Waldonnis

I'm renowned for not liking holidays, but I do hope everyone and their families had a happy and safe Christmas

Kailand's been added to the raid leaders group on the raid signup page. I've also made a "Heroic instance" location that can be used as a generic placeholder for the Tuesday festivities (I was too lazy to make individual instance labels I'll get to that later, if desired).

The protection tree for paladins has gotten a major overhaul (actually several) since my day, but I have tried to keep up with some of the changes recently...I tend to chat with quite a few paladins now, so I like to not feel so lost Holy stuff I know (some changes, but it's mostly the same), but retribution and protection topics are like foreign languages to me Anyway, probably the best explanation and comparison that I've found so far is from the Maintankadin forums. There are several other stickied threads and some good discussion about the finer points of paladin tanking and gear choices for those interested. Several guilds Hordeside do use paladin main tanks against some hefty bosses as well (especially those that they are on a tight timer to kill, such as Kazzak) and I'm sure some of them would offer up some info if asked. In my experience with paladin tanks so far, they seem to generate threat on par with druids and generate more immediate threat than warriors against 1-2 targets, including bosses. Considering how trigger-happy damage classes are post-BC, this can be a big benefit. On more than 2 mobs, I haven't seen a class that can generate as much threat against every mob quite like a paladin....it's really staggering, but makes sense considering their threat mechanics. A good example would be a standard BM run: with a warrior or druid, one dps is dedicated to adds; with a paladin, adds are often killed by spell damage from the paladin and rarely head towards Medivh at all (for lesser-geared paladins, it usually takes a bit of help from the party to kill the adds, but it's still quite neat to watch). Oh, also, Kailand's partially correct about paladins needing to get hit. It's true that paladins actually get mana from direct heals received, which is huge to keep consecration and their various shields and abilities going, but a protection paladin also does holy damage to whatever hits them...which generates quite a bit of threat on its own. Depending on talent choices, blocking an attack may also cause damage, generate threat, and increase block for a short time. Lastly, and also depending on talent choices, incoming hits may trigger additional attacks with the paladin's weapon for a short time (similar to windfury). So really, getting hit is really the source of everything for paladins and why they can choose low-damage, caster weapons over traditional warrior tanking weapons.

Crap, so now everyone knows my secret to playing a warlock and are already adapting it to other classes. I demand royalties!

Argh, sorry to hear about that. Usual things to do: replace your tags/registration (check your stickers on the plates too, they are often stolen), keep everything that implies value out of the car when parked (including phone chargers and so forth), etc. Hehehe, be thankful they left your car there Kinda reminds me of a friend of mine in Miami that had his stereo stolen for the second time. Rather than replacing it, he replaced his window and left a sign on his dash that said "No stereo, so don't bother". He walked out the next day to find all of his windows smashed and on the back of his sign, someone had written "Get one". All kinds of people in this world...too bad so many of them are jerks.

Not a bad 50,000-foot overview of Blizzard's instance design at work on WotLK on the main website here, along with the mention of Caverns of Time: Stratholme, where we apparently assist Arthas in his madness *shudders* I've always found it neat to see them post info like this, even if it's light on detail about the instances themselves. It gives some perspective on how much work goes into these things and some of the philosophy behind the scenes, including lore tie-ins and how important pace is for "intro" instances. The expansion is still a long while away, but it seems like enough tid-bits are being introduced between then and now to keep many people entertained.

Oh, and in your absence... Verissi has a priest, Smed's becoming a warlock, Raeda's now a holy paladin, and Harne's a tree... ALL IS NOT RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!

HE LIVES! I was glad to hear you're doing well from Morgh the other day and hope to see you back on AD soon! We miss that bald noggin of yours, so hurry up!

Don't let him fool you....Ghules *IS* the Internet, not a person And yep, I didn't realise that he had written the song until after I heard it (and laughed) while the credits ran at the end of playing Portal. It's a short game, about 3hrs start to finish, but can be quite tough on the advanced maps and challenges. I actually try to play it every other day or so just to see what kind of goofy things I can do and try to beat their list of accomplishments. Still haven't quite mastered the art of knocking the cameras off of the shiny walls by deflecting the balls of energy...stuck on that one.

From what I've been hearing, pretty much everyone got into the beta for this...and subsequently trashed the game in forums There's a single-player "demo" out, but I haven't tried it. It sounded promising when they talked about it conceptually awhile ago, but over time seems to have gone off into the weeds of "that sounds cool, let's try doing that too". For some clever fun, though, I highly recommend picking up the Orange Box, if for no other reason than to get Portal. Awesome concept, simple but fun, and the song at the end is just priceless (funny and catchy...can't stop humming it). As with all Half-Life 2 games, I'm sure there will be a multitude of player-generated maps and puzzles out for it, so I recommend getting the PC version instead of the 360 or PS3 versions.

