Laughing at Gear (and Beer Commercials) with Machinima

This video laughs at beer commercials and grinding for gear via a rap song.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/29/wow-moviewatch-grind/

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ZORK: The Song

You have to be into text adventure games to really appreciate this. http://5090.fawm.org/songs/4255/

Light the lamp!  {whispers:  I hate grues.}

LOL

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Tuesday Morning Comics

The Circles of Hell for an MMO player, courtesy of Ctrl+Alt+Del.  Here's the link to Tim Buckley's drawing if you can't enlarge the above enough to see and laugh.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f5d_BcsegDQ/SsCwx70AcNI/AAAAAAAABh8/3FNHruCXkyQ/s1600-h/20090928.jpg

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BBB Talks Standard Roles and Breaking Expectations in Raiding

The Big Bear Butt Blogger talks about standard roles in raiding and how not to let expectations stop you thinking about raid strategies.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/28/theres-no-get-out-of-the-fire-in-team/


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World Of Logs (Combat Analysis Addon)

World of Logs is a combat log analysis system, similar to Recount, but more elaborate.  Thanks to WOW Insider mentioning a discussion of this addon, I've found postings that talk about World of Logs in depth for those who might want to try it.  Here is the World of Logs (WOL) website.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/

WOW Kindness (a European guild) posts screenshots of WOL and explains how it works below.  This is dated Sept. 2009 so it's recent information.
http://www.wowkindness.com/confluence/display/BLOG/2009/09/08/World+of+Logs+Beta+Test

Lowered Expectations explains how to interpret the material that WOL generates.
http://bloodelfpriestess.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/how-to-interpret-world-of-logs/

Runeforge Gossip takes this all a step further and explains how to use the WOL data to your advantage.
http://runeforgegossip.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/world-of-logs-your-new-best-friend-even-if-the-old-one-was-cool/

If WOL doesn't seem exactly what you are looking for, this WOWWiki article talks about the various systems that do combat analysis.  You can follow the links to explore other addons for combat raiding stats.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Combat_Log

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Hunter Pet Control Guide

Phyllixia at Hunters Rhok has posted a five part series about hunter pet control.

Part one talks about controlling your pet's attacks.
http://huntersrhok.blogspot.com/2009/07/pet-control-part-one-attack-follow-and.html

Part two talks about the pet "stances" of aggressive, defensive or passive spells.

http://huntersrhok.blogspot.com/2009/08/pet-control-part-two-aggressive.html

Part three covers the general abilities of pets (ferocity, cunning and tenacity, etc.).

http://huntersrhok.blogspot.com/2009/08/pet-control-part-three-general-pet.html

Part four covers species-specific abilities.

http://huntersrhok.blogspot.com/2009/08/pet-control-part-four-species-specific.html

Part five talks about organizing your pet bar.

http://huntersrhok.blogspot.com/2009/09/pet-control-part-five-organizing-your.html

Many thanks to WOW Insider for pointing me toward this series.

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Cataclysm Starting Lore

WOW Insider summarizes what PC Gamer UK found out from Blizzard about the starting lore of Cataclysm below.  There are spoilers in the article and a link to the PC Gamer podcast that talks about this.  You were warned. Don't go there if you don't want to know.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/27/cataclysm-starting-zone-lore-and-other-new-details-revealed/#continued

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Harvest Festival

WOWHead explains the Harvest Festival which runs for a few days during Brewfest.  This is a minor holiday, with only one achievement, but you can buy fireworks.
http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=123145

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Various Talent Builds for Paladins

This undated site lists a variety of builds for paladins and asks folks to rate them.
http://www.thenoobschool.com/worldofwarcraft/paladin-talents

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Enhancement Shaman Stuff (EnhSim and Buff Effects)

Big Hit Box has two articles up of interest to shamans.  The first explains how to use the Enhancement Damage Simulator which apparently is a favorite addon tool of shamans trying to figure out how to get the most DPS possible.  This thing is also known as the EnhSim. Search on that term to see more articles about this tool.
http://bighitbox.com/index.php/2009/09/this-is-how-you-sim-it-baby/

