Get the latest Age of Conan news and views at Massively!
Posts with tag alcohol

Well Fed Buff: Spicy Dwarven Cocoa


Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming.

Are you a great adventurer who has been feeling lackluster about your predictable endeavors? Do you find yourself thinking, "my tongue is bored" or "I could have sworn I already killed Moroes multiple times". Have you been feeling the need for adrenaline?

Well, move over Mana Energy Potion. All you need is an ancient dwarven recipe and you'll be up on your toes in no time!

Spicy Dwarven Cocoa combines the spicy and the sweet in this thick, hot beverage that'll grow hair on your tongue. With several different alarm levels, and two or three separate sets of buffs, you won't want to pass up this recipe. User beware: each choice you make with every step and measurement can turn this concoction into anything from an uplifting treat to a fire-breathing dragon with a cherry on top!

Continue reading Well Fed Buff: Spicy Dwarven Cocoa

New Year's Eve in Azeroth


Just in case you aren't headed out to a party this evening, let this serve as your reminder that it's New Year's Eve in Azeroth this evening as well. As usual, there will be hourly fireworks in all the major cities after sunset, free drinks in public areas, and revelers aplenty (make sure to blow them a /kiss). Additionally, while it's not listed on Blizzard's official page, there are two quests available (one for each faction), and tradition says that the guards in Booty Bay will get drunk and pass out, which means PvP is going to be welcome in the neutral port town (usually, attacking someone there will get you beat up).

Wherever you are this evening (in Azeroth or the real world), here's hoping you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve! Thanks for all you've done for us at WoW Insider in 2007, and we'll see you in 2008!

16 year-old girl stalked from WoW to her high school

In today's online world of MySpace and Facebook, the trend seems to be against what the media has been warning the public of for years. Don't mention your name, your school, your town; wait, I meant, please join the "School X" and "Town Y" social groups!

No one wants to feel anxious about their online identity these days. We all want to connect, to play, to share information, to put ourselves on Youtube videos, post photos, and it has even become uncool to be antsy about meeting people you met online.

Unfortunately, regardless of what we'd like to believe, stalking still happens. A high school girl was recently approached at school by a man who crossed borders and travelled hours to find her.

Continue reading 16 year-old girl stalked from WoW to her high school

Brewfest starts at midnight server time!

Trouble is brewing in the forums. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Apparently there has been some miscommunication about the in-game Brewfest event. Even the oft-infallible WoW Insider team has been an accessory to this crime, and for that we humbly apologize. There's been more than a little bit of chatter about it on the forums as well, and Drysc dutifully stepped to the plate and addressed the angry alcohol-deprived mob. (Thankfully, he survived a lynching. This time.)

In my opinion Drysc took more of the blame on Blizzard's behalf than he needed to. The misunderstanding, from my perspective, has all been about verbage. The promotional material I've seen indicated that Brewfest would "go live" today, it didn't say the festival would actually start today. Like the Darkmoon Faire, Blizzard has opted to put a day of setup and teardown at each end of the event to add to roleplay realism. Personally, I think it's a nice touch.

The good news is that the festival actually starts tonight at midnight server time. Be sure to check out Dan's guide to Brewfest festivities and make your way to your faction's Brewfest location!

Forum Necromancy


Forum necromancy (a.k.a. Thread necromancy) is the dark art of resurrecting long-dead forum threads on the official WoW forums by posting something new in them and sending them to the very top of the list. This heinous act is not to be mistaken with a "bump" -- sending a baby thread with trouble attracting viewers' eyeballs back to the top of the list. "Bumping" is no more reprehensible than "grinding" is. But beware those who seek to raise dead topics from the grave! These people are dangerous and Blizzard will punish them.

I have proof! In an ancient era long forgotten -- back in May -- a young dwarf named Grothym asked if his character, after many many in-game alcoholic beverages, could black out or even die from alcohol poisoning. Drysc, the Blizzard Community manager, rightly thought this was a funny suggestion and commented: "I proposed that eventually the screen goes black and you wake up in a random capital city of the opposite faction, but it didn't fly." Then the thread went on for a few more pages and petered out. Aside from a brief stint in July, the thread remained dead until just a few days ago, when some druid with an impossible-to-pronounce name raised this thread from the depths of the forum archives, back onto the front page. No doubt he had been inspired by the Lich King.

Fortunately, Blizzard's Gruul-like defender of the forums smashed this zombie-thread with the following words:
As a rule of thumb, bumping an old discarded thread to the first page is considered to be against the Forum Code of Conduct. While there are indeed exceptions based on the topic and circumstances, in general it is recommended not to post in this manner, as it can lead to suspensions of one's posting privileges.

A good guideline to go by is that if the most recent post in a thread is over a month old then it would be better not to reply to that thread.
Yes. You read that right: suspensions of one's posting privileges for unleashing undeath upon the hapless citizens of the official WoW forums. Beware temptation to turn to the dark side. Post in living threads only.

