Category Archives: Funny stuff

The Traveler’s Logbook, Part I: How to have a blast in Thousand Needles

Exploring is one of my most favoured activities in an MMO. There is nothing sweeter than following down untrodden roads into a brand new world of wonder and mystery. I can still recall my very first day in World of Warcraft, when I walked down the path that leads from Northshire Abbey down into Goldshire. Elwynn Forest unfurled all around me and I felt my heart rise in amazement. Just a moment later, I spotted a lvl 10 warlock and his voidwalker which led me to exclamations of “amagad, that is so cool!” and “amagad, he’s already lvl 10!”.

I love the very first days of an expansion. It’s when I do nothing at all but explore all the corners of the new world, while some of my guild mates already have their leveling strategy laid out carefully or dive into a profession spree. I couldn’t care less about leveling – there will be plenty, PLENTY of time to get those experience points, those reputation points, those skill points and badges. But the feeling of being an adventurer, or a child looking at the world with his brand new eyes, only ever lasts so long. It is a precious time in our lives. You only get one first time in all things.

It is a precious time in an MMO too, one that I intend to make last for as long as possible. Now the Shattering wasn’t quite an expansion yet, but it’s changed the virtual home of WoW gamers of many years in such fundamental ways that we get to adventure and explore the world all over. I can honestly say that I haven’t had as much fun in WoW for many, many months, like the fun I’ve had the past two days – when I set out to explore some of the secrets of Kalimdor and to have a look at Gilneas which I have highly anticipated before on this blog. Therefore I have decided to make this a two-part article, starting off in Thousand Needles where I had an absolute blast and continuing my tale on Gilneas in a follow-up next week. If you haven’t taken the time yet to visit some of these new places, I highly recommend you grab your adventurer’s boots and get going!

The following is a traveler’s log and photo album of things encountered during my adventures in Thousand Needles after the Shattering, the special moments and fun to be had in this zone, without giving away everything. It is a place (among many others) very much worth your attention and it’s where I shall begin this two-part tale. All images are expandable.

Chapter 1 & 2: Adventures of the deep and twilight horrors

Traveler’s logbook, November 24th, the year of the Shattering.
Thousand Needles has probably undergone one of the most dramatic changes in the Shattering as the entire, former dry desert zone has been flooded. I entered the map from Feralas and found myself swimming pretty instantly. I resisted my initial urge to levitate my way through and decided to dive down into the deep below – and what a mysterious world it was that welcomed me there!

Like for other zones and hardly surprising in this case, the flora and fauna around Thousand Needles has changed. I found myself in the company of puffer fish, snails and the more majestic deep sea turtles who were just as surprised at my presence as I was at theirs.

The underwater world is stunningly beautiful and serene. If Vashj’ir is going to be anything like that, I’m sold! I adjusted quickly to the physics of swimming and found it a most rewarding experience – there’s a huge difference between swimming in “quest ponds” and actually traveling through a vibrant underwater world that is designed for you to be there.

…wish I could be part of that world.

At this point I was slowly running out of breath and my diver’s camera EsO-2xT, which the goblins in Booty Bay had assured me was 100% water-proof, started to get wet (I want my money back!). Time to climb one of Thousand Needle’s stone colossi and have a look around the zone from up high!

The hanging bridges provide a spectacular view and not just that, the background music of Thousand Needles has been changed slightly: while the tribal touch of the area prevails, this is a softer and much sadder tune than before.


There is some clan strife going on between the platforms, horde fighting each other or fending off alliance attackers from the borders. I didn’t take the time to inform myself properly about the situation up here, but I met some pretty impressive tauren warchiefs before moving on to investigate the cursed light emanating from the southern border of the zone. Something foul was clearly afoot there…

..The walk from twilight Bulwark to Withering was one of nightmares and horrors. A twilight cult of all the races of Azeroth combined, has put up their camp here, engaging in dark magic experiments and the torture of innocent civilians whom they keep locked up in cages. I was able to free some of my fellows, however in most cases I was too late.

Struck with grief I took revenge on all the alien fiends I encountered on my way, but it did nothing to cheer up my heavy heart. Arriving at the third stage of my journey, I took a headlong plunge into the waters below Fizzle and Pozzik’s Speedbarge where my spirits would be lifted immensely.

