Hard Modes!

Svenn has been working on hard modes a lot lately…sort of…well not so much. While his guild is 7/12 ICC 10 HMs, Svenn has only been raiding 1 night a week (25man), and so has been missing out on all the hard mode goodness. Not one to be left out though, Svenn found an alternate solution to lack of consistent raiding time; Angry Birds!

Angry Birds is an app in which you slingshot birds at pigs in order to “pop” them in retribution for them stealing your eggs. It is a very addictive game (much like WoW), gives achievements (also similar to WoW), and as Svenn recently found out, it has a worldwide ranking system. Having beaten the game for now (it sees periodic releases of new content, again like WoW), he is now engaged in his own version of hard modes; getting 3 stars in every level.

While Angry Birds is nothing like WoW in terms of game play or purpose, it has clear parallels in structure to WoW, a trend we are sure to continue to see crop up over and over again, even in as unlikely places as smart-phone apps.

Game On!

I like “Indian MTV”, Bollywood music videos to be precise. Strange I know, but allow me to explain. My affection for it began while serving in Iraq. To preserve manpower for combat missions we relied heavily on Third Country Nationals (TCNs) to provide various support functions (laundry, mess, etc.), the theory being that the fighting Soldier would then not be tied up doing sustainment tasks. Many of these TCNs were contracted out of Pakistan, some of them worked in the barber shop.

It started out harmlessly enough; I would go every 2 weeks to get my hair cut, it being essential to keep it short due to the heat and the infrequency of showering. While there I would watch whatever they had on their little TV while waiting, namely music videos. As time went by I was lured in by the driving rhythms, the haunting melodies, and of course, the sweet dance moves (described in one particular movie as “screwing in a light bulb with one hand while petting a dog with the other”). Soon I found myself getting a haircut once a week, then stopping in twice a week to have Chai with my new “friends” while getting my fix of “Tanak Tanakta”. I was hooked, and once you’re hooked there is no turning back.

Anyways, what does all that have to do with anything? Well, Codex (Felicia Day) and the rest of The Guild cast have done it again. Their second music video has been released
and…
its…
Awesome!

You can go check it out HERE, I’m sure you’ll get the connection once you do.
Enjoy!

Irrationality

Why do we hate it when something we like becomes popular? When I was younger I was into Indie Rock, particularly the NJ Indie scene. I can remember going to see bands like Thursday, and Saves the Day in basements in New Brunswick and thinking to myself, “Man, these guys are good. They should be on the radio!” I remember sneaking into the Court Tavern, a few blocks from my house, to see E-Town Concrete and thinking “These guys should go on tour!” Yet, when they did in fact “blow-up” I remember thinking, “Man, I can’t believe so-and-so sold out.”

Despite the fact that I thought these bands were good enough to be national, beside the fact that I wanted others to hear them and know how good they were, I was resentful of having to share them out. That popularity must have come at the cost of some compromise, not out of a growing realization and through word of mouth that they were indeed good and deserved recognition. Even when I directly benefited from the explosive growth in popularity (I got my 1st apartment from Midtown band member Rob Hitt when he upgraded to go along with the growing success of his band), I felt somehow cheated out of a special secret that few others knew.

A parallel can be drawn in many ways I think, to WoW. A lot of the griping about the current state of the game grows out of those same root feelings held among the Vanilla generation. When the game was young it was much like an Indie Band, those small circles of folks “in the know” thought to themselves, “Man this is good. People should play this!” As WoW ballooned towards the 11 million subscriber mark, those same folks were left muttering “sell outs!” and pining for the days when they could go see their favorite band for a couple bucks thrown in when they passed the hat in some dimly lit ale soaked basement. They were left wondering what compromise was being made (and I don’t propose there weren’t any compromises along the way) and fearing that they weren’t going to be as special as they used to.

The same can be said about specs. A friend of mine played an Arcane Mage since BC. He swore up and down by the spec and proved he could be every bit the equal of the Fire Mages. Nowadays you can’t go 3 feet without tripping over an Arcane Mage, yet he switched to Rogue because Arcane “sold-out” on him. For myself, Svenn Pally tanked through BC when Pallys were not “real” tanks (Hyjal excepted). Once Wrath issued in the Golden Age of the Tankadin, I too was disgruntled. I switched to an aggressive Prot/Ret build, saw that it was good AND unique and thought “Man people are missing out. They should really try this!” Now, with the ICC buff up to 30% I am seeing more and more adaptations of that build as survivability can safely be traded in for more DPS…sold out again.

