I enjoy the little UI mods far more then the huge Cosmos or Titan mods. There is something about a program
specifically created to remove an annoyance that I find delightful.
How many times have I rezzed and gone
about my merry way, only to realize 5 or 10 minutes later that I forgot to recast my ore finder? It always really
annoys me, because I have no idea how many veins I have missed in that time. FindRemind is a tiny little mod, and all it
does is remind you to recast after a resurrection. A little dialog box pops up, you click Accept, and you never have to
miss another ore vein or herb again.
I have never been a part of a successful guild
merger. I have been involved in three, and in each case the downfall of the guild has been imminent. Why is it that
when two (or more) groups try to combine their resources and members, they fail most of the time?
1.
A guild merger is often a symptom of deeper problems within one or both of the guilds. Guilds
with no problems a far less likely to be interested in mergers than those with lots of discontent among their
members.
2. Officers don't like to give up respect and
privilege. Guild officers earn respect from members. That’s why they are officers. In a guild merger,
some officers are bound to get demoted, and those who aren’t have to earn the respect of a whole new group of
members. That inevitably leads to friction within the larger group.
3.
Play styles and rules are bound to be different. Loot rules…the bane of a
guild’s serenity. Even if members aren’t thrilled with the loot rules that a guild uses, they learn to deal
with them. If a new group comes in and has a different way of determining looting, who gets to lead and go on raids, or
the way that promotion within the guild structure is handled, it leads to accusations of favoritism.
Shadow's Edge has pics of the new AQ armor sets up on their website. I was excited until I
realized that they were reused and they looked rushed and unfinished. Oh well, that's what they look like right now,
and hopefully they will be updated in short order.
I
have played Warriors as my mains since the day the game was released, back when their abilities were seriously bugged.
Execute would drain your rage whether it hit or not, our chance to hit was calculated incorrectly, et cetera. The
boards were flooded with "Fix Wars" posts, and Blizzard fixed us, albeit slowly. It seems to me that there
will always be those who are not content with their class, and if they complain loudly enough, things get fixed. The
polite requests get lost in the wash.
As I was trolling the WoW forums, I came across this thread. The thread
quickly spirals out of focus, but there was an interesting discussion going on in the first few pages. Does Blizz give
preference to the forum loudmouths, and if so, is that a bad thing?
For those of you out there who are serious lore-junkies like myself, the WoW mangas are like giving a sip
of water to a man dying of thirst. There is a little information in them, but it is surrounded by the mediocre writing.
I read the first book of the Sunwell Trilogy with a mix of eagerness and distaste, because the story was interesting and
there was some character development, but the writing style wasn't really what I expected or wanted.
Well,
mediocre or not, I have no choice but to pick up this new one, because I have a problem. Well, they say that admission
is the first step and I'm addicted to WoW lore, so that's why I'll be buying the next book in the Sunwell Trilogy.
Druids are arguably the most versatile
class in WoW, what with their shapechanging and all, and this
video is a perfect example. This 34-man group of druids drop Onyxia, which is a testament to the versatility of the
class. It would be possible for the other hybrid classes, Paladin and Shaman, to do this as well, but I can't see how
any other non-hybrid class could pull this off, unless they were completely maxed out with items. Well done, Druids of
Al'Hakir.
WoW Stratics has released their first iteration of
Way of the Warrior. I have played warriors almost exclusively since release. In fact, I always play warriors in
everything, from Diablo II's barbarian to LARPing as a fighter. Having played warriors in many different forms and in
many different games, I really like warriors in WoW. They aren't the best interpretation of the fighter type that I
have seen, but the importance of their role is undeniable. I prefer the fighter, not as a crowd-control tank, but as a
class which can be relied upon to deal out good, reliable damage all day long. There is an element of that in WoW, but
other classes do that so much better that warriors are not used in this capacity.
Well, Stratics'
Way of the Warrior is a good guide for people just starting the class, and it has a few good builds, but it
doesn't have much endgame usefulness. If you are interested in a detailed breakdown of the different warrior abilities
and ideas for a few good builds, check it out.
Rahul Sood, President of VoodooPC, has rumored that Blizzard
just purchased over 1500 new Opteron servers. If they did so, it is likely that they will be used in conjunction with
the release of the Burning Crusade expansion. Now I really know nothing about servers, but according to the hype, these
bad boys are "the business". It's exciting to see Blizzard making such a large investment in the future of
WoW, and hopefully these new servers will make a noticeable difference.
