Other Starcraft II Effects

So I am sure many of you have noticed some of these effects, which have happened since Starcraft II has come out, but I urge you all to take advantage of them because who knows how long they will last.

Wintergrasp: On Llane horde has been winning the battle at least twice as often as they have been. This is a great chance to get kills, honor, and of course VoA in. Of course on some servers the opposite might be the case for you. If that is case you have to plan out how you are going to accomplish all the tasks above with less time to do so.

Battlegrounds: I haven't gone in to test it, but a lot of the standard players will not be there meaning the frustration level may be higher than normal.

Gems: The supply has stayed the same, but the price has gone up by a significant amount. This is probably do to the fact that the gem sellers don't have the competition of the random undercuts and still have the supply to deal with the current market demand.

Enchanting Mats: Prices have gone up, but supply has gone down by a large amount. With less people on WoW the huge influx of enchanting mats is seen through not as many randoms being run. I urge anyone to take advantage of this as you can sell these mats for, at times, triple the current worth. I have a feeling this weekend a couple could even get to 4 to 5 times the normal price, most likely dream shards.

Saronites: Price has gone up by a large margin, but keep in mind the demand is much less. So don't use all your frost badges expecting to make a huge profit because you might be stuck with them since not enough people will actually want them.

Others AH Items: There are many other things that supply and demand is off for at the moment so take a look through the AH and see what is going on. Keep in mind also when you post things the buyer base is not going to be as high so over posting is going to cost you a lot more.

Leveling Professions: Horrible time to do so. Mats are overpriced and not being farmed as much as they normally are. This means the time invested and gold invested is going to make it not worth the hassle.

For The Horde: Gauss won't be running this on the weekend because of the lack of people and maybe more so because I will be playing Starcraft II.

So those are just some things to keep in mind and take advantage of if you can. Things won't get back to exactly how they were obviously, but the longer Starcraft II is out the less of an impact things like this will have.

Your Favourite Boss Quotes

So as I realized I forgot to give a topic for this week's Reader post I have decided to take all the feedback I got from the favourite boss quotes in wrath to compile what others favourite quotes from boss have been over the years. This will basically show all of you who decide to not play with your sound on what you are indeed missing.

"WHAT" -Uther the Lightbringer CoS

"Glad you could make it Uther" -Arthas CoS

"Did you honestly think an agent of the Lich King would be bested on the field of your pathetic little tournament?" -The Black Knight ToC

"Trifling Gnome, your arrogance will be your undoing" -Lord Jaraxxus ToC

"My cup runeth over" -Valanar ICC

"Patchwork want to play" -Patchwork Naxx

"Rise my soldiers. Rise and fight once more" -Noth Naxx

"No!!! A curse upon you, interlopers! The armies of the Lich King will hunt you down. You will not escape your fate..." -Kel'thuzad Naxx

"Choke on your suffering" -Marwyn HoR

"Despair...so delicious" -Falric HoR

"What hope do you have, brazing blinding into my domain, to employ magic, against me?" -Malygos EoE

"I have such fascinating things to show you" -Nexus Prince MT

"SCURRY" -Gruul GL

"The Menagerie is for guests only" -Curator Kara

"I SPIT ON DA HORDE!" -Zul'jin ZA

"I will crush your delusions of grandeur" -High Astromancer Solarain TK

"You have won... Maiev... But the huntress... is nothing... without the hunt... You... are nothing... without... me..." -Illidan BT

"I wasn't finished..." -Mother BT

"TASTE THE FLAMES OF SULFURON" -Ragnaros MC

"BY FIRE BE PURGED" -Ragnaros MC

"Forgive me, [Name], your death only adds to my failure." -Vael BWL

"Let the games begin!" -Nefarian BWL

"Your friends will abandon you" -C'thun AQ40

"Pride heralds the end of your world! Come, mortals, face the wrath of the soul flayer!" -Hakkar ZG

"Fools...kill the one in the dress" -Rend UBRS

"It puts the tanin in the basket or else it gets the mallet again!" -Bushwacker DM North

"At your side my lady" -Mograine SM Cath

"Arise, my champion" -Whitemane SM Cath

And that was all the ones I had not previously said. To all you people who leave your sound off for some weird reason you see now what you have been missing. Enjoy your weekend all, in Canada this is exactly a long weekend!

85% Effort

Something that has angered me a lot lately is raiders attitude that things will just get done themselves, and therefore lack of effort. I don't know if this is the end of a expansion type of attitude or what. What I am getting at is hard modes are in fact different than normal encounters. Obviously they are hard modes right? The problem with the current design is many people have done the normal mode so many times that seeing the same boss they just do the same things. Which in the past this didn't seem to be much of a problem. To get people to switch, stop, move etc. Now there are people, different ones each night, that seem to be letting things slide. Not preforming how they should or can be in order to get that next hard mode boss down.

You see I know after killing the Lich King people have this sense of accomplishment, which to me is the problem that didn't exist in previous tiers. It is of course called Wrath of the Lich King. So the "I'm done" attitude seems to exist. Raiders I guess are not trying as hard every night, I don't know exactly. To me I guess the only way to have fixed this would have been to have hard modes available from the get go. Then the boss wouldn't have been done on normal so many times in the first place.

The problems that happen when people take this attitude is the ones doing what they can that night take offense. Of course, they should they want to be successful and don't want so and so to ruin it for them. I guess this would be a problem for guilds who are even just doing the same bosses every night with no luck pushing new stuff. Same old stuff just gets boring I guess.

Maybe cutting raiding back a day or two might get people more fresh, but who knows. Anyone else see this going around and wondering what to do about it?

Top Quotes From Wrath

So recently since we have seen all the content currently available in Wrath I have been asked about my favourite boss quotes from this expansion. So I have decided to list them and why I thought they were good in my eyes. Let's make it a top 10.

10)Captain Falric: "Men, women and children... None were spared the master's wrath. Your death will be no different"

This quote to me even though it wasn't in a raid still has everything that you wanted in a great and memorable quote. This basically tells us that no one is safe from the Lich King and nothing will stop him until his plans are fulfilled.

9)Malygos: "I AM THE SPELLWEAVER, MY POWER IS INFINITE"

This is first time we were facing a dragon aspect head on. Myself being a lore guy really thought about how this would effect us later on in the game. Here we are killing the protector and the defender of magic. Maybe he was right in that we were going to far? I guess only time will tell.

8)Stormcaller Brundir: "Whether the world's greatest gnats or the world's greatest heroes, you're still only mortal!"

I just love this quote. Sure there are so many more Lore type quotes from the iron council fight which you would think I would be more into, but really this one is just awesome.

