Daily Dose .004 & Midsummer done!

Finally got the Midsummer Event Title lastnight, just had to top off the 100 blossoms (hehe). I think I was in the middle of the pack for finishing it. I highly recommend you fly to all the bonfire locations if not for the achivement but for the gold. Alliance pays 6.5 gold and Horde pays 13.5g each. These can be every day until July 4th as well as the Torch quests at the Capital Cities.

The new forums/website is coming along and much thanks to those who signed up. Froto asked a good question “Now what?” Here’s my short list…

• Add events to the calendar
• Post in the forums items you are looking for (maybe someone can ‘add’ a trade section)
• Talk about how cool Froto’s pet is
• Update our raid/instance progression
• Post in the forums about how you got started in WoW
• Post a “Shout Out”
• Add links to the link page
• Use the “Boss Strat” page and fill it up with useful information
• Point others you know from ingame to the website

I’m still looking for volunteers to help Admin it.

I also added some runs for this coming weekend (ZG, Kara).

Daily Dose of WoW News (Featuring the “Examiner”)

A new BoA (Bind on Account) Chestpiece is coming out with the new patch (3.2). A nice article from Lacy Wilson. My Paladin already has the Shoulders so I’m saving my tokens. Article also mentions this and how your old badges can be exchanged for the new ones. I wish the old-old ones could do the same maybe 2:1– from Burning Crusade- AK has 140 or so…

Guide to the Argent Tournament: by Lacy (again). Speaking of Lacy she looks alot like the chick on Tila Tequila that almost made it to the finals on MTV. Or maybe it’s me and my amusement of the hair styles of Ted Koppel overtaking teens and 20’s…

Lacy also goes into detail about the Argent Dailies, more specifically “Threat from Above”. Very good read and inspirational that I need to get off my T-7.5 @ss and get these done!

WoW.com’s report on the Heirlooms with screenshots.

Andrew Powers of the Examiner also has a few details on the new patch. This one is on a new event called (tentatively since it’s still in testing) Pilgrims Bounty. Sounds interesting, I love new events.  Speaking of…what does Blizzard plan on doing for 2010 when all these current achievements are completed? Assuming they keep them for other people to do– these achievements can be addictive. The only one I didn’t complete was the LOVE FOOL line– so I have to wait another 18 months for the Drake (if it’s still available). I can imagine the ‘fun’ aspect of the R & D department for WoW….

By the way “The Examiner” is an open based website where YOU write the articles and get paid doing so– while th amount is small, if you like to write it’s an excellent venue to get noticed.

Classic TechnoViking

While this has nothing to do with WoW…and is a few years old…it’s still a classic.

Paying attention.

I heal. I’m not outstanding in that role but I try. Most of the times I try…sometimes I don’t pay attention as much as I should. I make mistakes. I’m sorry I let you die but most of the time it’s your own damned fault.

I have no problems admitting mistakes to my guild mates though I do refrain from ‘blaming’ others for wipes, it’s part of the game. Shit happens and you die. But really there is no real (electronically) consequences for dying in WoW. Don’t give me the very lame ass excuse about repair bills. If you are level 80 and doing heroics you seriously need to shut the fuck up about repair bills. You die, you run to your body or wait for a nice person to rez you (even though you should run back). Small price to pay.

When I pug I tend to pay more attention to my healing assignments. Why? Well, if it’s a 25 person raid I am to be invited back. I also don’t want to represent our guild as ‘shitty’ players. I take ones personal reputation seriously – ingame and in real life because in the end your rep and or your experience and interactions with others is all that is remembered. Yes, I’m getting all existential on your ass. So, yeah I pay more attention for those reasons and also I’ve no clue what and how the other 4 or 24 others play.

With my guild I KNOW almost everyone’s nuances, their weakness and strengths. I know Smidgeon will top the threat meter at least twice..and I will be there to heal her once she’s out of ice block. I know Moon’s pet will go aggro crazy and attack a target 100 meters away from the group and she had nothing to do with it. Logtar didn’t get enough sunders down in time on 4 targets so he’s scrambling to get the aggro but he knows it’s too late. Froto can’t bang gongs. These things I know so I get lax in paying attention because my comfort level is that high and I can depend on these people to get us through the instance/quests.

