Carbot Strikes Again

Here we are Monday morning recovering from last night Breaking Bad episode. Ya that happened and I mentioned it and it has nothing to do with gaming, what are you going to do? That's what I thought! Anyways, it is Monday which does mean Machinima Monday. The post of the week where I showcase a machinima animation or live action video having to do with gaming. Well I know I have showcased Carbot before and I know he doesn't need anymore press because if you have seen his animations you already know he is awesome. I just had to, why you ask? Well not to give too much away his latest had Nydus worms and Nukes. Two of my very favourite things in Starcraft so it just wins on all levels. So here it is have a watch.



Didn't I tell you it was amazing? Now you can enjoy your Monday even more!

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Here we go again the ending to yours and my weekend. Unless, of course, there is a holiday I am unaware of. If so then let me say in advance that I have a deep anger inside of me for you right now. Regardless it is Sunday and you should know by now it is Ask Gauss. Well if you are new here then you don't know, but its simple I just answer some questions sent to me throughout the week. You can send in those questions in all ways at the top right of the page. So go ahead, and let's get to this.

Did you know you hit 1000 posts?

I actually did know, but that was not until Safiree pointed it out to me. She revealed her secret plot of how she wanted to be the 1000th post. What 1000 posts does mean though is that I have been doing this for awhile, but also I wouldn't be keeping on keeping on if their wasn't an audience who enjoy reading what I had to write. It is a pretty crazy thing when you think about it. I know I have a lot to say, but cannot always find the right words to say such things. I may talk and rant about what may seem pointless to some, but it does mean quite a bit to myself.

So these 1000 posts are quite an achievement mostly because I have actually sat down and wrote them all. My English teachers from high school would be quite amazed with that fact. Then after they saw what I was writing would probably be quite modified. I do though have to thank all of you no matter if you have read every single post I have ever made(sorry for some of those horrible ones) or if this is your first post you just stumbled upon. I appreciate the support and I know I will keep doing what I am doing.

What does Gaussafication mean?

I think I may have answered this question before, but I can't remember when so I will just do it again. I actually get asked this quite a bit. Gauss being my gamer namesake was arguably the best at everything he attempted. I always thought that was the perfect name to set myself apart from everyone else. Gaussafication would be the act of doing just that.

Also many people also know who "Gauss" was so the name isn't always free. Why not Gauss was a pretty amazing guy. Gaussafication on the other hand is always one that I seem to be able to throw in there as a substitute since it is a word I made up. Although it does seem people are starting to realize this and I find myself seeing other Gaussafications. I guess it must mean I am doing something worth mirroring.

Will you be watching the finale of Breaking Bad?

Course BITCH!

There you go questions answered for the week. Hope you got something out of it. Also once again thank you for the support never did I ever think I would ever hit the 1000 post mark. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wipe the Dust from your Steam account...

Safiree & Gauss

Mostly Epic Saturdays

 Happy Saturday everyone, hope it was an awesome week. This week has been full of variety. PVP grind, among other gaming. Mostly on Steam. If you're a gamer, you know what steam is and the torture it comes with. SOOO MANY OPTIONS! Honestly I think people should spend more time playing the simple free to play games. Will make your life much happier. :)

Realm Of the Mad Gods: Free to play, simple, and it's a game you can pick up and walk away from easily. It can be addictive and worth the time you put into it.

Team Fortress 2: FUN FUN FUN! Nothing more to say. The only thing better than this being free to play, is the videos on youtube. You're welcome.

Spiral Knights: If you like Zelda, you will enjoy this. It is also free to play. I haven't had much luck with it. Haven't really put too much time into it because i've been pvping. For a good adventure I recommend :)

 This weekend there are games free to play temporarily. Dead Island Riptide, Red Orchestra 2, Rising Storm- beta etc. Should check them out :)

 For me Steam is a place where all my games go to die. I play the ones I've put a lot of money into, when I can. A lot of people love the smaller company games Steam hosts, compared to bigger titles Blizzard throws at us. I try to balance my gaming but it is hard sometimes. Play simple Wii games, Sim City, Starcraft, Rift, and Steam games. All with Gauss :)

 Which games would you recommend playing? A lot of people have asked me to try Terra. Sorry not gonna happen LOL. Keep in mind Trion is having an event called "Extra Life". A gaming marathon, playing 25 hours straight November 2nd, all proceeds go towards those in need across the country. Participating grants awesome rewards, including special titles, and for donors huge prizes they haven't yet revealed. Register online for the event for free and help those in need. As always thanks for reading! Have the best weekend.

 -Safiree

Ziggie's Plight

Today is a special Reader Post, mostly because it isn't really one. Recently a friend of mine who I played WoW with for a really long time had something really horrible happen to him. I decided to share our back and forth email with all of you, and maybe it might spark some conversation about the entire thing.

I hope you are doing well I thought I would show you an email from Blizzard that I received after work today. Apparently I have been banned for botting in WOW even though I have not been botting or do I even know how to "bot". The only addon I use is deadly boss mods so there is no reason for me to be banned and Blizzard has done nothing after calling them, emailing them, and submitting a ticket. Total bullshit. 

"Offense: Use of Bots or Third-Party Automation Software

Blizzard has terminated this World of Warcraft license after identifying the usage of bots or other cheat software.

