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In days long past, three people were running across a field.  They had just braved Redridge, and followed the trail north into the wastelands of the Burning Steppes.  They panicked when they saw a group of fire-tossing grell with skulls on their heads, and ran almost to the center of the Steppes, to be rescued later by a passing gnome who took pity, and led them back to Redridge, scolding the whole way in a bright, tinny voice.

Six years later, and Thalanaar’s comical beginnings pass to new hands.

Tiska Brenn, adopted daughter of Gwydion, has accepted the mantle of leadership at a time when Thalanaar’s future is very bright.  A record recruiting rush brought new blood into our ranks, and quickly into our officer corps, and while some have moved on to the tune of new games, new opportunities or just “life,” we continue to honor the years of history that the Thalanaari brought to us all.

This is not goodbye.

…Just good memories.

World of Warcraft has been spinning up it Mists of Pandaria and Diablo 3 releases, playing a game of cat and mouse with new chief competitor Bioware and its impending release of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

However, with recent (and rather large) faux pas during Blizzcon, or shall we say Hordecon, it has become more an more evident that WoW is going the way of the dodo. By that I mean, they are going to jump off a cliff and die horribly (don’t ban me I’m just kidding…).

It goes without saying, that roleplayers are oft punished, and less often helped by the Dev’s and GM’s that observe our servers.

In fact, they are removing two roleplay servers because of those reasons. They were not policed and now, they are no longer Roleplay friendly.

Our own former home of Blackwater Raiders is being re-dubbed a regular server after the griefers managed to drive the Roleplaying populous out by sheer numbers.

In the light of these continued disappointments another issue has raised its head.

Since Febuary of 2006, Blizzard has not had the best reccord with regards to pleasing their player populous.

Some of their biggest and baddest press came when a player was harassed by a GM for advertising a guild that was a “friendly” environment for the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered players.

The company stood by its man until gay rights organization Lambda Legal picked up the case.

In the public apology that followed a storm of media criticism, it was advertised that game masters would be required to complete sensitivity training.

Recently it was reported on the World of Warcraft Community Site (it has since been removed…) that a roleplayer was actioned for playing a gay character on a roleplay server.

Now, I’ve read the Terms of Use, and there is nothing there that stipulates that you have to be heterosexual, or play a character that is in order to be allowed to play this game.

My concern is this: Does Blizzard and World of Warcraft have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy?

Are we going to be on one side asked to abide by rules that are more strict, while dealing with enforcement issues, only to be informed that we cannot play our characters the way we prefer since it will not fit within someone else’s ideal?

Would this have been more socially acceptable if the character in question had been female?

In response other companies including Star Wars phenom Bioware and its parent company EA Games have research exaustive policies and game activites that will cater to all creeds, sexes and sexual preferences.

In fact, EA Games point and click Sims and Sims 2 permit characters to pursue a relationship on any level with no restriction based on sex, and Bioware itself has included same sex relationships including marriage in its previously release Dragon Age.

Why does Blizzard continue to have the same problem when the rest of the world seems to be getting by? The question will probably be moot come December.

Five gamers.

Picked to game in a house.

To see what happens when people stop being polite…

And start rolling dice.

ThalanaarCon kicked off with a few bugs, a dead power supply on one computer and a slipping car transmission!

But, look ho!

Our brave adventurers have joined us in the mysterious land of Michigan, where our games commence.

Of course, “Bob the Elf” may be just one more stumbling block, but most may never know.  Others may just strap a block of wood to it, to keep from falling in…

Oh, the humanity.

In 2008, a band of ten intrepid travelers from around the world settled on Dearborn, Michigan to announce their love of a game. Three years later, we are preparing to meet once again, for ThalanaarCon V: The Search for More Game.

Thalanaar was created as the mainstay for the Turus Thalanaar guild, members and officers of five failed guild experiences who wanted to raise the bar for roleplay.

They wanted an environment where they could escape the drama and enjoy the game.

For five years, Turus Thalanaar dominated the Blackwater Raiders roleplay server.

Then, on August 15, 2011, we made the heartrending decision to leave our home and strike out for new territory.

Hostility from griefers and indifference from raiders turned Blackwater Raiders into certainly a lively population, but it was not a roleplaying community.

In the end the fight to support roleplay proved greater than the stubborn drive to save a server, and Turus Thalanaar closed its doors on the BwR, and relocated to Wyrmrest Accord.

