There once was a Tauren Warrior named Draconim.
He was a happy Tauren. He was very strong. He was in his 31st season.

One day, Draconim decided to adventure in a dark desert called Desolace.
All his friends told him that Desolace was very dangerous.
But Draconim knew he was very strong and he didn't listen to them.

Draconim found a place called Ethel Rethor.
It was a big, big mage tower built upon a big, big rock on a beach.
Draconim thought it would be worth looking at.

Draconim walked and walked toward the big, big tower.
In front of the big tower, he saw a big cat.
The cat was black and had moon patterns on its shoulder fur.

The big cat was a Druid. Her name was Kittari.
Kittari was very strong, too. She was in her 35th season.

Kittari saw Draconim a long time before he saw her.
She was watching him. She wanted to see what he would do.
She knew she was stronger than Draconim.

Draconim waved at Kittari.
Kittari stood still and watched.
She didn't want to fight.

Draconim thought he was stronger than Kittari.
He walked very carefully behind Kittari... and hit her.
"Maybe I can beat her!" He thought.

But Kittari didn't like being hit, so she hit back.
She hit a whole lot harder than Draconim.

Draconim hit and hit and hit and Kittari started running away!
He followed and hit her a special way to make her stop running.
But Kittari used magic to make her hurts go away.

Poor Draconim didn't expect that.
He tried to still beat Kittari, but Kittari could not be beaten anymore.
Kittari beat Draconim really bad.

Draconim was a bad, bad Tauren. He wanted to be big and strong.
He wanted to hurt Kittari even though she didn't do anything to him.
He wanted to show off and beat the strong Druid... but he couldn't.

He was a bully, and nobody likes a bully.

It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling when I, a little 35 Druid, can be just enough of a nuisance to allow higher level players to take down Horde Rogues.

You see, Rogues have a technique (some say abused) that allows them to disappear and enter a stealth mode DURING combat. No other class has that ability, and it allows Rogues to slip away before they're killed. It can be very annoying, since they'll use this technique to kill you in a protected area, and then disappear in front of the guards who will very much overwhelm the Rogue. (As Blizzard intended.)

Anyway... Druids have a technique that prevents the target from entering their stealth modes. It's called Faerie Fire. Not only does it force the target to remain visible for the duration, but it also negates some of their armor points, making them much more vulnerable to physical attacks.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

It makes me feel useful at my level when I cast Faerie Fire on a highest level possible Rogue... and it sticks. (Sometimes they can resist spells, but Farie Fire lands a lot of time.) This is usually during a skirmish of a few Horde and a few Alliance. Rogues can make or break a victory, since they can disappear and then pulverize unsuspecting victims at will.

There was a make-shift group of us killing Horde in a very contested area between the Alliance town Southshore and the Horde-corrupted town Tarren Mill. Very high level people. I was by far, the weakest of the bunch... but I had a spell called Entangling Roots (which stopped many a fleeing Horde and allowed my buddies to finish them off) and, of course, Faerie Fire... the ultimate anti-rogue spell.

There was a rogue and a warrior, I think, who were initially causing problems. So I followed the yells, so to speak, and found where they were fighting! The rogue, naturally, was vanishing during fights to run away and heal up before attacking again. But I caught him with Faerie Fire... several times, bwahaha. It's always refreshing when you see them attempt to vanish (there's a special move they do to do that) and still remain visible... they always stand there for a moment, wondering what the heck happened, before they fight against sudden impossible odds. He died... several times. Because of me! Yay!

...and then there was the occasional fleeing warrior or hunter that mysteriously found himself rooted to the ground, unable to move, with 5 extremely strong Alliance players suddenly catching up to him.

Ahh, I love PvP.

Blizzard sued by WoW guide author

Basically, this is how it goes:

1. Author collects techniques on how to make gold and level up quickly. He uses screenshots and other such things to provide visual aids. Author decides to sell it on eBay.
2. Blizzard sees the auctions... requests eBay to terminate auctions citing copyright infringements.
3. eBay terminates auctions, awaits Blizzard's further response.
4. eBay reinstates auctions, since Blizzard didn't follow up.
5. Blizzard finds out, once again requests to terminate auctions due to infringements.
6. Author's eBay account is frozen due to amount of warnings by Blizzard and other companies. (Vivendi and Entertainment Software Association)
7. Author creates new eBay account and continues to sell. (Major eBay no-no.)
8. eBay freezes second account.
9. Author claims his book is for "eductational purposes" and not commercial. Author decides to sue the Companies, seeking "monetary compensation to cover, among other things, profits lost from the halted sales; an injunction preventing the entities from interfering with Kopp's book sales; and a judgment that his book is protected by the First Amendment and doesn't interfere with intellectual-property rights."

