Shortly after Blizzard officially announced Cataclysm and the incoming devastation to Azeroth, I came up with an idea. It’s fairly simple, and based entirely on Deathwing‘s upcoming destruction. At the time, we had no idea how far reaching the changes would be. Would Deadmines cease to exist? What would become of Blackfathom Deeps and Ragefire Chasm? Would we see these dungeons in a new light, play through them as is? Or would Blizzard simply remove content that was believed to be archaic?
No one had any idea, so I figured it deserved a last hurrah, just in case. Obviously, a new toon was in order and I needed teammates. Then I thought, “If I want to absorb the original design, won’t other people want to see it too?” Things needed to be documented, categorized and recorded into the annals of history. Quickly, I went from passive observer to an historian on the level of Brann Bronzebeard. No dusty tome, or articulate transcription of the “Old BFD” would do. Video was needed.
Hit the jump to read more about the initial development of <The B Team>.
I pitched the project to a crew of talented players that I figured would be interested. They were, and <The B Team> was born. The name was chosen for four different reasons. First off, the project was pitched to Project Lore to subsidize the long gap of content between episodes starring Alex Albrecht. Knowing that I didn’t have the star power that he does (my Super Mario Galaxy 2 count says otherwise), the tongue-in-cheek name was created. Our group would be the second string. Furthermore, the players are spread across the United States, meaning our footage would be all in-game. Not the TV production of the main product. Coincidentally, the team ended up being filled by all the bloggers, a natural fit. We’d also be tackling content that many current players have experienced, rendering the series to a back page interest for many.
Still, I felt that documenting the changes was important. To me, and other game design-minded people, the past of WoW is as important as the future. Plus, everyone wants to have proof to their argument that Molten Core dropped tons of Tier 2 loot and that Blackrock Depths takes entirely too long.
Without further adieu, may I present to you the above video, the first part of the proof of concept for The B Team. It records <The B Team> running through the opening of Wailing Caverns. Again, it’s proof of concept, so bare with the letterboxing, erratic cuts and things of that nature. The video was created to see if our goal was possible. We had many other ideas in mind to better organize, edit and develop the series. Assuming there is interest, we hope to fulfill those desires.
What do you think?
so..how do WE join the B Team?
Nice vid! Almost make me wanna roll an alt on Executus so I can run with you guys when you’ll need to be more than 5 ;)
So, Lorehound.com writers and then Juggynaut as well? As in the Juggynaut that did work with Project Lore? This is a fantastic idea, by the way. I’m doing something similar right now with a good friend of mine. No heirloom items. Just new toons, new server, and taking our time enjoying the world as it is currently before everything changes.
This is so awesome that you guys are doing this. Looking forward to more
I will be happy to join you guys, knowing alot of the instances and many classes.
Just to be clear, we did these a long, long time ago when we all still wrote for PL (and Juggy did videos). It was a lot of work, but it was an idea to be pitched to our media overlords to keep the site going. We had the footage sitting around, so we decided to release it on Lore Hound. If they end up being popular, we’ll make more, its a lot of work to coordinate and edit these kind of videos.
And Jefferey, Juggy writes for Lore Hound and produces our podcasts!
http://lorehound.com/author/juggynaut/
Ah, so That explains why you didn’t use the Dungeon Finder.
Well, it was definitely good for the lulz, I’ve made a low level tank just too see all the content 1 more time before cata too, and I gotta say, it’s all pretty awesome, and not so awesome.
But defiantly awesome running them with Proper level people than overgeared XP stealer’s.
Ah, right. I had forgotten about this little “miniseries” on PL. Those were the days….
Looks cool! I definitely remember all the awesome older dungeons and quests (I quit before burning crusade).
They were a lot of fun so it will suck when people newer to the game will potentially not be able to revisit the original layout and questline.
More!
When you guys decide to make more, I suggest turning game volume down a bit, it made the commentary hard to listen to.
Oh and BTW, I forgot to ask this and I know it’s one of the most Repetitive things to ask. But,
What was that Addon that juggy was using in the video that altered his loot table? It looks so awesome.
I believe he was using Xloot or some variant: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/xloot.aspx .
It’s a great idea, keep up the good work.
As Barugaara has said, I’d also recommend turning the game volume down a little bit.
Also, could Juggy enable combat text or something like that? It’s a tad weird watching the rogue stabbing a mob without knowing for how much he’s hitting.