Blizzard removes Orcs from Warcraft III

This was posted on April 2nd at 12:06 by maroberts · 2002-04-01 11:07 · Score: 3, Informative

so it can';t be an April Fools joke can i?

Damn, forgot about US/UK time zones.

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Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon

What's next by reflexreaction · 2002-04-01 11:08 · Score: 3, Funny

What are they gonna do now remove the One ring from LOTR?

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We had to destroy the sig to save the sig.

Re:What's next by m_chan · 2002-04-01 11:13 · Score: 5, Funny

What are they gonna do now remove the One ring from LOTR?

No, just the Orcs.
Re:What's next by flewp · 2002-04-01 11:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

Since today seems to be the day that the most mod points go towards modding a post as funny, and I'm not funny, can I just ask for them and get them?
Thanks.

Oh, and I almost forgot to add please.

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WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
Re:What's next by tswinzig · 2002-04-01 11:34 · Score: 2

Christ, don't give the slashdot editors any more April Fool's story ideas!

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"And like that ... he's gone."
Re:What's next by Snowfox · 2002-04-01 18:24 · Score: 2

Since today seems to be the day that the most mod points go towards modding a post as funny, and I'm not funny, can I just ask for them and get them?

For what it's worth, most of the other "funny" (big, fat quotes) posts aren't. So, you get Insightful instead.
Just as well. After today, my user prefs are tuned to pitch anything moderated as "funny" (more big, fat quotes) down into oblivion.
Fun, me.
Re:What's next by SkewlD00d · 2002-04-02 09:25 · Score: 2

No, just the Orcs.
Race Orc has left the game. n00bie: awh krap n00bie: this is dumb theres only humans left

--
The biggest trick the devil pulled was letting lawyers become politicians so they can write the laws.

For the love of god by jockm · 2002-04-01 11:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

enough is enough. Surely there is some real news to cover...

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What do you know I wrote a novel

Re:For the love of god by niftyeric · 2002-04-01 11:14 · Score: 2, Insightful

Hey, April Fools is a sign of cheap Easter candy! Quit readin' and buy, buy, buy!

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proton != antielectron
Re:For the love of god by jockm · 2002-04-01 11:15 · Score: 2

It wasn't funny last year, it's not funny this year and it won't be funny next year

Agreed, that's why I had some vain hope that they had learned their lesson. What was I thinking...

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What do you know I wrote a novel

Re:and in other news by Xoro · 2002-04-01 11:09 · Score: 4, Funny

everyone has decided that april fools day stories are neither funny nor clever.

Too bad they didn't have you write them all, Chuckles.

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Kill, Tux, kill!

finally. by beckett · 2002-04-01 11:10 · Score: 4, Funny

i'm glad orks are being dropped. considering what they did to azeroth the last time they were in a game, i'm not suprized with blizzard's decision.

they cause nothing but problems for the humans!

You really need... by avalys · 2002-04-01 11:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

...to have something funny in an April Fool's joke. That's why they're called jokes.

False statements and news articles aren't jokes, especially when they come so rapid-fire that they are obviously false.

A real April Fool's joke would make us actually believe it, like the console-qt thing. I actually downloaded that.

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This space intentionally left blank.

Re:You really need... by nomadic · 2002-04-01 11:25 · Score: 2

Like that "Taco Bell is buying the liberty bell" hoax of a few years ago. Now THAT was a masterfully done April's fool prank...

If this isn't an April Fool's joke... by Obiwan+Kenobi · 2002-04-01 11:12 · Score: 3, Insightful

...then nothing is. Check out this quote:

"[The orcs] have never really been that important to the [Warcraft] series anyway. We could've had the night elves in Warcraft II instead, and it totally would've been the same."

Anything that lame and in "totally-like-valley-girl speak" has to be made up.

Re:If this isn't an April Fool's joke... by daeley · 2002-04-01 11:55 · Score: 3, Funny

Anything that lame and in "totally-like-valley-girl speak" has to be made up.

Dude, don't be so, like, bogus, okay?

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I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.

Here's something actually funny.... by Yoda2 · 2002-04-01 11:12 · Score: 2

Arthur T. Murray has apparently become the first person to build a system that demonstrates true artificial intelligence (A.I.). It is expected that his Mentifex system developed in Forth and JavaScript will soon pass the Turing Test, and will shortly thereafter enslave the entire human race.