The second article analyzes the effects buffs and debuffs have on enhancement shamans in raids.
http://bighitbox.com/index.php/2009/09/they-buff-because-they-care/

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Why Heirlooms Are Good

Darth Solo explains why heirlooms are A Good Thing once you have enough Champion's Seals to buy them.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/09/heirlooms.html

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Does This Gear Make Me Look Fat Redeux

Browse various realms, their players and their gear, or try on various combinations of gear/talents/enhancements/buffs/gems/ to see how stats change.
http://www.warcrafter.net/

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Reputation Calculator

Thanks to CCDO, I've found a reputation calculator.  Plug in your character name and realm to see what you need to do next to raise your reputation with your chosen faction.  WARNING:  This seems not to have been updated since the Burning Crusade.
http://www.wowreputationcalculator.com/

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Paladin Guides (Mostly Healadins)

Excellent discussion of resources to help the Holy Paladin dated June 2009 by someone who has dual specced their Protection Paladin to play as a healadin.
http://www.chriscurtis.org/weblog/entry/holy-paladins-aka-healadins/

The ultimate Holy Paladin website.  Note the PvP and PvE build links in the right hand column.
http://www.holypaladin.net/

Holy Paladin specs (part one)
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2010/01/25/the-flash-of-light-spec/

Patch 3.2 healing information for healadins.
http://www.holypaladin.net/index.php/holy-paladin-pve-healing-guide-patch-32

Detailed information for all types of paladins but dated January 2009.
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/paladin

Undated discussion of paladin healing spells from a site dedicated to Holy Paladins.
http://www.theholylight.com/healer.htm

Healadin spell rotation discussion, dated January 2009.
http://www.warcraftlog.com/warcraft-archive/healadin-spell-rotation-t15165.html

Forum posting titled "Comprehensive Guide to Paladin Healing" dated July 2008.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=7903651004&sid=1

Calculator to help Holy Paladins calculate healing stats.  From 2007?
http://www.deadgod.net/index.php?do=healcalc

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How Things Have Changed for Healing Paladins

http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/09/15/bubbles-and-crits-paladins-from-3-0-to-3-2/

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Paladin UIs

Various UI setups used by Paladins.
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/index.php?rb _v=viewtopic&p=20363&sid=85cef6d0eaa3160e5214018d969809f3

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PAWN Explanation

An explanation of how PAWN works to compare gear.  Note that the folks in the comments like Rating Buster, although it doesn't seem to do exactly what PAWN does.  The Solo MMO Player says Rawr is replacing PAWN due to PAWN's complexity but he still thinks PAWN gives him exactly what he wants.
http://druidreliquary.blogspot.com/2009/09/gearing-with-purpose-pawn-and-true.html

By the way, I capture links to all the scale tags I can find.  If you use PAWN and want to see the scale tags I've found, search for "scale tags."

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Interview with Cataclysm Developer

WOW Insider posts a link to a Gamesutra interview with a developer working on Cataclysm.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/25/alex-afrasiabi-on-cataclysm-and-the-origin-of-phasing/#continued

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Guildwatch Offers Warning Signs To Watch For

The Guildwatch column is a bit late but makes up for it by giving you a guild with three warning signs you ought to watch out for when considering joining a guild--first of all, the guild name (Instability) wouldn't give me a good feeling.  Then the fact that the guild is run by co-guild leaders that happen to be romantically involved is never a good sign.  Of course the guild leaders' names (Tinkerbell and Anonymous) are also a tip-off that perhaps you should run away, run away!

Regardless of whether you should heed warning signs, this guild's been full of drama lately.  Members complained of Tinkerbell's behavior in raids to no avail as Anonymous wouldn't hear any criticism of her.  Then it came out that Anon was recruiting new players just to blame them for raid failures Tinkerbell caused and a lot of guild members quit.  Folks also complained Tinkerbell was just using the guild to pick up fragments for the Legendary Mace.  She admitted it, then she and Anon looted the guild bank and waltzed away to Legion of Accordance where they've been promised raiding slots to continue completing the Mace.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/23/guildwatch-beware-of-tourists/

Doesn't get any better than that!