So, why do we hate it when something we like becomes popular? I’m not sure. I’m not even entirely positive it a conscious decision, maybe it’s more of a reflex action. In any case, even if the masses invade my inner sanctum of “RetProtadinism”, this time at least, I will try and enjoy the fact that something I am a fan of (read: DPS numbers from a tank) “blew-up”.

Death Penalties

There has been a lot of discussion about death penalties in WoW over the last few weeks. From Rohan to Larisa, Psychochild to Wolfshead it seems everyone has an opinion.

Last week, I had the dubious honor of serving as a panel member on a Military Court-Martial. The trial lasted 4 days and we were sequestered (hence the lack of posts last week). Upon conclusion of closing remarks we were dismissed to the deliberation room to reach a verdict. Our verdict was to consider each individual charge and each separate specification (count) of each charge separately, with a guilty or not guilty determination being made in respect to each. In this way the Plaintiff could be acquitted of some charges, or counts of a charge yet be found guilty of others (not an “all or nothing” proposition). The verdict, once reached and delivered to the court, then determined the sentencing guidelines and deliberation began anew as to what punitive measures would be taken (if at all).

Leaving aside the particulars of the actual case, the plaintiff was found guilty on 5 counts each of 2 separate charges (acquitted on 1 count each of the same charges). The evidence was conclusive, guilt was apparent, all that remained was to determine the fate such a finding warranted. With all the charges piled up against them, one would expect a military panel to hang ‘em out to dry. Rather the opposite occurred; with the guilty verdict delivered, we (the panel) felt the message had been conveyed and so adjudicated the punitive measures rather leniently (at least in terms of maximum allowable sentencing). While there was still a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and allowances for a specified time, and a term of confinement (measured in days not years- to give you an idea), there was nothing career ending or permanently detrimental to the Soldier: a speed bump on the road of life, not a brick wall.

I think the death penalty in WoW should and does function much the same way. The fact that you are a ghost with a bright white screen is the guilty verdict, message conveyed. The time spent on corpse runs (confinement), gold spent on repairs (forfeiture of pay and allowances), and reset of a mob’s health (reduction in rank, relative to the progress you made before you died) is the sentence; punishment enough.

Alt Independence

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one gamer to dissolve the bands which have connected him to one toon and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Azeroth and of Azeroth's God [Blizzard] entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of gamers requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to roll an Alt.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all classes are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of lvl 80.....

That is to say, in a way honoring American Independence Day, a determination has been made as to the next class Svenn will play to 80. There were some technical difficulties involving the poll widget which resulted in a second poll being placed in the field, and thus 2 sets of contradictory polling data were returned. While Mage and Rogue took top honors respectively, the Mage voters were far more vocal in their support (also, I'm pretty sure Inno stacked the Rogue votes).

With a four day weekend for the 4th of July and the added treat of 10% extra XP from the Fire Fest, Koal (Svenn's new Mage, and the only toon thus far to escape the Scandinavian naming convention) shot straight to the fantasy land of Dual-Spec/ Epic Riding goodness and is sitting at level 45 right now.

Leveling has been rather painless (4 deaths total according to the stats page in the achievement menu), fast (holiday quests/ riding at lvl20/ instances as often as the queue will allow), and full of DPS scunion (1k DPS at lvl 38 should be illegal - ty boatloads of heirlooms, AoE, and tanks who pull huge). I'm sure I will have more observations as Koal progresses into higher lvl content, for now Happy belated Independence Day!

World Cup WoW

With the World Cup entered into its final days of the group stages, teams are starting to show their true colors. As Wrath enters its final stage, a parallel can be drawn to guilds showing their true colors. From HC to casual, Svenn has drawn up a handy list to help figure out where your guild stands.
France: Big name stars, big egos. Some of the best players on the realm are found among the ranks of this guild’s raid team which seems destined for success. Unfortunately, while there is no “I” in team, there is a “me” and an abundance of talent all too often translates in to a strong individual sense of entitlement. Raid teams like this seem destined for greatness yet often fall far short of the mark, devolving into e-peen contests. Mutiny against the RL and rage quit often follow and the raid hearths back to Paris, I mean Dal, in disgrace.


Ivory Coast: One man show. This guild’s raid team is built around 1 or 2 key individuals. They shoulder the weight for the under-performers and can make or break the raid. If the Didier Drogba of the guild doesn’t show or has an off day, this raid is headed on a one way trip to wipesville.

United States: Scrappy and surprising. Free of huge expectations, this guild enjoys a moderate level of raiding success. They won’t be on the cutting edge of the raid scene anytime soon, but they continue to make inroads above and beyond what was anticipated. Miraculous 91st minute kills are met with joyous eruptions on vent, and no can take away the excitement or sense of accomplishment they exude on a progression kill, even if they are a month behind the server leaders.