These programs (commonly called cheats, bots, and hacks) automate certain aspects of gameplay, or provide unintended advantages and abilities to the player. This type of cheating undermines other players' experience and severely upsets the balance of the game environment."

Ziggy

Wow man that sucks. Did your account get hacked and you were unaware or something? I am sure it is some sort of mix up just may take some time to get it all cleaned up. Did it also effect the other games on your bnet account? That is pretty shitty hope you get it taken care of.

All  my gear still shows up on all my wow toons. I can still log into D3 and Sc2. So, yeah, Blizzard has really dropped the ball here. I killed a prot pally who was killing npcs and q givers in Sithilus while farming mats for thunderfury, but I crafted thunderfury, mabye he was some butthurt blizz employee. I don't know what happened but I will get answers and I will report them back to you.

Still no update from this? Probably at least have to wait till Monday I assume. I would assume they reported you for botting, because you took their spot or some shit like that.

"Offense: Use of Bots or Third-Party Automation Software

Blizzard has terminated this World of Warcraft license after identifying the usage of bots or other cheat software.

These programs (commonly called cheats, bots, and hacks) automate certain aspects of gameplay, or provide unintended advantages and abilities to the player. This type of cheating undermines other players' experience and severely upsets the balance of the game environment."

"Hey there, I'm Game Master Rywald, i will be taking a look at your issue today.
    
    Thank you for contacting us concerning the recent action taken against the World of Warcraft account. After a thorough review of the circumstances involved in this action, the account has been changed from a ban to a 48 hour suspension. 
    
    Please take a few moments to look over the World of Warcraft Terms of Use  (http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/wow_tou.html), as we take matters involving the integrity of the game environment very seriously. Please understand that should another incident of this nature arise in the future, it is possible that a different outcome will be reached, up to and including Account Closure.
    
    The Terms of Use state that you will not "...modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game Client or the Service in any way not expressly authorized by Blizzard" or "...use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience..." Additionally, the Battle.net Terms of Use (http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/termsofuse.html) state that "You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the Login Information, and you will be responsible for all uses of the Login Information, including purchases, whether or not authorized by you."

"I'm Tiffany L. and I've just received your ticket.
 
    First, to clarify, by initial findings, we were referring to the decision to downgrade your account to a suspension, not the closure. You will be able to access your account again once the suspension has been served.
 
    Regarding the suspension, to protect the integrity of our investigation process, we do not disclose information about our investigation methods or findings.  This includes, but is not limited to, the names of prohibited programs found to have been used. Please understand, any activities not intended by game design which affect the economy, the client, player characters, or the world itself have a tremendous negative impact on the potential enjoyment for all players.  The effects of these activities take many forms including a bloated game economy, server instability, and allowing unauthorized access to accounts, computers, and player data.
 
    We once again apologize for any inconvenience caused by this issue, and hope that this has cleared up any concerns you may have. Thank you for understanding our position in this matter."

I am assuming this became an issue because I farmed the 100 arcane crystals to complete Thunderfury, but alas, Blizz will never tell me the reason for the ban (now a suspension) and offered nothing to me no matter how much I pleaded with them to understand I am simply a player, nothing more. This is unbelievable, I can only imagine if i was still raiding and this occurred.

So I could never imagine this happening to me. I know many times players threaten to report you for doing certain things and nothing really ever comes from this. Blizzard's stance on bots is pretty harsh so if Ziggie was actually botting there is no way they would have reduced it to a suspension. This is obviously a case where they looked into it and found out they had bad information. Then then make it just a suspension to cover themselves and will not share any of the information which lead them to this original conclusion. This is rather ridiculous and really makes you believe it was a complete mistake. I am glad ZIggie got everything back as I know he always works hard in everything gaming wise. Best DPS Deathknight I ever played with and not a bad mage before that. Many fun times through classic all the way till I was done playing.

So has anything like this happened to any of you? What was the result? Let me know. Have a nice weekend all!

Lightning Returns Opening

Well this is something which doesn't need much introduction so I will just throw it at you




Well let me just say I wasn't let down. After the post yesterday I think it was kind of "fate" this was released. Some may have even thought that was why the post yesterday was made. Anyways, I love this gets right into the Snow vs Lightning thing we all have been waiting for. I really cannot wait to play this game and this sequence just made me realize how far February really is. Damn why SE why?

Hope you all enjoyed it just as much. Enjoy the rest of your day!

It Has Begun

Middle of the week, and once again it is time to spark conversation and to get up all in people's faces. This week's list is all opening the opening. Not just the first couple minutes, but the time before you even have to pick up the controller, mouse, or whatever else. That time when you first pickup the game and press new game. Some games to the job that have you paying so much attention and are getting pumped up like crazy to play the game. Some games may not have even been liked , but have the most amazing opening sequences. None of the games I picked are like that, but you know them and they do exist. So here they come my best 5 openings.

5. Starcraft II Wings Of Liberty



Starcraft II took forever to actually be a thing so maybe I was so pumped to play this game without even watching the opening. Even still There is mystery and intrigue in the way it starts. Who is this man and why is Mengsk talking to him? What is going on here? Also gives those who are unaware of the whole criminals are marines thing. Also it is a Blizzard CG which we all know are always top notch.

