General WOW questions

[Dumbledork]

I got some questions once again.

1) Is WOW a continuation from previous Warcraft games or is it an alternate story.

2) Do you know one or more webpages where I can read the complete history of Azeroth and its races? It's quite difficult to get the big picture through the game when with each character I only get a little information about the world and its history as a whole.

 

[Scico-Jin]

In response:

1) Yes World of Warcraft is a continuation the Warcraft storyline. Four years after the end of the Third war.

2) I do not know of any sites with a comprehensive History Of Warcraft. I played the previous RTS games so that is how I know a good amount of the history. If you want a basic run-down of what I know, feel free to ask.

 

[Solarman]

WoWWiki has extensive articles about the lore and history of the Warcraft world.

 

[Dumbledork]

I'll have to check it out. I have some ideas for a Ranma/WOW crossover, but I need extensive knowledge about the world and its history.

 

[verath]

Heres something that might help.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/index.xml

 

[Thardoc]

First Question: Yes.

Second Question: WoWwiki has a lot of good stuff, you can read some of the books. But some of the older lore, [SPOILER for WOTLK!!!!! skip that one sentence if you dont want to see spoilers] has been changed to suit World of Warcraft. Just be aware that the lore is subject to change because of the dynamics of MMO's.















[SPOILER!!!!}
like Muradin Bronzebeard being apparently alive instead of dead as shown in Warcraft III,

 

[shade89]

yah I got into a huge argument with a friend over that

 

[MnemoD]

In regards to 1: The fact that it's an MMO skews the timeline itself. You could consider that is OUTSIDE the timeline in some instances, wheras in others it is complete canon.

AKA: Don't rely too heavily on it.

 

[Serxeid]

Generally speaking, what they say in WoW takes precedence over the RTS games. Blizzard loves to retcon stuff.

That said, I adore the Caverns of Time instances, 'cause they're a giant pile of lore references, like seeing Kel'thuzad walking around Southshore. XDDD

 

[Kayeich]

Yeah, as an MMO, lore present there has to be taken with a grain of salt. If it refers to an event far in the past, you can generally assume that's the canon event, even if it retcons something from a previous game. If it's something 'real time', aka a repeatable quests, well, it's perfectly subject to change as they add new content.

This is because they do update the game with little things based on new content being released, either in the game or other sources. Example, the King of Stormwind's ongoing story in the comic books. Used to be a time that he could be found in the game, but as far as I know, that's no longer the case, and a different NPC can be found in his former spot.

As the comic book progresses, I imagine we'll be seeing some more changes in regards to that story's event affecting things in WoW.

 

[Dumbledork]

Do any of you use the QuestHelper add on?

I just launched WOWMatrix to check for updates and apparently there's a new version of QuestHelper. But when I try to install it I get the message that theQuestHelper webpage is down. Do any of you have the same problem?

 

[Kayeich]

I use LightHeaded/TomTom for quests/coordinates so can't help you out, Dumble

 

[Serxeid]

All Questhelper does is take the data from Lightheaded to determine what's the fastest way to get all your quests done, and create an arrow on your screen telling you where you need to go for your next quest.

That said, yes, I use it, but I haven't bothered to update QH in quite some time, so I'm not sure what the problem is Dumbledork.

 

[Dumbledork]

All Questhelper does is take the data from Lightheaded to determine what's the fastest way to get all your quests done, and create an arrow on your screen telling you where you need to go for your next quest.

That said, yes, I use it, but I haven't bothered to update QH in quite some time, so I'm not sure what the problem is Dumbledork.

Oh? I didn't know that. But I have all spots where I have to go shown on the map with little icons. So, should I install LightHeaded?

 

[Serxeid]

It all depends on your personal addon setup. I'm running Lightheaded, Doublewide, Questhelper, TomTom and Cartographer. I tried Tourguide, but didn't care for it. Exactly what quest-related addons are you using?

 

[Dumbledork]

Does anyone know if the load screens exist as wallpapers?

 

[TheEcchiSessha]

Does anyone know if the load screens exist as wallpapers?

I believe they can be found on the World of Warcraft website. I'm not sure though, I'm a bit wasted from painkillers too of much help.

~TheEcchiSessha

 

[Dubrichius]

Does anyone know if the load screens exist as wallpapers?

A quick check of the WoW website leads me to believe that they don't; but it shouldn't be too hard to acquire, just hit Print Screen on your keyboard the next time you play the game when the load screen you want appears, then save it to any image manipulation software you have on your computer.

 

[Dumbledork]

Does anyone know if the load screens exist as wallpapers?

A quick check of the WoW website leads me to believe that they don't; but it shouldn't be too hard to acquire, just hit Print Screen on your keyboard the next time you play the game when the load screen you want appears, then save it to any image manipulation software you have on your computer.

That would be a possibility, but I don't want the loading bar and the tips on the wallpapers.

 

[refused]

2) Do you know one or more webpages where I can read the complete history of Azeroth and its races? It's quite difficult to get the big picture through the game when with each character I only get a little information about the world and its history as a whole.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/index.html#history

Wowwiki, as someone mentioned, has more in-depth info as well as a lot of 'minor' stuff that's missing from there, but that's the "official" story, anyway. It is, unless they changed it from when I read it many years ago, a collection of all those snippets you can find around the world of warcraft - like the open tomes around in Scarlet Monastery, etc.

My tip would be to read the link, and when something catches your eyes, look it up on wowwiki for more in-depth articles.

 

[Dubrichius]

Does anyone know if the load screens exist as wallpapers?

A quick check of the WoW website leads me to believe that they don't; but it shouldn't be too hard to acquire, just hit Print Screen on your keyboard the next time you play the game when the load screen you want appears, then save it to any image manipulation software you have on your computer.

That would be a possibility, but I don't want the loading bar and the tips on the wallpapers.

That's why I suggested the use of image manipulation software, rather than just MS Paint, because you should be able to perform a bit of Shoop Da Whoop-ing to remove both the loading bar and the tips.

 

[Dumbledork]

Never used software like that but I can try. Oh, btw, what's your avatar's picture from? I'm pretty sure I know the guy from somewhere but I can't remember where from.

 

[Dubrichius]

Never used software like that but I can try. Oh, btw, what's your avatar's picture from? I'm pretty sure I know the guy from somewhere but I can't remember where from.

He's Phil Ken Sebben, head of the Sebben & Sebben law firm in the cartoon series Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

 

[SimmyC]

Well, until I reactivate/update my add-ons, right now I'm addon free. :sweat:

A word of warning to those using Quest Helper. I had Quest Helper, and it was awesome while it worked.

Then recently, there was a massive memory leak due to a problem with Quest Helper. Apparently the cache doesn't clear, and when I started playing WoW one day, I literally could not play it because the memory usage skyrocketed. Now like I said in another thread, my computer's main limitation while playing WoW is memory. However, 'normal' play I could go on for hours without the screen getting glitchy. With Quest Helper's problem, I couldn't get 1 minute of play even after a restart. The game would freeze, and if I wait for it to crash, could be 20-30 minutes later.

After it gave me the reason for the crash, I checked online to pinpoint Quest Helper as the source. This made me get rid of it, and replace it with TomTom and Lightheaded (also currently disabled. ).

Besides, from what I know, Quest Helper is no longer supported. So once Wrath comes out, Quest Helper won't be any use besides leveling alts.

 

[Dumbledork]

Questhelper gets updated all the times. There's a new version every day. And I have no problems with it.