I'm sure we've all done it from time to time -- trying to get somewhere new, you've encountered heavy resistance from the locals and died a terrible death. Refusing to give up, you've run back to your corpse and continued on, until you're caught and killed again. Perhaps you thought you'd be smart and run to the spirit healer in your destination zone, far off from where you died, only to tragically see that you've been sent back to the location of the spirit healer closest to your corpse.

This does make traveling through areas high above your level quite the challenge -- as I'm sure they were intended to be. Die, run back, rez a bit further down the road -- then simply wash, rinse, and repeat until you've reached your final destination. However, over at Mania's Arcana, Mania provides us with two tricks that will allow you to do the majority of your traveling as a ghost. The trick? If you die on one continent and then spirit rez in the other (yes, you can ride boats and zepplins as a ghost!), you'll be allowed to rez right where you want to. And, perhaps more conveniently, if you run as a ghost to wherever you wish, disconnect, reconnect, and then try to spirit rez, you'll be allowed to.

Now, both of these little tricks smack of overlooked bugs, as the intended behavior of the game client is clear. But at present it is a working strategy in-game that can be used to more quickly move you from point A to point B.

I can't tell you how many times this has happened, and I'm sure you can all relate. You're in a group, in an instance, and in (or were in at the time) unfamiliar territory. Your group leader gives the command. You, being a good group member, follow the command that you've been given, only to see "wait!" go by just a split second too late as your group leader realizes that they've made a tactical error in judgment. The only problem is that you are already committed, and there is no going back. The next thing you know you're staring the rez angel in the face, and the rest of your team is either screaming in /p or (more often in my experience) howling with laughter in TeamSpeak at your group leader who just happens to be a (now) very embarrassed guild mate.

I think these kinds of stories are really kind of universal in WoW, no matter what language, countries, or other differences we may have separating us. In my case, I've been involved in wipes in places as varied as Wailing Caverns where we jumped in the wrong place, not knowing you needed to clear all of the Scarlet Monetary Cathedral before you pull Mograine, and level aggro jumping off a balcony pulling huge amounts of the dungeon down on us in BRD.

Of course, my personal favorite involved watching a Shaman say "Check this out!" and putting on Water Walking. He then decided it would be cool to run down the river as opposed to the land as a means of showing off. This, in and of itself, was no real big deal. However when he got to the end of the river rather than stopping he apparently completely forgot that he had Water Walking on and decided to take a swan drive over the waterfall. His intent was to just land in the pool below and swim to the side while the rest of the party had to ride down the cliff path in the Hinterlands. The only problem with this is that if you leave Water Walking on, it tends to makes the water react like you've just jumped onto solid ground. Needless to say that Shaman immediately died, and the guild mates he was showing off to still haven't let him live that one down as yet. (And frankly, we probably never will because he never lets us live ours down, either.)

What famous last word situations have you been involved in? Are there any that your guild mates still haven't let you live down? Anything that made you completely howl with laughter when it happened and still makes you chuckle even now? Share your stories!

I love the forums on Tuesdays. That's when you tend to find a lot of really silly and fun threads about the most mundane aspects of the game. Several of them have become "Tuesday topics" on my guild's forums. Most are the most simple things that oftentimes you don't even think about, like this thread from yesterday...

Fortuna from the Zangarmarsh realm started up a thread titled "Top 5 reasons you die in WoW." It made me stop and think, because over the last couple of years, I think I've died just about everywhere, and in a myriad of ways. There was the first time I walked into the Cathedral in Scarlet Monestary when we pulled Mograine before we cleared the whole place. Oops. Then there was the time when I learned that the undead in Stratholme can see through stealth very easily. Not good. But then I got to thinking about the reasons I tend to die, and that was a whole other ball of wax.

Here's what Fortuna's list had to say:

5. Stupid Fel Reavers
4. I didn't know that using a gnomish shrink on Rag was going to do that.
3. It's only a rare mob. How hard can it be?
2. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww1111111113333333333333. O crap.
1. Girlfriend walked into the room nekkid.

I have to admit, 5 and 2 have happened to me too -- a lot! Just for the sake of amusement, my list (across all of my highest characters) comes up something like this:

5. Playing crazy games with my guild mates (there's a post coming on this)
4. Falling off Aldor rise ( I swear, I can be on a flying mount and I'll still run off and miss that elevator. I just don't die anymore.)
3. Mage grinding: *aoe* *aoe* *aoe* *aoe* oom uh...
2. /cast wasteareagent Vanish
1. [ Disconnected from server ]

How about you? If you had to rank the top 5 reasons you tend to die in game, what would they be?

[via the general forums]

Sometimes encounters in WoW leave me with a deep loathing for the entire human race, but other times I'm left with a warm fuzzy feeling towards fellow homines sapientes. Fly-by buffs are still fun to give out and to receive -- I would be lying if I said I didn't buff fellow players in the hope that I will receive similar services back, but I tend to rely on global karma, buffing anyone and everyone who crosses my path.

After being beaten up by a nasty elite roamer (Son of Arugal, I'm looking at you, though Borelgore gets honourable mention) there's nothing nicer than a random resurrection. Standing at the graveyard facing a long and depressing corpse run -- or even a short one -- the magic words "<Player> wants to resurrect you" can do a lot to lift my tortured spirits. The last time it happened, a passing priest dismounted, resurrected me, then rode away before I could thank them properly. Back at the mailbox I sent a present, thinking all that karma -- the similar resurrections I'd done on my alts -- had finally paid off.

Ever had a little act of kindness make your day? Do you like or loathe fly-by buffs and resurrections?