A while back, I undertook the great burden of documenting who I thought fall into the category of Top 10 Ugliest Creatures in WoW. You all seemed to enjoy it.

I’ve been hesitating to flip that coin and rate the top 10 hottest characters. Mostly because that phrase alone leaves me with the feeling that trashyness is about to ensue. But fear not, dear readers! Yes, the hotness is based mostly on appearances, but we’ll also explore a little bit of lore that goes along to emphasize “inner beauty.” Let’s try to keep this little beauty pageant of sorts classy.

And as an FYI to any of you who happened across this site and are not familiar with my writing — yes, I am a girl. And while female hotness (in my opinion) greatly outweighs male hotness in World of Warcraft, it is not on its own. Both sexes are proudly represented in this fun little list. So let’s get on to the judging!

10. Blood-Queen Lana’thel – Hers is a story of battle and tragedy fueled by the wish of revenge against the scourge who had destroyed her homeland. While still a blood elf, Lana’thel came across the powerful blade, Quel’Delar, and sought to use it to strike against the Lich King. But all who stood against the Lich King fell, and Lana’thel was no exception.

She was, however, one of those chosen to serve the Lich King in undeath. So she became blood-queen of the San’layn, and she carried out these duties in Icecrown obediently. But a part of her remembered her past life and grew maddened — perhaps even a bit insane — leading her to destroy Quel’Delar and scatter its fractured pieces far and wide.

While certainly not one of the greatest heroes of her race, Lana’thel’s complexity contributes to her beauty, even in undeath.

9. Garona Halforcen –Another beautifully complicated character, Garona herself has even been confused at times about her heritage. As a half-orc, half-dranei assassin, Garona had for much of her life believed that she was half-human. But while raised among orcs, she was not accepted as one because of her small frame and was even thought to be ugly and deformed. Thankfully, we know better.

Although Garona may have lacked respect — even self-respect — she masterfully learned to take care of herself and as a result excelled in other areas, which others sought to take advantage of. An assassin and master spy, she became emissary to Medivh and even had his son before discovering his betrayal. She is perhaps most known for reluctantly carrying out orders to assassinate King Llane Wrynn, who also was her trusted friend.

She may be confused at times, but Garona certainly never lacks passion, which is part of what brings that sexy spark of mischief to her appearance. Continue Reading

You don't stalk the Mistress of Pain; the Mistress of Pain stalks YOU.

Girl Gamers. Some (uninformed) people still don’t believe that we exist. And others jump all over us when they find out that we do.

The newly announced, incoming RealID changes that eliminate anonymity on the official forums have the potential to not only reveal that we actually do exist (quite plentifully,too), but also to put our names on the line and potentially expose us to in-game or IRL harassment, stalking or worse.

Well, those are the worst case scenarios. Most of us probably will see little, if any difference in how we’re treated based on putting our IRL names out there. But there is that potential.

Since the announcement came, I’ve been trudging through the forums and other areas of the interwebs looking for legitimate possible concerns for women. And there are quite a few. I’ve heard horror stories of a past female WoW player whose IRL identity was exposed, and some jerk decided to spam post her phone number in trade chat. I’ve heard tales of female gamers getting stalked after they decided to put their IRL name out there.

Now, how many of these are true, and how many are overblown? I’m not trying to be alarmist, but it is a serious enough subject that everyone — not only women, but everyone — should make some real considerations before deciding whether to post on the forums after the changes.

Before you make your decision, let’s look at a few of the arguments being made around the web concerning women and privacy issues.

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By now, we’ve probably all seen the character models that Blizzard, at long last, released this month showcasing the female worgen. They’re still lacking hairstyles, but regardless those models, I must say, look quite sharp.

So, why did it take so long for Blizzard to release any information on what the female model looks like? Well, certainly part of that has to do with building up anticipation for Cataclysm, but I suspect part of it also has to deal with the fact that they’re dealing with a subject that has been largely ignored in popular culture.

Werewolves have been terrorizing people in folklore with their super-human size and strength, not to mention fangs and claws, for hundreds of years. The phenomenon of their transformation from man to wolf still remains pervasive in pop culture today — but that’s just the issue at hand. The transformation usually is from man to wolf, yet rarely woman to wolf.

Let’s poke at some of these pop culture references, take a look at a thesis for the reasoning of why this is and talk a bit more about Blizzard’s role behind the cut.

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