Know Your Rogue Lore: Andello Porter

I am sure some of you are wondering why would we look at an individual WAY back in the OLD world? Hang in there with me and I think you will be surprised. Andello Porter is an unique SI:7 agent in that he is friendly both to the Alliance AND the Horde. Originally he was located along the bank of the stream just outside of  Tabetha's Farm in Duskwallow Marsh, but apparently she felt sorry for him and built him a dock after the goblins moved in over at Mudsprocket in Patch 2.3.  Many believe his supposed "friendliness" towards Horde is nothing more than a ruse, it also may have something to do with his location. Tabetha, while being human, is a neutral quest giver for both Horde and Alliance players. I am sure having someone picking a fight just outside her door step would annoy her greatly.

Andello's job is to closely monitor what all is going on in the volatile region of Duskwallow Marsh, especially in regards to the Horde. His location near the home of a powerful mage gives him quick access to Stormwind in order report at a moments notice. He is the ending point for an easy to miss drop quest off of Apothecary Cylla at the nearby Direhorn Post. What makes this quest note worthy is that Andello doesn't really know what all he has discovered.  The Horde version, which takes the letter to Nazeer Bloodpike hints for the first time that all may not be as unified amongst members of the Horde factions, especially in regards to the Forsaken as many had believed. This will reach its dramatic conclusion in Dragonblight.

As to the outfit Andello is wearing I have not had much luck in discovering its pieces other than it appears to be identical in make up to that of his colleague stationed at Chillwind Camp in the Western Plaguelands Flint Shadowmore.

Rep: The Frostborn

If you are Alliance and have NOT done any of the quests in The Storm Peaks for this faction you have missed out on some of the BEST lore related quests in the game. While some are taken completely by surprise at its revelations, others may have caught the foreshadowing of its conclusion from a quest chain back in Dragonblight and like me have been anxiously anticipating it. With the release of Icecrown Citadel the "secret" is out. Muradin Bronzebeard, the second of the Bronzebeard brothers, weapons instructor and friend to Prince Arthas, is alive and wanting to clean up the mess he inadvertently created when he told his young companion about the legendary sword Frostmoure.

The Frostborn are a special race of dwarves discovered by Muradin shortly after his and Arthas' encounter with Frostmoure. Unlike the "Flesh" Dwarves who completely succumbed to the curse of the flesh, their stone "froze" locking them into the state they are presently in. They were exiled and while they continue to be aware of the Titans and revere them, they no longer serve them like the Earthen. This made them vulnerable to the battle that was going on between Yogg-Saron and the Titan Guardians.

When Alliance Players first encounter them in Storm Peaks that is exactly what is going on. The Frostborn are pinned in by the Iron Dwarves, a product of the Mecognomes and servants of Yogg-Saron. The Explorer's League has discovered the Frostborn and manged to gain their assistance in furthering their research by OFFERING assistance in protecting and defending the Frostborn. There are only Fifteen quests for this faction, only one of them is a repeatable daily. So before patch 3.3 gaining exalted with this faction took a LONG time. Now it is only a matter of running level 80 dungeons with out wearing a faction rewarding tabard.

Don't skip the quest chains though, as I mentioned they are rich in lore and some of them are the most enjoyable ones I have encountered in the game. My favorite of all time is The Brothers Bronzebeard in which you fly out off the Engine of the Makers on the Wing of Brann's Flying Machine and fight off Iron Dwarves. The ending of this quest is of course the very best part and had me jumping up and down yelling "I was right! I was right!" Just be careful to follow Brann closely so that you get credit.

The Hour of our Discontent

If you have played World of Warcraft for any length of time you may have noticed there are cycles. An ebb and flow if you will to individuals reaction to the game. We are now at the point I call the Ebb. Conversations abound about how "Bored" individuals are with the game, how it is not longer "filling the need", long dissertations are given on all that is WRONG or "broken", hope expressed that PERHAPS the NEXT expansion will FIX it all so all eyes now focus on THAT.

When this starts to happen attendance begins to drop off. Individuals begin to come up with other ways to spend their time. Once vibrant guilds can find themselves struggling for survival or in places they have not seen in months like pugging to fill spots or canceling raids all together. Those that DO stick around and continue to participate can come to resent those that only show up for the progression runs and then disappear. The feeling  they are being taking advantage of by those who no longer participate in the larger scope of the game or show little desire to build comradarie, spewing forth in snide comments or cold shoulders.

So what can you as a guild leader do about it? Well first you need to realize that while you can provide opportunities you can NOT force people to participate or do as you wish. (No matter how much you want to.) Second you need to listen to the people that are STILL there. Find out what THEY are looking for and what keeps them coming back. Third, focus on the POSITIVES not the NEGATIVES. (For some of you the rest of this post may seem like a Pollyanna outlook but after almost four years of guild leading it has worked so far.)