7)Deathbringer Saurfang: "Your soul will find no redemption here"

This basically calls to the fact as to why you are in Icecrown in the first place. Is it a winning battle, one you can win? I also enjoy his "you are nothing" quote as well for the same reason. Interesting also is that he says these when you are killed.

6)Sartharion: "This pathetic siege ends now!"

He says this at 10%. When you were doing three drakes when it was the thing to do. This really was your "oh shit" moment when adds where coming like crazy and trying to burn the boss and hope there was enough people alive to get the job done. In fact doing 3D for the first was quite an encounter when it first came out, which really does make me sad seeing all these zergs happening. But I will forever remember how crazy and nuts the fight used to be.

5)Rhonin: "It is up to each of us to prove this is a world worth saving...that our lives.. our lives are worth living"

This entire speech is something pretty epic in terms of lore. Ulduar was an instance that was extremely well designed and well thought out. It was filled with things everyone wanted. This was the official end to all of that, and a great end it was. Every time someone kills Algalon and turns in this quest I still listen intently as if it was the first time I heard it.

4)Algalon: "I have seen worlds bathed in the Makers' flames. Their denizens fading without so much as a whimper. Entire planetary systems born and raised in the time that it takes your mortal hearts to beat once. Yet all throughout, my own heart, devoid of emotion... of empathy. I... have... felt... NOTHING! A million, million lives wasted. Had they all held within them your tenacity? Had they all loved life as you do?"

This speech is nothing but amazing. Every time I hear it it never gets old. Extremely well thought out and acted very well. This is something that you can say at random to someone and no matter who they are will realize how awesome it really is.

3)King Terenas Menethil II: "It is over my son. This is the moment of reckoning. Rise up champions of the light!"

This basically was it. This was the moment that you knew you were going to do what you set out to do this expansion; kill the Lich King. Watching Terenas rez everyone then you all going in to beat on his ass was a great moment.

2)Yogg Saron: "I am the lucid dream. The monster in your nightmares. The fiend of a thousand faces. Cower before my true form. BOW DOWN TO THE GOD OF DEATH!"

What makes this quote is the change in the voice. Goes from Sara of course to Yogg during this quote. Blizzard has done a great job at making you feel the Old Gods evil. It was going to be extremely hard to get up to the level with C'thun, but they did. This makes me feel good when we see our next old gold that they will have it down.

1)Lich King: "Now I stand, the lion before the lambs...and they do not fear...they cannot fear..."

This is what he says just before he dies. Basically the moment when he himself knew it was over. Blizzard really did justice to the lore of Arthas to end this in a way that would work and be epic at the same time. I congratulate them on that and here is hoping then continue to do it well.

That is it. If you think you have some better ones by all means throw them in and tell me why. Till tomorrow!

You Fail At Hiding on Starcraft If...

So today is the day Starcraft II came out, for all of those who live in a box and for some reason did not know. This means today will be the first day one of the major Real ID features will be use. That, of course, being the cross game chat. I haven't got to use it yet, with picking up the game at the launch then of course my birthday I haven't really had time to sleep. That was until this afternoon of course. So with myself now feeling more refreshed let's get to this weeks edition of fail.

You Fail At Hiding On Starcraft If...

• Your excuse for not attending raids was "I was enjoying the outdoors" then you get your Thor Pet out.
• You reason for not having enough gold for repairs is "Not Enough Minerals"
• When you say "gn" you hop into a different vent channel with the Starcraft players
• You have created a pull macro saying "Nuclear Launch Detected"
• When asked why your DPS has been low you respond "Insufficient Vespene Gas"
• You forget you have the Raid Leader on Real ID when you switch games because you "had to go early"
• You are now referring to the Guild Leader as Commander
• You are logging off for the night, but ask if it would be a problem to use vent
• You do real time status updates on Real ID of your progress in the the games single
• You say "omg rogues can stealth like ghosts"
• For The Horde doesn't happen because "you have a prior engagement"
• You left raid members die at random because you think you can just build more.

and finally

• You have played more hours on Starcraft than you have slept and respond to whispers as follows "ojqopkclqm wqljdonbcq qojo dqm"

Hope you like this week's edition of fail. Happy Free Loot Tuesday and good luck in your slaying of Internet pixels

Happy Birthday To Me

That is right today is my birthday. My 28th actually. For all the math people out there this is the last time I will ever be perfect, unless of course I live until I am 496. I think that cake above is supposed to be the Zeppelin tower. I felt a little sad for it so I included it. So with today being my Birthday and all I have decided to include a list of things I would like for my Birthday from Blizzard.

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Closet: I have too many tabards and shirts and need a place to put them.

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Mail more than 12 things: This pisses me off don't tell me the mail service doesn't have large enough packages and boxes to make this happen.

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Staff Animation: I want a staff to have a walking stick animation like a real damn staff. This would be perfect for role playing purposes.

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Bandages Stack more than 20: Non-warriors probably don't understand how stupid this is. I would compare it to hunters ammo stacking in 100s rather than 1000s. We go throw through these too much and takes up too much bag space in comparison.

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Necklaces: Make them be visible it wouldn't be too much to add at all, and would add to more customizations.

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and lastly

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Beta Key: Honestly? Today is my birthday I better have one when I check today you stupid bastards.

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Enjoy my day everyone!

Ask Gauss

Happy Sunday all. First off to all the Alliance I will be there today to charge in and make you all kiss the floor, I know you missed me yesterday. It is Sunday though so it is Ask Gauss so without making you all wait any longer let's get to that.

What do you do when raiders come unprepared to raids?

Well in Three Score I have a system in place so this never happens. Supply all flasks, pots, foods, and all those other things you use for raids. All they have to do is throw in the guild bank their weekly contribution(150g) and then get all of that provided for them for the week no questions asked. I find this not only gives the raiders one less thing to worry about, but gives them more time to focus on the encounters we will be doing. This also instills a form of responsibility that they must have their gold in the guild bank every Tuesday. Also my hope is that the raiders understand that everyone has a take in each and every pull. It is not just your repairs and pots you would be wasting if you make a stupid mistake and are not focused, because you have a take in everyone's for each and every pull.

Now this is a lot more work for myself and the officers to organize, but in the end the extra work in getting everything together to craft, cook, and make is worth it in the end. Now you will get people on the outside saying "you force your guildies to pay a membership", but that is not it at all. It is providing a service that works out cheaper for the guildies then if they got it all themselves. Mostly because when you do things on a larger scale (like buying in bulk) it will always work out to be cheaper.