Should I pay more attention to guild runs when I heal?  Yes. Unless theres a really good show on Showtime or A&E. Then I’ll just top you off…

Sign up!

I don’t ask much from my guildies do I ?  No. (lol). I do ask that you go to our new website and sign up. It has nearly everything we need to better communicate, signing up for events when not online, seeing everyones stats, gear, professions and the whole enchilda’s Holmes.

Go HERE!

I am also looking for some people to keep it updated and Admin it. This person(s) should be trust worthy, intelligent, at least 5 ft tall and be online during the day in order to update it. It would also help being somewhat web savvy.

Thanks to Fredler (Xasno) and Nuke for signing up this morning!!!

GuildLaunch

Please, create an account, download add-ons (voluntary) and make this new site active. Use it. Post to it. The features seem very indepth and also looking for our own volunteers to help me manage the site. If interested please post here or see me ingame.

http://theoldschoolguild.guildlaunch.com/

I will add more info and downloads as well as some more customization this week!

Midsummer Fire Festival

This weekend marked the Midsummer Fire Festival – I had done most of these last year but with the new expansion there was some additional spots/ap’s to cover. The very first one we did was taking down the Boss in Slave Pens– last year I pugged it a few times but never got the achievement (70 Elite Boss) but we One-Shot it with Aloea, Froto and Fredler. I got the fantastical looking Scythe from “Ahune, The Frost Lord” The other drops are some caster and tank capes- it’s a “Daily” Boss so each person can take it on per day in your group much like the Headless Horsemen. The loot itself isn’t great since they never updated it from last year so it’s 70 quality but very good 70 items. Take your alts, it’s worth it. Only thing to know on this fight (if your under 80) is when he becomes ‘vulnerable’ to DPS the crap outta him. Especially under 100k.– do not worry about the adds. If your 80…it’s cake. Healers that are 80– simply watch your add aggro as they can pushback your spells. Good luck and get the Achievements!

I hit 4300 last night in Achievement Points just after I logged off– I hope to add another 100 by end of July. These Midsummer events are easy to do but you do have to be methodical to get the “Title” as they require you to do dailies at the Capital Cities – and you will need several hundred to cash in for the ‘outfit’. I got the chest piece and only need the shoulders and shoes. This goes until July 4th– so you should have no problems.

I do have a quick warning if you are ‘searching’ for locations of the bonfires– please ONLY GO TO TRUSTED SITES– I clicked too fast lastnight an went to an unknown site and BOOM! it was trying to download an .exe file– luckily my lightning fast reflexes were able to not have any maliciousware hit my computer. Thing that ‘caught’ me was I searched on GOOGLE and it was the first top HIT on the list, normally this means its a safe bet to click…but no. So please, go to wowwiki, wowhead and the ones you KNOW are safe to visit. Don’t be a foo!

Oh– the boss (Lord Ahune) does drop a pet— which is totally awesome and I wants!Works on both Reg and Heroic. (from what I’ve read)

Dose .004 Friday!

