Blind

In June of 2008 a landmark Machinima was released. The Craft of War: Blind. Percula created waves with both his artistry and new techniques. While some questioned his music choice, the pacing and balance of his piece has earned it a place right up there with classics like Big Blue Dress, and the Tales of the Past series. 

The plot of the piece was fairly simple. A blood elf rogue is sent into Stormwind to take out Lady Prestor. Her presence in the city is detected by the City guard and they alert a member of SI:7 who works to stop her.

There were SEVERAL things I LOVED about this movie. First of all I ADORED that the stars for ONCE were NOT Undead. It seems that just about EVERY Machinima done dealing with rogues features the undead. Nothing against them but there ARE more than JUST Undead rogues out there. The main character is MORE than capable, she is deadly, attractive and focused on her goal. As a TRUE assassin should be. I have always liked the blood elf rogue movement animations as I feel they most TRULY reflect how you would desire to move in real life.

This gets to the next thing I loved about the movie. Unlike with most others the characters handle their weapons ACCURATELY. The guards have to re load their guns, the rogues hold the weapons APPROPRIATELY in their hands not JUST facing FORWARD but BACK as well as you would in TRUE knife fighting. Yet there is STILL some fun "wire work" if you will that gives one of the fight scenes an added tension.

The fact that Percula used both IN GAME moves as well as TRUE fighting techniques in his movie gave it an ADDED punch. I tell you I SO wish I could do the flip move the main rogue uses....The screams of overpowered would be to much but MAN would it be FUN! For those Horde who saw the film and had NO CLUE who Lady Prestor WAS the mocking by Alliance for thinking her "just some warlock" who could slice  steel weapons with her bare hand was an added bonus. (Yes that is Onyxia, in disguise DUH!)

So why am I going on about a movie that came out over 10 months ago?...Well, when Craft of War: Blind first came out the IDEA was it was to be the first in a SERIES. Each episode would feature a different class. While we would have Cameos of PAST characters in each following episode. So for the past 10 months people have been waiting with baited breath for the NEXT movie. Well...it is official, there will BE no more.

update November 1, 2009

Hey everyone, I thought I'd give an update since I still get plenty of people asking about future videos. Currently I don't have any plans to continue with The Craft of War. I've been delaying letting people know this because I didn't want to disappoint. I had thought people would forget about BLIND after a while but there seems to be a steady stream of new WoW players that see the video and ask about a continuation. Why won't I continue? It has to do with me being laid off from work earlier this year. I had to focus on finding a job so I quit WoW because, I'm sure you would agree, playing WoW takes up a lot of time, lol. Since my forced break from WoW I've lost my interest in playing although I still visit the WoW blogs and am still part of the officers mailing list for my guild. Maybe I'll find something that'll motivate me to play again. :) I think I'd have to start playing again in order to be motivated to make more The Craft of War videos.

Even though I may not continue with TCoW I still plan on making more animated videos. Instead of being based on WoW I have some original concepts that I think will be totally awesome. Also, if you want to see more of my work you'll have to pick up future id Software games as I'll have a hand in their development. :) I won't mention my past work because I continue to improve. My past animations won't compare to my future stuff. Also, why should I mention games for a company that laid me off?! AM I RIGHT?!?! LOL!

Thanks,
Percula
percula.craft@live.com

So, I guess I will just have to crank up Hide and Seek (yeah I even ordered the CD from over seas so I could add the song to my WoW mix) weep a few tears but wish Percula all the best. Hopefully he will find a job soon and Cataclysm will bring him back to the game motivating him to re think this WONDERFUL series.