One of the things I appreciate most about my guild is that chat is a POSITIVE place. Even when people are complaining about the "bad pug" they are in SOMEONE will help them turn in around and refocus it or try to brighten the moment. We have had some petitioners complain about our "rated E" language but you know what? You can still have a TON of fun without getting into language that small children shouldn't be reading over your shoulder, let alone be able to understand.

So right now we are facing these things I mentioned. We had to cancel our Dragon run due to not enough people showing up and last night for 25 ToC we had to pug as well as off spec in order to fill the roster. This means that rather than using our loot system and gearing up guild members we are free rolling. Tonight we have ICC and last I looked we were still short even for that. So we talked amongst those who WERE there and asked what were some things THEY wanted to do.

Big thing that came up was several of them hated the fact that we had never finished Ulduar. When ToC came out Ulduar kinda got pushed to the way side because it was just SO much easier and the gear was better. So that is what we are looking at next week. Finishing up Ulduar, getting some achievements done maybe even getting our healing lead her mace.

We also discussed how burned out we all were on the Looking for Group system so it was declared that now, when you log on ask in Guild Chat FIRST and try to get a random together before you automatically que up. Last night we had three random groups going after ToC and EVERYONE was enjoying it again.

While some people are not motivated by achievements, others DO enjoy getting them so that is another thing we have been doing. Encouraging people to set up runs to just farm achievements. We did that last week so that several of us could FINALLY finish up our Glory of the Hero and walk away with our Red Protodrake. Those that know how to do the achievements are now happily lending our expertise to those who are attempting to get it.

The final thing we are doing is preparing for our four year anniversary in March. We have a big event planned which we hope will encourage a lot to participate even if only for that night. It is like nothing we have ever done before and I think it will be a blast!


Times of transition, those times of waiting for the NEXT big change can bring out the worst. The hording or whining, the griping, it is easy to see all the FLAWS in the game when we have been playing it so long and can compare it to new toys that are out there to grab our attention. Try first to change your OWN perspective and look at what it was that FIRST got you excited about the game. I STILL remember the jaw dropping feeling I got when I came over that hill in Storms Peaks and saw Ulduar for the first time. Learning that the Argent Tournament was originally suppose to be taking place in Crystal Song Forest but was moved to Ice Crown as a result of to much strain in one area with Dalaran over head made me reconsider my complaints about Dalaran Lag. (Could you IMAGINE what it COULD have been like? *Shutters*)

Yes, World of Warcraft is showing its age, no denying it. Yes, I am excited to see what is in store with the next expansion, but that is still months off and I have YET to finish things in THIS expansion, heck I still have Sunwell sitting there mocking me. It really is not a case of there NOT being things to do, it is a case of are they things you are INTERESTED in doing or not? If you take just a LITTLE bit of time you can find OTHERS that share those interests and want to do them to. Start in your guild and work from there.

Know Your Rogue Lore: Agent Skully

I couldn't write about the Hand of Vengeance on Tuesday and NOT write about one of my favorite members of it today, Agent Skully. (Yes, obvious pop culture reference to Gillian Anderson's character Agent Dana Scully of the X-files.)

While Agent Skully appears human she is in actuality a Forsaken disguised to appear as a member of the Scarlet Onslaught due to the use of a Magic Mirror. Her mission is to discover the Scarlet Onslaught's strange immunity to the New Plague as well as any other plans they may have which could hinder the Hand of Vengeance in their goals. Her exact position is as the Onslaught's Cemetery Caretaker which allows her to hang out behind the chapel and closely examine any of the recently deceased.

For Horde players she has four quests which give you the opportunity to assist her in uncovering just what is going on with the Scarlet Onslaught and the strange new "blessing" they are being provided by their "Bishop". The first quest Without a Prayer sends you after the Bishop's prayer book. (What is interesting about this is for Rogues for the first time in a VERY long time you can actually Pick Pocket the item off the Bishop.) The Perfect Dissemblance allows you to also play with the mirror for a short time. (Druids have a hard time with this quest as they often forget to shift out of form first causing the mirror to fail.) A Fall from Grace tends to take players by surprise (I won't spoil the punch line for you) but I do like Skully's line when you report to her following it. The Truth Will Out is Skully's final quest for players. (Another X-files reference) Take the time to read the General's Diary if you would like a more complete understanding of what is going on.

Some of you might be wondering if Skully is at New Hearthglen, where is Molder? Well don't fret, her old partner is not far off. Deathguard Molder can be found at Venmonspite. What is truly scary is that they actually changed his model so he looks MORE like David Duchovny.

