Contest Winner and Technical Problems

I'm so sorry this announcement came late. I have an excuse, but first: The winner!

This took forever. You guys had such amazing suggestions and it took me quite a while to sort through. But, in the end, the winner was Bittersweet, suggested by commenter Grizadams.

So, Grizadams, if you wish to collect your prize, send me an e-mail at 4haelz AT gmail DOT com (remember to spell it h-a-e-l-z) and specify whether you want me to mail you the card (with a stamp and everything) or you want me to just scratch it off and type the code out for you!

Now, for the reason this is so late:

A week ago, in the middle of a raid, my WoW randomly dropped from ~20 fps to 4 fps, and never got higher than 12 fps again. After checking my firewalls, shutting down all auxiliary programs, running virus scans, finding out my WoW repair wouldn't even connect to the server, shutting off addons...well, nothing worked. I finally had to uninstall and reinstall WoW, and delete all my addons. I'm in the process of redoing my Healbot bindings through muscle memory, and it's just...such a pain.

So, yeah, that was what I was doing this weekend.

Congratulations to Grizadams! And thank you to everyone who participated.

Omigosh Contest Time!

Some of you may have not read/were too excited about his return to bother with such trivial details/etc., but I am BRK's personal assistant. What does this mean? Well, besides jokes about having finally tamed a druid, it means I do his grunt work.

At the moment there isn't much grunt work so I do as much as my salary; that is to say, nothing.

However, I'm needing some help on something of my own, and I have something to give you for it!

You see, not long before BRK told me in secret to start spreading rumors about his return, I was ordered to get on my hunter and fly out to Storm Peaks by the awesome Druid Sonicoom. Apparently, there was a Skoll! And I tamed him and I was so pleased (he will tell you that I was so over-excited I forgot to put down a Freezing Trap and that I nearly died and we had to play an aggro game but anyway).

Now, the problem is...what do I name it? And I had a thought...

I'll ask you guys. 'Cause you're super awesome and I have never done a contest before.

So here's the rules and information!

1) Leave a comment with your entry for Skoll's name
2) Only one suggestion per person.
3) It needs to follow a theme. My hunter's name is "Sugarcake" and all my pets are some sugary treat or addition.
4) I do not repeat pet names. My previous pets have been named: Sprinkles (wolf), Frosting (bear), Coconut (warpstalker), Blueberries (blue plainstrider), Strawberries (silithid), Mint (chimaera), Marmalade (moth), Zebracake (hyena), Licorice (JORMUNGAR), Tart (raptor), Gumdrop (crocolisk, named by BRK himself!).
5) Read the other comments before posting. Do not repeat a suggestion! Think of something else or be faster, sorry!

The person who gives me the name I like best (yeah, you can't really impartially judge this sort of thing) will win a Slashdance loot card! I can scratch it and give you the code or mail it, your preference.

Good luck, have fun, and wrack those noggins!

EDIT: Forgot to say - you have until Thursday at 11:59 PM EST! I'll announce my favorite, and the winner, Friday.

UPDATE: Commenting closed, and now I have the difficult job of choosing the winner. Answer will be up tonight!

Low Tech Raiding

This is the visual I used during hardmode Sindragosa to ensure I placed my beacon properly. Actually, it was originally just quickly scribbled in pencil 10 seconds before the first pull as the heal lead whispered me instructions, as everyone else had downed her before and I was the new kid, expected to kill someone with an ice block or do something else stupid.

For the record, we one shot her and I didn't die until the very end due to too many stacks (it was the last-few-HP-push and I was out of ice blocks to duck behind). Literally, I died then she died. /preen

So, what about you guys? What's your "low tech" raiding gear look like?

Art Break!

I've gotten three pretty big requests for stuff to cover on my blog. So while I work on them, I'll show you what I've been doing. It's all pretty simple and very small.



These are two Tree of Life symbol icons. I made them for my Twitter account, but they're free for anyone to use.



Ohgawdmyeyes. This was my first attempt at Druid-related pixel art and as you can see I am terrible. Don't try to argue.