On other topics a lot of the guild drama this week centers on the new transfer program.  Many guilds complain high level guilds are transferring (at $25 a person) to a new server just to pick up the first raiding achievements, then switching back to the original server (another $25).  "Tourists" is a kind word for these folks. Carpetbaggers is another term which I'd use.  At any rate, Blizzard makes money off these transfers and hasn't made any moves to protect new servers from guilds showing up from older ones to nab these achievements.

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Holy Priest Casting Sequences

A discussion of priest DPS with a lot of casting sequence information (dated May 2008).
http://dwarfpriest.com/2008/02/21/priest-dps/

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BBB Answers Druid and Bear Tank Questions

BBB answers a question about druids' use of Defense and Survival of the Fittest.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/23/questions-about-defense-and-survival-of-the-fittest/

BBB answers a question about how bear tanks generate threat.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/23/questions-on-threat-generation/

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PAWN Scale Tags for Many Classes

Go to "DPS Scale Factors" table.  Below the first table is one with PAWN inputs.
http://code.google.com/p/simulationcraft/wiki/SampleOutputT8

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Shadow Priest Casting Sequences

Dated February 2010, rotations (casting sequences) for various levels.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/03/spiritual-guidance-on-rotations-and-having-a-good-time/#continued

Dated September 2009.
http://12.129.242.24/thread.html?topicId=19820632509&sid=1

Dated March 2009.
http://wishfullthought.blogspot.com/2009/03/shadow-priest-kindergarten-cast.html

Dated February 2009.
http://meltedfaces.blogspot.com/2009/01/cast-sequence-for-shadow-priests-now.html

Elitist Jerks spreadsheet dated March 2007.
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t10122-shadow_priest_dps_spreadsheet/

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Shadow Priest Forum and Specs Website

http://shadowpriest.com/index.php

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Heard on the Chat Line

PvP is just day care for death knights.

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Resto Druids and Their Healing Spells

Nerf This Druid talks about the healing spells resto druids use.  This is dated May 2009 and updates the Feb. 2009 information (second link below).
http://www.nerfthisdruid.com/2009/05/druid-healing-101.html

http://www.nerfthisdruid.com/2009/02/raid-healing.html


Hots Tree does the same in Nov. 2008.
http://hotstree.blogspot.com/2008/11/30-resto-druid-healing-rotation.html

Treebark Jacket goes over stats.  This is the most recent information from this month (Sept. 2009).
http://treebarkjacket.com/2009/09/01/mailbag-what-stats-should-resto-druids-look-for/

Tree of Life talks over her healing spells last Feb. 2009.
http://keredria.blogspot.com/2009/02/tree-gets-serious-actual-healing-post.html

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Alienware at Tokyo Game Show UPDATED

Kotaku describes the latest models and has a flashy video.
http://kotaku.com/5365962/alienwares-tgs-lineup-is-so-very-pretty

UPDATE:  More video.
http://kotaku.com/5367526/this-alienware-pc-has-motorized-racing-vents

UPDATE #2:  More photographs.
http://kotaku.com/5367479/booth-check-alienware/gallery/

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All About Bags and Inventory Storage

WOW Rookie looks at all the bags available for storage inside WOW.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/23/wow-rookie-bag-it/#continued

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Best Talents for a Protection Paladin Tank?

Honor's Code lays out what he thinks are the best talents for a protection paladin who is tanking and why.
http://honorscode.blogspot.com/2009/09/no-duh-crusade-vs-sotp.html

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Trinket Databases

WOW-70 has a list of trinkets.
http://www.wow-70.com/itemslots-trinket.html

So does World Warcraft Online.
http://www.worldofwconline.com/database/items/?slotID=12

WarCry's trinket list also has other types of gear, but you may still find it useful.
http://wow.warcry.com/db/accessories.php

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BBB Looks at Level 80 Paladin Tanks

Big Bear Butt talks about how hard it is to gear a protection paladin for heroics, especially compared to druid bears.  He also lists the sites that helped him dual spec his retribution/protection paladin.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/22/a-bears-eye-view-on-paladins/

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Is Beast Mastery Dead as Hunter Spec?

