True Friend

Fishing Pools and Movie Stars

According to Blizzard:

"There are special fishing pools located throughout the world that allow you to fish up special fish. To fish them you must continue to cast until your fishing bobber lands inside the animated circle. If it is outside, you will not get the special fish. You can fish the pool 4-6 times before the pool is depleted and disappears."

If you haven't seen one of these schools of fish here's one I found in Stranglethorn Vale:

Another day I found this:

It's a pool of "floating debris" which yielded me a few Rumsey Rums.

Gonzo is the new Alliance Race?

This video has some convincing (in quality, although not in content) footage of another "leaked" alliance race (I won't tell you what it is; I'll let you see for yourself). Of course after seeing those chickens, my brain can't get off Gonzo... and they do look like him don't they. Doesn't Blizzard know he's the only one of his kind?

Seriously, though, how awkward would that be if it were true?

Not the smartest place to put a Cannon

So I'm walking up the way to Ironforge and I see this cannon on the side of the path:

And I think "wow, cool." Let's move in close and see what it's pointed at.


.. but I couldn't see anything (that's the view from the back of it). Oh well. I thought maybe it had been placed in the spot specifically aimed at something, but apparently not. And then it struck me.... what if an invading enemy came in and took over that gun?

They're working their way in,... take out the guards... and then commandeer the cannon. So swing that baby around and aim it the other way... what would it point at...? Well - here's the 180 degree angle:

Right smack at the gates of Ironforge. Doh!

Game Card Added

In light of the recent billing fiasco (Accounts set to re-up on April 20 & 21st just plain didn't and then the phone lines to the billing department died. Niiiiiice. Has since been resolved though.), well I figured I should get off my bum and post about my game card.

I had posted previously that by buying a gamecard at Amazon.com you could play for $12.50 a month. I ordered my 60 day Game Cardand added it to my account.

Bottom line - It was Fast and Easy.

Once you log into your account look in the list of links in the upper right hand corner for the "Add a Game Card" link. The instructions there tell you to scratch off the grey strip on the back and type in the code that you find. I liked this feature because that way if I wanted to buy a card off of someone I could verify it had not yet been used if that strip was still there.

Once it's added you get a success message like this:

My 3-month subscription was set to re-up the next day but I added the game card and voila - it posted right away and pushed back the date to charge my card 2 months.

More information about using your game card can be found here at the Blizzard Gamecard Billing Information page.

Killing Yellow Mobs

I have this weird thing where I feel guilty killing yellow mobs. They just stand there and look so innocent, even while you're killing thier best bud right beside them.

p.s. Please bear with me as I perfect the whole "comic" thing. So far I'm still at a failing grade. I want to do one for the comic contest but I just can't get past a mild chuckle (as evidenced above). And that's at best. Oh well, back to the "drawing board."

WoW Tip Parade - Unlearn Professions

I hear this question asked in the general channel a lot:

How do I Unlearn a profession?

It's actually very easy and it's free. You can do it at any time and don't need an NPC to do it. First, hit "k" to bring up your Skills sheet and find the skill you want to unlearn. Click it so that it the details for it show up at the bottom. Here's a picture of what it should look like:

Look for the circle with the slash through it in the detailed section (see arrow above). That's the button you use to unlearn the profession. Click it and you'll get this confirmation in the middle of your screen:
Select "Unlearn" and it's official. You'll see a message describing what you just did in your chat box:

Right after I finish this level...

A funny and cute gaming song:

Or view it on youtube.

Tripod is an Australian Comedy trio. Here's their official website.

Goblin Gallows

I noticed something just outside of Ratchet.

In this picture you see the entrance to Ratchet there on the left and a random little house on the hill on the right. And yes, strangely in front of the house there is a little gallows.

Most interestingly is it's small size. It appears to be meant for the goblins. To check, I had my new shaman stand in one.
He must've thought he was tall enough too because he agreed. Sure enough, the rope is hung too low for someone like him. He could just stand with his feet straddling the hole and suffer no ill fate. So it appears the goblins keep their own law.

Then again, I'm not sure I've ever seen a gnome in Ratchet...

Update 7/19/06:
Just noticed something in Gadgetzan:

Why do we care about E3?

E3, the "Electronic Entertainment Expo," takes place this year from May 10th-12th in Los Angeles. (Convention fact sheet and wikipedia info)

This Entertainment convention is unfortunately off limits to those of us who are not in the industry. But so many of us would love to go to see all the cool products and announcements that are generally released for the first time at this convention. (Some prior announcements.)

