can have a life and community of their own.

Shadow Council operates on Mountain Time, but players from any time zone can enter the server.