The Orcs have retained counsel... by bc90021 · 2002-04-01 11:14 · Score: 5, Funny

...and will be suing Blizzard for damages. While no immediate figures were given, it is said that the head Orc mentioned in a press release that "all his people would be without land or job", and that "Blizzard would have to account for the loss of all potential conquerings, and any and all potential earnings his people might therefore derive from said conquerings".

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libertarianswag.com

Re:AAAAHHH! by jaritsu · 2002-04-01 11:14 · Score: 3, Funny

thats like, 4 of the 7 signs isn't it?

Re:I deserve a plus 5 by CoolVibe · 2002-04-01 11:14 · Score: 2, Interesting

you forgot NetBSD ported to the X-BOX.

(Yeah I know, offtopic. Like it matters today. NOT :)

CmdrTaco is AFJ by killmenow · 2002-04-01 11:16 · Score: 3, Insightful

I think the real April Fool's Joke is that all the stories posted by CmdrTaco aren't *really* from CmdrTaco. It's someone else masquerading as him...

Perhaps it's The Satanic SysAdmins

Man... by meggito · 2002-04-01 11:18 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm just glad I'm not one of the poor subscribers who is PAYING for every time they view slashdot today.

Oh for... by Drakin · 2002-04-01 11:19 · Score: 2, Insightful

You know, it would have been a lot more interesting if the story submitter had done a bit more research. The orcs are not simply being removed. They're being -replaced-. Yes, replaced by the Pandarens. http://www.battle.net/war3/pandaren/ (Yes, I know it's an april fools joke, but still...)

Rumor by commonchaos · 2002-04-01 11:19 · Score: 2, Funny

Rumor has it that they'll be replacing the Orcs with Goat-like creatures called "Goatse".

Pack your bags, we're going on a guilt trip! by NanoGator · 2002-04-01 11:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Now we're gonna have everybody whine about April Fool's day being over and the jokes aren't funny and blah blah blah.

"waaah boo hoo, i want news blah blah.", I got a better idea, why not participate in the fun? Instead of stating the obvious 'Derr it's a Joke', try going with it: "Heh, it'd be funny if they replaced the Orcs with Wil Wheaton."

One of the aspects of the Slashdot community that bugs me sometimes is you put something new in front of them and a good chunk of them spends their time looking for something wrong with it. I can't tell anymore if it's just people unwilling to change until something is proven or if it's just a case of "if I can find fault in it, I'll appear smarter."

Let's talk about Blizzard for a sec. How many people said "I won't buy any more Blizzard games because of BnetD being shut down?" How many actually EMAILED Blizzard (which would have been FAR MORE EFFECTIVE) and voiced their complaints instead? People are quick to stand up against something, but they're not so fast when it comes to doing something practical about it.

I would highly recommend an attitude adjustment for a portion of this community if they can't find fun in April Fool's day. As it is, they're doing very little to solve the problems that bother them so much.

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"Derp de derp."

Re:Pack your bags, we're going on a guilt trip! by NanoGator · 2002-04-01 11:48 · Score: 2

"Especially considering the slashdot community can't pretend to pay for ad free viewing today, and then cancel payment claiming their payment "was an april fools joke". Slashdot is a fucking whore."

Ummm so it's too hard to log out? I mean the stories are pretty obvious. Sorry, I don't sympathize with you.

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"Derp de derp."
Re:Pack your bags, we're going on a guilt trip! by daoine · 2002-04-01 12:02 · Score: 2

Heh, it'd be funny if they replaced the Orcs with Wil Wheaton
Well, it's not as funny, but check out the fierce pandaren race
Re:Pack your bags, we're going on a guilt trip! by NanoGator · 2002-04-01 15:31 · Score: 2

AAAAAH!! That's great!! hahaha

Is that an April Fools joke?

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"Derp de derp."
Re:Pack your bags, we're going on a guilt trip! by Fnkmaster · 2002-04-02 01:41 · Score: 2

I emailed Blizzard, and I'm sure a lot of others did too. Didn't do a damned bit of good, since some 2nd tier technical support guy seems to have been assigned to respond to all the "BnetD whiners" out there with a reply about how evil anybody was who was stealing their games, blah blah blah (totally ignoring the crux of my argument that people playing a beta of WCIII that wasn't released yet was not harming their revenues at all).

