The one that is solely for Jemmerd

The one that is solely for Jemmerd

It is. I am incredibly grateful to our resident old-timer hunter Jemmerd. You see... Ive been running Zul Gurub for a while now (not counting or anything, but this was attempt number 49). I usually need to pressure someone into helping me form a raid - otherwise they wont let me defile it.

This time Jemmerd offered to help out. And fully expecting him to go on a mining expedition, I started killing stuff. I had really not expected him to join me in there - but thankfully he did. It goes so much faster if you have a proper dps class along and dont have to rely on the massive protection warrior dps.

Far less than half the time for the raptor boss. And of course, being here for the first time in ages, it dropped the mount.

These are my lovely guildies we are talking about (and loot was set to free for all), so of course I offered to roll for it. I have to admit a certain amount of unhappiness, but that doesnt matter. But look. Lookatit! He just laughed and congratulated me. Wheeeeeeeeee!

All mine!

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The List of ONE

The List of ONE

There seems to be a movement to collect ideas into valuable Top Ten lists, or worse yet 100 Useful Strategies lists. Instead of recording ideas in bulk, how about taking one truly powerful idea, and explaining it in great detail.

I know youve done some cool projects in your time... why not tell me about one, and share how the idea was transformative for you and your students? Maybe Ill make the leap to build on your idea, adding even greater value.

When I read through a long list of strategies, tools or ideas, I might follow one or two of the most interesting links, or I might bookmark the page and never visit it again. Why not save us all the trouble and just point us to the most compelling stuff right away?


Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds

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The one who was imba

The one who was imba

Now this was supposed to become an epic post - a post that generations of bloggers would look back to and say "Oh my - how witty this post is. How brilliant he provided a counterpoint to the person in chat. How he cunningly managed to draw forth the utter hilarity of the single sentence in chat and still let the person saying it keep their good graces."

However... it was not to be. See... Tamarind started a post about raiding again - basically after he had decided to cut down on it all. And he made a few rather interesting points about people putting "imba group" or the likes into their adverts.

I agree with him, obviously. Mentioning an "imba" group before the start of said group seems strange. Even more strange are the groups saying something like "Looking for 3 more ICC: three healers. First boss down - imba group". When three healers leave after one boss the group may not be as ...

hmm..

Now that I think about it. What does "imba" stand for anyway?

Intriguing. According to Wikipedia it is short for the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Austria. They even have a logo up on their site.

That makes a lot more sense actually. So an "Imba" group basically means a group of people from the institute of molecular biotechnology forming in their spare time. As with any big company the employees are probably spread out over a number of guilds. This is their way of forming a cross-guild group to chat about on their next lunchbreak.

And this specimen...

well.. he was just the only one online that evening. Poor guy. Probably hoped to draw some secret alts of his collegues out of the woodwork.

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The one that took a while didnt it

The one that took a while didnt it

Well� the reports of my death are highly exaggerated. Or rather, not so much, as I died a lot lately � but that is not what I meant and you know it.

I should probably fall in line with all the other bloggers out there and pretend that I am slowing down, going to do something different and stopped playing WoW � but what I actually did was start several new projects. New things that are quite fun doing (most of the time) and require more time than I first thought.

Part one, obviously, is still playing my main. Koch is going raiding and is still working on his 100 mounts. Except � I cannot be bothered to do the argent tournament dailies at the moment, even though that would only be 30 more days and it would finish off the 100 nicely. I do try and pop over to the Brunhildar village every day, hoping against hope to find a shiny polar bear in a little cloth bag, instead of a few snowballs, some rancid Jedi-cheese or some water.

There is also still Zul Gurub. A fine area in the north of Stranglethorn and part of the complimentary troll instance that is due every expansion (you know .. like Zul Gurub.in �vanilla� and Zul Aman in �The Burning Crusade� and Zul Frost in �Wrath of the Lich King�. Oh wait� I was not supposed to give out secrets about the expansion of patch 3.3.4.5.2.6.1.a? Forget I said anything). In theory both the raptor boss and the tiger boss are the proud owners of a rare mount. If they had only learnt that handing it over would mean an end to the senseless murder of their friends and countrymen I would already have moved on. As it is� we are currently at a quote of 48 to none against me.

And there is raiding. We�re still playing Icecrown Citadel every Wednesday and it forms the highlight of my week. You know� I actually enjoy raiding on my little tanky-boi. Of course � I have to admit that I do not quite like ICC as much as I liked Ulduar � and I think I would like to go back one of these days and just trundle around in it and see what happens. Kill Yoggy one of these days? Yeah� I�d really like that.

Part two, not so obviously, was playing my second favourite tank � my little druid. She�s coming along nicely now, raiding in ICC every second week and we�ve finally managed to kill Saurfang on an �Alt Raid�. Which was good. Except � I got to raid as dps � and I can�t say I like it.

Now this requires a bit more explanation, I think. I can appreciate that every class is basically a dps class until you get to the endgame (several footnotes and explanations are in order, but bear with me and wait for Part four). Playing a druid as a dps class does not appeal to me very much � this is partly due to the rather complicated sequence of bleeds, the energy mechanic of rogues and kitty-cats that I don�t particularly enjoy and so on and so forth. There are always moments when this is just cool, though. I do run add-ons that notify me of new high scores for damaging attacks and blowing something up in two goes just has a certain satisfying crunch to it as well (wait for part three, if you could).

In the endgame I pretty much switched all my characters to a tanking main-spec and a dps off-spec at best. The bear has its own strengths and weaknesses (interrupting frostbolt on Lady Deathwhisper, says you? Ha, says I!) and of course so do the paladin and the deathknight and the warrior. Of the three, the dps off-spec of the cat is the most complicated for me, though. Several bleeds and self-buffs to juggle, a consistent energy regeneration struggle and no AoE abilities worth mentioning. If only the spec made up for this complexity by insane dps or super-high numbers on every third rotational pass. But sadly no � it�s just a steady ticking of damaging bleeds, slowly draining the life out of your enemy. I don�t like it very much.

Worse � when I got to raid ICC yesterday it was also quite horribly boring. On Marrowgar I had to move from fires on the ground and otherwise tried to optimize my �rotation� � picking up after each bonestorm. On Lady Deathwhisper I had the pleasure of staying on the boss, first bringing down the mana-shield, then beating up the boss herself. It is the best role for me � as continuous target changing would make my dps even less impressive, but it basically meant I stood still and tried to optimize my rotation. On the gunship battle I got to use a cannon � which still amuses me, but then sadly had the same annoyance on Saurfang again. Stand in one location, don�t bother switching targets to the blood beasts and generally try not to mess up my rotation. That�s it.

No juggling threat, no watching for debuffs on the off-tank, no pre-emptively using cooldowns when the healers had to deal with more trouble, no stunning bloodbeasts, no keeping an eye on the threat meter, no spamming heroic strike when rage is above a certain value, falling back to a more simple sequence of events below. It was just �meh� compared to the thrill of tanking.

I don�t know� I�ll try it again, of course, and maybe next time with a different class, to see if smashing hits with a big axe make everything more interesting � but dps-ing was not really for me.

Disclaimer: I had a lot of fun during the raid � but that came from chat and teamspeak, not the engaging game-design as such.

Part three has taken the most time out of my schedule lately. And I admit I started doing it all because of big numbers and DPS. Which ... err� does not sound all that clever after part two, but Booyaah! playing a mage is completely different.

See� I started a new alt. Had a bit of room still, so there is now a spacegoat mage-girl running around Azeroth, decked out in heirlooms with a mad glint in her eye and a pyroblast at the ready. And it�s fun!

I mean � if I don�t miss the pyroblast. I get to blow stuff up � with fire � and then with more fire! None of that wussy slowing and snaring and freezing and things � a hot girl has to use hot spells!

She is currently burning down the forest in Stranglethorn � an old favourite quest area of mine for the sheer killability of it all. Kill things, kill their daddies, kill their mommies and then their elder brothers who joined the army. With fire! It�s brilliant.

Now I admittedly am not very good at this �being a squishy in a sissy robe� yet, but I�m working on it � and enjoying it. And it seems I�m not alone. A lot of people seem to have abandoned their �mains� lately, going back to more relaxed playing times or more alts and such. The auction house is dealing in twink items again � a market that was almost dead for a while after ICC came out. There are frogs that need to be sold, and  patterned bronze bracers and blue pearls.

