Cataclysm Print Ad Contest

So I don't know how many of you have been paying attention to this, but some of these are just plain epic. What am I talking about? Did you read the title? The Cataclysm Print Ad Contest. Basically, the contest is to create a Print Ad for Cataclysm. Always great when the name of the contest tells you what you have to do. The entries I have seen have been all of the following heartfelt, funny, offensive, and thought provoking. I have enjoyed them so much I thought I would share some of the best with you here.

And there you have it. Like I said quite amusing. 5 Days till Cataclysm are you prepared?

Final Chapter

Azerothian Super Villains has been around for a long time and has been a great series. Over this time it has supplied us all with laughs. No one will ever forget all the laughs Beckman has given us with all of the crew especially Kael'thas. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching them throughout the years I strongly recommend them to anyone. You will laugh i guarantee it.

Here is the description

"Made up of the most evil of all of Azerothian's evil villains, the "Azerothian Super Villains" are by the far the most evil and corrupt. Core members Illidan, Kael'thas, and Archimonde attempt at their evil plans of taking over the world every day! Will there plans come to fruition? Will they take over the world? Or will things simply become messed up as usual? Stay tuned!

In the final chapter, Episode 8, "The Day the Illidan Died," Illidan warns of his ultimate doom as Akama, Archimonde and the Super Villainlier Azerothians slowly inch to victory. With Kael'thas on his own adventure, will he realize that only he could be the only one to help his dear old friend? Will the new machine constructed by Illidan destroy the world? Will anyone be happy with the incongruity of this description?!"

Thanks for a wonderful series Ian Beckman I quite enjoyed all the laughs you have been the cause of these past years.

You Fail At The New Old World If...

So it is Tuesday, which of course means it is time for everyone's weekly dose of fail. Now for the past few weeks we were going after class specific fails, but no longer. Time for some classic Fail Day, and let's not make you wait any longer

You Fail At The New Old World If...

• The only way you know how to get down from the top of Orgrimmar is to jump
• You have this undying fascination with killing Gamon because he is level 85
• You ask what happened to "insert place here"
• You don't like the noise from Goblins dying
• You complain about no portals being in Dalaran
• You have fallen in the Great Divide more than once
• When you asked how to get from northern to southern barrens and someone responded "jump" you believed them
• You don't know why the Northrend loading screen looks as it does
• You haven't noticed that your meta gem requirements are no longer filled
• You don't know why the horde queues for LFD are so short
• You created a Tauren pally with any name relation to "Holycow"
• You make a daily habit of asking trade why you can't be a Goblin or Worgen yet
• You don't know why Thrall and Cairne aren't there
• You don't know what the "Council of Three Hammers" is

and finally

• You are in the zone Deathwing sets a blaze die and don't get the achievement

That is it for this weeks taste of fail, hope you all enjoyed it. This is the last week of Wrath to do what you got to do because this time next week we all will be playing Cataclysm.

Killing Mobs

You all know it if you play with sound on. If you don't play with sound on then this has nothing to do with you, so you can go read something else or see what you are missing.

First off let me say something about the mobs I hate killing more than anything.

Broken Draenei - The noises these things make when they die and while you are acting them makes me cringe.

Quilboar - Again killing these makes me want to punch kittens.

Harpies - After questing again in the Northern Barrens I can say that I have renewed my hatred for harpies.

These three without a doubt are horrible things to kill and make me regret having the ability to hear for that moment.

Now what about those mobs that are fun to kill?

Gnomes - not only how they die. Doing this jump and spin but the noise they make just makes me want to kill more and more. This would be why when I see a group of Alliance I go right for the gnomes just to hear that "ugwof" or whatever it is.

Gnomes for the longest time have been at the top of this list. There was nothing I ever wanted to kill more than a Gnome. That was until I heard the new sound for a goblin dying. Like really have you heard this? It is absolutely AMAZING. I really could kill these things all day long. Now not to sound like some sort of psychopath or anything, but when they scream for their life with their last ounce of strength it makes me smile. I am actually very jealous of Alliance players getting to kill Goblins all the time in Cataclysm. So you now have something I want!

If you haven't heard the noise you honestly have to go hear it. You won't be disappointed.

Ask Gauss

Wow that weekend went pretty fast and now Sunday is upon us. As with every Sunday it is time for Ask Gauss the day of the week where I answer all the questions I have received throughout the week. If you don't know how to get your question answered just send it along to gaussafication@gmail.com and maybe yours will be featured here. So what we have this week?

Your new favourite zone after The Shattering?

Well what I have been doing is trying to experience the zones as they should be. When I have been doing the quests I have been doing them in zone order as was intended. So as of now I have looked at some of the zones, but I have only experienced a few of them at the current moment. If I had to choose so far I would go with Azshara. The rocket ride, the trials, Kalec questline, and the minefield. I always liked Azshara for its eternal Autumn. It was always a very great zone for visuals and screenshots. Now it has been goblinafied, but it still has those scenic visuals it always had.

I am also looking forward to going and experiencing western plaguelands and doing the questline in Adorhal maybe I will have to change me mind then.

What new crazy achievement will you be working on?

Have you seen the new fishing ones that require you to catch every fish, fresh and salt water. This achievement makes "Well Read" look like cake. So I have made it a habit to catch a few fish in open water in every new zone i visit and, of course, check every pool in every zone I visit to make sure I have caught that type of fish. So maybe not hard, but quite time consuming.

How many times have you fallen in the great divide?

Honestly, I haven't.

That is it for this week. As always you can't get your question answered if you don't ask it. Next week's Reader Post is going to be about your stories upon you dying by accident or getting lost in this newly designed world of ours.