Is Beast Mastery dead as a druid spec?  Here's a discussion incluidng quotes from Ghostcrawler, who's Blizzard spokesman on gameplay issues.
http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2009/09/22/is-beast-mastery-dead-ghostcrawler-says-no/

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Donald's Raiding Rules (Comics)

http://darklegacycomics.com/152.html
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Beginner Mage's Leveling Guide

Arcane Brilliance, having just finished a mage guide for high level raiders, now is going back to write a leveling guide for new mages. Here are the beginning tips.  Next week he promises to do the first levels, so I will update this blog entry with new material when it is written.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/19/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-getting-started/#continued

Levels 1-10
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/26/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-1-10/

Levels 11-20 (includes information about leveling via PvP)
http://www.wow.com/2009/10/10/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-11-20/

Levels 21-30 (new spells and various talent specs)
http://www.wow.com/2009/10/31/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-21-30/

Levels 31-40 (talents and new spells)
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/07/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-31-40/

Levels 41-Outlands (since Mages can go to Outlands at level 58)
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/14/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-41-to-outland/

Levels 59-68 (new spells, talent trees, locations to visit)
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/21/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-59-68/

Leveling in the Northend from 70-80.
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/30/arcane-brilliance-mage-leveling-guide-the-thrilling-conclusion/

There will be an update for Cataclysm in 6 months or so.

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Butler Aids Engineers with Limited Bag Space

One thing you never have enough of in WOW is bag space.  If you are a 450 level engineer, you might be interested in making Jeeves, the robotic butler that repairs items and grants access to the bank.

Darth Solo talks you through the complicated process, which I assumed meant you had a butler to carry items around for you.  However, it looks like Jeeves opens bank access.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/09/jeeves.html

There are a few more details about how Jeeves works here under item 4, but this was written before the robot was tweeked in Patch 3.2 Call of the Crusade.  Therefore, it might not all be totally correct.  You may be also interested in MOLL-EE the robot that creates a portable mailbox for ten minutes or Scrapbot that fixes things.  These robots are also mentioned in this section of the article.
http://www.wow.com/2009/07/04/insider-trader-patch-3-2-updates-and-engineering-analysis/

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Burning Vampire Horse Mount

Interested in a fast mount that has burning hooves and has fangs?  If you are Level 70, you might be able to get this drop in Karazhan from Attumen the Huntsman.
http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=121874

More info is located half way down Blizzard's information page about special mounts.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/mounts/special.html

The photo above that shows the fangs and the burning hooves comes from Blizzard's gallery of the huntsman's horse.  This link has a larger version and other views of Midnight the vampire horse on fire.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/mounts/fiery-warhorse-gallery.html#6

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BBB and the Typical PUG

Now that Big Bear Butt is running with Pick Up Groups, he's realized that there are things not everyone in a group knows not to do.  Here's a list for those who happen to currently be standing in fire and/or acid and need a reminder.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/18/i-need-to-seriously-lower-my-expectations/

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BBB Talks Threat Monitoring Addons

Big Bear Butt talks about threat monitoring (Omen) and "nameplate" addons like Calenameplates and Aloft that show with visual representations and color coding the threats various mobs are generating.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/19/nameplate-addons-oops-my-bad/

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What is the Proper Ratio of Tanks to Other Classes in Raiding?

http://pwnwear.com/2009/09/18/ratio-of-tanks-to-the-rest/

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The 969 Pally Tank Rotation Viewed Differently

Crofe has just discovered another way of thinking about the 969 rotation for paladins who tank that makes more sense as a macro to him.  Here is how he breaks it down:
http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-mind-just-exploded.html

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Pirate Day in WOW on Saturday, Sept. 19

Tomorrow's Talk Like A Pirate Day and Blizzard will celebrate in Booty Bay.  Here are the details of the events and where to get your costume (or places to avoid if you don't plan to participate).  Note the Pirate Speak addon information if you want to be especially annoying really get into the spirit of the holiday.
http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=121569