Brazil: The machine. This guild is expected to, and often does, deliver greatness. A perennial contender for server first kills, they are methodic in their raiding. Like a machine, they grind through content, using only the optimal raid compositions and specs; Min-Max is their motto. Their habitual success can breed contempt at times, but insulated deeply in their own raiding culture, it more often results in an elitism that inspires rather than insults.

Germany: Perplexing performances. This guild has all the tools necessary to stand among the best, and the history to ensure continued access to new talent. Even still, they down Lich King with ease yet somehow managing to miss the 11 meter penalty kick on Loot Ship resulting in a troubling wipe. Ups and downs are just part of the game for this proven raid team, and no matter the outcome, they will be among the top performers again next expansion.

Canada: Please and thank you. This guild doesn’t make it to the world stage at all. Its raid team, if you can call it that, is scrapped together from whoever is online at the time. They may not go too far, but you better believe they’ll have fun getting there. Players are polite and the atmosphere enjoyable, progression is best left to the Brazils of the world.

What category does your guild fall into? I'm sure I've left out a few categories, so feel free to make up your own. Who's your team for the cup?

Kauput!

It seems Svenn has done something to break the poll widget. Having heavily edited both the blogger template and the style sheets for individual posts, there is really no way for me to figure out what went wrong (short of some extensive line by line trouble shooting). Needless to say, somehow all my poll attempts now point to a non-existent page so if you want to cast a vote I guess you'll have to leave it in a comment... EDIT: Grayce showed me how to code a poll into the actual post!

poll by twiigs.com

It's times like these that make me seriously consider Wordpress or getting my own domain. If anyone has any experience with either of those I would love to hear your opinions, especially if you have used blogger too.

Vote Rogue or...

the little rogue gets beat some more!...

Weather Forecast

Weather predictions for WoW remain bleak as the massive pre-expansion low pressure front combines with the summertime slump hot air to form widespread dull drums stretching from low lying player bases up into the blogosphere. Extended forecasts are calling for spotty periods of /played with a slim chance of increased activity anytime soon.

Do these depressing reports distress you? Svenn has 3 quick tips to help weather the storm:

1. Alt opportunities. With decreased levels of raiding and the growing sense that gear gained now will be obsolete once Cataclysm hits (and not "needed" to clear anything new), now is the perfect opportunity to dust off that long neglected alt and get to levelin'!

2. Old World exploration. Life is a little slower in Azeroth proper, lack of flying mounts ensures this. The impending cataclysm will change the face of our beloved world forever, zones will be restructured and flying mounts will invade skies once reserved only for flight masters. What better time than now to get out and see a piece of the "Old World" before it is gone forever? Taking advantage of the slower pace of ground travel to visit the far corners of Azeroth might be just the thing you need to relax and recharge after grinding out all those levels, and rep, and gear, and... You may just pick up a little bit of the lore along the way.

3. Connect with Friends. Social interaction is what sets WoW apart from so many console games. However, we tend to place a premium on content and fail to take advantage of that outside of business related (raid/instance/BG/achievement) conversation. With increased queue times and ever shrinking "Bucket Lists", you may just find yourself with a few free moments to scroll through your friends list and reconnect with that awesome tank you ran with back in the day or that guy that hooked you up with some enchants or whomever.

Anyways, Svenn will, yep you guessed it, begin leveling another alt in the near future. A new poll is up on the side bar so make sure to cast your vote -I'm looking at you feed reader crowd ;)

Perspective

If you've read anything that I've written you may notice that I ramble. I'm very busy running about doing who-knows-what at the oddest times. One thing that I am pretty sure that I have in common with all players is the use of the in game mail system. I fight to get through crowds to get to the mail box to send something to an alt or friend that they "need" or picking up my latest auction house purchase. Lately this has been in Dalaran.


Looking a little closer we can notice that there is a little portal that I would imagine would teleport my mail from one mail box to another. Well it seems that I'm seriously mistaken as to this being a special mail teleport. I challenge you to explain why there's no way to mail conjured mage food through the mail system. Oh sure you're going to explain that I've already answered it myself by stating that it's conjured food, but I disagree. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's because of the ravenous birds that support the mail system. Being magicaly bound denizens of the mail system they have a strong affinity to devour any type of mage food. Zoom in just a little closer to the mailbox "portal" and my point is made.