In fact, it would be a prime time for Blizzard to announce the Alliance race. Right?

In a quick Google check, a lot of the predictions I've seen about E3 so far have been console focused. (And literally console focused because the buzz is all about the platforms rather than the games.) As a PC Gamer I'd like to know more about what's happening with PC games.

Some predictions: Joystiq, ztgamedomain, ign.com.

For reference, here are last year's (2005) Announcements/Demos:

• BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® SHOWCASES NEW WORLD OF WARCRAFT® PLAYER-VS.-PLAYER CONTENT AT E3


• BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT®UNVEILS KEY NEW STARCRAFT®: GHOST™ FEATURES AT E3

As it happens I will be in Anaheim for a convention May 8th through 10th. So close, yet so far.

Very Cute Kid

How cute is this little guy?:

The post with the Cutest lil' Shaman Ever

p.s. If you're not around Shamans a lot, check out the "Frostshock" Switcher video referred to in this post.

Noblegarden is here... or is it?

This is what happens when you raise the bar. Blizzard holidays are usually kinda fun. And in fact, I rather look forward to them. (According to this poll other players kinda like them too.)

But now... Blizzard's Noblegarden just feels like they're phoning it in. (wowinsider.com also felt "dissappointed," even though they were pleased their "trousers dropped.") It's cute fun, don't get me wrong. It's just not at the caliber we usually see.

Theme
At it's core, Noblegarden seems to be a take off of Easter.

... On this joyous day, it is customary for the nobles and lords from each race to hide coins, candy, and the occasional treasures within special eggs painted to look like wildflowers. These eggs are then scattered around the major cities for the citizenry to find. ...

And it's a great idea. We get to be kids again and find Easter Eggs. The only problem is... they look like this:

Can you see it? This one was at the exit of the undead newbie zone.

I dont' know what I thought; maybe that they'd sparkle or something.

Loot
And this is pretty much what you get:


Actually, according to Allakhazam.com you pretty much get an equal chance at a Candy Bar, a Lollipop or a Chocolate Square. (or if you listen to Thottbot.com you get "a lollipop"). But there also seems to be a 1% chance you might get a part of a Tuxedo or a nice dress. The theming is nice - Dressing up on Easter = the fancy clothes loot.

But hey, what if we took it further? If you show up at the Cathedral of light there could be NPCs milling around (and a priest telling you how you should show up more often). Some of them might serve Matza Ball soup with stat enhancers. Or even cooler, we get a trinket that allows for a free self resurrection (3 day cooldown). Ok, for fear of taking this too far I'll stop. Maybe I know why Blizzard kept this scaled back.

Two good things:

• Noblegarden lasts until May 20th, so it's a nice long event.
• It's accessible to newbie players (generally the eggs are in the zones for levels 1-10).

Ok, one last idea. Let some of the eggs that aren't found turn into rotten eggs that we turn in to Wirt who will show up again with them on Mischief night.

Guards' Reporting for Duty

I was sitting at the Crossroads and saw these two guards cross paths. They just kept walking their route back and forth and it reminded me of the mundaneness of work.

And the funny thing is I'm looking at this and I see a quest I can pick up in the back and it's bugging the crap out of me. I have this compulsion to take every quest in front of me and I can't believe I sat there taking this pic and didn't notice that.

Do you understand the feed that is coming out of my mouth?

(Sorry, I can't resist a chance at snowcloning a movie quote.)

Speaking of getting your information off the internet...

You're either reading this post by (a) coming to this blog directly or (b) reading it through a feedreader.

I highly recommend (b) Reading through a feedreader. That way you can subscribe to the feed for this blog (and many other great feeds) and have them delivered to you at your feedreader rather than having to visit all of your favorite sites every day. Bring the feed mountain to you!

So go out there and create an account with a feed reader. This post from the bloggertips blog has a chart of them at the bottom. (If you can't decide, I recommend bloglines for ease of use (and it's free). Plus if you decide to upgrade later it can export your feed list.)

Recommendations

Check out those blogs on the side of the page to access their feeds. One of my favorite feeds is the one from wowinsider.com.

p.s. I don't know how other bloggers feel about this but if you have a choice between different feeds for the same site, I recommend the "Feedburner" version. The blog writer can customize it ("Add to del.icio.us") and keep it up to date even if they move the hosting location of their blog.