Well and then there was project four. I stumbled across Pugging Pally a while ago. At first I thought there was a masochist at work. Then I played on for a bit without giving it much thought. Then I still thought there was a masochist at work, but I considered giving it a go. And of course I ended up doing the exactly same thing � don�t tell me you expected anything else after the long-winded introduction.

So I rolled a healer. A paladin healer, in fact, because I think it is the most durable and aggressive healer class I can currently think of. I mean� you actually get to rush in and judge light on your groups target � and when you�re there you might as well plop down a consecration. And you get to wear plate � which is nice, because I have all those plate heirlooms already. Okay� they are useless heirlooms for a healer and I should buy the mail stuff, but I refuse. I will not be a dress-wearing paladin. Hmm. I actually did put on all those cloth items with intellect on and such, but the point still stands � I am a mighty paladin and I will not wear shoulders or chest armour that is not plate and gives +10% experience. Or rather� I would if I could afford the mail ones, but I can�t so I won�t.

There� that summed it up nicely.

So anyway� I had to level the poor little thing to level 15 traditionally � swinging a big enchanted hammer at everything that looked at me funny � in the name of healing and the light. Which worked fine.

Then I got to level 15 and got to join my first instance group. Not entirely surprisingly it turned out to be Ragefire Chasm � and it was with a great tank and decent dps and a pleasant cruise through the whole thing � except sometimes a tad nerve-wracking because I really have no idea how to heal and the tank pulled appropriately large groups to generate enough rage. Clever man orc � but boy that was scary. Almost nearly got all the way to level 16 as well. And I�m still going strong. I will learn how to heal. I seriously want to. It�s an entirely scary business (and I may possibly have tanked one or two mobs by pulling healing aggro and then just continuously healing myself instead of doing the sensible thing and run to the tank screaming) but I shall not be defeated!

Soon�. Soon I will be level 16 and then the good stuff starts. Err� or so I hope.

This healing addons (I downloaded healbot, because I could remember someone mentioning it � it�s not simple and I�m not sure I like it) are a weird business as well. But we shall see. It�s all under control. So far.

Beats grovelling at those blue girls for a bear anyway.

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The Journey – Unforgivable One

The Journey – Unforgivable One

Sudah sebulan perjalan Animon, Leader, Reyd, Floriana, dan Derrion menuju kerajaan Gaia. Tapi mereka belum menyerah. Mereka mencoba menumpang beberapa karavan untuk mempersingkat waktu perjalanan, tapi mereka tidak bisa selamanya bersama karavan karena arah perjalanan yang berbeda. Di sebuah padang pasir yang tidak ada batas pandangan, Animon semakin merasa lelah berjalan. Derrion bisa saja menciptakan oasis dengan mengambil air dari bawah tanah, tapi ia tidak mau karena itu akan merusak keseimbangan alam. Ia hanya mengetahui tidak jauh dari mereka ada sebuah oasis.

Belum sampai mereka di oasis, sebuah gemuruh pasir menghampiri mereka. Ternyata beberapa orang berkuda menghampiri mereka. Dilihat dari bajunya, mereka adalah pasukan dari kerajaan Gaia. Pemimpin pasukan mereka adalah seorang wanita yang terlihat seumuran dengan mereka. Wanita itu terkejut saat melihat Animon, tapi ia seperti bukan terkejut karena melihat manusia kucing untuk pertama kalinya.

Setelah berbicara, ternyata pasukan tersebut akan pergi ke kerajaan Viel karena surat dari kerjaan Gaia belum juga dibalas. Animon dan yang lainnya bisa menumpang dengan pasukan itu, tapi mereka harus ikut ke kerajaan Viel terlebih dahulu. Tidak ada satu pun yang menolak untuk pergi bersama pasukan Gaia, jelas saja, waktu tempuh mereka dapat dipersingkat menjadi satu setengah bulan dengan berkuda.