~Inno

Pixel Perception Part Duex, Mid-life Crisis

....So I'm still lost looking for a really good quest zone for my level (remember, I'm a guy and refuse to ask). Then a bolt of lightning strikes. Tanaris! Yes I think I'll see if I've ever done those quests. Thanks to a helpful mage (Thank you Blinx!!!) I get a port to Dalaran (which I set as my home) and subsequently a portal that takes me directly to Tanaris. I make my way to the town and there are tons of shiny gold exclamation marks all over the place to which I greedily accept them. Now these quests I know and I know them well. I bravely ride forward on my SF-COD and begin to destroy all humanoids as though I'm attacking paper mache. BoA armor, enchanted weapons and trinkets make for a very easy questing experience. It's almost to the point where I'm just wishing they'd die when I walk near them since we both know that the outcome is going to be the mob face napping and Innoculated with full health (love those trinkets). Seriously if you're getting annoyed that your stealth isn't off cooldown yet after killing 2-3 mobs then you really need to settle down (I vow to follow this advice soon...maybe...).

So, all throughout Tanaris I'm stealthing, pickpocketing and sinisterly striking fear into mobs to the point that patrolling quest npc's totally refuse to spawn since they know that they don't stand a single chance at survival beyond hiding. Either that or it's all those silly level 80s trying for their loremaster title. I'm now on auto-pilot. I will now go to areas where I know that you get quests no matter your race, gender or particular weapons specialization. Another lovely zone waits for me in the Searing Gorge.

Hello Thorium Brotherhood. I see you have many many quests for me! I take all of these quests and set out to destroy yet another zone of mobs. Hours tick by and one by one I finish quests as they are so very easy. I think I spend more time watching television than I do watching my screen, but that's okay since I'm Innoculated the Invincible Rogue! I think I managed to get into another fun PuG or two as well. By fun I mean that I'm an idiot for not leaving the group as this instance doesn't really offer me any gear and putting up with these morons is not worth it (again all my fault). These guys seem to know everything except how to get from point A to point B. I assume that they're all guys as well since nobody asks for directions and they all ignore me when I tell them where to go. There's never a need to listen to DPS as they're only background noise anyway. Okay not all of the groups were that bad. I was actually in a group that almost made it to the Emperor, but a lock pet refused to stay put and kept aggroing the Emperor to the point of people leaving the group. We were "this" close. But that may or may not be a rambling story for another day.

I finish this fun instance and then finish my remaining quests and head to the Thorium Brotherhood to turn in all of the quests (yep, I finished each and every quest I found!). I am so tired but I can run all of this zone on "auto-pilot". I'm already planning my next move...head back to Tanaris and run on over to Un'goro crater. I am planning on how I'm going to start up the quest line to get that venomhide riding mount and vaguely thinking how that I'm glad that I'm level 50 and in eight short levels that I'll be in quick quest nirvana. Okay make that 10 levels as I'll pick up flying at 60...then it will be really quick. So I commence to turning in my quests and plotting the future of my little hordie rogue. I ride up to the flight master, right click...then I have a really big key indicator that I'd made a terrible mistake. The key indicator would be the fact that a flight point map did not appear. It seemed that the gryphon were so excited to take me somewhere that they flew up into the air and began LOLWTFZOMGPWNing Inno the Invincible. It seems that I can't run fast enough nor does vanish save the day when you run up to the skulled alliance flight master and stab him in the face. Needless to say little hordie Inno did not fare well from my auto-pilot ways. I've learned a lesson to pay a little bit more attention to my surroundings and where I'm actually going to click.

In closing I finally made it to Un'goro crater and began the quest for the venomhide mount. He's a greedy little dino. So about 2.5-3 "days" leveling and I am finished with the level 40-50 slump and should start seeing an increase in my leveling. I will probably queue for random instances as I'm leveling but I might just wait till I'm level 58 and queue for Ramps. Anyway wish me a happy leveling experience as it will probably be over soon.

Pixel Perception and You

...last time we found big Inno spending some time making items for little hordie Inno. So little hordie Inno was transferred to the current server where I reside and has some really useful BoA gear. There's a lot of history to little Inno but I'll only bore you with a minor history lesson. Little Inno is the first toon that I ever played. Things looked so much different back then. I was a new player to WoW and little Inno was a green orc named Innoculate. I did a little bit of PvP and other fun activities. I was so lost to the game. I went online and read many articles about how questing was not as good as grinding to get XP to level therefore I spent time either running to instance portals or grinding on mobs. My friends chose to change servers and factions and asked me to come along. I told them that I didn't really want to play Alliance but I'd give it a try after I completed my current goal of getting my wolf mount. I struggled the next few levels earning gold (grinding mobs for rocks if I recall correctly) to get to level 40 and buy my first mount. Ding level 40 and I've reached my goal. Finally I was able to buy my first mount. I rode recklessly through the woods with the wind on my head (I think my orc was bald or only had a plug or two of hair therefore no "wind in my hair statement). Nice, this is fun. Well I did tell my friends that I'd go over to their new server and start a new account with them.