Raiding under the influence

The response to Monday's breakfast topic got me thinking about drugs, alcohol and WoW. A lot of people said they drink to pass the time while farming in WoW. If you're 21 or whatever the legal drinking age in your country is, that's fine -- at least you're not driving. And as for other substances, well .... we're not the FBI and we're not here to judge or moralize. Generally, it's probably better to play WoW while intoxicated than, say, perform brain surgery or control the country's nuclear arsenal.

But dealing with drugs and alcohol can be tough if you're in a group situation, especially if you're in a raiding guild. There's a thin line between "having a good time" and "wiping the entire group because the suppression room is spinning." I've been in raid groups with extremely drunk or high people, and the result has rarely been good. Sure, there's the odd person who can heal or tank just as well while under the influence, but I've also seen a drunk mage whisper me with "loool im kiting gluths stuff," and heard one too many guildmates explain that they couldn't remember why they quit the guild/insulted the officers/yelled out their phone number in Vent. Pretty entertaining for those of us watching, but for a guild actually trying to make progression, such members can be hard to handle.

The worst I've seen was when I was guilded with a tank with an admitted drug and alcohol problem. He was an excellent tank when he was present and conscious, which is why guilds kept giving him chances. The end of the line for him with our guild was when he was the main tank for Nefarian -- we were just beginning to learn the fight, and the guild leader figured a tank with Will of the Forsaken might make things easier. He did a good job the first try. He did a good job the second try. But after the ten minute break before the third try, he disappeared. He didn't log out or tell anyone he was going AFK -- he just stayed still until he disconnected. Turns out he had taken quite a bit of alcohol and/or cocaine before the raid and had passed out at his computer. Needless to say, he didn't get to tank Nef again (although he did stay in the guild.)

What does your guild do with people who are clearly intoxicated during instances? Do you have a drug-free zone policy during raids, or do you consider it a violation of the person's privacy to tell them what to do in their personal lives?


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (195)
Worldwide Invitational (112)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (48)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (39)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (23)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (45)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (53)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (28)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (34)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (53)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (32)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (57)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (28)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (27)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (65)
(Professions) Insider Trader (65)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (31)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (46)
Hybrid Theory (21)
New Players' Guide (4)
Tank Talk (7)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (92)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (28)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (15)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (541)
Ask A Lore Nerd (11)
Barrens Chat (12)
Know your Lore (60)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (534)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (28)
About the Bloggers (29)
Ask WoW Insider (64)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (744)
Build Shop (35)
Forum Post of the Day (35)
Gamers on the Street (25)
Guildwatch (83)
He Said She Said (5)
Illusionary Tactics (3)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (94)
The Colosseum (1)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (28)
World of WarCrafts (28)
WoW Crossword (3)
WoW Insider Show (73)
WoW Rookie (42)
[1.Local] (15)
Classes
Death Knight (124)
Druid (330)
Hunter (307)
Mage (189)
Paladin (326)
Priest (263)
Rogue (190)
Shaman (298)
Warlock (205)
Warrior (231)
News
Account Security (31)
AddOns (264)
Analysis / Opinion (3333)
Blizzard (1725)
Bugs (223)
Burning Crusade (383)
Contests (238)
Economy (199)
Events (480)
Expansions (685)
Fan stuff (953)
Features (690)
Forums (305)
Guilds (512)
Hardware (47)
Humor (828)
Interviews (173)
Lore (328)
Mounts (149)
News items (1664)
NPCs (222)
Odds and ends (1755)
Patches (1182)
Podcasting (81)
Ranking (56)
Realm News (307)
Realm Status (252)
RP (179)
Rumors (71)
Virtual selves (704)
WoW Insider Business (313)
WoW Social Conventions (160)
WoW TCG (59)
Wrath of the Lich King (532)
Strategy
Achievements (11)
Alts (124)
Arena (279)
Battlegrounds (168)
Bosses (373)
Buffs (136)
Cheats (75)
Classes (346)
Enchants (37)
Factions (173)
Guides (418)
How-tos (430)
Instances (706)
Items (911)
Leveling (316)
Making money (198)
PvP (804)
Quests (386)
Raiding (798)
Talents (171)
Tips (603)
Tricks (236)
Walkthroughs (93)
Media
Comics (89)
Fan art (52)
Galleries (217)
Machinima (620)
Podcasts (54)
Polls (71)
Screenshots (693)
Races
Alliance (125)
Draenei (67)
Dwarves (22)
Gnomes (48)
Human (22)
Night Elves (55)
Horde (126)
Blood Elves (73)
Orcs (32)
Tauren (54)
Trolls (28)
Undead (28)
Professions
Alchemy (85)
Blacksmithing (64)
Cooking (78)
Enchanting (84)
Engineering (114)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (53)
Inscription (20)
Jewelcrafting (90)
Leatherworking (67)
Mining (52)
Skinning (33)
Tailoring (74)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Achievements UI
    World of WarCrafts: Cataclysm's Edge
    Valeera Sanguinar
    New Grim Guzzler content in patch 2.4.3
    Stormwind Docks
    World of WarCrafts: Conjured Picture Frame
    World of WarCrafts: Banner of brutality
    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: