So the holiday lull is over and the new year begins. My real life resolutions for 2010 aren’t anything impressive, and I’ve been cheating on WoW with consoles so I could really use some goal setting… so let’s take a look at what I intend to get done in WoW this year.

• Finish Insane in the Membrane before Cataclysm – or at least the goblin and Shen’drelar portions. Ideally I’d like to have all of this done by the expansion, so I can march into Deepholm and prove that I really am insane – see, it says so right above my head… Barring that, I’d like to at least finish the Steamwheedle Cartel and Shen’drelar reputations. Feralas is marked for some pretty heavy changes, and as it’s the easiest source for both of those (or at least the best for this title), I’d like to get done with that place while I can. Goblin I can do – Shen’drelar will be hell on the pocketbook… I suck at making money. This also has a sub-resolution:
• Get my rogue to 60+. This is the only way I’m going to be able to pickpocket all those Heavy Junkboxes unless a miracle occurs. The problem is, I really don’t like playing my rogue, so I need to use my remaining month of recruit-a-friend time and power-level her.
• Finish The Loremaster on my warlock. This is the title I originally wanted for him back when he was a little Forsaken warlock. Then he was a gnome warlock on Kael’thas and I’m sorry, I just can’t play gnomes. Now he’s an orc warlock back on Feathermoon and is only a few levels higher than he was at the end of Wrath. He’s halfway done with basically all of Loremaster, barring Northrend, so I guess I should also add:
• Finally (FINALLY) finish Higher Learning. Do you know how close I am to this? I need one book. One. It is never there. I have seen its joke replacements for the last four months. I WILL FINISH THIS ACHIEVEMENT THIS YEAR. Finished on January 18, 2010.
• Get my warlock to 80 before Cataclysm. That way I can ignore him until it’s almost time for the expansion after that. Ha ha, I kid.
• Get my Violet Proto-Drake. As it stands, I’ll get this during the Midsummer Fire Festival – assuming I don’t get boned by the RNG again during Valentine’s Day. The Midsummer Fire Festival is the only event I’m not at least 33-50% done with, because it was the only holiday that passed during the time that I quit playing WoW. I’ve been cleaning up so far, and I’ve got no reason to stop. Hot Pink Drake of Speed, here I come!
• Level a druid, paladin, or shaman to 80. Really, just level anything to 80. I’m pretty sure I’m the last remaining person in World of Warcraft with one level 80 character. And I’ve really had the urge to level a kitty druid lately… and I do have the leather heirlooms for it… I’ve just been trying to hold off on it until I finish leveling my rogue, and I was also kind of waiting until troll and worgen druids were available. However, I’m bad at not giving in to temptation.

So yeah, that’s it. There’s my list. It’s a short list of resolutions (spoiler: I typed "reoslutions" again), but it should be enough to keep me occupied.

Especially Insane in the Membrane, which some days feels so overwhelming that I start to think maybe Battlemaster would’ve been a better idea.

Oh wait! I forgot one!

• Post informative stuff about Death Knights again. The death knight blogosphere shrank about as fast as it grew, didn’t it? And my old guides could really use a good revamp. So yeah, I figure 2010 is a good time for me to get back into posting about the art of death knighting again.

So what are your goals for the year?

Thanks for reading this post from: The Stoppable Force.

Shaking off the dust; WoW resolutions

TheMightyGresh: do you really want to huuuurt me? Do you really want to make me cryyyy?

Yes. Warlocks are some of my favorite PvP targets, mostly because I still remember how warlocks work. Other classes might have tricks up their sleeves, but I know your arsenal pretty well. Plus affliction warlocks are a pretty good challenge, since unlike many casters – who I can lock out with my eight billion interrupts – affliction has a ton of instant casts, so I have to settle for a general silence and a beating with a sack of quarters.

Oh, and Fear? So underpowered. Hello, diminishing returns; hello, Every Man for Himself.

Trizophenie: Cloud or Squall? And why?

