Been a away a while....

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't posted in nearly three weeks. In my own life I was busy working and had little time to play WoW, so I didn't have many fun/interesting experiences to share. We haven't progressed far in raiding, but some things have happened, so I'll have content for a while. I'll probably start posting again on a regular basis on Monday. However, I may not be posting a screenshot and a post everyday. I may alternate or something. Who knows?

War Sorceror

Or, as a friend likes to call it, the Warceror. I took the basic premise from the War Mage (Complete Arcane) but I felt that that class wasn't really strong/focused enough- all it did was give the caster more armor, but fewer spell options.

The Warceror also has fewer spell options (a lot fewer in fact (but more can be added at the DM's discretion)) but they are focused and the class abilties help him too. He does increased damage with his spells as he levels, and if he gets bad luck (25% damage or less) he gets a free spell- and it doesn't count against his daily limits. In theory, if you have a chain of "terrible luck" as in- you get 1/4 damage or worse for 10+ attacks in a row... well, then you might be able to get some nice damage out.

Plus, if you get lucky, you might get Empowered Spell Casting during your streak of bad luck and get crits. Just like Hot Streak crits! Woohoo!

Anyways, without further ado The Warceror.

Ghost Striker

Another D&D class. This one was based slightly off many of the sneaky/assassiny classes. It has touches of Rogue, Assassin, Ninja and a few others. I originally was going to go with Ghost Crawler, but looking at his abilities, he had to many "stikes"

So, he sneaks around, and then either roflstomps them, or slays them. Again, I haven't had time to playtest these classes.

You can click on the link to see the detail. If you're interested in more, the next few days should have me posting the other one that I've completed so far. It is a caster and imho, it is really bad. This is why I'm not showing it to you.

Swordmaster

Another D&D class. This one came from the Holy Weapon ability that clerics get- but made awesomer. It also has that deep specialization feel. I made it so that the player could choose one of two distinct tracks and then switch if they wanted to- similar to WoW.

Anyways, the idea of the Swordmaster is to drag a bunch of swords around with you and use them to get in extra attacks, to attack enemies it would be dangerous to get near, and to increase your defenses.

So, without further ado- the Swordmaster.

You can click on the link to see the detail. If you're interested in more, the next few days should have me posting the other two that I've completed so far. One is a caster and the other is a melee DPS.

Juggernaut

So, I'm really stretching things here. Anyways, the past few weeks, I've had some spare time and I've thrown together a few new classes for D&D. I can't quite figure out how to easily post them up here so I've taken screenshots and you can look at them yourself and evaluate.

The first class is the Juggernaut. The point of the class is to charge around, knocking enemies over or just shoving them back. It is extremely durable and because of the sheer amount of ability in Overrun, Bull Rush or Grapple, it can be effective at CC.

You can click on the link to see the detail. If you're interested in more, the next few days should have me posting the other two that I've completed so far. One is a caster and the other is a melee DPS.

All about Al!

I just wanted to throw out some more shots of Al- cuz I like that. Yay for pictures!

Sometime in the nebulous future, I'll share more of Al's favorite costumes

James Cameron Plays WoW

Disclaimer: I don't know if this is true or not. Just coming up with conclusions out of the blue.

Disclaimer (pt 2): I don't care about your opinions about Avatar. It may be the best movie ever made. It may be the worst movie ever made. What I care about is WoW (thus the blog).

Anyways- to begin the parallels...

Look at the Na'vi. Look at the Draenei. Look at the Na'vi. Look at the Draenei. Now look at them together. Blue-skinned, tailed folk, who are significantly taller than humans. Check!

Look at the Na'vi's religion. Look at the Night Elves' religion. Now look at them together. They both worship and revere life. They both have world trees and their trees are destroyed The Home Tree as well as Teldrassil, Nordrassil and Vordrassil. They even worship god's with similar names. Look at Eywa compare to Elune. Both also have a high degree of ridiculous glowy things.

Now, consider the beats in Avatar. The first that they run into- charging beast think- kinda reminds you of a shoveltusk, right? Then the next one- the cat-thing. Looks remarkably like a saber-cat mount from the Night Elves. Then consider the riding mount he first comes across- Its a talbuk- with 6 legs. Then consider their flying mounts- especially The Last Shadow (or whatever it was). Look at the wings and the colors, then look at the wings and colors of the common dragonmoth in the Blood Elf starter area.

