Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Free Year of WoW?




OMG. I'm so jealous! Someone said they got this for xmas!
heheh. That's what every WoW player should ask for Christmas.

Well. I tried to log into WoW on my laptop but it couldn't handle it, so I have no idea what phat lootz Greatfather Winter dropped under the tree this year! I need my gaming comp!!! I'll probably stop by felix's place today and see if he'll let me log in for a few.

When we get back to Austin this week, we begin our big push to level 60 and tier 0 gear. The goal is to have the characters ready for BC. Good timing too because after all this holiday food I've been eating, I could use the WoW diet. lol!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Happy Feast of Winter's Veil!

Well, I don't know about you guys but I had a kick ass Christmas.

My Phat Lootz included:
A WoW game card - from Felix
A Green Linen Shirt - from Sad (Sadin)
Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard - from Tai (Shadowtaint)
Shure Sound Isolating Earphones - from Tai
First and Second Season of Grey's Anatomy - from Sadin's Mom and Dad
Hayao Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle - from Traxxas and Thaedin
Sony Digital Recording Mic - from Sadin
Razer Exact Mat Mouse Pad - fom Tai
Soundforge Audio Software for the Podcast - from Sadin
Cool Box-Frame Decor for my room - from Sadin
WoWcast Custom Pens (four unique colors)- from Sadin
Royal Blue Pearl Honda CRV 2WD EX 2007- from Sadin

Yeah, that last one totally threw me off too! I got totally tricked into thinking I was getting a new computer for xmas (which he knew I'd hate cuz I was supposed to be getting one anyhow). I opened up a huge box full of old computer part boxes. In the midst of the boxes was a small box. I opened it up and it was a WoW Game Card Box. He was like "yup, you get one free year of WoW!"

I laughed and opened up the box. Inside was a car key. I was like WTF?!!! ZOMG!
So they told me to check the front drive way and there was my new Honda CRV!!!
woot!! woot! I was totally suprised and shocked. Should I be worried that Taint and Sadin can lie so well as to trick me? hehe.

So, about the WoWcast pens. I think I'm going to send them out to all the people who requested a physical Christmas card! It'll require me going to get larger envelopes than I brought with me. And I also got a few more requests for cards than I printed out and brought along ...so I'll mail those out as well when I get back to Austin.

If you guys want a WoWcast pen, lemme know! I have a huge box full of red, green, pink, and blue ones! Tres Chic!

I also tested out the cool Sony Digital Mic I got with my IAudio U3 and it kicks ass. I'm totally kicking myself for not bringing the usb chord for my IAudio to upload what I recorded! I totally did not come prepared. I even forgot my digital cam cord to upload my pics. The pics below are from Tai's digital cam he got for xmas.

And don't worry Tai, Felix, and Sadin also got major phat lootz...stay tuned for when I can upload the audio file! :D

Hope everyone stuffed themselves silly! Now I must go log in to Ironforge and see what presents Greatfater Winter left under the tree this year! Hopefully new pets!


WoWcast Pens!


Green Linen Shirt


Digital Mic


Alachia and Sadin


Alachia and Tai


Howl's Moving Castle - I <3 Hayao Miyazaki


Alachia being tricked - Notice the out dated video card? I didn't! sheesh


Alachia and the CRV

...

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Shaman at Fry's

I stopped by Fry's last week to look for a new keyboard for a mac for the office. I know I know.. I hate having to use macs while I'm at work but...my initial attempts to convert the office has failed. Plus, the way these guys use computers, it's probably for the best. If you ever want to come see people triple and quadruple click applications, I can schedule you a tour through my office. hehehe. I always used to wonder who those idiots were that clicked those pop up windows that say "CLICK HERE to blah blah blah"

Anyhow, while I was at Fry's Electronics, I decided to pick up a Girls of Gaming magazine Volume 4 for a friend for Christmas. It's bascially a gaming magazine that features all the hot chicks from all the video games out there. And FYI, Webzen does the best job on women characters..gorgeous!

So I went to go check out, and the dude at the counter was like.."Girls of Gaming??? You a gamer?"

"Yeah and the magazine is for a friend" -me

"Oh yeah? What games do you play?" -Fry's Guy

"Right now? World of Warcraft and BF2142" -me

"cool! I play World of Warcraft! I just started a few months ago. I play horde. I'm a tauren shaman" - Fry's Guy

*I flinch and roll my eyes*

"of course you are" -me

"yeah, totally can't wait till BC comes out! I'm going to make a Draenai Shaman" - Fry's Guy

*flinch again*

"I want to have every posssible Shaman combination" -Fry's Guy

*flinch again*

"I see, you want to cover all your bases" -me (with a nervous laughter)

"Have a Happy Holidays! Frost Shock!!!" -Fry's Guy

Okay. he didn't say Frost Shock but he might as well have!

so yeah! Lucky me, my check out clerk was a 3x shaman hopeful. LOL.

sheesh! They're everywhere. Shaman are invading the world!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Episode 22 Supplemental Info

Yeah, I can't believe it either. I got another one out before the years end!
Again, appologies on the low editing. I cleared out an extra gig or so and the software still crashed on me once, I got scared, and decided not to try to edit too much.
Also, my parents cat has this annoying habbit of coming to me while I'm recording and trying to get on the podcast. heheh.. she's annoying.. I tried to edit her out as best I could.

Here are the links mentioned!

Warcraft Lexicon

Second Skin Documentary

US Congress Steps into Cyberspace

Does the IRS really want your World of Warcraft gold?

WowDetox.com

...and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sing along with me so I don't feel so dorky.

12 Days of The Feast of Winter's Veil lyrics
By SPURLOCK

On the first day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
and an epic that is a boe

On the second day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the third day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the fourth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the fifth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the sixth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the seventh day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the eighth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
8 Domos guards
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the ninth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
9 night elves stripping
8 Domos guards
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the tenth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
10 man warsong gulch
9 night elves stripping
8 Domos guards
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the eleventh day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
11 days no bathing
10 man warsong gulch
9 night elves stripping
8 Domos guards
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

On the twelfth day of The Feast of Winter¹s Veil
my true love sent to me:
12 hours playing
11 days no bathing
10 man warsong gulch
9 night elves stripping
8 Domos guards
7 mining nodes
6 goblins selling
5 man static parties
4 minute cooldowns
3 set piece bonus
2 battling factions
and an epic that is a boe

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Alachia's Christmas List

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Dear Greatfather Winter,
What I want for Christmas....

1. Formula-Enchant Gloves: Frost Power
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=52955

2. Recipe: Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=52486

3. Gavel of Infinite Wisdom
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=52575

4. Riding Turtle
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=53987

5. Parrot Cage (Hyacinth Macaw)
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=15524

6. Panda Collar
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=961

sigh.. well I can want anything....

What do YOU want for xmas???

Friday, December 15, 2006

16,340 Kills

Thanks Gaz for the link!

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/guides.html?guide=362

16,340 cumulitive kills= lvl 59

woot. only 10,000 more to go! Pretty interesting way to look at it....and also depressing. heh.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Burning Crusade Cinematic!

This kicks ass!!!! Check out the sheep!! Gonna go watch it 10 more times now.



go here to download the avi for a visual orgasm: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/downloads/movies.html

.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Episode 21 Pics

Episode 21: Alachia goes to the WSVG is up. Sorry for those of you who aren't into pro gaming.. it won't mean much to you but it meant a whole lot to me! :D

Here are the pics from the trip!



B3st Trip Ev3r

HOLY mother of god. Best fucking trip evAR!!!!!
Even though it ended it kinda rocky, it was such an amazing experience.
I worked my ass off to the bone, starved, got next to no sleep, but you couldn't have paid me a million dollars not to have had the experience that I did. There's so much to talk about, I could spend the next two days talking someone's ear off about it. But I'm gonna save it for the podcast. :D

The Basics:
I got to admin the Quake 4 and Warcraft 3 tournaments. I got to meet all of the players. I got to learn all of their faces. I got to see every aspect of their game play. I got to see every behind the scenes shit you will NEVER EVER see or hear about.
The best part, I never signed a NDA. hehehe.