4. Uncharted 2 Among Thieves



So not many games start in this way. Drake is bleeding like crazy has time to crack a joke about it then you realize you are on a train which is falling off a cliff. This is all in the first minute of the game. How could not want to play more to find out what the hell happened?

3. Diablo III Reaper Of Souls



This game isn't even out yet, but Blizzard did realease the opening cinematic. I have said it before and I will say it again. WOW! I so want to play this game. Not only the CG itself but the music is masterfully placed at each moment. You are litterly at the edge of your seat watching this. Beyond intense.

2. Assassin's Creed Revelations



First of all we have an Ezio voice over of a letter he was writing to his sister about a trip he was about to make. We are seeing this trip unfold to epic fashion. Ezio being Ezio. This to me is not only one of the best opening sequences of a game but one of the very best clips in a game in general. It gives you everything you could ever want. Leaves you at the edge of your seat and gets you pumped up to play.

1. Final Fantasy VIII 



In my mind Final Fantasy VIII might not even make it in my top 5 FF games. That takes nothing away from this opening sequence. There have been many of my friends completely against playing any Final Fantasy game then see this opening and follow it up with I have to play this game. It gives you a taste of everything the story entails without giving you enough to know exactly what will follow. This in my mind is what makes it the perfect opening. It has those edge of your seat moments along with the teasers. The opening upon which all others are measured to me.

There you have it this week's list. Tell me what you think. What openings do or have you enjoyed?

You Fail At Wanting To Play MMO's If...

Fail Day! I know you are excited I can tell by my ability to hack into your web cam as you are reading this. I also see you making sure your webcam isn't active. You are saying you don't have a webcam? Well I just happen to be able to see in your windows... Don't you feel better? Regardless of my ability to stalk you it is Fail Day so why don't we just get to it.

You Fail At Wanting To Play MMO's If...

• You don't have the patience to do the same task everyday
• Dailies are your mortal enemy
• The word grind tends to give you the powers of the Hulk
• You are the furthest thing from a people person
• You don't feel like raiding
• You are not allowed to raid
• You often have moments you have done this before in another game
• No boss encounter has original tactics to you
• You enjoy playing games not on a schedule
• You like story too much
• You are behind everyone...
• You made a list of better ways to spend your subscription money
• You want real competition not "Fake" competition

and finally

• You have out grown the MMO style

There you have it this week's edition of fail. Hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope I offended at least some of you!

The Soul Blade

Monday Morning... Yes I know....

So skipping all that crap let's get to the point. Machinima Monday! The post of the week where I take an machinima, animation or today's case live action video and showcase it for all of you to see. Now I have yet to showcase any live action's mostly because a lot of the time they are beyond horrible. This one is just a trailer as the full length clip comes out later on today. I just wanted to get all of you pump up to watch it by seeing the pretty awesome effects which take place. Who knows maybe this could spark others to make great live action pieces and I may end up showing more of them. Only time will tell, but until then here is the trailer for The Soul Blade.



Watch the trailer, watch the full length and tell me what you think. Besdies that try and enjoy your Monday

Ask Gauss

Sunday end of the weekend once again. Time for some pancakes and Breaking Bad! Don't you love how you can define a day by what you eat and do? I just always found that funny. It is not such and such a day. It is Pizza Night, or Hockey Night. Just interesting to me. Well anyways back on topic. It is Sunday meaning it is Ask Gauss the post of the week where I answer some questions sent to me throughout the week. Let it be known that I got a ton of questions about the Diablo III auction house, but I think between my post and the Reader Post it was pretty covered. I did reply to you all, but I don't see myself doing an Ask Gauss on that in the near future, but who knows some information could come out and I could change my mind. Off topic again! Time for the questions.

So Blizzard is releasing a new Feat of Strength for Starcraft II with some portrait rewards any thoughts?

Well I will almost guarentee the portraits will be Carbot related. He was down at Blizzard Headquarters a couple weeks ago and the post on the site itself has a Crabot drawn portrait. On what the feat actually will be? Well they are giving an xp bonus for a week so maybe it will be level related? Or maybe they are just being nice and giving the xp boost. I am level 90 at the moment so I do hope there is something for me in all of this but we shall see.

I know you probably have seen the new TGS Lightning Returns trailer, but did you take the time to watch the X/X-2 remastered one?

I actually did, and I am really impressed with not only this remaster, but the remasters in general. I will be getting this as X is one of my favourite X-2 is something that will be fun to play again, but really the whole remaster is about X. The graphics themselves look great, but I don't know about all of you but the music and sound is what I am really looking forward to. Remember X is the first Final Fantasy to have voice overs so thaey have had a lot of time to learn and improve tech wise. I really cannot wait to go around Spira in HD.

If you have not seen the trailer here it is.

Do you think people care what you have to say?

I would assume slightly more than what you have to ask.

There you have it this week's questions answered. Hope you all got something out of it. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

PVP GRIND TIME!!!!

SAFIREE & THE MOST EPIC GRIND TO 90 PRESTIGE!!!