The only person I can think of that's even close (aside from the recently-retired Marrania) is Kytae, who is about 7k from exalted currently. There's only one other person that I know for a fact is exalted and a tailor, but good luck prying the spawn of Katak off of her chest long enough for her to log in

I still say that Magtheridon's head looks better on his body than it does on a stick...and that's not saying much, considering how he obviously never won any beauty contests. Besides, they should've impaled his head on his polearm instead of a log...call me old-fashioned. And where did they get the log anyway? Not like there are trees in Hellfire Peninsula. Either way, nothing quite conveys happiness and love quite like a disembodied head on a stick. *tears up at the thought*

If I could only wield polearms....*sighs*

I'm game, as always. Waldy's probably the best of the bunch, gear-wise, but Adranna's good for a mix of healing and damage. Hoofie's always available as well, but it sounds like we have quite a few tanky types already interested.

Bump for the moo! C'mon, folks, Smed's volunteering to put something together, so let's get some ideas in here to help him put together an event that we'd all enjoy!

Sounds like par for the course...probably another silent priest nerf Good luck on the appeal. From the sound of it, someone dropped the ball on investigating this one. Knowing how much you hate farming, I just can't understand how anyone could possibly mistake you for a gold farmer

The druids would win hands-down I think we all "practice" shifting to flight form *just* before hitting the ground

It's a 2% increase, so I'm not sure how worthwhile it will really be...and (in my case) strength or even an armour kit for the stamina may be a better option. If I can find someone else that has it, I may put it on Hoofie's alternate tanking gloves to try out. If I do, I'll let ya know

Great ideas and let's keep em coming The ghosties in the courtyard of Lordaeron are always fun around Halloween. While I'm normally out of town, I have been known to park Waldy near the entrance around Halloween and quietly cast "lesser detect invisibility" on passers-by (so many people don't know the ghosts are there and think it was done for Halloween ). Other things to do: * Scavenger hunt! With Ghostlands being only a transport away (navigable to anyone level 12+ generally) and all of Tirisfal's scenic cemetaries, there's plenty of room to get creative location-wise. It can be done by either having people gather items from various spots/mobs or perhaps doing a "treasure map" style, where they get clues to follow and meet up with contacts along the way to provide more clues. Either can be done in teams or as individuals. * Costume contest...age-old favourite. While there doesn't appear to be much variety in WoW fashions, there are definitely some creative costumes that can be made/assembled by folks of any level. Armour will work, but the emphasis should be on creativity and fun rather than "sure you look powerful, but that's what you always wear" type gear (70 gear may be flashier, but I cackled more at Radzz putting an icy enchant on his mainhand Brewfest mug so his "brew will always be cold", as an example). Personally, I'd probably have to sit this one out since I have literally half of Adranna's bank filled with coordinated outfits for events * Races! Who doesn't love a race? Think back to Maube's race event in Thousand Needles...that was spectacular fun (complete with hilarious attempts to cheat). Racing around the outer lower ring of Undercity could really make for some dramatic finishes, but racing that same ring while drunk could lead to some comical ooze baths * Screenshot contest. To include those who can't be with us on the night itself, perhaps an event they can participate in anyway. Submitting funny, spooky, or just plain weird screenshots could be pretty fun to judge. I'd personally recommend allowing even screenshots that were altered to add things if it helps the shot, since putting something like Godzilla into a pic of Stormwind (stomping on it) would make at least me laugh I'll think of more, I'm sure, and am working on a personal project in Ghostlands anyway, so I'll do some scouting to see what else I can drum up for locations and event ideas. Also, I can tap my personal vault for more prize donations, if needed.

Hoofie could use a few items for cat form, but the only real thing I still had on my wishlist pre-Curator would be the Barbed Choker from the Maiden. Illhoof and Aran hold the only other two tanking upgrades for me otherwise (and Prince for the helm, of course...and possibly the shoulders from Chess, but I'd have to run the numbers on that again). Kailand's right about Moroes...we can't skip him or Opera, since the back door won't open otherwise.