Their deaths shall not be forgotten!

Chapter 3: Fish burgers among gnomes’n goblins

Located at the heart of what used to be Shimmering Flats, Fizzle and Pozzik’s Speedbarge is accessible via underwater entry only (without the ability to fly, that is). Once more I had the pleasure of diving into the deep where I found myself surrounded by the ruins of Mirage Raceway and a gang of rather hostile treasure hunters. Lucky for me, I had brought my special Gnomeregan Pride suit along which served me as perfect camouflage!

The innumerable tropical fish of the area are a very curious crowd! I found Nemo!

Soon I found an entry into the swimming oasis that is the home of an ever-busy number of gnomes and goblins who work and live together in seeming peace and amicability. So delightful and awe inspiring was my visit to this bustling place that I shall let a few pictures speak on behalf of my discoveries:

In eager expectation, I made my way up to the barge.
Gnomes and goblins make a fine team. Rarely do you encounter races on Azeroth that work together as well as these two.
Let it be known that these sailors keep their lodgings tidy and themselves clean and washed!
These folk know how to hold their after-work parties. The pub inside the ship’s belly is filled with chatty customers, dancing and drinking – and eating fish burgers!
When nature is calling, there is two lanes: one for gnomes and one for goblins. Not quite sure where I would fit in, I chose to wait my turn with the gnomes.

And thus I conclude my tale on Fizzle and Pozzik’s Speedbarge of which I have shown you but a mere glimpse in this traveler’s log. I shall remember my visit to this delightful place very fondly and have every intention to return in the future. It is a rare find on the face of Kalimdor and a good reason to stop by should your path ever bring you close to the borders of Thousand Needles – a zone well worth exploring after the Shattering!

Stay tuned for next week’s Traveler’s Logbook Part II, “Secrets of Gilneas” – featured exclusively at Raging Monkeys! Until then I wish you all happy exploring!

Shattering shinies: minipets and games

‘Tis the end of the world as we know it. And I must say, I like how the new one looks and sounds (you should really turn the ingame music on!).
I started my journey through WoW 4.0.3a in Stormwind, to check out what Deathwing (and Blizzard) did to my hometown and my beloved Elwynn Forest. Lo and behold, there’s flightpaths in abundance now and all the worldmap’s parchments have been revamped and look a lot funkier than before. Such is the beauty of not playing or following any betas – everything is new and shiny!

Which brought me to the most important question pretty soon: where are all the shinies? What to do until December 7th besides farming future reputations?

1) First stop: Plants vs Zombies 
Quest Reward: Brazie’s Sunflower (it sings!)

After satiating my initial impulse to explore maps and get new flightpaths, I headed straight to Hillsbrad Foothills to test myself in the newly featured PvZ mini-game Blizzard installed just south of Dalaran’s Crater.
The quests toward beating the final boss are progressing from easy to more difficult and there’s explanations on the way teaching you about each ability.
The last two quests can be somewhat of a challenge until you’re used to what all the actions do and how to manage your resources. In case you’re struggling on the later parts (2 massive waves of zombies and Warden Stillwater), a few tips that helped me beat this:

  • Stall your very first packs of mobs for as long as you can with rocknuts, to plant sunflowers and gather sun power. You can stall just one zombie for a very long time, refreshing walls before and behind him (they also attack walls that are refreshed right on top / behind them) until you’re good to proceed. You want to have 9-10 up sunflowers towards the end.
  • Reserve your two left-most rows for sunflowers, go for at least 2 rows of spitters and/or freezyas in your midfield. Keep more rocknuts and tentacles up front.
  •  Use rocknuts frequently to hold up as many lines as possible until you’ve properly arranged your midfield.
    1. Keep them busy
    2. Build up your rows

    2) Two’s company: Darkshore 
    Quest Reward: Withers (it shrinks!)