 Hello everyone. Happy Saturday! Lately, i've been grinding, and not in a good way. My grand quest to get to 80 prestige has now been upped to 90. I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely have to be in the mood to pvp. I get angry so fast. Because when you put too many stupid people in one group things can ruin the whole experience. I am currently 61, and yes, I am very, very much intimidated by the 29 more levels I have to go. I am pushing past the fact that I don't want to do this, because I don't agree with how much EXP it takes to get the decade increments, it is just ridiculous, and I feel like Trion is lazy in that regard. But hell, MMO's FTW =D

 Being as competitive as I am though, I don't rate myself and my skills to what gear I have because it isn't accurate. People get this mindset that because they are in merc gear they wont be able to kill higher levels, but it can happen. Vice versa with Warlords. Anyone can get gear. If you think about how long it takes to grind warfronts, or battlegrounds to get the PVP gear you need all of that time is valuable practice for scenarios that otherwise you wouldn't be prepared for. Although.. warlord gear is the kind of gear you want so bad it makes you sorry.  

 WARFRONTS: So much fun. Especially when you join into one that is winning. One time I joined one that was half over, and I was slaughtering people so much so I didn't even pay attention if I was merced or not. I raged at the control points because it wouldn't let me change it! Pretty sure I've covered this before. But it is well worth complaining about again because being an idiot is just soooo easy lol. I've recently had an amazing mentor teach me how to be a melee rogue. It is pretty epic. I've noticed a lot of other melee players are so easily kited, but I can assure you after playing a 61MM rogue for a while you will not fall for it. Hopefully. I do have a lot more practice in melee spec, mostly to get the STRAFE, STAB, SHANK down.

CONQUEST: Depending on if you make the premade, which is alot harder now with RIFT's newest patch, you can either be a fast capped winner, or they can prolong the win with extra kills in between extractors which is legit so much prestige it is HEAVEN to someone like me leveling. I recommend using pots, battle serums etc. They might not seem like much but they do make a huge difference. Also, if you use spotify I recommend the heaviest dubstep you can find. Makes killing your victims so much more passionate. LOL
If you have a pocket healer, or even just a tank that helps too obviously. If you don't want to put money into the game, I recommend putting some time into PVE in RIFT so that you can just buy REX RIFT EXCHANGE's to buy prestige vials, or favor vials. Although i'm doing my grind with none of those if you are impatient and hate PVP grinds go for it.

If you have any questions about any of my specs I will gladly post them, along with my rotations. I have a kick ass spec also for support. SAB/TACT it's pretty boss. Have a great weekend loves!

-Safiree

The Hellfire Method

Here we are with another another day another Friday. Friday in Gauss land mean nothing other than the Reader Post. I got quite a few good ones this week, but as you all know Diablo III is big into the news this week with the revelation of the Auction House coming down. I even wrote a post yesterday to what my thoughts were on the whole ordeal and Coolhandluke sent in this great post explaining what he thinks. It is on the longer side of Reader Posts but it is a good read.

Hey Gauss based on your post and I came up with this. Kind of builds on what you already said and how I think the crafting and the hellfire ring in general for Diablo is a good place for the game to head.

The iLvl 63 crafts succeeded in some aspects, wherein playing the game was the only way to get DEs, but it had some drawbacks. Poor players could barely to afford it, and rich players with 500k DPS could rack up massive amounts of DE and craft 1000 pairs of gloves until they got it right. As an added consequence, certain market segments took a huge dive as crafted components replaced them, further impacting poor players with little means to acquire wealth. Of course, the Auction House plays a part in all of this, since market segments and wage disparity would be of little consequence if the AH were absent.

The HF ring system actually had a lot going for it, and for a number of reasons:

1) It was completely optional. You didn't need one to complete the game, or to do MP10, or anything. In fact, you only have 2 ring slots, it makes for a difficult choice as to whether to use it or not.

2) It was difficult. Yes, you could attempt Key/Uber runs on MP0, but it may have taken you 1000 years to craft even a single HF ring. Keys/Ubers on High MP set a benchmark for players to reach, and provided an actual challenge with their extreme difficulty. While some see this as a deterrent, it is actually a goalpost that many players were meant to meet. It was something to work towards.

3) It was complex. Some players to this day I meet in pub games do not know what a HF ring is or have any idea whatsoever how to craft them. It is a long series of steps that for some players could take up a lot of time. This is great for keeping players occupied, but it also served a purpose as one of the only examples in D3 of End Game Content. 

4) It was rewarding. Current crafting with DE is actually overly simplistic, and the reagents are too easily acquired. HF Ring's complexity contributes to its uniqueness and the "Special" feeling of accomplishment that comes with making one. The benefits of the HF are tangible, since the XP bonus is not matched by any other item in-game.

It would be a welcome addition to the game to have more special crafting recipes which create "Unique" items that are difficult to acquire, complex to assemble, and rewarding to create.

Coolhandluke

As always thank  you for all the submissions! Don't forget to check out Safiree's Post tomorrow as I know most of you do, but just a reminder.

No More Auction House

So there was some pretty big news revealed on Wednesday. If you didn't here is the official statement from Blizzard.

When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.

We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls™ will result in a much more rewarding game experience for our players. 
We're working out the details of how the auction house system will be shut down, but we wanted to share the news as soon as we made the decision in order to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. Please note that the shutdown will occur on March 18, 2014. We will keep everyone informed as we work through this process.

