A Question of Server Pride
Since the introduction of cross-realm battlegrounds and the Battlegroup organization system, the emphasis on individual servers has become outmoded. In the old days, communities of capable guilds defined their servers; Nurfed with their roaming PvP videos, for example, or the sheer amount of notorious players on the original servers. Widespread server transfers further diluted these concentrated pockets of infamy, and now, years later, what are we left with? Accomplishm…  More

Ever since my last post I have been harboring a deep desire to immerse myself in this blog once more, to tentatively dip my hoof in the murky waters and try to plot a course through the tangled web of big-name players, sponsorships, recent patches, class balance and all of the other juicy stories that entertain us as a community. It's very hard to cover new ground concerning a game that does not change on a daily basis, and most of the quality posts are rehashed reports taken from the headliners. The most you can do is present the over-saturated information that everyone's already heard in a new voice, with your own thoughts, and hope that it's good enough. It rarely is.…  More

East Meets West in World of Warcraft
The topic of goldfarmers has been a heated one over the lifespan of WoW. It's hard to look at the issue from the perspective of a journalist, which hinges on the complete absence of bias, considering I play the game (though not very well, admittedly). Despite Blizzard having declared all-out war against the menace, even taking the battle to them (the destruction of E-Bay as a tool for these creatures), these nefarious imps manage to evade every net that Big Bl…  More

Since the onset of the Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has made some major changes in how their game and its development are perceived. Though they have always considered player feedback, concerning all aspects of the game, they have been far more proactive than ever before in getting their desired changes pushed through. Despite having a major patch on the horizon, they could not wait to introduce certain tweaks; apparently they looked at the burst damage potential of certain classes and reali…  More

In continuation of the Marnacleez-Approved Top 5 PvP Video series, I've decided to go with the Rogue as my second class. It was a far more difficult endeavor than the Warrior list, considering I have never played a Rogue competitively. I actually had to do some research to number these movies, whereas with the Warrior list I drew almost entirely from my memory. After spending about seven hours yesterday watching the greatest Rogue videos ever published, I am absolutely exhausted. A terrifying symphony of jumbled genres ranging from trance to death metal is playing on a loop in my head. Whenever I close my eyes, I see Ambush crits and I hear the condescending laugh of an Undead gloating over the corpse of his conquered foe.…  More

The Autumn of Our Discontent
In his latest blog, GibTehStix reported on the Decline of Gameriot, attributing the recent disinterest of the readership to a lack of content and the slackening of the writers. It's difficult to find something worth writing about, my little philistines, and I myself have never managed to do it; I cloak my lack of content with grand words and over-the-top prose. Perhaps the haughty arrogance is the assertion of my intellect, a pure subconscious desire to soothe my ego …  More

It's a hard fact, but lately the World of Warcraft has seemed moribund, a decadent shrine to the glory of capitalism with little regard for its base demographic, teetering precariously on a precipice overlooking oblivion. The lull between the final content patch and the release of the forthcoming expansion is always a bleak affair. Season 4 has ended and the future of competitive Arena seems to float hazy on the horizon, an unattainable goal at the end of a desert road: a streak of dusty tarmac across the barren rocks. …  More

To all things there is an order, whether that order is dynamic and shifting or whether it is static and unwavering; bees have a queen, orcs have a warchief, and bears have Mauljaw, Lord of the Adirondacks. The structure of any society is not inherently dependent upon the very top level - the upper class is virtually interchangeable, from nobility to aristocracy to the corporate elite - but on those at the bottom. The unwashed masses who clamor for the right to govern, those worker bees on whom the cruel trick of an illusory democracy is played. In the United States, it's the working class; in World of Warcraft, it's the casual player.…  More

"With their heads hung low, shambling in aimless droves across the sun-banked sand, the crusaders filed away in silence, down to the port at Jaffa. Repelled at Jerusalem by the defenders beneath the Moorish standard, and harried along their routed defeat by Nathrezim Dreadlords, the crusade was at an end; no sword of Christendom would rise again in thirsty conquest. The combined might of the Burning Legion and the nations of Islam had broken the resolve of the devout who, brooding and disconsolate, now returned home to fight Arthas."…  More

For an introduction I'm going to address my readers on a very personal note. I'd like to take a moment here and thank all of my fans who have been supporting this blog with their generous praise. What some people had to say about my previous article, the Proustian reference in its title notwithstanding:

Good writing.  Impressive. - Mightymouse

People might actually read your posts. - Nubbey

The affected air of arrogance is a large part of the blog's charm. - Kavekk

Are you a Harvard Graduate? - Anr…  More