Do you think flying mounts will ruin the leveling experience?

Well in all honestly I think it will. Even if I look forward to things being quicker and such. You see when you level now you walk around the roads and paths to get to the next zone. While doing this you see the area and everything else around you on the way. With flying mounts you, of course, are not going to have that. What is the point of all the paths, which will be around if no one is going to use them? Also I have nightmares of the first week where everyone has like these massive flying mounts all around quest givers and you can't click on who needs to be clicked on let alone actually see the towns and quest hubs around you.

Now they could make flying mounts as part of the questing experience. How so? Well they could have plateaus and not have all the quest hubs right beside one another so that instead of "walking along the road to the next zone" it was built to fly to it. So all of those things I talked about heading to the next zone or hub exist still, but are meant to experienced with a flying mount. I guess if I had a beta key I could tell you if they accomplished this...

Does repeatably asking for an invite increase the chances of getting one?

...

So that is it for this week. Enjoy what is left of your weekend, and Alliance be ready I am coming.

Fun And Games

So as I was out today just messing around with outside. I realized that in WoW we have no things to really just mess around with. Like when they brought in Heavy Leather balls. Of course they have added to the fun by adding other things we can chuck at one another and play catch with. Also I guess you can add the damn train to the list of things, but it mostly just pisses me off so I won't count it. My request would be to add somethings we can play as a social aspect that are completely useless to the game in every which way. Could be anything. They added a golf course they should just let us play it, that would be pretty awesome. Could add some horseshoes, shuffleboard, lawn bowling, or even lawn darts.

All of these of course would be pretty useless, but again it would only add to the social aspect. With random BGs and Dungeons we lose a bit of the social experience of the server and I really think something like this would bring it back. Who knows many of you probably have better ideas then this to keep people around and chilling with one another but you understand my point. So come on Blizzard you are great at making useless quests, mobs, and stuff. So make something useless that we can use keep us entertained when we don't want to do anything else

Catch Phrases From Players

So it is Friday, which means time to get ready for the weekend. Well it also means it is the time of the week for the Reader's Post. This week I asked people to tell me some of the catch phrases people use in trade chat on your server. Shall we take a look at them?

Papajohn's cooking service is back offering the best deals on all of Azeroth's favourite meals. Your spices, my spices and even some good old fashion special Papajohn's sauce. Alll purchases of 100g or more receive a free cupcake!

Ok all you worthless punks with no fashion sense. I am to make sure you have a shirt that fits the person you are. I have all colors, all shapes and all sizes. Did you need a birthday gift? A shirt is a great way to say "you look like an idiot without a shirt". Wrapping paper comes with all orders of 2 shirts or more. Don't miss out!

Hey you! I know what you are thinking, you are awful and will never be good enough to get an arena weapon. Well you thought wrong! Palic is here to carry you to the promised land. I don't care how awful you are or if you are the worst player anyone has ever seen. Palic has your back and can get you your weapon so at least you can pretend you are good.

Come one come all to Malboro's one stop shop for anything and everything you need. Glyphs, Enchants, Ore, Herbs, and all that crap my little level one self has acquired through all possible means necessary. Send me a tell and I'll get you hooked up.

Natalia's Brand Cupcakes are back and better than ever! They are so amazing they will make you feel happy instantly after eating one. Not only will you be buying a cupcake and will be happy for at least an hour you will be happy knowing that the proceeds go to the wonderful cause of helping little Blood Elves addicted to magic. By a cupcake and the children will be eternally greatful.

That is it for this week. Enjoy your weekend. Sadly though there my not be a For The Horde tomorrow afternoon, but we will see.

Starcraft II

So I know people are going to say Starcraft II has nothing to do with WoW, but for those who say that they would be wrong. Raid attendance is already dropping due to it being summer and it being the end of an expansion. Many people have killed every boss there is to kill in the game and are only raiding for hard modes. My feeling is Starcraft II is going to pull people over there. Hell I am going to be getting it and playing it.

Also this will give us the first view of how the Real ID will work cross games. So you can see people playing Starcraft II and you can call them over to come help with the raid or vice versa. I am actually interested in how well I can get this to work with people. Also when a big game comes out it is a great time for people to come to raid fresh and focused. They haven't been playing WoW for hours and then have to raid they logged on especially for raid and want to try their best to make it successful. So this gives people a break in some sorts which isn't always a bad thing.

Also "ZOMG YOU GET A PET IF YOU BUY COLLECTIONS EDITION SCII". So yes all the crazy pet people are going to get a Starcraft II Collectors edition Thor pet. So be on the lookout, be thankful it won't be screaming in a "special' voice.

For those who haven't seen it. The Trailer that came out yesterday


Last reminder, tonight is the last chance to get in the trade sellers catch phrases for tomorrow's Reader's Post.

Trolls

For the longest time I have had people troll me. I guess it would be weird if I didn't have people say anything about me. The fact of the matter is people can do and say what they please, there really is nothing anything anyone can do or say to change the way I do things. If someone can't take a joke or being a little poked fun at then really they take this game to seriously. If anyone has anything to say about me they have to know I will be right there to fire back. I know many who have been at the other end, and I can't say that would be a place I would ever like to be in.

I have never really understood the theory of a troll though. Take the guy last night 2+ hours in trade chat talking about me on a Level 1 toon. Using of course a former guildmate as a namesake. Now for awhile I had a little fun watching his ranting over random crap. How do they keep themselves entertained for so long? Should I feel pride that I did something to someone so drastic that they felt the need to go on and on for hours. What did he really expect to get out of the entire situation?

Love me or hate me I will always be Gauss.

You Fail At Telling People How To Play If...

So Tuesday it is and everyone's favourite thing of the week. That being Fail Day. I got this idea after the last week and the adventures that happened in trade chat. That was of course the motivation, but not the only source of it all. Enjoy!

You Fail At Telling People How To Play If...

• Your knowledge of hit caps is non existent
• You are a warrior with the Strength Ashen Verdict ring
• You got carried through all your Heroic kills
• You get mind controlled on Blood Queen
• You don't know names of your abilities you just know you hit them
• You forget to change your gear or spec before a pull
• You say raid frames are useless for DPS
• You disengaged off the Frozen Throne instead of tranq shotting
• You are still of the belief that fire gives haste
• You tab target
• You think macros are for lazy people
• You just hit the pretty buttons
• You are mind boggled by the whole assist thing
• You don't listen to those with experience you don't have
• You cannot switch targets
• Your interrupt skills are on par with your avoiding ghost skills
• For some reason you still want to do all the bosses in heroics because you think it gives more badges

and finally

• Your name is Sosarin or Metapod

That is it for this week hope you enjoyed the weekly addition of fail. May your Free Loot Tuesday bring you the the 0's and 1's you are looking for.

