Review #1 - Arthas

So for my birthday, my loving boyfriend picked me up a book I've been meaning to read for quite some time now. I finally got around to finishing it up about a week ago, so while it's still fresh in my mind, I wanted to write this review first.

Off the bat, I have to warn you: I'm a HUGE fan of Christie Golden at this point. Every Warcraft book that I've read from her has been absolutely riveting and enthralling to the point where I lose sleep over extended reading periods. I have to add that while Arthas was no different in that regard, out of all her books, I think this may have been my least favorite.

Now, I'm not entirely sure this is a fair assessment. You see, there were only two problems that I had with the book. First, the entire recapping of Warcraft III was boring to me. I knew everything that was going to happen (though, arguably, as a WoW player in general, I suppose this should be true for every book to some extent). Just the same, I couldn't help feeling that I was trying to rush reading through it to find something new and interesting - and what do I get when I get to the end of where "The Frozen Throne" ends? Nothing but an Epilogue.

In fact, that brings me rather to my second beef - I could have read the prologue and epilogue and gotten everything I could have wanted out of the entire book. The information I was looking for, the bits and tidbits into Arthas' character, everything from his light to his dark side to how he interacts with Ner'zhul, all get summed up so nicely, almost too nicely, in those bits of the book that there's nearly no reason to read the rest of it.

Now, allow me to backtrack a bit to say that this isn't a bad book. I liked it. While I was reading the beginnings in particular, all the established relationships that you never really saw fleshed out in any game (such as the couple love triangles, family matters, and childhood friends) were pretty much what I was looking for - insight into a character who had such an abrupt change in Warcraft III that it was hard to understand the "why." The book instead outlays a series of events that leads Arthas to this path before he ever takes it - everything, admittedly, makes a lot more sense.

I just don't think that the recap of everything should have taken over half the book's volume while adding very little insight overall. I know that it's necessary - what if someone has never played Warcraft III? What if they've only played WoW and want to find out more about Arthas? It's totally understandable.

I think there could have been a better way to handle it - and don't get me wrong, there's a lot cut out or shortened for readability sake. But I don't think there's much excuse for a portion of the book that an individual can legitimately label as boring.

I don't like "grading" things, or having a rating system, so I think I'll end this with this: This book is worth reading, if only for the beginning and the very end. If you're into the Arthas/Jaina relationship OR Lady Sylvanas Windrunner's ascension as the Banshee Queen, then check this book out for sure - there's a lot for you here. However, if you're just looking for insight on the what-ifs for Icecrown or hints as to what's to come? Read the intro and epilogue and you can live your lore life quite happily without wasting too much time, 'cause that's all you're gonna get.

Not sure what I'll have in stock for you next week - we'll see. For now, fight the good fight. FOR THE HORDE!

Always a Long Time Coming

Hey all. I could make an excuse as to why I've been gone. But you probably won't read it anyway. So the long story short is new job, new city, new home, new guild...

Wait, what?

Yeah, all sorts of things have been happening and Eseten's starting all over again. So if you know a guild that needs a pretty decently geared Ret/Prot Paladin that raids *very* late (starts past midnight PST), let me know! I may be willing to server transfer for good progression guilds.

Good luck getting me to faction transfer though. D= NEVAR!

I'd like to start writing again soon. And it's my intent to do so - but not for a few months. I'm afraid I'm unable to explain why I have to put things on the back burner, but rest assured I have my reasons.

In the mean time, to re-spark my own and others interest in the lore of Warcraft, I'm actually going to be going through and re-reading all the Warcraft books - there's a few I haven't read (primarily the War of the Ancients series), but I'll get to them all in good time. I'd like to spark a bit of interest in everything again, maybe do some compares and contrasts between lore then and lore now - especially with the advents of the Icecrown Citadel raid and Cataclysm encroaching ever closer.

So sit back - I'll have something new to say every Wednesday Morning. I look forward to reacquainting myself with everyone again.

-Eseten-

Late Announcement!

Greetings all!

I'm a lot less organized as of late as far as the blog goes, but a few bits of news:

I will be at Blizzcon this week. I will be very easy to find. Look for "Floating Green Text." If you won't be there, watch the live feed for me. I'll be sure to try to wave at a few cameras. ;)

I have a twitter! This was created for the sole purpose of following the new Blizzard Twitter accounts (though honestly I could care less about Starcraft myself). I'll be trying to tweet at the con, but I guarantee nothing.