Personal

Summer is definitely here in the Midwest, upper 90’s with index’s of 100+ = WoW Time. Much like the cold winter months, the weather drives me into staying inside the comfort of my 1989 Home and playing more WoW. I did something different last night and played on my Shaman who resides in The Old School Academy. I had logged in verey early yesterday morning to get my ‘dailies’ done with AK and was able to hang/chat with Sokym who also does all of his dailies/chores in the morning– so it freed up my time for the evening (sort of). My shaman is named “Peppercorn” aptly named by my wife about a year ago and remained at 20 for nearly 10 months. Since I’m not a fan of grinding my alts usually stay the same level for months until I get a bug up my @ss, which was lastnight. Shamans are very fun to play, totems are their own pets and having the ability to self heal (and others) makes it easier to level. I made 2 levels lastnight and ran into some new players in Westfall- one named “Ifearyoudie” (Lock) and we teamed up for the Messenger Defias quest lines then flew over to Red Ridge and finished a few there. He’s in Nyghtkill’s guild “We Like It On Top” but decided to not ask about him/others since it fun being a lowbie and unknown. Soon after we downed the big Hog boss his 80 hunter friend took us to Deadmines. “Slopp” was his name and the dood was geared with 7’s and 7.5- not that you need that for anything pre WoTLK but it did mean we were going to have a fast run. When you’ve ran DM at least…100 times, then it’s best to go in as quickly as possible. I passed on all except the Defias Legs and some Linen/Wool to up my First Aid. OF which, to anyone who is new to WoW should always, always level up your First Aid skill coupled with your leveling of your toon. Don’t be one of those who hit’s 80 and goes back. Onward, it was a great time with strangers and meeting new people with the old instances and quests rekindled some lost love of grinding.

PvP Idea

The other night, after killing some Horde who happened to be in my way (rawr) I recalled last winter’s PvP Tournament that former member ‘Ivanvonivan” organized with our sister guild TOSA (The Old School Academy) and it was a pretty successful tournament. OS was outnumbered and in some classes out skilled but over all we prevailed. I had a blast! So…I’m (soon) going to be talking with TOSA, Relavare, The Elite Few & The Order of the Templar about having them select their own representatives. Here’s my initial thoughts.

• Each Guild has their own class representatives up to 2 deep (2 Locks, 2 Hunters) one is back up and for the free for all pvp game.
• Each Guild puts in 250 gold for the prize (I will get this from our guild bank)
• Each Guild has a limit of 20 participants
• Location is the STV Arena
• PvP levels are: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 and 10v10 and the last one being a FFA held 3 times.
• Each guild has designated rezzers who are ‘untouchable’- meaning that no one attacks them while they are rezzing/in arena
• This rule is very important– as we have done this 2 times prior.- ANYONE who jumps down into the arena during a tournament and attacks another and NOT supposed to be there is disqualified and their Guild forefits their 250 gold. If it happens again then the entire guild is DQ’d and then all hell breaks loose and it’s more than likely over. THIS is one of the main reasons why each guilds GM hand picks it’s representatives.
• Rogues– they are not allowed to stealth. Period. As before, we had issues during the fights where Rogues will stealth or Vanish while everyone else dies off. Not this time.
• Buffs, Food Buffs ARE Allowed.
• The FFA or “Last Man Standing” is just as it sounds. ALL guilds jump in the middle and last one standing wins.  However this is done 3 times…as before (again) some guilds pick 2-3 people who get assists from their own guildies and that’s fine–=D
• Spectators MUST follow all the rules, especially the ‘jumping IN and OUT’ rule. So..if I was a GM I wouldn’t invite a loose cannon to this event. lol

That kinda broad strokes the event– tell me what you think! Ideas are more than welcome!  I was planning on holding this event a month from now.

NEWS

• Three, Two and One– articles on a casual gamers time in WoW and quitting WoW… # 3 is the meaning of “I’m Bored” – never heard that before, it seems to me that if you are bored you shouldn’t be playing WoW. In this case it has alternate meanings which for some in our guild is true. “I’m bored” translates to “Let’s go do something as a group!”.  # 2 is “Sweating the Small Stuff” – when bored the writer would solo low level instances, getting rep and earning achievements while at times being overwhelmed with the small trash mobs. And the last #1 is about how fun failure can be and I agree 1000%. The most funnest times I’ve had is when we wipe a few times but we simply don’t care because of situations that happen amongst the group. That’s the beauty of running with your guild, you all are in it for the goal- be it loot, XP or seeing new instances. It all equals the FUN of hanging with your online friends.
• Druids getting a make-over. Next patch or big update and your local Druids will be that much prettier. Honestly I didn’t think they looked half bad…./shrug. They WILL look more individual– details on the WoW Dev site here.