Warning:  Druids lose their pirate outfit buff if they change form.  A video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd782_F0vNU


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Block Values for Tanks

A thorough discussion.
http://www.tankingtips.com/2009/09/14/back-to-basics-the-history-of-block/

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Tanking UIs for Death Knights

No Stock UI starts a four part series on tanking UIs with the death knights.  Since this series is so class-specific, I will treat each new entry in the series as a separate one here in the Solo MMO Player blog instead of updating this article.
http://www.nostockui.com/2009/09/tanking-uis-death-knight/#more-997

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Is WOW Caught in a Trade Battle Between China and U.S.?

Maybe.  Maybe not.

I didn't realize the Chinese government didn't allow the sale of game consoles.  I believe all xBox 360s are made in China and many of the original xBoxes were as well (as well as Mexico and Hungary) but I don't know about the PS3 or Wii.  However, I did find information that claims PS3s were made in both Japan and China and that Wiis are made in Japan.
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/09/16/is-a-trade-battle-looming-with-china-over-world-of-warcraft/

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Mages, Macros, and a Tip for Non-Mages

I've finally stumbled across Critical QQ's blog which I've added to the list of favorite sites on the right side of the page because of all the great mage information found here.  Click on the Categories pull down menu on the right of Critical QQ's blog for "guides" which has a lot of useful mage information even for those who aren't doing PvP.  I'm not going to link to much on this great blog except to concentrate on some very recent postings Euripedes has written about macros.  The first link is a Quick Living Bomb macro.  As always, read the comments.
http://criticalqq.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/quick-living-bomb-macro/

The second link is to an article about using key presses to your advantage whether you are a mage or not.  Bascially, Euripedes explains how to use the fact that pressing a key doesn't cast the spell bound to that key until you lift your finger off the key to your advantage.  The Solo MMO Player doesn't think this is true for all keyboards, though.  It may depend on the system you use to play.
http://criticalqq.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/buff-your-reflexes/

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How to Use Blink as a Raiding Mage

This blogger is a Level 80 PvP mage.  The Contents section is a table of contents.  Use control +F and the code for each section to instantly move down to the explanation of using blink there.  As always, read the comments at the end of the blog posting for more information.
http://criticalqq.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/why-walk-when-you-can-blinkslow-fall/

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New Addon for PvE Moonkins

WiseEclipse is a new addon that Maestro feels is essential for moonkin druids as it monitors the time left on your lunar eclipse buff and compares this to the cat time of your next Starfire.  He explains how everything works here and talks about why he thinks using WiseEclipse isn't cheating.
http://druidreliquary.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-wiseeclipse-works.html


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Blizzard Keynote Address at Game Developers' Conference

WOW Insider writes up the highlights and provides an audio file of the opening speech given by Blizzard's EVP and Production Director here.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/17/agdc09-blizzard-talks-about-world-behind-warcraft/#continued

If you are really interested, Gamasutra has a more focused article using the information from this speech to describe how Blizzard is organized internally.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25307

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Blizzard Knows About 180,000 Bugs in WOW?

The mind boggles at that large number of bugs.  This information comes from the Game Developers Conference currently underway in Austin, Texas.  WOW Insider promises a transcript of this keynote speech later on but beside mentioning the 180,000 bugs Blizzard is tracking, the speech mentioned that Blizzard has 2500 customer service people worldwide.  However, you should note that the bug list includes bugs that have been fixed, and we don't know that if bugs customers have reported that Blizzard can't find are listed.  The Solo MMO Player thinks this is all the bugs from the earliest builds to date.  He also says that the number of bugs has no relationship to the quality of the software.  Sometimes the best programmers create bugs as they try something no one has tried before.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/17/blizzard-is-tracking-180-000-bugs-in-wow/

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The Role of Soakers in Raiding