As you can see, it eventually morphed into something a little better. Still not entirely happy with it, but I'll have to keep working on it. Again, free to use!

Have a great weekend!

Guest Post: ULTIMATE WARRIOR

Hey everyone, it's Bell here. This is a post written by one of my friends, who thinks he knows a thing or two about healers. Or, well, how you should heal him, I guess. So, enjoy! Remember, I'm always open for guest posters who want to flex their writing muscles.

Hi. I am a Fury Warrior, and I stand in things.

I stand in fire, I stand in void zones, I stand in poison, and I stand in pretty much every other thing I can possibly stand in.

I don’t do this because I hate you. I do this because I love RAGE. I do this because every little bit of red stuff counts towards me hitting that something just a bit harder. I do this because I love to see a full bar of anger under my portrait. I want to unleash every bit of that on that poor bosses face.

When you see me standing in that nasty cloud, it’s not because I’m not too bright (well, not completely). It’s not because I didn’t see it. I might say I turned my effects down, but I didn’t. I saw it. I ran to it. Oh yes, I ran right there. I’m there because I hate that guy we’re fighting, and I want him dead. I want to kill him dead faster, harder, and with more love, baby! And I’m gonna stand in that fire over there to do it.

Think of it as a spotlight. I’m in center stage and I am ready to rock.

So next time you see that Fury Warrior’s green bar drop, do him a favor. Don’t ignore him. Don’t scoff at him. Don’t turn your head and pretend like he “dropped too fast.” Throw him a heal. Give him that little bit of your mana bar, the part that says, “I love you and your ridiculous oversized weapons.”





DISCLAIMER: This article was written in satire. I don’t really stand in stuff. That’s just silly. But all the same, don’t forget to heal us, because sometimes we do die in fires, and that makes us sad.

Soundtrack for ICC Challenge

Who likes to listen to music while raiding? I do! Of course I have to keep my WMP set at a volume no higher than "7" so I can hear what people are saying in Vent, but I do still like to have that background noise.

My favorite, though, is when you find those songs that so perfectly match a boss you can't help but laugh and enjoy the kill that much more. Unfortunately, I haven't found the songs for all of the bosses. Just Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Gunship Battle, Rotface, Blood Queen, Dreamwalker and the Lich King. The other bosses? Well, that's where you come in.

What song do you think has the perfect lyrics, is just funny as all get out, or has epic timing for these bosses? Heck, if you have better ones than I picked for some bosses already, feel free to let me know about those, too! Every suggestion I get, I'll find a link to post under the boss, so we can make the ultimate Icecrown playlist.

Ready? Let's go!

(Songs may or may not be NSFW; use your best judgment)

Marrowgar



(Suggested by Pixelated Executioner via Twitter!)

Lady Deathwhisper



(Suggested by Pixelated Executioner via Twitter!)

Gunship Battle



(Suggested by Pixelated Executioner via Twitter!)


(Suggested by Fricassee in the comments!)


(Suggested by Rades in the comments!)

Deathbringer Saurfang

(Suggested by Krizzlybear via Twitter!)


(Suggested by Forreststump in the comments!)

Festergut

(Suggested by Krizzlybear via Twitter!)

Rotface


Professor Putricide

(Suggested by Forreststump in the comments!)

Blood Council

(Suggested by Forreststump in the comments!)

Blood Queen


Valithria Dreamwalker


"Sustain You" - Greenwheel
Video Unavailable
(Suggested by StoppableForce via IM!)

Sindragosa

(Suggested by Iliana via IM!)

Lich King

Bellbell Puts Her Hoof Down

Ooh, look what we can get next with your Triumph Emblems!

Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Bellwether. You see, there's this really awesome Libram-

Yeah, I know, it's great since you've been using Holy Light a lot more!

Yeah, it's great for...wait, what?

Libram of Veracity. Nice spellpower boost, huh?

That's not what I was talking about at all! I want the Strength one!