Loremaster

I will admit I was a little pissed off when I found out I would have to do Loremaster all over again. Well not really do it all over again, I still had the title and the Loremaster achieves themselves. What I didn't have was the zone quest achieves. These, of course, were not there before and were just added in. I am an achievement whore, as most of you know and if you didn't well you know now don't you. I really wasn't looking forward to going through all the old zones and doing a lot of the same quests over again. Yes I was excited for zones like Azshara because well that was going to be completely new and new is good. The thing is Blizzard just didn't change the levels of quests the quests themselves are new. The zones have not only have had levels adjusted but there are completely new quests in them. Sure some of them may be kill this thing even if that thing maybe located somewhere different.

So what I have realized is that I wont be redoing all the same quests but I will be doing all new quests in old zones, but really the zones have been completely redone. One thing I have liked a lot so far is how they have changed the old zones questing experience to be like the Northrend one. Every zone has a theme and a story and a conclusion within itself. This makes you want to complete all the quests in the zone to know "how it ends". So you don't just up and leave the zone after you have got that level or completed that one quest you needed. This, of course, promotes the lore of the game, which I am a great fan of.

Have fun questing or whatever else you are doing to hold yourselves over.

Favourite Part Of Wrath

So it is Friday, which means it is time for the week's Reader Post. This week I asked for submissions about everyone's favourite part of Wrath of the Lich King. I thought this was a great choice for a topic since Tuesday really marked the official end of all that was before. Shall we take a look at what people said?

My submittal for "favorite part of Wrath" has been defending your "For the Horde" runs and, occasionally, stopping you. I don't like PvP because I'm not very good at it and I've never found the battlegrounds to be "equal" in any sense of the word. But trying to stop and then antagonize the weekend runs became something I looked forward to. I only wish I could have had more support. The cat and mouse strategies we could have devised, the intrigue, the spies, the conversations, would have been stupendous. I think that's the one thing I have enjoyed above all the places I've gone in Northrend. Second is trying to clear Ulduar. Arthas is a pansy compared to Yogg-Saron.

The quests in Dragonblight, particularly the chain leading to the achievement "Veteran of Wrathgate". OMG. Huge game changer for lore fans. I was left speechless.

My favorite part of Wrath of the Lich King is anything having to do with Death Knights. I love Ebon Hold and all of the Death Knight beginning quests and my ghoul and Desecration and and and... Well, I could go on about it forever.

I really like how Northrend quests played out in general, where each zone seemed to have a huge arcing questline, each hub had one or two smaller ones of their own, and then the random other quests here and there. It made the whole thing feel connected.

Seeing Yogg-Saron's room for the first time and my first attempt on him, then after we wiped and ran back just that moment at the loading screen where you hear Yogg-Saron say "Your will is no longer your own." Was totally epic it made me shiver.

Watching the Lich King kill us all and begin to turn us into scourge. Then the epic moment of RISE UP CHAMPIONS OF THE LIGHT!!! I was never so pumped about anything in a game as I was at that moment.

Mine was getting T7 on my lock before badges ruined everything. Even though a few pieces of it were available for badge purchase the heroic grind was slow due to people not being decked out in free epics, plus a bunch of people were buying a mammoth instead of gear, so everyone wasn't running around like an idiot in welfare epics. I actually had a little sense of accomplishment when I completed my set.

Dancing with heigen again. When yogg sealed my fate and all of the inhabitants of this miserable little seedling. Uulwi Ifis halahs gag ehr'ongg w'shh. Eating big bangs as a spriest. Doing the quel delar quest chain on the PTR because im not giving up 10k for that sword no matter how cool it is. Racing for server firsts in t7content. Touching myself to alexstrasza vareesa brann muradin and valeria WAIT WAT. Helping mimiron put out fires and test his creations. Killing people on my DK with PoF before anub. Finally getting into dalaran. The characters that were brought back. Falric Marwyn Terenas Rhonin The aspects Malygos Garona Varian Bolvar Onyxia anything in the yogg visions. The spoiler at the bronze dragon shrine. Having my magic betray me, having a bite to eat with Lanathel, finally hearing some good news from a professor. The setbacks and the mountains. Goin after Illidan with my hoody and prison shank as Arthas as if i was goin to rob walmart. Putress and his bros. Starting a hero class in a heroic way.

So that is it for this week. As always if you want to submit your entry to the Reader Post email it to me at gaussafication@gmail.com. To get the weekly topic read the post every Sunday during Ask Gauss to find out what it will be.

Enjoy your weekend.

Not My Turkey Day Part II

So last year I made a post complaining about how on American holidays the world comes to an end. That not only do you use the one day that you make an entire event about the whole thing. I concluded this is why you have holidays on Thursday so you can take the Friday off, but then you need the Wednesday off to travel. I also went on the complain how this makes raiding during this entire week impossible because all the Americans cannot be there on a variety of days. With this being the end of Wrath there is no raiding going on. So sadly I cannot complain about that.

I went on to complain about football and a bunch of other things and it was mainly just a crazy rant where I just said whatever came into my head, kinda like now, and people loved it. Once again today is not my turkey day, because Canadians celebrate and do things when they make sense. We don't give out Valentines day chocolates in July and our biggest sales of the year are on Boxing Day not the day after Thanksgiving known to you all as "Black Friday". Why is it called Black Friday anyway? Is it because you will give that guy a black eye if he takes your spot in line? Honestly, I don't know why it is called Black Friday so feel free to explain it to me.

Also I cannot get over the fact that someone had this brilliant idea to deep fry a turkey. This would be like someone in WoW deciding that shaman can tank because he uses a shield. I guess it made sense to someone.

So let's relate this rant to WoW somehow. I'd complain about Pilgrim's Bounty not being in October. but that would be to easy. I guess I could say something about random queues being to long because of less people, but that would be dumb since the only people going into randoms are getting rep for the goblin mount. That makes me think how long are Alliance random queues at the moment?

