Ding

My first character, in the wonderful World of Warcraft, has hit level 80. I tried to prolong hitting 80 with a friend I met along my journey so we could hit the battlegrounds together and earn honor points for our gear. As it turns out, it puts you in a special twink group if you try to turn off your experience. It wouldn't let us in the same battleground when just one of us was still gaining experience.



My main goal is to get in the Arena and start competing. In order to do so I need to get closer to a level playing field with other level 80's gear. I'm starting to look closer at the mechanics and specs I can get into. I'm thinking of specializing in poisons and envenom as a sub-spec of assassination. Envenom might be better for PvP since it ignores armor one of the biggest problems I have in PvP as a rogue is high armored targets.

I finally got my dual spec and have been trying out my new combat spec for PvE. It's a little odd since I'm not used to it but soon I'll be pulling some nice DPS.

Rogue Changes in Cataclysm

YES YES YES! I've been loving my rogue, now up to level 76 he makes his final climb to 80. Now Blizzard announces their changes to the rogue class in the upcoming expansion. Adding new elements of combat making rogues even more versatile. Is that even possible?

Redirect (Level 81): Finally those pesky lost combo points can be transferred to a new target. Any rogue knows it's a pain in the butt when you are in fast paced battle grounds. You are often changing targets and the much needed combo points for finishing moves as it stands are lost in the shuffle if you don't keep with the same target.

Combat Readiness (Level 83): A little defensive move rogues will get. When activated, if they are struck by melee or ranged attacks, the rogue will receive a stacking 10% reduction in damage buff.

Smoke Bomb (Level 85): Last but not least, if rogues weren't hard enough to hit, the smoke bomb. This makes single-target attacks impossible if you are outside of the smoke. You can AoE the smoke cloud or go inside the cloud to attack the rogue. Great addition of strategy into this class.


I'm almost disappointed they announced the changes so early. It's still so far until the release date of Cataclysm.

Add-on Overload

I’ve recently dabbled into and discovered what add-ons are in World of Warcraft. An add-on can be anything from a tool that records the damage each person in your group does to tracking enemy targets. They are mini-software packages that enhance/alter your game’s interface. Some of them are considered cheating but in the eyes of the rules, they are permitted.

Most MMOs that I have played are against cheating, macros, and any software that increases a players’ advantage. Blizzard on the other hand, allows this and it can make a nice customizable experience for players. Some gamers I’ve talked to say they would quit a game without a user interface (UI) they liked. This gives them just that opportunity.

Good Scenario: Some of my talent points are in “Dirty Deeds”, which increases my talents damage done by a significant percentage when a target is below 35% health. There is no health percentage meter on the normal WoW interface in order for me to decide when is the green bar is at about 35% full. With a simple add-on, I changed that.

Bad Scenario: A guild mate discovered a player tracker recently. You have a little window that makes a sound when an enemy player is nearby. Even gives you his level and class based on any spells he used. It can be tricked if lower level spells were used but the chances are low. Doesn’t this level of add-on and information just give every class the Druid/Hunter’s crucial track humanoid spell?

Those are my examples of good and bad add-ons. Note: many players have different views and this is a highly controversial topic once you start deciding where to draw the line. Do we lose an edge if we don’t have the right add-ons these days? Where is the line drawn?

World of Soundcraft

I’ve stated before how much I adore sounds of games and the immersion it brings. Just this week I bought a new pair of Plantronics wireless headphones. Now available from Blizzard are World of Warcraft headphones, the same week I bought mine. The WoW headset looks decent but I can’t really count on the quality of it. I’d much rather go with the well known brand of Plantronics.



The main reason for my upgrade in a headset was the lack of mobility in my old one, it was a wired version. With the amount of time I play, I need the comfort and ability to move around if I need to. It was just too restricting before, well worth it for that fact alone.

I'm not at all impressed with World of Warcraft's sounds but after playing LOTRO don't know if much will impress me in the sound category. I've been using Ventrilo quite a bit with my guild and getting acquainted with everyone, we shut down open invitations and now require people to signup on our website.

My World of Warcraft Update

It's been about 2 months since I've started playing WoW. I started out with a Night Elf Rogue which made it to level 47 before I started a Dwarf Hunter. When my Hunter hit 47, I ironically fell back in love with my Rogue. I see he has a future in groups when he gets Fan of Knives skill at level 80 which is a nice AoE attack.

I'm getting more acquainted with my new guild mates and we have a Ventrilo server setup. I've already met a bunch of regulars and cool guys to jump in dungeons with, very fun. I hope I can get some prospective partners for the arena in the future.