Neither. I haven’t actually liked a Square-Enix hero since the days of FF6. Cloud’s a doofus who’s too wrapped up in himself to see the bigger picture of "hey dummy save the world," while Squall is a whiny emo boy– wait a sec, I’m seeing a trend here. To contrast, I did kind of like Tidus, I just wish his dialogue writer hadn’t made a concerted effort to make him sound like an idiot. Then again, Tidus kind of was an idiot, wasn’t he? "Durrrr what do you mean Zanarkand’s destroyed? Why is Auron sparkling? Durrrrrrrr."

Sabiba: here’s a question for you: Why does blizzard hate hunters in PVP?

I’m going to assume this is an arena question, because hunters seem to be doing fine in Battlegrounds. Here’s your answer: they hate everyone, at different times, in arenas. Reason being, as they stated in an interview a while ago, arenas were basically shoved clumsily into the game and it’s been hell for balance ever since. Frankly, I’d be just as happy if Cataclysm brought with it the removal of arenas.

Llanion: What toppings go on a correct pizza?

Anything except anchovies. The last pizza I had was the Socrates’ Revenge from Dewey’s Pizza: olive oil, minced garlic, Mozzarella-Fontina blend, spinach, black olives, green olives, Feta cheese, red Onions, tomatoes. Fantastic!

Krizzlybear: I have excellent rhythm, but I can’t get the crossfader to work properly. Any suggestions? Oh right, WoW questions only…

Heck if I know, man, you’re a full two difficulties above me. It would help if the crossfader locked a little more solidly into the ‘center’ position; as it is I tend to swing too far back when I hit a crossfade spike (I spike left, then accidentally go all the way right instead of back to center). I found that rather than trying to use it the way the tutorial shows, I positioned it between two of my fingers with my hand laying flat on the turntable controller – I tend to get better control that way.

Sleepyrabite: As I have nothing to ask about for WoW… What’s your current favourite offline game?

Funny you should ask – I just recently moved the rather clumsy "Hey Phil Whatcha Playin’" feature to a site I recently found that is designed for exactly this kind of thing – here’s my Backloggery! I’m currently dividing my attention between Half-Minute Hero, the Persona PSP remake, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, and (as you may have surmised from my answer to Krizz) DJ Hero. When my girlfriend is in town, we also play some co-op Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires. I also admit curiosity about Dragon Age: Origins; however, I may be the only gamer alive who didn’t really like Torchlight.

Ladygypsy: how is mana pronounced? MAN-a or MAHHHN-a? (srsly, I can’t pronounce squat in WoW.)

Well, I know how I pronounce it, but I wasn’t sure it’s correct, so I asked an authority. Apparently "mah-nah" – your second pronunciation – not "man-uh" is the correct pronunciation. It’s apparently a Maori word! I’ve learned something new today.

Lightning Round! Nibuca asks 12 million questions!

• If you were trapped on a "Lost" isle.. and had access to only one game/console/pc which would you choose? WoW. Surely no one expected that, but look at it this way: I can try and get my guildies to send a helicopter to get me off this stupid island!
• If a boss falls in the game.. and the last of the raid members dies at the same time.. is it a wipe? Nope. Sure, you have to get back up and repair and heal, but you still get phat lewtz, making it not-a-wipe.
• What pie is best for T-day? Pumpkin.
• Should all pie be topped with whipped cream? No – apple pies, or other warm fruit pies, deserve ice cream. Any pie with a meringue doesn’t need whipped cream – it brought its own topping to the table.
• Is ice cream optional? For most pies, yes. I really only prefer it with fruit pies. It’ll do for whipped cream in a pinch. Again, though, not really necessary for meringue pies at all.
• Boxers briefs or commando.. which do you think @brigwyn chooses… {evil grin} I refuse to consider Brigwyn’s undies or lack thereof; the fact that he showed up in my dreams on tour with Daft Punk was bad enough (at least he was fully clothed).
• Harvest festival overview.. Grinding reputation with the "running circles in Dalaran" faction… RP for the uninitiated… That’s not a question, but lucky for you, I’m nice. I know as much about the Harvest Festival as you, I’m not sure what the second one is, and I’m not on an RP server anymore and never RP’d when I was on one. NEXT!
• How is the "Mr T hand grenade" better/worse than the zombie infestation from last year?
• Better, for people who didn’t enjoy the zombie infestation: you can click off the Mohawked buff instead of hoping for a healer to pass by, or waiting to zombify then exploding.
• Worse, for people who did enjoy the zombie infestation: sorry, you don’t get to fight your own faction and infect them with zombiedom.
• Better, for everyone all around: the Mohawked buff isn’t going to stop you from going about your business.
• Worse, period: it doesn’t really lead up to anything. Unless… Mr. T is the final boss of Cataclysm?! So now we know where Deathwing’s been hiding all these long years: the A-Team van.