Future MMORPGs

Slightly off-topic - but there are two MMORPGs being worked on (but not ready to release for a while I'm sure) that I wanted to share.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

"...players will personalize their own pirate character and organize with other players to form a pirate crew. Players will then embark on swashbuckling missions to battle both each other and the evil, undead pirates of the high seas in an effort to become the Caribbean's most legendary pirate."

Stargate Worlds

"Stargate Worlds provides players with a form of squad-based ranged combat unique to an MMORPG that will take full advantage of modern and science fiction weaponry, cover, and terrain. We also plan on focusing on non-combat gameplay to allow players a rich crafting and construction experience. The unique game experience will be played with state-of-the art graphics and technology."

p.s. There's also a free trial of the current City of Villains through mmorpg.com. Thanks kotaku.com for the heads up.

Crossing the Streams #4 - Internet

Crossing the Streams - Part 4 of 4: Internet

The internet is definitely the fastest way to get up to date information about World of Warcraft.

There are several sources you might try:

Type	Content	Examples
Player Blogs	Player Experiences	You are here.
Databases	Information/Data/News	Thottbot.com
Community Sites	Player Experiences	livejournal.com
Official Sites	Information/Data/News	worldofwarcraft.com

Find more Player Blogs in the sidebar under the list "WoW Blogs". Databases and other sites are also listed under "WoW Reference."

Crossing the Streams #3 - Podcasts

Crossing the Streams - Part 3 of 4: Sound

I just recently began exploring the world of Podcasts by focusing on World of Warcraft content. But you don't need an iPod to listen to them; any MP3 player (or even Media Player or Quicktime) will do.

There are a lot of podcasts out there but these are two that I've listened to that I thought were worth the time. (Trust me there are those that are not worth your time.)

Recommended:

• Taverncast


• The Instance

In fact, I highly recommend Taverncast. I'm addicted to it now. I've been listening to the shows on my way in to work for the past few weeks. I started at episode one and now I'm up to about 15. A couple of players get together and discuss the game over a pint. Or two. The discussion is usually pretty intelligent and I've learned quite a number of play tactics from listening. On occasion they go off topic but usually it's pretty funny. One reason I may gravitate toward them is a) they aren't big into Raids 24/7/365; b) they're over the age of 18; and c) they reference pop culture the way I do.

Crossing the Streams #2 - Magazines

Crossing the Streams - Part 2 of 4: Print

Next up is Print. It's much more current than television. The World of Warcraft content I've seen is not necessarily tip based, but more peripheral - what's coming (great articles on the Burning Crusade), who's playing, etc... There are two PC Game magazines that I often read that regularly feature World of Warcraft. They are:

Computer Gaming World	PC Gamer

Computer Gaming World (CGW) partners with 1up.com and you can find one of what I consider their "flagship" articles online here: Wage Slaves about Gold Farming in MMOs (with a lot of discussion on WoW). (A truly meaty article including interviews with farmers.)

PC Gamer (pcgamer.com) is interesting because they've decided not to accept any ads from gold farmers. I don't know CGW's stance on that. Also, there's a Burning Crusade article they published in February that I keep hanging around to remind me of what's coming.

The other benefits of reading these magazines include articles about video cards, gaming PCs, etc... Plus I can take a look at all those games I'm telling myself that I am or am not missing (depending on the day) while I'm playing WoW.

Crossing the Streams #1 - Gamer TV

Crossing the Streams - Part 1 of 4: Television (good ol' television).

You can get information about World of Warcraft through television, however, the information has generally shown to be the most stale of the media available.

Determine if you get G4 TV from your cable or satellite service. It's a gamers network. Yup, a whole network all about Gaming.

With shows such as X-Play (reviews), Cinematech (game cut scenes or game play videos) or Cheat! (self explanatory) occasionally you'll see World of Warcraft or your other favorite games featured.

According to my DirecTV schedule on April 14th (10:30 am ET) they'll run the Cheat! Episode they first aired in 2005. I reaaaallly wish they would update this. For such a popular game you would think that there would be more programming or at least up to date programming.

Crossing the Streams - Introduction

How do you get your World of Warcraft info? In a four-part series I will present some alternatives to you including these media (streams):

Television ~

Print ~

Sound ~

Internet

Blizzard Engraved iPod Nano

You may have seen that Blizzard is sponsoring a Comic Contest (Rules, Submission Page). But did you see the kinda cool prize?