Apple has released
WoW trailers designed specifically for the Ipod
Video. For those of you lucky enough to own them, these are great for a quick bus ride or a long lunch line. Apple is
allowing you to bring a little piece of WoW with you when you travel, in order to fully submerge all of your existence
in Azeroth (and Kalimdor).
The same trailers are avaliable in larger sizes too, and feature a Burning
Crusade trailer, a Zul'Gurub tour, the old E3 trailer, and the Battlegrounds trailer.
Sluggy Freelance, which is a gem of a
webcomic, has had a short hiatus recently and their filler episodes have all been WoW-related. They are all funny and relevant, but this
particular comic struck a chord with me. The mistyping of Rogue as Rouge is incredibly prevalent, and whenever it
happens I am tempted to correct the individual responsible. I rarely do because I don't want to be "that
guy", but it grates on me nonetheless.
Thank you for this PSA, filler artist Thyla, and may we all take
it to heart.
Blizzard is reopening character creation on 36 realms after determining that they were stable enough that the
influx of population wouldn't significantly change the player experience. They aren't reopening all servers, but this
is a big step towards that. I checked earlier this morning and they weren't open yet, but hopefully by now they are
avaliable to create characters.
Blizzard has put the quest rewards
for the Brood of Nozdormu up on the main site. I for one am very excited, because there is some excellent defense
gear in there for Warriors, to help us reach that elusive 420 defense. Also, the armor from that set looks halfway
cool, a quality which has been somewhat lacking for Warriors lately. This isn't that important on regular servers, but
for those of us on RPPVP servers it helps us to get into character. There isn't much in the way of resistances, but
there are other armor sets for that.
Mosh on the WoW Europe boards has provided
the locations of all 50 coins that need to be gathered at the Lunar Festival. I still need the Stratholme coin and
the Thunder Bluff coin, and those will be tough since I'm trying to solo them all. I'll hopefully be picking those up
later today, and receive the unending adulation that is my due.
How much time do you have to spend on a game to classify is as an addiction? I suspect that the number is different
for each person, but there comes a point for every player where the game starts to intrude on real-life
responsibilities. There are some whose iron will allows them to limit themselves to playing only a few hours a week,
and more power to them. There are also we lucky few whose responsibilities include playing WoW, but for most people
there are very few concrete benefits, aside from those ingame friendships which spring up. When WoW starts to take over
real life, every player faces a decision. Matthew Rorie over at GameSpot was faced
with that tough decision, and he decided to go cold turkey. He's out. Gave all his gold and items away and deleted his
characters.
Let's be real. WoW is really, really fun. It is the most fun I've ever had with a video game. I
love it so much that it is difficult for me to admit to myself that it is pretty much a waste of time, as are most
"leisure" activities. This isn't a problem, since there are no rules that require people to be constantly
productive. However, some people find that "waste" of time abhorrent and quit. This is not to disparage WoW
and it's devoted playerbase, of which I am proud to call myself a member, but it is important to call attention to the
people who start to feel like their lives are slowly being consumed by the game.
Are you addicted to WoW,
and if so, is that a bad thing?
The biggest change is the Priest talent reworking and reset, similar
to the Paladin reset in the last patch. Also, a few of the exciting new armor sets are previewed. Hopefully Warriors
will get an alternative to the current armor sets, if not in sheer power, at least in looks. Also, here's a quick
preview on the quests involved in getting those sets.
The final big change is the addition of weather
effects. Now, I'm not sure why these are being added at all. Thankfully for those of you on lower-end computers you
will be able to turn them off. Latency is sometimes crippling on my mid-level box, especially in cities, and I can't
help but be concerned about how this addition will affect that. Personally, I have never seen weather effects as
something necessary, but apparently there is a vocal group of players who feel that it would enhance their
experience.
Are you in favor of weather effects? What are your thoughts on the other upcoming changes?
I enjoy the little UI mods far more then the huge Cosmos or Titan mods. There is something about a program
specifically created to remove an annoyance that I find delightful.
I have never been a part of a successful guild
merger. I have been involved in three, and in each case the downfall of the guild has been imminent. Why is it that
when two (or more) groups try to combine their resources and members, they fail most of the time?
How much time do you have to spend on a game to classify is as an addiction? I suspect that the number is different
for each person, but there comes a point for every player where the game starts to intrude on real-life
responsibilities. There are some whose iron will allows them to limit themselves to playing only a few hours a week,
and more power to them. There are also we lucky few whose responsibilities include playing WoW, but for most people
there are very few concrete benefits, aside from those ingame friendships which spring up. When WoW starts to take over
real life, every player faces a decision. 
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