Burnout!

I always know when burnout is approaching. I begin to get an unhealthy interest in PvP and start playing some old classic games instead of logging onto WoW. Stormwind also begins to feel like a lonely place even though it’s bursting at the seams with players.

Classic Computer Games and Cultural Snobbey

I have always been facinated by computer games. From the very 1st cassette loaded games for the ZX Spectrums and Commodore 64's of the early 80's. I have had some real happy times playing these games. Sometimes I think it’s a sad reflection on my life that I have such fond memories of these old classic games. But am I any different from the people who become obsessed with soap operas or movies? Someone who is knowledgeable about movies or literature in considered to be cultured and intelligent but someone who is knowledgeable about computer games is a geek who needs to get a life.  

THE NEXT BIG MMO GAME!

You’ve heard it all before. Many pretenders have tried to take WoW’s throne but none have the staying power or the fan base. Aion was going to be the new king but it seems to be dying a slow and lingering death. RIFT and TERA are the new young upstarts and seem to have plenty of buzz around their release but I can’t see them making the grade. They are just following a trend instead of setting one. Same goes for Guild wars and countless other Fantasy RPG based games.

Not a good start

I had possible my worst night of raiding ever last night. It was my 1st raid with my new guild Philosophers’ Stone. Initially we had planned to do Nefarian but the main tank didn’t show so there was a change of plan. Now Philosophers Stone are a few bosses in front of me when it comes to raid progression and as luck would have it they decided to do two bosses I have never done before, Al'Akir and Twilight Ascendent Council. What made it worse was that have spent the hour before watching videos and reading tactics for Nafarian. As a result I went into these bosses blind. I’m sure I made a bad impression on my new guild and now I’m doubting I will make it through the trial period. On Al'Akir I soon picked up the 1st and 2nd phases mechanics but I couldn’t follow what was going on in the 3rd stage. Since then I have read up and watched a few videos and should be better prepared next time. If there is a next time. On the last attempt I died just before they killed him and I now I’m 8/12 although I don’t feel I deserved the boss kill. My DPS was well below what I know it can be because I was trying so hard not to die.

A change of guild

Last night I left Swiftness. It’s a shame because they were doing really well and I had been in every single raid they ran since our 1st raid boss kill on Halfus. every subsequent kill, every wipefest learning the fights. We only got Halfus down after mumerous wipes because I stayed on him and interrupted his shadow nova. Not bad considering it’s a 6 second cast.

Is raiding worth the hassle?

I mean the standing around waiting for everyone to get fed, put the kettle on, let the dog out, put the kids to bed, finish their homework. yada yada yada.
The political intrigue and backstabbing.
The arguments over loot.
The wipefests and recriminations about whose fault it was.
The rules and regulations you have to follow.
Then it gets to the stage when, even if you get the boss down, someone will still tell about the interrupt you missed or that you stood in the fire a tad too long.
It’s worse than working in an office. And we do this for fun?

Why?

Enhancement Shaman guide to Chimaeron

Last night (Monday 01/02/11) we got Chimaeron down (10 man). It’s probably the toughest fight we have had because we spent 2 hours the previous night just continually wiping. It was only in the last 20 mins of Monyays raid that the tanks finally understood the taunting rotation. We gave up but had a much better understanding of the fight. Tuesday night isn’t supposed to be a raid night but we have had such a successful raiding week we didn’t want it to end on a low so we decided to have another go before the reset. On about the 3rd try everything clicked and we got him down with only a couple of deaths.

Would you have a drink with your guild leader?

Guild leaders are like politicians. If you have a desire to be one you should automacticaly be banned from ever becoming one. The craving for power and control are not character traits you want in someone leading a nation or a guild. The problem is that if the guild leader is the most single minded, totally obsessed, fiercely determined member of your guild then they cannot empathise with the rest of their team mates.

10 tips for those new to World of Warcraft

This isn’t going to be an in depth guide into how to complete each quest or what class/race to roll or what talents to take.

My goal it to make the new WoW player realise that they are having the most fun they will ever have playing WoW. Leveling your 1st toon is akin to sex. It will never be quite as exciting as it was the first time. You may be better at it and the people you do it with may be able to teach you a thing or two in later life but nothing beats the fun you have exploring and learning with people who are just as clueless as you are. Those fumbling, chaotic, and often hilarious attempts at trying to hit the next level or do a particularly difficult quest will live with you forever.
Don’t look at all those epic geared lvl 85 hardcore raiders with envy. They are more envious of you because they know the journey you have just begun and know what a barrel load of fun you have coming your way.

 

Cataclysm Rep Rewards

One of the easiest ways to get geared is to grind the reputation rewards. You should start these ASAP.
Follow the guide below to identify what rep you should be grinding.

A quick and dirty guid to Cataclysm Heroic Dungeons

This is a good basic guite to all the cataclysm Heroic Dungeons.
I have made this by combining a few different guides I have seen on the net and some of my own experiences but I will credit http://www.extrabagspace.org/ since a lot of it came from there.
I was going to include the Achievements but then I found this and I couldn't do a better job myself. Its a very nice guid.

For the love of WoW

I have recently broken up with my partner of 2 years. We were engaged at one point and to be fair for most of that time we were very happy. Mainly, I realise now because we only spent weekends together. See we live 80 miles apart. Last year she decided she wanted to see more of me so I started staying over more and more until I was there full time. That’s when things started to go wrong.

A guide for left handed enhancement shaman

Left handed???

Well yes its very important which hand you do what with. I use the mouse in my left hand so all the keybinds have to be accessible with my right. The easiest way is to use the number pad with my fingers and the direction buttons with my thumb.

The big Cataclysm Dungeon Difficulty Debate

Wrath babies is a term I keep hearing in trade chat. It describes those player who started playing during WotLK and implies that they don't know how to play because the content in WotLK was too easy. To an extent there is some truth in this because for some odd reason Bliz discarded the need to use crowd control in Wrath. But I don't think this just a CC issue. Mainly its the changes made to healing and some far more complex mechanics that are catching people out.Swiftness and people normally just log on and queue for a dungeon so if someone suggests doing a guild Heroic you have to leave the queue and re queue with whatever number of people you manage to get together.

In the Beginning

So here we go.

Please be gentle, this is my 1^st blog. No doubt I will mess things up for a while until I get the hang of things.

My intention is to mainly write about my experiences in WoW but I predict a few rants and musings from real life might make it into this place from time to time.