The Wyrmrest Accord boasted an incredible roleplaying environment, a boisterous and supportive community, and in the end has proved a welcome home for Thalanaar.

However incidents at BlizzCon and certain pervasive behaviors on the part of Blizzard execs, developers and game masters have left us in an uncertain future.

For some of us, that’s a perfect time to throw a party.

In a little over seven hours, Spirit Airlines Flight 788 will land in Detroit Metro Airport.

It delivers a special friend, an officer from the original Lariss Plenary and player who has on previous occasions served as ambassador to BlizzCon and link to beta-testing and future content.

That’s right! The Drake is back in the D, and on Saturday morning Lord and Lady Thalanaar will be waiting to greet him when he departs the terminal.

In celebration, prepare for more than a week of excitement and new opportunities, sampling Detroit’s downriver nightlife, and touring some of its most engaging hot spots.

Also in town this weekend is Youmacon VII, Metro Detroit’s first and only anime convention.

Ever want to experience the thrill of being transformed into a Japanese chess piece for a game of life-sized shouji?

Join us, at Youmacon 2011!

It’s all over the forums.

Players are angry with Blizzard over the recent announcement of pandas and another apparent blow to the Alliance. While game masters have continued to press the company line, community manager “Zarhym” has started to show his own frustration.

“…who rebuilds, who explores, who defends and protects their people, and who seeks the pride of a conqueror?…There’s now a conflict presented in the story there to further unfold in the next expansion…

I’d never monitor a thread like this and respond as much as I have here just to be deceitful or disingenuous, by the way. It’s not how I roll and is why I’m fortunate to work for a pretty face-value, honest company. No puppeteer’s hand is in my rear right now.”

“Warcraft was going to be too much like Diablo”

I don’t agree with the tenor of current changes with the current explanations. I don’t generally like the idea of pandas–but let me quickly say before the trolls jump on the pandywagon it’s not because of the pandaren. For me, the game was traveling to a dark place, and I liked that feeling of urgency.

I don’t want to be steered toward another game if I want a darker feel, and I could care less that Blizzard developed another Diablo. For me, it broached the question of “fixing something that ain’t broke.”

Yes, the next “newer, bigger-bad” monster every expansion was getting a little old, but we’ve been expecting open war for two years now.

The timing seems wholly wrong for somebody to float by in a raft and say, “Ni Hao!”

Knowing that some pandas have been hanging out on a giant turtle chillin’ while the world was tearing itself to pieces makes me wonder why either faction would welcome them, but this is not another “I hate pandas” rant. This is an “I hate the lack of continuity” rant.

And, no, I don’t think an easter egg at the end of WCIII qualifies as “continuity.”

Possibilities

Could we suggest why Feathermoon got the huge rebuild and a new world boss leader with no real explanations last year? Will we finally have a major port city with a large quest hub and a lot to do in an area that’s been largely ignored since 1.1? Building up Feralas while destroying Theramore: yeah I could see that.

It’s where the elves made their stand after Wrynn sort of said, “Hey, elves! Deuces!” when Garrosh invaded Ashenvale. It’s where the Highborne just emerged to rejoin the night elves.

Genn Greymane standing in as posterchild for rulers-in-exile just seems distasteful. It makes little sense with the worgen seemingly abandoned by the Alliance and then saved at the last second by the elves.

I could easily see a unified Hearthglen being joined by the Brotherhood of the Light, the last vestiges of the Scarlet Order and the Argent Crusade under Tirion, and I could quickly see them tiring of Varian’s blatant inability to cross a room without tripping over his chin and falling into a war.

Over the past year the gnomes have departed to save Gnomer by themselves, while the dwarves reforge the Three Hammers alliance to prevent their own civil war; and in Westfall, people are starving, and Stormwind’s closest defenses are being overrun by angry puppies.

Some of us are merely waiting for the frustrated nature-loving races to run off and start their own faction under the auspices of the Cenarion Circle or even the Earthen Ring, something with either Thrall or Baine at the helm. It seems unlikely the pandaren would be a source for a new alliance when they have no world leader to serve as a unifying force.

“Wait and See”

Despair. Frustration. Anger. These are synonyms for an entire faction right now, and those players don’t like it. There’s a total feeling of helplessness in a broken Alliance, where Wrynn has become totally ineffectual as a leader. This just seems to be the point where the Alliance breaks under a bad ruler, and someone else has to step forward to keep the whole thing from crumbling.