I got to meet all the people who make the show possible, who work their asses off to the core to make what you will see air on CBS (CSTV) the kick ass show that it's gonna be.

What I got out of it:
A picture with Fatality, seeing some awesome fps and rts strategies, getting to be around some of the best gaming equpiment ever. Making friends with some of the coolest guys from TSN and GMP. Watching gamers cry (yes they do). And the strongest desire I've ever had to atttempt to go Pro!! I wish I was about 10 years younger.

Thank you Scott Valencia for making this weekend possible. You made this gamer's world! It was beyond amazing.

And thank you Starman for helping me get back home (super long story that involves an evil bitch coordinator which will be in the podcast)....

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Alachia to NYC

Scott Valencia is GOD!
He's hooked me up with this kick ass gig in NYC this weekend being an ADMIN at the World series of Video Games FINALS!!!
I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

Check out these people I get to spend all Weekend checking out! (game play that is).
Taint is so jealous he keeps calling me a "poser". I will try to steal one of Fatality's used napkins for him. hehehe.

http://www.thewsvg.com/events/finals/tournaments/

I've always wanted to go to NYC. It's been my dream! I won't get much time to see NYC but I'll sure get a glimpse. I fly out tomorrow morning. I shall have my new digital recorder with me to capture the journey.

Check List
1. Tooth Brush/Tooth Paste
2. Soap/Shampoo/Perfume
3. Nighties
4. Socks/Undies
5. Yellies (security blanket, yup, i'm still 5 years old)
6. Black Pants/Shirt (required uniform for this weekend, i have to blend into the background since it's being televised)
7. Coat/Scarf/Gloves (for any wether below 60 degrees hehehe)
8. Gossip Magazines (to read during my two hour layover in Chicago)
9. Alarm Clock (I have to be up by 6am Saturday OUCH!)
10. Digital Cam
11. IAudio U3 Digital Recorder (for a special episode)
12. Courage to travel by myself

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

S*#$&!!!!!

okay. Episode 21 has been under works for some time now. I have spent over 5 hours now on editing it. EACH time I near completion of the editing, my program goes ballistic, crashes, and ERASES all my data files! I want to scream!!!!

Is this an omen!?? oooh! maybe it's a sign! Maybe it means I should do an entire wowcast episode of me screaming for 20 minutes?!
:P

It's just so frustrating. This isn't the first time my recordings have gotten completely fucked up. I lost two hours of recording with Kitch last time and now I will probably have to re-record this one as well. :P

suckity suck suck suck!

so. now that I'm totally bummed. I will leave you with this. It's a compilation of random recordings from last week during my big office move using my newest favorite toy...my IAudio U3. I wanted to thank Brent from Virgin Worlds for recommending the recorder to me!

Warning. It's pretty boring, sound quality was being tested so it's not too good..and there may be some Spice Girls involved!

onthego.mp3

...

Turtle Mount vs the Ferrari





In-game unique mount vs RL unique mount

Taint, Sadin, and I were at Chipotle on a Saturday afternoon getting some lunch. Along comes this sleek yellow Ferrari pulling up into the parking lot outside. And of course every male over the age of 10 turn their heads. I swear it felt like slow mow. So out struts this 30-something year old male, wavy brown hair, bright eyes, tall, and built. And immediately, Taint and I go into this huge speculation of how someone that young can afford a Ferrari. He could be in debt out to his ears, he have come from a very rich family, he could have inherited, or perhaps he made it big turning houses?? In the end, we went with the "inherited" story. It was easier to justify why someone like him could afford to spend 250k+ on a car. Through out the rest of the meal, people kept stopping by his car to peek inside and a couple of kids even took pictures with the car. I don't honestly know what the fuss is about a Ferrari but then again I don't have testicles.

So later that night, we were in ironforge and I spot this short red headed human female parked next to the bridge between the AH and bank on a turtle mount. I immediately start gaping and checking her ride out...as were about 30 other people. And I immediately start speculating on ventrilo how he/she may have gotten it. "So how much do you think he paid on ebay for that?" "Do you think he was lucky and scored a card on the first pack?" "no way, probably paid out the ass for it" "it doesn't increase any movement speed you know" "yeah, I know but it looks bad ass"...

After gawking for awhile, I took a screenshot of it and went about my day. It just seemed strange that I would find myself more in awe of an in-game bad ass ride rather than a RL one.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

kinDAof stIKy

LMAO! Thanks Spurlock. Ya made my day!
----------------------------------------
see mr. goofball's email below
----------------------------------------

dEAR aLACHIA:

i rLy luV u're podcast. iT is sO funy and u're vOicE iS So pErty ThAt I wIlL lIsten a hoLe lOT mooRe tIMes. I Am alrDy oN ePiSoDe 15.

wILl u merRy mE, oRe r u maRRiEd tO sAm oRe stermAN oRe a guy nAmEd JaY? U talk aBouT JaY aLot. i IS rEEl smErt, sO I's keN takEs goOd kare oF u if wE gET mERRied. I makes $5.40mOpPiNg da flores aND clEAniG the wINders of da bak rOOm @ the aDulT buk Stoor . iT iS fUn buTT da kEyBoARd iN dA ofFIce iS kinDAof stIKy.

iF u iS merRiEd, cAn U gET mE aN inVitasHun 2 cyKos.

u're biGeSt fAN!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!


In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Alachia gives thanks to the hard working slackers of Westfall.

Monday, November 20, 2006

WoW Muse

I've been sitting here at my computer for like an hour staring at the audio I need to edit. I can't get myself to move. I think I need a muse. I need inspiration or motivation. I started reading up on muses online as part of my procrastination.....that's how uninspired I am.... sigh.

fuck it. gonna log in. maybe leveling will inspire me. :D

EDIT (11/21/06): I figured out what my problem is. I don't get inspired until after 1am. lol.

So speaking of muses, I got this email from Marco Garcia last week:

> Hey Alachia, attached you will find a song I made for your show. I've been a
> listener for some time now and I thought I could contribute by making you a
> theme intro.

I was completely floored. I spam listened to it over and over again...the full version is close to two minutes long trying to think of how to do a new intro. It was also a great opportunity for me to revamp the intro so that I wasn't completely cribbing off the matrix...even though I LOVE that line.

anyhow. it finally clicked. here is the new wowcast intro if you're interested in hearing it!
wowcastintro.mp3

Thank you Marco!
/cheer

Why We Are a Static Party

because we have convos like this:
(incase you can't tell, it's extremely laced with sarcasm)
(background: he's pissed at me for not lvling our alts this weekend. he blames the podcast.)
(he would be livid if he saw I posted this so shhhhhh)