"Each month during the Contest one (1) qualified entrant will be chosen by Sponsor to receive a prize package consisting of: One (1) Apple Nano 2GB iPod with an approximate retail value of $199.99; one (1) copy of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy Volume 1 Mangawith an approximate retail value of $9.99; and one (1) copy of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy Volume 2 Mangawith an approximate retail value of $9.99."

But if you don't catch the picture of the iPod you might not see the cool engraving on the back. It's not what we might call "Epic" but it is certainly cool. I'm going to have to read these contest rules and see if I can Photoshop my way into it (since I can't draw to save my life).

And the sooner the better because:

"Original Comics, once submitted, will be considered for all successive monthly prizes during the remainder of the Contest Period."

(The emphasis is mine on both quotes from the contest rules.)

Patch Types

I hadn't seen this yet. It's a Blizzard post that I found linked from a story on the Worldofwarcraft.com home page about today's small patch (1.10.1) .

These are the different types of patches:

To provide better communication with our players, we would like to inform our community about the various methods used to update World of Warcraft. The following are the four major methods of updating the game:

Content patch - The content patch introduces major additions and/or changes to the game, whether in terms of functionality, content, economy, social interaction, or combat. For example, we recently opened up the dungeon Maraudon, as well as adding the priest spell Prayer of Fortitude as part of the same content patch. Content patches require a maintenance period of several hours and are accompanied by a download and patch notes.

Hotfix - A hotfix is a change made to the game deemed critical enough that it cannot be held off until a regular content patch. Hotfixes require only a server-side change with no download and can be implemented with no downtime, or a short restart of the realms. Because there is no download component to a hotfix, there are no downloadable patch notes. Instead, we will announce hotfix information through the forums, the in-game message of the day, and in the Server Alert window on the login screen.

Minor patch - A minor patch is identical to a hotfix, with the exception that a minor patch requires a download and will be accompanied by patch notes.

Localization patch - The game is currently translated into three languages with plans to introduce more. While not often, there are times when we must make changes to text within the game to accommodate the various languages, and this takes the form of a localization patch. Localization patches, when they occur, take place across all language versions of the game and are accompanied by a download and patch notes. Oftentimes, bug fixes will also be included with a localization patch to better utilize the downtime. These bug fixes will be documented in the patch notes as well.

We hope that this information provides more insight to our players regarding the update process, and in the future, we will use this guideline in order to keep our players informed on the World of Warcraft update process.

Direct link to the sticky post.

Happy Dance - Benecast is back!

There are a couple reasons that I'm doing the Happy Dance: This is my 100th Post. Benecast is Back baby! Ok that's it; just those two reasons. My brother came over and told me that newer versions of Benecast work with Patch 1.10 (I downloaded it here from ui.worldofwar.net). So technically it never left; I just needed to update my mods. (Should follow my own advice, eh?)

Seriously, if you're a caster in any way shape or form, you should try out the Benecast mod. Buttons line up under your own portrait as well as near the portrait of your target. If you want to (Ninja) Buff someone it will select the highest available version you have that will work with the level of that player. (No more - "Too High for that Level.")

/dance Trump, /dance!

I paused the TiVo, speechless. Did I just see that?

Did I just see Donald Trump do the Human Female dance from World of Warcraft?

Unpause. Replay. Replay again. Pause.

Yes. Replay, replay, replay, replay.... pause.



Yes, I did just see Trump do the human female dance from World of Warcraft.

Luckily, there are 6 million people on this earth who can appreciate what I just saw. Folks, this post is for you.

Note - I must give great oodles of credit and props to this post from TVgasm.com for the most excellent screen capture which I thought I'd never find (and episode recap).

Uldaman Jones

Luckily, Indiana Joneswas in our party when we went to Uldaman.

Stone Heads

I saw the Dam in a screenshot on the WoW site and it reminded me of Mount Rushmore.

Thank you Wikipedia for the lovely picture of this U.S. National Memorial.

Account Management Page

Just my luck that I pointed you to the Account Management Page and they are suddenly having problems allowing people to log on:

"We're aware of the issue which is causing slow connectivity, and in some cases a complete inability to access the account management page, and are currently working on a resolution. While we don't have an ETA to offer at this time, we will provide an update as soon as more information becomes available."

Source: wowvault.ign.com

2 Free Weeks So Far

Have you been to your account page recently?

I checked mine out while doing the research for the post on how much to pay a month. I took a look at my payment history and realized that so far, Blizzard has given me 14 free days.

Here's what my "Full Payment History" looked like (you can see I'm on the subscription for 3 months at a time):

Glass Half Empty says "Man! How many glitches have they had?"

