Tales of the AntiHeroes

The Beginning of The End

2011-05-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Antiheroes are nearing the end of a long journey. After a lot of effort, the remaining original members broke lvl 80. Here is a picture of us on that day, in front of the Orgimmar board that starts the next chapter. (Thakut as an honorary member of course)

For a short while, we will join a new guild started by our wayward friend. With this new group we'll see higher heights than we could on our own. Mostly we will be outcasts, tolerated only because we are Thakut's associates, but this is enough.

We are nearing the end of the story, I can feel the weight and finality of this final chapter, looming on the horizon. Once this cap is reached I'll return to the guild and let Glyph rest in piece, with honor, as an Antihero. New challenges. New worlds.

New Friends

2010-12-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Are they brothers?

While I'm not nearly as dramatic as Stabby, I do make my own observations. Like... for example the recently married Taur and Karn Stonehoof. Thunderbluff's recently married butch gay duo have gone into business selling blacksmith supplies like leather pants, leather gloves, big hammers and hot pokers.

I know I'm not the only antihero who has my eye on these two. Species differences aside, I could really stand to get some good gym advice in Thunderbluff.

Fighting and thinking:

Being a warrior doesn't encourage thinking. I don't have time to consider the moral weight of the the skulls I'm smashing.... If blood stops spraying, I lose the berserker rage that gives me momentum. It's funny how Blizzard builds these traits into the game, messing with my mind.

Anyway,

I'm going to Northrend. I hear they have a zombie problem. I hear they have frozen axes out there.

-Glyph

A Morality Tale

2010-12-03T15:34:00.001-08:00

Now those of you who have played a modern video game will know that story telling has greatly improved since the days of simple eat-dots-avoid-ghost narratives, or even the stereotypical rescue-princess-from-turtles scenario. Millions of dollars are spent on cutscenes, voice actors and top notch writers to render blockbuster movie quality storytelling.

WOW, not so much.

Which is not to say that WOW doesn't feature any of the above mentioned things, simply that it is not really presented in the same way as you'll find in other games. WOW does what is sometimes called passive storytelling- If you're interested in understanding WHY you're killing 20 whatsits, you can read the text and talk to various NPCs and find out, but if you're just interested in getting to the next level, you can go through the game largely unaware of the story being told underneath the actions you're undertaking.

As a writer, I'm fascinated by passive storytelling. It's a delicate balancing act, trying to create a full, rich narrative while couching it in ways that can be disregarded. It's a pretty thankless task, really: No novelist writes with the understanding that his words will be a largely optional part of the expirience. But, games are not books, are not movies: They're games. And if a gamer doesn't want to watch your movie, doesn't want to read your briefing, why should he? In some games, those elements are more part of the playing experience- Games with dialog trees or quicklime events - but not WOW. If there is a story to be told, it has to be told in ways that don't get in between the player and the thing the player is supposed to kill.

WOW deals with this in various ways: Many of the zones have real world analogues so that if you don't take the time to understand how an oil rig works in WOW, you'll at least have the real world counterpart to equate it to in your mind. All of this which is a lead in to a morality play that played out the other day:

Stabby was setting out in the typical adventure: Head to place Y, Kill X amount of creature Z. But then when he got there:

If you don't see it in the screenshot above, that is a den mother, naturally, surrounded by her cubs. Wait- what?
In Alpha Protocol, a recent action RPG, one of the statistics that the game keeps track of is "orphans created". It's really just a little tougue in cheek number, based off of the kills you make through the game. I mean, it's not like you kill various guards and militia members when they're surrounded by their children. Well, here.... I'm mean, it's WOW, right? There's no real narrative complexity. Press a button, numbers come out and if you do it long enough, the numbers get bigger. Besides, it's not like you can KILL the kids by right clicking on them or anything. Right? Right?
Oooo...

Listen, this game is about races constantly at war with each other, each titanic clash followed by a bigger, crazier, more epic one. Death is a minor setback, involving at worst a long run back to your corpse and a trip to the nearest blacksmith to fix up any broken equipment. You can spend hours chasing a fellow player back and forth across the land, killing each other over and over again dozens of times. But killing little kids, even bear creature kids... That shit is fucked up.

When I returned to drop off my quest, I noticed a daily quest (which I typically avoid) that happened to actually address the issue: This member of the tribe you're allied with worried about the ramifications of the war with the bear creature tribe and wanted you to, instead of killing, CAPTURE the cubs to some un-elaborated upon end.
Better?

I'm not sure. Wow isn't a game that I typically ask questions about. Penny Arcade recently touched on this kind of thing. I mean, I went and did the quest, "saving" a dozen of the little cubs. But it wouldn't let me save more. And even if I did, the nature of MMOs leaves them doomed to a cyclical fate, set to watch their parents killed over and over again, only occasionally to be "saved" by a player. Rinse, lather, repeat.