That's silly. Holy Paladins don't need Strength. Honestly, I don't know what you're thinking sometimes. Probably too many concussions ramming your head against instance portals.

Oh no. That's it. You are not having me buy this Libram. I relented on the Holy t8.5 helm because I'd just gotten a helm off of 3D Sarth. I relented on the holy cape because I already had an epic DPS one. I relented on the Spellpower ring even though I had a blue in my DPS set as well. But I am not letting you bully me into getting this ridiculous Libram over one that will give me over 400 AP at any given time. No.

But you're mainly a healer anyway so-

Of course I am! You don't give me upgrades for my DPS set! It's always Holy this and Holy that and wowzers would you look at this shiny Holy thinger we can strap to your thighs for bigger crits. NO. I'm getting the damn Strength Libram once I have enough Emblems and you're gonna have to deal with it.

Your DPS is terrible, though.

Gee, I wonder why. You spend an hour at the target dummy switching around Moonkin gear and gems to get 200 more DPS while I'm exiled to Dalaran's LFG so I can wave about a completely useless, decorative shield and mace in a manner conducive to closing wounds rather than making them. So unless you want me to start practicing on you, the next time I have 25 Emblems of Triumph I AM BUYING THE DAMN STRENGTH LIBRAM!

...Geez, fine, no need to get all touchy.

For Your Entertainment...

So, while I try to prepare for Anub'arak and the rigors of Hardmode 25 man Coliseum, I thought I'd share a little bit of my WoW life via pictures and probably not very witty captions.

You've been warned.


We're all assembled, and the call goes out. Deploy mini trees! Too bad they have no tactical advantage. Usually the lazy little buggers just go right to sleep.


If you've never seen a devilsaur swim, I recommend it. One of the most adorable animations in WoW. Lookit his little arms go!


Yes, in this picture, I am dead in fire. To be fair, the fire spawned on my corpse after I died. /grumble



It was the normal daily, we wanted to get badges and an achievement or two. No one could zone in, despite the instance being completely empty and being able to zone right into Nexus. Honestly...WTF, Blizz?


I logged in one day, with super lag and latency. I could barely move in Dalaran, and that never happens to me. But, I had an egg. After a full minute of waiting for the damnable egg to open, I received the best friend a druid can have (until they put in a green drake mount, of course).


I wonder where the other antler went.




And this is what happens every night I'm not doing a raid. Or I am trying to raid old content, but NO, that's not allowed.

/fume

Some Family Time

It was late at night, and my family and I were waiting for my grandparents to arrive from driving halfway across the country. My step brother was bored but didn't want to go to bed, and I was playing my hunter. He had a made an Undead Warrior with a broken jaw a year ago, and it was time to dust him off.

Yet, in the end, it was a half hour of learning to use the mouse. My little brother is not a big computer player. He likes console games and bike riding, and he gripped the mouse in what could only be called an awkward claw. I spent five minutes getting him to smooth out his grip time and time again so that he could move the mouse freely.

Most of the other time was teaching him to adjust the camera angle while running so he didn't keep running into objects and walls, and so he could see where he was going. In his over-excitement, I had to remind him to slow down, take his time, and readjust the camera angle until he could get used to the mouse buttons and what they did.

We had just gotten down "click right mouse button to interact with almost everything" and were going to start on keybinds when my grandparents finally arrived. His warrior immediately abandoned, I moved him to a safe spot to await the next time in the next year. It was a refreshing little break from split-second decisions and health bar watching, boss encounters and number crunching. It reduced the game to something infinitely more simple, and enjoyable in a different way.

Plus, it's fun to be able to play with one of my little brothers now and then without having to play a racing game.

If _____, You Would _____

I want to try something with this post to spur people into writing about something I've been thinking about lately. Basically, I am going to give you situational questions. Exercises, problem solving, etc. Your job is to either in the comments or on your blog (linking in the comments to the post would be wonderful) answer the questions to the best of your ability. Since they're "what would you do" questions, there's no right or wrong answer. I am simply curious.

Ready? Here we go!