So like I said pretty massive news. I do have some concerns though. One of the reasons the auction houses were put in place was to avoid 3rd party sites from selling gear to the masses. To avoid people feeling to compete they would have to go there in an insecure manner to buy gear. Blizzard gave us the auction houses to avoid this process. I praised them for doing this. What they did wrong though was make it so playing the game at higher levels especially Inferno became about upgrading your gear through the auction house so you can actually progress in a timely manner.

This was the thing that got many people aggravated with the auction house. So when the expansion was announced along with loot 2.0 people where excited because they would actually be able to progress in a timely manner using self found gear. There would also be the option of the auction house for the best of the best, which I believe was the purpose of the auction house in the first place. Then we were dropped this bomb.

Now the problem is if everything else were to stay the same this goes back to 3rd party sites and spamming of trade channels to sell pieces of gear. To me this is back to the stone age. The 3rd party site thing is a problem. The spamming of trade channels makes the game unfun to play and is why auction houses in games at least gold ones are an option. If Blizzard where to keep this method they would be going back on everything they said before Diablo III was first released. This is why I think they are going in another direction.

I really think Blizzard is going to be scrapping trading with everything besides commodities. Gear is somehow going to be bound to the account of the players in the game when the gear dropped. This is going to allow players the option to share gear with those in the game if they so chose or they will have the option to use it for alts. I actually like this idea sure it has an MMO soulbound type feel to it, but if there isn't going to be an auction house and we are not going back to the stone age of gaming then this is the only option which makes sense.

That is at least my thoughts on it. I know we will be learning more about this whole thing in the coming months and Blizzcon and I do look forward to knowing more.

Spectatecular

Middle of the week is upon us once again and hopefully your week is on the good side of good. I know that line didn't make sense but it did when I was thinking it. As has become the norm here on Wednesday's is the making of lists, and this week will be no different. I was thinking about what to make this week's about and I realized something. Watching games has become just as popular as playing them it seems. So when putting together this week's list I had a lightbulb moment. Why not make a list of the best games to actually sit back and watch, to spectate and here it is.

5. LA Noire

For those who don't know LA Noire maybe one of those games that may even be more fun to watch then actually play. It is a crime investigation where you are the one questioning and reading the suspects. You have to do everything a detective would do. The facial expressions and voice acting are some of the best I have ever seen, the game truly is an experience and being the one watching you always have the option to criticize the one making the choices.

4. Starcraft II

The game which really made E-Sports what it is today. If you are a follower of the game and understand the mechanics seeing professionals play is a treat. You understand how difficult one thing is and how their split second timing is really that good. For those who don't play or understand it isn't difficult to pickup and watching just makes you want to learn more. It is like watching a sport you never have and those watching it with you teaching you along the way.

3. Heavy Rain

Watching Heavy Rain is a treat in itself. The game is one full of moral choices and watching some else struggle through them is not something to look down upon. You will be right there with them at every move cheering them on and hoping Ethan can just find his son.

2. The Walking Dead

Even if you never press a single button by the end you will be crying just like everyone else. The game has such an amazing story that will keep you engaged the entire time. Truly cannot say anything else without giving away. Just a treat all in itself.

1. Anything Naughty Dog

No one does action adventure like Naughty Dog. The Uncharted Trilogy is in my opinion the best series of games which have been made, and the Last Of Us well that may be the best game I have ever played. Not only are they great to play but the story is so well written and voice acted that you are left always wanting more even when watching. Hell I have even watched others play after I already have because they are just that epic.


There you have it this week's list. As always tell me what you think or how mostly turns out what you didn't agree with.

You Fail At Making New Online Friends If...

Fail Day! Yes it is that time of the week once again. Time for us to sit back and enjoy someone else's misery. I know we are horrible people  but live with it because that is the way things are. I truly don't have much of a segue for this week's so let's just get on with it.

You Fail At Making New Online Friends If...

• Your name is surrounded by x's
• Your conversation opening has something to do with their mother and last night
• Your approach resembles that of a Jehovah Witness
• You approach conversations as if they were a  game shows lightning round of personal questions
• You show them your new tattoo of their name on your body
• You prove to them how smart they are with a satellite photo of them in their house.
• You approach all games with the kill the new guy attitude
• You are a guy meeting a girl after every story your follow up question is "Can you send me a pic?"
• You set their facebook page to your browsers homepage
• When you see "blah blah blah has come online" you instantly start typing out the novel of everything which has happened since you last talked
• You believe 6 pooling someone will make them appreciate you even more
• You text them a photo diary of your day, including before and after pictures of your meals

and finally

• Your definition of friend resembles everyone else's definition of stalker

There you go this week's edition of fail. Hope you all enjoyed it. Make it a good one!

Lamien

Here we are another Monday another weekend over. Another day where there just isn't enough coffee or redbull. Maybe there is enough coffee with redbull but that is i'm awake on a whole new level. Regardless it is Monday which means Breaking Bad was yesterday and there is only 1 episode left making me a sad panda should be a good one and now I am at the longest point in the week from the last one. So what do we have to make my day better? Well Machinima Monday of course. The post of the week where I showcase a machinima or animation for all of you to see. This week I went with Lamien by Hybrim. The description reads as follows

From the creators of stuff you probably don't know about, Hybrim Entertainment presents a Machinima parody of classic science fiction films... Plot: Some time in the future with spaceships and shit, a crew of truckers in space land on an alien planet to do sci-fi stuff when everything goes wrong.