Disappointed

So Monday I always look forward to checking on the progress of the guild [Undergeared]. For those of you not familiar with them, they are a guild who has been doing all of Wrath content on 10 man only in blues. They are up to 8/12 ICC at the moment and I was looking forward to them getting Halion down this past weekend. When I saw this post over at the Greedy Goblin:

Only 8 people were online last raid (damn the Summer), but we still went to practice on Halion. Well, he enrages after 8 mins on normal too:11.15M HP over 8 mins is 23.2K raid DPS. Assuming 2 tanks = 1 DPS, it's 3.8K DPS with 3 healers and 4.64K with 4. While the first is below Festergut DPS with ICC buff, there are way too much movement around to make it possible. Until they nerf him to the ground of course, to allow "friendly helpfull guilds" to kill him. It's only matter of time before he joins the other impossible bosses.

They are giving up. This is a big disappointment to me, they have been a a guild that I have used to push people to strive to preform at the top of their ability. "Look at what this guild can do, imagine what you could do if you maxed out yourself." Over and over they have had their naysayers saying that Gormok would 1 shot you, your dps couldn't bring down Anub before the enrage, DBS enrage is not possible, and finally not enough dps for Festergut. Halion was a big deal for me because it was something that was current and no raid buff involved. Also it is a pretty much a position fight, and succeeding at this would show that skill would be the most important quality to have in this game. I really hope they are not discouraged and try this some more. If they do it after a nerf, yes they would have still done it in blues, but wouldn't be the same.

Also I am not sure this will get nerfed at all or at least not until 4.0. At that point really though progression is an after thought and not thought of so much as an accomplishment. Keep working in ICC get all that done, kill the Lich King prove the naysayers wrong that it was possible, but also come back to Ruby Sanctum and get it done.

Ask Gauss

So I hope everyone's weekend was a good. Mine hasn't been that bad at all. Plenty of questions to choose from this week to throw up here, so had quite a choice on my hands. Although, not one about Real ID this week, that was quite an adventure last week wasn't it? So enough of my intro let's get to it.

When you try to help people with their gear and spec how do people react?

This I guess really depends on the person. I have had people come to me and ask questions about how they can improve. Sometimes they listen to me and accept what I have to say. Of course they have questions regarding what I am telling them, and I answer them. Sometimes it is the complete opposite they ask why I would tell them to do such things and argue with me. Did they forget they were the ones that asked for my help?

The other situation is when I see someone maybe not doing as well as they could and I give them pointers. Sometimes this goes over well and they listen and may keep coming back to me. Like say when they have a potential upgrade and they ask if they should get it and how to gem or enchant it. Or they may just want to show me they are following my ideas, and want reassurance. The flip side to this is people sometimes take offense when you are trying to help them out. "What makes you think you know everything?" These are the people that believe they actually know everything and refuse help. They will generally be the ones that will keep doing what they are doing. They are the DKs that gem agility, the Pally that spams Flash of Light, or the tank that uses bladeward. When you get these people just don't take offense at them being a moron, and realize you tried.

Do you recruit people who don't have experience up to your level of content?

This question was longer, but that was the gist of it. Would I recruit people with no Hardmode experience? If they had the gear level that is required to preform then of course. People can learn to adapt. In truth there is many hardmode encounters that are easier than Lich King and Sindragosa are. Recruiting someone like this is especially true if say you cannot fill raids because of lack of numbers, missing a particular raid buff, or low on melee or range. Sure the person may be on a higher learning curve, but it shouldn't be something that they cannot overcome. You put them through your trial period like an other recruit and evaluate them afterwards. The thing is there are a lot of good players stuck in guilds that aren't going anywhere. These people might thrive in a new environment where they can actually succeed.

What is a quick way to make easy gold?

Sell your Shadowmorne items that aren't yours to sell...

That is it for this week. Next weeks Reader Post is going to be about trade sellers catch phrases you have seen. As always you have until next Thursday night to get them into me.

Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Gauss Strikes Twice In One Night

Last night there were two incidents where me speaking my mind caused some "fun".

So it appears I have caused some sort of uproar with this whole Shadowmorne items thing. Someone from a guild on my server call Ascendance was selling Shadowmorne items in trade. I asked him straight out where the gold was going and the reply was "my pocket". I went off asking him if he thought it was fair to exploit his guild in such a way and nothing was said. I have never held back and it became this fight of how he deserved the weapon. This to me is the key I never stated or argued that he was the right choice as the wielder of the weapon. My issue is the sense of entitlement that everything that comes from the weapon was his. Of course the "I paid for the saronites came up", which still is a bullshit excuse to slap the people in your guild that helped you get your weapon. When this all ended in trade chat I was mobbed from whispers from people in Ascendance being utterly pissed off that he was making gold off them and their efforts. No less than 10 people that called themselves core raiders. These people are afraid to speak their mind because he is a very high ranking member in the guild and fear they will be kicked or force out. Although, as I told them strength is numbers and obviously if they are core members the guild cannot raid without them can they? Stand up for what is right and what you believe in was my message. Exploitation is never right and should be stopped.

This of course wasn't the only uprising I called. Many of the people on the server from the "OMG I AM AWESOME BECAUSE I AM A GLAD" crowd have this thing against me. They of course see arena as the greatest test of skill in this game. As many of you know who read this blog, I decided not to arena in Wrath from the very beginning because basically the trend at the end of the Burning Crusade continued. It wasn't about how good the players were it was about the spec and the combination of classes that made the team and your ability to rank. I was very successful at, but it is just not fun when it is supposed to be a competition about players, but has turned into if you are this spec and you play with this guy you will automatically be awesome as long as one of you is not completely useless. The "OMG I AM AWESOME" players of course said my point wasn't valid and stated that I could give them any 3v3 combo and they could get it to Gladiator without a problem. I of course gave them Fire Mage/Fury Warrior/Holy Priest. When I got the response why would anyone play those specs in arena. That is the point! To be a true test of ability any spec or class combination should be able to be at the top. This is of course not the current setup in arena and I of course won't go back to playing it till it is what it was meant to be.

Enjoy your Saturday! Saturday means For The Horde, watch out for me I am coming.

My First Epic

So today's Reader post I asked people to submit the stories about their first epics. I know in Wrath epics are not really a rare thing, but people still have the stories about that first time. So sit back and enjoy the read.