This whole episode gave me pause. Really, what was this game trying to say to me? What was the right thing to do? Had WOW passed my personal threshold of appropriateness? It was while I was thinking these thoughts that a baby polar bear attacked me out of the blue and forced me to kill it.
I mean, come on, XP, right?

Refinements

2010-11-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

So after playing the game again for a little while, I've discovered that a lot has (thankfully) changed about the game. Not everything, as can be seen above, but enough to really streamline the experience. So, in case you're thinking about getting back into the game or maybe you just want the perspective of someone who essentially took 4 years away from playing, here are some awesome changes:

Better quest tracking, specifically with areas outlined in your map to help you locate whatever you're supposed to kill 20 of. One thing I always hated about WOW was the almost necessary use of Thottbot at every second. Now I only look things up when I'm having a hell of a time finding what I'm supposed to be looking for which is significantly less.
Random Dungeon and PVP group finding. Back when I used to play the game, if you wanted to do a Dungeon, you'd have to message people all over the game world, wait for them to get to your particular dungeon, THEN play. It was not uncommon to spend 40 minutes in transit before actually doing anything. Towards the end you could line up using a meeting stone, but you'd have to make your way to a particular dungeon first, still eating up a lot of time for very little fun return. Now I can use a handy button on the UI to start searching for a group to do a random or chosen dungeon, which I'll be teleported to from anywhere in the world when everything is lined up. It's not an idea system- no random matchmaking service is - but it's heads and tails above the old way. I've found myself actually finishing all my dungeon quests, which was not something I had the time commitment for before.
Flying and Flightpaths. First of all, there are MORE flightpaths, which was very much so needed. When the pre-Cataclysm patch dropped, we got even more. Yay! But what is really the game changer for me was gaining the ability to fly. Not only does the addition of vertical movement drastically improve the design possibilities for the game, but it also greatly speeds up most of the questing. Fly over enemies to get to a goal, go over terrain that would normally force you to take a long detour, swoop in to attack the Alliance: It's a huge improvement to the game and probably the real reason why I've played a bunch since re-joining. Without it, I'd probably have quit after a couple of days.

There are other refinements of course: Tons of them in fact, although as a combat rogue, Stabby doesn't play much different than he did before. Still, I'm very interested to see how everything shakes down come December 7th... Overland flying in the old world is very welcome. Never get stuck of terrain while trying to trail-blaze a shortcut ever again!

Stabby doesn't know where he's going, but he's getting there in style, dammit!

The Anti-Heroes Return!

2010-11-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well it's certainly been a while, but it looks like the Antiheroes have risen from the dead. Yes, the introduction of Cataclysm has done exactly what Blizzard had intended, which is draw a bunch of absent players back in. This is particularly notable for Stabby, since the last time he played was for a brief window during the trial period for Burning Crusade back in... *GULP* 2007. But with Thakut hoping to see his old guildies around for the end of the world and me suddenly having a huge hole in my schedule (not to mention finally having a computer that can handle the game!) I did the unthinkable and reactivated Stabby: A level 54 in a world filled with level 80s, most of his allies level 70.... Well, that's a lot of catching up to do.

So, here we go: A return to the World of Warcraft, from a player who never particularly cared for the game. How will I fare? Well, let's find out!

Yeah, This Blog Is Dead

2007-05-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, this blog has been dead for a while now and I figured I should post to that effect so that people don't stumble upon it and get the wrong idea. I stopped playing WOW after only about 6 months, and was shortly thereafter joined by the rest of the AntiHeroes with a few small exceptions. Sadly, a bunch of screenshots I took for this blog got deleted in a system reformat, so I've got nothing more to add here. Still, I'll keep the blog up in case there should ever be another group attempt at an MMORPG (Well, there was: Kevin, Veronica, Dave and myself played City of Villains for a month or two) but for now it will be a graveyard, and a small one at that.

There were a lot of fun times with the AntiHeroes and I'm saddened that I've lost all photo proof of it. But all good things come to an end. Good night, and see you next time around.

A sign of things to come

2005-08-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

Soon, more crazy AntiHeroes pictures and stories. Promise.

News In The World of the AntiHeroes

2005-08-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hello there, ye few watchers of the AntiHeroes. It would not take much to see that there has been a distinct lack of activity in this blog, and that would be chiefly attributed to Stabby's recent absence: However, that is now over, and there are plenty of things that have happened in that time.

Most importantly, our resident Warlock supreme Thakut has bid farewell to the game, if only for 3 weeks. Apparently this thing called "real life" has reared it's ugly head, and sadly, he will be taking some time off. Apparently he wants to get into Medical school, although why you'd want to do such a thing when Kinor or Leoda could just heal and rez you is totally beyond me.

In any case, have a good three weeks Thakut- You will be missed!

2005-06-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Stabby tries to act. Does he succeed? YOU DECIDE.

2005-06-20T19:54:00.001-07:00

Stabby has been around in the last little while. Here, he shows you why he got kicked off of the boat.

2005-06-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

New Title

2005-06-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

This totally wasn't what I was going for.