It is a good watch but is over 15 minutes so just make sure you have the time, but it is worth it if you can pick up all the references. You will thank me later.




You welcome. Enjoy your day.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes it is the end of the weekend already I will give you your moment of silence on the time you wasted...

So Sunday meaning Ask Gauss you know the post of the week where I answer questions sent to me throughout the week. I know there is some of you who don't know how to send in your questions and if you are still confused check out the top right of the page to see the bunch of different ways to do so. Or if you are too lazy to do so just send your email to gaussafication@gmail.com. So now to the questions.

Your thoughts on Garrosh not being killed?

To be honest I think it was done on purpose. Now it could be because they want it to lead into the next expansion like I think they may. Have to admit there will be a bunch of the leaders at the trial so with so many in one spot you have to think something will happen. Even then I truly doubt Garrosh will get the death penalty, and the reason why is the Illidan issue.

What is that? Well Blizzard has said not directly, but implied they would want to bring Illidan back for a redemption type story. Now because he is part Demon there is ways around this. When demons are killed they are sent to the nether and can make their way back. Now no one really knows how long this process could take but it does exist. Garrosh on the other hand is just an Orc and this wouldn't be entire possible. So if he is going to be sentenced to death I feel he will some how get out of it. Who knows how, but he will. I just feel we haven't seen the end of him and he does have a part to play.

Did you see the new screenshots for Lightning returns? Any thoughts?

I think there was just enough information in them to not be spoilers, but enough to make you wonder. Not to mention the setting shots look amazing but really that is to be expected. If they didn't look as good as they do I think that would be cause for concern. No one does landscapes and settings better. Also I was glad to see so many of the characters seem to be returning for the finale. For those who haven't seen them here is one to tease you.

What ruins a good day of gaming?

People. And yes I'm serious.

Questions answered! Try to make what is left of your weekend count!

Follow the Leader

Safiree & Gauss

Mostly Epic Saturdays

 Happy Saturday everyone. I hope your week was as great as mine. This week I was on the fence about posting on two different subjects. So instead of only choosing one i'll do both. Still will be rather interesting, and I hope to get some of your own input. First things first.

 Joining/Leaving a Guild. What is the proper way to go about this process? In my opinion it would depend on the type of gamer you are. If you aren't serious or loyal about anything in video games, then most likely you will be willing and up for anything. I am not this way. I put a lot of care into the guild that I am in, and I help others as much as I can. I really only leave a guild if there is nothing else I can do on my part to make things better to be around. Lately i've been really questioning whether being in a guild at all is going to work for me though.

 No, this isn't because of the people, not because of progression. I created a guild so that other people who were also new to Rift could share the same experiences I do. I had Gauss with me the entire leveling process, so having any questions, or problems I had a second brain to pick. (although it was always the other way around :P ). So being in this environment was a good place for the new players. Least that's what I was hoping for.

 The main problem i've had so far, isn't being a leader who isn't doing the necessary requirements of the job, not neglecting people, or belittling their experiences just because they might be new to MMO's. Really it's because MMO's are becoming the last choice. Keeping people interested on my part there is only so much I can do. People can't seem to get into the feel of the "grind" or even just dealing with other players ego's. I don't really blame them. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for WoW, and Rift but I feel like todays MMO's aren't keeping up with the changes us gamers want in the content.

 So basically, I'm at the point of giving up trying to lure people into a game they honestly don't want to play, tired of babysitting the drama that unfolds over the most ignorant problems people come up with. What do you think? Am I just not suited to take up anymore of the challenge it offers? Maybe there is something i'm missing. Hopefully things in MMO's get better. More options of the way we play them will unfold. 

 The other topic, is Civilization 5. We've been playing with a couple other friends and the game is awesome. It's different from anything else i've ever played. I'm still learning but when I do things I like to be through and through. Have you played any of them? What do you think of these types of gaming verses MMO's? Thanks for reading!

-Safiree

Garrosh's End

So there will be no Reader Post this week because Garrosh's end has come out and I have had tons of requests on my take on it. With that in mind this post has an extreme amount of SPOILERS so if you don't want any of those then don't keep reading and then complain about spoilers. So with that in mind here it goes

First off here are the two endings specific to the faction the kill was achieved on

So a few things about this. I am glad with the choice. I think picking a non-orc shows the Horde as accepting of all the races. Also the Horde needs a martial Warchief, and Thrall for all his accomplishments is a diplomat. Vol'jin has been with Thrall the entire time, he rejected an offer by the God King of the Trolls himself to join the Zandalari himself, even when shadows of doubt lingered around him, he stayed loyal to the Horde and what it stood for, even working with the Allliance to preserve what he saw all his Horde, true family.

What is of interest is the random appearance by Gallywix and Sylvanas' rather approach to the whole thing. There is also of not how Jaina is still quite upset and may actually become Sylvanas' mirror on the Alliance. AS Varian and Garrosh used to be.

One of the bug things is Garrosh isn't dead and he is going to have a trial. I assume this will be the lead in to the next expansion as the last time all the leaders got together well Thrall got split into pieces and ended up getting married. So I just have a feeling that something big if not huge is going to happen and that trial, but we will have to wait and see the result.

