How to Paladin is a series of machinima movies featuring Shepiwot; a blood elf paladin and is supposedly meant to be teaching viewers how to play this particular class in World of Warcraft, taking approximately five minutes for every piece of cinema. Created by a 23 year old Dutch player nicknamed “Stoker”[1], the series has garnered much praise and disapproval for being ‘silly’. The footage is usually played at many times the gaming speed, and background music from the anime One Piece is used as a soundtrack (the most frequently used piece is from a track titled 'Escape' on BGM Music Disc Two). Each video shows Shepiwot jumping, buffing, healing, dancing and killing mobs for no apparent reason. The series as a whole shows different aspects of the game; we can see Shepiwot leveling up, PvP’ing running instances and even raiding after he had managed to reach level 70. Everything is filmed with the camera often changing focus and position (several times within three seconds is not unusual). Clips used in the movies usually do not last longer than four seconds. The sum of this knowledge has led many viewers to refer to ‘How to Paladin’ as stupid and unnecessary.
Nevertheless, the overall response seems positive since WarcraftMovies.com statistics indicate the average rating for all the installments up to ‘How to Paladin XXII’ is 3.29 out of 5 [2]. In addition, each individual part has attracted over 2500 downloads, with part XV even having over 50000. YouTube also shows that all parts have a rating of at least 4 out of 5 [3]. Stoker has also tried to bend the negative responses in his own benefit by making a laugh out of them. Every episode after the first part starts with screenshots of negative comments on previous installments on WarcraftMovies.com accompanied by ironic and poorly spelled remarks such as “After the great succes of…”. As of October 02, 2009, there are 35 episodes, with 10 specials, such as "How To Paladin: Insanity Remix" and "How To Paladin: Comments on Comments".
List of episodes[]
Regular episodes[]
Episode | Release date | Featured content | YouTube link | |
---|---|---|---|---|
How to Paladin | March 4, 2007 | Undercity, Arathi Basin | Link | |
How to Paladin II: Revenge on the Bots | March 12, 2007 | Alterac Mountains | Link | |
How to Paladin III | March 17, 2007 | Tanaris, Swamp of Sorrows | Link | |
How to Paladin IV | March 20, 2007 | Elwynn Forest, Orgrimmar | Link | |
How to Paladin V | March 24, 2007 | Uldaman, Badlands, Warsong Gulch | Link | |
How to Paladin VI | April 3, 2007 | Alterac Valley | Link | |
How to Paladin VII | April 7, 2007 | Temple of Atal'Hakkar | Link | |
How to Paladin VIII | April 17, 2007 | Un'Goro Crater | Link | |
How to Paladin IX | May 10, 2007 | Winterspring, Moonglade, Felwood | Link | |
How to Paladin X | May 13, 2007 | Blasted Lands, Hellfire Peninsula | Link | |
How to Paladin XI | May 21, 2007 | Hellfire Ramparts, Blood Furnace | Link | |
How to Paladin XII | May 24, 2007 | Hellfire Peninsula | Link | |
How to Paladin XIII | June 25, 2007 | Zangarmarsh | Link | |
How to Paladin XIV | July 1, 2007 | Undercity, Zangarmarsh, Lower Blackrock Spire | Link | |
How to Paladin XV | July 10, 2007 | Shattrath City, Terokkar Forest, Booty Bay, Eye of the Storm, Zangarmarsh, Stratholme | Link | |
How to Paladin XVI | July 15, 2007 | Silvermoon City, Terokkar Forest, Shattrath City, Nagrand, Slave Pens | Link | |
How to Paladin XVII | July 19, 2007 | Nagrand, Un'Goro Crater, Terokkar Forest, Tanaris, Shattrath City | Link | |
How to Paladin XVIII | July 25, 2007 | Stormwind, Deeprun Tram, Ironforge, Old Hillsbrad Foothills | Link | |
How to Paladin XIX | August 01, 2007 | Shadow Labyrinth, The Steam Vaults, Silvermoon City. Shadowmoon Valley, Terokkar Forest, Shattrath City, The Arcatraz, Shattered Halls | Link | |
How to Paladin XX | August 15, 2007 | Karazhan, Terokkar Forest, Blade's Edge Mountains, Silvermoon City, Shattrath City | Link | |
How to Paladin XXI | September 7, 2007 | Shattrath City, Karazhan, Orgrimmar, Nagrand, Silvermoon City, Darkshore, The Exodar, | Link | |
How to Paladin XXII | September 27th, 2007 | Blade's Edge Mountains, Terokkar Forest, Serpentshrine Cavern, Stratholme | Link | |
How to Paladin XXIII | December 7, 2007 | Link | ||
How to Paladin XXIV | December 11, 2007 | Link | ||
How to Paladin XXV | December 14, 2007 | Link | ||
How to Paladin XXVI | January 30, 2008 | Link |