Tag Archives: Warcraft

The Saga of Maigraith

Posted on by
Reply

We all have our online aliases and secret identities. In my sci-fi forum days, most knew me as ensign edwards. These days, I use my real name for most things, but in the gaming world, I still have my alter egos, and there is one that stands above all others: Maigraith.

My rogue and her "srs" faceThe story of Maigraith begins several years ago in Elwynn Forest. It was very early in my World of Warcraft career, and while I’d settled on a mage as my main for the time being, I was still trying a lot of different classes. I’d seen my father playing a rogue, and it looked fun, so I decided to make one of my own.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick with the character, but I wanted to see Elwynn and Stormwind, so I made her a human, figuring even if I didn’t like the class I’d at least explore some interesting areas of the game.

I gave her black hair in a ponytail, figuring that she needed a hairstyle that wouldn’t obscure her vision while she cut people up. I settled on one of the few human female faces that seemed appropriate for a killer: hard and tough-seeming, with brown eyes that looked almost red.

Finally, I named her Maigraith, after a character from Ian Irvine’s Three Worlds Cycle. All my character names in games are obscure nerdy references, usually from fantasy novels, and I especially favour the Three Worlds books. Partly because I love them, and partly because they’re not super mainstream, and therefore the names are almost never taken by other players. Legolas is never available, but Maigraith always is.

As for why I settled on Maigraith herself, I’m not sure. She was one of my favourite characters, but definitely not my all time favourite, even if I’m limiting myself just to the female cast members. For instance, I liked Ulii much more.

My Norn thief in Guild Wars 2As it turned out, I liked being a rogue. I liked it quite a bit. Little did I know it then, but I would go on to spend more time playing little Maigraith than any other video game avatar before or since. She’s never quite been my focus — she always seems to fall by the wayside — but she’s the one character I never get bored of. My original main, the mage, has been collecting dust since Cataclysm, but Maigraith endures.

And that endurance has rippled out across my gaming life.

In virtually every game I’ve played, I’ve had at least one significant female avatar. Often, it’s the character I play the most. And nearly all of them have been modeled after that most venerable of Stormwind assassins: tough-looking, dark-haired women with practical hairstyles and unusual eyes.

They’re not all exactly the same. Some have white hair instead of dark hair. Not all of them are named Maigraith. But virtually every one of my female avatars has some of the DNA of the original Maigraith. The only major exception I can think of is my Shepard in Mass Effect, who was modeled after Nova Terra from the StarCraft games.

So now I’m commanding a small army of Maigraiths and Maigraith-alikes. My rogue in WoW is still kicking around. Then there’s my warlock in the same game. My thief and mesmer in Guild Wars 2. My Templar in The Secret World. My hero in DC Universe Online. My ranger and gunslinger in Aion. My archer in Rift. My oracle in Dragon’s Prophet. My agent in Star Wars: The Old Republic. My ranger, rogue, wizard, and cleric in Neverwinter. My spellslinger in WildStar. My archer in TERA. My Castithan in Defiance.

And I’m sure I’m forgetting some. That’s not even touching on single-player titles!

My ranger and her sellsword companion in NeverwinterI’m not really sure why I started on this. I think originally I just used the name Maigraith a lot because, again, cool reference and rarely taken, and eventually it made sense to me to also copy her appearance in some way.

Plus, it’s a look I like. I’ve already spent a fair bit of time musing on why I play female characters so often, but I think a lot of it just boils down to the fact I like to play agile character archetypes, and in most games, it’s a lot easier to achieve an appropriately lithe yet athletic look with a female than a male, who tend to be roided meat mountains.

I like the tough look because these are fighters and warriors, and it makes sense for them to exude a quiet strength and determination. I give them unusual eyes to hint that they are a bit different from or superior to ordinary humans — many are literally not human. In general, I design them with the idea that they are practical, capable individuals and try to make their appearances reflect that.

And to be honest, most of it just boils down to a sense of tradition. I’m very fond of patterns and habits, so once I started cloning the original Maigraith, I kept at it largely out of inertia and a fondness for the sense of history behind my self-created archetype.

I suppose some might find it odd I spend so much of my free time pretending to be a dark-haired woman with a large sword… but if I ever reach the point where that’s the weirdest thing about me, I’ll count myself lucky.

My character in DefianceBut I am comfortable with Maigraith as my face in the gaming world. She’s nothing like me, and that’s speaks well in her favour.

And if you’re wondering, it’s pronounced may-gray-ith.

Is World of Warcraft Going Buy to Play?

Posted on by
17

That’s a clickbait title, and I’m not even ashamed of it.

Official logo for World of WarcraftPatch 6.1 for World of Warcraft is approaching, and the datamining has begun. Mostly, this has turned up the sort of things one would expect from the first content patch of an expansion cycle — new daily quests, a continuation of the legendary storyline, system and class tweaks.

But one thing unusual was uncovered, and it’s received surprisingly little attention considering what big news it could be. There is now a new account type listed: veteran.