Meanwhile, Garrosh stepped up and immediately created tensions by expelling Vol’jin and killing Cairne, he’s a powerful leader, and he’s handed the Horde one victory after another, proving he really puts the “War” back in Warchief. It would be just like Vol’jin to come back and show Garrosh that black arrow he promised him a year ago, just when a triumphant but exhausted Warchief feels strongest. The question right now is whether your players are going to be satisfied with “wait and see.”

Poster Ubergrendle on the WowInsider had this to say about the coming expansion after Dan Whitcomb’s brief touch on the similarities between D3 and former cash cow World of Warcraft:

“Diablo 2 was the foundation of WoW. Talents, gems/sockets, tons of the class abilities all found their genesis in Diablo and Diablo 2. Ontop of that, Blizzard *learned* from Diablo2 and made imrpvoements in WoW. Raid tokens, talent respeccing, and Bind-on-Pickup as mechanics all were improvements on what they learned in Diablo, especially with the underground gold farming/item auctions.

Even today, Diablo2 ten years later plays like a very efficient, streamlined game. The graphics are dated, but the gameplay itself has aged very well and (perhaps disappointingly) the game industry as a whole hasn’t dramatically improved upon it.

With the return of the Diablo franchise, Blizzard can once more segment their fantasy portfolio into two streams — grimdark gothic mature themed Diablo, and a more whimsical gonzo setting in WoW. I think having two WoW expansions in a row that were all about death and destruction got tiresome…I for one am looking forward to what Blizzard can do with new open ended lore with an more optimistic, free spirited tone.”

Does this explain Blizzard’s sudden departure from the heady tones of war and punishment constantly rocking Azeroth? Let’s take a look at the past few years and see what Blizzard might be thinking.

In the Burning Crusade, Azeroth is introduced to the draenei and reintroduced to a ghost from its own past, the blood elves. The draenei bring with them the Burning Legion, and Illidan is released to wreak havoc on a devastated Outland.

Once Illidan is put down, though, there is a realization of an even greater danger. The Scourge deathknights, led by the Lich King Ner’zhul, plant the seeds for even greater devastation by corrupting the heart of Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron.

Wholly corrupted and welcoming damnation for one chance at revenge, Arthas retrieves Frostmourne at the cost of his own loyal men, ignores the order to return home, and ultimately climbs the Spire of Icecrown to don the helm of the Lich King, becoming the new greatest threat to Azeroth.

Under the Lich King’s control, Arthas diminishes until he is essentially Ner’zhul in a new skin. He rebuilds the armies of the Scourge and launches ziggurats across Azeroth after disguising the same plagues in shipments of grain, just as he destroyed Stratholme almost thirty years before.

In the end, Arthas is defeated by Tirion Fordring, but at great cost. Bolvar Fordragon and he overhear the parting warning of King Terenas, “There must always be a Lich King,” and in the end Bolvar is sealed into the Spire in Arthas’ place.

Now, the tale stretches back hundreds of years to the War of Three Hammers, when the Dark Iron, Wildhammer and Bronzebeard clans all vied for control over the destiny of the Dwarves.

With Modgud fighting her own war for the Dark Irons against the Wildhammer Clan and eventually succeeding in her campaign to destroy the Grim Batol, the outstretched fingers of Thaurissan’s own army failed in a direct assault against the Bronzebeards.

Divided and outnumbered, Thaurissan’s forces were besieged, and the failing emperor turned to dark magic, summoning any force that would aid him and turn the tide of the war back to his favor. Freed by Thaurissan’s magic, Ragnaros exploded into being, creating the burned wastes around Blackrock Mountain and enslaving the Dark Iron.

Eventually, adventurers did enter the Blackrock Mountains, and its Molten Core, and faced the denizens of the deep that rested there before confronting Ragnaros and subduing him, but they did not have the power to kill him forever.

Ragnaros recovered and returned to the Plane of Fire even as the forces that created Deathwing released the most powerful enemy Azeroth had ever known to run rampant across the known world, scattering ashes in his wake.

And then these pandas float by on this turtle….

Not that we’re trying to say anything, here.

Well, okay, maybe we are.