Animon tidak pernah berkuda sebelumnya, jadi ia menumpang dengan Flo. Sementara Derrion jelas tidak bisa melihat, ia pun menumpang dengan Reyd. Dan Leader mendapatkan kuda khusus dari pasukan Gaia. Pada saat pertama kali melihat Leader, semua pasukan, kecuali wanita pemimpin pasukan bernama Lumina, langsung turun dari kudanya dan menundukkan badan memberi hormat. Ternyata Leader adalah mantan dari Ketua Pasukan Kerjaan Gaia 25 tahun yang lalu, tepat saat di tahun Animon dan yang lainnya lahir. Ia berhenti menjadi Ketua Pasukan karena ingin menyendiri dan pada saat itu sudah ada orang yang sangat ingin menjadi Ketua Pasukan Kerajaan Gaia. Lumina sendiri terkejut lalu ikut memberikan hormat saat mengetahui hal itu.

Berkuda jelas lebih cepat dibandingkan dengan jalan kaki. Mereka tiba di kerajaan Viel hanya dalam waktu satu minggu. Begitu tiba di sana mereka sama sekali tidak bisa membedakan desa dengan kuburan. Mayat-mayat bertebaran sepanjang jalan. Darah-darah mengental dan menempel di setiap daun dan reruntuhan rumah. Tulang-tulang berserakan. Bahkan beberapa mayat sudah tidak jelas lagi keadaannya untuk dikatakan.

�Berpencar dan cari orang yang masih hidup.�

Lumina dengan sigapnya memberikan perintah. Animon dan Flo sudah lebih dulu turun dari kuda mereka. Keadaan menjadi hening. Semua orang terdiam tak percaya melihat apa yang mereka saksikan.

�Masih ada yang hidup.�

Animon dengan cepat dapat membedakan bau mayat dengan bau orang yang masih hidup dengan penciumannya yang tajam. Dengan cepat ia berlari menuju bau yang ia hirup. Dibelakangnya, Flo dan yang lainnya ikut berlari. Beberapa menit kemudian Animon berhenti berlari. Seorang bocah laki-laki terduduk dengan baju hitamnya yang penuh darah. Ia memeluk kedua kakinya yang ia rapatkan ke dadanya. Bocah itu terlihat ketakutan saat Animon menghampirinya.

�Sudah, tidak perlu takut.�

Floriana memeluk bocah itu dengan penuh kelembutan. Setelah bocah itu cukup tenang, ia pun dinaikkan ke atas kuda. Bocah itu tidak mau berbicara sepatah katapun. Hanya saat Flo menanyakan namanya ia hanya mau menjawab dengan pelan.

�Dael.�

Animon pun pindah kuda dengan menumpang ke kuda Lumina karena Dael naik kuda yang sama dengan Flo. Setelah pasukan Gaia yang lainnya kembali dan memberikan kabar kalau tidak ada yang selamat, mereka pun memutuskan untuk kembali ke Gaia. Mereka beranjak dari Viel dengan penuh kesedihan di hati. Begitu banyak orang-orang tak bersalah yang mereka lihat telah menjadi bangkai begitu saja.

Perjalanan dari kerajaan Viel menuju Gaia sangat jauh meskipun mereka berkuda. Di salah satu malam saat berhenti untuk beristirahat dari perjalanan yang panjang. Leader mendatangi Lumina. Leader menyadari sebuah perbedaan yang ada di wajah Lumina. Mata Lumina tidak seperti mata manusia biasa, iris matanya berbelang putih hitam dan akan berputar saat pemilik bola mata itu membidik untuk memanah. Anak panah Lumina tidak pernah meleset meski targetnya sangat jauh. Leader mengetahui mata itu bukanlah suatu kebetulan, tetapi mata dari keturunan raja di Gaia. Akhirnya pada saat itu Lumina mengakui kalau ia adalah tuan putri dari kerajan Gaia.