Taint says: (5:54:06 PM) ^^
alachia says: (5:55:26 PM) no cheesecake mom says
alachia says: (5:55:32 PM) we're going to have dessert covered
Taint says: (5:56:05 PM) ok
alachia says: (5:57:52 PM) i think my email is slow.
alachia says: (5:58:03 PM) i just got that email like 15 minutes ago
alachia says: (5:58:15 PM) and sometimes, i don't get emails for 2-3 days
Taint says: (5:58:32 PM) yeah
Taint says: (5:59:28 PM) poor fans
alachia says: (5:59:53 PM) whatever dude. i answer all emails sent
Taint says: (6:00:45 PM) uh huh
alachia says: (6:00:55 PM) my signature looks like this:
alachia says: (6:01:08 PM) alachia wow4life tai hates you all
Taint says: (6:01:39 PM) its ok i log on your character and ignore everybody that /tells u
Taint says: (6:01:41 PM) just like u do
alachia says: (6:01:52 PM) lmao...riiiight.
alachia says: (6:01:57 PM) thanks. that's a good brother :P
Taint says: (6:02:16 PM) except i usually put an afk msg, those who can't like retards listen to those who can on podcasts
alachia says: (6:02:44 PM) uh huh
Taint says: (6:02:45 PM) you should do those who can't play listen to podcast
alachia says: (6:03:12 PM) lol. yeah. good idea. one of the major goals of the podcast is to piss every wow player off.
alachia says: (6:03:13 PM) :P
Taint says: (6:03:22 PM) haha
alachia says: (6:03:29 PM) you're so arrogant. i listen to podcasts.
Taint says: (6:03:30 PM) REAL wow players play wow
Taint says: (6:03:41 PM) i.e. not my sister cuz she refuses to lvl with us
Taint says: (6:03:47 PM) uh huh got ditched this weekend
alachia says: (6:03:56 PM) i don't want to leave sadin behind. you know how he is
alachia says: (6:04:05 PM) you ditched me to play starcraft!
Taint says: (6:04:29 PM) w/e. i said come get me when u want to play
Taint says: (6:04:36 PM) i was lvling pali
Taint says: (6:04:42 PM) 13 thank you very much
alachia says: (6:04:57 PM) at least you didn't fucking reroll her 20 times like your priest
Taint says: (6:04:57 PM) i see how it is, free trip to new york > than playing with family
alachia says: (6:05:12 PM) tell me you wouldn't do the same
Taint says: (6:05:12 PM) yeah you remember this!
alachia says: (6:05:41 PM) meet fatality > waiting for sadin to log on
Taint says: (6:05:47 PM) uh huh
Taint says: (6:06:00 PM) felix is like lvl 45
Taint says: (6:06:03 PM) with his warrior
alachia says: (6:06:09 PM) i see. you're ready to just smoke him..and then we lose our 4th!
Taint says: (6:06:16 PM) smoke who
alachia says: (6:06:19 PM) sadin
Taint says: (6:06:20 PM) i asked sadin
Taint says: (6:06:23 PM) he said u would lvl him
Taint says: (6:06:28 PM) and you would grind off xp
Taint says: (6:06:29 PM) so we could lvl while he was gone
alachia says: (6:06:30 PM) he won't play if we out-level him
Taint says: (6:06:38 PM) yeah he said u would lvl him
alachia says: (6:06:38 PM) i would level him?
alachia says: (6:06:41 PM) are you smoking crack?
alachia says: (6:06:50 PM) i'm not leveling him
alachia says: (6:07:08 PM) you can level him

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Where the WoW Dances Come From Video

Thanks Aaron for sending me this link! It's great.

World of Warcraft Dances

Real Life is So Overrated!

So tonight was pretty fun....

The dance club,Vicci, Ren and I went to was SUPER LAME. The DJ was a joke. He played shit like "hey mickey" and "humpty hump". Enough said. Dance clubs in Austin need help.

The real fun began after we left the dance club at 2am to head to Walmart to pick up WoW for Ren. We had way more fun dancing in the car to the radio (my ipod broke). Shakin' to some weird 50s music medley, mocking the love balad boy band moves to boyz2men, and new waving to depeche mode. /dance ftw! I told him that now that he'll be playing WoW, we won't have to go to lame dance clubs anymore and can just dance in the game. He was like, "What? You can dance in the game??? Is this like the SIMS?" I was like "Sort of, but not really. lol. You'll see."

At Walmart, I picked up toothpaste, a new furry friend I'm calling WoW moose, and World of Warcraft!!!


When we got back to my place, I marched him straight to my computer, had him create an account and then the real fun began. This is his first MMO. We spent like an hour at the character creation screen with me going through all the race and class combinations. He was like "I want to be horde." I was like "Sorry, not an option."
mwahahhaha. I didn't even tell him about Shamans.

After much debating and trying to explain mana vs rage vs energy, he finally settled on a male NightElf Rogue and YES, I told him about the +5 swords human racial ability. It'll be 3 months before he's any the wiser anyhow! heh.

I then gave him tips on combo points and what items mean in this game and how to play with the user interface a bit. But just like all mmo starters, he seemed to get the most kick out of the player interaction more than anything else. /say /silly /kiss /dance.

pointing to another night elf killing boars...
Ren: "Are those real people??"
Me: "yes"
Ren: "Can they see me?"
Me: "yes"
Ren: "So that other night elf can see me right now?"
Me: "yes"

LOL.

Ren: "can I kill that rabbit?"
Me: "yes"
Ren: "does that make me turn evil?"
Me: "no"

During the entire crash course, the hardest thing to explain by far was rested XP. For someone who XP doesn't mean anything to yet, rested XP makes even far less sense. But believe me, he'll be parking it in an inn before he logs out.

I then showed off all my characters. My druid was in Ironforge and he was like "oh look! a person on a horse!" And I thought to myself how awesome it is to be able to see someone enjoying the game with fresh eyes. Just how amazing all the aspects of the MMO are.

So I would have to say the drug deal went as planned. WoWcrack FTW.
And the last of my non-WoW friends is converted! You know what? I'm not a WoWcrack dealer. I'm a WoW Evangalist. Preaching wow4life to the whole world!

/AMEN!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Drug dealer

woot! going out tonight with my friend ren. we're going dancing. I haven't been RL /dancing in forever. I miss it.

anyhow, I have an alterior motive. mwahahahha. He recently got a job and started getting a stable lifestyle. Steady income, own apartment. You know what that means??? He's a perfect candidate to get hooked onto WoW!!! The dealer is on a mission. Might try to stop by Walmart and have him pick up a trial cd. I know WoW. And seriously, it only takes one hit. I have no doubt by next week, he'll be hooked.

These are the times I wish I had a digital recorder so I could capture the experience.

In other news, I'm very proud of myself today. I finally convinced myself to sell my full Twill Set. Yeah, I know, I'm a packrat. I don't know why I became obsessed with having a full Twill Set but I did and it's been killing my bag space for forever. It's basically a yellow and brown armor set that looks like you're a poor peasant from a local village...but it was cool aquiring the whole set. Aquiring a full set of grey gear isn't quite as easy as it sounds. :P

Evercrack vs World of Warcrack


World of Warcraft Screenshot


EverQuest II Screenshot

Because I'm so in luv with Starman, I'll pretty much do anything he says. So after hearing Episode 20, he told me to try out the trial version of EQ II to see how their crafting system works. He says it is far more advanced than WoW.

To be honest, I've always wanted to do a hit of Evercrack...ever since I was in college.

So I reluctantly went to the website and downloaded the free trial. I then spent the rest of the night downloading it only to run out of space on my hard drive. WHY I only have 80 gigs on my gaming machine, I DO NOT KNOW! In any case, my new main comp has been delayed due to a newegg/UPS fuckup so I have to deal with this situation for now.

I cleared out some fraps videos and got about 10gigs free...that and all the tauren on troll porn I've been downloading. lol.

OKAY.

So, first major thing I noticed. EQ II has like a billion more races to choose from or so it seemed. They also seemed to have a shit ton more classes. I picked a high elf troubadour.

I log in and it zones you into this island right away. From what I hear, this is kind of the starting ground where you kind of learn how to play before you ship yourself off the island. This seemed familiar to me.

However, as my screen loaded up, everything around me was SUPER SUPER dark. Apparently in EQ II, at night time, you have a limited visibility range. This made for a super disorienting start. I couldn't see where to go. I kept looking for an exclamation mark or something. I didn't know who to talk to, where to go. There's no mini map on the screen.

I quickly msged Starman and was like "I'm lost!" and he was like "how can you be lost? it's an island!" A few quick tips on short commands and I was sort of feeling my way around the game.

One thing I really liked about the game was that the quest givers and NPCs actually have voice automation. But still, it took me about 10x as long in EQ II to find the first quest giver than it did in WoW. It wasn't until it was 7am game-time when the sun was coming up that I was able to find who I needed to talk to. That's another thing, time or days goes by faster in EQ II than in WoW. I think WoW is far more comprable to RL time. EQ II time moves a lot like FFXI where within 30 mins, the sun rises and sets. Not being able to see 20 yards in front of you in the dark sucks though but I like the reality aspect of it.