My guild has once again disbanded. I am now the leader of a new guild on Gurubashi called . If you're level 80, Horde, and LFG on Gurubashi, send me an in-game tell - we're doing 10 and 25m Ulduar and plan on doing the new Trial stuff as soon as we get a good core group. Website and such will be up in about a week or so, after the Blizzcon festivities have worn me out.

Thanks everyone who visits, and I hope to start updating and being community-oriented again as soon as I get things a bit settled down!

Where'd it go?

Greetings one and all,

I'm sure you have been wondering why I have not (once again) been updating. Among the usual suspects of life changing developments, a primary cause is also the rules of the Writing Contest that I did not read closely enough. You may have noticed I took down my short story - I had to per the rules of the contest. I don't even know whether or not I was judged on my writing; I may submit an inquiry later this week just out of curiosity.

I'm not bitter about the situation, at least not with Blizzard. I am, however, very upset with myself for failing to read the terms I agreed to closely enough. I have essentially forfeited the character Keeves and any related material to Blizzard, and the short story I wrote, beyond those of you who got to read it before I had to take it down, will likely never be seen again. There is truly nothing more painful to a writer than to create something you are so very proud of and know that it was for absolutely nothing.

The rules of the contest say that the character now belongs to Blizzard in its entirety, and should I wish to do something more with that character (for instance, continue the novelization of the original story I had begun writing as a screenplay), I would need to ask express permission. However, I do not believe this is any different from writing any other story with borrowed Blizzard characters. How is using Keeves in my story any different from using Thrall or Sylvanas? I now no longer own any of those characters, so as long as I claim no property over them (as I never have with any of the Blizzard owned content), I should, in theory, be able to continue my tale.

I'll be writing up a proper disclaimer to add to my fiction from now on, to claim no ownership over the Blizzard intellectual property and to passively ask express permission to use such characters in a story that is not for profit. If there happen to be any lawyers out there who read my blog (or perhaps Blizzard employees that poke around once in a while and find some interest in this particular topic), please contact me at esetenthepaladin@gmail.com . I wish only to continue enjoying my love of Blizzard games and lore through my creative writing, and to share the stories that unfold with others who might find my blatherings of interest.

Thank you faithful readers, as always, for sticking with me through the quiet times. I promise to have something of merit up as soon as I feel it is safe for me to submit something else to the vast expanses of the interwebs.

Self vs. Whole - What WoW Means to Me

Edit: Now that the poll is complete, I'm editing in the results and posting the next one.

Question: Who are you for?
FOR THE HORDE! (4 votes, 33%)
FOR THE ALLIANCE! (3 votes, 25%)
Can't I stay on the fence like Thrall & Jaina? (5 votes, 41%)
Neither! DEATH TO ALL! FOR THE SCOURGE! (0 votes, 0%)

Good to know there's no active traitors in the midst. D= But really, what's with all you peace mongers? Don't you know this is World of WARcraft? ;)

I was originally going to post the next segment of my story here - and in novella form, as that seems to be the general consensus. However, I couldn't find the time to convert my script to story form, and another topic's been clawing at my mind lately, so I thought I'd share.

I'm always surprised with what people do and don't know about me. I generally try to keep my personal life separate from my forum life, and only the guildmates that I talk to on a regular basis know the kinds of things that really go on with me. But to put this topic in full perspective, I have to share a few things about who the person really is behind Eseten.

Eseten is played by a, at the time of this writing, 22 year old female who lives in Hollywood. I graduated college about a year ago, and decided to pursue my then-dream of being a voice actor by moving out here from the midwest. I made some progress, but ultimately decided that my passions did not lie in being an actor of any sort. The only things that thrill me these days are writing and, well, raiding. I play WoW as much as I do because there is little else I do with my life at the moment. I more or less lost my job a few weeks ago, my hours scaled down to such a miniscule amount that I cannot afford to live off of it. I have been spending nearly every day of the last two weeks searching for interviews, revising my resumes, doing everything I can to find something to put food on the table.

I live in a hell hole. My apartment is disgusting - I rent a room from a somewhat dubious middle aged man who works as a paparazzi. The rent is cheap and I really only have to share the shower, but when you feel arguably dirtier from using it than when you stepped in... well, there's something wrong. I would never dream of cooking in that kitchen, as whatever grossness is lurking in there would probably kill me. So I stay holed up in a 13x13 foot room in the dim glow of my computer, just trying to lose myself in the virtual world I know and love.