    Like for other newbie-areas, Darkshore has had new lowbie questlines installed. In case you’re wondering why you should bother with these at lvl 80, there’s another shiny new mini-pet to be picked up here, after finishing a quest called Remembrance of Auberdine. To get the show started, you want to pick up the following two quests in Darkshore and follow things from there until you get you get to the final stage:

    These first two quests will take you through a series of about ten more steps before you are able to pick up the final quest in Darkshore. There is no need to complete other quests from the area (like the one to kill 50 murlocs). The approximate time to complete all quests at lvl 80 is 60-90 minutes, depending on rush hour.

    Tip: Turn your low level quests tracker on.



    3) Three’s a crowd: Eastern Plaguelands
    Quest Reward: Mr. Grubbs (ewww!)

    Fiona is a worgen lady stationed at the western entrance to Eastern Plaguelands (a new neutral flightpath can be found there too) with her caravan. She will initially present you with two quests which will result in a few follow-ups of their own before returning you to her. After completion, you will be able to interact with her caravan and receive Fiona’s Lucky Charm (there is no need to complete Fiona’s further quests).

    Her lucky buff lasts for as long as you stay inside the zone and enables you to loot hidden stashes randomly from any EPL mobs which have a chance to drop Mr. Grubbs – similar to the Disgusting Oozeling grind but not nearly as bad (AoE is your friend!). Funny enough, it was Garginox (lvl 45 elite) in the Noxious Glade that finally dropped this for me. Didn’t you always wish for one of those carrion grubs in miniature form?

    4) Fourth of a quartet: Burning Steppes
    Quest Reward: Tiny Flamefly (bzzz!)

    While warcraftpets hasn’t added this pet to their data bank yet as I’m writing this post, the tiny flamefly can be picked up over at Burning Steppes, by completing a quest called Seven!Yup!.

    To get there you will have to complete a longer series of quests similar to the chain in Darkshore which are started by Mouton Flamestar and John J. Keeshan in western BS at Flamestar Post (a new flightpath is available). Continue from there and you will eventually be awarded your new companion.

    The approximate time to complete all quests at lvl 80 is 60-90 minutes, depending on rush hour.

    5) More shinies: Azshara 
    Quest Reward: Faded Wizard Hat (horde only?)

    A little disappointing, this seems to be the reward to a horde only quest so far.
    The quest you are looking to complete to receive this fun item is called Farewell, Minnow in Azshara. Once more this is the final reward to a long series of quests, started by Teemo at Bilgewater Harbor.

    Similar to the Orb of Deception, the Faded Wizard Hat will allow you to randomly transform into different races which lasts for 30 minutes. I’m wondering if there’s ever going to be an alliance equivalent to this?

    …Just when I thought the wait until Cataclysm was gonna be boring! Anything I’ve missed?
    Have fun with these quests and rewards everybody! =)

    Dear guild applicant, what’s your weakness?

    There I sat at one of my job agencies last Wednesday, feeling horribly out of character. I am looking for a new job at the moment, that is to say for a new new job, one that is hopefully as unlike to my last few jobs as possible, but there’s a desert to cross first, an annoying phase of explaining curricula and dealing with administrative bullshit.
    And I notice these job agencies all look the same: gray and impersonal bastions of corporate capitalism, “help us to help you, so we get money from you working”, it’s a modern version of slave-trade really. Nothing to make you feel the ordinary human resource you are quite like job agencies. But to get where I want to go apparently they’re my best shot.

    So, I sat in that small cubicle office waiting for my agent, some way-too-young, teeth-bleached sunnyboy in a way-too-expensive suit. Instantly I felt under-dressed. The whole procedure took about 30 minutes, half an hour of jolly good fun trying to explain to Ken why I am looking for a change of scenery and what salary I deem appropriate, given the fact that I lack experience in the field while holding an academic degree that probably surpasses the education of most people I would be working with. There’s something horribly depressing in realizing those 7 years at university were worth so little. Maybe I should mention my epic WoW skills and guild leadership experience? No?

    Anyway, halfway through the exercise Ken caught me slightly unawares as I wasn’t actually prepared to do a full job interview, all I expected was some administrative stuff – yeah, call me a noob. So when he got to asking how I see my future or what my strengths and weaknesses are, I actually didn’t know what to reply to the latter straight away. My weaknesses? Errr…right that’s the standard phony question you can expect in every job interview. You know, the one where you’re supposed to display how much of a self-critic you are, oh-so capable of self-reflection. And that’s why everyone answers with some wanna-be weakness that isn’t a weakness at all, but a strength too really, like “I am such a perfectionist” or “I’m overly punctual”.