The graphics were a little hard to get used to as well. I'm used to the much softer tones of WoW. WoW graphics kind of have a more guassian blur to it, whereas EverQuest II has very rigid hard sharp lines. Even the terrain mapping looked a little off in EQ. Like the patterns repeated too often and became noticable or something. Maybe it's only a trial version thing.. I don't know.

But the body, face, and hair customization is a lot more involved in EQ II. You get a lot more choices. Unfortunatley, I'm not sure any of them lead to a good looking character.

Starman kept telling me to pick up all the quests and start clicking on all the items on the ground like the timber, schools of fish, and shrubs. So I did, apparently, you can gather all this random stuff without needing a profession. Probably lesson one of the crafting experiment I'm doing. I didn't get very far. I just know I gathered a bunch of random stuff off the ground. More to learn, I'm sure.

Fighting styles are similar. You get way more spells in the first 4 levels of EQ II though. I got at least 8. And apparently mobs with white text but slightly glowing red agro. I just walked right up to the mob thinking I hadn't reached agro-able mobs yet. That was my first EQ death.

Over all, everything is far less scripted it seemed. There was a lot more of feeling-your-way-around. Once I started to get the hang of things, I felt way more comfortable with the game and a lot more confident about my character than I do when starting a character in WoW. My guess is that there's a ton more autonomy in EQ II than in WoW...not positive though. Even visiting the first vendor was kind of daunting. Half the items in my inventory right now leave me with a blank stare. I have yet to sell or buy anything. First time I've felt like a total noob in a long time. heh. okay, save the jokes. :D

I'll keep feeling it out. I def. want to get a better grasp on the professions and crafting so I can really compare them to WoW. There is much to learn :)

But don't worry, I'm not switching drugs yet!

Friday, November 17, 2006

New Office



Here's my new desk area. Notice I got the desk furthest away from my psychotic bosses.

Today I have spent half the day cleaning out my work area for the big office move. We're moving to the 20th floor of a building in downtown Austin.

So far I have found a lot of epic loot under the piles of software and drawings at my desk. An AOL free trial CD, my clear no stickers that go over the W on your keyboard, and a you win 1 liter coke cap!

Exodar Screenshots

My Trip to Exodar was pretty fun. I can't wait to do it with my main characters.
The "away-team" aspect of the entire area around it is wonderful. Ten times dreamier and richer than Elwynn Forest.




Thursday, November 16, 2006

Back to Azeroth

so. i've been on my FPS sabatical from WoW for 3 weeks. Yesterday marked my official return to Azeroth. I spent all of last night burning off rested XP in STV with taint and felix. Two Shadow Priests and a Warlock. It was sick and I mean in the best way.

The best thing about the night was trying to run distractions for each other from the horde at Nessingway's camp. There were like 2 level 60 rogues camping the place and not allowing people to turn in their quests. We each took turns being decoys. lol.

PvP servers aren't for people with little patience but it's never dull for sure.
You just have to have the stomach for it.

So anyhow, I log online and the first thing I notice is that we have a guild webpage. LOL. I'm like When did this happen? hahhahaha. Taint said they put it together so we would have a way to communicate while at work through forums and chat.

Then of course, people had to give me a hard time too. Part of being in JAE, we all engage in the verbal slaughtering of each other. it's awesome. again, it requires the stomach for it as well as a huge sense of humor. but anyhow, it felt good to be home.

And I was happy to see that my account wasn't part of the 23,000 that got banned by Blizzard this past week. PHEW!

Digital Voice Recorder

So I'm beyond bored at work. I don't have anything to work on at the moment. That's usually how it goes at my company. One week, you'll work 85 hours and the next week, you're lucky if you have more than 20 hours of work to do.

So, I've been researching Digital Voice Recorders. I've been wanting one for the longest time. I'd love to be able to record on the go as well as be able to keep track of some of my more random thoughts and ideas for the podcast.

Can anyone recommend a really good one? I've checked amazon, new egg, overstock, and all the reviews on the internet. Seems like Olympus has the highest rating so far.

Some of these are also pretty expensive. I don't want to spend like over 150 if I can help it. The M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 looks delicous but it's 400 dollars.

The VN-3100PC Olympus looks promising and its only 70.00, plus the noise canceling mic is only 20.

Yesterday evening, Boozefort and I were joking about having money trees in our backyards. Time to do some yard work and rake up some benjamins. hahahah.

Sigh. So bored. I wish I was playing WoW.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Episode 20 links

The Burning Crusade Exposed Part 1 is up.

Here are the links we discussed in Part 1 and 2.

Official WoW Burning Crusade info page

Dances: The Videos
Male Blood Elves/Napolean Dynamite
Original Blood Elf Dances
Male Draenei Dance Tunak Tunak Tun
Yes, I realize this is not a blood elf. But the chic dancing is super cute! I'm intoxicated! anyhow. It's the same dance as the female blood elf.


Draenei mount. DROOOOL!


Feral Druid Staff

Hard Mode Token rewards

Tier 4 gear stats

Official Forum Post about +healing nurf

What we drooled over in Part 2:
Gladiator Weapons DROOOL

Tier 5 gear

Sam was right,
Healing Power Weapon is dropped in MC. It's the bracers that you get from Argent Dawn Rep.


Remember. Part 2 can be found at World of Podcast. I'm not sure when he's releasing it. But he has an edited version. So it should be out. Go bug him if it's not out by the morning.

Appologies for the occasional sound fade. Skype has a way of fading ALL the essential words out of our conversation. lol.

Special thanks to Scott Valencia for hooking me up with a Beta Account to play on.

Most of the background music in this episode is from the Burning Crusade. Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Half way there!

I went home for lunch and did more editing. 50% complete now.

More inside information for those of you who read the blog: Britney Spears finally makes it into a WoWcast episode. yeah! Okay okay. not Britney in person. But seriously, who would want that?

You guys would be proud of me, I only dicked around on the Net for 1 hour yesterday before I started the editing of the 4.5 hours of audio I had. :D

I was looking up spoilers for The Office Season 3, the US version.

Monday, November 13, 2006

2 Sleep or 2 Podcast

2 Sleep or 2 Podcast, that is the question. It's 12:30am here. I just finished editing down Part 2 of the Sam & Alachia podcast extravagnza. I have to do Part 1 now (my part). Should I stay up an do it or go to sleep.

Pros
1. You wouldn't have to worry about editing tomorrow and could play WoW instead

Cons
1. You're trying to get better and needs lots of sleep.

hmmmmm. health vs WoW aye?

Guess we'll find out which one prevailed.

EDIT: 1:40am. Darn. I only made it 25% of the way. I'm a failure! damnit. Okay. tomorrow then.

Give me your MP3s, please!

Yo Mopster, I'll take that Flask of Major Health Recovery. WTB! How much? 10g?

Had a relapse Sunday. I couldn't even sit up. I was so tired. Which means (sorry sam) I didn't get to edit all Sunday like I planned. I'll do my best tonight.

Do me a favor please all you cool peeps??? please!?
Send me audio of you explaining a best moment in WoW.
I need it or the Sickness Fairy is goign to curse me with another fever and soar throat. :D

/cough

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Stripper vs BF2142

Aint No LAN Party Unless There's A Stripper - Kotaku



The dudes in this photo are real gamers. :D
LMAO

Show Teaser

Just got done recording with Sam from WorldofPodCast. He's helping this lonely podcaster out and we decided to do a two part show together. Part one will be brought to you by WoWcast (me!) and Part two will be brought to you by WOP (World of Podcast).

It's all about the Burning Crusade. And yes, somehow, miraculously, we got through the entire show without going off about guy on guy porn. (reference to my guest appearance on his show a few months back).

I have a lot of editing to do.
The plan is to have it out by Tuesday morning.
Wish me luck.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Sickness according to WoW

I think a warlock is trying to gank me. Someone keeps soul draining me.

And a priest must be shadow word paining me. cuz every couple of seconds i find myself coughing and my throat burning.

And of course there's shammy on my ass... frostshock! frostshock! brrrrrr...shiver...

i don't want to play anymore /logout

i wish.