I thought soakers were just large squirt guns but in WOW soakers are one role in raids.  Bell explains, "If you're not sure what a soaker is, it's a person who is the opposite color aura of the group they are closest to, and their job is to soak incoming orbs before they hit the raid, as well as dodge their opposite color orbs so that they do hit the raid (and thus buff damage). A soaker has to be highly mobile, as standing still to cast is a bit of a danger to them, depending upon persistence of orbs."
If you want to read more about soakers and the raid Bell was on with them, here's the link.
http://4haelz.blogspot.com/2009/09/crucial-roles-and-failure.html

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Engineering Leveling Guide

Darth Solo swears by this quick leveling guide for engineers on his blog.
http://www.wow-professions.com/wowguides/wow-engineering-guide.html

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DK Tank's Guide to Enchants and Gems

WOWhead has a short list of enchants and gems a Level 80 death knight tank needs to run raids and Heroics.  NOTE:  This was done for Patch 3.2.2, folks.  It probably doesn't work now that we are at the pre-Cataclysm Patch 4.0.1.

http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=119851

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Voice Chat for PUG Groups in Beta Testing

Apparently, you use your browser window to go to their website, open a chat room and just add everyone in your pick up group via a shared link.  Since this is targeted at WOW players, a little bit of Amory information appears on the players in the PUG and you assign roles via a pull down menu.  Judging from the screen shot, there are links to reference sites at the bottom so you can look up things (via another browser window?).
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/17/easy-voice-chat-for-pugs-with-puggable/

Sign up to be a beta tester via their website.
http://www.puggable.com/

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Guildwatch Fishing Mafia

A guild called Pillage on the Garona-H server has started selling fishing licenses for Wintergrasp.  They've announced it on the WOW forum and everything (second link below).  A license to fish costs 500 gold for an individual or 5000 gold for a guild.  Don't pay and Pillage promises you'll regret it.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/16/guildwatch-yesterday-wow-was-such-an-easy-game-to-play/

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19675937595&sid=1&pageNo=1

Isn't that what we call in real life protection money?  It always astounds me when things that are illegal in real life happen in WOW.

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Guide to the Arena Rating System

WOW Insider has realized the rating system inside the Areana is complicated and published an explanation here.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/16/the-colosseum-a-basic-guide-to-the-arena-rating-system/

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Common Healing Arrangements for Raiding

Standard healing setups for various raids listed here.  Remember, what is commonly done may not be the best for your group.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/15/raid-rx-what-s-a-good-raid-healing-makeup/

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Heirloom Gear For Alts Once You Hit Level 80

WOW Insider explains how heirloom gear works.  Basically, these are gear items that a Level 80 can buy for a lower level alt which level with the alt.   This is a very good deal as these items never need repair but there are limits on the enchantments one can use.  Read all the details here.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/16/wow-rookie-heirlooms-ease-the-way-for-alts/#continued

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Machinima Creator Interview

Here's an interview with Clint Hackleman who has created some very funny parody machinima pieces.   A video of one piece is embedded in the interview but you can follow the links to see others.  Don't miss Learn2Play!
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/15/15-minutes-of-fame-clint-hackleman-of-myndflame-machinima/#continued

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BG Hero Tracks Your Battleground Stats

WOW Insider introduces BG Hero, a new tracking site for your battleground stats.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/14/bg-hero-tracks-your-battleground-activity/

Here is BG Hero's FAQ page for details.  I love their logo, by the way.
http://www.bghero.com/faq.php

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Playing Console Games on PC via HD-720 Box

This company is coming out with a box that plugs into your console, then connects via Wi-Fi to your PC so you can stream games to it.  There is a video of this in action if you are curious.
http://kotaku.com/5359435/play-console-games-on-your-pc-[update]

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AT&T Tells Government Gaming's Not Core Need

Say, isn't AT&T the company that runs the WOW servers?  Blizzard might want to have a talk with the company that says gaming is not a core broadband need.
http://kotaku.com/5359326/att-tells-feds-that-gaming-is-not-broadband

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A Mount Collector Speaks UPDATED

If you enjoy collecting mounts, you will also enjoy reading about Pike's mounts.
http://www.aspectofthehare.net/2009/09/a-very-large-amount.html