2005-06-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's our only female member (until Marina joins, dammit!) Leoda, showing off our fantastic guild Tabard. So stylish, and it goes with everything!

2005-05-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my computer just can't handle the game. This is one of those times. Trust me, it took almost half an hour to make my way to the Auction House.

2005-05-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who would like a look at Glyph, here he is cutting a mad rug. He likes to do that. He doesn't like dueling however. Why? I suggest the fact that he is scared of Stabby.

More adventures

2005-05-18T20:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I just finished shooting a movie, and so that means that Stabby Mcgee returns with a vengance. 4 days of being away can really add up when you're leveling with your friends, and when I logged on today I could see that there was some major catching up to do.

Stabby started his adventures the way he always likes to, by dancing with strangers. Actually, since his last post he's managed to get quite a few of them to join him, although a suspicious number of them are Tauren. He's not complaining, it just that Taurens are probably the worst dancers in the whole game. Is this why the AntiHeroes lack a substantial ammount of Taurens? Who can say?

Sadly, Stabby didn't bother taking any pictures of his breif return a few days ago, when he got his ass handed to him by a giant parrot. To make up for it, he decided to see if there were not more ridiculous sights that he could find. Instead, he just killed a lot of humans. And would you know it? They were hiding gold. Lots of gold. Piles of gold. Gold that could not be picked up. Stabby says it all.

For the first time in days, Stabby was making some serious progress, finishing off quests left and right, eventually leading him to the Raptor Grounds. Apparently no one ever told the raptors about cleaning up after themselves.

By the end of the session, Stabby had hit level 20, keeping him above Glyph, which is his only goal in life. And what better way to finish off a good session of playing then ripping off a Disney movie?

And that's all I've got. See you in the digial world!

-Brent (StabbyMcgee)

I like to smash things!

2005-05-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

Loktar!

My name is Glyph! I'm 6'3 with, emerald green skin, red hair and blue eyes. I like long walks in the barrens at night and partying it up in Orgrimar with my orcish buddies. My favorite colors are red and black. My favorite food is roast boar meat.

My friends say I have anger management problems... I know I can be "aggressive" at times but my axe is really just how I say hi. I like to be assertive and there isn't anything wrong with that. Anybody who thinks otherwise will end up unconscious in a puddle of their own blood and teeth.

***

One of these days I'll figure out how to attach pictures of my character to this thing. I've tried to do it, but I am quickly overcome by the urge to put an axe through my computer screen. The more I play an Orc in the digital world, the more I think like one. I hope I can still function in society by the end of the summer.

-Glyph

2005-05-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

There's no explaining those goth kids.

2005-05-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

Stabby has found new ways to annoy level 60 characters. More on this when Brent finds the time to talk about it.

Allow Myself To Introduce... Myself

2005-05-09T12:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I guess it's time to get this crazy party started. Allow me to present to you my character, the incomprable StabbyMcgee.

When the WoW expriment began, I originally decided to be a Rogue simply because it was a niche that had yet to be filled. It was then decided that I should be a troll based simply off the fact that they do Capoeria as thier dancing emote, which I've taken up over the past couple of years. Simple as that.

My goals for Stabby are pretty simple. He's going to 60 in the 3 months that I see myself playing the game. He's going to be a combat Rogue, with my current plan heading towards Two Weapon fighting mastery, and then eventually Cold Blood. I try to level him every day that I play him, although already at level 17 I see this is not going to be as easy as I'd like. His primary skills are Alchemy and Herbalism, so those are on the road to being maxed out as well. Oh, and he's a dagger fighter. I hope that he will be the master of stabbing, and if not that then pretty freaking good at it.

That's all I've got to say about my character. So there.

Actually, that's a lie. Stabby has a hobby. He attempts to goad level 60 players into dancing. So far he has had little luck, but he's hoping that some day soon he'll be able to get one of those oh-so-serious level 60s to join him in busting a move. Until then, he'll continue to just piss them off.

Genesis

2005-05-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

And so it begins.

So, reader of the web, you have found yourself in a strange place, and perhaps you may be confused as what you will find here. Stay with me a while, and soon you will know all. For you see, here you will soon find the stories of the AntiHeroes, a band of adventurers and scallywags destined for infamy, bound together by their incessant desire for glory and because Kevin and Eliot made everyone play.

The World of Warcraft was changed forever on May 3rd (sooner for many impatient bastards, myself included) when a throng of gamers, both novice and hardcore, decided to embark together towards the creation of a guild, and to mark the summer of 2005 with endless sleepless nights spent in the land of Azeroth, claiming the digital world as their new playground.

In this journal you will find tales to make you laugh, cr-.... No wait, probably just to make you laugh. Or maybe vomit in disgust. Whatever your constitution however, I hope you will journey on with us, and share the tales of the AntiHeros.

It begins now.

Brent's fun fact of the day: Bloggers spell check suggests "anthrax" in lieu of "AntiHeroes". Now you know!