So I rolled this nightelf rogue and came up with a super original name of Innoculate. Again I started off like I knew how to play and was grinding mobs and doing the occasional instance...blah blah blah, so seven level 80s later there is this looming Cataclysm of summer and some new expansion which are causing blahs to take over my outlook on WoW but along with this comes fond memories of my first toon. I look up my original toon and decide to bring it to my new home. I spend some money to bring Innoculate over to my current server...

...Little hordie Inno suffered some sort of transportation malfunction and is now known as Innoculated and has annoyingly bouncy bloodelf ears.... Armed with a pocketful of nostalgia I log onto little Inno and start pulling in my BoA items. Holy pixels, what the hell is this gear that I'm wearing and why do I have some cloth gear in my bags?

Good thing I did send that BoA stuff over. Okay so I'm playing around, looking for where I should be instancing as a hordie and decide that I'll queue for a battleground while I get my bearings. Okay I'm in Arathi Basin and it's different. I'm on the other side but I can do this. Random /bg chat comes up "lol! noob! lolz @ normal mount". Huh? Okay, what's that mean? Following the group and I'm wondering why everyone is pulling so far away from me... Oh, now I get it I'm the lolz noob. It seems that I'd forgotten that my epic accomplishment those many years ago was to just get a normal run of the mill mount at level 40. I even remember complaining about how much that used to suck. Good news is that today I can easily go buy a new mount without grinding for months to afford the pixels to purchase faster pixels. Strike One.

Now I've got a revved up super fast pink chicken of doom (SF-COD) that bounces around so much it makes the floppy bloodelf ears bearable. I'm very happy to have that SF-COD and here's why. #1 I'm a guy. #2 I'm totally lost. #3 I can't ask for directions and #4 I really hate the 40-50 leveling range. I think that I blank out sections of time when any of my toons had to do this range. My only time not hating it was when I changed off runs with a friend running instances over and over swapping 70s or 80s with our lowbies (Svenn is not that friend, he has some sort of aversion to running instances that aren't at level...well I think he'll run Grayce, but I can't complain about him maintaining some sort of marital harmony). So I end up running around not knowing where my next big quest hub should be for a day or so. While I'm running around like a blue chicken with my head cut off I queue up as DPS (obviously) and try a few randoms. I'm so lost that I get the opportunity to run more than one instance. I'm Inno the rogue and I know how to play my rogue, this should be good. Well I get to run Mara colored runs (btw if you die it's a pain to make your way back if you're me...it's not that I don't know where I'm going, but when everything looks grayish white it's hard to determine if you're going down the purple or orange entrance).

As I stated I know how to play my class but that didn't help out much as the other players did not want to listen to each other nor did they wish to get along. Tanks in healing gear, healers in tanking gear, dps in no gear it was all super exciting stuff. I encountered a few groups that put a little faith back in humanity, but only a little as most groups were a quick run to get the random dungeon "quest" finished so they can get that bag of loot at the end. I did encounter a very funny group at a higher level and will post that pic here as there was some sort of CoT time-warp thing that happened. Regardless of whether the few randoms were good players or not I was miffed. Not at the players as I only have myself to blame if I hang out with people that are making me miserable...but at my rogue tool-kit.
I'm up in the air on whether I think it's a good idea to play another toon of the same class as you've already leveled. A plus side is that you know what you're doing (unless you're a raidtard, but I haven't encountered tons of those at this level...they might have 80s but that can't pull the same silly antics). You can control your character and you are very familiar with the ins and outs of your class. The down side is that I DO know my character class...at level 80...not so much at level 40. I have the fisher-price tool belt of tools to use right now. They're not what I'm used to. I get annoyed when something isn't working as I expected since I KNOW what it's supposed to do. Wrong! What do you mean there's not a silence effect to my garrote? Why am I even stealthing then? I'm just a Sinister Strike button masher (I'm still recovering from bear tanking carpal tunnel). I might need to Vanish if I somehow jump threat (it's difficult at times to quickly change targets to focus on what the tank is hitting, but I do try. I refuse to do a tankonlyfocustargetstartattacksinisterstrike macro. Well that and the fact that I did mention that I hate this level range and I wasn't all that excited about the gear that I had from my former newbie rogue days. (Quick note: Speaking of gear, it's very OP to go into an instance at proper level with a group that's in some sort of BoA gear. It feels like cheating too, but I approve anyway). I am begining to wonder if I should have even picked this toon back up. Maybe I should have just kept the fond memories. Oh well I'll continue trying to find quest hubs somewhere around. I think there might be something in Feralas or some such place....