Sadly though with it being an end to an expansion there really is nothing to complain about. I know the world is coming to an end. Ok so that wasn't funny. Mostly because a lot of you won't get it. Anyways, Happy American Thanksgiving, may you eat so much that I will have to hear about it for days upon days. I guess I am thankful for something on your Thanksgiving, thankful that I have nothing to complain about.

A New Age Has Begun

So it is done, the World of Warcraft as we know it has changed forever. I decided to go through a little bit of what I experienced yesterday. I logged off in Mulgore so I could log back on and see Gauss' homeland and how it had been changed first hand. I was at the bottom of the lift and took them back up to see the new High Chieftan. When standing in front of Baine he did look quite menacing with Fearbreaker in hand ready to mash anyone who decided to cross his path. I couldn't help but notice how young of a Tauren Baine actually looks. This bull has some large shoes to fill, but I will defend him as I defended his father. I bid him farewell and headed to the Great Gate.

The gate was quite something to see as I was approaching it riding by Bloodhoof Village. There is no free borders between zones was my first thought when standing on top of the gate. From there I jumped down off the gate and took a tour of the Southern Barrens when I see these two massive fortresses directly across from one another. Now this got me thinking, how does one side let the other build a massive fortress right across from them. Does this make any sense at all? I am going to eventually do all these quests to find out the story behind it all, but someone better have a good explanation.

.

I went to Azshara next and saw the land of the Goblins. Where they resculpted the land to look like the Horde symbol. Talk about being focused towards a goal. I road the rocket the entire way and got myself the fancy achievement for it. I then headed to the port city where our friend Kalec had some quests for me to help find a missing dragon. I also found it funny that they changed all these things in the game and yet Kalec still has his Sunwell voice overs. Through all this fun I completed the questline, road a turtle, and saved Azuregos. I recommend this quest line it really is quite amusing.

After this I went to what has become waht can only be described as epic. Everyone who has ever played this game always said that Orgrimmar did not feel like a true warrior city. Well Orgrimmar is that and more now. Upon entering the gates it really gives the feeling that this is the capital and no one just simply just walks in here.

The acting warchief with Gorehowl in hand

One of the walls in Grommash Hold

This is actually something people might not pick out it is a map of the world made with hides. Nice touch in my opinion.

.

As many of you know I have always had a place in Orgrimmar where I would sit and relax and stay away from people walking around. Somewhere I could sit there and actually talk without being interrupted. Sadly with the city being rebuilt my roof top is no longer there. So I went and searched for a new place. Of course, it would be in "Tauren Town" otherwise known as the Valley of Wisdom.

Taken from the top of the city by the flight master

My new spot by the waterfall.

Sure there were other things that I did but that about covers most of it. Hope you enjoy this new age as much as I have so far.

You Fail At Being A Warrior If...

So it is Fail Day, everyone's favourite day of the week. The day we get to poke fun at others for all of the special things that they do. For the last little bit on fail day I have been going over the classes and letting the WoW world how you fail at playing that class. Well today it is special to my heart because today it is the Warrior. Yes I got a lot of mails asking if I was ever going to do the warrior since it is, of course, the class I play. Nothing is safe though and nothing is sacred, although I do find it amusing that "The Shattering" is happening when I chose to do this particular fail. And so it begins!

You Fail At Being A Warrior If...

• You don't have a shield
• You get feared
• You learned Berzerker Stance before you learned Defensive
• Your toon does not have a warrior beard
• You try to do anything of consequence without a healer
• You think Thunderclap does Spell Damage
• Taunt is in your tanking rotation
• You are unfamiliar with the warrior aggro dump known as "death"
• You don't insult a ret paladin at least once a day
• You don't expect to get a nerf every single patch
• You don't remember the joy and pleasure of what used to be known as a "fear bomb"
• You think single minded fury is a cool and interesting talent
• You taunt off of idiots that don't manage their aggro
• Regardless of how many legendaries have been usable by warriors you don't complain about not getting another one every single time a non warrior legendary comes out.

and finally

• You race change your warrior to a Blood Elf

That is it for this week and in fact is the end of the fail series in regards to the classes. I know a sad day indeed, but never fear there will always be something that people will fail at. Enjoy the new old world, or should I say good luck logging on?

The Shattering Of The World

"Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents."

Tomorrow is slotted to be the time when the Shattering of the world will take place. Deathwing himself in enter the whirl through the Maelstorm. So tonight is probably your last chance to view Azeroth has you have always known it. Take your pictures see the places you want to see for you will never get the chance again.

Sit and think for a moment what this actually means and you will be overcome with memories of the places and the people you have met and seen in all of these places. When you log off you will log on in a completely different place. A whole new world will be upon us, and I hope you are ready for it.

Remember no place is going to be untouched and there will be lasting effects of the Cataclysm throughout all places on Azeroth. This really is your last possible chance to do and see all those things. So use this time and enjoy it.

Ask Gauss

So it is Sunday the day of the week that comes after Saturday and before Monday every week. Sunday is also the day of Ask Gauss the day of the week where I answer all your questions no matter what they may be. For those of you that still don't know how to be a part of this send your questions at anytime to gaussafication@gmail.com. So lets get to it shall we.


So with the addition of Heroic Deadmines and Shadowfang keep is there another instance you would like to see in heroic mode from classic?


It would obviously be great if they all were. Now my choice here is not because it was my favourite but because I think it would be a challenge. When Zul'Farak first came out or really in fact when you were of level to do this instance it was insanely difficult. The divino-matic rod event was near impossible even when you had level 60s in the group. I really believe this was the reason that I have never been a fan of troll instances. I remember the wipe upon wipe on that event over and over again. I remember finally completing it and getting that stupid blue ring as the quest reward.


So based upon that I would love to see how crazy they could make this instance and at the same time it would be worth the challenge.

