Warcraft and Other Hooha

The Taxidermists of Warcraft - 2008-04-27 00:56:58
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I was reading Tom Chick's blog, and he mentioned something about some changes in LOTR Online, specifically that their new patch gives them fishing. So I go to the LOTR site to read about it, and it all sounds very Warcraft like until:

"Advanced fisherman should be on the lookout for fish that can be used in Cooking recipes (yum!), as well as special fish that can be brought to the Fishing Taxidermist for mounting on plaques that can be placed in your house. What better way to demonstrate your fishing mastery than to show off your prize catches!

There are also titles to be earned though achieving certain fishing proficiency milestones, as well as fishing-related quests and deeds - but we'd like to leave the specifics of those for you to discover. Good luck out there, and don't let that big one get away!"

I have to admit, I would love a fishing title. Mainly because it would be humorous. I'm probably not going to manage to get any of the other titles in Warcraft - but a fishing title, that's one I'd not only enjoy but would actively work for, if there were such a thing. (I'm smiling just thinking of the many possible goofy titles, though of course Bass Master would be too obvious.) And not that I'd have any place to put it since we don't have in game housing - but I would indeed get a fish mounted if there were Taxidermists in Wow.

Actually I have a nomination for the First Warcraft Taxidermist:

In his spare time Akham is also an Expert Taxidermist. He just won't train you in that skill.
(Because I refuse to believe that Akham is just making leather shoes. I'm pretty sure he's responsible for "crafting" that bear next to him.)

Well, that's what I'd have him tell you if I could program what he'd say when you click on him. And then possibly have some kind of reference to Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Psycho. And whatever other pop cultural taxidermy references I could think up.

Besides, there are already taxidemists in Warcraft. How do I know? You ever notice how many stuffed heads of animals are on the walls of places all around Azeroth? Annoyingly I can't find that I've taken any screenshots of them - but I know I've noticed them!

*adds yet another item to her Screenshots To Take list*

Later...
Ok, I knew I had at least one screenshot with a mounted head in this pile, somewhere! Yes, I actually looked. And I found:

Edge of the shot, on the left - a boar's head hanging on the wall. In Karazhan. I actually had a better/closer shot of it too, but I remember I decided to delete it from the bunch I had saved to put online, as it seemed kinda dull at the time. Heh, the things you think you won't need...

Meanwhile I had my elf sit next to the skeleton in order to take a "me and a friend" shot. Instead it looks as though she's been cut off at the knees. Hmmm.

Later! (6/13/08)

Ok, because Mania has linked to me (and she rocks), and I did look around my shots a bit more - here's some more exciting taxidermy in Wow.

Noggenfogger'd gnome in Lower City bar - and lovely beast heads on the wall to the right.

Taxidermy tallstrider in Ironforge's Hall of Explorers. I've spent way too long wandering around here, reading the brass plaques on various displays. For those not wanting to click to enlarge (takes you to a Flickr page) - the plaque on the right reads: "Geru Strider. The largest of the plainstrider birds, the Geru are few in number and rarely encountered." I myself have not encountered these at all - must start lobbying for insanely huge tallstrider boss!

Silvermoon has its share of taxidermy as well - this bear and tallstrider pair can be found in the hunters' training area in Farstrider's Square.

That's another view of the tallstriders on the left there, because they're so nicely colored. On the right is one of the inns in Silvermoon - just to show that blood elves also appreciate the use of a stuffed boar's head in their decor.

And...just because...

A gnome standing in the cheese.
(See? This is why gnomes get targeted first in battlegrounds. They're always standing in the cheese like that. Very bad habit.)

3 Comments

Comments:

Taxidermy would be fun, tho we don't have anywhere to display. Dunno about the fishing titles, there might be problems with someone adept at putting worms on hooks ;) As for your Night Elf's knees, don't the Forsaken have a recipe for [Battered Elf Leg]?

Posted by Bobo & SgtPork at 1:50 PM EST on Apr 27th, '08

Taxidermy would be great, I for one would waste many hours on it :P
I think every beast should have a 1% chance to drop a BoP carcass item that can be turned into a display by a taxidermy NPC. The display should have a plaque that tells:
- the name and level of the beast
- the time and place of killing
- your level at the moment of killing
- the type of attack that killed the animal
I could see myself kiting rare mobs to weird places and have my warlock stab them to death, just to get an unusual plaque :)

Maybe something similair could be done for pvp; every time you kill someone in world pvp, they drop an ear item that has similar information as mentioned above. It would be nice to have a lasting memory to a memorable pvp victory...

Posted by Nosnam at 4:58 PM EST on Jun 16th, '08

You're right getting a pvp taxidermy aspect - I'm thinking that letting people get a victory token would totally amuse a lot of pvpers. Of course it's going to freak out those folk that don't like the weird or gorey...but, well, that IS the game after all. Not to mention the many heads of things we all end up with at one time or another while questing - actually we do need to learn taxidermy just for those moments. Not a pretty thing if the quest head in your bag goes bad - ugh.

I would totally kill things just to be able to mount them - especially if I could write my own humorous plaque. Let's just say - no cow or toad would be safe. I'd have to make a collection of level 1-5 critters.

Posted by batgrl at 6:29 PM EST on Jun 16th, '08

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