A little help from my friends

Its no secret that Svenn needs some motivation from time to time, and lately it seems the WoW community in general could use a bit as well. From a slew of bloggers shutting down shop to Guild runs (with plenty of progression yet to be accomplished) needing to PuG out a few spots to fill, from the arrival of summer to the pending arrival of Cataclysm, things seem to be slowing down and thinning out. The Misadventures has not been immune to these effects, and it has become clear that with a new baby and a full plate of visitors scheduled for the summer (why does no one come visit Svenn in the winter....oh wait, its -20 in Alaska), Svenn needs some help.

While he could make use of exciting opportunities such as this offer from Katie in all its generic glory...

to: cptsvenn@gmail.com
date: Tue, May 25, 2010 at 12:17 AM
subject: Guest post for your blog
mailed-by d.ss37.on9mail.com
signed-by ss37.on9mail.com
hide details May 25 (8 days ago)

Hello,
Having looked at your site and enjoyed it's content, I am contacting you because the published articles are well written, informative and hit the quality levels that we aim our service at. I particularly enjoyed the variety of blogs and I would like to do a related guest post for your site. We offer free, high quality webcontent in exchange for posting a link on you site. This free, bespoke post would usually be around 500 words in length and normally come with a picture, however we will of course work to your requirements - if you do not like the article we write for you just send it back to us. All we ask for in return is that you allow us to include a link to one of our websites in or under the body of the text. We will pay you 30 € for posting the article with the link on your site. We will deliver to you:High quality copy from an experienced writerUnique content
An article directly related to your site/blogIf you are interested in us supplying you with a free high quality article for your blog or if you have any questions or queries please email me using this address or you can call me on +[removed]

I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Katie

A far better, far less generic offer has come along.

Meet Inno. You have seen him around here before, maybe dressed as a cow, or perhaps masquerading as sad chicken. Anyways, not only has Inno volunteered his time and talent to keep things going here at The Misadventures, but he has also come up some interesting ways ways to help fight the WoW blahs that seem to be plaguing so many of us these days.

Welcome to the team, can't wait to see what you have in-store for us.....Rogues posting on a Pally site, what will become of us!?! :)

Beta Testing Buddies

Svenn and Inno have been Beta Testing the new Remote Auction House for about a week now. Here are some initial thoughts….

We have compiled a selection of the various screens and functions available to the user through the remote AH interface (click the image below to enlarge). Each menu or function in the below picture has a number in the upper left corner which corresponds to the same numbered paragraph of the walkthrough (for ease of viewing and reduce the amount of real-estate which would otherwise be used posting multiple separate screenies).

Walkthrough:
The graphic interface is pretty intuitive and as such, easy to use.
1. Enabling the Remote AH function adds an additional option to your menu (highlighted).
2. Toggeling the Auction House button brings you to the Remote Auction House. Here your AH menu options are listed as well as the option to choose your faction AH or the Neutral AH.
3. At the create Auction screen you have the option to draw items from your bank, bags, and mailbox to post on the AH. Note: you cannot access your guildbank so, items you wish to post from your gbank will need to be moved into your bags/ personal bank (mailing them to yourself also works).
4. Sold Auctions screen, collect your lootz!
5. My Auctions allows for easy navigation through your auctions. The Ended Auctions option enables you to easily repost expired auctions while remembering your last listing prices.
6. Character Selection Screen; I have included this simply because, by changing your “main” on this screen, you can post auctions from any of your characters (as well as viewing how much gold you have on each character).

Viewpoints:
Svenn. While the Remote AH is fun to play around on, I’m not sure it will be worth paying for the premium service. I don’t do enough AH business to justify the added expense, and anyone with an industry probably needs to log-in to craft anyway. (Also, as of this beta, there are no batch posting or scan functions which most players with industry find invaluable; understanding that those functions are provided in-game through 3rd party addons.) Given the general pushback from the WoW community at large to RMT and the increasing capitalization of the game, Blizzard would do well to extend the 25 free transactions from the beta test to all accounts while also offering the pay-for-premium service with unlimited transactions to those hardcore AH enthusiasts. In this way, they can avoid appearing overly greedy while still increasing revenue. That being said, this beta has been a great way for Svenn to catch up on all those pesky banking chores that keep piling up without having to dedicate time to sit down at a computer to log in.