What is your opinion on the dungeon finder for leveling to 85?

Well I have never been a fan on doing dungeons to level. This was of course when you had to find groups and such and was time consuming. Also the experience gained in the time spent in them was not nearly as high as mass questing. This is actually seen through my achievements for completed dungeons at level 80. I didn't complete a normal version of an instance before doing the heroic version. Which probably says a lot of the level of "heroic" mode in wrath as well.

I like to level fast and enjoy it at the same time. To see the areas through the development and experience it through the crazy launch period. I also generally save group quests and come back to them. Some people will say the gear from instances and instance quests make them worth your time. My response to that is the blues you would be getting won't be sticking around with you long enough and not to mention the stat gains from levels versus the gear you will gain.

What boss do you hope they make a Lil' non combat pet of?

Illidan. Like how is there any other choice.

So that is it for this week. If you want your question answered you have to send it along for that to happen. The next Reader Post is going to be about your favourite moment of this expansion. It could be funny, it could be stupid, or it could be completely epic. Just tell me what it is regardless of what it is.

Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

/AFK The Release

Well last night /afk came out. For those who haven't seen it, I will include it at the end of this post after I talk about my thoughts on the movie.

The movie is about a quest by the character named Piet to solo Onyxia before he quits the game. The movie itself has dramatic moments but it is very much a comedy. I enjoyed it. It plays to the gamer in if you play WoW or not. Sure the director and writer(Benjamin Dressler) uses some of the stereotypical gamer references, but he does it in a way that it is not insulting to gamers alike. He does it for the comedic factor and to get you to understand the position our friend Piet is in.

I often found myself cheering him on and laughing at him for some of those trademark gamer moments. All the actors involved did a great job at filling their role and telling the story. This is the first movie that I have seen that has linked Machinima and actual movie footage with this quality of work. Although I am sure I will get a bunch of information back telling me that I am full of crap.

So watch the movie tell me what you think and be sure to give Benjamin Dressler the credit he deserves for creating a great film on the minimal resources he had. Well done sir, well done.

What Have You Been Doing

So it is Friday, which means it is time for the weekly Reader Post. The post where you the readers write it. How you ask, for all you new people. Well you send in your submissions and I throw them out for everyone to read, well some of them. This week I asked for submissions about what you are doing with the Pre-Cataclysm events. So let's take a look shall we.

On my realm we have created refugee camps outside of Stormwind to help those in need with those elementals and earthquakes happening. I obviously play on a Roleplaying realm and it has been a lot of fun. We also have a group of Pallys and Priests who have been defending the Cathedral at all costs from the elementals.

I cannot get enough of the searching civilian quests outside Orgrimmar. Whoever thought of that quest deserves all that is awesome in this world. Is it weird though that I have done it on 10 different toons and each time I am only searching the women?

The best thing ever! Every time someone asks for a useless invite in trade, during the invasion in the the cities I invite them. The funny thing is, it is only me and them in the group. I make fun of them, then I kick them out of the group. Then I invite the next person asking for the invite and the cycle goes on and on. I thought you would enjoy my joy in the pain of others.

Every time I enter a zone I yell "OMG IT'S DEATHWING get here now to get your feat of strength". I then get like 30 tells asking me where and they head there and it makes me laugh every time. Oh how people are such idiots.

I have been writing the epic story to end the life of my human hunter. He will be sadly dying in the event where Deathwing destroys the park in Stormwind. He will fight valiantly but will fall when coming face to face with the Aspect of Death. I have always struggled with wanting to race change and this gives me the way to do so. And with changing to Worgen I can make it as if he has been locked behind the wall this whole time. Perfect for RP standards.

That is it for this week. As always look for the week's submission topic during Ask Gauss on Sundays and send the submissions to gaussafication@gmail.com by Thursday night. Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to defend your capitals, laugh at people asking for an invite, and of course give it to the people complaining they can't do their auctions and banking.

A Brave New Goblin World Order

This is a commercial which was created for the Cataclysm youtube commercial contest. It basically pokes fun at the entry storyline for the goblins for those of you that know it. Of course, it also has a goblin flare to it making all things in Azeroth profitable. Have a look



This is voiced by Jessie Cox a well known voice actor voice actor who has done tons of videos and always puts his own spin on things. The machinima is done by Phixor2000 the same guy who brought us the Never Stay tuned series. Anyone who has ever seen any of those knows how hilarious they are and if you haven't then you really need to watch them.

Watching this made me think about if I made a commercial for Cataclysm what would it be? Thinking about it I decided that it would have to be something to do with flying mounts in Azeroth and Tauren Pallies. How would it connect? Well that would be the fun about it wouldn't it?

Madness???

So with Phase 4 of the elemental invasion in full swing things are really starting to get ramped up. And I am not talking about the people saying "INVITE", "WHENS THE INVASION HAPPENING", "REALLY AGAIN I AM TRYING TO QUEST", "WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO", "IS THERE A RAID", "CAN I JOIN THE RAID", "DO I HAVE TO ASK AGAIN, CAN SOMEONE INVITE ME PLZ!!!". It is really quite the intense battle going on and I enjoy how they have put it all together. Not to mention making old what is new again. Didn't I say that last week how interesting that would be? I really enjoy fighting beside our leaders. Even if Garrosh should have Gorehowl and Cairne should have the Bloodhoof Runespear. I still enjoy fighting beside the two of them.

I am extremely interested on where we go from here. The events leading up towards the Shattering are already in place, meaning the patch. Just a question of when. This will be the opportunity to see what events from the book they will be putting in. Orgrimmar on fire already one of them, although would have been really interesting why they would have rebuilt it without that happening. This is always and exciting time because it is not about raiding or about PvP it is the time where Blizzard takes care of the story and where it is going. I have not really been disappointed yet so let's hope they keep it going and we can participate in more of the action.