    HA-HA…!

    I hate things like that. They’re part of what (the brilliant and ingenious) Billy Connolly calls”beige-ism”. Everyone knows how utterly stupid and empty these questions (and answers) are – as if you were gonna tell your future boss that you’re a messy slob or like to steal cookies from the cafeteria. So I just sat there for a moment contemplating a potential answer vs. my utter disgust for the procedure, before I told him I was a little impatient at times (which is actually true), but in the way that I “really like to get jobs done fast and efficiently” (which is again actually true), ya know! He seemed to be perfectly happy with this answer and the conversation proceeded to other topics from there. Phew.

    An exercise in phoniness

    On my way home, the whole experience got me thinking about what a hilarious thing it would be to incorporate the more nonsensical parts of job interviews into the standard WoW recruitment procedure. Most guilds, ours included, already run a questionnaire that will touch on matters like playtime, goals and expectations in their application form. What if we included the awkwardness of real interview questionnaires in them, could we expect to get similar cringe-worthy answers? What would we expect our applicants to say?

    Question #14: What do you consider your weaknesses as a player?
    – Answer 1: “Sometimes I am just so focused on downing a boss, I forget about my CDs or taking a potion.”
    – Answer 2: “I’m a total perfectionist. I always want to be the main puller and clear every pack in an instance.”
    – Answer 3: “I’m a little impatient. I always want to start raids on time and hate wasting time on bio breaks.”

    Question #15: Where do you see yourself 2 years from now?
    – Answer 1: “As a valuable member of your raid guild and one of your top DPS”
    – Answer 2: “As part of your officer’s team where I can contribute in the guild’s best interests.”
    – Answer 3: “I’ll be celebrating our success of having become one of the server’s top 2 progression guilds.”

    Question #16: Why should we take you instead of that other applicant?
    – Answer 1: “While I don’t know the other person, I assure you I am better than him.”
    – Answer 2: “Because nobody can heal like I do.”
    – Answer 3: “I am a 100% committed and fit your guild’s profile perfectly. We have a great future together!”


    Now wouldn’t that just be a blast? I really think we should include these questions in our guild’s recruitment questionnaire for shits and giggles if nothing else! A lot of players already think that WoW feels like a job rather than a game sometime, so let’s go the whole nine yards I say! =D

    P.S. Dear job agents, please don’t be offended. I do not actually dislike you, it’s not like you invented the system. And I like keeping the pen!

    World of Warcraft secrets: revisited

    Some time ago I wrote an article on one of Dalaran’s best-kept secrets and was surprised and happy to get so many reactions from people telling me that they had never known about this. On top of that I was made aware of other similar secrets inside the game that I hadn’t discovered yet myself – once more a big thanks to those that left a comment or sent an Email!

    I love the small and silly things in WoW so much that it inspired me to suggest the topic over at Blog Azeroth as they were desperate for more suggestions at the time – if you ever have a topic to share yourself, go and give them a hand.
    Several WoW bloggers joined in the secret hunt and came up with great articles of their own. Once more I found that I hadn’t discovered nearly all the fun things hidden in WoW! Did you know that Dalaran does not only hold one, but actually three great secrets of this kind and that all of them are brought to you by a gnome?

    Well, I do now! And if you’re curious to find out yourself, have a look at the full list of contributed WoW secrets published on Twisted Nether Blogcast! I’ve been wanting to get back to these for a while, well rather late than never.

    For completeness sake I’d also like to mention two more contributions that didn’t join the shared topic but added a WoW secret of their own, either on their blog or as commenter on Raging Monkeys:

    In case you’re a little bored with WoW at the moment, these might keep you entertained for a while! I can’t wait to discover the secrets hidden in the upcoming expansion – “WoW secrets, Cataclysm edition” coming soon!

    This is Halloween, this is Halloween (again)

    “It is over, your search is done! Let fate choose now, the righteous one!”