Inno. What do I like about this app? Instantly claiming gold from your mailbox. Gone are the days of opening each and every delivery in your mailbox (I don’t run postal). You can post from your chosen toon no matter where you are logged. Items can be posted from your bags, bank, and even items sitting in your mail. This has come in handy for me as I am leveling a new hordie (my other toons are alliance). I can stop in the middle of nowhere and log off, post all the items in my bags that I don’t need to the AH, then log back in and continue my grind.

Another way this has been helpful is by allowing me to log out at a quest giver if they require some sort of “white” item. “No sir, I cannot hand you 15 silk cloth through the outhouse door…all these mobs only drop mageweave…” A quick log out and I’ve purchased 15 silk cloth from the AH that are instantly available when I log back in.

What don’t I like about this app? I don’t like the interface to select your toon that will utilize the Remote AH. Initially I kept getting an armory error (My alliance banker is a level 3 character.) It wasn’t until I came home from work one day when my 10 year old son said, “Hey Dad, here’s how you can select Zombiecat”. This was of course followed by a “No you can’t!” to which he said, “No, look. Here, I’ll show you” (see Step 6 above). Glad I had my 10 year old around to show an old man how it’s done or I wouldn’t have tried this app out :)

Monday Montage: Moose!

Awhile back Svenn used to do a Monday Montage. Due to busyness, distraction, laziness...pick an adjective, he let that slip by the wayside. Anyways, while this may not be a regular feature again, and has absolutely nothing to do with WoW, it is way to cool not to share. A no-kidding ~1100 lb-ish Moose, calved not 1 but 2 calfs IN MY BACK-YARD!!1! For realsies! She is still there, honest (guess she feels safe what with the new baby vibe being thrown off strongly from our house at the moment). Screenshot or it didn't happen! kk:)

Moma and Baby.

Awwww.

Two baby moose..mooses? moosen?

Photos Credit: Grayce, who at great personal risk to herself, climbed atop our compost heap to get a better vantage (approx. 10-15 meters away from the moose!).

EDIT: Thanks to our cat Peavey, who alerted us to the rather large moose in the backyard (guess he figured it was too big for even a hunter of his skill to take down). I'm sure we would have noticed eventually, but his ever watchful prowling made sure Grayce had time to get some photos right after the birth...pretty amazing.

A Quiet Moment

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Yipes! Things at work have finally slowed down, the snow is finally off the ground, and Finn finally made his long awaited appearance!

Late nights raiding have been replaced with late night feedings, daily dungeons replaced with diapers, and writing blog posts replaced with writing shopping lists. Anyways, it is awesome being a Dad yet again and with a few more spare moments gained each day as Finn starts sleeping more, Svenn will be getting back into the swing of things again here at the Misadventures...if there is anyone left reading. Thankfully, Inno has been kind enough to provide some post(s) to help get the ball rolling again, so look for that in the near future :)

Friday Fun

Grayce finally got her "Mechano-Hog"....

Biker Babe Alert!!!

(Thanks Fey for hooking it up)

Exclusivity

Svenn’s departure from FIST has sparked some interesting discussion on the topic of the “all or nothing” policy in FIST. While he is no longer a participant in that forum, it is of extreme interest to him. There are arguments of merit on both sides of the aisle.

Pros:
1. Avoids the whole “divided loyalties” quandary.
2. There are no schedule conflicts (in-game anyways) with runs from 2 different guilds be scheduled on top of each other.
3. If you are on, you can see gchat- if you can see gchat, you can participate in more spur of the moment guild events.

Cons:
1. If the guild can’t provide what you are looking for, either because of time, size, or ability you are forced to either PuG, pick up and leave, or change what you are looking to do.
2. Outside interaction is limited to mainly PuGs- not the greatest representative cross-section of humanity, which leads to a sort of blindness often seen in isolationists.
3. It encourages guild migration which increases turnover and “gear exodus”. As people develop different wants and needs, (real or perceived) which the guild can’t meet, they leave taking their gear, their toons, and their knowledge with them.

In respects to divided loyalties: I am a member of various different professional organizations, as well as a husband and father, member of social groups, belong to a church, and have a job. As a member I have a say in all of these organizations and can work to de-conflict schedules and planned events in advance. When conflicting obligations arise, and they will, I can make a decision based on an order of priority, convenience, or arbitrarily, whichever I see fit. These decisions rarely have much to do with loyalty (I’m loyal to all of them- else I wouldn’t be in them), but rather have to do with outside factors and usually a compromise can be worked out. With the all or nothing approach, there are no compromises and I guess in the end, that’s the point.

This is NOT an open invitation to bash on FIST; I am still very much connected to the guild and would like to remain so if possible. I am however, interested in what others have to say about the “all in/ all out” policy. I am quite sure I am far too close to the problem to weigh all the factors impartially. I know I am missing some piece(s) of the equation, but I hope for my part- this policy changes (as my friend's guild has no such policy).