1. You've just started a guild. You're guild leader, and you have a decent sized pool of regular players. It's time to create officer positions. You can have six officers. What jobs would you give them, and what character traits would you find most desirable for those officers? Keep in mind, you can have less than six officers, that is just the problem's max range.

2. You're in a raiding guild. You're not a "new" member (you've been around a few months) but you're definitely not one of the senior ranking members. However, you notice that there is a job that could be filled. None of the officers are taking it on, but the GM has stated that he does not want to promote any more. Would you offer to do the job without the officer title? If yes, how would you discuss it with your GM? Would you be hoping for eventual promotion or would you be fine without the title and promotion? If the GM decided to simply pass off the job to an officer and not you, would you be okay with this?

3. You are the GM of a relatively successful progression raiding guild. Within your guild, you have a large amount of couples. One of your tanks and one of your dps are a couple. They will not raid without each other; however one of them is exceptional at their job, and the other learns slowly and does poorly. This situation is slowing your guild down and a lot of adjustment needs to be made for the one who does not do as well. Though you have other people who can fill the job of the person falling behind and their partner, they are inconsistent in showing and for the moment, you need them. What do you do?

It's only three questions, but as you can see they're rather long, and could be complicated. If you feel like only answering one, that's quite fine and I understand. I'll be working on my own answers for these questions and will post them up during the week!

Good luck, have fun.

EDIT: Just a heads up, these aren't problems I'm actually tackling within my guild, they're just scenarios playing out in my head that I've been thinking about. I appreciate the encouragement, however!

Ding!

Some real life news /gasp

I just turned 21!

Your 4 Haelz will return after the weekend!

Obligatory Noblegarden Post Here

The holiday is here, there's no denying it. And, well, since I completed it on Bellwether the first day, and have almost completed it on two other characters, I believe I know a little about it. If you haven't started or are just getting started, here are some tips for you.

First off, understand that no egg belongs to you. Whether you're spawn camping or circuit running, nothing has your name on it. Coming to terms with this will make the holiday less stressful overall. You still have a week, so there's no point in becoming completely freaked out the first few days.

A handy tip for people missing their female orc: If you know a female human with the Orb of Deception, putting bunny ears on them while they're in disguise counts. Seriously.

If you're going to Un'Goro and you're on a PvP server, take friends. I'm not telling you whether to gank or not, that's your personal preference, but having the muscle to take out any would-be gankers is always preferred.

When you're not being smiled upon by the RNG gods and are having a low drop of special items, collect enough chocolates to buy everything you need before you go purchase. This will help keep your blood pressure down, so there are less chances of buying something, then having it drop.

If you're hated by the goblins, but are going Desolace - Silithus - Tanaris - Thousand Needles - Badlands, remember that the flight path outside of Gadgetzan is controlled by a non-goblin, so as long as you kill the few guards around it, you are still able to fly out of there and up to Theramore to take the boat.

Remember to relax and have some fun with it. It lasts a week, there are no pure RNG achievements, and all it will take is a little time.

My Brute

Well, I'm on leave back in the states, having all sorts of fun with the fiance, but I thought I'd share what I do in my spare time at work (seeing as most sites are blocked from the Navys browsable internet content anyway):

My Brute

It's fun! And you clicking that link and making a brute serves a dual purpose by making my brute stronger....STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! BWAHAHA!


....ahem.

-Sannhet

P.S. You should go to mine instead (Bellwether and Bellbellz). Sann only put this out because Bellwether's pupils kicked his brute's ass (but Sann still roflstomped Bells brute when she tried to stab him in the back).

P.P.S. Bell went so far as to REMOVE me from the blog for this transgression. FIGHT THE POWA!

3.1 Glitch Fun

Some things funny, some things disturbing, and many frustrating, but they're there. And did we really expect anything different? With new content patches with so many tweaks, it's pretty much guaranteed our servers and characters will be in turmoil for quite some time. So what's happened for me in this brave, new world? Well, besides instance freezing and crashes, there have been...