Blizzard had an apparent lapse of professional judgment when it invited death metal singer “Corpsegrinder” to represent cash-cow product “World of Warcraft” at BlizzCon 2011.

On a short introduction video, a previously recorded interview shows the death metal singer bashing Alliance faction players, spewing a homophobic rant before saying, “f—ing emo c—suckers go die!” It’s unclear on the Blizzcon video when the interview was recorded, but he does admit something we agree with.

"I'm Pathetic!"

Later, Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok tried to stem the tide on thousands of angry posts on the World of Warcraft community site, and is quoted,

“I don’t want to continue belaboring the point, but in the video Corpsegrinder (after his remarks) laughs and says ‘It’s just a game.’ He’s joking.”

Well, we don’t see the joke.

Apparently we’re not alone, either.  The forums continue to buzz with activity, and Blizzard’s attempt to stem the tide by regularly deleting entire conversations only seems to be fueling the fire, as posters continue to voice their frustration over the apparent lack of direction, lack of support and lack of position.  While trolls delight and honest players shake their heads, those closer to the action on both sides cry foul.

And it is the game that will suffer for it.

After five years of continual, I’d call it “fan-fanatic” support, I along with several members of our officer corps opted to cancel their subscriptions.  We are a drop in the bucket, we realize, but if others feel as we do, and take the same step, Blizzard may realize that its position is wrong.  If it does not, it is entirely as likely we, like others, will realize that the remaining loyal player base and we share no common bonds of friendship or camaraderie that should exist in a place like Azeroth.

Pandas.

We were all laughing when we watched them roll out the first slide. Then the jeers and hooting started when people realized that Chris Metzen had lost his mind, and Blizzard was serious.

What began as a joke on April Fools Day so many years ago has become a reality. The next expansion will be the Mists of Pandaria.

The Level Cap will raise to 90, and players will have the option to explore a new class, the Monk. Apparently, and this is the kicker, no pun to monks anywhere intended, the pandaren race will be accessible to both factions. Through the course of storytelling, the character will “decide” which faction best suits it, or so we gather. Blizzard is still being very hush-hush about the particulars of its new golden child.

All right, we think this is funny as hell, and we’re making light of another terrible decision from Blizzard’s highest levels.

Among other changes, the wizards at Blizzcon have announced that the new annual subscription, a new billing feature, will provide players not only with the World of Warcraft in all its new, fuzzy glory, but also Diablo3 as a bundled package.

I guess they really were worried no one would play it after word got out that they were joining the gold farmers and offering a sanctioned real money auction service. If ya can’t beat ‘em, as they say.

Finally, and hopefully the last major upset, the annual subscription will guarantee subscribers to beta invites to all future Blizzard products, for so long as they remain subscribers.

And with Titan around the corner, this was obviously calculated to produce the greatest revenue from customers willing to shell out big bucks for a little swag.

Most of the response has been an outpouring of negative comments ranging from confusion to pure, unabashed rage. Joystiq writer Alex Ziebart said it best: “The moment we’ve all dreaded…”

It got worse when they rolled out the new “let your pets battle each other!” segment, and dropped off the map when they started talking about a world in which players have a “normalized” gear score, where fights are tailored to be winnable with any class combination or specialization, and where the player need only mash one or two keys repeatedly to achieve the desired result.

The best part was when they rolled out their new “Murderball” PvP segment, and everyone started whispering “Huttball?”

This… is exactly why you don’t let a console company buy an MMO.

Iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat
panem et circenses.

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions–everything–now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

Across the political spectrum, this and many other statements describe a world population no longer happy with the appearance of freedom within a calculated series of carefully controlled choices, in a world defined by increasingly limited options.

From Juvenal, a Roman poet who lived in the period after the decline of Rome toward the end of the first century AD–or for those of you who have adopted the euphemism, the modera era–we face similar times as were described in the latter days of Rome, a period in history defined by a people no longer willing to be governed by distractions forged to drive public opinion.

Mere satisfaction as a population is defined by general ill-ease, while still remaining unable or unwilling to effect change when the system only barely works, yet plods along not quite willing to entirely break down.

Those scornful words become more meaningful if you understand that Romans of their time were addicted to free distributions of food and violent gladiatorial games, as well as the chariot races of the Circus Maximus.  Juvenal described a world in which Romans had lost the capacity to govern themselves, too distracted by mindless self-gratification.

And indeed, so have we become.

