[WoRBot]

Recently, World of Raids joined Blizzard's World of Warcraft Fansite Program, and to kick off this event Blizzard graciously gave us 5 BlizzCon 2008 cards.  These cards are in high demand and fairly short supply, as they were only available to attendees and those who signed up for DIRECTV's broadcast of the event.  To say obtaining one is something special may be an understatement, so we wanted to come up with a special contest worthy of winning one of these cards.  And what better for "World of Raids," than a contest where you design your very own boss encounter?

HOW TO ENTER

It's up to you and the hundreds of thousands of other World of Raids visitors to decide your fate!  Ready your imagination and craft on paper an epic boss encounter.  This encounter can be for either a 5-player dungeon, or a raid dungeon -- it's all up to you!  The encounter can take place anywhere in Azeroth or on Outland -- even the Emerald Dream and Maelstrom are fair game!  If it's been documented in game lore, you can create an encounter there.  The only rule for characters is that you do not use any already involved in World of Warcraft encounters (characters only discussed in lore such as Nozdormu, Deathwing, etc. are fine but a boss like this requires something extra epic!); if you'd like to use characters from Warcraft the RTS series for your encounter, that's okay.

We will begin posting encounters and open up the rating at the end of the submission period, January 31st, 2009.

To submit your encounter, send it in .txt or .doc format in an email to worcontests@gmail.com along with:

• Your World of Raids username -- you must be registered to participate in this contest!  Fame and fortune await!
  
• Your age
  
• Your country of residence
  
• Your primary contact email (we need this to contact you if you win)

Be as descriptive as possible with your encounter design; once we begin receiving entries we'll be posting them in a special forum section where the world can see them, and eventually rate them!  The community will participate in the judging of these encounters.

Tips

• Give your boss a name fitting their character race; Bob the Drakonid isn't a very good name, for example.  Immerse your players in an epic challenge; it's your chance to be a game designer for a day, so flex your creative muscle!
  
• If your encounter is comprised of multiple creatures (similar to the Kael'thas Sunstrider encounter), or has "trash" adds during it (or even before it), be sure to provide details on every creature involved.
  
• Document information on your encounter; zone location, geometry design, spell effects, any special script events, etc.  The devil is in the details.
  
• Create a background for your encounter if you can.  Is this the evil Eredar who corrupted Sargeras?  Seems like a pretty bad guy, eh?  Then maybe he should have something interesting aside from his encounter...
  
• If you'd like, you're free to include artwork or screenshot/map examples, but any imagery used must be your own or given credit and used with permission.

RULES AND ELIGIBILITY

This contest is a test of skill and the ability for one to think, be creative, and captivate an audience.  Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and be a legal citizen of their respective place of residence.  To participate, entrant must email their submission to worcontests@gmail.com on or before January 31st, 2009 at 11:59 PM PST.

Curse, Inc. employees and its affiliates are not eligible for entry into this contest.  Limit one entry per-person.  Void where prohibited by law.

[Kody]

By the way, as the news article states, the contest is open until the end of January. I urge anyone considering participating: don't rush your ideas out the door! Take some time, brainstorm them, and think it over in your head: would you find it fun?

[Swiftfeet]

Sure, I'll be up for this, always got a few ideas floating around.

[furydeath]

I've been doing this in my spare time for ever so I'm in that for sure.

*Goes to rewrite one*

[Iamkk15]

I know the rules say a text document, but is it possible to enter images as well?

Lets say... as in sketches and such?

[tookie]

Iamkk15 said:

I know the rules say a text document, but is it possible to enter images as well?

Lets say... as in sketches and such?

yea i would like to know this too.

Im not talking about artwork but perhaps a overwiev of the room you want the enounter to take place in, as that could have quite a large impact on how your encounter is imagined by the reader.

[Tom Phoenix]

I also have a question. Will entries be public before the last submittion date? If so, will contestants have the right to edit their entries prior to the closing of the contest?

I would also like to use this chance to thank the staff of WoR for such an innovative contest.

[Zain]

Alas, Kody alone is responsible for dreaming up this gem, one night while browsing around the Emerald Dream himself...

Editing ...... The obvious answer to this is to Take your time! Make sure it's edited and revised a few times before you submit it. It will not be fair to submit something and have it judged, only to edit it and resubmit it to be judged by the same crowd. One entry means one entry, no reentry, (no pun intended).

Some things you might want to consider:

-- Run your encounter across your friends, more specifically, your raiding guildmates. have them edit it before you send it in.

-- Dream it up before hand. Draft it in words, draw it in pictures or concept art, whichever means you think best express how you think it should look and feel. I should think a cleverly rendered machinima would be grounds for a stellar entry (but is by no means necessary).