/cough! ouch!!!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Lunch

Club & Chedder Sandwich Cracker Snack Pack
Slim Jim Stick
Trolli Classic Gummi Bear
Big Gulp Diet Coke/Diet Dr. Pepper

All purchased at my local 7 Eleven

Dsesert? Another shot of Dayquil of course.

Health > Gaming

What is the one thing that trumps gaming in my world??
Health.

It's funny how we take our health for granted all the time. I've been sick. and it sucks and not in a good way.

I should be home and in bed right now but there is a stack of work on my desk. I've been working extra late hours too trying to help a project get out the door.

There's nothing like taking 3 shots of dayquil. It'll mess your brain up something good. But it helps me cope at work during the day. I should do a podcast while i'm still high. heh. I had actually intended to get one out this week but then health collapsed.

anyhow, i sound like a dying horse. (shit, just opened myself up to a lot of bad jokes)

please donate all your pharmacuticals my way.

thanks.

/cough

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Miss Video Game

Miss Video Game - Now accepting Contestants

Thanks Jdun for posting this. I don't want to know how you know about this.

lol.

so I started to respond with a smart ass commment and decided to blog it instead.

"If I were Miss Video Game, no warrior would go without agro, no spell caster would ever be without water!! Portals will always be free. My hope is that no child will ever be without a 23" flat screen monitor. And that all people no matter how poorly they game, will be able to equally afford the experience of a intel 2 core duo. /kisss /wave /wow4life"

LOL.

Monday, November 06, 2006

The Official JAE t-shirt

Mopster,

http://www.cafepress.com/jaeguild



The JAE official shirt.
It's part of my official WoW uniform. :D

Sunday, November 05, 2006

LAN Party: Day 2

Day 2 started off by me waking up at noon. heh. I love sleeping in.

We all went to eat the Texas Road House and then headed back to the lan party.

Everything is so much clearer in the light of day. The goats were still there. heh. It actually felt refreshing to be in such a secluded outdoor field. I'm so used to concrete and pavement. The fresh air surroundings and the plush amount of green was really nice.

When we walked in, almost everyone was playing company of heroes and a few people were watching football.

I was a little shocked to say the least. I had no idea RTS games had come so far. The reason I hated RTS games so much in the past was the 2-d graphic component of the game. I didn't really feel it was as engaging. But looking at COH, I was like WoW.

So I pestered Sanghari (WoW pal druid) and he let me do the tutorial for the game on his machine while I installed it on mine. It was pretty interesting. The only other RTS game I ever sat down to play before was Warcraft III.

I might have to try them out a bit more now.

Although I got Company of Heroes installed on my machine, we pretty much just played BF2142 for the rest of the day. Did you know that you can get a hazardous road kill award in the game if you kill 5 people with your vehicle?? heh. It only awards you 5 points but still, a pretty interesting award to have on your record. Sadin got one last night. It cost Felix and I a death too because we were holding back to wait for him to run some dude over and got fragged in the process.

So we joined some ranked server and were playing against some pretty bad ass groups of people. At first, they were completely pwning us into oblivion. One of our greatest weaknesses is heavy vehicle maps. We've learned how to handle mechs but tanks just destroy us. The only way we every stand a chance against them is by flanking to their back, EMPing and rocketing. But that's not as easy as it may sound.

Anyhow, after two maps of being pwned, we finally got our shit together and came through. But let me tell you, nothing beats being creamed by some guy named PooPoo.

For dinner, Telson (the host of the LAN party) got some hamburger and hotdogs grilled up. There was even a cake that had writing on it. I can't remember what it said but something like "Let the beat down begin"...It was a good cake. yummm..

Over all, it was a nice LAN party because we got to meet a lot of people from JAE (WoW). And it's nice to hang with people who share your same interests. I was little dissapointed we couldn't get an 8 v 8 going but perhaps we'll form a team in the future and join a ladder.

Impossible is nothing. LMAO. (google it if you don't get it).

Today has been a complete lazy day. I got my over-sized hoodie on and my Born to Frag cap on and dug into the couch to watch both the Texans and the Cowboys get pwned in the 4th quarter. :P

Thought maybe now I'd either work on the podcast, take a nap, or manage my mailbox in WoW. I'm positive I have lost over half my mail inventory.

Time to capitolize on all that rested XP.. AWW YEAH!

hmmmm..actually the nap is sounding good right now.

got to rest my mouse hand. ;D

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Lan Party: Day 1, Part 2

Okay. Day 1 was bizzare to say the least. Or maybe I just need to get out of the house more often. We arrive in New Braunfels (felix, taint, sadin, and I) around 8ish. We're following the driving directions and curving around this gravel road. I see this lit house in the distance and I'm like, "That must be it". As we approach the house we don't see any cars so we're thinking that this can't be it. As we get closer to where the road takes a sharp left, the head lights of the car shine on about 20 little goats everwhere! All over the road. They are around the house and at the end of the road. And I'm visualizing to myself of this wicked gaming witch who turns gamers into goats. :D

We drive past the goats and see another house. This time, there are a lot of cars. This is it.

We set up our system. The living room of the house we're in is gigantic. I'm looking infront of me and there's a fish tank, a double decker cage with a cat and dog in it. To my left is a boa constrictor. Some tells me not to try to pet the cat cuz it will go psycho on you. The cat was cool though because it was short haired and all white. I have an all black cat.

When I first got into the house, there was a ton of people. I probably came off as a stuck up bitch cuz I'm too shy to introduce myself to people. I did see a couple of familiar faces from WoW so that was comforting. I was happy to see other girls there...at least 4-5. But then none of them played. Instead, they all gathered in front of the television and watched porn. I shit you not!! There was porn in the background while we were playin BF2142. I thought maybe it was some war diversionary tactic.

So we load up the game, joined the local server. All the practice helped. JAE represented!! I think we came a little too prepared was the problem. The other team didn't really have too much of a chance. We ended up having to join up on a real non-local server. I think the whole thing would have been better had we just bought BF2142 that night. I can see how it would be a dissadvantage for people who just picked up the game. I know I would have been a little dissoriented. So I guess if we switch games, things will even out more. Still, I was impressed that his internet connection was able to support like 15+ people piping through to some 2142 server and a few people playing WoW.

Around 3am, I broke down and ate a Krispy Kreme donut from the kitchen. We left the house around 3:30-4am. I was dead tired because of staying up at work from the night before. As we were leaving, we almost ran over two minature horses walking across the road.

Then I watched Spirited Away until I fell asleep..probably around 5am.

Over all, a very surreal experience. Day 2 should be interesting.

Friday, November 03, 2006

LAN Party: Day1, Part1

wow. i'm really tired. running on 'E' now.
not sure how i'm going to stay awake tonight at the LAN party. Hopefully the other 19 screaming people will keep me up.

also a couple of pills of speed ought to help too. lol.
j/k. Kids, Don't Do Drugs! Do WoW instead.

To Do Checklist for tonight
1. Clip fingernails
2. Chug down diet coke
3. Pocket a couple of poptarts
4 Change into my JAE t-shirt

Sexy American Bitch



Scott Valencia
Executive Vice President
Games Media Properties

aka. horde shaman punk

They are EVERYWHERE!

Too Much RL

It's 2am. At work still. I missed BF2142 practice tonight. The LAN party is tomorrow...actually tonight.

RL timing always sucks. I really need to stop doing real world architecture and whore myself out to a Second Life Architectural Consulting Company. I know I'd be a lot happier. They could pay me scraps and I'd still be better off.

Anyhow, I better get back to the grind (not XP grind). Turning up my Manson now...time to jamm!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

I <3 my Viewsonic VX922

ViewSonic: Products: Desktop Displays: LCD Displays: X Series: VX922

woo! woo! My new gaming monitor came in today! I'm so excited. Kind of hurts my eyes to look at it. heh. The clarity and response time is supurb. It's the most highly recommended monitor to date among the gaming community.

I finally decided to move to the LCD. I was holding onto the old CRT monitor for the resolution. However, I think LCDs are making progress.

In any case, this is going to be a whole lot easier to carry to the LAN party this weekend than my big clunky CRT.

