Tuesday, October 26, 2010

World of Warcraft player sings request to Blizzard: Blood Elf Druids please

By Winda Benedetti
laura shigihara
Laura Shigihara

Laura Shigihara - the singer/songwriter behind "Zombies on Your Lawn" - sends a singing telegram to Blizzard.

Sometimes, when you feel passionately about something, the best way to express that passion is through … song.

At least, that's what Laura Shigihara, the singer/songwriter behind the massively popular "Zombies on Your Lawn" song from the massively popular game "Plants vs. Zombies" appears to have decided.

She's written a song and created a music video to let the world know how she feels about an issue in the "World of Warcraft" game. That issue is Blood Elf Druids … or rather, the lack thereof.

Her song – called, well, "Blood Elf Druids" – is a direct plea to Blizzard (the developers behind "World of Warcraft") to create a new class of Blood Elves. (Check out the video below.)
Seems Shigihara – an avid "WoW" player with a level 71 Blood Elf Hunter character – would like her character to be able to fly. But characters in the Hunter class don't fly … or at least not without a little bit of help.

Shigihara's boyfriend's "WoW" character, on the other hand, is a Druid (that boyfriend, by the way, is George Fan, the creator of "Plants vs. Zombies.") And since his character is a Druid, he is able to shape-shift into flight-form on a whim.

"I explore a lot and as such I die a lot from falling off cliffs and stuff like that, and you know it would be really nice to be able fly," she says in a video explaining why she created the song.

As it turns out, there are some balance issues involved in allowing Blood Elves to become Druids and also a little matter of the game's lore – something about Blood Elves being addicted to magic and thus it not being kosher to have them being nature-lovin' Druids.

"The lore part is kind of silly," Shigihara insists. "Gnomes can be warriors and they're like three feet tall."
Blizzard has been in the midst of preparing to release the latest "WoW" expansion "Cataclysm" (due Dec. 7).

For the beta test, Blizzard recently announced new race/class combinations. Alas, no Blood Elf Druids were on the lineup. And that was the last straw for Shigihara.

"I saw that Night Elves could be mages and I was like, 'What? That's not fair!' So I decided to make a song," she says.

The chorus pleads:

Come on, come on, Blizzard please
I wanna fly above the canopy
Hold my breath for as long as I can
Shapeshift when I wave my hand -- oh oh oh

Little Gnomes can't really tank
Night Elves aren't well-versed in the arcane
But I'm a Blood Elf who's a friend of the trees
So come on Blizzard, make Blood Elf Druids please

If Blizzard is going to listen to a singing telegram from anyone, surely it is Shigihara. Her "Zombies on Your Lawn" tune is a veritable video game musical hit, with more than four million views on YouTube and countless riffs around the Web. Yes, it's even giving the "Still Alive" song from "Portal" a run for its popularity money. (In fact, you can see Shigihara cover "Still Alive" right here.)

Meanwhile, the folks at Blizzard are clearly fans of "Plants vs. Zombies." It was recently revealed that "Cataclysm" will feature a "PvZ" themed quest.

Of course, only time – and the official launch of "Cataclysm" – will tell if Shigihara's Blood Elf Druid wish will be granted.

So come on Blizzard, make Blood Elf Druids please!

Winda Benedetti writes the Citizen Gamer column for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.

Source:
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/26/5354424-world-of-warcraft-player-sings-request-to-blizzard-blood-elf-druids-please

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