• Parents, Wife, Significant other pestering you about your “Game Time” when a recent study came up with conclusions (via The Atlanta Journal) that it can improve your scientific thinking, motor skills and analytical & critical thinking…Yea, I know. I can just see someone walking into a Hospital answering an Ad- “Hi! I’m Billy Bowers and last night we 1-Shotted KT!– can I be your next heart surgeon!?!? I’m wearing all purples, I manage a 50 person vent and my First Aid skills is capped!”

• The 9Ltd  has losses in it’s quarter for losing it’s WoW License. DUH. Seriously how the fuck can someone let the WoW license and agreement expire? Really? This is company in China who ‘had’ a contract with Blizzard….

• 311 P-Nut Loves his Warcraft…wife..not so much. Lolzer

Daily Dose .003

Lore..what is it? Is it important to you? These questions are posed… to me, it is important for an indepth game brand; WoW, Star Wars, Conan, LoTR etc. It has to be kept true to it’s history for several reasons. One main reason is storyline, keeping inline with Lore or Story with it’s own timeline of events is crucial otherwise what’s the point? Lore also allows the developers to have rules and also create new opportunities and expand on them. Look at the last 2 expansions for WoW– BC and LK…they allow you to go deeper into the Lore and see who is what and what is what. I’m personally more into Star Wars lore and have a few books on it’s comprehensive history from year ZERO. Like in RL, having some background knowledge makes gaming more authentic and have some link of quasi realism to your own fantasies (non-sex of course). As we all know SEX is bad.

From WoWGRrl.com Six Steps for Reducing “Pain” on Raiding– Great, short, article on steps one can use not only in WoW but life in general.

Our recent Guild Recruitment thread on the WoW Forums. Tee Hee, Tee Hee.

Microsoft Sues World of Warcraft Canadian Credit Farmers! True Story – Blame Canada or not?

WOOT! New BG! Check it out for those into PvP   40 v 40. Called “Call of the Crusade” to be introduced in the next patch– small details here as well.

And last dose is how SONY is still green with envy….some poor developer (Ryan Barker )making excuses for his failure (and a lot of others…..) and how WoW’s days are numbered…of course things will end, all things end. Point is with over 11.5 million subscribers at 14.95 a month buys a lot of self preservation. What a marooon…you have the keys to the world’s most amazing franchise “Star Wars”….and you failed. EverQuest rocked until your team decided to neglect the player base- just like SWG. The thing Blizzard does (currently) is it LISTENS to it’s players. It takes critcism and actually cares about fixing issues– I wonder if Ryan Barker has ever read the Patch Notes of WoW….course I could be wrong in my assumptions that Sony Online Entertainment doesn’t care about it’s players. But I’m not.

Choose!

Friday Update!

I logged in briefly lastnight and saw we were running OS, how’d it go? Did we ‘PWN’!?!!! =P Sure hope so! This week has been all Alo time! See, our kids are not in the house so we can actually focus on eachother and speak in fluid complete sentences. It’s amazing really. I love our kids but as those who do have kids (not people who borrow kids, babysit or visit kids) KNOW exactly what I mean. There is a sense of calm both audibly and metaphorically in the house.

Anywhoo– hope the run was a success, I also saw we added 2 more people to the guild and they’re 80! WOOT!  My weekend looks like limited play again as the weather is great, I get my kids back today and well…yeah.

DAILY DOSE

Part 2 (or number 4) article about a writer’s experience in WoW. While a very short read shows a nice aspect of their experiences in WoW. by Tracy Wilson

Shaman Q&A: Very good article on where the devs see the class of Shamans in WoW. I have a Shaman but is super low, 20. I think they fit the “Utility” belt class (Druids and Paladins) in that they can do most everything ingame, whereas say Warriors are 2D (DPS or Tank).

WoW on Wiki: Ever wanted to know the History of WoW?