Glass Half Full says "Hey that's cool they gave me some consideration for the headaches; Sony never did that for us in SWG."

Then there's that little voice in the back of my head that says "OMG you've wasted a year and a half of your life!"

/squelch voice.

Anyway, if you're brave enough to face your little voice here's how you can see the same for yourself: From the World of Warcraft Home Page click on the "Account Management" button in the upper right hand corner. It looks like this:

Maybe while you're there you can decide if your current payment plan is still the best choice for you; it looked like it would be very simple to change.

WoW for $12.50/Month

I finally sat down to confirm a suspicion that I had. It turns out there's a cheaper way to play World of Warcraft. Not by a lot, but hey, it all adds up.

As you may recall from that fateful day you signed up for WoW, you chose to pay in increments of either 1 month, 3 months or 6 months. The longer you signed up for, the cheaper the monthly rate ($14.99, $13.99 and $12.99 respectively).

Well, I noticed that on Amazon.com I could buy a 60 day Game Cardfor $24.99 which is about $12.50/month (free shipping on purchases of $25.00 or more).

Type	Length	Cost/Month
Amazon	2 Months	$12.50
Subscription	6 Months	$12.99
	3 Months	$13.99
	1 Month	$14.99

For only a two month committment I can actually beat the cheapest rate available.
So I ordered a card and I'll let you know how it goes.

(Disclosure - these are affiliate links, which allow me to bring you such beautifully crafted links such as this:)

It's all in the Slo-Mo

Forgive me that it's not directly WoW related but for some weird reason this video had me laughing so hard I was crying.



Or you can view it on the youtube.com website.

Divine Spirit Ninja Buffer!

I finally decided how to spec my priest. She's going to be Discipline. And NO, that's not a typo. I just like the tree because I just recently discovered Wands (+25% to damage), I get +962 armor with Inner Fire and more damage absorption on my Power Word: Shield. Since those fit my play style it works for me.

Anyway, on the trip down the Discipline path I discovered: Divine Spirit.

Now, first off, you must know, I'm a ninja buffer. I enjoy buffing unsuspecting passers by.

So woohoo! that I found this buff. Lasts a nice 30 minutes and it's +17 to spirit. Mmmm, spirit. Unfortunately not everyone benefits from that, so they'll just have to make do with my improved (+30%) Power Word: Fortitude. :)

Now if I can just get myself "Disciplined" enough to get to 40...

It's Not a RUmah!

So if you read this post from wowinsider.com you'll find that there are those that say the Wisps really are the new Alliance Race and that it isn't an April Fool's joke. Because apparently there are posts from BLIZZARD saying It's not a Tumor oops, sorry, I mean... It's not a Rumor.

To that I say:

Treeform: Turns the wisp into a tree for 30 seconds. During this time, spirit is increased by 300. However, the wisp's chance to dodge or parry axes is reduced by 50%.

Update:
4-3-06 Blizzard Posted that the Wisps were part of the April Fools joking:

In a cunning attempt to take April Foolery to a new maximum, the Blizzard Joke Squad™ decided to shake things up this year by posting our jokes slightly ahead of schedule! Well, it was April Fool's day somewhere in the world... We hope you enjoyed our April Fool's events.
BurgerCraft™
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - New Alliance Race: Wisps
World of Warcraft: Evil Patch Notes
The Blizzard Joke Squad™ will see you again next year.

The Burning Crusade Townhall page is back to the "?" Race and the Wisp page has been archived.

Public Service Message for US Gamers - File Taxes & Leap Forward

Ok, so for those of us who play too much and sometimes look up and notice the world seems to have suddenly passed us by - here are a few notes I'd like to slip under your nose (unfortunately these are U.S. focused so my apologies to international readers for a second):

Move Your Clocks forward one hour today if you are in an area that observes daylight savings time

File Your taxes. You have 2 weeks left. You might remember a previous PSA on collecting your tax paperwork and so perhaps your documents are sitting under your keyboard right now. If you need more help check out Consumer Reports' Guide on Taxes or head over to H&R Block or another provider to file them online.

2006-April Events

From the Events Calendar for April:

Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn) April 10 - April 16

Noblegarden April 16 - May 20

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! April 7 - April 10

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! April 21 - April 24

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! April 28 - May 1

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

April Fools Again - Drive Thru Added

I tried it out this morning and just as in real life, it took me 1/2 hour to get my breakfast.