Rep: Hand of Vengence

Ah, the Hand of Vengeance, supposedly this is Lady Sylvanas contribution to the war effort in Northrend. On paper they are an equal part of the Horde Expedition working together towards the ultimate defeat of  their former master, Arthas, or The Lich King. However all is not as it seems amongst the Hand of Vengeance. The military members are in no way focused on assisting the rest of the Horde forces, rather their single task is to assist the Royal Apothecary Society members scattered about their various bases of operations in producing and distributing  The New Plague. The presence of the Deathstalkers further demonstrates this.

As a result of the Hand of Vengeance's single focus they are not very prevalent in Northrend. Specific quests for this faction can only be located in two places Howling Fjord and Dragonblight, (A total of only 53 in all.) Howling Fjord has the largest portion with its four quest hubs, Vengeance Landing, New Agamand, Ghostblade and The Apothecary Camp. In Dragonblight their focus is solely in Venomspite even though the final result will be seen at Kor'korn Vanguard, or more correctly at the Wrathgate just below it.

The discerning player will soon pick up on the undercurrents as quest after quest you assist in "perfecting" the New Plague and Royal Apothecary members work at adapting it to the Northrend environment. Failure is NOT an option for this faction as their policy of  no mercy for the captured clearly demonstrates.

Before patch 3.3 getting to exalted with this faction was an impossibility. There were NO repeatable quests available and few quests outside of the two aforementioned zones that offered spill over reputation for them. With patch 3.3 however Horde players can now earn reputation with the Hand of Vengeance both by running level 80 dungeons while not wearing a reputation granting tabard or by doing the daily quests offered at the Argent Tournament in Icecrown at Champion level. This simple change has made all the difference.

Know Your Rogue Lore: Linzi Redgrin

Our diminutive topic of today's Know Your Rogue Lore is another member of the infamous Player NPC gang of Dalaran. Named after the euphemism for a slit throat, Linzi Redgrin seems to enjoy spending her days stalking Horde players.

She wanders the streets and shops but seldom speaks to anyone save at one of her two favorite hang outs. The first is the Ledgierdemain Lodge, where she can be seen speaking to the inn keeper and setting up her  hearth stone. Her second most popular location is The Bank of Dalaran, or as players more commonly refer to it  "The Horde Bank". There she often will visit the guild bank vault before logging out. We can only hope it is to make a deposit and not to ninja it clean.

Dressed in Merciless Gladiator's Vestments Linzi makes no apology that the death of Horde is something she strives for. Despite this she is IMMENSELY popular with players who often follow her around commenting on how "cute" she is. (Much to her GREAT disgust as with Dalaran's armistice she can not respond directly.)  She is also known to show up in multiple locations as once, so don't be TOO shocked if you see her step into the Ledgierdemain Lodge only to watch her walk out of the Bank a moment later.

Don't Trust a Rogue

If you haven't seen this recently released machinima from Theandrin & Candida give it a peek, it is catchy and as soon as I figure out how it will go into my raiding mix. My youngest is running around the house singing at as we speak (which means SOMEONE at the school will be questioning my parenting skills tomorrow as he hums the tune.)

My only complaints about it are minor. Her gear SUCKS, the weapon choices ,while they make sense lyrically, are not the greatest for a "PvP" rogue and the rest of her gear (when she isn't sporting the Lovely Black Dress) is Deadly Gladiator's Vestments.  The best parts of this whole video in my opinion? The way she handles the Mage and the dancing Druids.

Hope you enjoy it!

For those that asked here are the Lyrics:

Black dress with a knife underneath
She's got the breath of her last fish feast on her teeth
And she's got pride (pride)
and she's got greed
She spends all her free time hanging out in BGs
P-P-P Poison - instant or deadly
While you're still busy casting - she's already won
T-Tauren boyfriend because you know she likes beef
Look out she wants to group again, bet she'll need a rez again

[ - Chorus -]
She wants to sap you woh-oh
she wants to stab you woh-oh
she'll never heal you woh-oh
woh-oh oh oh
Don't trust a rogue
never trust a rogue
don't trust a rogue
don't trust me

Running Naxxs, yeah she used to a lot
Now she doesn't need the loot 'cos Widow's Fury just dropped
And that lockbox that you want her to pick
Don't even go there if you're not gonna tip

V-V-V Vanish, no one know's where she's at.
Before you turn around you'll feel her knife in your back
And the best is (best is)
She's got the tricks of the trade
Fan of Knives - Adrenalin rush - yeah she's got you made

[ - Chorus - ]

[ - Zaraeus' breakdown -]
Shush girl - shut your lips
Open up my lockbox and don't ask for no tips