Calm Before the Storm

This is pretty much how it is before any expansion, really, because everyone is sick of running Kara and PvP is as unbalanced as Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. The good news is that MMO Champion has all the juicy new details of the beta in case you sold your key, and even better the 3.0 is coming out in mid-October so we'll be in the fun soon enough.

I just hope that feral druids are as awesome as they were when the first expansion came out.

The Goings on of Lightninghoof Today

This is basically how the day turned out. Most of everyone decided to jump on top of the new badge loot vendor on the Isle causing chaos and pandemonium. It even warrented some GM interest, though he just seemed to be running around, shown in this video I captured today:



What you don't see is near the end the brief conversation I had with the GM. Who knew GM's were people to? =P

Of course I did being a former Magic Online Adept I already know the answer, but coming from that background I'd definitely not go and try to be a WoW GM.

Remind you of Anyone?

It's Felicia Day, from The Guild.



Funny, no? If you're looking for the social commentary aspect of this post, its the fact that no matter what one company does, you can't artifically create a viral market. In fact I haven't seen a good one since ilovebees.

Note: watchtheguild.com link is broken until they up thier bandwidth or something.

Alex Albrecht Gets Ganked

Alex Albrecht of Diggnation and Totally Rad Show fame getting ganked on his warlock in Duskwood.





In case you're wondering, its Drazgoul on Executus.

Pic of the ganker in action:

The Cost of Keeping Sanity (on teh Internets)

To be honest, there are to many social circles.

I have Myspace, Livejournal, Blogger (rarely used), stumbleupon (seriously thought that was just a random button on the internet), uh...oh yeah Facebook (cleaner then myspace, can't do as much with it), digg (best news tracking site), and the least of which World of Warcraft forums (sorry, I play WoW). Crap, almost forgot pownce and twitter.

My attention span is divided enough as it is, I just can't keep up with it anymore. And to make matters worse, I've increased my load. I have a *new website called Stormcrow Accident that is a comic using the screenshots of World of Warcraft as my easel. I could draw the comics, but my wit would not show through as well, seeing as I am too much of a perfectionist to put slop like that up there. So I bend the rules and used Blizzard's intellectual property with a program that draws really well with comic bubbles and try to get a few laughs out of the masses. It was intended to create content by making me keep to a schedule because I have a problem with following through on projects.

Needless to say its easier to talk about the internet then make a webcomic, so I should be able to do both more often.

Gaming and Whatnot

Ever since 1up Yours people started harping on Puzzle Quest for the DS, I've been wanting to check it out. Unfortunately theres another unmentionable game that recently came out thats been lookin fun to play.

Its been every pokefan's dream to play wirelessly over great distances, even if they didn't know it yet.

My roommate and I made a 2v2 arena team called No Innocent Victim. Logging with a 14-7 win/loss and a 1600+ rating ain't bad. The sad thing is I've been wanting to level Shaman. Who knows.

Keri was talking up Gears of War and all I could think of was, "that'd be fun after WoW". Pretty much if it wasn't for that game I'd care more about others. Honestly though, I've been having plenty of fun just playing with my real life AND WoW friends. I know it doesn't last forever but I'm along for the ride.

To Explain Away a Phenomenon

Gamers.
For some, this is you. The people who choose to play digital entertainment for the sole reason of having fun, killing your friends, or the simple glory of the high score. For those of you who don't identify, this is not you. Those people are the nerdy, socially closed in people who need a good drink and get laid worse then any other social group out there (including Al Queda). Personally as someone single, and dating, this tag presents a huge problem. While it's simple enough to find someone who doesn't play and meet somehow halfway, that its problematic. Especially for MMO players, non-gamers rarely understand the motivation of playing, let alone be able to explain the expense.

Personally I believe that excessive gaming is a sign of a myraid of mental illness ranging from depression to anxiety problems, I still feel though that its a better outlet then some alternatives like drug use or drinking. If a gamer is willing to go halfway to say, "Hey maybe we do play excessively" isn't it equally important to acknowlegde that the non-gamer likewise does something all encompassing and possibly more destructive.