    That’s right, the Hallow’s End is taking another round in WoW from this week on, with the same old quests and mobs to farm in order to get minipets and special mounts – if the event isn’t bugging out on you, that is. And once more I find myself wondering if Blizzard will ever bother to update the seasonals because really, it is only fun so many times…Are we going to see the same quests and rewards again in Cataclysm? I hope not!

    As you might have noticed if you aren’t accessing this page by reader only, the header of Raging Monkeys has been slightly re-decorated in honor of this great holiday and also, because we really love to dress up – or rather I do and it’s not like the other two can do anything about it! =D Squirrel has withdrawn to live inside a jack-O-lantern for the time being, until hibernation time anyway.

    It’s been a busy week full of srs bsns, buggy patches to discuss and new skills to analyze, so it’s high time for another Frivolous Friday topic, before we’ve entirely ruined our blog’s reputation by appearing way too serious and ..informative!

    My PVP Pit

    I’ve already mentioned in my last post how baffling some of the bugs and imbalances in battlegrounds are at the moment, it’s really not a good time to start PVPing if you’re currently contemplating the option. Nonetheless I am quite a passionate PVPer in WoW, at least as much as times allows me to besides raiding, so when I saw Zelmaru’s call to join the Bee Pit Bingo, I was instantly tempted to contribute with a PVP card of my own.

    In case you don’t know what the Bee Pit is about, be sure to visit the page and have a look around – you have probably tossed a lot of players into the pit yourself in the past without knowing!
    I have quite some player disdain to share in WoW, I could’ve easily created another PVE card, but there’s so many BG annoyances I have accumulated over the past years that it was great fun to think about my personal tops there. So here’s my contribution, if you’re frequently pvping yourself I’m sure you will know them all too well!

    Make sure to check out the other fabulous Bee Pit Bingo cards currently up @ Murloc Parliament. And as always a good weekend everybody!

    Rent-a-Troll© services coming to you!

    We’re living in beautiful times. There is a service for almost every of our needs, a gigantic industry revolving around providing and catering to our comforts. If you don’t manage to cook or clean up anymore because of your excessive time spent on World of Warcraft, just call up a number and get that pizza delivered straight home while the laundry service takes care of the washing and dry-cleaning. Too lazy to go shopping? PC homeshopping! Can’t be arsed to answer the phone? Here’s a catalog to the latest generation of answering machines! Can’t reach the light switch? Clap your hands twice!

    We’ve seen a lot of trolling in the WoW blogosphere lately. These are busy times, Larísa and Tobold can both tell you about it and so can numerous other bloggers. Dealing with trolls is interesting at best, but unfortunately it doesn’t end there. Yet some bloggers think that getting a troll is like an “award” of sorts, some bizarre recognition of your blog’s publicity or the relevance of your opinions – rather than someone really bored, being really stupid and boring on your everyday blog.

    So after reading this post over at Pugnacious Priest, I was thinking that surely there can be something done about that! It is definitely not right that some bloggers should be excluded from trolling, I believe in equal opportunities for everybody! And as I have just recently (accidentally! /blush) managed to “export” a troll from Raging Monkeys over to Tam and Chas at Righteous Orbs, I figured I have a knack for this kinda thing – I can help the Pugnacious Priest and all other bloggers out that would love a troll of their own!

    Are you tired to be left out on the trolling? Yearning for the genuine experience?  Welcome to the exclusive Raging Monkeys troll market! See our selection of troll rentals exclusively designed to your personal comfort below!

    Take your pick – we got them all!

    (A- Level) The LOL-Troll©

    The LOL-Troll is a first level troll: he is generally cheap and doesn’t put a lot of effort into his trolling. His comments rarely make sense and aren’t on topic – this troll is not looking to argue, he is here to mock you and make fun of a single word or argument in your post. Leetspeak will frequently occur.

    At some point during the exchange with the LOL-Troll, you will start wondering which of your not-so-friendly ex-guildmates might have stumbled upon your blog.

    Specials: Personal attacks, sarcasm, excessive mockery. Status: on stock.

