Podcast Alert: Darkmoon Herald Ep. 13, Lock and Load

And now for something a little different.

I was on the Darkmoon Herald podcast a few weeks ago with Kevin and Apsana, and it’s finally available for download! I had a lot of fun doing this show – it’s a pity my schedule doesn’t leave me more time for recording. (Perhaps if I didn’t talk incessantly on these things, it might be easier to find time. :D)

Check it out online or on iTunes. Thank to the Darkmoon Herald crew for having me on, it was a blast!

Podcast Alert: Twisted Nether Blogcast episode 155

Oh, hey there!

I forgot to mention that I was on the Twisted Nether Blogcast about two weeks ago with the inestimable Rades from Orcish Army Knife to talk about 4.3. Fimlys and Hydra were excellent hosts (as always) and put up with my, uh, ranting about Tol Barad’s legacy. Because as Rades put it: we fought for the right to do dailies.

Like most things I do, this is a really long podcast. Rades and I like to talk, what can I say?

Hope you enjoy it!

Double-O-Cyn

Last week, I had the pleasure of recording the Double-O Podcast with Oestrus and Ophelie. I had a great time with them and totally smashed through their 1 hour normal run time. (Sorry! I like to talk! Oestrus and Ophelie are terrific hosts!)

Cyn, Lose or Draw is available for your listening pleasure over on the Double-O site. I’m going to go have a listen myself now!

Gaming Worlds Collide Blogcast

If you’re not getting enough Warlock news here, I’m appearing tonight at 6:30 EDT on the Gaming Worlds Collide blogcast to talk about the state of Warlocks in 4.0.1 with Esh and Kat.  There will be PvP talk, for sure, but I’ll also talk a bit about how ‘locks are doing in PvE.  (Short version: Warlocks are doing very well.)

You can listen via your browser at the above link, or dial in to (917) 932-1937 to listen on your phone.  (Analog technology? What is this madness?)

Sorry for the short notice on this one; I’m looking forward to talking about ‘locks – because I’m crazy, I’m leveling 3 of them, one of each spec – and hope you have a chance to listen in.  The recording will be available later if you can’t make the session tonight.

Reflections on the Twisted Nether Blogcast

Fortunately, the talkative Cyn showed up to last weeks’ Twisted Nether Blogcast. Fimlys and Nibuca were gracious enough to let me go on at some length about battlegrounds, Children’s Week, professions, blogging – and put up with my terrible jokes. I had a great time and hope they did too. I hope you enjoy listening to it either on their site, or downloaded into your podcast software of choice.

One of the challenges with recording an interview is making sure that you’re accurate while also maintaining the flow of the conversation.  I made a few outright errors that I’d like to correct now, while there are a few topics I’d like to expand further upon in later blog posts.

Yes.  I’m issuing an errata for an interview.  I’ve done stranger things.

I’ll update this post with corrections as they come to light.  It’s a long interview, so let me know if there’s something else I need to update.

Once again, thanks to Fimlys and Nibuca for having me as a guest on their show.

WINTERGRASP

I said that the Horde controls Wintergrasp 25-35% of the time on Durotan.  According to Time Until Wintergrasp (the site I mentioned I couldn’t remember), the ratio on Durotan for May 2010 was 168-93 for the Alliance, or a 36% Horde win rate.

TOL BARAD

I stated, quite confidently, that the name of the upcoming Cataclysm PvP zone Tol Barad is taken directly from Tolkien. That part I stand behind. I was completely wrong in saying that there is a specific location in Tolkien’s work named Tol Barad, specifically the island in the River Sirion in ancient Beleriand. This island is called Tol Sirion, upon which stood the original Minas Tirith. (The Minas Tirith in Gondor that appears in The Lord of the Rings is named after this Noldor fortification.)  This island was overrun by the forces of Morgoth led by Sauron (yes, that Sauron) and renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.

You can insert your own Worgen joke here, if you like.

Fimlys was quite right that Tol Brandir, the island above the great Falls of Rauros on the River Anduin in LotR, is closest in sound to Tol Barad. Barad does appear in several place names, most famously Barad-dûr, the fortress of Sauron in Mordor, but also in Barad Eithel, the fortress of Fingolfin, and Barad Nimras, the sea-watchtower of Finrod.

In my head I had conflated Tol Sirion and Barad Eithel, which are geographically close but not identical.  Sorry about that!

In Sindarin, Tol translates to “island” and Barad to “tower.” So if we attempt a translation of Tol Barad, it would be “the Island of the Tower,” “Tower Island,” or perhaps “The Fortified Isle.”

All of those are good enough names for a battleground, though Tower Island sounds a little cheesy and there’s already an Isle of Conquest. So while I find the name jarring (much like Prince Anduin) I can live with it.

It bugged me that I got this one wrong. I love Tolkien’s works and hate when I accidentally spread misinformation.