• Lifebloom fun! Though hotfixed now, if you clicked off Lifebloom, you were able to gain the heal and the mana bonus, without dispell or the timer ticking down. This is no longer the case, but it was certainly interesting while it lasted.
• Bellwether, for a time, was able to spec 72 talent points. I am, obviously, the uber Resto at a hidden level 81.
• My innervate glyph no longer seems to be functioning, though that may be an isolated problem with my character.
• Two of Bellbell's quests refuse to give her credit for kills or drop their items. These are The Purging of Scourgeholme and The Scourgestone. Both were partially complete before the patch came out, and now I am not getting any credit. The GM's, swamped as they are, were so very (not) helpful by sending me an e-mail suggesting I could be in a raid group. Seeing as how Bellbell is not 80 and her last raid was Onyxia, pre-server reset, and after leaving those two quests I was able to complete others without trying to leave a non-existant group, I am a little irritated by this explanation.
• Unable to see any standing Consecration animation.
• Interesting visual glitches! Take a look at what is hanging over Moroes's head, and what color those prissy Blood Elves are trying to turn the lava on the way to Molten Core.
  

What have you noticed?

Ninja versus Pirate versus...

While my server has been inundated with "ninjas," some legitimate, some not, it's gotten me thinking about labels. Why did people who take loot that doesn't belong to them come to be called "ninjas"?

When I think of Ninjas, I think of stealth. In, out, no one knows they're there until it's all over. If anything in WoW would be a ninja, it would be a successful steal of a raid ID. However, taking items when the entire raid/group is aware of it and can see it happening, is not stealthy or subtle. It's not really a ninja.

It's more like a pirate. A pirate's in it for the booty anyway, so their motivations are clear. However, pirates operate outside the law and are subject to punishment by it. So, that doesn't seem to really fit either, due to Blizzard deeming "ninja" type activities as outside the realm of punishment. So, perhaps, Privateer would be better. A fancy kind of pirate whose only real difference is their government sanction.

I suppose, in the end, though...they're all just names for "jerk."

A Weekend of Achievements

This weekend was a roller coaster of awesome and not-so-awesome, highs and lows. Luckily, it ended at a high point and only started at a low point.

The problems included being locked for heroic groups that bugged out (Skadi despawning at about 20% health for no reason) or replaced me with their "original healer" who was camping the instance anyway, or a very rude mage telling me I was a horrible healer because I didn't heal him for 30 seconds while dodging around the center to avoid Loken's AoE thing. His guildmates apologized for him, but never going to run anything with him again, that's for sure.

But, the awesome part...

Achievement Extravaganza!

This weekend I received:
On the Rocks, Split Personality, Chaos Theory, Share the Love, Abuse the Ooze, What the Eck?, Lodi Dodi We Loves the Skadi, Heroic: The Oculus, Timely Death, Zombiefest, Shatter Resistant, and Lightning Struck. This led to Champion of the Frozen Wastes. I also ended up getting The Argent Crusade, The Argent Champion, Second that Emotion, 1000 Fish, and 500 Stone Keeper's Shards, and Sugarcake got Level 60, and Bellbell finished Veteran of Wrathgate.

Perhaps the one I'm most excited about is Heroic: Twilight Duo!


I hope you can understand why there's no continuation of the PTR Lifebloom today; it will be up soon, I promise!

Best part of the achievements was that, at the end of Abuse the Ooze, only me and the ret paladin who bubble taunted were alive. I got a whisper from one of the shadow priests along for the ride about how good a job I did healing. I was feeling miserable at that point because three people had died! How could that be a good job? But he assured me that with his other groups he couldn't even get close.

So I went from being trashed at the beginning of the weekend to being praised at the end.

Thanks, Araiti. You're a kickass Shadow Priest as well.

GUYS I DON'T HAVE ANY LEGS

Like a true internet dork-geek-nerd, I read webcomics. Lots and lots of webcomics, about everything from the high school dramaz to the delightful adventures of whacked-out carebears, from seriously cute veggie heads to thought-provoking stick figures, from that magical duo that made my server so popular to Bear's fave warlock of doom and everything in-between. However, when I switched computers, I forgot a lot of old ones and picked up a bunch of new ones, and have been expanding my horizons.