Now- think back to Ashenvale. Remember the Horde tree-cutting vehicles? Now consider the human's tree cutting vehicles. They have many similarities.

Yes. Avatar is WoW. Pandora is Azeroth. One has magic and the other has machine guns.

Oddities in Space

This piece was originally titled that, and it made sense then, but now it is a very different piece and nowhere near as odd. I wrote this for my Speculative Fiction class.

Murtle was wearing his dress uniform, a crisp blue suit with white piping along the seams. He had a battle-ax slung across his back and a pistol by his side. He heard the airlock connect with the other vessel and a recorded message announced that it was equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere. He sighed and waited a few minutes while the machine ran its tests. When the door finally creaked open he stepped forward and stood at attention. His display was greeted by a robot.

The Advent of Alien Contact

This is a fairly long piece so I'm trying a new trick using jumps. I'm not sure how well it will work. I wrote this for my Aliens: Close Encounters of the Multidisciplinary Kind class this past semester.

Every year there are hundreds of sightings of Aliens or UFOs in America alone. Many people also claim to have been abducted by these extraterrestrials. Many scientists and researchers have looked into the reports, primarily to determine how accurate and likely they were. However, some researchers looked for an explanation as to why people would create these unlikely scenarios. Such research will be examined as well as several more speculative elements. Science fiction authors have been creating fictional first contact scenarios for several decades. Researchers at SETI and other institutions have considered the real variables and have come across some information that is not often used in first contact scenarios. Following the examination of the fictional first contact stories, various more realistic first contact scenarios will be explored, using information from SETI. Finally, the visual portrayal of alien life forms will be extracted from movies, television and video games, and analyzed. Using the common perceptions, knowledge of evolution and speculation from SETI a description of various extraterrestrial races will be extracted.

Nurk

I just spent three hours running around in the woods in the dark hitting people (and trees) with swords, confusing trees with people, confusing people with trees, and running into everything. So I feel like that guy looks.

April Round Up

April was a good month. I got a bunch of t10 and my guild made some progress into ICC.

I've commented on raiding, loot, comfort zones and wiping.

I finished up the WoW in Real Life series, but barely managed to get anything of the Low Leveling guides worked on.

I even brought in my real life in a couple places- with Financial Aid and Elder Gods.

Finally, rather than giving this its own separate post, I've hit 200 individual viewers. I'm not sure how many of you are regulars, but I'm glad you've come around at least once.

A Song

Today I was running H-Halls of Stone and when we got the Tribunal fight, I composed a wonderful song. (Sung to the tune of Imperial March (yeah- try to figure that one out)).

Anyways, here goes nothing:

I hate this boss fight.

Lalala

I hate this stupid boss fight.

Lalala

This fight is really long.

I hate this stupid boss fight.

Lalala

Its four freaking minutes long.

I hate this boss fight.

Lalala

I go OOM all the time.

I hate this stupid boss fight.

Lalala

Everyone gets aggro.

I hate this boss fight.

Lalala

I hate this stupid boss fight.

Lalala

And this is my song.

It is a really wonderful piece- I think it shows that beneath our civilized exterior there is a crazed insomniac waiting for you to fall asleep.

You should try singing this sometime.

WoW in Real Life: Compilation

I've finally finished all the WoW in Real Life pieces- at least the first round. When the next expac comes around, I may have had enough experience to fill out this list better- but who knows. Anyways, they are as follows, in alphabetic (and chronological) order.

WoW in Real Life: Death Knights

WoW in Real Life: Druids

WoW in Real Life: Hunters

WoW in Real Life: Mages

WoW in Real Life: Paladins

WoW in Real Life: Priests

WoW in Real Life: Rogues

WoW in Real Life: Shamans

WoW in Real Life: Warlocks

WoW in Real Life: Warriors

WoW in Real Life: Warriors

Ok, so I have never leveled a warrior past 12, so I don't know the vast majority of warrior abilities. Anyhow, this is my best guess at what cool abilities warriors have that one might want in real life and can't get from training. Because, really, a person could train themselves so that they could duel-wield two-handed weapons and even bladestorm with them- which would be absolutely broken.

