World of Warcraft (WoW) is an early 21st century video game of Earth origin, known throughout the Federation as an extremely addicting, gear-centric game. This game's name, when translated from tlhIngan Hol or Romulan to English, became World of Warcrack. (RIS Bouteina)
RIS Bouteina[]
Annika Hansen was given a set of Federation treats, along with the other people in her cloning creche, so their transition to their mission can be eased. However, due to a nanite infestation, the program that was scheduled to be the final battle of Magisters' Terrace has been damaged and the repairers modified the program somewhat. Instead of having the final boss (Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider) fight the party in Magisters' Terrace, they fight him in the Senate Hall. Also, characters who fight Praetor Kael had access to weapons and abilities their classes could not normally wield in the canonical game: Mages could wield spears and healers could steal items from enemies. The program itself was acquired from a captured pirate ship operating near the Neutral Zone.
Also, after her tour of duty in the IRW Letant, she could enjoy a holosuite treat with a criminal scheduled for execution, alongside the other people in her "firing squad". The program turned out to be a re-enactment of the final battle of the famous South Park episode Make Love, not Warcraft. It was presumed that, by 2375, the Klingons got a hold of World of Warcraft-based holodeck programs.
Introduction in the Romulan Empire[]
What is commonly known of how World of Warcraft was introduced in the Romulan Star Empire was that it came through Tal Shiar operatives as late as 2370. By 2373, the translation from English to Romulan was completed and the first study commissioned by the Romulan Senate took several months to complete, but it revealed that Romulans could become addicts to this drug. The original project leader, Erei'erein L'avar was arrested on malpractice charges and was forced to abandon all research.
In mid-2374, the first Romulan-language strategy guide for World of Warcraft came out. Its author, the same as the project leader of the World of Warcraft study, built her reputation almost overnight. Despite her reputation as the foremost World of Warcrack authority within the Romulan Empire, Annika Hansen was press-ganged in battle. After the Dominion War, her surname became synonymous with World of Warcraft itself in the Romulan language and was used by Romulan-speaking people who desired not to refer to WoW as a drug. Recognizing the threat WoW posed, some Tal Prai'ex officers signed the Wishblade Declaration, forcing the Senate to recognize the issue.
Contemporary World of Warcraft[]
If Annika's vision is correct, the Klingon High Council has kept a classified video filmed in the 2370s that began with World of Warcrack Volume One (translated from Klingon) being stolen from a Qo'noS computer shop. The Klingon volumes of World of Warcraft were not precisely hinted to apart from the first volume, whose subsets were known on Earth as early as 2009 (the conference in question was held four hundred years later), if only by name. The Volume One contained the core game and the expansions Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. However, Annika had the box art of all expansions of both Volume I and II as her ready room decorations, and the Romulan version of Volume Two was released in 2379. (The Departure)
One of the expansions of Volume 2 (since they were all published at once in Romulan) included a phaser, classified in-game as a gun, whose crafting required a Storm Lord Eye, a Bronze Dragon Scale and a Wildkin Claw. And it also granted players who possess a spellcaster that died at least once past level 55 to create a lich character, without racial restrictions and, like all hero classes, started at level 55 and you could only make one per server.
The moment at which Klingons have obtained access to World of Warcraft could be situated anywhere before 2294, since the Interstellar Concordium captured a Klingon ship with a few copies of World of Warcrack onboard during the First ISC War of Pacification. (RIS Bouteina: "No Child Left Untested")
However, it is uncertain that the Klingon Empire could have gotten access to World of Warcrack by capturing Federation settlements on Organia, in which case the Klingons could have obtained the game as early as 2267. So World of Warcraft was, most probably until 2267 at worst, a Federation-only game.