I respeced my talent points to remove some things that won't be used in the higher levels. For example, I took 3 talent points out of improved eviscerate and I'm not putting any points into dual wield specialization (another entire explanation in itself). Here is the rogue build I have right now. Now I have mutilate a few levels earlier and I'm in love with it. Instead of spamming Sinister Strike which adds 1 combo point, I now hit mutilate that adds a minimum of 2 combo points and often a 3rd due to the high critical chance of mutilate.

Overall I'm impressed with World of Warcraft, obviously since I've been playing it at addictive levels. My rogue has a bright future and my hunter is on the shelf for now.

How Young is Too Young?

Are MMO’s really for kids? The common conception from an outside view is that online games are suitable as entertainment for children. Would you keep an eye on your kids if they were in a chat room with a bunch of adults? Your view might be a little different from the first question now. That is essentially what it is.

What brought me to this topic is a guild I was finally able to manage to find. It has a lot of new people and was just opened up recently for new member recruitment. One of the members of our guild is an eleven year-old kid. I don’t know how the conversation started, probably when they found out he was eleven, guild chat was talking about virgins. When this young guild mate of ours defined a virgin as a “single lady person”, I just put my hand on my face in one swift motion.

We shouldn’t be letting a MMO take away the youths innocence, isn’t that what school is for? Let’s face it, this kid might be on the sheltered side but his parents are a little naïve to let their son play World of Warcraft unmonitored. You can tell his definition of a virgin was straight from his mother’s mouth. Like I said, in my opinion school is the best way for your kids to find out the finer, nastier, and real things about life not an MMO. Only after they have grown up a little bit should they be thrown into a game with a lot of socialization with adults.

Trip to Best Buy - My Disney Land

Well my trip to return Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 failed. I think we might have a plan though. They won't let me return an opened copy but they will exchange it for the same thing...which happens to be unopened. Then we can return it, receipt or not it still has the price sticker on it.



I drove all this way so I ended up making the inevitable purchase of the Burning Crusade expansion pack and 60 more days of game play.

WoW Bad for Bloggers

It's been 8 days since I last posted on my blog, the longest span in the short couple months this blog has been running. Might I add that I just started World of Warcraft about a month ago? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to blame the game ignoring the fact that it's probably just my addictive gaming personality.



When you keep bargaining with your own mind, the hours of sleep sacraficed versus the hours of playtime left late at night maybe it's time to browse other game. I'm not alone out there, I know you people have your staple game you could play into the wee hours of the morning; World of Warcraft just happens to be mine.

I'm about a month deep into WoW with a newly started level 10 hunter and of course my little shanking buddy rogue level 44. I got a lot done during the week and feel I deserve a lot of hours in WoW but there I go convincing myself again. Getting ready for this level 40's PvP battleground tier. There is something about killing real people that I enjoy dearly, boy that sounds bad.

My First Mount in WoW

I found out I could have a mount when I went to my first battleground (PvP) and everyone but me pulled out a tiger to ride on. I stumbled upon a mount trainer the very next day an bought the starter tiger that has a required level of 20.

Also got into a guild with about 80 people in it, 1 beginner I met in the guild is just as addicted as I am.

The combat system and skill tree is set up interestingly. For my rogue class, for example, there are 3 main areas of expertise; subtlety, combat, and assassination. Here is an example link of what my level 80 end game skills look like. This is a PvP example setup I nabbed from just any ol' google search.

Random dungeons using the dungeon finder tool has proven to be a good social tool. I thought it was taking socialization out of MMO's at first, making half of the questing instanced. Quite the opposite, you get into groups with people more often than you would. Forced cooperation can be a good thing, it will definitely help you get experience as a noob.

Record Feature With Xfire

My new favorite tool Xfire has an awesome record feature that I've been testing out the last few days. Now I know from my last 2 videos that I recorded this morning, it will keep what I hear in other applications, integrated into the video. Impeccable timing on this video and the song coinciding with it.



Unfortunately, the size of the videos per second is enormous. Maybe I should need an Xfire expert to help me get the most performance out of my videos. I don't know if I can record in anything other than .avi. Falling in love with Xfire, not to sound like a commercial but its the best social tool for gamers out there.

WoW Finally Starts

I get myself to level 10 and there are finally some decent things to keep me entertained. The second tier of my Rogue skills were available to me for a few silvers. Wielded with daggers I trot around the lands looking for quests to earn some quick exp while slaying random creatures.