First up I would pick the buff shouts. Just by yelling you can make yourself (and your nearby friends) stronger and increase their stamina. Just get kinda angry, shout, and turn into the hulk.

Next up is hamstring. Now, you can argue that you can hamstring someone in real life, but this only lasts for fifteen seconds. If someone is really hamstringed, well then they'll have trouble walking for a VERY long time. This can just inflict a serious wound on someone without leaving permanent damage.

Finally we have heroic leap. It isn't in any spell books yet, but it seems pretty epic. You can jump something to the order of 20 yards from a standing start and end by creating a shockwave on landing. It would be first except for the fact that it doesn't exist yet.

WoW in Real Life: Warlocks

I've been a long time in doing this, so I might as well get back on track.

So- Warlocks have a large number of utility spells that are mighty interesting.

Leading by at least a dozen miles is Metamorphosis. You become a demon. With that ability come the abilities to radiate fire, get hit by a truck and not feel it, and cleave your opponents in twain. Plus, you have wings and you're a demon!

Next we have Ritual of Summoning. Who needs cars? Once you have three friends over at your place, you can summon anyone you want in the entire world just by 'targeting' them in your mind.

Then there are all the demons that warlocks can summon. Yeah- thats a lot of demons. Sadly, Warlocks can't control them all at the same time (it would be really cool if they did, except they were all ridiculously weakened so they would not be effective at all). You have all sorts of various capabilities, you have ranged damage, a tank, a CC'er, a anti-magic one and a melee dps. The last two are not permanent pets, but rather need to be enslaved.

Finally we have the Warlocks teleportation capabilities. You can go back up to forty yards away. This means that you can jump off a hundred foot building and just teleport back before you hit the ground.

The Celestial Pony!

So- the big deal in WoW is the Celestial Steed.

There is a lot of good in this mount.

It is a BoA that gets sent to all of your characters. Past, present and future.

It scales with your riding ability. This means that your lv 20 will be able to ride this at a 60% movement increase and your loaded lv 80 with epic flying and a 310% flying proto-drake will be able to walk the skies at 310%.

The only downside is that it costs $25. Now- Lil KT and the Pandaren Monk each cost $10 with $5 of the monk going to charity (for the first few months it was on sale). The new Lil XT also costs $10. The Gryphon and Wyvern pets each cost $25 but in addition to getting a pet in game, you get a high-quality medium sized plushie in real life.

The big argument is about whether or not it is 'fair' for Blizzard to offer this mount to us. The pets have absolutely no in game benefit- except for being part of some regular achievements.

However, if you buy the Celestial Steed, you will never have to buy a mount again. You save 1g at 20, 50g at 40, 100g at 60 and the pain and effort of getting an epic mount. If you DO want to get to 310% you will have to grind one out, get lucky or perhaps wait until Cataclysm as it has been reported that all epic flying mounts may be bumped to 310%- it may also be that if you have a 310% then the rest will be bumped appropriately.

Life Forms of 61 Vir D

61 Vir D is a real planet. This piece was a class assignment. We were to select an extra-solar planet, and then, using the minimal data we had, invent the life forms that live on that planet.

TL;DWR*? Aliens. In space. Fictional tho.

The planet known as 61 Vir D is the third planet in the of the system classified as 61 Virginis. There are two other planets in the system, 61 Vir B and 61 Vir C. 61 Vir B has a mass of five times that of the planet Sol D (colloquially: Earth) and is located at a distance of approximately .05 AU away from the sun. 61 Vir C is slightly more than three times the mass of 61 Vir B coming in at a mass of eighteen times that of Earth. It is four times the distance away from the sun as 61 Vir B, and is at a distance of .21 AU. The third planet, 61 Vir D has been classified as a Super-Earth. 61 Vir D has a mass of nearly twenty-three times that of Earth and it is located just outside the Habitable Zone. The sun of the zone is slightly smaller than Sol (the Earth sun) and therefore the planet is within a modified habitable zone line.

