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.