Tobold's Blog
Friday, September 21, 2007
 
World of Warcraft Internet TV

Sites like YouTube have thousands of World of Warcraft videos showing boss fights and other achievements. Most of them are really, really bad. There are no or just minimal comments, the video is blurry, and the purpose seems to be bragging much more than giving information. So the guys from ON Networks sensed unmet demand, and produced ON Warcraft, a World of Warcraft downloadable TV show. The show has two hosts giving comments like anchormen of a sport show, leading you through the instances of World of Warcraft. Currently only the Hellfire Ramparts videos are available, but the fact that this one instance is covered in 4 videos shows you the level of detail. I'm embedding the first video, giving a general overview of Hellfire Ramparts, including basic stuff on how to get there, at the bottom of this post. The other three videos are about the three boss fights. You can get the videos on the ON Warcraft site, or via iTunes.


Comments:
This video is a bit embarrassing, really. Yes, I'm being cynical, but does anyone really need to be told 'don't forget the loots'?
 
WOW doesn't need pseudo-professional productions of the various boss fights.

Part of the charm of the YouTube'd fights is that they were made by the players themselves, not so much for documenting every detail of the event, but for marking the occasion. Bragging rights? Of course. And if you get some of the voicechatter as part of the soundtrack, then all the better. You might scoff at the low quality of the YouTube offerings, but isn't that a bit disingenuous? YouTube is proletariat by design.

Now, when the day comes that high-level content changes from day to day, when one-of-a-kind events are a weekly occurance, then I can see the justification for a kind of MMO SportsCenter, to let us all know what we missed in the Wide Wide (Random) World of Warcraft.

Until then, "professional" video accounts are nothing more than high-quality walk-throughs.
 
Dammit. That's a really good idea, and one I've been meaning to get around to for ages.

Yep, it's nothing more than a high-quality walkthrough. However, since virtually every other WoW instance walkthrough is decidedly low-quality, that's quite enough for anyone who wants details on an instance. Go them.
 
I go to warcraftmovies.com alot. Their ratings help to keep you from the awful stuff like you find on youtubt.

watched the vid, the girl saying "phat loot, phat xp, phat reputation" was soooo corny & geeky, ruined the show lol.

I think they would do better working on things current players are interested in. Their instance guide is about 6 months behind. They should do early content like that and then something much more recent to cover new poeple and long time players.
 
Did she say do the instance form lv 56-62? Don't you have to be 58 to enter the outlands? Noobs lol
 
The concept is a good one, but for it to be accepted by WoW players and non-players, it needs better hosts.

I agree with the others' comments.

Get 2 people with character, humor and who don't use terms like phat loot, and you may be getting somewhere with this.

Additionally though I liked the game playing in the background. It wouldn't be that much harder to synchronize what is being displayed with what is being discussed.

Lastly, trivial information should not be discussed. The "show" should focus on specific topics. Showing a map of an area and circling or otherwise marking the destination would be better/more-informational than watching an in-game player travel there.

For concept I give this 4/5 stars.
For content I give this 2/5 stars.
For execution I give it 2/5 stars.
 
to the "58 to enter outlands" guy:
You can go to outlands at first level, you cannot pass through the Dark Portal until 58.
learn to summon/portal noob.

Ramparts will let 55th level toons in, if you have a 70 Bare Tank or Arms Warrior, this will be cake and some very fast leveling pre-60.

I thought the girl rocked. People say "phat loot" in WoW. The host guy is the only one that needs to be replaced.

As a final remark:
Grape Cake.
 
I can't wait to talk about higher level content! We're working on Karazhan and Gruul episodes now.

Marc and I say some dorky things and make ourselves laugh. A lot of it is poking fun at the gamer culture and verbiage. It's tongue-in-cheek, for sure! And since we're part of that culture, it's rather self-referential.

I appreciate the comments I've seen here, good and bad. I'll try to work some things into the show and some things out. Meantime, it's all about having fun playing -- and talking about -- the game we love.
 
Go me! Now I got TV stars commenting on my blog. :)
 
to arwen:

really really nice job!!! I enjoied it very much! keep it up!!

I cant wait to see more instances described!!

cheers
 
@ Arwen:

really nice first try. This looks like an initial step and clearly there is a lot of room to do more.

Heroics, raid content, PvP etc. all things you might want to include in future programming.

Good work so far. :)
 
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