Laguna Art Museum will be featuring WoW Art and it’s history. Wish I could see this first hand….being a artist myself I love the concept art as well as the trading card game art. I’ve met with a couple of WoW artists and had some prints signed as well. Blizzard does what WotC does (Wizards of the Coast) when they design concepts, they contract out the art to a wide variety of artists. Some are well known but a majority are unknowns and I love that fact that it’s the variety they give to these artists to influence the game.

Porn Star tat’s herself for a Gold Farming Website. LOL. 500k…and here’s a quote from the company paying her “The company feels that the link between porn, the internet, and online gaming is as strong as the pairing of peanut butter and jelly, making this an excellent fit.” Classic indeed.

Peggle in WoW. I was more hoping for Poker…

Oh yes, almost forgot. I will be re-designing the blog as time goes on…into…the EDGE OF NIGHT!

AK

Daily Dose of WoW News

I’m slowly changing the format – more adding more daily content to this blog. My idea, while not new, is to post relative links to the game we all love and loathe. A portal. A touchstone. A whatever. If you have cool news about WoW, please submit them to me via my email  n t knight3 @ y_aHoodotcom. OR simply post a reply (much easier too) with a link and I’ll relink (after reading it of course). I will also be adding a very long (er) blog roll based on WoW sites that are active and updated and it’s content is worth a click.

Daily Dose

News on upcoming Mount Changes: The BIGGEST news is you can have a mount (land) by Level 20. Yes…20 is the new 30 which was the old 40. Does this cheapen the efforts we vets put in, the work, the grinding, blood sweat and gankiness? Yes. It. Does.  (I’m  going to ask the questions and answer them myself here…) Does this make it easier to level? YES– no more walking = time saver. Does this make WoW that much easier and dumbed down? YES, but not more than it already is. Let’s face it, this game is a lot easier in the past 18 months. Why do this? Mass appeal. This game and it’s success is based on several factors, one of which is it’s ease of play and very low learning curve. Just ask anyone who have played various other MMO’s and they will give you a barrage of reasons why this WoW game is for simpletons.

I’m a proud simpleton. While I really don’t care about mounts at level 20, I just hope Blizzard makes the game have some worth to it. Why go thru all the grinding for months on end then have some 9 year old log in on Monday and be 80 by Wed AND have an epic mount? This is what killed SWG.

Latest Patch Notes 3.1.3 While not NEW news, it’s a good link to read while on the pot.

A cool YouTube based 101 on ingame Chat Commands. 

An OOPS Item ingame. I read this a few weeks ago and wondered what would I do in the same situation. I know what most would do. If I could resist the power it wielded I think it would have be like, totally awesome. Like, totally. Course, I’d have to make my own guild so I don’t get all of you banned. Basically, this player recieved a developers item – a chest piece that when activating it’s ability kills everything and I mean everything in ONE SHOT. Yes. ONE.

And the last link for today is a great article about What Casual Gaming (in WoW) is and it’s definitions by Robin Torres. I fit in several categories as do many of our members. I know it’s frustrating to be in this type of guild but it’s the only kind for me.

WoW Roundup

101 on Shadowpriest, a guide of sorts. by Codeshared

Chinese WoW over. No more CCF! I wonder how this will affect the gold around the world, even though most gold comes from Taiwaan…I didn’t see any real explanation for WHY they shut it down. My guess is it was political. Communication being the antithesis of communism in China (mouthful) they decided not to renew the contract. Meh.

Site giving away 500,000 gold contest…..  you register then pick a name for their mascot, if you win you get 500kg. Now you can go buy your entire guild a Haris Pilton Bag! Buy every member an Epic Flyer! or..resell the gold. 😉

Tetris Creator plays WoW (female toon) — I would venture to say that a lot of ‘famous’ people play WoW. Or not. I might play it if I was famous. Or not. I know I would remain anonymous…imagine the tells if you were Zac Effron or Tom Cruise? Imagine HAVING Tom Cruise in your guild and on vent?!? Or not.

5 Things I learned from WoW from an intorvert article.  Cute but I’m still looking for the ‘4’ things.

Last but not least  Mt. Dews 2nd year into WoW foray. Get Horde or Alliance Loot, get registered, be cool, drink the DEW! You can only choose ONE side. No flip floppers.