You Fail At Being A Rogue If...

So today is the patch day that really isn't a patch day because the stuff download for the patch hasn't been patched into the game. I stand by how awesome that sentence is. Anyways, today is Tuesday, which besides being Free Loot Tuesday is FAIL DAY. Everyone loves fail day because it makes them feel better because of others misfortune. For the last little bit if you have been paying attention has been about specific classes. This week I will do the rogue everyone's favourite class to hate and bitch about. Oh how fun this is going to be.

You Fail At Being A Rogue If...

• You have to send your lockboxes to another rogue
• Your ability to disarm traps corresponds to half the raid wiping to a trash pack
• You attempt to mutilate without two daggers
• You have ever dual wielded Maces
• You are bad at PvP
• You have ever died from falling
• You have shadowstepped off a cliff
• Your ability to distract mobs is unparalleled by your ability to distract the raid after your death
• You have never ninja something
• You require a key
• You have no idea what the use for sap is
• Your toon's name has the word "Sneaky", "Stab", "Stun", or "Shank" in it
• You walk mindlessly unstealthed into mobs
• You have never wanted the Chromatically Tempered Sword
• You press more than 3 buttons

and finally

• You have never pointless killed a lowbie for hours just because you could

That is it for this week. Hope this gave you all the ammo to mess with all the rogue types you know. If you still participate in Free Loot Tuesday good luck. If not then enjoy the patch that isn't really a patch because they haven't released the content of the patch.

You Know How I Said...

That I would tell you when I hit the button? Well that button is going to be pushed today. This means the following:

Purge

Get rid of things you wont have a use for and don't have the space for. So you have a tank set and you never tank. Get rid of it. You have a healing set and never heal, same thing. Clear out your bank of things you can part with. If you cant then this is the time to make sure you have the space required to keep things. Send non BoP things to alts for holding. Try to sell epics that still have a value. If they don't then bit the bullet on them.

Leveling Equipment

The key to leveling fast and getting ahead of the curve is to be prepared. I will be making a god awful amount of bandages for leveling over the coming weeks, because bandages for warriors make down time during leveling so much less. Flasks make sure you have some. They will be really cheap and will make you kill things faster therefore increasing your levels/per hour. Buff food same thing as flasks, and of course food in general to make down time much less. Really anything to make your down time less is a benefit so collect all you can i nthe time you can.

Quests

What is the easiest way to get ahead on the leveling? Complete your quest log to the max with quests with an easy turn in. This means 25 quests and 25 dailies. For people like me there probably isn't 25 quests left so try to get as many as you can. Yes they wont be as much XP as the new quests, but XP is still XP so no reason not to.

Professions

Professions leveling at the start of an expansion is extremely extensive. This is of course referring to crafting professions. Learn to take advantage of this on all levels. With 2 new races take the opportunity to make gold off of people starting from the get go. So low leveling mats will skyrocket in price with the amount of rerolls. You would be crazy not to take advantage of this. So be conservative with your own when the expansion hits, but now take the time to collect up those mats while they are cheap on the auction house to make a big buck later on. Blue gems, shards, dusts, cloth, and meat will be the big ones.

Gold

Realize this. The amount of gold you have today is not going to be worth the same amount come Dec 7th. So realize maintaining what you have is actually making yourself worth less. Inflation will be a killer and there is talk about this expansion's inflation being the worst of them all.

So good luck. I hope this helps in getting you prepared.

Ask Gauss

Sunday it is. The last day of the weekend. Guess I should say sorry for no post yesterday as I got mobbed with stories of me being seriously injured. When in truth I was running around like a crazy person and just didn't have the time to sit down, relax, and write something out. Anyways, who cares about that. Being Sunday means it is time for Ask Gauss, the day where I go through all the questions I have received throughout the week and pick a few of them to answer. So here goes.

What is your opinion of ZG being removed as a Raid Instance?

Let's face it. The only people who ran this either a)were trying to get a rare mount b)An achievement or c)The turtle polymorph. No one was running ZG because it was a worth while raid instance to do. This is the problem with old content. It will always be there but will never be what it once was. Asking Blizzard to update the content is also asking a lot as well. So with a zone with this much historical significance to Warcraft Lore I think changing it into a questing zone is a great idea on Blizzard's part. This way you have the chance to experience the zone and it doesn't get just used and abused. I also say this when I am still searching for my Tiger mount.

What event from The Shattering would you love to see as part of the Pre-Cataclysm Events?

First SPOILER ALERT!!!! Without a doubt in my mind if I only could choose one, the retaking of Thunder Bluff. An aerial assault of Zeppelins is unreal. I was in Thunder Bluff the other day standing beside Cairne and I looked up at the sky. I was just thinking about what Magatha must have been thinking when she looked into that very sky from the very point I was standing and seeing the Zeppelin assault.

Will your blog be running while you are leveling?

Is this a serious question?

That is it for this week. As always if you want to send me a question send it along to gaussafication@gmail.com or click the link in the top right corner. This Friday's Reader Post is going to be about the fun you have been having with the Pre-Cataclysm events. Tell me everything because I want to hear about all the crazy things you have done.

Enjoy what remains of your weekend and keep those cultists out!

Yep I Did That

It is Friday! Also a beautiful day outside hard to believe it is almost half way through November. We normally have snow by now, but I guess I shouldn't complain. Anyways, with Friday comes the Reader Post and this week I asked people to submit the craziest things they have done this expansion or the craziest things they have seen others do. So shall we?

Oh hell yes, I love polymorphing sheep. The other day I was riding on my mount through Loch Modan, saw a sheep, dismounted, chased after the little bugger, and polymorphed him. The numerous people watching the crazy lvl 40 sent me whispers about what I was doing, but it's like a compulsion--I have to. How can you not? It's like the Staples commercial about using the Easy Button to find the other Easy Button--sheeping a sheep should rip a hole in the fabric of spacetime. And yet I keep doing it!