All of this talk came from a friend of mine's discussion of my playing World of Warcraft (Asad on the http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/ website). While I might play 2-3 hours a day, I'm usually with friends and even having fun doing it.

And in the end, that's what its all about.

Melee Hunters and Being Epically Mounted

The Lone Melee Hunter

Gweryc Halfhand is a hunter with a mission. Forego any notions of being a ranged class and fight right there with your pet, melee style. Now you may ask why anyone would make such a seemingly unsound decision. After all, the game is pretty much drawn out all abilities, weapons, and gear for the hunter for its ranged aspect, its a little understatement to say this is swimming upstream. Stated on his blog, his reasoning:

"For me, World of Warcraft ceased being about pwnage and phat lewtz a very, very long time ago. My monthly subscription rents me a playground, not a bunch of pixellated e-peen enlargers, not a spot as somebody's slave in a raid guild. It's all about fun, and I get a major kick out of pushing the envelope. So I suppose it was really inevitable that I level a 100% pure melee hunter at some point."

On his blog are the various links that circle around what hes trying to do as well as another example, specifically talking about the Naked Troll Project as well as his armory links and forum posts on the official WoW forums.



Whats the Cost of That Mount Again?

Whats funny though is thats not even the strangest WoW news to come from the internets. As reported by Kotaku as well as the Lengendary Thread podcast, a female WoW player offered on Craigslist to have sex for the gold to buy an epic flying mount. In real world value that comes out to $800 USD ($16 per 100g). In an update she had voiced her opinion that, contrary to Kotaku's post, she is not a whore, she and her benifactor both got what they wanted, and were going to see each other the following week. §

On the Eve of Burning Crusade...

Actually, technically, when you read this it will have "hit the streets" as they say. So as I sit here, I'm wondering what's causing this visceral reaction inside me about the game. Yes, the game itself is expensive, but I gotten value from playing my friends in it, no matter where I am, and get to have fun. True, its only one game....but the CDs in the box I have are NOTHING like the game it is today. In true value fashion, about 60% of the game content was added post-purchase of the initial game. For better or for worse, and a lot of testing, the game is relatively balanced where I can't use the same old excuse of "well damnit, I died cause of my character sucks to THAT guy who killed me" and is turning into more like "Uhh....F$%#in lag! Thats Bull$h!t~~"

Something you WoW players might have to realize, is that eventually all things go to the wayside. And this is the warning that starts the armagheddon for World of Warcraft.

I could explain that unless Blizzard Entertainment, and in effect Vivendi Universal, pay the creative people in yachts...the designers will leave. As a wannabe artist myself, I hate doing the same thing exactly the same way for extended periods. The talent, by nature, will change and thus the game won't be the same. But thats not what I'm most worried about. When this change happens, and people decide to move on, I will have realized for some instant how much time I've sunk into the game. Granted I've met people through WoW that I wouldn't've otherwise, and very grateful for that, but the actual characters are NOT forever. And thats kinda sad. I can remember when I came up the name for my first character, going to the show where Azariah's Prayer and In the Face of War were supposed to play. I wrote a lot of things down like Night Elf backwards or Warrior interchanged when I decided something more biblical. But nothing too obvious. Then I remembered the show that I went to way so long ago and the name came up. Azariah. Sure enough, it worked, and the rest as the say became history.

Unless something drastic happens, like the name Azariah frees up, I won't be able to recreate that. I've been thinking about names, and saved a few, but nothing will have as much meaning. It was a cool name too....versitile enough to be shortened to Az and have crazy characters. No, the only thing I can think of is Balhepsi, which is the name of my friends bellydancing troope. And already its been deemed 'ghey', so we'll have to see.

In closing, I'm going to be able to experiance the new content almost for the first time and play with friends in groups just like we've been planning.

And I can't wait. §