Reminder: Bank alt submissions due

This is a reminder that submissions for the bank alt screenshot contest are due tomorrow, Wednesday January 27th by 11:59 p.m. EST. E-mail your submissions to dawn@wow.com. This is your chance to flaunt your WoW fashion to the rest of the community, and possibly win fabulous prizes in the process. Please make sure your submissions are in a .jpg, .png, or .gif format, and if your bank alt is a higher level character, make a note in your e-mail.

Night elf mohawk: Gone!

Thank goodness! Anyone else relieved that this funky device is removed from the game? I have to admit, I wasn’t a big fan of the big head look. I’ve been “pitied” many times by random players (and even those in my own guild). Dwarves and mohawks just don’t seem to mix. In any case, Crygil has confirmed that the mohawk grenade will not be around any longer. Ever since the grenade became active on servers back in November, I couldn’t walk around Dalaran without seeing large heads everywhere. Is this the last time we’ll ever see Mr. T plant these grenades in game for players to use? Somehow, I have a hunch that this won’t be the last time we’ll see mohawks in game.

WoW Moviewatch: I Kissed An Orc

Sharm’s I Kissed An Orc was stuck in my head for days after I heard it. I admittedly spammed it on Trade channel, in Wintergrasp, and even in an Icecrown Citadel. Sharm’s outstanding voice and flair for effect parody makes I Kissed An Orc a solid, outstanding WoW song. Sharm’s musical talent is absolutely amazing. The music video was created by Millinia93. The video does good things for the song, and flows very well with the tempo and lyrics. The only real complaint is that the subtitles could have used a tad more polish, since the apostraphes could be a little distracting. (I’m used to the plural nickname for Alliance being Allies instead of Ally’s, for example.) Still, a lot of that is a stylistic choice, and Millinia’s work was ultimately impressive. I’ll close with the obvious joke that this parody is likely to become Jaina Proudmoore’s theme song.

The Classifieds: WoW player/MMA fighter on the mend

The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. In news from the WoW community, guildmates of MMA grappler Haydn Clasby, aka Croc of <Defiant Hearts>, US Bloodscalp-H, are rallying in support after he suffered a broken neck in what was called a freak accident during a match in New Zealand last month. Friends and fans are publicizing a Recovery Fund to help Croc out with the medical costs of the devastating accident. Our friend Jens “Little Evil” Pulver, also an MMA fighter and inveterate WoW player (and seen in yesterday’s 15 Minutes of Fame), offered these words of support for Croc: “My heart and thoughts go out to you, brother. Make sure you keep your spirits up and tackle this with the same grit and guts you used to get in there in the first place. Take the time to heal and get well soon. Chin down, hands up and always come out fighting; don’t let this stop you. I wish you all the best.” Best wishes, Croc, for your continued recovery! Let’s open up The Classifieds

Around Azeroth: Let us prey

Attention worshippers: your god is vastly inferior to the insect god. With eight legs, it can light fires, smite unbelievers, and deliver commandments with maximum efficiency. It also has the ability to paralyze and devour competing deities, which your run-of-the-mill supreme being lacks. All bow to the insect god! (Thanks to Krem for this Old Kingdom screenshot.) Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val’kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

All the World’s a Stage: A rose by any name

It could be considered a small, fine point, but I’ve always been a stickler about naming my characters. I’ve been known to sit around for days, repeatedly rerolling and renaming the same character until something clicks just right. I just can’t bring myself to play a character if the name doesn’t line up. For better or for worse, we only have a few basic customizable options for our character, so the name tag provides the first hints about our character to other players. If the first impression about your character is delivered by the name you’ve chosen, it becomes the most customizable aspect of your character. If you use one of the many mods that let you use a surname, then you’ll even have two names to choose from. But, for the purposes of this article, let’s just stick to the single word that everyone sees. Take a look behind the jump, and let’s discuss some tips for naming your character. 1. Avoid names that draw from overplayed concepts, like “Death,” “Rose,” or “Night.” Experienced roleplayers often groan when they see a new Death Knight waltz into the local tavern rocking out the name

Around Azeroth: The ship, the ship, the ship is on fire

Between yesterday’s submission and today’s, it seems like it’s pretty easy to have Trial of the Crusader bug out on you. Gnolie of <Eye Candy> on Executus got to the gunship battle before the massive area lag brought the server to the edge of disaster. All the NPCs on the ship disappeared, and the constant spam of Death and Decay and Consecrate caused the ship to look like it had become the victim of a surprise volcanic eruption. Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val’kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

World of WarCrafts: Sweet but not spineless

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. Admit it: You thought murlocs were spineless little critters, didn’t you? Take a peek inside our gallery, below, and you’ll see that even this sweet little fellow boasts his share of backbone — literally. World of WarCrafts visited with Bradley Barger (aka Monmanteau of US Stormreaver), one of the winners of this year’s WoW Holiday Dessert Contest, for a taste of the inspiration behind his winning creation. What we discovered beneath this little guy’s skin (a backbone of steel!) was more spine than we ever expected from a murloc. The creation is based around a metal armature, which Bradley covered with cereal-based cake and butter cream, then finished with fondant for a smooth texture. The spines are made from colored sugar, melted and cut to shape. The pond water is fashioned from a high-temperature molten sugar mixture, poured it into a frame of fondant.

Breakfast Topic: When is it too much WoW?

If you’re at all like me, and since you’re reading this site you probably are, there comes a point where you play so much WoW that you end up playing too much WoW. It’s that point where you’ve farmed 70 badges in a day and just stop all the sudden and think to yourself, “What the heck did I just do with the year the day?” And it’s at that point where you put the game down and stop playing for a bit. In my case it’s usually a couple of days, or in some more busy periods of my life it’s a couple of weeks (oddly, with my job here I find that I can’t play much during patch days, right around the time I want to jump in and run the new instances and what have you). I’m curious to know how long of a break you all take when you’ve played too much WoW, and when those breaks tend to come about. So answer away, and after a few days I’ll compile all the comments into some graphs, representing at least the portion of WoW.com visitors who responded to today’s breakfast topic. It should be interesting, even if it’s only a segment of the overall community. Have at it! When is it too much WoW?

World of WarCrafts: Holiday ornaments, cookies and more

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. It may be relatively quiet around here this week, but World of WarCrafts is still managing to keep the holiday spirit rolling. Allow us to pass along several submissions from crafty readers with a Christmas-y bent … First up, the Christmas tree ornaments (above) sent in by Faylinne from US Duskwood. Faylinne created these as a gift for Cyer of US Blade’s Edge, the friend she credits as inspiring her to play World of Warcraft. Sounds like great results from both sides of that particular equation. Join us after the break for a Horde cookie cutter and gingerbread cookies, plus a small gallery of sweets from a baker new to WoW-themed desserts. Next up, a mini-gallery of Horde holiday gingerbread cookies from Herzreh from Ysera. Herzreh fashioned an old cookie cutter into the Horde symbol to add a WoW twist to the usual tree cookies on this year’s holiday cookie tray. Nicely done!