-- Once it is fleshed out ideally and you know where you want it to go, stop, and go out. This is a trick I used while in school. I would write my term paper or thesis jargon, etc., then head out to do and think about other things. When you wake up the next morning, get to work. The flow is much nicer when you're polishing your piece after it's had time to sink in.

-- The more time spent will merit a fleshier finished product. Take it from Blizzard. they're not named after the cold dark for pushing content out fast, and look how fun it is. A lot of the cool stuff that happens during boss encounters is more than likely a designers dream from 2 years ago after some specifically related event in his or her life that they have been developing and brooding on for years. Conversely, there might be other types of inspiration ... who knows.

-- If you doubt anything, read and re-read this post:

Kody said:

don't rush your ideas out the door! Take some time, brainstorm them, and think it over in your head: would you find it fun?

~Zain

[Kody]

Sketches are perfectly fine, and would definitely be great! I'll edit the news to mention that.

In regards to when the encounter becomes public, I would suggest ensuring you're happy with it yourself prior to submitting. While rating won't be available immediately, we'll likely get them up within a couple days of being submitted.

I'm not sure editing them after submission is fair, as there may be potential cases where someone submits, sees another "better" idea, and says "oh wow, that's better than mine, I better change my submission." I'd like to try to avoid that if possible, so as Zain said, take your time and make sure you're truly happy with it. You have a while still to get them submitted.

[Nyaz]

Hurray for competitions that aren't US only! <3

[Swiftfeet]

I think I, and probably everyone else, would be worried about submitting our idea, which will then be public, and the next day someone else submits something extremily similar with like one added change. Is there any protection against copying? Or would submitting on the very last day be our only guarantee?



I also have another question: The boss we create, does it have to be within the Lore? Can we just make it up, even if it conflicts with the Lore?
I mean like if someone made a boss that was say, Illidan's long lost sister (lol) who comes back for revenge for her brother's death? (this is not my idea, just an example)

[Aberration]

I have an awesome CoT Idea. But that would be a whole raid, no just an encounter.

[tookie]

Kody said:

Sketches are perfectly fine, and would definitely be great! I'll edit the news to mention that.

In regards to when the encounter becomes public, I would suggest ensuring you're happy with it yourself prior to submitting. While rating won't be available immediately, we'll likely get them up within a couple days of being submitted.

I'm not sure editing them after submission is fair, as there may be potential cases where someone submits, sees another "better" idea, and says "oh wow, that's better than mine, I better change my submission." I'd like to try to avoid that if possible, so as Zain said, take your time and make sure you're truly happy with it. You have a while still to get them submitted.

To be honest i think all submitted entries should be made public at the same date, after the final submition date ofcouse.

To ensure its fair for all parts.

[jynxycat]

Suddenly, Ulduar is full of unique encounters from day 1

[Tom Phoenix]

Kody said:

I'm not sure editing them after submission is fair, as there may be potential cases where someone submits, sees another "better" idea, and says "oh wow, that's better than mine, I better change my submission." I'd like to try to avoid that if possible, so as Zain said, take your time and make sure you're truly happy with it. You have a while still to get them submitted.

Yes, but is it not, in the same sense, unfair to those who submit their entries earlier that those who submit later benefit from their ideas? That is the sole reason why I even asked, beacuse the ability to edit your entry would allow the earlier entries to benefit from ideas as much as later ones. Since otherwise, later entries have a distinct advantage over earlier ones.

So I have to agree with tookie. If you want to keep the current system without favouring contestants who submit later, the entries should be made public only after submissions close.

[Hinalover]

I actually have an idea that uses current in-game lore with Ulduar and Norse Mythology as a background. Just when I have finished brainstorming it (currently have it at 5 phases) I'll submit it.

[Makesfolkslose]

I just want to say that this is the most interesting contest I've seen on WoR so far, and I hope that more contests like this are held in the future (designing conceptual dungeons, zones, classes, races, spells, etc.). I hope that I have enough time in between now and the deadline to get all of my ideas into a cohesive written document.

Also, question: Is there a limit to the number of submissions per person? I'm assuming yes, but I thought I should ask because I have more than one idea floating around.

[ablock]

I just submited one involving a Revenant boss inside Icecrown Citadel. According to lore, Revenants appear immune to the Lich Kings mind control, but this special Revenant has his own goals..

Made it a 3 phase fight, as soon as it's posted on that special forum, hope people will enjoy it.

[Sileeh]

the moment I saw this I just had to design an encounter. Mine is about the lich king making a weapon out of one of his deathknights so that he can call in the souls of the lost to expand his army.

[Jarhad]

I have a question! Is this just for the contest or will Blizzard ever look/consider any of our ideas?