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Has it been a week since my last post already? Much has happened since March 12 (the last time I posted apparently), and I will bore you now with all of it :)

There have been some radical changes going lately, from Tam’s gquit, to Gelvon’s newest experiment, to Vid’s stunning transformation of her Dranaei into something a bit toothier; and Svenn has been no exception. Over the course of the last month I have transformed from “I must tank on everything including my hunter and warlock guy” to “I have teh epic healz guy”. While this change has come naturally and easily to me, it was a small change compared to what transpired along with it…

Svenn has left FIST :( To understand this decision and the process behind it, you have to understand the guild. In FIST it’s all or nothing; there are no half measures so if one lvl 80 goes they all go (this does not apply to lowbie alts outside the guild/ 80s on other servers/faction, just Alliance 80s on EI). It was an extremely difficult decision to make as I really only wanted to move the tree into a friends raiding guild to help out her healer situation, but I understood the rule; FIST deserves complete dedication from its members. I had put so much into the guild, posted countless articles and responses on the guild forums, and even featured various guildies in “spotlights” here on the Misadventures so the parting was necessarily difficult.

As I really like the people that make up FIST, it was equally agonizing on that front as well. FIST was so much more than a “project” that I had worked hard on. It was(is) a network of friends with whom I connected; shared the mundaneness of day to day life as well as the exceptional events of promotions, new babies, etc. To further complicate things, Grayce, Shaara, and Acima (wife, sister, and bro-in-law respectively) are staying in the guild- and why not, it is a great place to be!

I have tried to make as graceful an exit as possible. I have family and friends there that I want to continue to have fun. I want the guild to continue to thrive and, should one day down the road, should a decision be reached which would allow Svenn and his army of Alts back in- I won’t hesitate to jump at the chance to regain my tags.

Grayce has been incredibly supportive in my decision. We have been in different guilds before, but it has been awhile since we weren’t both reading the same green chat. I think she is more disappointed than she lets on, but at the same time she understands my reasons. Of course we still run things together so I can stay connected to FIST through her- that helps a lot.

I still can’t help but feel I have let some folks down, hurt some feelings, and not affected as smooth an exit as I would have liked. Things moved pretty quickly, forcing a decision that was months in the making into the open in a matter of a few days. As one of my fellow officers (former fellow officer now I suppose) pointed out to me though, “It’s OK Grayce is who we wanted anyways.” While that may seem harsh to an outsider, it is emblematic of the character of FIST- not harsh but rather, enduring. FIST was in existence long before Svenn got there and will persist long after Svenn is forgotten, and it will deal with the rough patches with the good spirits and humor that that comment was intended (at least I hope it was humor :).

Gear Score Lamentations

Yes this is another gear score rant. Like so many others out there, Svenn decries gear score as one of the pervading evils of our time. His reasoning however, differs some from the main complaints- it doesn’t tell you if they can play or not, if they are specced/ gemmed wrong, etc. Those are all true, but that is not what Svenn has a problem with.

In a time before gear score, Svenn assumed that if he performed poorly on the meters he needed more gear. Likewise, he assumed as much of others as well. Occasionally he would inspect other toons to see just what their gear was like to help explain an especially bad performance, but by and large, he too accepted that performance was a function of gear.
Gear score shatters that illusion. There is no way to hide from the little popup box with numbers, be they Red, Orange, Purple, or Blue. Sure Svenn could uninstall the addon, but others would still run it, others who may not be as considerate in their feedback.

The true tragedy is not the mindless “LFM Uld10 must have 5k gear score” spam (though it is completely stupid). No, it lies in the good players who manage their way into a raid with a low gear score, outperform everyone else there relative to their gear score, yet get no recognition. It lies in the quantification of a toon’s worth based on a sum of items assigned values arbitrarily according to lvl. It lies in the loss of innocence we once had, and assigning everyone the benefit of the doubt. That being said…

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Mr. Awesome DK lolz Tank,
Thanks for bailing on my group because the gear scores were to low. I would have been the best heals you ever had. The 3.5k gearscore hunter in some ToC/craftable epics and quest blues (Hanka) does ~3K DPS! We finished the run in 16minutes with the next tank in the que. Everyone to include the healer (me) did over 1.5K DPS. I hope your next run went smoothly and took less than a 60 seconds, considering your 15 minute deserter debuff.

With Bubbles and Renews,
Ottar

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Penance is for DPSing and last minute saves when I tab back in from /4chan. Silly tank :)