Once upon a time, on a calm summer day. I was strolling through the icecrown citdal killing champions for my argent dailies. and there i saw a big red mark on my head, then suddenly some crazy ass manbearpig type of creature rushed towards me. as i watched helplessly while it devoured my horse, knowing that i will be next. I spoted the owner of the creature, "Redrun". as i watched my horse die, i frantically tried to change weapons, but once i had done it, it was too late. The creature had crawled on top of me. tearing every flesh and bone. once i had died, i went towards the light. but then a soft voice whispered to me, "Champion, you must conquer this evil that has defeated you today, for he is your greatest enemy, now is not your time, You must rise! Rid this land of its evil and take back your pride".

I successfully while crazy bored out of my mind swan all the way around Kalimdor. Took me about 3 hours still have no idea why I did it or what sparked it. Maybe I had too much to drink, but not quite sure.

My guild spelt "Please Die" with campfires before we pulled Arthas hoping for a kill. Sadly it didn't work and we scrapped the plan for future bosses.

I was a Level 1 Pally who successfully completed the "For The Horde" achievement with a Gauss raid. Never had I ever done something that crazy or insane and have it actually accomplished.

That is it for this week. If you want to be part of next week's or any week's check out Ask Gauss on Sundays for the the next weeks topic.

Enjoy your weekend!

Remembrance Day

In Canada today is known as Remembrance Day. On this day we take the chance to remember all of those who fought in any war or any conflict and gave their lives in the process. Canada is a peaceful nation and regardless of that many have and will continue to give their lives in the process of trying to achieve that dream.

Take the time, regardless of your opinions about such conflicts, to thank those around you for what you have. Also if you know someone in WoW let them know and thank them for their sacrifices. A little can go a long way and just keep that in mind.

I realize it might be a touchy subject, but I will go on. Blizzard has chosen to celebrate many holiday throughout the year all of them are really about the happy and commercially type holidays. I think it may be about time they took the time to celebrate holidays such as this. Although it is a rather sad holiday it is also is a time to realize how far we have come and what we should be happy for having. Just some food for thought.

The Warrior Beard

So have you ever wondered why warriors are so awesome? Well anyone who hasn't had the chance to read what a warrior beard is. Let me give you Snopptrogg's Introduction.

Warrior Beards have always been something that made our class stand out from other classes. While other classes may appear to also have Beards, we all know that theirs are pale imitations. Their Beards lack the thick luxuriousness of a true Warrior Beard, as well as true power that comes with a Warrior Beard. Some classes may appear to have beards, but they are not in fact true Beards.
The following has been taken from an extensive study that has been conducted since WoW was released.

He then goes on to explain what it is other classes actually have

• Paladins grow wispy beards filled with sunshine and unicorn dust.
• DK's grow scraggly beards with more patchiness than a 13 year old boy who is growing his first beard.
• Hunters don't actually have beards, but on occasion do try and glue fur their pets have shed off onto their faces.
• Mages have tried to grow true beards, because beards refuse to grow on someone wearing a dress.
• Warlocks don't have beards. They simply forgot to wash their faces.
• Druids don't have beards either. They have moss growing on their skin from all their time communing with nature and dancing in fields of flowers.
• Rogues don't have beards because a true beard refuses to ever be rendered invisible. They could not hide the glory that is the beard even with all of the stealth abilities they possess.
• Shamans tried to grow beards. This effort was for naught though as their beards were thin and they could only grow a soul patch.
• Priests once tried to grow an epic beard, but upon realizing that their beards were filled with all the ferocity of a kitten getting a belly rub, they have decided it best to stop trying.

He then goes on to explain the facts about the warrior beard, the warrior beard vs facial hair, Manifestations of the warrior beard & the female warrior beard, the warrior beard in game, Meanings of other beards, and finally beard testimonials and stories.

This is really a great read that you will laugh and be amused by it. Click here to read the entire article and tell me what you think of it. And in doing so I must ask the question, do you have a warrior beard?

You Fail At Being A Shaman If...

So Fail day is upon us! Yes it is Tuesday and I am continuing with my laughing, poking fun at, and of course insulting the very fabric of every class in WoW. This week I have moved on to the shaman so here goes.

You Fail At Being A Shaman If...

• You use bloodlust during a ready check
• You don't understand the reference of Jesus Walking
• You rez in fire only to die again
• You ever complain that the shoulders in your tier sets were not designed well
• You use a staff
• You have never seen the "FROSTSHOCK" video
• You have race changed 30 times just to understand how your class works better
• You don't have a two hander for those special Enhancement times
• You argue about chain healing being difficult
• You think the Draenei totems look good
• Your Fire Elemental randomly decides to take breaks and not attack anything
• You don't know the joy of thunderfucking someone
• You don't have an eternal hatred for Paladins
• Your earth shield often appears on a mage

and finally

• You have ever been unable to rez because you didn't have an Ankh

That is it for this week. Hope I gave you enough ammo to use on all the Shamans you know. The number of Free Loot Tuesdays are running out. Be sure to enjoy them!

The Cairne Story

So there will be a few spoilers if you want to avoid that then turn away. There you have your warning.

So Cairne as a character in the Lore of the New Horde is a huge part. Called by many the greatest warrior Azeroth has ever seen. Now you compare this to past warriors and realize how big of a statement is. Lothar, Hellscream, Llane, and Ogrim just to name a few. As with other characters who have been one dimensional he has, of course, the wisdom, pride, and honor. He would do anything to protect the Horde. It was because of him that I chose to roll a Tauren Warrior myself.

