Enchanting.

[Killachipmunk]

I was wondering about Enchanting, after Touchseed mentioned having a valid reason for glowing weaponry, so I browsed for Lore, as you might, and gasp! I found nothing, so I throw the topic of it open to thee, members of CotH. Starting with my own speculation.

Now, a fair few of us hate glowwy weapons and armour, etc.
But I was thinking, what exactly is Enchanting, we know it improved gear, and adds glowing effects, but how? How do you infuse a weapon with magic?

I was thinking along the lines of powerful magic, the kind that casters use to "buff" things, but with some sort of Elemental "glue" that gives it more staying power. This led me to think that Enchants aren't permanent, and fade/lose power over time. But the more pure and refined the reagents, and the more powerful the Enchanter, the longer your effect manages to stay.

How then, do these things emit fire, frost, etc? Again, I thought that the enchant itself creates some sort of instability, but a controlled one, the energy it harnesses being released as some sort of magical field. This could eventually cause a weapon to become damaged, or break altogether, adding a realistic amount of risk to it.

I apologise if this seems unrealistic, or just plain wrong, but there is so little Lore for this kind of thing, I may as well speculate.

[Tyr]

Well, say there is a permanent glow on the blade of a sword. I'd probably roleplay as if the enchanter "remade" the sword ("remade": heating it and reforming it), and then using a magical hammer (or just magic through him/herself) to smite the magic into the weapon.

It's one theory. And I like it.

[Nostra]

Well, I´ve always thought of it as a weaker form of rune magic, much like the kind the Runemasters use. Glyphs fits into that category as well if you ask me.

[Hogral]

I dont think this is the regular sort of enchanting, but it's the only kind I know the details about, so I'll sum it up:

Azeroth is littered with Ley Lines. At some places they crash, forming fanciful patterns of energy. Each of these patterns have a set of attributes. Runecasters, Inscribers and similar people create patterns on items that's similar to the Ley Patterns, to harness the energy. The thing here is that the Ley Energy relays some power to the pattern out of it's free "will". For that reason the Pattern will never run out of charge, as the Ley Lines constantly recharge and repair the pattern. Carved patterns (runes) in stone and metal are as good as indestructible and everlasting, while painted patterns on pieces of wood and similar last for shorter periods of time (I'm guessing that's because of wood and such being far less enduring than metal).

An example is the lines over Blackrock Mountain, the Pattern of Striking or somesuch. Spellcasters with an item inscribed with that rune will find that the Ley Energies empower the spells they cast, leading to more powerful and effective spells. There's other patterns with other effects spread all over, like the Wetlands, Badlands, Karazhan, Thousand Needles and Stormwind.

While this is an art the dwarves and tauren has just recently started to look into, it's certainly a kind of enchanting. The Enchanting Profession is presumably somehow related to the Arcane, but perhaps this has something to do with the new Inscription profession?

[IronTrooper]

Interesting thread.

I think somewhat as Killachipmunk. Glowing would be for me magic affecting the item, there wouldn't be some huge glow, just some thin layer over weapon enchanted, showing presence of magic enchant over item.

About energy causing would be it likely 'shoots' energy on impact?

Its not unrealistic, good question indeed.

[Hawk]

The only thing I can assume is that they get the essence of frost, fire or whatever (possibly from an Elemental), and they infuse it with something else. Possibly the Arcane, I don't know. I'd also hazard a guess that whatever element is infused with it gives the power to stay strong by repairing itself or renewing.

Just my £0.02.

[Vrahn]

I think I would have to agree with the post Hogral made. Personally I don't find glowing weapons and such to be the problem as much as ludicrously over sized weapons and armour that you could not possibly ever be able to use effectively. It makes sense that you can enchant a weapon and make it glow via magic, but wield a weapon as big as you are...? I don't think so.

[Touchseed]

Blizzard did really overdo the 'Bigger is better' thing. Huge weapons are fine by me, as long as they aren't *that* huge. That huge, being bigger than your own body. You'd need a really good explanation as to how you can carry it around. On another server, for example, I saw a blood-elf prancing around with a very large sword, larger than themselves. I asked him (In role-play, by the way) how he could carry that sword around and I joked by saying he would develop back problems in less than a year. He shrugged it off and ignored me, he said, "I am strong enough."

Funny thing about it, he was a Rogue. And a Blood-Elf, not the best of physical warriors. I'm A-OK with a Dwarf or an Orc and even a Night-Elf carrying around huge weapons. They have the muscle-mass to physically do it, just I hope they realize how problematic that can be. I don't think there's anything to worry about on this server, when it comes to huge weapons.

[Delmure]

Putting too much realism into a fantasy setting can certainly put a damper on things. Sometimes people don't play a fantasy game, or roleplay in one, for the realism factor. Some like the idea of large weapons like that. After all... It's fantasy. Now if one were to fight in a text-battle, I can see it being a problem as to how you distribute the mass of your body evenly without flopping over.

Then again, some would rather not think about that. Some play so that they CAN do that. It's just a preference, an escape from reality, without having to think TOO hard. If you want to point out the "Bigger" thing the WoW developers have going on, why not look at Illidan? Arthas? Any figure of power in WoW is enlarged for some unknown reason. Demons I can understand. But Kel'Thuzad? Darion Mograine, some Death Knight Higher ups, even a forsaken NPC village leader in Dragonblight. He's huge.

Why? Because it gives a more impacting impression. It may not be realistic, but people don't play WoW for realism. Roleplaying was an afterthought for the developers, that's sort of clear. It's good that they're starting to acknowledge that we do exist though, and put in flavor items and areas purely for flavor.

Sorry if I got off-track. As for Enchanting? Well... Infusing a weapon with magic isn't anything new. Trying to find a logical explanation as to do it? I like the Ley Energies thing, that was good. Use-able. I prefer the Rune method, and that method is much more prevalent in WoTLK. Iron Dwarves use it on everything, including themselves. Seeing as they were the original Dwarves (Earthen), I don't really see Runecrafting as being restricted to the evil factions.