There was about 2 levels before I stumbled upon a first-aid trainer that I was a little bored. They could do better in World of Warcraft in the beginning. To me, Lord of the Rings Online was more immersive and started out much better than WoW did. Also the graphics seem a little cartoonish to me and took getting used to. I was able to create some bandages from my first-aid skill with materials that I already had from killing creatures. To my disappointment, the bandages healing didn't work in combat.

We'll see if this game can hold my attention for more than a month. Guild Wars is getting a little monotonous and is losing its appeal. I'm certainly glad there are no monthly fees because I don't think they would make the subscription cut if I had to choose.

Looking at WoW and AoC Trials

After giving both World of Warcraft and Age of Conan about 7 levels each of my time; I haven't been particularly excited about either of them. Age of Conan does take a step into the MMORPG evolution and introduces a hack-n-slash style combat system. It takes you out of the normal select, auto attack, and press skill buttons between your automatic attacks.

AoC's combat system is unique and might be what you are looking for if you are bored with MMORPG's in general. It is known by many as an adult game; one of blood, gore, and nudity. That's right, they let you strip your character down to bare skin. This is a downfall and upside in my opinion. While some people might play a female character to have something to look at while they play, you are going to get the perverted people taking it too far. If you are there for porn, go somewhere else, 8 gigs of hard drive space isn't needed for all that.

I'll keep giving WoW and Age of Conan a chance but with a little effort behind that. My current gaming comfort zone is learning Guild Wars still. It's so interesting, fun, and competitive. However, something about Guild Wars has built a less than stellar community. I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe the competitiveness and lack of noob friendliness?

The New Game Hunt

Lord of the Rings Online is on the back burner for now. Guild Wars is fun but I'm not bound to it with the no monthly fees it has. Tibia is only fun for an hour at most out of the day. I utilize my resources and find people with similar game tastes as me. I thought about going back to Dark Age of Camelot even. I might actually have the boxes with serial keys stashed away in some boxes.

It's inevitable that I have to try WoW to consider myself an expert in MMORPGs. So yes, WoW haters, I did download the trial version and probably have to buy it unless some other game jumps in front of me. I'm about 4 or 5 levels into it and like everyone says, it's taken pieces from other MMOs and made it really user friendly. I was only on it for about 2 hours but it was a quick start like LOTRO was.

Also into the trial list is Age of Conan, after seeing a trailer review of AoC I decided to download its hefty 8 GB trial game. I haven't started it yet but it looks like a good ol' bloody, gory, hack-n-slash adult game. We'll see if they get me. I'll get some other opinions on it as well.

Back at Guild Wars at 6 AM

I reached level 3 in Guild Wars before I ended my night at 2 AM. They already game me a self-healing spell at level 2, heals for about 80 hitpoints (of a 120 max). LOTRO has a better navigation system, better quest guidance system, better graphics, but something in me wants to keep continuing. I know the end game isn't going to consist of just 6 and 12 person raids resulting in a graphical clusterf$%k. It might actually end up in some old DAoC style PvP. The more I hear about WoW, the more I avoid it like the Ebola virus.

I can't find the freaking Ranger trainer. It's 8 o'clock, I'm level 5, I'm ready to pick my class, and I can't find the npc. There was one other npc that told me he was on the east side of "this very forest" but I can't find him anywhere. I might start liking this game more when I figure out how to get the damn class I want. That's a major game flaw if I, a veteran gamer, can't figure out how to pick the class I like.

What Game Will I Play Next?

Having reached Level 53 in Lord of the Rings Online, Level 65 being the maximum, the question of my next game is inevitable. I still have some good game play left in LOTRO but I don't see myself making a 2nd character. It was fun, nice storyline, good crafting system, easy to level, but I see a lack of a good PvP system. Most people I have asked in the game aren't interested busting some heads in, they want to quest. The other players in their PvP system aren't even on their real characters, it's some monster you get that already starts at level 65. I want some solid rewards for killing someone but don't get me wrong I'm not a fanatic and agree it should only be in certain areas not all hunting grounds.

Right now it's between WoW and Guild Wars. The Guild Wars 2 trailer looks nice and we might see if the first one hooks me. I've heard good and bad things about World of Warcraft's PvP system is. I don't like the idea of a bunch of kids coming and rolling me while I'm just trying to get some levels or doing a quest. I like to be able to solo for a while and usually choose a class that lets me do that. I'm going to look at Guild Wars a little closer and keep at LOTRO for another 13 levels and see if it has any "end-game" entertainment for me.