Animon yang tak sengaja mendengar pembicaraan mereka langsung memotong. Ia pun menyadari Lumina ada saat ia diusir dan dikutuk oleh penduduk desa sekitar. Bahkan, Lumina merupakan salah satu alasan dari semua kejadian yang menimpanya di 15 tahun yang lalu. Saat itu juga Lumina pun meminta maaf. Lumina juga menawar sebuah solusi kepada Animon. Lumina menjelaskan kutukan yang diderita Animon berasal dari penasehat kerajaan yang mampu melakukan sihir. Untuk menghilangkan kutukan itu, Animon harus meminum air danau di sebuah tempat bernama Danau Turpelan dekat kerajaan Gaia. Danau itu cukup unik karena banyak orang yang mengembangbiakkan kura-kura sebagai sarana kendaraan. Wajar saja, kura-kura di Danau Tarpelan tubuhnya sangat besar dan bisa mencapai tiga meter lebih lebarnya. Meskipun lambat, kura-kura itu mampu membawa barang-barang yang sangat berat.

Dua minggu perjalan dengan berkuda, mereka pun tiba di Danau Tarpelan. Cukup sepi saat itu di sana. Hanya sekitar lima orang selain mereka yang singgah di sana. Malam itu bertepatan dengan bulan purnama, mereka sebelumnya juga telah bergegas pergi ke Danau Tarpelan agar mendapatkan malam bulan purnama. Cahaya bulan terpantul tepat di atas permukaan danau, lalu sebuah kejaiban pun terjadi. Air danau berubah menjadi warna pelangi dan selukis aurora melayang di atasnya. Mata Animon sampai berbinar melihat keajaibannya.

Animon pun mengambil air danau berwarna pelangi itu dengan kedua tangannya. Ia menegukkan semua air di tangannya sekaligus. Sesaat Animon tidak merasakan apa-apa, tapi kemudian badannya menjadi panas, tubuhnya mengeluarkan asap. Animon berteriak kuat lalu jatuh pingsan.

Ketika Animon terbangun, semua orang tersenyum padanya. Kini ia bukanlah manusia kucing lagi, ia sudah benar-benar menjadi manusia biasa dan ukuran tubuhnya juga sudah seperti pria usia 25 tahun. Bajunya kini kekecilan ia pun menggunakan salah satu baju pasukan kerajaan Gaia yang tidak dipakai. Reyd pun langsung menyanyikan sebuah lagu untuk merayakan hari itu. Mereka semua berpesta, mereka semua bahagia, mereka semua pun akhirnya lelah lalu tidur.

�Kita diserang! Aaahh!�

Animon terbangun mendengar teriakan salah seorang pasukan kerajaan Gaia yang baru saja tubuhnya ditusuk pedang. Bergegas Animon mengambil pedangnya namun ia merasakan tubuhnya begitu berat. Ia tidak selincah sebelumnya. Bahkan untuk mengayunkan pedangnya, ia merasa sangat sulit.

Mereka diserang oleh perompak yang biasa berkeliling dari desa ke desa. Jumlah mereka cukup banyak. Namun mereka berhasil dikalahkan. Animon terluka parah, sementara semua pasukan kerajaan selain Lumina sudah tiada. Mereka dibunuh saat tidur oleh para perompak. Dael sendiri hanya bersembunyi dibalik tenda, untunglah ia tidak terluka.

Animon sangat menangis saat itu. Seandainya ia tidak kembali menjadi manusia, ia pasti bisa mencium bau para perompak itu sehingga mereka bisa lebih siap dan tidak harus ada yang mati dari mereka. Animon melangkah mendekati pinggiran Danau Tarpelan, airnya masih berwarna pelangi, bulan purnama masih bersinar terang saat langit mulai membiru gelap saat itu. Lumina menahan Animon, air pelangi itu sangat berbahaya bagi manusia biasa, beberapa orang pernah meminumnya lalu mati seketika. Tapi Animon sangat bersikeras ia tidak mendengarkan Lumina. Sampai di pinggiran danau, Animon pun melompat ke air pelangi itu. Lumina panik, ia pun berlari mendekati danau, tapi Reyd menahan tangannya.

�Dia tidak selemah itu.�

Cukup lama Animon di dalam air pelangi itu. Tidak ada yang bisa melihat tubuhnya, warna pelangi itu menutupi isi dari danau itu. Sepasang kuping kucing berwarna putih pun muncul dari permukaan air, disusul wajah yang selama ini mereka kenal sebelumnya. Animon muncul dari dalam danau, bekas lukanya pun hilang semua. Ia bahkan membawa seekor anak kura-kura. Ia menjelaskan begitu di dalam air sana ada sebuah suara yang mengatakan bahwa belum saatnya bagi dirinya untuk mati dan suara itu juga meminta Animon agar membawa anak kura-kura itu ke permukaan tanah.

Begitu matahari terbit, mereka pun melanjutkan perjalanan. Hanya tujuh orang yaitu Animon, Leader, Reyd, Floriana, Derrion, Lumina, dan Dael. Perjalanan panjang selama satu bulan akhirnya mereka lewati. Mereka pun akhirnya tiba di kerajaan Gaia. Saat itu Lumina menundukkan kepalanya. Sekali lagi ia meminta maaf kepada Animon. Selama ini dia merahasiakan bahwa kedua orang tua Animon sudah meninggal 15 tahun yang lalu.

Part 1 -  Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

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The one reason that got me wanting to buy the Halo Graphic Novel

The one reason that got me wanting to buy the Halo Graphic Novel

The storyline in which we figure out how the hell Sgt. Johnson made it out of the first flood infested Halo alive. That right there is enough to get me to buy the novel and yes, I know Im a Halo geek.

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The good and the bad all in one shiny day

The good and the bad all in one shiny day

A bright day it is. Sun is shining, a few white clouds about to break up the monotony and we are currently stuck at 25�C. Perfect in every sense.

Yesterday it was a little bit cooler and a little more cloudy, but of course yesterday I finally handed in my 25 saronites and a few bits and dribbles and got my Shadows Edge. A proper highlight as well. I am now wondering about how to most quickestest get my 1000 souls. This is probably the coolest way in a long time. I have sort of decided to play DPS during trash and go back to tanking for proper fights.

And use a weird abomination spec for the fights with Putricide, Sindragosa and the Blood Queen. Of course its possible to tank with a two-handed weapon and a shield - it just requires a bit of creativity. Ends up a lot like this, though:

Impractical, and frankly, quite hideous (to quote an old friend).

So yay! Highly cheered up and bouncy all night. Looking forward to the next days.

And then, of course, came the bad. The weather forecast predicts something around 38�C for the weekend. I play near the roof in a room with one window (and a fan, a blessed, precious fan). Its not going to be pretty (and only part of that is because I might have to play topless. I am not a supermodel).

There also is this RealID thing. When it first was announced I was sort of looking forward to it. I would love to be able to chat with my friends from other servers. It worked in Star Wars Galaxies (not very well - you had to enter the names manually as in MyFriend-ServernameofLengthyWeirdSpellingInStarWarsStyle) and its nifty. And then I got to read the FAQ (linked again here, because it needs to be easier to find).

So friends of my friends can see my real name?

In addition, players with Real ID relationships will be able to view each others online status, Rich Presence information, and Broadcast messages, and will be able to see which character and game their Real ID friends are playing across supported Blizzard games.

Oh really now? So people I do not know - or worse, actively do not like (we had this argument before, some of my friends really enjoy playing with someone Id call a total tosser) - know my name, the game I currently play, which alt I am on (some of which I specifically created to avoid the tosser specific people) and what server and such?

Admittedly - in most cases that wont be a big problem. I am fairly laid back about abuse (see the Spellpower DK posts - Im currently trying to generate rude remarks) and can ignore a lot, but its a little concern.

Look, even facebook allows me to choose to share my information only with friends. Facebook. You know? The people Blizzard just signed a cooperation with? The security nightmare of security nightmares? Not Blizzard, though.

Does this concern me?

Well, it didnt so much when I started online gaming. I was a mere 20 years old, going on 21. The internet was still young and the search engine of choice was Altavista and possibly Yahoo!. Are they even still around? Seems like. I was actually proud when my email account got the first spam message.

When I finished university and applied for my first job, I didnt feel bad about listing my work on Stratics as a hobby. It outlined that I actually wrote English well enough to post on an international site. Thats how I meant to play that card and thats (luckily) how my employer read it. I did get a question on "I hope youll find enough time to work with all that internet gaming", but didnt even react to that at the time.

Currently, I see the whole situation a bit more critical. I have published a paper or two on academic subjects. Id rather like those found than a post of mine on technical problems connecting to my favourite a game. I have posted on the official boards a grand total of three times in the last five years. Still too many for my employer to find out about.

I want the choice to display private information - and yes, I consider my name private.

Blizzard seemed to agree with this up until two years ago:

Nowadays, this seems to be different - and pretty much all blogs and large sites connected with World of Warcraft have pointed that out. Once or roughly 22 thousand times (at 7 pm Central European Time today).

My cunning plan was to just change my name. They dont technically need an accurate name for their billing - I can just pay by gametime card like any good troll or chinese farmer. Sadly, its impossible to change my name without rather large legal hassle. I remembered giving up on that point before when my wife accepted my name.

Upload legal documents pertaining to my namechange? Im sorry, but this goes too far for a game.

A lot of quite real concerns have been brought up within the uproar - about stalking, about discrimination and about using the game as an escape from real life. Ill not reiterate. Check a random link (not usually known for their lenience towards whining) for examples.

At lunchtime today I was completely with Gnomageddon. Im real sad to see him cancel (him? her? Ill never find out via RealID now - and cant send him/her chocolates either by a simple google search. Such an opportunity lost!) but I was very much tempted to do the exact same thing.

I have calmed down a little, though. At the moment I choose not to enable RealID and Ill give Blizzard until the end of my current billing period. The outcry is rather massive and cannot really be overlooked. They are basically aware that this was not a good stunt to pull.

Make some changes to the system to allow me more choice over who and where I want to share information. Im quite happy playing the game, but I am not willing to have World of Warcraft trample all over my privacy. When this billing period is over, Ill have to reevaluate my commitment. In the current state of affairs we will be parting.

And yes, I am aware that no one from Blizzard will reach an outlying Blog such as this. I merely use this as a medium of information for friends and family. Dont add me to RealID yet - I have no intention whatsoever of accepting anything.

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The original ending to Alien was far more terrifying and fatal than the one used

The original ending to Alien was far more terrifying and fatal than the one used

Poor Ripley

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from Polygon - All
http://bit.ly/1MhhK43

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The one where magic and technology finally mix

The one where magic and technology finally mix

Right. Ancient story time. When I started getting interested in fantasy and science fiction literature and gaming I was about 10 years old. According to myself that must have been approximately 12 years ago, but the commonly used calendar seems to disagree. Silly thing.

So anyway� back in those days fantasy meant a setting that was remotely similar to medieval. There were usually swords, the barbarians had not grown used to the value of a balanced weapon and were using battlehammers and axes. Sometimes there were horses � although surprisingly few of them were important. Sometimes there was just a bow, but occasionally people used a crossbow as a point of high technology. Magic was present more often than not � usually in both the healing and the fireballing variety.

There were probably one or two books that included guns and blackpowder - and civil engineering was usually strange at best (in hindsight, that is. It all made perfect sense to me). �People� (and that includes elves and such, obviously) used to use a chamberpot, but there never seemed to be much muck in the streets. They used to have no doctors as such, instead usually relying on a heroically applied bandage (possibly applied by a charming wench) yet were all drinking water. Running water had at the very least roman levels of technology and books were plentiful, whereas the technology for killing people was sometimes remarkably primitive (all that star iron? Yeah those books).

Now see� I was young and needed the money entertainment. I don�t think I ever spent much thought on that. It did work like any properly applied propaganda, though, and when I now think about good fantasy it still includes magic and swords and axes and absolutely no technology. See how well it works? I mean... of course they have wheels and yes, obviously they know what a proper pulley system is and how a three-mast sailboat works but that�s not really technology, is it?

Hmm.

Okay, so let�s go a step further and define unsuitable technology for �proper� fantasy. Guns are obviously right out. So are any other sort of explosives (unless - and this is important � the explosives are brought in by a foreign race and are based on � say� rare yellow crystals. Possibly red crystals). If people can fly, they do so by magic or magical chariot, not by helicopter or aeroplane. While we are on that � steel is worked by sweating dwarves and possibly by stinking barbarians and the occasional master swordsmith. The rest of the population uses iron. This only rusts in miniscule amounts � so as to require constant sharpening of swords � but does not fail as a construction material. Mostly because proper construction works is made from stone! Dragged on in blocks, not poured from a concrete factory.