The problem is this. Cairne was old when he was introduced in the lore to begin with. You run into problems when someone becomes timeless, as we have seen with Drek'Thar. Cairne deserved an epic ending. When I first heard that he was being killed off I was completely against. This is supposed to be the greatest warrior who ever lived and someone is going to best him? That just isn't right at all.

So reading "The Shattering" was going to be a big deal. I wanted justice to be done. The challenge of Garrosh was marvelous. Old vs Young. Also the fact that in the arena Cairne was who Cairne was. Garrosh was not a match for him and it was obvious. Even as an "old bull" he held his own and was teaching Garrosh the lesson. The best part of the fight was and I will quote it here

"Save your breath for battle, and I will save mine to speak well of you at your funeral"

Garrosh had only nicked Cairne once, but that was all that was needed for the poison to take effect and for Garrosh to come back and land a blow that Cairne was unable to defend against. The fight showed what it should of that no one could have bested Cairne regardless of age. He was the warrior among warriors. It also served the purpose of him not being so old that he was not who he really was. Something that I think was extremely important for the character as a whole.

The end of the Cairne story was not done there. Thrall had returned and wanted to see Cairne before the funeral. And of the entire "conversation" he had with Cairne I think two things are worth mentioning.

"I never told you this before. I wish I had. Do you know," he continued quietly, "that to my mind, you always held the heart of the Horde, Cairne? You, and the tauren. When many others in the Horde hungered for war and darker paths, you listened to the wisdom of your Earth Mother, and counseled us to try other ways, other ideas. You reminded us of forgiveness and compassion. You were our heart, our true spiritual center."

and lastly when Thrall finally says goodbye to his old friend

"Thrall reached out a hand and placed it on Cairne's brow, then, gently reverently, picked up the smallest piece of the broken runespear. He turned it in his hand, and a shiver went through him. The piece he had selected bore the single rune: Healing. He would keep this, to remember Cairne by. To always be in touch with his heart. "

And so ended the story of Cairne. There are many things that Blizzard has not done well, but I am glad this one was done right.

Ish-ne-alo por-ah, may the Earthmother smile upon you.

Ask Gauss

Sunday and to many of us over in North America Daylight Savings time is over. What does this mean? Means I had an extra hour of sleep and I am less inclined to be pissed off. So I guess that is a plus for anyone who decides to talk to me today. Anyways, with it being Sunday this means it is time for Ask Gauss. For those who have no idea what this is. Every week I answer questions submitted throughout the week. You can send these questions to gaussafication@gmail.com. Without waiting any longer let's get to this week's questions.

What is the craziest thing you have done this expansion?

This is a great question because there is so many. Kiting the Gnome king to Undercity, getting someone to walk from Moonglade to AQ gates for 1000g, "Death from above", or a Level 1 getting FTH. But I honestly think the craziest thing or things I have done was the "Fury Tanking". Yes some of the instances it didn't matter at all and went very smoothly. Halls of Reflection though was something, which was completely amazing that was accomplished. People tell me you had 3 healers for the wave phases, of course, you could do it. The only other DPS was a DK who was still in mostly BoA gear. Not to mention the bosses would pretty much almost one shot me and put a healing debuff on me. It was pretty remarkable and insane that it was pulled off. So I am going to go with all Northrend heroics completed using the "Fury Tanking" method as the top.

What is your biggest disappointment of this expansion?

Besides not having a turtle mount? I would have to go with the Malyagos story and conclusion. This here is the Aspect of Magic. He was a major part of the questing expierence in Borean and Dragonblight and it came down to one raid boss instance and the story was done with. Yes it could be argued that he is one of the "lesser" aspects, and I would agree with that. I am not saying he deserved his own expansion like Deathwing or anything close to that. He did deserve something more is what I am getting at. I would have loved to see more of that developed, but I guess we cannot be happy with everything.

What are you looking forward to the most with the pre-Cata events?

When the entire population is overrun with elementals. It is going to be madness...

That is it for this week. If you want to have your question answered make sure you send them in, otherwise how will I know what they are? Next week's Reader Post is going to be about the craziest thing you have done or been a part of this expansion. As always you have till Thursday night to get those submissions in.

Enjoy what is left of your weekend.

Battle Cries

I know many people have talked about this over and over, but I will take my stab at this in my own way. Have you ever noticed the imbalance in battle cries? You can probably think of a bunch of them right off the bat and 90% of the them will be Horde ones. When thinking of the Alliance ones you have "For Khaz Modan" and "For Lorderon, For The King". Honestly those were the only 2 I could think of that are used very often a all. One of them in fact applies to a kingdom, which doesn't even exist anymore. Compare this to "Lok'tar Ogar", "For Honor, For The Earthmother", "Here come the Voodoo", "Dark Lady Watch Over Us", "Anar'alah Belore" and these are ones just off the top of my head. There is a huge imbalance.

Now is this because there is much more pride in being part of the Horde. The Horde has had to fight for its place in the world and will keep letting people know it. Every race who is a part of the Horde at one point or another struggled with something. The orcs with the demon curse and having a place in the world. The Tauren with the endless war with centaur and finding a place they could call home. The trolls been in countless wars and never been able to settle before another mishap happens to them. The undead? Do I really need to explain? And, of course, the Blood Elves who had their entire kingdom destroyed, their prince corrupted and having to be slain by their own hands. It is as if we are preaching look what we have been through and where we have come. Bring it on!

Just some food for thought. Enjoy your weekend.

The Hidden Gems

TGIF everyone. Being Friday means it is time for the Reader Post. The day of the week where all of you "the readers" contribute and create the post out of the given topic for the day. This week I asked people to submit the "hidden" things in WoW that not many people know about. So pay attention and look at the list of things you will be doing this weekend.

In the top floor of the Dalaran Tailoring shop there is a gnome. I know I know there are gnomes everywhere, but if you sit on this guys chair he will ask you if you would like a shoe shine. Of course you don't get to say yes or no he just does it. You then get a buff stating that your shoes have been shined. I always thought it was pretty cool.

When you die and are standing by the Spirit Healer, if you listen very carefully she is saying "Play World of Warcraft.." "Give us your money..." "Just another customer..."
Dont believe me, have something kill you and just stand by her

I'm guessing you've visited the lighthouse up in Quel'thalas? It's a nice place to set up camp or organize meetings. A little closer to home Alliance wise, I never knew Cut Throat Alley in Stormwind existed until I chased a hordie into there. Again, it's a pleasant spot despite the name and a great place to sit in peace and still get Trade chat in the background if you're looking for groups.

In LBRS, in the main lava pit (after you fall from being stupid). The particles in the lava (the little white things) are little smiley faces. No bs.

Look at the Torches IN RFD from a angle looking up and tell me what you find. One of the dev's musta had a field day on that one.

Theres a little hut in Nagrand east of Elemental Plateu, inside this hut there is a baby of ever race... yes little baby cows~!

At the border of Duskwood and Deadwind pass, at the forsaken tower, you can go north through a path and end up at a waterfall with some graves. No idea what the signifgance behind it is, but interesting to see it when I found it out of nowhere.

You have the "Shrine of the Fallen Warrior" in the barrens. Memorial for a Michel Koiter that died during the development, He is also tributed in Starcraft 2.

That is it for this week. As always if you would like to contribute to the Reader Post check out the topic on Sunday during Ask Gauss and then send in your submission. Have fun checking these things out and enjoy your weekend!

Old Raids

Maybe this is just me and maybe it is not, but lets find out and see. Have you ever gone back and done old raids only to be disappointed in how easy they now are. I know that the level caps change and the game has changed as a whole, but still it is rather disappointing to me.

I remember when Molten Core was new and was difficult and I remember the pride my guild had in our first take down of Ragnaros. I even more so remember our sense of accomplishment when we were able to take him down before the sons spawned. We went in there the other day with probably 10 people and killed him in about 5 seconds.

We did BWL yesterday and Vael didn't even get the burn off on anyone. This guy used to be a guild killer you would pull it over and over trying to get the right amount of DPS to take him down. Not to mention the luck factor of healers being burn targets. Then the suppression room was a joke, the drakes shadowflames were never a factor and we didn't even bother to setup Chromagus correctly. Don't even ask me about Nefarion. I talked about Rag being a moment of pride, but Nef really gave us that sense of accomplishment. Turning in that head and parading around Orgrimmar was truly something, and something I will never forget. I think this video of our first kill says it all



Anyways I know content changes and things will become easier because of gear and level and all those other things. Doesn't mean it is not disappointing to how you can just roll through it. So every time I do an old instance I remember times like these that were my first and how far we have came since that day. Newer people to the game I guess don't understand how things were different and assume the boss was a cakewalk. I am different I remember the effort and how much everyone put forward to killing such bosses. Maybe that is why I get a little disappointed, because these newer people never had to or got to experience everything as I did. But who knows maybe it is just me.

/afk

So there is a movie coming out and I really don't know how to think about it. Let me link you the teaser and the official trailer and then go from there.

The Teaser



The Trailer



It is a film and is described by the creator as

"/afk is a short film to be released on November 19th. It is real, it is fictional and it's virtual. And it is about World of Warcraft."

I am actually very interested to watch it, but I honestly have no idea why. I am not sure if it is supposed to be funny or serious or both. Maybe that is why I want to see it because I want to find out what it is all about. Maybe it is because I am just too interested in anything to do with Warcraft no matter what it may be. Or maybe I just want a Gauss movie. Now that would be something! Ok maybe I am exaggerating. As always I will check this out and let you all know what I think. Now go save Azeroth from those elementals!

You Fail At Being A Deathknight If...

Happy Fail Day everyone! The day more commonly refered to as Tuesday. Today I will continue to insult, make fun of, and of course embarrass a specific class in this wonderful game we play. This week it is time for the Deathknight to take centre stage. So shall we?

You Fail At Being A Deathknight If...

• Out of all the races you chose to be a Blood Elf
• You complain starting at level 55 makes leveling harder
• You are too good to actually use professions
• You cannot solo group quests
• You use anti-magic shell against a warrior or a rogue
• You deathgrip a boss because "you can"
• You wiped the raid because you pulled the boss in the wrong presence
• You drop Death and Decay to pad the numbers in uneeded situations
• You name your toon "Spawnofgauss"
• You use army of the dead on fights at require add control
• You name your Deathknight alt in relation to your mains name
• You don't have a preference to your ghouls name.
• You think spell penetration gems work just as well in PvE
• You have never killed anyone with Path of Frost

and finally

• Your name is Bagellord

That is it for this week's edition of fail. Turn in next week to see which class will be next. If you are still raiding good luck on this Free Loot Tuesday they are in fact running out as we get closer and closer to Cataclysm.

We Are Under Attack!

That is right! Elemenatals are attacking Azeroth and it is none other than Cho'gall behind it. So there are a series of quests you can do to find out what is going on behind the Doomsday cult. It is rather interesting and quite amusing to be honest. I won't give it away so you will have to do them yourself. There isn't that much to do at the current moment and in turth it would probably take you about 15minutes to get them all done. The point is that it is the start of the pre-events. Meaning it will get more and more crazy and intense until the self proclaimed Aspect of Death releases himself upon the world.

To the people who hate these pre-events because they "ruin" what you are currently trying to do in the game. Besides me not caring about your opinion be happy that the elementals at least at this current moment in time are not owning the cities and causing unstoppable havoc like the zombie invasion was causing during the pre-Wrath events.

Overall it is a good start and I look forward to more including a crazy mass of elementals that makes it completely and utterly impossible to do anything of consequence.