Overall I think it is a interesting ending. Varian recognizes the Horde is broken, but is not sure if the Alliance is worth the sacrifice in dismantling it, and let's be honest I am pretty sure the Horde leaders would be able to kill the Alliance ones who were there in the room.

So that is it my thoughts, let me know what you think one way or another.

So 5.4

So 5.4 has been out for a couple days now and I have been getting tons of information from all of you on what you think and what you like and don't like about it. Even though I don't play anymore I am still extremely interested in how things are going down. Especially story wise. I am also interested into how flex raiding is going to work out as it is an extremely interesting idea and something I would have appreciated to train new members with back when I played.

Of course the thing everyone is looking forward to is what happens after the fight with Garrosh. Is he going to be killed? Is it going to be Vol'jin shooting him in the back, or is there going to be a Grom type moment. No one knows and Blizzard has been pretty tight lipped about the whole thing. Now Cata's ending made sense in the long run, but really wasn't the ending anyone expected. I hope this is an ending people do not expect, but at the same time I don't want it to be completely out there.

Also I certainly don't want it to end with Thrall saying "I am back bitches" because to me Thrall's Horde has came and gone and I don't think the game and the story as a whole would be better for Thrall being the Warchief once again.

Enjoy and keep all the feedback coming!

Rage Inducing Madness

So here we go in the middle of the week. Wednesday has turned into a day of lists. I have actually enjoyed making these lists up even if I always have people who like to have their opinions known. I am sorry I didn't make up the list like you would that is probably because it is not your list it is my list. Anyways with that in mind I decided to make a list where the games tend to generate the most NERD RAGE!!!

5. DOTA 2

You know this list is full of rage when DOTA 2 is number 5 of the list. Any team based game always seems to cause general fits of rage. If you have ever played the game you realize that not everyone tends to play nice.

4. World of Warcraft

Like I said before playing with people tends to cause rage to be created. Especially when those people tend to be in the 20+ range. I can even say myself I have had the moments when I didn't realize what I even said until later when people asks for their heads to be returned.

3. League of Legends

I don't think I have ever heard the word report more then when playing LoL. People it is almost as if they believe doing so will give them super powers. Not to mention the crowd tends to be younger in age and therefore everyone tends to have something to prove, and it all begins even before the game starts.

2. Call of Duty

The game populated by countless people who are too young to even play the game. The game where your mother is the topic of pretty much every possible conversation. The game where having a headset makes you instantly the coolest person on the planet. Oh how sweet it is.

1. The Impossible Game



What can one say about the Impossible game. It isn't the fact that other players are making you rage it is the fact the game is so stupid in concept, but so easy at the same time that when you did you just want the creator to die in a fire.

There you go the list for the week. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was rage in the comments about a rage post? Oh one can only hope.

You Fail At Civilizations 5 If...

So here we are with yet another Fail Day! I know you are excited as I am. This past weekend I introduced Safiree, Khulk, and Mitzgar to Civilizations 5. I have been wanting to try out the the new expansion Brave New World so I thought I would force this upon them all. I have always enjoyed the series and Brave New World is just an extension of that. So if you are a Civ fan I recommend picking it up. So what does all this have to do with Fail Day, well you will see!

You Fail At Civilizations 5 If...

• You chose England on a Pangaea map
• You expect games to end in a timely manner
• You don't connect your cities with roads
• You don't build any additional cities
• You let all your melee troops die to archers
• You think unhappiness doesn't matter
• You never build workers
• You don't see the point in infecting other cities with your religion
• You forget to press the next turn button
• You lost a city to barbarians
• You return workers to other players
• You don't demand all of the other civilizations gold when they sue for peace
• You think clubs vs guns is a good decision

and finally

• You save a multiplayer games and never finish them

There you go this week's edition of fail. Hope you all enjoyed it. To my WoW brothers and sisters enjoy the patch today!

Fan Legacy of The Void

Here we are Monday morning once again. Yes I know it sucks, but that is why you are here to make it suck slightly less. All of you know or should know I love my Starcraft and right when I finished the single player in Heart of the Swarm I became that much more excited for Legacy Of The Void. Not only because I think the story is awesome and I want to see what is next, but I play protoss so it is that much more epic. Now there are tons of fan made trailers out there for movies, games, and whatever else and I hardly pay attention to them. So when I saw this I was a little skeptical but I gave it a shot and it was actually worth it. So I feel you should do the same.



See I told you it was worth it. Enjoy your Monday!

Ask Gauss

Here we are on yet another Sunday. Hopefully your pancakes were good. If you didn't have pancakes besides asking what is obviously wrong with you I just don't know what to say. Sunday though as you probably know is Ask Gauss the post where I answer a few questions sent to me throughout the week just because it seems like something I should do. So here goes

On your last list you ignored Lara Croft,why?

So let me first say that I must have received this question too many times to count. I recognize Lara Croft is a big deal, but she is basically the anti-female to my list. My list was about how certain female characters had been changing the way females were presented in games. They didn't have to be a princess stuck in a castle or a hero with an obviously  unproportional body type. So no I just didn't forget her and no if I wrote it again I wouldn't put her in. She just doesn't belong. If you are interested in reading the list again or didn't get to by all means Changing the Game.