My first epic was a Krol Blade that dropped just out­side Light’s Hope Chapel in the Plague­lands off a ran­dom skele­ton mob when I was about L55. I was one of the first peo­ple on Kirin Tor, hav­ing started play­ing shortly after the server opened, and peo­ple would stop me and ask where I got such a fine weapon. I wasn’t doing much instanc­ing then, as I couldn’t com­mit the time, so I soloed mostly and missed out on the oppor­tu­nity the really upgrade my gear, so I was super proud of my Krol blade. Later, when I started instanc­ing, I began to gather my light­forge gear and I still have it all in the bank.

Well, i remem­ber how i did NOT get my first epic, i was lev­el­ling and got in a group for Black­rock Depth, i was lvl 52 at the time, and from one of the first bosses an EPIC mail chest drops. I'm home free i thought, other than me it was only a war­rior, a priest and 2mages in the group. but then the war­rior needed on it! And i LOST! Safe to say, i never pugged since unless it was absolutely nesse­cary. To this day i dont pug.

My first epic was a lucky drop in Maraudon. I was there together with some friends, quest­ing and hav­ing fun, like usual. Black­skull Shield dropped. The group was made up by two pal­adins (one being me), a mage, a shaman and some­one else, I can’t remem­ber who. Being a BoE shield, they all wanted to need on it to sell it. But we man­aged to put rea­son above profit and con­vinced the mage and the other player to pass on it. The other Pal­adin passed also. So it was left to me and the shaman. We both needed. I won. Need­less to say, I was very happy.Want­ing to put it to good use, I respeced Pro­tec­tion about that time and stayed that way to this day. This shield lasted me until Out­land. I couldn’t find a bet­ter shield any­where until then. Bet­ter put, I didn’t want to changed it because it was Epic and I was very proud of it. Buy­ing The Burn­ing Cru­sade and hit­ting Out­land meant the end for my pretty Epic. I changed it with a reward from the 2nd or 3rd quest there. So, for the peo­ple ask­ing “Are the TBC quest rewards so much bet­ter?”. Yes, they are much, much bet­ter than any­thing you could get from Azeroth. Get­ting back to the roll, the shaman was upset because he felt that he should have it with­out even rolling. Why? Because he needed a shield. That was it. That was his argu­ment. And he still holds a grudge on me, even after such a long time. I find that funny tho many would say pathetic. From my point of view it was fair roll. I wouldn’t have been upset if I had lost.

I was one lucky SOB when i got my first BOE epic. Farming Timbermaw Hold rep on my mage, far before BC. The place was swarmed with alliance on my server and i was just ninjaing all the kills i possibly could and behold, i actually got 2 epic BOE drops in 2 kills. First was a Flurry axe then I picked up a Warden Staff.

Personally, I was lucky, I got my first epic at level 55, I remember the day well. I was questing in Burning Steppes, looking for Blackrock Medallions I recall, and I killed a Blackrock Worg that dropped a Hurricane bow. Needless to say everyone in guild chat heard about it instantly and the item got linked to all who were not there for the momentous occasion as soon as I saw them online.Unfortunately, the Hurricane is a pretty weak epic by most standards, but at the time it was quite thrilling, not only to get an epic but one I could actually use.The thing goes through arrows like crazy but I still have it, though I don't really use it anymore. Of course I have many more epics now but that one still stands out in my mind.

My epic mount sadly enough...

First epic drop I actually got myself was a Dwarven Hand Cannon in Scholo while attempting to get dark runes and the pattern for the Felcloth Bag. Wound up getting zero dark runes, the hand cannon and some BOE blues. Finally made the bag a week later only to replace it with a Core Felcloth Bag.

That is it for this week. Next week's topic will be revealed Sunday so if you want to be a part of it look out for the topic. Have a great weekend all.

More Shadowmorne Drama

So here is an interesting email I received talking about my stance on the Shadowmorne items.

The quest gives the items to the person who completed the quest line, not the guild. I don't see why anyone else thinks they are entitled to those items. You are acting like the guild has to jump through hoops to get someone a Shadowmourne. This isn't the case at all. The only part that involves gold is the primordial part, and I'm sure most people with shadow's edge used their own gold to forge it. What is so special about the shards anyway? They drop from both normal and hard-mode boss kills so if your guild is progressing in the instance they're going to drop regardless. It's not like your guild mates have to go out of their way to cause them to drop. Hell, you could gather all the shards in a weekly pug given enough time. The guild didn't "help" the Shadowmourne wielder obtain his legendary anymore than he helped by participating in the guilds raids. Is it BiS? Yea, it sure is, but it's not such a ridiculous upgrade that you should be/feel indebted to your guild for letting you craft it. Like I said previously, gathering the mats and doing the quests doesn't inconvenience anyone else in the guild in the slightest. Not to mention if you're the player receiving the item, in most cases, you're obviously the best person in the guild that can use it so why would it be given to anyone else? It shouldn't be given as a "gift", but rather it should simply be given out to the person who will use it the best. That would be the logical way to make the decision.

After replying to them I received this,

Really?

So your guild wasn't going to kill Prof, BQL, or Sindragosa? And they had no plans on killing the Lich King? The guild raided for the sole purpose of giving one person a legendary. That's really kind of them. The guild does nothing extra. They kill bosses, you kill bosses. You got chosen to get a legendary, that's not your fault. Same thing with Val'anyr; most guilds did a /roll when their first shard dropped, and went about their business of killing bosses. And hey, guess what, most guilds were going to do 3 Lights anyway. So tell me, how did anyone do anything extra at any point, apart from the Shadowmourne recipient? Someone has to drive the Abom, you still have to bite people on BQL, and Sindragosa's frost breath is easily negated by some FR gear and personal cooldowns, either way, I'm getting the same amount of heals. Oh, and Lich King. But you weren't going to kill him regardless.

My stance is the same if you did it with a guild you were only able to get this done because of them. The extra healing you needed on BQ, maybe a DPS driving the Abom, and taking yourself out of the fight on Sindragosa. Sure the wielder had to do extra things, but so did the raid have to adapt for the sole purpose of completing your quest. The items also belong to the people that were there and they shouldn't just be used for personal gain.

Reminder today is your last chance to get your submission for tomorrow's Reader Post about your first epic.

Trouble with Definitions

So I could probably be talking about the new talent trees and what I think about them, or complain some more about not getting into Beta. I actually haven't even checked that today because I am frankly pretty pissed off about it. At least I can find some humor in the BlueXephos uploads about the beta. Alas, that is not what I am going to bitch and complain about today. It isn't even going to be about Shadowmorne and that kick I have been on lately. What is it then?

People have left my guild for many reasons. Could have been because they didn't get the amount of time they wanted. Could have been because they weren't preforming. Could have been because they didn't mesh with people. Or it could have been because they were a moron and got hacked twice a week.

You see we had this warlock named Abracadavra, and yes to all the people who say I don't use names. Just complain about that later. You may think I was kidding with saying getting hacked twice a week. In fact I think it happened three times once. Raiding is about consistency if you don't have it then you are hard to rely on and such. He of course couldn't be, and I was done with it. Refused to invite him back for it. I of course thought it was over and done with, and he had accepted it.

I was wrong. Do people forget that I am told pretty much anytime someone talks about me on Llane. It gets bothersome at times, but I hear about it. So someone saying that they were too good and above and beyond myself and everyone else in my guild you have to think I will hear about it. Fact is I was done with it and expected him to go about however long he would be playing his toon until he was hacked again. So he must define too good by dying to not being behind an iceblock, iceblocking the raid, can't run out of blistering cold, fail to drop a portal as a warlock on LK, get mind controlled as a vampire on Blood Queen, and of course failing to switch DPS to oozes on Putricide. Maybe he is confused by the definition.

You don't bad mouth me or anyone in my guild without hearing it from me.

You Fail At Shadowmorne If...

So it is Tuesday and I don't have some crazy stuff to do today so you all cannot email bomb me for missing Fail Day. If that told me one thing it was that people must take a little time out of their day to see what fail I will point out to everyone. Without waiting even longer let's do something rather close to me.

You Fail At Shadowmorne If...

• It took you more than three attempts to get Arthas' Hammer
• You were too poor to get your own Saronites
• You had to purchase kills for Festergut and Rotface and think you will even have a chance at the others.
• You have had the bloods for months and have still yet to collect the saronites
• You try to respond to the whispers the Lich King sends you
• You think you are hearing voices when the Lich King talks to you
• Your ability to eat slime resembles a Vegetarian's ability to eat meat
• You decide to unholy infuse during a gas cloud
• You get mind controled trying to execute one of your 3 bites
• You die because you have hugging issues during Blood Queen air phase
• You get cleaved while standing in front of Sindragosa
• You got your frost infuse too soon and lost the buff before the boss was killed
• You think you can get all the shards in a week
• You put stamina gems in your Shadowmorne

and finally

• You believe the items in the chest are yours to do with as you please.

That is it for this week. May the neck which shall go unnamed finally drop this week for me, and may all of you have a good Free Loot Tuesday.

Shadowmorne Items

Time for another rant this one about the Shadowmorne items, and how people deal with them. First of all yes the person who completes the Shadowmorne and then kills the Lich King gets these items. The question is who do these belong to? Some would say to the person who has the Shadowmorne since well they may have bought the saronites for the weapon, and of course it is their weapon. The guild since they were the ones that supplied the raid to get all the required drops, and the completion of the quests, of course.

The answer is really both. Yes, they are just Vanity items, but they are artifacts in themselves. I have seen people selling them, which to me is wrong. My thoughts are the person who gets the Shadowmorne is fair to keep a couple of the items for himself. After all if he paid for the saronites and was part of the raid that was successful at completing Shadowmorne. It really couldn't have been done without them. This does not mean he can just sell the unwanted items to the highest bidder in hopes of hitting the gold cap before the expansion. They do not belong to you to do such things. You could not have got your weapon without the 24 others along the way. There would not have been a chance at all at getting it without those 24 people.

I will receive my Shadowmorne in a couple weeks and I will keep a couple of the items, but the others belong to the guild and no one else. They will never be used to make a quick profit or be exploited in anyway. They reflect an accomplishment of the guild and therefore should be treated as such. I hope any of you who gets a Shadowmorne or someone in your guild gets one that they also do the right thing,

Ask Gauss

So it is Sunday and what an interesting week it has been. The Real ID thing was such a big topic for the week, but it seems it has taken care of itself. You would think there wasn't much else asked or talked about, but that is not the case. Time to see what was on people's mind this week.

31 Talent Points yes or no?

Well I like the idea behind the trees. Obviously, the trees are not available yet and I cannot see them and cannot make my final decision on it. The thing is if they are going to give us all of our passive boring talents that you would use up to 5 points on I don't see how this isn't a good thing. Getting trademark abilities at level 10 of specific trees would certainly give the feel that you are that spec. The idea behind this is also to give people more utility and not everyone be the same spec. This of course we will have to wait and see if this is the case, but I really hope they are able to pull it off.

Now for the people complaining about the 31 points before moving to the next tree. This is actually a really good way to work out balance. There won't be this spec which will come out of no where and somehow be the best spec. This only happened just because it was never expected someone would spec that way. This avoids the whole problem of this situation and also makes people stick with their decision. Of course unless they respec.

You think UI mods are ruining WoW?

Not at all. I actually think this is a great idea from Blizzard. This way they can see what people like and would like them to add without actually getting people to specificly work on it. It is like a third party contract they don't have to pay for. If you haven't noticed many popular addons they have actually added to the game. Multiple bars, scrolling text, chat windows, and so on. So in reality all these people who have been making addons for years have been making Blizzards User Interface team work less and get the same result if not a better one.

How goes the beta?

not funny...

So that is it for this week. Keep sending in your questions for next week, and I will be happy to answer them. Next Friday's Reader Post will be about your first epic! As always you have until Thursday night to get them in. I look forward to reading about it.

No Real ID On The Forums

It seems Blizzard has listened to the crazy uproar that came about when they announced that real ID would be on the forums. Here is what was said

Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as the ability to rate posts up or down, post highlighting based on rating, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

So they have listened and have acted, which is a good thing. They are also looking for other ways to clean up the forums, which is also good. Although trolling has been around since the creation of online forums it doesn't mean it has to exist. So I applaud them for finding ways to do this and I hope they succeed in doing so.

The Drop That Changed My Life

So I got this emailed to me and even if it is fake it is still one of the greatest stories someone has ever told me. So there will only be one Reader submission this week because this one is beyond epic.

This ... is going to be a long one. And believe it or not, it's a 100% true story. Its relation to World of Warcraft will not be immediately apparent.

It all started when I got out of my seat to go to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and returned to my seat. A little while later the two stewardesses on the flight crossed each other in the aisle. They had a quick conversation that I was in earshot of.

"I locked off the front lav. There's something in the toilet that's preventing it from flushing. Run some water and see if you can clear it." My face immediately turned red. The seat cover! I thought. It must have been too big to flush! I should have thrown it out!

I was so embarrassed. I tried to act normal ... I took a sudden interest in the contents of the seat pocket in front of me, acted nonchalant and all. I watched as the stewardess got on her hands and knees in the lavatory and did unfathomable dirty work.

Sometime later, I decided it would be best if I forgot the whole thing happened, so I went to put on my headphones and drown myself in iPod music. But ... no iPod. I panicked, checked my other pockets. Where was it? Not under the seat, not in the pockets, not ... anywhere. I looked up to the stewardesses. One of them had run past me in a decent clip. She was carrying a green handbook. She brought it to the other stewardess. They flipped through the handbook, read a page, then made a call. The other stewardess had retrieved a blue metal box and was removing some equipment from it.

I put two and two together. I knew what had happened.

So I walked up to the stewardesses, both clamoring over the handbook, and tapped one on the shoulder.

"So, I had an iPod before I went to the bathroom, and now I don't. I think I know what's in the toilet."

We had a quick conversation. I told them, "You don't have to call the TSA or anything, it's just my iPod." They said, "Oh, but we already did."

So now I'm starting to realize that this is turning into a big problem. They offer their condolences, tell me that it's unfortunate, and I take a seat. Okay. So far, not so bad. I return to my seat and spend the rest of the flight trying to act normal.

That is, right up until the pilot comes over the intercom.

"Folks, this is the captain. I don't want to alarm you, but we've found a suspicious device in the front lavatory. Now, we think it's probably nothing, but in this day and age ... you can never be too careful. We'll be landing at Ottawa, where we will await further instructions."

The cabin erupted with commotion. At that very moment, my face fell into my hands. What have I done?

We landed at Ottawa, and we were taxiing to the gate. Without warning, the airplane then lurched to a sudden halt.

"Folks, this is the captain. We've been ordered to make an immediate stop. Buses are coming to evacuate the aircraft." We were to leave all of our belongings on the aircraft; we would be shuttled by bus to the terminal, where we would receive our carryon items.

My face fell deeper into my hands. Next came the waiting. Waiting and listening to more worry and commotion. A lot of us wondered if we could bring cell phones, wallets, passports, or customs forms with us. The stewardesses didn't have any answers; they had never been through this before.

On the one hand, if I brought a cell phone, wallet, etc. etc., and they confiscated it, I would have to hunt and peck for it separately from my carryon luggage. But if I stuck all of that stuff in my carryon luggage, I would only have to find one bag when we clamored for our stuff in the future. I decided the smart thing to do was to stick everything in my carryon. But, I kept my wallet, because I knew I was in big trouble at this point.

It took them 45 minutes to round up not just a bus and air-stairs, but an army of police and customs vehicles. One of the stewardesses took me aside and whispered to me. "Get off the plane last, and talk to the constable."

So I did. I exited the plane last, and spoke to the Ottawa police officer waiting at the air-stairs. I told him that the device was my iPod, and he took down my license number.

I continued to the bus. After a brief wait, it did NOT take us to the terminal. It took us to some industrial facility, where they housed utility vehicles. There, in the open garage, we were instructed to sit and wait. And wait we did ... another 30 minutes or so.

This was possibly the worst part ... While we were waiting I got to overhear the passengers talking about me. Well, they didn't know it was me, but they knew someone had dropped an iPod in the toilet, and they made aaallll sorts of assumptions about this person.

"Why didn't he have it on a clip? He could have clipped it to his damn pants." Or, "Why didn't he tell the stewardesses? Why is he hiding it from them and making us go through this?"

I could have corrected them. I could have told them that it WAS on a clip and I DID tell the stewardesses. In fact, it was a lot of self-restraint to just keep my mouth shut and not make things worse.

By this time the sense of guilt had left me. This wasn't my fault. Anyone could have dropped his stupid iPod in the toilet. It's really the government here. I mean, at this point the building contained six customs officials, an army of policemen, people from various security agencies, a bomb squad, and a couple of detectives. No one was doing anything. No one was taking charge. *I* didn't create this mess.

The whole time, the officers were watching me. They had told me to keep in sight of them at all times.

Finally, five or six customs officers set up a table and made an announcement. "We will be interviewing each of you one by one. Please form a line. Before we have our chat, make sure you have your ID, passport, and customs information with you."

One person asked, "What if that stuff is still on the plane?" The customs official responded, "Then we will have a more formal chat."

I got in line with the rest of the people, but shortly thereafter two police officers took me out of line. "Come with us."

They took me to a discreet corner. They brought out a tape recorder. I was told to put my hands up on the wall and spread my legs, and I was frisked from head to toe. They removed my wallet, disassembled it completely, and placed each of its contents in its own plastic evidence bag.

"Now Tim, for the sake of the tape recorder, I want you to state your full name and address." I did. "Now, each of us will state our name and position into the tape recorder." There were two detectives from the police department, a detective from Customs, and two members of the bomb squad.

Then started the questions. They were easy at first. They asked me where I lived. What do I do for a living? Why am I unemployed? How come it's taken me 4 months to find a job?

They asked me why I was visiting Canada. I was to visit a friend I met on World of Warcraft, Cara. They took down her name and what I could remember of her address. They asked me how we met.

"In an online game."
"What online game?"
"Umm ... World of Warcraft," I responded meekly.
"What kind of game is this?"
"It's a fantasy game ... it takes place online."
"Fantasy ... like it's got wizards and warlocks?"
"Well, it's got warlocks." (And they need to be nerfed.)

They asked me to describe my relation to Cara. I told them that people meet up in the game and go on adventures together, and that Cara and I were in a guild together that I was the leader of. They confused the concept of a guild with the game, however, and I had them believing that I was the Lord and Leader of all of WoW until I was able to correct them, and explain to them what a guild was.

So, when they put the pieces together; namely, that I was visiting a female person that I had met over a computer game, their next line of questioning went down an obvious path.

"So you and Cara are friends?"
"Yes."
"How long have you known her?"
"About 5 months I think? Maybe less."
"Do you have a romantic relationship with Cara?"
"No."
"Do you want a romantic relationship with Cara?"
"No."
"OK, so ... if you and Cara were drunk together, and she turned to you and said, 'Tim, let's go--'"

I interrupted him. "Excuse me ... what's the point of these questions?" The detective hardened. "Let me make things clear. I ask questions. You answer them. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes." I paused. "I just don't see how this is relevant."

He spoke right in my face. "I've got 5 good men going into that airplane right now. Five of my best bomb squad guys. If there is any reason that I should be concerned for their life, then I need to know now. So just answer the questions, and do as I say."

Now the questions became really pointed. What do you think about 9/11? What are your views on the Iran issue? Do you think government is too big, too powerful? Would you ever "make a point?"