XX vs XY

I don't like to mention my sex much. Yes, I'm a girl.
But you'll never here me refer to myself as a GIRL gamer. Just gamer.

But I must admit that there is a divide between the sexes that crosses over from RL to the gaming world. Why men automatically think they're going to be better than a girl at a video game is something I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Okay, I'll allow debates about physical differences between the male and female body type. But seriously, a video game is just about controlling your VR avatar with a keyboard and mouse. And I don't know about you, but I've wooped some dudes in thumb wars. LOL.

But I shit you not, men get so frustrated when a "girl" kicks their ass in an FPS. Also, I find that they tend to target me first either thinking I'll be easier or out of frustration. I DON'T KNOW. but sometimes, being a gamer, it sucks having the extra X chromo instead of the Y.

I'm going to this huge LAN party this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also nervous about diving into a sausage fest. I imagine the place will be disgusting by Saturday night. Also nervous about how people will recieve me. I hope they shrug me off. I'm very used to hanging out with men, but men are NOT used to hanging with me.

They see a girl in the room and they are like, "AH man, who brought the girl?? Man, now we can't cuss and be crude, fart, burp, and do MAN-things!"

lol. I get where they are coming from. I do. And usually once guys hang out with me for awhile, they drop the polite act and start being themselves. And that's when it's more fun.

Do you think I should disguise myself for the LAN party? Put my hair in a beanie cap, wear baggy sweaters and sweat pants? And greet everybody with a hefty "SUP, MAN!"

heheh.

XY XX XY XX

Monday, October 30, 2006

Spooky Time



Happy Halloween! This is by far my favorite holiday of the year. Candy Candy galore and people don't look at you funny when you're stuffing your face full of it!

I also love the spooky factor.

Anyhow, if you haven't checked out The War of the Murlocs by Taverncast I suggest you go do it right away. I was so glad to see them re-release the episode this year so that more people could enjoy it. It's a bloody good show, entertaining as hell. Better than cable television! And you get to hear Starman from World of Warcast get murdered by a murloc. How cool is that?! heheh.

Listen here http://futurenet.vo.llnwd.net/o2/taverncast/taverncast-war-of-the-murlocs.mp3

Life as a Gamer

Life as a gamer is tougher than it sounds. For most people who hear that you're a gamer, they think, "how nice, you sit around playing games all day having fun"

Part of being a gamer is having that bit of masochism in your blood stream. That part of you that will play BEYOND fun and on into necessity. Half of playing is play. The other half is to be damn good at it. If you're only going to half-ass play something, that's one thing. But if you're going to really invest your life and time into it...that's being a gamer...

From my own experiences and my own observations of fellow gamers, it's like coming home to a second job. The fun part is playing, the hard part is playing until you've reached the apex of your skill level.

It's weird. Some people will automatically assume we have a commonality because we play the same game. But even with playing the same game, there are many different aspects of play that differerntiates us all. I often get pretty pissed when I realize I can't push a friend as far as I want to go. Everyone has their limitations, everyone has their standards for playing goals. Some people cap out earlier. That's when I realize that while we play the same game, we play nothing alike.

People always own this up to addiction and competitive nature. I'm pretty obsessive compulsive so this makes sense. Gaming for me is my life. It eats up approximately 30% of my total week. Sleeping takes up 30%. Another 30% is work. That leaves 10% of my week to doing misc things. ;)

Anyhow, that's a huge chunk of a working girl's life. And my commentary stems from the fact that I feel kind of alone being a gamer. People don't get you. People shun your lifestyle. My co-workers all mock me. And there are very few friends of mine who really get it.

They all want to know what propels me to keep gaming until my eyes burn and my back feels like it's crumbling and my left pinky is so strained it feels like it's going to fall off....... How is that fun?

I never know how to reply. The adrenaline of an FPS game is hard to describe to someone who has never played one before. Gunning down a choke point, getting air dropped, E M P nading that mech.... you just have to be there. You just have to be in the middle of the warzone to experience what it makes you feel like. It's like skating on the brink of a climax. :)

Then there's the autonomy of an MMO like WoW. You may be bound to your chair and staring at your monitor in one room for hours but I sware I have never felt more free in my life than while in a virtual world. And I also feel like the possibilities and opportunites and potential are boundless in an MMORPG. As more and more are being developed, I expect the experiences will only get richer.

So, people may not get me but I get IT. And it's an awesome lifetlye if you have the time and will power to afford it. Will I be a gamer for life? Not sure. I've been rather hooked since the dawn of HUGO (so old it's not even on the archive radar). And with game development only progressing, I have no doubt that whatever life brings me, I'll be gaming someway, somehow.

Gamer4Life. :D

Give me your Turtle mount, kay?

Shame on Blizzard, The Card Game Trinket Fiasco - Page 1 of 1 - Gameworld Network.

sooo...whose gonna fork over the 2100 so I can get a Turtle mount??

The way I see it, Blizzard is a model for a succesful gaming company. You don't gain profit or success without branding and appealing to hardcore fans. Just look at Macs. The formula is to take a corner of the market that has yet to be branded (multi-media) and find a way to brand it...then feed it like crack to the kids. Before macs, i-tunes, i-pods, there was NO such thing as paying for downloaded music. Now, they've made it COOL to pay for music, videos, etc... and it's been cash money from there!

watch out, it's only a matter of time before podcasts cost you .99cent. BLEH!!!!

So Blizzard has made in-game objects and going virtual "cool" to the masses. They don't promote gold farming BUT for 2100 bucks, you have a chance to buy yourself some funky in-game rewards...ie..turtle mount!!! DROOOOL. Succesful model of business is that all money flows to you. That's why Blizzard has been around for so long and will continue amazing success.

Now if I can just appeal to them to make an FPS MMORPG....I'd be set for life.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Starman and Alachia fool around in the DeepRun Tram

With news that the expansion has been postponed till January 2007, I think we're all going a little looney.

Instead of leveling or raiding nax, Starman and I decided to have a little bit of deeprun tram fun!! woo woo! ;)

heheh. I hooked up with Starman on his server and we decided to race through the deeprun tram from ironforge to stormwind.

I have always been told that this was a huge distance. Apparently, it is not. Along our race, there were many many parts that opened up into larger platforms. I noted that these would be great places to hold raves.

About midway through the tunnel, when it opens up to the aquarium, we had to stop and take note of a lot of cool shit we had never seen before. We found Nessy, a gnome diver, a siren, and a shark!!! Pretty awesome. I'd recommend making the run just to go check those mobs out.

Starman tried to attack Nessy who was an elite mob but she remained safe from his moonfire through the glass. :(

Afterwards, we harassed people as they came through the tram and then slaughtered a million rats.

Yes, we are going crazy with out BC!!!

hehehhe. And yes, that's T3 shit Starman has on. pwnage.




Thursday, October 26, 2006

Episode 19 Supplement

Episode 19 Node Supplements
Links to some of the significant nodes:

BlizzCon
Deadly Plague Hits Warcraft world
The Impact of Gold Farming
Opening of the Gates of Ahn' Qiraj

Be sure to send me a heads up or mail at wowcast@wowcast.net if you think I missed any!

Thanks!
Alachia

Blood Elf Males too G*y...?? WTF?

GayGamer.net: WoW Overwhelmed By Homophobes, Make Blood Elves Less "Feminine"!

Hmmm. There's nothing wrong or not sexy about a thin-set man. Japanese anime character models are all practically anorexic and yet they somehow manage to look very masculine. Perhaps the key is to have the character wield a sword ten times larger than they are. ;) "it's not how big you are, it's how big your sword is!"
cliche.

so, what do I have to do to get the Human female models to have a 18" waist? And what kind of petition do I have to sign to have the NE females have at least a C cup?? lol. Seriously, all of the male models in WoW look stupid. It was attempted to make them look masculine and strong but instead they all ended up a bit clunky and blocky. That's why most of the men I know who play WoW all play female characters.