So I know you are not an Xbox person but what do you think about the release date announcement?

First off let me say first that PS4 comes out 2 weeks later in Europe then it does in North America. That is it. You would love for everything to come out at the same time everywhere. This being one of the reasons I love the way Blizzard releases games even if I have to be up at 3am to play it on release. For Microsoft though I have a hard time coming to the conclusion why they would have this as their release dates 

It comes out on November 22 in: Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK, the US, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy. Everywhere else, in 2014...

Now maybe there is a marketing or businesses issue behind this but Microsoft just keeps adding more and more reasons to not buy their new console.

Want to play some LoL with me this weekend?

The only times I play LoL is when I am extreme bored out of my mind, or want to come up with more reasons why I love Starcraft.

There you have it this week's questions answered. Hope you all got something out of it.

Switching Roles

Safiree & Gauss

Mostly Epic Saturdays

 Hello everyone! Good week? Mine was. I've been doing a lot more reading, and catching up with everyone I used to game with back in World of Warcraft (the days before Gauss) and it seems like a lot of the older gamers haven't been gaming barely if at all. Maybe it's just me but I know for a fact I will be a granny gamer still dominating everything I come across. (._.) Or attempting to dominate anything at all lol.

 We've started up Civilization 5 Brand New World. It's pretty insane. Especially with Gauss and I playing. I'm still learning for end game things, but it's pretty awesome so far. I always pick Germany...of course. He picks Rome. Playing it with a few other friends as well. Other than that it's been grinding in Rift. PVP, rep, and I even have been leveling my cleric healer.

 Speaking of which Clerics are so overpowered I don't understand how the developers even came up with their heals. Basically made them God-like because in Warfronts, or even dungeons I can do mass amounts of healing, not once drop below 95% mana, and nobody can kill me. It's also incredibly easy. 

 I'm still really upset with how they have done rogues in Rift. I vowed I wouldn't ever be a stunlock rogue... but it's the only melee spec that works in PVP. Ranged 61mm is just too slow, takes time to build up.. not to mention the boring rotation. o_o  Many things are becoming so repetitive in Rift. Which is why were switching things up, by doing even more games along with it.

 I will say, I can definitely eat some of the comments i've always made about healers, now that I have finally had the experiences of one. It can be tough, especially when you are healing for idiots who always stand in stuff they aren't supposed to, or they LOS your heals, and run away from you but then complain about not getting heals! That was always the nice thing about playing random in Starcraft. Learning the other side of things, how to counter, and how to reach your objective with a bit more insight.

Again, thanks for reading and the continued support has been great. Thanks guys! Have the best weekend. C:

-Safiree

Free To Play

Here we are at the end of the week deciding what we are going to be doing this weekend. I play on playing some Civilization 5 with Safiree and Khulk been awhile since I have played and kind of got the itch to play it some. Besides Safiree has never played so how could I resist the temptation to own her at something. That is beside the point of this post though. It is Friday which means it is time for the Reader Post. The post of the week where I take one submitted to myself at gaussafication@gmail.com and let you have the show for the day. So here it is Hindkey

Hey Gauss this is Hindkey or Markus if you prefer real names, figured I would take my shot at this week's reader post. Something has been on my mind a lot lately, and I figured it was worth writing to you about. What is with all this free to play crap going around? I understand the draw of it. You can play the game for free, but do people not realize that they are trying to draw you in with that in order to take all your money? League of Legends is the prime example of this. Why is there even a leveling system? You could say it is to learn champions and get the credits to purchase them. No it is pointless and causes players to realize they will need to purchase something unless they want to spend insane amount of time playing something.

Free to play games are marketed towards the casual player but they are anything but that. They favor the hardcore player because they are the ones who will end up playing for free, but the one who wants to play here and there is the one who is going to end up spending the money to do so. And these marketing schemes are disgusting if they think people are that stupid. Well some apparently are and end up spending hundreds of dollars on games which in a normal world would have been $60 at most. 

I understand it is the persons decision to spend the money, but the game is almost telling you have to or you have to play it forever. It is not fair really. I am not expecting them to give me everything for free I just want companies to be honest of their intentions to pray on the casual gamer to make their money off of them. They should feel ashamed of themselves but really they are just playing with their money.

Thanks Hindkey for the post. Thought out and you have an opinion to be proud of. I am not really a fan of free to play for the same reason. Games really end up going free to play so they CAN make more money.

Wardens of Nordrassil

So it is not too often I get blown away by some fan art. I get links to them all the time and it really is one of my favourite things to look over and review. I love to see people's interpretations of characters and how they are able to make them come to life in their own way. This is one of the reasons I love Carbot Animations so much because he can take everything which is Starcraft and make it his own.

Now this post was is about show a piece which just amazed me when I saw it. Warcraft Lore is truly one of my favourite things. I can sit down and read a book or talk to people about it for hours. For those who write me know I have had conversations back and forth with people about countless topics. Even about things which no one really remembers.

Instead of going on and on let me just show you this beyond amazing Fan Art.

Something so simple beautifully done and I just had to share it. If you are interested you can check out more 6kart's work over at Deviantart. It will be worth your time I promise. To all my WoW brothers and sisters less than a week before the Siege begins.