In the beginning, the World of Warcraft was just another game, albeit “best in class” by comparison to anything else out there.  Players flocked by the hundreds of thousands, and by the end of year one, Blizzard already commanded a force of loyal followers greater than the sum of every other MMO population combined.

In terms of “army” or “following,” this was the modern equivalent of revolution.  Blizzard came in and took by storm what other MMO providers had worked hard to build, because they had a story, a goal and a defined future.  Today, it is fair to say that things are no longer so certain.

What, then, precedes the downfall of a giant?

Where do development, production and proliferation flag and falter to become the merest bread and circuses of the modern age?

It can be summed up in three things:  the modern movement, a financial situation in which people as a whole are unwilling to shovel out case without cause; a loss of direction, since obviously the story has been told and re-told enough times that Blizzard is honestly, obviously having a hard time coming up with new ideas; and, of course, the creation of Titan, details for which are the greater popular hype for the next Blizzcon.

Whatever Titan is, Blizzard has made it pretty clear that, with the development of Diablo 3 and the release of Starcraft 2, they are getting away from the World of Warcraft franchise, and allowing it to go the way of the dinosaur.  However, instead of a big finish and popular finale, Blizzard’s developers have allowed a slow, trickling death, with crammed, rapidly released content, fast updates and frequent changes that confuse and irritate players.

In the past six months, over a million subscribers have left the game, causing Blizzard’s golden calf to lose followers at what should be an alarming rate, and indeed this is the first year that Blizzard has lost more suscribers than it has gained.

But why accuse Blizzard of “loss of direction?”

The original World of Warcraft, what is consciously referred to as “vanilla,” or Classic Wow, players had no great ENDGAME.

They mere working together in cooperative instances, leveled, geared, and then played in a few raids or PvP’d.  Blizzard wanted to stay ahead of the curve, since Everquest was rapidly working on expansions to try to compete with the new giant, and other new MMO companies were trying to break into the market.  As a result, over the next two years, we faced “the ultimate evil” three times.

The first time Azeroth faced its dooom, it was Illidan Stormrage, master of all things evil, who stole the waters of the Well of Eternity and brought down the fury of the Legion upon all of Outlands when his ten thousand year imprisonment had ended.

Then the players finally defeated Illidan, and the world rejoiced.  Then they started… farming him.

So the developers at Blizzard went back to the drawing board, and they released the next doooom!

With the creation of Northrend, they introduced an even greater evil, introducing the fury of the Scourge and their dark master, the terror of Lordaeron, Arthas Menethil, the Lich King.  And doooom! he was, raining terror down upon a shocked populace and introducing new plot points that guaranteed you the fight of your life… until the raiders kacked him three days after he was released for public slaughter.

So, once again unprepared, the developers at Blizzard threw us a curve ball, and developed a new DOOOOOOOOM!!  The only problem with creating the next “doom,” becomes the incredulity that no one had ever heard of Deathwing before, and no one ever thought Ragnaros would be recycled to be a new, bigger-bad when we’d already farmed him to death two expansions ago.

There’s only so many letters you can add to the word “doom” after all, and only so many capital letters and exclamation points you can add before it ceases to be “doomful,” and is only silly.

Add to the frustration and confusion of Blizzard players the world over by pitching curve balls like raids filled with gear that loses its value even before someone has farmed the set, and you have the opportunity for player unrest.

Anyone else remember Ulduar, and the too-soon release of the Trials of the Grand Crusader, which effectively killed the value of the new Ulduar armor and weapon drops for any hardened raider, causing most of the new player base to simply skip over Ulduar and go “straightline to the bigtime” in ToGC?

Blizzard miscalculated.  It believed that by keeping its mainstream player base happy, it would stay ahead of the curve, and so-called “noobs” would come and go quickly enough that no one would ever get sick of the old content.  Blizzard finally started to realize its mistake, and released an updated Classic Azeroth with the Cataclysm, and has advertised plans to release an updated Outlands with the next major expansion.

But in a world where finances are in increasing question, and players also have the choice of a new MMO with an even greater follows that already spans 30 years of human history, what is the future fate of the MMO giant?

Is Bioware the David to our Goliath?

We will find out in December, when everyone flocks to the stores, and when players who stolidly cleave to their bread and circuses log in to Azeroth,…

…possibly to realize that they are in a very large and empty world.