So what does it say when the men who play WoW prefer to go transgender rather than play their own sex?? Why then is it a problem to have a more slender, thin-set character if the alternative is to play female characters anyhow? I didn't think men who play WoW would be that self-conscious about their own masculinity. It's not like playing an MMO has anything to do with your gender anyhow. It's one of the least gender-defined activities I have found.

How Alachia came to pass

Many people always ask me where the name Alachia comes from. It's from the Earthdawn RPG series.

I totally fell in love with her character the first time I read the story of Queen Alachia of Wyrm Wood who became the Queen of the Blood Elves after they self-inflicted themselves with the ritual of thorns to escape the horrors.

Here are some excerpts from the story. Full story can be found at the link.

THE ELVEN SCHISM
Some nations reject Thera outright. Queen Alachia of Wyrm Wood, High Queen of the Elves, despises the Therans for their use of slavery and for their political opposition to her rule. She commands that no elven nation, and no elf, follow the Theran ways of protection. She presents an alternative in which elf Elementalists will use wood magics to weave the living plants of a forest into a kaer. The Horrors, she believes, will be unable to pass through living wood.
Elven scholars outside Wyrm Wood, and it is said even some within, are aghast at the proposal. They believe that though the Theran method is not foolproof, it would provide more effective protection against the Horrors. These magicians and scholars doubt that any wooden kaer could possibly withstand the savage physical punishment the Horrors would inflict upon it.
Alachia, however, stands resolute. She vows that any elf who follows the Theran way will be forever separated from all of elven culture.
This threat, far from cowing the other elven nations, shatters the great cultural elven empire Alachia commanded, presumably forever.
Word comes first from the elves of the faraway Northern Kingdoms. As the elves most distant from the Court at Wyrm Wood, they feel the least amount of true loyalty to its ways. Though little is known of those Northern Kingdoms in Barsaive, their rejection of Alachia represents a severe blow to her power. Before she can react, Alachia receives word from other elven nations and city-states that they refuse to follow her. They wish the Court well, but they will not follow Alachia to what they believe to be certain death.
Queen Alachia, in the end, does not formally declare these nations separate. Their refusal has bereft the Elven Court of much of its power, making any such declaration an empty gesture. Instead Alachia chooses to wait until after the Scourge when her continued existence can prove her wisdom. At her command, the elves of Wyrm Wood begin the construction of the wooden kaer that will be their downfall.

BLOOD WOOD
In 1262 TH, the wooden kaer of the Elven Court begins to fail. The loss of protection is slow, but inexorable. Panic strikes within the kaer as the elves desperately seek alternative means of protection. They haven’t enough time to construct underground kaers, nor do they have sufficient reserves of Elemental Air or Earth. Desperation and depression set in as the Horrors begin to break through. The elves create roving militia squads to respond quickly to breaks in the kaer barriers, as Elementalists strive to repair the existing breaks and shore up other weakening sections.
Then the elves of the Wood make a startling and ultimately terrifying discovery. Of those Horrors that break through, those most intelligent, most devious, and most difficult to destroy all but ignore elves who are already mad or in extreme, constant pain. The advisors to Queen Alachia are quick to realize that these Horrors need to inflict madness and pain themselves in order to feed. Existing madness and pain are not enough for them. A horrible seed begins to grow in the heart of the Wyrm Wood, a plan for protection so terrible that its implementation will be as heinous as anything the Horrors themselves can inflict.
Finally, with the Horrors on the verge of complete penetration of the elven kaer, the elves enact their desperate plan. Elementalists perform a twisted blood ritual that forces a physical change upon the surviving elves of Wyrm Wood. Thorns begin to grow out of their skin, ripping and tearing, leaving them in constant, excruciating, overpowering pain. The initial Ritual of the Thorns kills many of the elves in Wyrm Wood, but those who survive learn to live with the pain and even draw upon it for strength. For the Horrors, nothing they want remains in Wyrm Wood. Some of the more bestial Horrors continue to attack and attempt to break through, but the more diabolical ones who feed on pain and suffering leave to find their nurture elsewhere. The elves of what has become the Blood Wood have found a way to survive, but at a terrible price.

IMAGE OF A BLOOD ELF AFTER THE RITUAL OF THORNS


Earthdawn: How it Came to Pass

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Down Rank Heals Nurfed!

In the great words of Homer Simpson, "DOH! it just gets worse and worse!"

Nurfing Down Ranking? Seriously, that was the most fun I had with my druid. Sure, I can see how down ranking can be abused. I mean, it's how they 4 man onyxia. But tell me out of all the people you've raided with, how many freaking learn2downrank? In my experience, not many. Hell, I never have seen it get abused at all. It made healing fun and a little bit interesting as a druid...which.. healing..sheesh....give us something! Being efficient was something that gave a lot of us an edge and made the class more compelling. It meant that druids that weren't necessarily resto could keep up and it make the dynamic between the main healer and support healers a little more dynamic. tshhh.. good thing i'm rolling a priest.

anyhow, healbots FTW!

WoW Forums -> Change to Coefficient Bonuses on Spells

In the Burning Crusade, we’ve decided to make a fundamental change to the way spells calculate the bonus they receive from +healing and +spell damage effects and items. This is because we have seen a growing trend in using “downranking” and large amounts of +healing items, which we feel negatively impacts game balance. Downranking involves high-level players using lower level spell ranks and +healing gear to conserve mana, but maintain a high rate of healing done. Through this method, it has become possible in the live game for healing characters to heal large amounts of damage indefinitely without running out of mana. To maintain progression of use through spell ranks, we are changing how lower ranked spells relate to characters of higher level.

Spells will now receive a smaller bonus from +healing and +spell damage based on a comparison of the level at which the spell was learned and the caster’s current level. Take the Priest spell Heal 2 as an example:

The spell is learned at level 22, and the base points for healing on the spell keep increasing until level 27. So, level 27 is considered the spell’s max level in our calculation.

This system gives an additional 6 levels of slack before applying any penalty to casting Heal 2; so, players up to level 33 can cast it with no penalty.

In this example, we will use level 34 (one level past the cast level of the spell) as a starting point.

The bonus from +healing is multiplied by this ratio:


((spell level)+6)/(player level)



That means the level 34 player only gets 97% of the normal bonus from +healing items when casting Heal 2. A level 60 player would only get 55% of the bonus, while a level 70 would get 47%.

The exact same system will also apply to damage spells. However, as healing classes tend to use downranking more often than others, healers are likely to see more effect from this change than other classes. As a general rule, players will be able to use the top 2 or 3 ranks of each spell before receiving any penalty. All of the existing ratios for the +healing and +spell damage bonuses on spells are also still in effect; so spells with a short casting time will continue to receive a smaller bonus than spells with a longer casting time. Spells learned below level 20 will still receive substantially smaller bonuses.

WoW BC Postponed

Thank you Kaz for linking the post. BF2142 it is then! lol. nah, actually that means I can get a preist AND pally ready for BC. lmao.

did you guys just hear that noise? That's the sound of seven million people grunting.

WoW Forums -> Media Alert: Please Read: "IRVINE, Calif. -- Blizzard Entertainment� today announced that the release date for World of Warcraft�: The Burning Crusade™, the highly anticipated expansion for World of Warcraft, will be in January 2007. By adding a few extra weeks to the development cycle beyond its original target date, Blizzard will be able to extend the closed beta test and further refine the new content that will ship with the game.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm surrounding World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and we’re excited about putting the finishing touches on all of the new content,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve.”

Blizzard began the closed-beta phase of testing on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade earlier this month. The January 2007 release window will allow extra time for current beta testers to participate in the final stages of development and continue providing valuable feedback.

Further information on specific worldwide release dates, pricing, and other details will be announced in the near future."

Monday, October 23, 2006

BF2142: Rank up vs XP

Man, you totally forget how much faster time goes when you play an FPS game. It's like 4 hours goes by in 4 minutes. Complete adrenaline rush. That's probably why I've been completely praying to the gods every day about Huxley. FPS MMORPG. I literally cried from hysteria when I saw the trailer to it. But then again, that game might be the death of me.