What’s really interesting is that veteran accounts currently seem to have much the same restrictions as starter edition accounts, the “free to play” accounts that only let you get to level twenty.

Why would a “veteran” account need those restrictions?

Now, here’s where I need to throw up the usual disclaimer about datamining. Blizzard has announced nothing, and it is entirely possible that these veteran accounts are just something Blizzard experimented with and that absolutely nothing will come of this. Even if veteran accounts do turn out to be a thing, they might turn out to be something completely different from what they currently appear to be.

But speculation is fun, so let’s see how far down the rabbit hole we can go.

Dance, cow, dance!The prevailing theory is that Blizzard may begin allowing some or all accounts with lapsed subscriptions to continue playing, albeit with limitations.

This is a huge change. That would essentially mean that WoW is transitioning from a subscription game to a buy to play title similar to The Secret World, albeit one with a fairly punitive business model that still requires a subscription to be played to its fullest.

That would hardly be unheard of, though. Star Wars: The Old Republic bills itself as free to play, but really you have to subscribe if you want to play the game in any serious way.

I’m not sure how I feel about this hypothetical buy to play WoW. Regular readers are by now familiar with my passionate hatred of mandatory subscriptions, but as a general rule, punitive business models where you’re crippled if you don’t pay aren’t much of an improvement.

The optimistic part of me thinks that maybe the veteran accounts have the same restrictions as starter accounts because the code was repurposed, and if and when the feature is live, they’ll have fewer limitations.

My rogue and Khadgar during the Iron Tide pre-expansion eventBut given Blizzard’s rather ruthless attitude towards monetizing WoW to date, Heroes of the Storm’s less than stellar business model, and the fact that WoW is a big enough name to get away with pretty much anything, I don’t consider that likely.

However, I can still see upsides to such a change.

The biggest problem with subscriptions is not the expense, but the fact that it makes your participation in the game an all or nothing proposition. If I’m not spending the majority of my gaming time on a title, then the expense of the subscription doesn’t feel worth it. But just because you don’t want to live in a game doesn’t mean you don’t want to play it at all.

I’m not subscribed to WoW right now. I disagree with many of the decisions made by Blizzard recently, so the expense of a new expansion and a subscription doesn’t feel worth it for me.

But I’m at the point now where I’m starting to miss the world and my characters. Not enough to shell out $70+, but enough that I would love to be able to log on for an hour or two every few days.

If I had the option to still play WoW without a sub, even with restrictions placed on me, I’d probably take it. I would love to be able to still solo raids and fiddle around with alts when the mood strikes me without feeling the need to justify the price of an expansion and a subscription.

My rogue stares down Deathwing in the Dragon Soul raid in World of WarcraftSo despite severe reservations, I find myself cautiously optimistic about the idea of a buy to play WoW… if it actually happens.

That brings us to the question of how likely this is. I find it hard to judge.

On the one hand, mandatory subscriptions are a dying breed and have been for a long time now. WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online were the last great hope of subscription fans, but WildStar is by all reports barely clinging to life, and there are already many hints of a business model change for ESO. None but the most die-hard fans think those games will keep their subscriptions much longer, and the consensus is it would be a big mistake if they did.

WoW has been hemorrhaging subscribers for a long time now. There may have been an uptake with the launch of Warlords of Draenor, but that’s not likely to last. It’s probably about time for a change in tactics.

I’ve gone on record as saying I think WoW would no longer have a mandatory subscription around the time the expansion after WoD launches. Granted, I’ll be the first to admit I pulled that time out of my behind, but the mentions of these veteran accounts are showing up around the time I expected Blizzard to start reconsidering the sub model.

And yes, datamining often does uncover odd things that never amount to anything, but Blizzard didn’t put these strings in for nothing. They are — or at least were — experimenting with new account types, and I struggle to imagine what a restricted “veteran” account could be other than a way to play without a subscription.

A cinematic of the Iron Tide invading during World of Warcraft's pre-expansion eventThe one other possibility that comes to mind is that the veteran accounts may be linked to Blizzard’s announced plans to copy EVE Online’s PLEX and allow players to purchase digital subscription tokens and the sell them in-game, allowing those rich in real world wealth to buy gold legally and the virtually wealthy to play for free. Veteran accounts may be the tag for those who pay their sub with gold.

But then why the restrictions? True, my “repurposed code” theory could explain that, too, but even then, why require a separate tag at all for such accounts? Generally the whole point of a PLEX system is to give those who pay with in-game currency the exact same status as a traditional subscriber.

And there is nothing else in the datamining related to this proposed WoW PLEX system. So the idea of veteran accounts being for those who pay their subscriptions with gold doesn’t seem very plausible.

Despite my rampant speculation, I am taking this all with a huge grain of salt, and I advise you to do the same. I would not be much surprised if the datamined veteran accounts turn out to be nothing at all, or at least something totally different from what I’m imagining.

But it does raise interesting possibilities, doesn’t it?