Planet 61 Vir D, to be known colloquially as Vurd, has collected several moons, ranging in size. As of the current research, no signs of life have been found on any of the moons, identified as 61 Vir D I, II, III and IV. The planet itself has a one-hundred twenty-three (Earth)day long orbital period and a rotational period of thirty-nine hours, leaving the planet with just seventy-five local days in a local year. Because of the nearness of the sun and the amount of time spent sun-ward each day, the planet has a constant rain cycle. There are few major oceans, but the smaller lakes can be extremely affected by fourteen hours in direct sunlight. Often, the lakes and ponds will shrink noticeably over the course of the day, only to be replenished by the nearly nightly rainfall. A portion of the problem comes from the somewhat thick atmosphere of the planet. Because of its immense size and mass, Vurd holds a thick atmosphere close to the surface. This leads to what has been called 'The Runaway Greenhouse Effect.' It when the heat of the sun begins to evaporate the lakes, it thickens the atmosphere, causing more evaporation and a thicker atmosphere. At the height of the days heat, midday, it is almost certainly fatal to go out into the open. However, when night comes around, the dark side of the planet has time to cool off and with the occurrence of precipitation, the atmosphere is thinner, ready to begin another day of evaporation and precipitation.

Vurd has both terrestrial and aquatic species. They have many fish-like animals in the oceans, but they are considerably larger than Earth fish. Because of the greater mass of Vurd, there is a significantly increased gravity, causing there to be more of a counter to it than on Earth. Therefore, aquatic creatures have massive swim bladders. The most fish like have the bladders inside them and appear to be merely larger versions of Earth fish. However, a strange species known as the Nulur have their sacks open directly into the ocean. They have a long, needle-shaped body with two large sacs to either side of their rear fin. The design of the bladders is very advantageous when try to escape a predator. There are no vital organs or major blood-paths in them so they act as a sort of cushion to any external blows, be they crushing or shredding. If they are punctured or if the Nulur notices it's predator, deflating them narrows the profile of the fish allowing to escape. It can now more easily propel itself forward and, without the swim bladders to lift it up, it begins to glide downwards. In addition to the Nulur there are many fish that use the naturally occurring drag caused by the water to keep themselves at their desired level. They have massively wide bodies, sometimes as large as twenty or thirty meters across, but no more than a few centimeters thick. The relatively low density compared to the surface area keeps them at one level for the majority of their lives. Smaller fish and some plants often find homes on their bodies as this means that they too will stay at one level and do not have to worry about getting to close to the surface and the dangers of the sun, nor too deep and closer to the larger aquatic beings. There are very few amphibians on Vurd because they would have to go across the surface on a regular basis and the heat of day could quickly dehydrate and kill them.

Despite the sun, there are still many terrestrial species that live on the land. The planet is formed of various tectonic plates so mountains and ridges have been formed. In some cases, rifts and canyons have been created, some only meters deep, others measuring kilometers. There are open plains, some with lakes and other bodies of water, but there are very few plants in these exposed areas, and those that are there are low and widespread so as to be able to soak as much water out of the dry ground as they can during the day. Some small animals, similar to Earth's lizards and moles burrow in the ground near the lakes. During the day, they stay within their shaded holes and at night they emerge to eat from the the plants and drink from the replenished waters. Over time, the construction of the burrows has become more advanced. Due to the large amounts of rain, the burrowing animals sometimes create two pairs of tunnels. One leads horizontally out, to there sleeping locations. The others are directed downward to create wells that can potentially last through the day.

In the mountains and on the ridges, there are more plants. Depending on geography, some of these plants grow to be much larger. Because they are in the shadow of the mountain or the ridge for a significant portion of the day, less water is evaporated so more water can be consumed. The animal life in these sections grow to be no larger than the largest Earth dogs. Because of the extra relief the shade of the mountain gives, they spend more of their time hunting and eating than the plains animals so they can afford to grow larger. When the sun does reach over the peak of the mountain, the vast majority retreat to caves. Smaller animals can hide within trees or in burrows. These animals, as well as the animals in the rifts and canyons would seem very odd to a visitor from Earth. They are proportionately wider and shorter than would be expected and many have exoskeletons. Their body proportions are strange because of the much greater gravity on Vurd than of Earth. Their proportions allow them to be many times more stable as does the exoskeleton. An additional benefit of the exoskeleton is that it can absorb and reflect some of the sunlight, allowing these animals more leeway in their hunting hours. The smaller animals are much more akin to standard expectations because of their lifestyle. Living near their food and water supply means that they do not often have to move, so they do not have to deal with the constant strain against gravity. Also, when they are being chased by larger animals, they have superior mobility and have a greater sprinting capability. However, they do not have the physical structure to be able to flee for a long period of time so they must find their destination.