I fell for this... by BlindSpot · 2002-04-01 11:24 · Score: 2, Funny

...on GameSpot. See I don't actually know anything about the Warcraft series - never played the games or seen them as that kind of game doesn't really interst me - so I didn't pay much attention to it when I visited GameSpot earlier today.

The kicker is that I was actually on heightened alert for April Fool's jokes. I knew GameSpot would have one. I even skimmed this story just to be sure, but the article made it sound like Orcs were a new race that were supposed to be added, and like I said I didn't know any better, so I moved on.

Only now that this story has shown up here have I realized it was a pile of crap. So congrats, GameSpot, ya got me!

Re:I fell for this... by Peyna · 2002-04-01 11:41 · Score: 2

I think the article is pretty beleivable too, but the Orcs are a pretty integral part of the story line of the Warcraft series, which is something Blizzard prides itself in (elaborate story lines). Anyway, it's the only article I've found written by 'Staff' as opposed to a real editor =]

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What?

Re:This IS funny by vanguard · 2002-04-01 11:25 · Score: 2

Yeah, I like it too.

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That which does not kill me only makes me whinier

Had enough? by Decimal · 2002-04-01 11:28 · Score: 2, Troll

I agree. Slashdot has gone way overboard today.

Here is a list of reasons to boycott slashdot. It includes a list of alternatives, including my favorite, BottomQuark. That site hasn't had one April Fools joke all day. Slashdot has had, what, 6 so far?

I wonder if this will change how many people are participating in The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout?

Now the more important question is: Will this post be deleted or simply moderated down?

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Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh

Re:Had enough? by Decimal · 2002-04-01 11:50 · Score: 2

They won't delete your post, they'll $rtbl you.

What's $rtbl stand for?

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Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
Re:Had enough? by smaug195 · 2002-04-01 11:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

Your boycotting slashdot? Then what the hell are you still doing posting.
Re:Had enough? by benwb · 2002-04-01 12:00 · Score: 2

Real time black list. Once your on it you post at -1.
Re:Had enough? by siegesama · 2002-04-01 12:05 · Score: 5, Interesting

Slashdot links to stories on other sites. As long as other sites are producing 4/1 announcements, quess what?

It was this way last year, too. And [newsflash] if it weren't for the odd number of nincompoops posting drivel about how much they hate 4/1 jokes, it'd be terribly amusing. The potential for interesting and funny comments is boundless. You've got a spring board for any range of topics, and instead you decide to be yet another downer in a grey ugly world.

And enough of the "I hate slashdot and I'm going to boycott it and you should all too." Great, you're protesting something useless by adding more useless drivel to the pile. I'm sure in your fantasy world, you've made some sort of difference, and will be a hero to future generations. If you're so upset about slashdot please, for the love of god, stop posting. You apparently can't stand the site (or "what it has become"), so take it out of your fucking bookmark file and piss off.

And as for the selfserving bit at the bottom about how you wonder if you'll be deleted or moderated down... unfortunately neither. You've earned karma off of being a fuck-head. Maybe you'll get a medal.

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what the hell is a 'junk character', anyway?
Re:Had enough? by jgerman · 2002-04-01 13:07 · Score: 2

Amen brother. But I guess we should face facts. Those with something intelligent, interesting, or funny to say are going to keep posting that way, and those who have nothing to say will continure to post about how they hate slashdot, how it sucks yada yada yada. Of course, the kind of person it takes to behave this way is the exact kind of person whose IQ is so low that they don't realize that if they don't like something they can go somewhere else. Those of us that remember the BBS days might recall a similar phenomena. If was much more rare then but less people were involved, and the sysop would generally just drop their accounts. Thats the way of the world though, anytime you give more people access the intelligence level drops, obviously the more people there are the closer to average things become.

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I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Re:Had enough? by zCyl · 2002-04-01 13:50 · Score: 2

Slashdot has gone way overboard today.

I launched my web browser today to read Slashdot's April Fools articles. Welcome to the community, we like it.

Now the more important question is: Will this post be deleted or simply moderated down?

The subversiveness of your comment is sufficient to get it moderated up.

You, unfortunately, missed the thing that's good about Slashdot. Despite the function of organizing stories of interest to an entire community, Slashdot also lets you post the most random drivel, even if it opposes them (as you demonstrated). There's no sense in protesting a site that gives you full freedom to read and post for free. It only leaves two choices. One, Slashdot's content is not of interest to you, so you find a different news portal. Two, Slashdot's content is of interest to you, so you read it.

And in other news... by tapin · 2002-04-01 11:29 · Score: 2, Informative

If anybody thinks most of the stories posted today have been, well, a bit overdone, be thankful that at least we've only been seeing links to other AFD jokes on the web.

If Taco were to write his own.. well, they'd probably look like these, courtesy of NewsForge.

Why does information want to be free? Why not cupcakes?
By Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Online tech pub The Register merges with Weekly World News
By Robin "Roblimo" Miller

There's Funny, and then there's Not Funny. Too bad Not Funny doesn't own any mirrors.

Re:Well? by nomadic · 2002-04-01 11:31 · Score: 5, Funny

What's REAL and What's FAKE today?

The fake stories are the ones that are improbable, derived from obscure news sources, and hard to verify. Oops, wait, you're right, how are we going to tell them from the usual slashdot stories?

Aaaaargh! by Dak+RIT · 2002-04-01 11:31 · Score: 5, Informative

The only thing that could possibly be more pathetic is this getting modded up as Informative.

Hey! by Decimal · 2002-04-01 11:32 · Score: 2

I just noticed... where's the "Anonymous" checkbox?

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Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh

What will the game be named? by coupland · 2002-04-01 11:40 · Score: 2

Warcraft III: StubbyGuys vs. Humans?

On a serious note, I think /. joke posts on April Fool should have some sort of built-in easter egg (sic) so you can tell they're jokes. Not only would it allow us to rm -rf the fake stories, but it would be fun to look for the hidden hints...

No, really. I'm serious.

This is the worst by kaimiike1970 · 2002-04-01 11:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

None of these are even funny. I am sure there are good news stories going unremarked today. How irresponsible is it to devote every posting, all day to a joke that stopped being funny after the first story?

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Do a google search before posting.

The Key to April Fools by MBCook · 2002-04-01 11:45 · Score: 5, Funny

The key to April Fools jokes is sublety. If slashdot posted one or two, it would be good. If they posted one, then put a bunch more in some little "Site-Seeing" type thing, then that would be good. But when at least the last 6 stories are jokes, you've taken it too far.

Also, these stories are by no means subtle. Linus giving up Linux? CPAN becomming CJAN? A rootkit package in the Debian archives? These are by no means subtle.

Let's review what, IMHO, /. should or could have done. Below is a list of stories that would have been good:

Debian Woody Released
Apple Brings Back G4 Cube
Apple Drops New iMac
Cowboy Bebop Dropped by Cartoon Network for Being Too Violent
President Bush Supports SSSSCA (well, maybe that's more of a Halloween thing)
AMD to Release Hammer Line of Processors on March 1st
ATI to Buy Matrox (the nVidia one is just too obvious)
Dell Buys Gateway
Michael Cook Declared President (I can wish can't I?)
An article on some of the best known, most misunderstood, worst, stupidest, etc. April Fools jokes ever
Apple Announces That They Intend to Port OS X to Intel Boxes
Sony Buys Square
Microsoft Buys Sega
I Buy Lunch (well, maybe this one happened.)

So please remember this post next year, and let's be a little more realistic.

--
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.

Re:The Key to April Fools by NonSequor · 2002-04-01 12:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

Or we could all just learn to embrace the absurdity of it all. Lighten up a bit.

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My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Re:The Key to April Fools by Have+Blue · 2002-04-01 13:16 · Score: 2
No. An april fools joke must be so insane that no one could possibly believe it, and it can't be an unnerving lead-in like so many of today's stories. If anything, the stories of today and your examples are too conservative.
- Debian Adds Gator Package
- Apple Announces Zero-Button Mouse (yes, that's old)
- Cartoon Network Drops Barney For Being Too Violent
- AMD Denounces Clock Rate Marketing, Releases 25Mhz Hammer
- BitBoys Buys ATI
- Hemos Awarded Pulitzer
Re:The Key to April Fools by Tackhead · 2002-04-01 16:56 · Score: 2
>> The key to April Fools jokes is sublety [...] Let's review what, IMHO, /. should or could have done. Below is a list of stories that would have been good:
>> ...ATI buys Matrox
>> Dell buys Gateway...
>>
>No. An april fools joke must be so insane that no one could possibly believe it, and it can't be an unnerving lead-in like so many of today's stories. If anything, the stories of today and your examples are too conservative.
>
> BitBoys Buys ATI
You mean like:
- HP buys Compaq
If we use your criteria of being so insane nobody could believe it, April Fools' Day came and went months ago!

So what? by r_j_prahad · 2002-04-01 11:47 · Score: 4, Funny

Blizzard removes Orcs from Warcraft? Big Deal. I'm waiting for the headline that says....

"Slashdot Removes Cowboy Neal from Polls"

Now THAT would be NEWS!

Story Moderation by donutello · 2002-04-01 11:48 · Score: 2

Yet another case for allowing people to rate stories.

On April 2nd, all of CommanderTaco's stories will automatically bet posted at -1 because of his karma from being modded down as a troll today.

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Mmmm.. Donuts

Ho ho ho.. by grub · 2002-04-01 11:55 · Score: 2

NEWSFLASH

More than one April Fools joke isn't clever, it's lame.

Certainly there has been no shortage of real "News for nerds.." today.

--
Trolling is a art,

Re:Ho ho ho.. by SuiteSisterMary · 2002-04-01 11:58 · Score: 2

If I subscribe, will I be able to filter out all the fake stories?

--
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Re:Ho ho ho.. by grub · 2002-04-01 12:12 · Score: 2

If I subscribe, will I be able to filter out all the fake stories?

Even better, if you get the Slashdot Gold Plan, you just get redirected to The Register. :))

--
Trolling is a art,

The Horrbile truth about Apr1 Slashdot. by Joe+U · 2002-04-01 11:57 · Score: 2, Funny

In a fit of brilliance, (or was it just a fit?) Slashdot editors take a long weekend by only submitting April Fools stories on April 1.

"We figured it would be a good idea to go visit that big blue room, or 'outside' as some people call it.", said one source.

"What we didn't expect was that the one editor who did arrive today did a pretty good job on his own."

Strangely, very few noticed the difference in the quality of service.

In related news... by gvonk · 2002-04-01 12:15 · Score: 3, Funny

...When asked for comment on the fact that there are still over a million Warcraft II players out there, he simply said "Your command, master."

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El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)

Re:In related news... by Surt · 2002-04-01 14:31 · Score: 2

The guy who read for that part was actually pretty pissed at getting reamed in his employment contract on that day. What he actually read into the microphone, and made it into the game, is:

You're the man, bastard.

But he mumbles it a bit, and it sounds enough like 'your command master' that most people still think that's what the orc says. But listen to it more carefully next time you play. :-)

--
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking

blah blah blah by PsiPsiStar · 2002-04-01 12:23 · Score: 2

people are whining like a crack whore who misplaced her methadone. A day without news. Is it that hard?

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___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.

Re:What's next -- No more "two towers" by Derek · 2002-04-01 13:19 · Score: 2

Because "The Two Towers" is similar the the world trade center's nickname "The Twin Towers", LoTR producers briefly considered changing the name after the Sept. 11 attacks!

I'm not even kidding about this one...

According to the Internet Movie Database:

Following the attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, and because of the similarity between the buildings' nickname, "The Twin Towers", and the movie's title, "The Two Towers", the director and producers briefly considered renaming the second movie in the trilogy. They eventually decided against it, Peter Jackson's main reason being that, "fans would kill me".

-Derek

Ooh, so close by AaronStJ · 2002-04-01 13:58 · Score: 2

Since today seems to be the day that the most mod points go towards modding a post as funny, and I'm not funny, can I just ask for them and get them?

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the moderation on this is "Insightful=3, Informative=1?"

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Stupid like a fox!

Get rid of the humans too by KalvinB · 2002-04-01 16:40 · Score: 2, Funny

Then they might be able to ship it on schedule.

Ben

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Work Safe Porn

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