And this always, always, always left me with a bit of a weird feeling when playing Warcraft � even worse in World of Warcraft. I mean, the gnomes were using bombs and there are dwarves with guns. And helicopters. And a bloody airfield just outside of ironforge. And steamtanks. And a golf-caddy, if you want to be really surprised by technology, complete with blimmin� orbital defence systems! Wait� what?

The good thing, obviously, is that after five years of WoW propaganda I sort of got used to it. The guns don�t even bother me any more, and to be fair the bombs leave me a giggling maniac � especially when I�m playing a new alt and can equip the poor little newbie with too much materials for his own good and use bombs several technology levels too high. KABOOOM! (and stuns the target for four seconds to boot!)

I am still not quite sure why people would actually invest into the development of explosive technology as long as they have magic. I mean� yes� magic is not available to anyone (disclaimer: unless you are a player � then you can just roll a mage. Really. This game is not only warriors, unlike what my login screen tells you. And if you can see my login screen I have a security problem as well), but neither is engineering. To even begin training you need to be a level 5. Take that little farmer from Elwynn/Durotar. You are not allowed to throw bombs because you are a little nooblet!

And once you got magic, it does everything engineering does � just better. You can polymorph with a trinket  � but only once every 5 minutes. Mages do it all night long and it lasts twice as long, too.

You can throw a flaming ball of fire, but mages can do it more often, more fiery, and with scaling spellpower, too.

Oh yes... and of course there is the teleporting. Engineers can travel to a few more places than mages � but none of them are terribly useful (Blades Edge mountains? How quaint!), and they are likely to arrive on fire, falling to their death and replaced by an evil chicken! Mages can even bring friends to the Exodar at the end of a raid � almost against their wishes!

So yeah� I didn�t like technology much. Except for the sheer giggles, of course. But� it has all changed (and here we get to the part where I just blatantly want to show off). I am now a serious fan of engineering. I mean� the best thing magic users can have for continuous transport is this. Those with money and/or influence, however, can get this.

And boy is it great.

I mean.. it has a numberplate that says PWN.

It has the coolest �jump� animation ever.

And � there is a map for the passenger. Completely wasted on someone like my wife, but at least it is there!

Booyah for the dwarven motorcycle gang.

Where can I buy a leather jacket with �Fel Angel� on?

And you know... with a waterwalking potion you can even use it to go flowerpicking - American style - from the safety of your vehicle.

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THE FIRST ONE

THE FIRST ONE

Oh , its the first one . My mind deviates from place to place and i am in a state of mental dissatisfaction and tries to run away from the situation and lingers into the world of peace where there is no worries and i can live and enjoy the life like no one else but this is what we have to deal with . This is life . Life where "shit" is a part of it .

Lets discuss practicality and keep imagination apart from what it really is, the life that one has to deal with it. This is it. Good and bad times are a part of it. The thing that can keep u alive and happy and away from worries is the fulfillment of the responsibilities and let the ppl around u feel u and let them be touched by u emotionally so that when u r no longer around , they can remember u in a way that u are always there and be a part of their life whenever they need u in happiness and grief .

These were the little bit technicalities by following which u can live a better life and enjoy the beauty of it. There are people,that i see around me, and it feels like the life has been sucked out of them. I can feel their pain deep inside my heart and on the top of it , the miserable life they have to live and suffer from the bad times and sometimes i feel like they can make their life better by doing a little work on it. They can be happy , as they have every right to be happy.

But the problem is, people do not want to be happy. They are so much in trouble that they forget how to be happy. So, i would suggest to those people that try to find happiness in little things. World is sweet and great and you can always be happy if u just give it a little try. Because its the only chance u got . Like they say "Its the one in the life time opportunity". If u wont live ur life now then when would u ?? Ask yourself that question and you may find the answer. Its hidden inside urself.

Enjoy ur life :)

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The Official Album For Beijing 2008 Olympic Games One World One Dream

The Official Album For Beijing 2008 Olympic Games One World One Dream

Nome do �lbum: The Official Album For Beijing 2008Tamanho: 68 MbFormato: Rar / MP3Qualidade: 128 Kbps

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