The article quotes someone saying that if the Companies win, "then selling a how-to book about Microsoft Word would infringe Microsoft's copyright, especially if the book contained one or more screenshots of Word's user interface..."

I'm biased and I support Blizzard. But I will try to explain, in unbiased terms, why I think this guy really oughta stop actually selling this thing. For one... well... he's selling it. I think it would be okay to be non-profit, if he was selling it, but he's essentially making money off of World of Warcraft without their permission. I had thought that strategy guides had to ask for permission before they were sold. Is that not true?

I think both sides are a bit off base here... the "author" says it's for educational purposes, yet he's clearly making profits. A small profit, maybe, but a profit is a profit... and he's using someone elses work. I think his "educational" arguement is worthless... if it was for educating people and not as a means to make a small buck or two, then he'd just offer it to people for... well... nothing. But I think Blizzard is releasing their wrath on someone who really doesn't matter. (I think Blizzard is lawful with what they're doing... but being lawful doesn't always mean doing the best thing... if you know what I mean. But if Blizzard wants this stopped, then I think it should be.)

Strategy Guides are for educating people, yes... but you think that the companies who make them are only interested in that? Nah... it's a commercial endeavor. So I don't see a need to compare this guy with Strategy Guide companies. (Since they also ask for permission before selling.)

As for the fellow who says selling Word how-tos would be against the law... I'm still pretty sure that they would be if they didn't ask for permission. I think it's kind of a gray area here. The people who get away with doing it are technically breaking copyright, but sometimes companies just don't care. But I think if a company wants you to stop... then you should.

I dunno... that's just how I see it. Random guy making money using WoW, Blizzard says 'stop', guy says 'no', Blizzard tells eBay, eBay says 'stop', guy says 'no', eBay bans guy... guy sues Blizzard, citing, among other things the First Amendment. Like, er... how is writing a strategy guide freedom of speech or freedom of press? I think he's a bit confused and trying to grab onto whatever he thinks might give him a little edge. (Remember, kids, Freedom of Speech is knowing you can say whatever you want about whatever you want without the GOVERNMENT throwing you in prison. ...and with all freedoms comes responsibility. You shouldn't hide behind the First Amendment. Especially for something it doesn't even apply to.)

So yes... I was bored.
Waiting for WoW's servers to get back online.
Patch day! HOORAY!

Speaking of World of Warcraft... prepare yourself for a rant that'll have no impact on you if you've never played on a "Roleplaying / Player vs Player" (RPPVP) realm, heheh.

First, all Says, Yells, and Emotes are In-Character. Period. End of story. If you don't like that, then why the heck did you pick a Roleplaying server? It's a whole new ruleset, people. Learn to live with them. Don't expect to get around them unnoticed... Someone always notices when you break the "In-Character Rule".

Second, Whispers are only In-Character if your character is standing next to mine. I'm aware that Whispers are global capable, but whoever heard of someone Whispering at you when you're in the United States and they're in England? Common sense would be prudent here.

Third, Party chat is, once again, treated rather like Whispers. Though I tend to treat it like Say/Yell/Emote just to be safe... until that one moment where someone says they have to use the bathroom and they'll "brb" or when they announce that the phone's ringing and everyone needs to stop.

Which leads me to the fourth point... Talking Out of Character in In-Character communication channels is not forbidden. If there's an emergency, such as straightening out people who can't separate RP from real-life, please enclose your OOC speak in something like parenthesis. The most common and widespread method of doing this is saying something like: ((Whoops! I'll brb... I'm needed for a minute!))

Fifth, General global chat channels, including Trade, Local Defense, Looking for Group, Guild Recruitment and World Defence are all Out of Character. Period. The little infant roleplayers LOVE arguing about this without end. But literally only in the starting zones. Once you venture out into higher level zones, that argument disappears, because now you're surrounded with slightly more intelligent players who realize that there's no way people could yell across the forest without actually using the Yell command. I ain't joking... that arguement will stop dead and you'll never hear about again. (Unless you pass through the starting zone again.) So my point is... there's no point argueing. It's already technically been decided in the WoW RP realm policies, and those who stick around and actually level up a character on those realms eventually realize there's no use fighting.

Sixth, don't use Trade to gab about random crap. It's a global channel because it's SUPPOSED to be useful. People actually read the Trade channel to see if there's any loot to buy at decent prices. ...when you go mucking it up by screaming about how some player stole that super special item off the corpse without asking, not only does nobody care, but you're being extremely selfish by hogging the screen in 4 major cities with your spam. Don't do it. You'll get more of a bad reputation than the thief.

Which leads me to my seventh and final point. Learn these rules so you can separate Roleplaying from Real Life. You'll make Roleplayers upset that you're screwing up their play, and you'll get angry at something that, after all is said and done, had absolutely no impact on YOU as a player until you went and made a fool of yourself.

I was in Goldshire with my kickbutt Level 30 Druid. I'd just logged in and was leaving the Inn when I heard a serious battle happening outside. I peeked out the door and my fears were confirmed... some Warlock had, once again, for some reason I can never understand, released a very powerful demon on the village and all the little level 10 and 20 players were trying to kill it... and everyone who COULD actually kill it were standing by and laughing at their brave but ultimately futile attempts to protect their town.

After it was all said and done (some high level druids finally took up the defense and destroyed the demon), still amidst the laughter of some lame Level 60 Warrior from the not so cool guild called High Impact. Anyway, before this all happened, I pubically said, IC, with my character, something like: "I see that the warlocks are showing off their flawless control of demons again." (My elf is a Druid... Druids (should) be flat against demons and those who think they can control them... so my character is always dripping sarcasm and disdain when speaking to Warlocks.) I don't think the offending Warlocks heard me, though, since I didn't get a response... but after the Infernal (the name of the super demon) was destroyed, I actually used Yell so that the entire region could hear me and said something like: "You've gone and shown your perfect control over demons once again, stupid Warlocks... how arrogant." (Technically, from a character's standpoint, people died because a Warlock was playing.)

Anyway, this time the offending Warlock heard me, and starting using Yell, too, and he was actually Roleplaying... BUT! At the same time, I got like a tell from every other Warlock in the area, yelling at me that I just offended each and every Warlock in the zone, because they weren't involved with the attack. Now... Tells are also Whispers. So I seriously looked around me for all these names that just verbally assaulted me... and I couldn't find them. If someone whispers you from so far away that you can't even see them... it's OOC. I don't care what you think.

So I replyed on General, "To all the warlocks who just whispered me, learn to RP, kthanks." ...and a couple responded and apologized, saying they thought I was serious. I'm sorry? You thought I was speaking my real feelings about Warlocks and their players? That's........ well, that's dumb. I was using legitimate RP channels that should only be used for RP, and you thought I was talking OOC? Man, talk about a serious buzzkill. I was sooo upset that I just got flamed by a bunch of people who didn't know what Roleplaying was...

ON A ROLEPLAYING SERVER!!!

Moral of the story: lern2play

Widespread Outages for World of Warcraft

Hmm... interesting. As an avid player of WoW, I haven't noticed any such thing. As a matter of fact, I have never experienced crippling internet-related lag while playing any server, except for the occasional loot-lag. (Which I haven't had for a very, very long time.)

Right now, everything seems okay. All realms are up. No special notice on the log in screen... I wonder when this happened... (yes, I'm extremely skeptical... the forum link they provided no longer works)

Personally, I've always noticed how everyone is so darned critical of Blizzard and their server operation. Computers have problem, man... especially when under the distributed load of 6 million people!! They keep adding new servers to lessen the load... but there's only so much you can do so quickly.

Whenever I even start whining about lag like the omnipresent fanbase of complainers... I stop and remember Star Wars: Galaxies... the first MMO I paid for. Servers were always going down at random times, for random durations, with absolutely no warning. I have seriously only experienced one or two random reboots in World of Warcraft... sure, it's a bit inconvenient, and people might be in the middle of doing some gigantic instance, but, hey, guess what... you'll live.

I think people are spoiled by Blizzard, and when something outside their control happens, everyone explodes and starts thinking they know how to run things. They expect Server Maintenence on Tuesday mornings (does anyone else have a designated server downtime so people can plan around it?) but when servers crash like any computer eventually does under strain, it's suddenly the end of the world and people are ready to stop paying. Talk about fair-weather fans... good riddence to you, I say.

Anyway, if the above article is true, that would be very interesting indeed... It would seem that Blizzard isn't so totally "responsible" for problems after all. (Nah, who am I kidding, the forum kiddies will find some way to blame them about using AT&T in the first place.)

Someone was banned from WoW for using a programmable keyboard, as seen on Slashdot.

Call me a fanboy, or whatever you want... but I feel I must side with Blizzard. I don't think it's the fact that the guy was playing WoW on Linux with WINE. (windows emulator) It's the fact that he was sending a chain of commands with a single keystroke. No matter how anyone tries to explain it, that is botting. It's a device outside the game that is directly interacting WITH the game. Granted it's a little more of a gray area, since it's a keyboard... but still. The guy said it himself, he had keys to mass-change armor sets. IIRC, that's illegal, even with in-game mod packs.

"Ho-hum, I need healing armor set."
*presses key, armor instantly replaces itself with healing*
"Alright, let's roll!"

While in some instances, insta-changing armor would be okay... such as sitting in the middle of an allied city with no chance of being attacked... I think the cheating aspect would be apparent if you're in the middle of a contested zone, and you see a member of the opposite faction charging towards you and you're in healing armor and BAM! Macro-switch to uber-fighting armor. That's cheating. The baddie saw you in weak armor, and you were in weak armor for some dumb reason... you shouldn't be able to insta-switch.

Ultimately, I think this ban is the result of lots of little infractions that added up to a permanent ban:

I was training my weapon skills because I recently turned to level 60. I had programmed the switching of weapons (I use Wardrobe for that) to my programmable keyboard and was fighting a low-level healing mob to upgrade all my weapon skills to 300. As you might very well know, this takes hours, and while I was training my different weapon skills by pressing the macro keys and healing myself every now and then, I watched some movies on my TV, because fighting a level 25 healing mob doesn't require much attention if you're a level 60 priest.

This is a less than major no-no, but still a no-no. You must always pay attention to the screen while you're interacting with something, I'm sorry. Using a macro key that ISN'T an in-game macro to fight things while you're watching TV is still, in my opinion, botting. Especially since he went and said this:

In my second mail I again pointed out that I used macro buttons to switch weapons in order to train my weapon skills from 270-275 to 300. This simply does not require much attention if you have a level 60 priest; you simply take low-level weapons up against a low-level healing mob, and then you keep hitting it. I had already done this several times * without * the use of keyboard macros.

Okay, yes... but you weren't doing it without the keyboard this time. Next:

At the time of the ban I had configured my keyboard to switch weapons, cast hex of weakness and renew myself, all with the press of a button. None of these actions involved the use of cheats or hacks whatsoever. I had put myself on /DND with the note that I was watching movies and was not paying much attention to the game, which i muted because of the movies I was watching.

This is the killer. In-game macros do not allow you to stack spells. It's a restriction to keep automation LOW. Otherwise everyone will run around with macros that do everything for them. He got around this by using the keyboard. Next:

Now it is quite well possible that during that time people contacted me in-game without me replying. After all, it was from the late hours of Saturday till the early hours of Sunday and I was watching the movie screen 99% of the time. After pushing the macro keys for some hours I found myself logged off and unable to log back in. However, unattended is simply not the case, as I was near the computer.

Okay. He was flagged DO NOT DISTURB. But he was fighting. He wasn't responding to in-game communication. But he was fighting. A Game Master could have tried to ask him if he was there, and he didn't respond. But he was fighting. Game Masters will always ask you if you're present if you're doing strange bot-like behavior. If you don't respond... you're a bot, end of story. If you DO respond, then hey! It's your gaming style. This guy "found himself logged off"? That means he didn't see it happen?

I'm sorry, man... I think their permanent ban was well-founded.

MacGyver Saves World of Warcraft

This is amazing!
Very much a WoW inside joke, but it should still be funny for you MacGyver fans.

A little backstory on the joke is that in the upcoming expansion pack, both factions (Horde and Alliance) get a new race. The Horde race has been announced, but Alliance hasn't, yet... and there have been many, many, many jokes on what the Alliance race could be.

The jokes range from the O RLY owl, a Murloc, Chuck Norris, Worgen (werewolves), and more.

This is, by far, in my opinion, the best Alliance Race joke ever! :cheesy: