The new WoW expansion: Wrath of the Lich King

I very seriously doubt I’ll still be playing WoW when the Warth of the Lich King expansion (newly announced by Blizzard) is released, but here’s a quick list of the interesting features:

• The first new WoW class since release: the Death Knight (a hero class; you can create a character with this class, starting at level sixty-something or higher, only after completing a quest with some other high-level character)
• An increase of the level cap to 80 and the profession cap to 450
• The content of Northrend, open to characters 68 and above
• Siege weapons in an outdoor PVP zone

Those, at least, are the features that are interesting to me. I don’t mind the increase in level and profession caps, as getting those up is supremely easy and presumably means there are new and interesting abilities to play with past 70 (and 375).

I like to content, so this ten-zone continent of Northrend may be fun. I didn’t wind up liking the Outlands all that much, apart from Nagrand. They felt too alien and strange to me, too different from what already existed in the game.

As for the Death Knight class, well, new classes are fun. I enjoy learning the mechanics of each class. But Blizzard has always been committed to making the classes truly unique. To do that with the Death Knight, they’ve had to invent what sounds like a fairly bizarre mechanic, with a new sword bar that has runes etched on it that get spent but can be re-etched after a certain time expires. Different, yes, but weird!

Also, I’ve never liked the mechanic of creating a completely new character simply because you’ve achieved something with a different character. It spoils my already very tenuous willing suspension of disbelief, underscoring the gamey side of things instead of the simulation, immersion, and roleplaying that I really like.

But more interesting options for PVP? That I can get behind 100%.

For more details, one great write up is at 1up. Check out their detailed write up here. Or just watch WoWinsider, where there will no doubt be hundreds of posts on the topic of the new expansion over the next few months.

Add comment August 3rd, 2007

Potion Miscibility: The Mai Tai, Part 2—The Exotic Ingredient

This post continues my discussion of the great cocktail the Mai Tai, which began here.

The Mai Tai exemplifies something that can invigorate tabletop roleplaying campaigns with a sense of verisimilitude: namely, the fact that a single splash of an exotic ingredient can transform something ordinary into an extraordinary delight. Rum punch is nice, but no amount of paper umbrellas and miniature pineapples makes them miraculous. A simple splash of orgeat, though, and you can imagine you’re sitting on a beach in Tahiti.

In any campaign, throw in an ingredient that’s unexpected and rare (or at least apparently rare). Pages have been written on interesting hybrid settings, but this is something simpler. Instead of trying to install cyberpunk hardware in a high fantasy setting (which could be damn fun!), just add a little flavor of technology. Many settings now do this, like including mechanical “life forms”—that is, robots—to a setting loaded with magic. Likewise, the world in the marvelous The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman takes a pretty standard Victorian setting and throws in “daemons”—externalized animae that everyone has—and creates a vivid and fascinating new world.

When inventing your own campaign, you can do the same. Instead of melding two genres, pick a familiar one and add a foreign element. One of the best ways to do this is set the campaign in your own home town, but add something strange. This not only assists in campaign creation (you already have pre-made maps, NPCs, and a good estimate of how to get around), it also adds a certain eeriness as players encounter mysterious things on familiar streets.

You could make your own town the locus for a vast conspiracy, with neighbors disappearing and sightings of men in black at the street corners. Horror works well, too. If classic black witchcraft is real and attracts the attention of dark powers, then when a neighbor starts dabbling, the PCs may have their hands full fighting off monsters from beyond—in the players own back yards!

And now, at last, the recipe.

Mai Tai

Ingredients

• 1 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. dark rum
• ½ oz. triple sec
• ½ oz. orgeat syrup
• ¼ oz. fresh lime juice

Instructions

Shake all ingredients in a shaker half full of ice. Pour over shaved or crushed ice in a cocktail glass. (I like to use a brandy snifter.)

Garnish with your choice of maraschino cherries, baby pineapples or pineapple slices, and orange slices. If you have one handy, make sure you use a paper umbrella to perfect the drink.

Add comment August 3rd, 2007

Potion Miscibility: The Mai Tai, Part 1—Comments on History and Culture

The great Mai Tai, perhaps the froofiest of froofy drinks. I have so much to say on this that I’ll be breaking the post in two. The first contains a discussion of the Mai Tai itself. Later today, I’ll post my thoughts on how it relates to gaming, along with my own favorite recipe, of course.

There are many competing recipes, and this seems to have been true since the drink was first mixed! In the 1930s and 1940s, the Tiki-culture fad spread like wildfire across America, but the spark was lit in California. Two innovative restaurateurs—Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber—catering to American’s hunger for a taste of the exotic, opened “Polynesian style” restaurants to dish out tropical drinks and flavorful recipes.

Perhaps the proud edifices of steel and concrete scraping the skies in America’s largest cities, a testament to the country’s emerging preeminence as an emerging superpower, nonetheless created a longing in its citizens for a simpler life. Lounging on tropical beaches with almost nothing to do, and perhaps with almost no clothes, must have seemed wonderful to the hard-working, driven office workers chasing the American dream.

They wouldn’t give up their jobs, of course, but they might pour some of their hard-earned cash into an evening at a restaurant bedecked with palm leaves, reed mats, and strong-and-fruity cocktails. The Tiki-culture restaurants, which actually served mostly Cantonese food and didn’t have all that much to do with actual Polynesian culture, eventually faded, replaced by Chinese restaurants, some of which actually serve food that people might eat in China.

When I was a child, though, most “Chinese” restaurants still had menus chock full of items such as the “pupu platter” and bars ready to shake up cocktails bedecked with pineapple slices and little paper umbrellas. The foodie community is a bit more sophisticated, today, and more concerned with authenticity. But this sophistication has given birth to a new delight in the campy, borderline absurd styling of such restaurants, and now both the Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber chains are experiencing a strong resurgence.

The founders of both these chains claim to have invented the Mai Tai, and of course their recipes differ. Since the Mai Tai was first served, almost as many recipes for it as there are bars that serve it have come to light. Although they all include rum and fruit juice (and almost all include the cute paper umbrella), some are what I consider merely pleasant rum punch recipes.

A true Mai Tai is very sweet, almost heavy, but nonetheless ethereally delicious. The key to this is the ingredient that distinguishes true Mai Tais from all other rum drinks: the sweet, almond-flavored orgeat syrup. Nowadays, this isn’t hard to come by. Even the ubiquitous Torani sells a version. Don’t make the mistake of buying simple almond-flavored syrup. Delicious though that may be, true orgeat syrup is different and distinct, and essential to a good Mai Tai.

Check back later for my thoughts on how the Mai Tai ties into gaming, as well as my favorite recipe for the cocktail. When the article is up, you’ll be able to find it here.

Add comment August 3rd, 2007

Entering the Search for Bourne iPhone drawing without getting all the sightings

Just a quick note to let readers know that it’s possible to qualify for the Ultimate Search for Bourne iPhone contest without getting enough sightings. The official rules let you enter with a postcard but it must be postmarked by tomorrow, Saturday, 4 Auguist 2007.

Here’s the relevant passage:

Entrant(s) who obtain surveillance points that fall in the range from twenty-five (25) to thirty-two (32) points online during the Sweepstakes Period will automatically receive one (1) entry (“Sightings Internet Entry”) into the Sightings Sweepstakes. To enter the Sightings Sweepstakes by mail without Game play, legibly hand-print your first and last name, complete home address (including street address, city, state/province and zip code/postal code), date of birth, telephone number (including area code), email address and the surveillance code name “Sighting Mission” on a postcard (no larger than 6” x 8”) and mail, with proper postage affixed to: The Ultimate Search for Bourne with Google, P.O. Box 10301, Burbank, CA 91510 (“Sightings Mail Entry”). Each Sightings Mail Entry submitted will receive thirty-two (32) surveillance points (the maximum number of points obtainable by Game play) equaling one (1) Entry into the Sightings Sweepstakes. Online Entries for each Daily Sweepstakes and Grand Prize Drawing must be received by 11:59:50 p.m. EDT during that day’s date; Sightings Internet Entries must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. EDT on August 3, 2007; and Sightings Mail Entries must be postmarked by August 4, 2007 and received by August 10, 2007 (collectively “Entries”).

To everyone: good luck!

2 comments August 3rd, 2007

Search for Bourne—Day 15

The final day of the Ultimate Search for Bourne is here, and here’s a complete spoiler for the last challenge.

And today’s challenge starts out quite differently. All we have is a link to http://www.readteston.com/ (note that the web site title is “ReadTeStOn”; I don’t know why). The screen is filled with an odd video, only the numbers 1 and 4 flashing oddly on the left. I tried typing them (after clicking on the screen in general), but that did nothing

Mouse over these numbers, and they’ll resolve into the number 5 (4+1?). Click the 5, and you get the familiar log-in screen for your instant messenger, with agent handle landypamela already filled in.

Solving this requires knowledge of The Bourne Supremacy. If you click on the ? at the top right of the dialog, you get a hint reading: “Which set of files was Pamela Landy looking for in Berlin when she found Bourne’s fingerprint?” The answer is the “Neski files.”

So type Neski in as the passphrase and hit Submit, and you’ll be rewarded with a “bonus video” from the same fellow who’s been offering congratulations all along.

The main reward is a fairly extended clip, apparently from the new Bourne Ultimatum movie. He says, “I know this wasn’t easy.” I can’t say I agree. Today’s challenge was a slight bit of a challenge, yes, but I would have liked them to be this hard from the beginning, with much harder ones as the game progressed. I guess that wouldn’t make for a generally accessible promotion, though.

The clip is entertaining, though. It does make me somewhat more interested in seeing the film. So in the end, I guess the promotion has done its job . . . with me at least.

I’ll be posting a wrap-up sometime soon, but I’d invite anyone to share their own final thoughts in the comments on this post. Looking forward to hearing how everyone did and what everyone thought!

Edit: I should mention that, as commenter Z points out, the main game’s UI seems to be finished. It gives you the link to the ReadTeStOn site, but does nothing else.  No chance to place more cameras; no nothing. I wouldn’t have minded a congratulations message, let alone a chance to up my sightings score for an iPhone contest entry, but I guess that’s not to be.

53 comments August 3rd, 2007