Laid Back

Twas a laid back weekend in the World of Warcrack. A lot of us logged in Saturday Night at 7pm for Colleens retirement (for now) party at the Beer Garden. Drinking both electronically and physcially ensued, vent was hoppin, we hopped all around Dalaran including a Winters Grasp Bunny Run. Good times.

I spoke with “Bal” from The Order of the Templar yesterday, we are coordinating Raid events with eachother. They recently had some raid issues and are now lacking some fill spots and asked if we would be interested in running with them. They have weekend raids – 25 mans only every Sat and Sun at NOON. If you are interested I need to KNOW. Please email me ingame or post here the name of your toon/spec/stats. I will pass this information along to Bal and his guild. They need ALL classes *not just heals and tanks*. They currently are doing weekly Ulduar 25 man runs, running 2 10m Ulduars. It’s a great opportunity for indivduals to get in on this if you have your weekends open. They have the same Loot rules we do-  simply Roll Class and Main Spec. if no one needs then you can roll Off Spec. They are very fair when it comes to loot…

Deathpool and Dragnort BOTH hit level 80 this weekend CONGRATS!!! It aint EZ leveling toons, it’s rather boring. =P Good Job Fellas!

We also got back Mewfox and have some others recently logging on! Let’s continue to try and recruit new members, 70+…you all know the types of people we like.

Saturday Night Live Guild Party!

Short notice, but…fuggit. We are planning a Beer Garden Dalaran guild party – all friends are invited. Colleen our resident REAL FEMALE (OMGWTFBBQ!) is retiring from WoW and is going to focus on real life (OMGWTFWWOD : “What Would Obama Do).

• Where: Dalaran Beer Garden – if you are under level I will have my lock logged on to summon you. So no excuses about “UmmmIcan’tgoI’mkillingHoggerAndOnlyALevel12”
• When: 7 P.M. Server Time.
• Why: Friendly FareTheWell to Colleen and an excuse to drink ingame and have blurred vision. We also had Nyghtkill leave for another Guild- he said the reason was their “Raid” times fit his schedule and his friends have been bugging him to join them…..
• Who: All guildies and friends. Invite anyone, including Lawman.

Sad to see people quit, move on but that too is part of this game. I talk to Colleen in Facebook quite a bit and know Nyghtkill will be back (most always come back to OS). Hope to see you all Saturday Night!

MOTHER LOVER!

Raising Arizona

I haven’t been on as much. My family issues have taken precedence. I have an 18 year old with an identity crisis. I know a few of you have been through the “just out of High School and I know everything” phase with your kid(s), but this is our first. As such my time in WoW is curbtailed but not my love for the game. I love grouping up with my home slices and cutting the rug on NPC’s. I love listening to Nyghtkill and his annunciations of words in dialect one hears only in movies.

My weekend was busy with family events, taking my son halfway to Omaha to spend a week with his cousin. I will guess he will come back sleep deprived and taller. He’s nearly 6ft tall now if not already and about to be in H.S. I don’t long for our future fights. I don’t. Kids suck in that respect, they maybe little versions and mixtures of their parents but at times it’s like W T F??? are you doing!??!  Maybe it’s my deep seated cynicism. Maybe it’s him or them….but moreover I’m OK with all of this noise. It’s a part of our lives, the tests and tribulations that we go through that makes us…be. My wife is having a hard time of it and we are dealing with the situation as best we can…I’m the bad cop, shes the eternal good cop. lol go figure.

I normally don’t expound about my life on this blog, you don’t really need to know this and that but it’s nice to get it out and in the open from time to time. Writing things like this helps in a small way, I think the big word is cathartic.

My goal of WookieLuv hitting 80 failed but I have valid excuses. (below)

• It’s the SUMMER!!!
• Kids!
• The weather is grrrreat!
• Kids
• House work including gardening, mowing, etc.
• kids…..
• Vacation!!!!

So…there you have it. Nuff said said Stan Lee.