Within the rifts and canyons, some of the most exciting life forms make their homes. These life forms are considerably more intelligent than the majority of the other species on Vurd. They would be akin to Earth's apes. In appearance they are generally short- a tall one being over a meter in height. They have powerful exoskeletons as well as endoskeletons. The exoskeleton is there for protection as well as for the improved support that it supplies its internal skeleton. An apt comparison would be a turtle, standing on its hind legs. However, these Jikta's have three pairs of legs, so that when they stand, their rear four are on the ground. In addition, instead of the flat foot that turtles have, its forward two pairs of appendages can either curl into fists with external armor for walking on, or extend into hands with four claws, one of them being an opposable thumb. The Jikta have begun to develop crude tools to aid in their lives. For the most part their tools are simply sharpened rocks for breaking the exoskeletons of other animals. The planet known as Vurd, or 61 Vir D has a wide variety of both aquatic and terrestrial animals and plants. Life on the planet manages to cling on despite the often lethal daylight hours and the constant cycle of evaporation and precipitation. Finally analysis is to consider 61 Vir D for continued study, but not as a potential colonization location.

*TL;DWR=Too Long; Don't Wanna Read?

200!

This is my 200th post. I would consider doing something special, but that may have to wait until I read the Paladin class changes list. Because of this landmark number of posts, I will be plugging this wherever I can and I will hope that I get many new readers.

If you ARE a new reader, first off, I apologize for the lack of sense many of my titles make (and some sentences).

Additionally, if you go to the directory, you should be able to find links to a couple sets of articles that you may or may not be interested in.

To be added to that collection in the near future are:

The 'WoW in Real Life' posts. A collection of posts looking at each class and naming some in game abilities that I would want in real life.

The 'Early Leveling Guide: The First 20 levels' this will be coming out slower and I will only write on those that I have leveled appropriately.

When Real Life Interferes

When you play WoW, you often hear the phrase, "Real Life is more important than WoW- go do [thing]." Real Life can be substituted with work, family, friends or other things that Real Life consists of.

However, this can sometimes be a problem. If you're raiding and your MT has to go afk for a RL emergency- it could be the end of your raiding that evening. If you have to leave often enough, you will lose your spot.

However, your commitment and promise does mean something even if it is in a game. If you join a PUG raid and say "I may have to leave at some point in the middle." or even if you join an unscheduled guild run, you can back out mid-way through if RL obligations come knocking.

However, I feel that if you sign up for a raid (or some other sort of event) you should go to that event even if there is a real life event- so long as that event is not critical. If you just started the run or even if you're fifteen minutes from raid time, if a friend asks if you want to go out to the movies- let them know about your current obligation. If you would really like to go, be honest with the group and find them a replacement before you leave.

If you just depart saying that you have to go, but don't bother finding a replacement, in a smaller guild the run could just end there. At your command.

So be nice and stay true to your commitments. But if you haven't committed to anything, go ahead with the real life.

WoW in Real Life: Shamans

Shamans have a bunch of cool casting abilities, but most of them are just throwing fire or earth or lightning or green-healy stuff at people. And that is all well and good, but nothing too spectacular.

First up we have Ghost Wolf. You turn into a wolf. And you're a ghost. A ghostly, ghastly, wondrous wolf. Incredibly awesome. And cool. And you're a wolf. Who people can't see. Cuz you're a ghost. And a wolf.

Second up have Feral Spirit. What's better than one ethereal wolf? Two ethereal wolves. However, you're not one of them in this case- they just follow you around. So it isn't quite as awesome.

Finally we have Thunderstorm. Not only do you rejuvenate your energy slightly, but you also push everything within 20 yards of you to twenty yards away. And you get hit by a bolt of lightning to prove that you are a BAMF.