I have lived here for one year, almost to the day now, and in all that time, I have remained mostly alone. While I have some distant relatives in the area, I'm somewhat of the black sheep. I don't really get along with anyone, and I'm not terribly sociable. I've made few friends - in fact, of the ones I've made, the only ones I've really kept in touch with I actually know because of WoW. I rather fit the "socially awkward" stereotype of most WoW players. All I'm missing is the stack of Hot Pockets boxes, uncontrollable acne, and about 200 lbs worth of weight.

The summary of my sob story is that I'm essentially a single, lonely female with little to no social life, no job, and a lot of things that should really only depress me. But instead, I tend to make silly forum posts, write creatively, and, above all, play WoW in as helpful a way as possible. That is, I'm the schmuck who goes and fishes for the Fish Feasts we plop down every boss pull. I'm the sickeningly sweet weirdo who says, "Guys, that may have been a wipe, but we're progressing! Keep it up!" I'm the nerd who finishes the Noblegarden event early, then starts setting out spare eggs for others for no reason than to know I made someone's day.

Lately, I've had some issues with my guild. We have had poor attendence, and this week was particularly bad (due to one unforeseen sickness and a previously planned vacation that just happened to be ill-timed). However, due to a lack of communication, this has projected poorly on the organizers of our raids, and our morale has been low. There's a lot of upset people, and I worry that our attendence is only going to drop further. It's difficult to recruit new, good, geared people when you have no evidence to show them that being part of your guild is worth it.

It doesn't matter if certain, logical decisions were made - unless those kinds of things are explained to the rest of the guild, they won't know any better and will only be led to believe the situation is getting worse. When people make assumptions, that's when things go downhill. And there's been a whole lot of assuming going around.

It makes me sad, for more than one reason. One, because I love this game, and this guild. There's a lot of really awesome people in it that I have fun raiding with. There are people who make me smile and laugh, people I've had the honor of hanging out in person with, people that I consider not just my guildmates, but my friends. Two, it's because... well, this is kind of all I have. It may be sad in one way, but in another, it gives me hope.

WoW means a lot to me. I can't afford to go out and meet new people. I can't afford to pay the gas to go to the local game store every weekend and hang out and spend money. So I spend fifteen bucks a month to have access to 13 million other players who often share my enthusiasm and my interests. I personally think that's a pretty good investment, or at least a good bang for my buck. So when things go sour, and I watch 10-14 people sit around and be left in the dust due to unfortunate circumstances and misunderstandings... My heart actually hurts. It aches because it's not fair. Maybe I'm just still naive, but I feel like something can be done, and if no one else is going to do it, I'll do it myself.

I want everyone to have fun. I want us to be together as a guild. I want us to grow as a guild. I want us to progress as a guild. I want the best for the people who I consider friends. I often shoot myself in the foot, putting others before what I want or need. I know it's not the best quality to have because, more often than not, I suffer more than anything else. But I've always been that way, and really, at this point, even if I wanted to change, I don't think I could. Not fully, anyhow.

Just the same... if people don't share my sentiments, I can't stand by and let myself waste away. To use a cliche, there is no "I" in team - and there's really two meanings to that. While a single person can't outshine the rest to stand on their own, it also means you can't wait for a single person to pull everyone along. I can give, and give, and give some more... but if others aren't willing to use what I give to its full potential, then it's really all a waste of everyone's time.

I don't think of myself as the end-all-be-all anything. I'm good at DPS, I used to be a very good tank... And I'm more than willing to admit I'm terribly rusty (or perhaps just re-learning everything after the entire mechanics of my class have changed and I now have easily twice as many, if not more, buttons to push). The only things I am confident in saying about myself is that I care about the guild and that I work hard to improve myself whenever I can. Tonight, I unbound my A and D keys, because I know I'll be a better player in the end by doing so. I tried to PuG some 25 man heroics to get better tank gear, because I know there's a need for it. I want to make myself available to others, and I want to be good at my hobby. I want to be known as one of the best guilds on the server, and I want to show people that I rock at this - that I love it and work hard at it.

It might be silly to everyone else. But to me, well, I guess it's a way to keep me going. I might not have a job, and I might not have a boyfriend or even a group to go out drinking with. But I have a guild full of pretty cool people that I care about very much. I have fun when I'm with them... and I want to make sure they have fun too.

P.S. Rabble Rabble Rabble. This is now an official rant. /salute Dim