He asked me if I knew how to make a bomb. "I have a degree in physics, and I'm not an idiot." Of course I knew how to make a bomb -- what kind of question is that?? The better question is, WOULD I make a bomb? The answer is no.

They tried to trap me with some of their questions. I noticed they would try to get me to contradict myself. Like, I had earlier mentioned that I had never met Cara in real life, so they would later nonchalantly ask me when I had last seen Cara. Stuff like that.

He told me there was a similar bomb scare in LA today. He asked me if I was connected with it. He asked me if I was connected to the "liquid" thing from Britain.

Finally, he was done. He and the two bomb squad guys left. The customs lady followed up with more prying personal questions. She asked me more about Cara, how I got to know her, how we interact, etc.

The interviewers would periodically withdraw to talk about me in French, then return with followup questions. I was picked apart by these questions. They wanted to know how I could pay for my ticket, being unemployed, and what my motivations for visiting Cara were. They had me on the defensive the whole time.

She had finished her interview and I was then returned to the garage where they were questioning everyone else on the plane, one by one. I waited for another hour or so as the bomb squad did their thing (I assume). Eventually, they loaded everyone up on the bus to take them to retrieve their stuff. Except me -- I and two others were to be inspected by Customs.

They took my photo, asked me to wait in the cold for 30 minutes, and then escorted me to a red van. Along the way I passed the detective who had first interviewed me. He was carrying a green paper bag. He called me over.

"I just got it back from the bomb squad. It's an iPod. Do you want it back?"
"It's been in the toilet."
"Yeah, it's messy." Then he walked right up to my ear. "Tim, you're not in any trouble anymore. Nothing you say now is going to be on record. I want you to answer a question honestly, just for me, not for my agency."
"OK?"
He whispered into my ear. "Did you ... did you take a dump, and then drop your iPod in the toilet on accident?"

"No!" I yelled a little too loudly. "Like I said ... I didn't notice it was missing until after!"

"OK, OK. I believe you. You did great, Tim."

I got my wallet back and was escorted by police to the van. I waited some more on this van, and finally it took me to a harmless immigration office. I waited some more there, the whole time being watched and followed by police officers. Finally, they escorted me to the baggage claim to fetch my stuff, and took me to a very private room with some bomb-screening equipment and tinted mirrors for windows.

It was me and a gruff, humorless customs official. He unpacked my luggage entirely, ran the contents of my wallet through a bomb sweep, and carefully examined all of my belongings. He then asked me to turn on my laptop. I did, and he began using it. I saw him open Spotlight and begin searching.

"Do you connect to the Internet on this laptop?"
"Yes."
"Have you downloaded and images?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Do you have any pornography?"
"No."

I waited in total silence for about 10 minutes as he kept searching and searching, until I finally asked him, "What are you looking for?"

"Contraband," he said without looking up at me.
"Such as?"
"Child pornography, hate propaganda."
"Child porn I can understand, that's illegal. But hate propaganda is protected speech."
Now he looked up. "What country do you think you're in?"
"Oh, it's illegal in Canada?"
"I honestly don't know. But that doesn't matter. I get to decide what goes in this country. Do you have a problem with that?"
I paused for a long time while I thought about what I should say to this. "Yes."
"Yes, you do have a problem?"
"Yes, I do. If it's illegal in Canada I'll understand, but saying 'I don't want it in my country' isn't good enough when you're a government official."

Now he was pissed. "Don't fool around with me. I'm sure you want this to end as much as I do. So I will ask you questions, and you will answer. Do you understand?"

Another long pause while I thought. "Yes, I do."

He continued his exhaustive audit of my computer's contents, then returned it to me. We waited for a Customs escort, who showed me out of the room and back to the terminal. There they left me without saying a word, and I was free to go.

I found Cara and Andy, and my vacation in Canada began.

Hope you all enjoyed that as much as I did. Have a great weekend!

Real ID Strikes Again

"The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well."

So, upon reading this my first take on it was wow. Will it do what they are saying? Of course it probably will, but that doesn't state all the other things it can do. Upon posting this on the forums and giving out his real name someone respond to the thread with directions on how to get to his house within 35minutes. Real ID from the start for me has been something I have been cool with. It is helpful for the people you know or maybe even family members who play on different servers to get a hold of them. Does mean I was going let all the people that asked for my Real ID information to get it. I am sorry, but I do like some privacy and don't want to be bugged endlessly. The difference now is that if you want to contribute anything in a public forum you have to provide your identity. This is different than Facebook when you have the choice to give your name away. Blizzard is basically saying everyone can have the information that we have if you want to here are our rules, but the rules have changed part way through the game. My point is I don't care who knows my name, the point is simple Real ID was supposed to be a choice and now they are removing things that people do if they don't want to participate. That is one bad thing, the other is when is the line drawn and when are they giving out too much information. Being able to find someones house is 35minutes to me is beyond a little creepy. Do I want people showing up at my door? Of course not.

Blizzard needs to be upfront on when this will stop and where the line is or I feel they will start losing a lot of their player base. Trying to make it more connected is going to make people less inclined to participate at all.

You Fail At Ruby Sanctum If...

So yesterday I had a lot of real life stuff going on and didn't get a chance to make my Fail Day post. That just means Fail Day got push till today. You would think people would be ok missing a post from me for one day. This obviously wasn't the case. Apparently, people thought I was killed, seriously injured, quit WoW, abducted by a mob of ret pallies, or got crushed by a giant Pi sign. Well none of those were the case although it was quite funny reading them all, and still many more to go... Shall we get to the fail then?

You Fail At Ruby Sanctum If...

• You can't interrupt and get knocked into the patrolling trash pack.
• You are confused why your debuff keeps getting higher without you running out
• You believe conflag is code for go hug someone
• You ask "how does one hibernate an add?"
• You believe the group up and CC strat is effective here
• You get stuck outside the giant circle of fire
• You forget that Halion is a dragon and cleaves, tail swipes, and has a breath attack
• You watch the meteor come down as smacks you in the face
• You still believe standing in fire gives haste
• You confuse running to the edge of the area with standing there and doing nothing
• When entering the twilight portal you die to a cleave
• You stand in awe as the giant laser beam does what R-Kelly does 12 year olds
• The concept of moving clockwise seems difficult
• Stop DPS and get back to a 50% split means blow all cooldowns and wipe the raid

and finally

• You ask why you aren't getting the ICC buff

That is it for this week. Even if it is a day late. Don't worry I don't plan on missing a post anytime soon. As always thank you for the support.