There, I think I won! Now if only there was a prize.

Thanks for reading this post from: The Stoppable Force.

Ask a reasonable question … get a stupid answer.

I’m not entirely able to explain why I hate this, but I think it’s the same thing as why I don’t play on PvP servers: if I want to PvP, I’ll go PvP. If I don’t, I don’t. By throwing in these achievements, in order to receive two tangible in-game rewards (the title and, eventually, the mount), Blizzard is essentially saying “suck it up: you have to go do PvP, no matter how much you hate it.” Yeah, I know, no one is forced to do them, but no one is forced to get a 2200 arena rating either: arena people arena because they enjoy that, and I hunt achievements because I enjoy that, but when my achievements force me to do meaningless PvP-based sub-achievements? Screw it. Holidays can piss off.

On top of that, I don’t even think Blizzard has completely thought through how these holiday PvP achievements work. I wouldn’t want to be a battleground-runner this week. I had a feeling that hundreds of non-PvPers struggling to complete objectives that more or less pit them against their own team and the other team would be an… inhospitable environment. Apparently I was right. Euripedes has a plea from the PvP side of the fence for Blizzard to please, stop this nonsense:

So here’s a suggestion, Blizzard:

Stop it.

Seriously.

Nobody likes it this way.

The people who want to PvP are frustrated because their battlegrounds are filling up with these incompetent morons who haven’t the slightest idea what to do and have absolutely no will to change that.

The people who don’t want to PvP are frustrated because they have to participate in something that, at best, has no interest to them and, at worst, is akin to smashing their face into mirrors and then stabbing themselves in the legs with the shards.

You want to have these people participate in PvP for an achievement? Fine. Then do it this way:

• Win all five battlegrounds with your orphan out!

Shazam. You still force them to do something they don’t want to do, but at least this time they don’t have to completely screw up the battleground to do so.

Let me clarify: I’m not totally against PvP achievements. I think forcing them into the meta-achievement is a stupid idea, but I can understand maybe they’re there to give the event a more well-rounded flavor. Fine. What I am against is poorly-designed PvP achievements. Here’s a few examples of what I consider good and bad PvP achievement design:

• Well-Designed
• G.N.E.R.D. Rage. Neither side is negatively-impacted by the G.N.E.R.D.S. buff. If you die, applying the G.N.E.R.D.s buff is super-easy, because you get them out of every damn candy bucket in Azeroth, and you can trade them between people – so if you’re out, but your buddy has a ton, just let him give you some before you queue up. In fact, this one has the bonus that you can do it anywhere – world PvP, Wintergrasp, Battlegrounds, maybe Arenas even. You name it, if you can get an HK, you can finish G.N.E.R.D. Rage.
• Rotten Hallow (H). This is the Horde PvP Hallows’ End achievement, and it’s really only PvP in the loosest sense of the term. It’s quick, it’s fun, and on some servers (Feathermoon, looking at you) it’s not even going to get you flagged or attacked.
• Elders of the Alliance / Elders of the Horde. It might not be the easiest achievement for some people (heck, you might have spent some time running around the city as a ghost looking for the elder), but at the very least, you could strip naked and corpse-run your way to victory. It may not be easy or enjoyable, but it’s sure as hell not going to run anyone else’s day.
• All the Midsummer events: Desecration of the Horde / Desecration of the Alliance and King of the Fire Festival. I did these before there was an achievement for them on Queklain (well, I think I missed a few fires in Outland), and I look forward to doing them again as Zulfon. Stomping out fires is quick and easy and earns you a skirmish here and there from dedicated defenders (unlike Rotten Hallow, stomping out the fires does flag you), and as for the city fire retrieval… these things are a lot easier to find than the elders (well, except for Orgrimmar’s, because we have bonfires everywhere all the time – but in, say, Stormwind, a bonfire in the park really sticks out), and sneaking from spot to spot as a non-stealth class? Hell, it was like Metal Gear Solid meets World of Warcraft. One of my fondest memories was riding into Stormwind on my dreadsteed, stealing the fire of Stormwind, sprinting north, and jumping into the canals; the guards gave up, though an intrepid hunter didn’t. Deep underwater, I died, then self-rezzed… then, sneaking through the canal system of an unfamiliar city, I made my way nearly all the way to the castle itself without ever drowning. Finally, I found a boat next to a low section of the wall… leaping out, I mounted up my dreadsteed again and rode like a bat out of Hell to the tram, /cackle’ing all the way IRL. It was awesome, and I look forward to doing it again (and finishing it as Queklain – Flame Keeper Queklain seems apropos for a warlock!).
• Poorly-Designed
• Rotten Hallow (A). The Alliance side of the Rotten Hallow achievement is at least partially like the Horde one, in that they have a “crash the party” achievement, and the wickerman area well outside of Undercity is arguably even easier to get to than the Southshore Inn. The issue is the other half of the achievement: the Alliance is relying on being around the Inn when someone from the Horde does their Hallows’ End thing to get this finished. This is ultimately unfair, and if this is the design Blizzard truly wanted, than the Horde should have been forced to clean up the mess at the wickerman as well.
• With a Little Helper from My Friends. This would have been a lot better if there was a Winter Wondervolt machine in the battlegrounds and in Wintergrasp, or if the buff didn’t wear off after death. I tried doing this one: tons of gnomes show up, swarm out, get a few HKs, die, lose the buff, and /afk out to get a new one rather than wasting their time. Great job on this one, Blizzard. </sarcasm>
• And lastly, the inspiration for this, School of Hard Knocks. I don’t curse often, so when I do, you know I mean it: Blizzard Entertainment World Event Designers, what the fuck were you thinking? I entirely agree with ‘rip: if this had been “win once in each Battleground with your orphan out,” this would have been (1) entertaining, (2) possibly enjoyable, and (3) at least contributing to the point of the battleground, i.e., to win. As it is? Let’s take Eye of the Storm: not only does your average PvE achievement hunter not bother taking any towers this week, you also end up with a giant clusterfuck around the center flag, with no one doing any kind of D and eventually a win is achieved (for the other team, of course) via the towers because there were only 2 people on your team who weren’t chasing the flag and only the flag. Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin are even worse, I’m sure: I don’t dare poke my head in to find out.

So no, you won’t see me in Alterac Valley with an orcish orphan trying to keep up, or letting the Alliance cap farm so I can take it back and get a quarter of an achievement. That’s not my style. Brewfest? Midsummer Fire Festival? I’m all over those. But as for my orphan… all he gets is a day away from the orphanage, and I get a pig and a beholder.

Sorry Blizzard: maybe next year, if you’ve started thinking these things through.

Thanks for reading this post from: The Stoppable Force.

Orphans? Bah

Yeah, that sums up 3.1 pretty nicely, for me. I won’t lie, there’s good parts to it – I’m liking my death knight and warlock (yes, you read that right, warlock) better than ever, and love the new options available to most of my toons. The Argent Tournament is fantastic – I absolutely love it. But everything else? Frustrating.

