Sorry for the delay, folks! The Wenhouse has been a little crazy of late, and I fell behind. This month I interviewed xboondocksaintx, one of our resident PvPers.

xboondocksaintx’s handle comes from the movies of the same name. He also occasionally goes by ‘Dark,’ which is from a character he formerly used and that nickname has stuck over time. I get called dark all the time, too–so weird, right?! He’s been playing WoW since 2006, but he also enjoyed the Matrix game of the mid-aughts. He stopped playing for 10 years but after some friends picked up WoW again during COVID, he started right back up again and has been going strong since.

Dark has a 12 year old son, and his hobbies largely consist of whatever his kid is into at any given moment. Enjoys sporting, which I assume includes when you throw the puck into the net (I think it’s called basketball, even though there isn’t a basket, what even is that). He has 3 ferrets, and one of them spent the majority of our interview in his face. I always ask people where they’re from and what their location is known for, and Dark said he’s from DC, which is known for traffic. I feel that. There is a large concentration of agents (FBI/CIA) near him, but he insists it isn’t because of him. I don’t know about that one, but we’ll pretend we believe him. (ps. if Mulder and Scully show up at my house I will be so excited.)

PvP is Dark’s favourite activity, especially rated battles with guildies. He’s been doing this since the end of BFA. Right now, he’s enjoying classic and the whole levelling experience. I loved classic, too… 20 years ago. I am not convinced that present-day classic-ers are not masochists. I’ve been enduring flashbacks to hide of the wild grinding and gold grinding and 4 hour Scholomance’s and 24 hour Alterac Valley for all these years and these people go back willingly! What!

During game time, Dark enjoys some nice Bourbon and Doritos. When I asked him who his least favourite NPC was, he hummed and hawed and we thought about it for a while, but then reached the conclusion that presently it is Moira’s son. Sorry Moira. I don’t even remember your kid’s name but I do know I want to throw him into Beledar. The best NPC is, of course, Chromie. Anyone who thinks otherwise will be assimilated. He does also like everyone’s favourite WoW goth girlfriend Sylvanas. Dark and I are soul siblings; like me, he hasn’t read quest text in years. We just blindly follow instructions to mass murder and commit ecological genocide without ever knowing why.

Dark is hoping the next big thing in WoW is player housing. Dark’s hopes came true! It is! I came to observe that player housing is a desire that transcends all of the varied interest groups in WoW. PvPers, PvEers, casuals, hardcore folks – everyone wants their own house. That probably speaks loads about the economy because we all know ain’t no one can afford a house these days. He also really enjoys profession stuff.

Dark’s favourite book is Jade City, and he really liked the Red Rising series. His preference is sci fi novels. He just started the TV show White Lotus and is enjoying it so far, and his favourite movies will surprise the pants off of you. Drumroll, please… it’s Boondock Saints and the Matrix. He’s been in MoD since end of BFA, and really loves that he can get AOTC at the end of every season by tagging along to heroic raid.

Until next time,
Wen

Secret Santa Information:

For those of you in the spirit for the upcoming Holiday Season, Ministry of Defense will be hosting a Secret Santa for its members. Gifting partners will be randomized. There is a 10,000g value suggested minimum for your gift(s), but you can also use pet charms, darkmoon faire currency, or any other in-game currency to purchase your gift(s). When you sign-up and receive your giftee, you can utilize the WoW website/armory to see what the person you are gifting to needs concerning mounts/pets/toys/transmogs.

Sign-ups will be open until next Sunday, December 8th. To sign up, DM me your character name in the format below to be added to the list; list the categories you prefer to receive gifts as below in priority order. In the example below, I prefer pets first, transmogs last.

Example: Urostek: pets, mounts, toys, transmogs

I will let people know who their giftee is later this upcoming Sunday, December 8th, after sign-ups close. We have a discussion channel in our discord server for your use as well and any questions. #secret-santa

Data for Azeroth can also be especially useful for searching toys, the WoW website is useful for pets and mounts:
Data for Azeroth

Transmogs do not have an ability to be searched, so be mindful of that.

Thank you to all our participants!

You may vote for ONE entry per category. Results will be announced later in the week!

Click the thumbnails to see a larger view of the costumes!

PLEASE NOTE:

You will get a “an error occurred: please try again” when you vote. THE VOTE STILL WENT THROUGH! We are seeing your votes increase even as the error occurs. Sorry for the inconvenience!

WARCRAFT: TAKE ME TO THE BEACH!
Show off your best themed mog for where summer still exists!!

MEDIEVAL TIMES
Chivalry, honor, bloodshed!

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE!
Did you see that thing?

LET’S BE FRIENDS! (couples/duos)
Requires two people.

THE UROSTEK
Scare us with the ugliest, mish-mashiest, or gaudiest transmog you can come up with.

BEST IN SHOW
Pull out all the stops and show us the costume you think will impress us most!

This month’s interviewee is Finalflame, a member of the mythic raid team. Final has been gaming since the original GameBoy, and he joined World of Warcraft in January of 2009 — which is when he came to use his current handle. Final’s favourite things to do are charity events (including gaming), speedrunning games, and reading (when he has the time).

Final does not have any pets. While this is an unforgivable sin, his roommates have a cat that is obsessed with him, so obviously he’s worthy. I almost tarred and feathered him when he said no, but fortunately for him it’s quite cold in Canada in the winter and the tar was badly congealed and ineffective. Lucky.

Occupying Eastern NY, Final is still unaccustomed to the area he resides in because COVID lockdowns. I asked him if there were any cool factoids about the area, and he didn’t know, so I googled it and I guess they’re known for transportation. I’m a little disappointed Eastern NY couldn’t be known for anything cooler, but then again we can’t all be as cool as Canada is. (Literally and figuratively.) We have maple syrup and legal weed. Name one other thing you couldn’t live without that we don’t have, I dare you.

Final’s favourite thing to do in WoW is mythic raiding. He loves to get bosses down for the first time and finds that very satisfying. Plus, I guess his team is kind of cool or whatever. When he’s gaming and he wants a snack or a drink, he loads up his Monster IV and he’s good to go. Just kidding… he drinks water and eats salads. I guess he doesn’t know that lettuce and salads often contain listeria. You know what doesn’t contain listeria? Cake. I’m just saying.

His least favourite WoW NPC is Khadgar. (I know, who could hate that silver fox?) He’s just sick of seeing him. Well, Khadgar is sick of you, too, Final. He told me. He took a break between Warlords and BFA, and got sucked back in for Dragonflight and really enjoyed that expansion. He prefers cat-adjacent pets and still has his first pet from 2009, “First Flame”. I sense a theme.

When asked what he would want next in the game, Final thought player housing seemed like a logical next step. (And it turns out, it’s coming. We had this interview before we knew it was coming!) He does look forward to cross faction stuff being fixed, but thinks that Blizzard has largely done a good job and looks forward to what they come up with next. He loves challenge modes in particular.

Thanks for hanging out, Final!

The mythic raid team fully cleared normal difficulty Nerub-ar Palace and then went into heroic difficulty and cleared half the raid this past week making their progression 4/8H during the first week of release!

The Saturday heroic AOTC raid team went 6/8N in their first outing this week!

Can’t wait to see where both teams end up this week!