I pretty much update my roster profiles every day, but in a nutshell: Adranna - Keyed for all Waldy - Keyed for all Kelani - Keyed for all except TK and Auchindoun Hoofie - Keyed for Coilfang, Auchindoun, and Caverns of Time (and Karazhan) Verissi - Not keyed for jack, but only missing one Karazhan key fragment (third) and close to being keyed for Coilfang and Caverns of Time (1-2 runs each)

I definitely concur with the above thoughts on taunt. Even before BC and mangle was introduced, I always tried my best to save my taunt for emergencies, when breaking crowd control, or if I was slow to generate threat (back then, even KTM wasn't around, so it was largely done by intuition). Post-BC, not much has changed in that regard and I do much of what was mentioned above. An opening mangle miss I can live with, but missing mangle then a dodged lacerate almost always ends with me mashing taunt next, along with (hopefully) a TS warning saying that I need a moment longer. I also tend to use taunt to get quick aggro on a second or third mob when tanking multiples, especially if I'm expecting a big heal early on (heroics, mostly, but also Karazhan). After that, I just tab-lacerate (similar to sunder in threat generation) a few times and periodically re-lacerate each...I rarely lose their attention after that. Something I've noticed post-BC in damage classes is the complete and utter lack of threat control...or even self control. Pre-BC, it was commonly understood by higher-dps classes that waiting for 2-3 sunders before opening up was a good idea. Hunters could get away with starting early due to feign, but even that was spotty at times (yay resists). Now, though...ugh. People see a taunt go up and assume "taunt means GOGOGO" *facepalms*, and same for mangle. If you're reading this as a damage class, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF THRALL wait to unleash your personal brands of hell until your tank is sure to have the mob's attention. This goes double when the tank is trying to keep the attention of multiple mobs. In those cases, they need to build up threat on each...starting early and having him/her blow their taunt to save your ass often leads to the second/third mob smooshing the healer in a hurry. If you crit a ton (Verissi does and always has, so I know this well), waiting extra-long to start then going nuts doesn't help your threat as much as just doling out the damage slower, e.g. wait a second or two between casts...and if you crit 2-3 times in a row, stop casting if you think you're about to get an angry mob heading your way. I know it goes against everyone's nature not to keep spamming buttons, but sometimes it's just better to sit there for a few seconds doing nothing if it prevents chaos. One big tip for tanks and damage classes, do NOT rely on Omen/KTM. More about the threat system has been disclosed, but it's still largely a "closed box" system that we don't have hard facts about (just relative numbers and observation). As such, while your threat meter may say you're fine, you could still be over the line (or still need to work a bit, in a tank's case).

Facebook seems to be bigger in some parts of the States than others (MySpace seems to be the more dominant site, but Facebook is catching some attention lately). Some of my daily blog reading mention both frequently and social networking sites like Facebook seem to have a huge following and participation. Several friends of mine are listed on both sites (Kytae added her Myspace link to her sig recently, for example) and seem to enjoy the interaction quite a bit I'm not much of a "social networking" type person, since I don't like people much in general (hard to believe, but true ). I can see the attraction for many, though, since it gives people a way to not only keep in contact with each other but also allows for making new friends with common interests. One day, I'll probably sign up on one or both of the big sites, but I'm sure my profile will be boring and bland ...and of course we love you!

Bah...less QQ, more pewpew! Just kidding! As an MMO veteran, sometimes we all get to the point where stepping back from the game and devoting more time to evil things like "outside" can be better for us. Take the time you need to enjoy the new developments in your life...sounds like things are slowing down from the hectic party times, which can be great, so enjoy the ride We'll miss ya and hope you return to us, but I'd rather know people are having fun doing what brings them joy, even if it doesn't involve pixels and clickies. Do stop by in TS or on the forums and say hi, though, even if the break is just a break

Personally, I'm under-impressed by almost all of the meta cuts done by jewelcrafters (the reward ones from spirit shards aren't bad, though). Seems like every one of them is a marginal gain in one aspect with a frequently-pointless bonus gain (chance to restore a tiny amount of mana, for example)....while also having some rather silly gemming requirements. This is especially true for offencive caster metas, which there seem to be ZERO crafted cuts that are even worth the cost of the diamond, let alone the design acquisition cost (frequently 900g+). I skip over meta socketed helms now and just look at either pure stat/dmg gains or for helms that have "normal" sockets that let me surpass what the average meta offers handily and gain side-bonuses that actually help me....or just leave the meta unsocketed, since I'll likely gem the rest of my gear in such a way that it wouldn't work anyway. I keep experimenting with a few on Verissi's hat collection and have one in her goggles, but I barely notice it's there or can even tell which diamond I have shoved in there at any given time. Colour me disappointed, I suppose...at least for caster metas.