    (B- Level) The Extremist©

    The Extremist is looking for specific parts in your argument for him to twist or take out of context. He is fond of hyperbole and passive-aggressive by default, convinced that you are out to impose your personal views on the entire world. He will therefore seek to undermine your reasoning by taking all your thoughts to extremes, trying to brand you as the self-righteous hypocrite you really aren’t. You will frequently find this troll making statements like “and where do you draw the line?!” or “stop playing God!”. Living in a world of stark black and white, the subtleties of differentiation or common sense elude the Extremist.

    Specials: Hyperbole, presumption, selective hearing. Status: on stock.

    (C- Level) The Preacher©

    The Preacher is a bigot in disguise. Trying to present himself as a considerate and committed commenter, this troll is actually not looking for serious debate. Self-righteous in nature, the Preacher is the ultimate authority and keeper of truths: because he is right, you can only be wrong. He is looking to “win” arguments and will aim to undermine your integrity by condescension, biased attacks and stereotyping.

    On his crusade to make everybody see the error of their ways, the Preacher will use a large toolbox of rhetoric twists while cunningly ignoring all counter-arguments pointed at the innumerable holes in his logic. You will find yourself running in circles or whack-a-moling while trying to discuss with this specimen. The Preacher loves the sound of his own voice.

    Specials: Circular argument, rhetoric tautology, excessive use of WoT. Status: on stock.

     

    All Rent-a-Trolls© are made of genuine, 24-carat bullshit and come with their own special cardboard box and factory seal.

    This is NOT a Rent-a-Troll©! Beware of scammers!

    Unfortunately the troll market has not escaped the ever-growing industry of piracy. We are currently taking legal action against the distribution of unlicensed troll look-a-likes and illegal replica, distributed by an aggressive Asian manufacturer who has started to copy and sell sub-standard specimens under the label “troll”. Please beware of related phishing emails and fake Rent-a-Troll© advertisement! We would also like to point out briefly how to look out for fakes:

    This is no troll. This is merely an intense commenter. He sets himself apart from genuine trolls in several essential ways. The intense commenter is very opinionated and passionate, looking to test his strong views against yours. He might even provoke you a little to engage in conversation with him. He will write longer comments than others and can get heated when feeling misunderstood. However, this commenter is genuinely interested in debate and grasps the concept of respecting different viewpoints. He will always criticize or attack arguments, never the person. He lacks any sense of self-entitlement, is capable to switch perspectives and can agree to disagree. This commenter is worth your time, he is for real and comes for free.

    Do not mistake this commenter for a troll, he does not meet the required quality standards! Raging Monkeys will not reimburse any costs related to fake troll services!

    Additional details and shipping information

    Please note that Rent-a-Troll© services are currently exclusive to World of Warcraft blogs. The standard Rent-A-Troll© package consists of a troll of your choice, bringing jolly good trolling to your WoW blog for the duration of 2 weekdays, starting on the following Monday of receiving email confirmation. On expiration of this period, the troll will vanish and head back to the mothership.

    Rent-a-Troll© services are currently free of charge (non-refundable). Customers looking to rent a professional troll are kindly requested to place their order to Raging Monkeys through the Mail Monkey system (see our side-panel). Information on the troll specimen of your choice and your blog’s URL are required. As we are expecting a massive demand, you may only order one troll service per blog at this time. Overseas deliveries (USA, Asia, Australia, Africa) might take up to 3-5 days of additional wait time.

    Raging Monkeys deny responsibility for any potential harm done to your blog by a Rent-a-Troll©. Any damages action or claims for compensation are refuted. There is no right of appeal.

    Happy shopping!

    P.S. All troll comments in response to this thread will be deleted, unless submitted with a genuine Raging Monkeys certificate of trollish authenticity. Good luck with that!

    Rent-a-Troll© is a Raging Monkeys trademark. All rights reserved.

    WoW Priests for a 3rd Shackle Glyph!

    After reading through the recently announced glyph changes for Cataclysm, I was once more disappointed not to find my longtime desired, third shackle glyph for priests in the list – because really, the two we currently got aren’t nearly enough.
    Every WoW priest loves his glyph of shackle undead and glyph of scourge imprisonment (a major one at that!), how would we ever cope without them? Yet there is a third shackle glyph desperately missing in the game right now which I’ve been asking to receive for years. Back then I assumed I was a genius ahead of my time, but I’m slowly running out of excuses for Blizzard.