Anyhow, Battlefield 2142 is pretty good. I must say it's quite weird seeing skyscrapers in my fps games. Not used to that. I even successfully flew the choppers around. They have made manning vehicles a lot easier in this version. I'm the engineer of our squad, still trying to learn all the maps. Going from MMORPG to FPS will throw your brain for a loop the first couple times around. "frost bolt! no wait. reload! no wait. cover me!"
Also, WoW throws off your strafe buttons. I still need more practice though. Going to a lan party in November. JAE has to bring it!

Blizzard is toying with me

just got a call.

It's been my third Unofficial, Unconfirmed leak that WoW BC is going to postponed till 2007. Has anyone else heard anything about this? I heard they will release news to Europe next week about this and then the US the following week.

"don't break my heart, my achy breaky heart, i just don't think it'd understand!"

lol.

Good news is that the death march is off if this is confirmed. We have at least another month to level.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

So we were in the Yeti Cave in Southshore....

Just when we were reminising over the old days of Tauren Mill Open World PvP....

SOoooo.. I wonder how many great WoW war stories start out with "we were in the yeti cave in southshore...when..."

lol. SO, we were in the yeti cave in southshore and a little gankage started right outside the cave. they ganked us, we ganked back. then they brought in 4 level 60s and decided they would camp our level 30 bodies. so we logged out. as soon as we did, the other people in the guild were like "horde problems?" ..and I was like "they want to camp our bodies, we'll give them a fucking camp fire"

heh. and so we got our 60s to southshore and started ganking back. the next thing we know, they are falling back to tauren mill. as we arrive there, we see 3 more level 60 horde flying in. they make a push forward and then we push them back in. then the guards come out and push us back. the next thing we know, three more alliance show up on our side and several more show up on the horde side.

30 minutes later and it's a full out war on Tauren Mill and we've lost at least one hour of our leveling time. :D You can literally go back and forth between Tauren Mill and Southshore for hours.

RAWRRR! Got Flint and Tinder?

Alachia is the Devil

I love the subtle references to Diablo in this game. I keep expecting for there to be an elite quest to form the horadic staff. :D

Death March

Grind Grind Grind. Quest Quest Quest.
That's pretty much what I did all of yesterday on my priest. We breaked once for lunch for sandwiches (ham, mustard no mayo) and once for dinner, chinese take-out (beef w/ broc).

We covered Deadmines, Redridge Lakeshire, Duskwood, and the Wetlands. Level 28 and 32 more to go. Our party make up is:
Taint: Human Priest
Alachia: Human Priest
Sadin: Human Warrior
Felix: Human Warrior (but is going to switch over to his warlock when we hit 30)

Today we cover Stockades, Gnomer, and DUN DUN DUN STRANGLETHORN VALE! I foresee is being slowed down quite a bit in STV due to gankfesting. (it's a good thing I have 10 copies of every page in the STV chapter quest) Free 3k XP. :D

I'm mostly looking forward to my mount. Walking is SOOOO over-rated! lol. And you better believe I'm getting the black stallion this time around!

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Deadmines x 10

"ZOMG! Stick a fork in me!"

was the last thing I typed to Taint on our 4 hour XP farm session in the Deadmines trying to catch up my level 15 priest to their 20 characters. I thought if I saw another fucking smelting pant, emberstone staff, cruel barb, cookie's wand, I would fucking puke my guts out.

I have no idea what the official count was as to the number of times we ran it...but by the time I hit 20, i wanted to set the entire mines on fire.

LOL. now I have to back in there with our four man party and actually do the real quest line. ZOMG!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Do you have to be fair?

If only it were possible to make everyone happy in the game, all the time.

At my job, I have to make a lot of decisions that effect the people around me. Asking someone to come in on a Saturday will most definitely not make them happy. Of course, having your entire team screamed at for missing a deadline and causing the project to go over budget, not so good. But you have to make the call one way or another.

I've found the same dilemmas in being a guild lead. And you learn over time, that as much as you want to make some people happy, you have to think of "over all" guild satisfaction and not "that dude who was super nice to you" or "that one person who power leveled you through mauradon", etc.

so last night. the tome of polymorph turtle dropped again. (why we are still running ZG, i don't know).
All of the mages in the raid has gotten it.

One of the old mages from cykos comes on our raids even though he is not in our guild at the moment. But he
always comes to our raids as his warrior.

When the book fell, he askd if he could have it.

Dilemma 1: He was one of my best mages in cykos. He's a nice guy. He once gave me the Ace of Elementals without blinking an eye and returned all my attempts at sending him gold for it.

Dilemma 2: He's not the only one in that raid with an alt mage that would like that book.

Dilemma 3: A lot of people in the raid could use the money from the sell of the book. Most of JAE are pretty poor in-game.

Dilemma 4: It's not easy for mages to find a ZG group willing to run Fish Boss just so they can get the book. So is it better to bank the books and save them for everyone's alts?

Dilemma 5: We could raid roll the book and whoever won the roll would get to do whatever they wanted with the book. But again, it would be basically giving one person close to 800-1000 gold. Sure to make some people annoyed.

The final resolution was to sell the book for profit and split the proceeds among those present during the fight.

I felt bad. It was a hard decision to make. And I apologized that I wasn't able to just give his alt the book. I'm sure he was still pretty dissapointed.

It sucks you can't make everyone happy. It's all virtual but the feelings are real.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

This American Life

WoW. So Hot Toddy compared WoWcast to This American Life.
At first I was like..hmmm. NPR? I must be getting beyond boring. But I'm not one to blindly judge. So I subscribed to the podcast myself. Very interesting. It's a great podcast all about American Society and Culture.

From WBEZ in Chicago | This American Life

I've never heard anything like it. The reality of our society is so fucking fascinating sometimes...by watching MTV or VH1, you wouldn't know how interesting we all are.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Trick or Treat!

Yeah! Halloween is here again. SO far I've only gotten this cool undead mask. I really want the Tauren mask.

WoW BC, get it while its hot

Went to Best Buy on the way home from work today. They are completely out of B2142. They're not getting any in until Saturday. WTF? If B2142 already sold out on the release date, can you imagine what release date for WoW BC is going to be like?! HOLY BOLOGNA!

So I drove straight to Game Stop and pre-ordered 3 copies of WoW BC right after that.

SAFE!

Get a Life

So on my way to lunch today I saw this awesome bumper sticker:


get a life?
I'm a gamer.
I have LOTS of LIVES!!

I was laughing my ass off. I must get that bumper sticker!

Mechanical Animals

I haven't reserved my copy of World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Expansion yet. I feel like I'm playing with fire. A part of me thinks that it'll be fun to the first one in line the day of release and fight it out for a copy with the rest of the WoW junkies in Austin. Another part of me thinks there won't be a single copy left after all the games get reserved. I wonder how many people will show up to Fry's or Best Buy or Gamestop that day. I should bring my camera.

I can just see everyone now in the line outside waiting for the store to open: "what server do you play on?" "oh yeah, what's the 2 piece bonus on that set?" "and then his frost bolt crit me for like 3k damage!"

lol. should be fun. I wonder how many of us are going to be "sick" from work that day. :D

I DON'T LIKE THE DRUGS, BUT THE DRUGS LIKE ME!

Edit 2:32PM: So I really was getting worried so I sent an email out to Taint, Sadin, and Felix.

On 10/18/06, **** wrote:
So. The Collector's Edition has already sold out.
I'm a little worried about getting the game when the expansion comes out.
Don't you think we should reserve a copy at Game Stop or something? It would really suck to have to wait 1-5 days to get it while everyone else is playing it.
There is a Game Stop on Brodie I think.

Taint's response: yeah we should do it this weekend.

So as long as the game pre-sell doesn't suddenly vanish by this weekend, I think we'll be safe.
Ashame it's not coming out till at least the 28th now. The 22nd would have been perfect! Thanksgiving weekend, can you imagine? Why we have to go out and do it togehter, I don't know. I guess it's just more exciting that way. Geeks-R-us :D

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