Also, WoW box art was declared a Federation treasure by 2385. (RIS Bouteina: "Merry Christmas")
Finally, in an effort by the Romulan Senate to sweep World of Warcraft under the carpet, it decreed in 2379 that toons could be transferred from a server to another free of charge. They have hoped that the Reunionists would use this opportunity to transfer their toons to Vulcan-operated servers. (RIS Bouteina: "Holographic Family")
At least one of these expansions in a subsequent volume allowed the characters to gain any skill, provided that the player paid the proper amount of money, in-game, to undertake the training. This feature was implemented as part of the demands of the Klingon High Council towards Blizzard Entertainment. Said feature was implemented in the last two decades of the 23rd century. As it turns out, this expansion was part of the Romulan Volume 2 and came out in 2379 in Romulan markets. (RIS Bouteina: "Limit at Minus Infinity")
While Wrath of the Lich King allowed to have armor up to Tier 10.5, Volume 2 instances allowed them to play with Tier 14.5 armor and legendary equipment, such as the Wishblade (which is Annika's primary weapon) along with other gear that are far more powerful than anything known to even Volume 1 players. Player-controlled toons could be to a level up to level 100 (perhaps even more, but it was not referred to in-game) and even have HP in the six figures. (RIS Bouteina: "Hilbert Hotel")
Elsewhere[]
The Korlivilars entered civil war in 2384 because of a crime wave due to their version of World of Warcraft being so heavily corrupt. This civil war was won by the Korlivilar Consortium Central Army but only with the intervention of the Romulan Star Empire. However, their World of Warcraft technology was different in many ways to that of the Romulan World of Warcraft technology: Korlivilar WoW allowed for unlimited levels, had a single server and (at least) partial plate armor for every class. (RIS Bouteina: "Declaration of Warcraft")
The Lyrans considered World of Warcraft as a drug, due to the addictive effects of the game. As a result, a prisoner could be arrested for being a WoW smuggler. Nevertheless, the Lyrans maintained an underground network of servers and, like the Romulan version of WoW, their characters could be transferred to the Hydran servers. Hydrans were immune to the effects of World of Warcraft as drugs. (RIS Bouteina: "Fury of the Prison Ships")
Star Trek: The Stoneship Files[]
With the Naxxramas Edict not having been repealed by 2402, pirates also smuggled World of Warcraft; the WYN Cartel even hid 47,000 copies of the first two volumes of WoW inside Taladu Station. Volume II comprised Mists of Pandaria. (Star Trek: The Stoneship Files: "Chronicles of Taladu")
Play styles by faction[]
Federation[]
The behavior of human PvP (player-vs-player) players was known to be worse than trying to get out of Montreal Highway 20 traffic jams in the 2010s. They were very arrogant towards other players, be it Human or Klingon. (RIS Bouteina: "We're All In This Together")
In the 2380s, humans dominated the Federation's WoW player bases and guilds. As for PvE, though, Vulcan (and Human to a lesser extent) players were known to be number crunchers (min-maxers) making for extremely specialized characters that were practically unable to play outside of a group, unlike Romulan players. The most mature of players on either type of content had a play style indiscernible from Romulan play. (RIS Bouteina: "Blackrock and Roll")
Klingons[]
PvE Klingons seem to be heavy on reckless tanking or physical damage-dealing. Although there was at least one instance of Klingons playing as a shaman, they were looked down by most Klingon players, even when they serve as field medics. Magic-users were at the bottom of the Klingon player chain. Klingon guilds were famed for having to "rank up" in order to be granted the right to fight in PvP. Dishonorable kills could demote players among guilds. (RIS Bouteina: "Blackrock and Roll")
Krantians[]
The Krantians seemed to consider World of Warcraft as a professional entertainment shortly after the game was introduced and, during the shooting of their latest World of Warcraft-related movie, with Romulan-contributed shots, they came to consider their own guilds as a military force in its own right. (RIS Bouteina: "Hilbert Hotel")
Lyrans[]
Lyran PvP players usually fought Romulan-controlled characters with general utility characters. They were not as reckless as Klingons or as arrogant as human players. However, little is known of Lyran PvE (player-vs-environment) playing styles because very few people would even dare play in PvE with non-Lyrans for fear of being arrested. (RIS Bouteina: "Fury of the Prison Ships")
World of Warcraft was forbidden in the Lyran Star Empire by the Naxxramas Edict. (RIS Bouteina: "New York Convention")
Romulans[]
Romulan players could be somewhat immature, arrogant, but when they were not displaying these despicable traits, they can make for good role-players, second only to Q'Naabians. Also, the Romulans tended not to rely overly on min-maxing. Also, they opened the WoW Hall of Fame on Rator III. (RIS Bouteina: "Rator III Awaits")
Hall of Fame[]
- Main article: World of Warcraft Hall of Fame
World of Warcraft was revered at many locations in the known galaxy and many exceptional players marked its long history. The Halls of Fame are as much a hall of fame as they are a museum dedicated to the game; the Romulan Hall of Fame was built as part of the real estate projects of Taev Radaik's siblings. (RIS Bouteina: "Rator III Awaits")
Trivia[]
- The first person to "beat" World of Warcraft pre-Federation was a Taiwanese player. (RIS Bouteina: "Fury of the Prison Ships")
RIS Bouteina[]
- The Romulan Star Navy won a battle against a Dominion battlecruiser wing using a computer virus built around World of Warcrack. Annika Hansen's contribution to the ploy granted her a promotion to centurion.
- Annika Hansen has executed a convict during her cadet cruise, using a holodeck program that made her fight the boss of the Tower of Ilgalar
- The name World of Warcrack had been coined many years before the Federation was founded.
- The World of Warcraft on real-world shelves was referred to as the Federation Edition in the main plot.
- Leeroy Jenkins rammed the enemy flagship in Operation Telenoes with the USS Vortex, a move seen as reckless as the move made by her 21st century counterpart. However, unlike her 21st century counterpart, her move actually allowed her wingmen to survive.
External links[]
- World of Warcraft article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- World of Warcraft wiki