    No I am not kidding. I do actually want another glyph for shackle in the game. Blizzard can shove those two other glyphs where the light doesn’t shine, but there’s actually one glyph I’d love to have and would use if it was available:

    Glyph of Righteous Threat
    All of the shackled target’s threat will be re-directed to the player breaking the shackle.

    That’s right – I want shackle to work the way it should work. No more killing the priest because that over-eager hunter keeps attacking the wrong target, the warlock dotting up every mob in sight, the melee thinking it’s a good time to use AoE next to CCed targets.

    Now I won’t claim that we actually get to use shackle as often, I did use it regularly when raiding ICC25 with my guild though and I absolutely hate paying for other people’s mistakes. There’s no other priest mechanic that winds me up the same way, maybe it’s because I can usually control what happens or doesn’t happen to me (full wipes aside), but if shackle breaks constantly and your tanks are busy dealing with what they should be dealing with, chances are high you get pwned by an angry mob before you can re-shackle it for the 3rd time. It’s like being blamed for something you didn’t do and that doesn’t sit well with this priest, not well at all. If it happens once, that’s already one time too many (I am forgiving like that).

    Besides that, the broken threat mechanic undermines the one and only real teacher in WoW: DEATH! And once more, death does not come to the one being stupid, it comes to me, argh! What were you thinking Blizzard?! I play a healer in WoW, dealing out life and death and letting the moron die is my province! How much quicker would DPS respect shackles if they were actually the ones being targeted by the mob they just freed, you think?!

    And if that’s not gonna help – well then us priests still get something out of it at least.


    WTB Glyph of Righteous Threat! Send out your requests today!

    Boundless inspiration

    Derived from good old latin, the word inspiration goes back on the verb inspirare which means “to breathe / blow into” or “infuse”. So if a person is being inspired, he is actually that: being “breathed into”, being animated by some greater spirit, idea or being (whatever you prefer to call it) to do certain things. It’s a beautiful allegory on man’s creativity. Using thousands of words every day, or a million in my case, we often don’t realize the deeper meaning and origin of the words we use.

    Of all the games I’ve played in my life, I’ve never encountered any that has inspired so many people around the globe so greatly to all sorts of works of their own, like World of Warcraft has. WoW does obviously have a far greater player base than any other online game, but the impact it’s having in the creative field is quite remarkable and a testimony to the coherence of the fantastic world Blizzard created. The results of WoW’s inspirational potential are nothing short of baffling at times.
    The most well-known examples are obviously the masses of people out there writing about WoW, the fanfiction and fanart created, the stunning machinima, the fun community events and regular contests run by Blizzard on their official page; I wonder if there’s going to be more WoW Halloween Pumpkins again this year.

    As this is a perfect Frivolous Friday topic, I do want to share the following 3 remarkable examples of fired imagination with the rest of you. I’ve only recently come across them myself – what do you know! The inspiration people can get from WoW knows no limits!

    If you’re desperately bored of the game at the moment, it’s time to check this page out. It’s basically Origami for WoW and some of the paper models are just baffling! There’s also a lot of plans available for download, so grab your scissors and glue and get started!

    I love cooking and browsing food blogs – well, here’s your dedicated WoW cooking site! The folks over at Nourish got plenty of Azerothian recipes ready for you to test your culinary skills on, nomnom!

    It’s no big secret that I love the shinies and I’ve always wondered a little about the lack of WoW merchandise, especially in this particular bracket – after all, which self-respecting WoW priest wouldn’t love to have a silver Benediction necklace dangling from their neck?
    In any case, there’s some remarkable craftsmanship to be found on that page, so whether you’re into jewelry or not, it’s worth checking out!

    So many ideas, so little time – enjoy your weekend everybody and stay inspired!
    Also, if you feel particularly loaded on ideas, head over to Deuwowlity and help Gronthe out with suggestions, because he’s planning a WoW musical!

    Fighting your inner demon. Or: Take a Ferris Bueller Day in WoW

    “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

    Every generation has a movie or two they grew up with and that was particularly influential to them as kids or teenagers, echoing the vibe of their time, inspiring them to adventure and pushing the boundaries of the society they live in. For the 60ies it was The Graduate, for the 70ies it was films like Grease. I’m not sure what it was for today’s generation of teens, but if I am to believe my students, it’s movies like American Pie or Clueless…them poor souls! 

    The 80ies were good times: we had films like Stand by Me, The Goonies or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986, to kindle our impressionable imagination. If you’ve never watched Ferris Bueller, then I really suggest you do – it’s not only a great laugh and 80ies flashback with memorable acting and quotes, but a hyperbolic metaphor on getting more out of life if only you dare to “stop and look around every once in a while“. Ferris is one of the big movie cult figures of the 80ies generation because of this.

    Taking a day off from the race

    Looking back on several topics and bottom lines players are currently drawing for WoW, while turning their eyes on Cataclysm, I feel a little gloomy about the rushed pace the game’s been taking since its latest installment. There’s been an increased pressure to optimize and increase gaming “efficiency” in WoW which has been documented and discussed over many a blog. Tesh struggles with his inner demon, driving him to catch up and optimize in one of his latest blog posts, where he forces himself to take it easy because “efficiency is a natural enemy of exploration and experimentation”. Shintar has written a very thoughtful comparison between applying for a WoW guild and going to a job interview. And there’s been various other posts discussing cookie cutter specs in WoW and the pressure all players feel to min/max and optimize, debating various solutions.

    Personally I doubt this trend of efficiency will stop in Cataclysm and I think it’s going to be very hard to stay away from it, even for the more laid-back players. Blizzard’s continued endeavor to make everything as transparent as possible in the game, via combat data, armory or achievements, is furthering the obsession to perfect and optimize every aspect in the game – for no better reason than because you can.
    And whether you like it or not, you will find yourself facing situations in pugging as much as guild raiding, where you will be measured by these standards and hence feel pressured to meet them. It’s impossible to turn back the wheel of time.

    My new expansion’s resolution: the Ferris Bueller Way

    I know that in Cataclysm I don’t want to play the game like that. I want to stop worrying about optimization and explore my own way through the new expansion, making the “newbie feeling” last as long as possible. I want to experiment with gear and specs without reading up beforehand. I won’t join groups or raids that require me to cookie-cut everything or show my achievements. A game shouldn’t feel like a job – it should be an escapism. I don’t want to feel pressured to follow the dogma of efficiency in a game that doesn’t actually require you to optimize in order to experience 98% of its content.

    I will take off a Ferris Bueller day, only I’ll make it weeks. I will skip school and create my own adventure, generate my own quests and challenges, exploring at my own leisure and enjoying the little secrets that make a game so much more special.

    I know it will take a lot of mental effort and all of my inner Zen to achieve this – I am a very perfectionist, driven and calculating person. It’s been the only way of playing WoW for me the past 5 years. But I do refuse to enter the competition this time around: yes, I will quench my inner demon! When Cataclysm hits, I will ignore everyone and everything around me (lalala!), take a deep breath and do exactly this: play the game like a game. I hope I’ll succeed.

    Gilneas is my hometown!

    Ever since Blizzard released the first snapshots of Gilneas, home of the new worgen race in Cataclysm, I have been a little enamored with the place. Shady, dark and spooky, with rooftops looming over the lantern-lit cobblestone streets, Gilneas looks like the proper medieval Jack-the Ripper setting to me, very atmospheric and also very very Fable:

    Streets of Gilneas
    Fable II Town

    I’ve been considering to roll a worgen for fun in the expansion just so I get to see the starting quests in the area. I don’t exactly like the female worgen models though (wtb facial diversity), so I cannot quite make my mind up about what to do!

    Then last night while looking for new screenshots, I came across a picture on MMO Champion I had never seen before….

    …and it struck me like a bolt of lightning: Oh my God, Gilneas IS my hometown!! That’s why the place feels so strangely familiar and “cosy” to me, it looks exactly like the place I grew up in! And before you roll your eyes thinking “yeah riiiight”, here’s the proof:

    Syl’s hometown

    How creepy is that?! =O *shudder*

    Have a good weekend everybody!