Last night, it came in threes:

1. I ran into a delightful bug with the dual spec feature. Mild compared to others, but consistent. Non-spellcasters who have abilities in their talent trees where rank 1 is bought with talents and every rank afterwards is bought from a trainer will find that often switching between trees removes the lowest such talent and anything below it. This means that every time I switch to my DPS spec, I have to reapply 7 points into the Blood tree; when I switch to tank, everything between Frost Strike and Howling Blast needs to be retalented. I can only imagine how annoying this would be for Unholy DKs; if I’m wrong and it’s the highest, not the lowest, everything between Corpse Explosion and the bottom of the tree could potentially get removed.
2. I’ve been trying for a while to get a spot in a 25-man team with members of The Aftermath. Unfortunately my contact guy and I have been missing each other. Last night we finally got in touch and he says “hey, you want to come do 25-man Emalon with us?” New boss? Of course I want to go! So I hearthed from Outland, where I had been working on Loremaster stuff, to Northrend and notice we don’t have Wintergrasp. Wuh-oh. We fielded maybe 40-ish people in our group, with a few more besides… and still had from 3 to 7 stacks of Tenacity at all times. In short, it was an enormous lagfest that we lost through sheer numbers. So, no Emalon.
• Also? I doubt we’d have been able to go to Emalon if we’d won. The instance servers had been down for going on four hours at that point and showed no signs of recovery.
3. Oh, and then I disconnected, and the B.net login servers were fried, so I couldn’t get back on for at least an hour, maybe more, by which time my desire to log on had completely waned. Instead, I watched the debut episode of Pitchmen (Billy Mays is awesome) and played … incoming blasphemy… City of Heroes.

So yeah, that’s how 3.1 is for me: so good, it drove me to another MMO. Parts of it are good, but much like when 3.0.8 came out, the game is in a largely unplayable state at the moment. So how’re things for you?

Thanks for reading this post from: The Stoppable Force.

3.1: The Frustration of Ulduar

Banana Force M, proudly failing their way to a murloc. What could possess a team to have such a silly name? Simple: we took a component of each blog name to form the title of this tri-national arena team:

• Siha, of Banana Shoulders, representing the Deep (Really Deep) South, hailin’ from Australia (and feeling kind of dirty because we’re making her play a blood elf instead of her usual human),
• me, of course, reppin’ for the U.S. of A., (and unnecessarily crippling my team further by playing a class and spec I’ve never played before, an Arms Warrior), and
• Llanion, of Mad Cow Chronicles, holdin’ it down for the Great Frozen Northlands of Canada.

We entered with one goal in mind: to win a murloc! Specifically Murkimus the Gladiator, the prize for playing 200 matches. We have no illusions of making it into the top 1000 in order to get the Vanquisher title (as I think I mentioned after viewing our rank last night, “all we need is for 1,325 teams to be worse than us and we’re in”). But by <deity>, we’ll get that fishman!

Some highlights:

• Realizing that our team name sounds like some kind of 80’s cartoon superhero combo, and reacting accordingly:
  
• Llanion killing a death knight in single combat. (He was so proud, it was adorable, sort of. To be fair, the death knight kept spamming Chains of Ice despite diminishing returns, was in full Deadly Gladiator gear, and apparently had forgotten where his/her strangulate button was.)
• Is something missing here? (Click to embiggen)
  
• Leaping onto the tomb in the center of the Ruins of Lordaeron to /chicken at a priest on a team that was just cowering in the doorway. Luckily, we won, so I didn’t look like a huge idiot.
• OH SHIT BEES!
  
• Losing to teams with such names as Just Here For The Murloc, ThisWasTheOnlyNameLeft, WERE ALL GUYS IRL LOL, and Crazy Cat Ladies.
• Beating teams with names like Two Jews and Marcello and the Power Rangers.
• Look, ma, we briefly had a winning record!
  

Sometimes you roflstomp over the other team, sometimes it is you who gets roflstomped. We’re all very zen about it, and we really do win our share of matches. Despite having a losing record, I freely admit I expected to be doing a lot worse – Llanion claims to be terrible at PvP, I’m playing a class I never played before, and Siha’s the only one with any extensive experience on our team.

Also, impromptu dance parties.

1/3 of the way done. We’re almost there! Our squishy little metal murloc is in our reach! \o/

Thanks for reading this post from: The Stoppable Force.

Failing towards victory: Banana Force M