One of the ones I "lost" is called Awkward Zombie, a collection of largely non-sequitur comics about Pokemon, Super Smash Bros., the artist's life, and, of course, World of Warcraft. The Stoppable Force or Llanion (I unfortunately don't remember which...) linked to this comic in Blog Azeroth chat, and I was excited; I had missed them but forgotten the name.

Going back through the archives, I found one comic in particular that left me in stitches for about ten minutes, and so now I share it with you via link.

The Root of the Problem

Enjoy! I know I did!

Mob Mentality

Where one goes, others will follow...

This is especially true in WoW. How many times has it happened that one person is doing something, and another joins? And then another, and another, and another, all doing the same thing, until it's a huge mob of people?

As WoW players, we love to do it. We love to get in mass mobs of sameness and terrorize the countryside, or terrorize instances. I've witnessed the great Mammoth March, and though I was unable to participate on my diminutive Ram mount, I was able to run alongside, snapping photos. Horde and Alliance alike merged into a relatively single-file line, following the leader seamlessly, even as he went around corners and cut through the middle.

It can be started by something even so innocuous as sitting AFK. Two players, a tauren and a draenei, sat side-by-side on the edge of the landing, mounted on bronze drakes. I didn't have anything to do or any place to be, so I mounted up and say next to them. Then others would run up to us, mount up, and settle around the perimeter. One tauren, lacking a drake, mounted his netherray or danced in bear form. The blob morphed from short line to pyramid to long line, with drakes, protodrakes, wyverns, netherrays, flight forms and hippogryphs, though the majority were always bronze drakes.

Druids, however, are perhaps the most notorious of mobbers. Two druids dancing in a form will suddenly call into existence half the population of Dalaran to appear and dance along with them, forms changing and tranquilities going off, and double hurricanes adding atmosphere. What you aren't always aware of, however, is that we use these groups to discuss current, on-going and troubling issues, as well as to prey upon other classes.


Can you pick out the Horde druids?

And I'm Out

Just for the next week. No need to panic! I'm going to go see my love and relax without thinking about school (besides that take home test and that paper and...).

I didn't ask for guest writers this time because I'm planning on having something queue'd up, so you're never without. Plus, there's always Sann. He talks about things, on occasion!

Before I go, I'd like you to meet hunter #2,473: Sugarcake!

Isn't she adorable?

She's followed by her first pet, Sprinkles:



And her tank bear, Frosting:



Let's see if we can get her to at least level 20, shall we?

Oh, and Sugarcake's introduction to BRK was nothing short of priceless.

Sugarcake? What Orc is gonna flee in terror from Sugarcake...

BRK

Nothing like making the hunter master himself aghast at what you've done to the huntering name, huh?

See you in a week!

Are You My Mommy?

No. No, no, no.

I opened the cage. Now go home.

…Seriously. Shoo. Your parents are probably worried about you. And, to be honest, you look kind of creepy. Like…bug-eyed piranhas. That walk.

Across the water. Over there. You know, where you live? I have work to do.

Oh…yeah, I suppose the orcas could be a problem. But…still. No. Go! I have to, um…make the grown-ups take a nap. You know, as punishment for locking you in cages.

Don't give me that look! It won’t work on me. You need to go across the water and that’s final. I’m sure…most of you…will make it…

…

*Sigh*

All right. I brought some sandwiches and shade. If you promise to be good, and stay under the umbrella until I’m done, I’ll give you the sandwiches. Okay? Just. Wait. Here.

Look, there’s nothing to be scared of, okay? I’m taking care of it. I’ll be right back. No, seriously, I will. Just…wait…

…Fine. But one sandwich, then I’m taking you across the water to your parents. I hope you know you’ve cost me a lot of time and I am quite angry.

…What are you doing? That-that tickles! Stop that! You are all seriously in trouble! No murloc kisses! No! Arrrrrgh!