More mounts.
http://www.aspectofthehare.net/2009/09/an-even-larger-amount.html

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Hybrid and Dual Specs Effects in Raiding

Altosis sparked a discussion about how useful hybrid characters are in raiding after writing this article that outlines the pros and cons of being able to play several roles with one character.
http://altosis.blogspot.com/2009/09/mains-hybrid-capability-in-bring-player.html

Restokin thinks it is very hard to be good at several roles despite the general feeling we see in-game that being able to do more than one thing well is a good thing in a character.  If you are considering dual speccing one of your characters, you'll want to read both articles.
http://www.restokin.com/2009/09/responsnse-to-altosis-post-about-raid-switchers/

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2v2 Arena Team Mystery UPDATED

Something doesn't add up in the top ranked 2v2 arena team's scores.  WOW Insider lays out the mystery here.  Some Commenters think that this is a glitch at the Armory and not cheating.  Read the comments for help understanding how arena teams work and what some of the abbreviations mean.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/12/2v2-team-hits-3206-team-rating-3585-personal-rating/#continued

UPDATE:  WOW Insider has written a guide to the rating system used in Arena play.  I suspect some of questions about the top 2v2 team's scores can be answered by the complexity of this system.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/16/the-colosseum-a-basic-guide-to-the-arena-rating-system/

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About the Argent Tournament

Banana Shoulders has written a Tourists' Guide to the Argent Tournament which you can enter once you have a Level 77 character.  The last link updates the earlier link information to be current as of Patch 3.2 post-Call of the Crusade.
http://www.bananashoulders.com/2009/03/13/the-argent-tournament-tourist-guide-part-i/

http://www.bananashoulders.com/2009/03/16/the-argent-tournament-tourist-guide-part-ii/

http://www.bananashoulders.com/2009/04/20/the-argent-tournament-tourist-guide-part-iii/

http://www.bananashoulders.com/2009/08/04/the-argent-tournament-in-patch-3-2/

By the way, WOW Head has updated their guide to the Argent Tournament to be compatible with Patch 3.2 (date August 2009).
http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=104591
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DPS Warrior Leveling Guide (Arms) Post-Call of the Crusade

Big Hit Box is leveling his arms warrior using Pixelated Executioner's multi-part guide and thinks it is great.  Here are the links posted so far:
Levels 1-9
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/06/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades-1.html

Levels 10-19
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/07/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades.html

Levels 20-29
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/07/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades_09.html

Levels 30-39
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/07/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades_16.html

Levels 40-49
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/07/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades_23.html

Levels 50-59
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/08/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades.html

Levels 60-69
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/08/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades_28.html

Levels 70-79
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/10/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grades.html

Level 80
http://pixelatedexecutioner.blogspot.com/2009/10/arms-warrior-elementary-school-grade-80.html

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Should Authenticators Be Mandatory for Battle.net Accounts?

WOW Insider thinks so.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/12/breakfast-topic-why-blizzard-should-make-authenticators-mandato/

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Player Created Mini-Documentary on BlizzCon

Video and commentary here along with a link to a LA Times news story also about BlizzCon.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/11/fan-created-documentary-about-blizzcon-an-event-for-fans/

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Addons Creator Interview at BlizzCon

WOW Insider has posted a long interview with Cameron Knight, an addon writer who is also Blizzard's addon community liaison done at a sci fi fan convention last weekend.  It is a very interesting article whether you want to know Knight's take on Blizzard's using ideas from the addon community, how to get started writing your own addons, what addons Knight recommends, or just interested in how hard it is to track bugs in Lua, the addon software language.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/11/wow-add-ons-panel-at-dragon-con-2009/

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WOW Insider Challenges Blizzard to Date Patches

If you've noticed the box on the right where I post the expected upcoming patch changes and when they are expected, you may cheer on WOW Insider who challenges Blizzard to give actual dates for when they expect things to come out.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/10/a-challenge-to-blizzards-secretive-philosophy/

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Seen on the Chat Line

"Anyone know how to block seeing an entire guild?"

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Dual Welding for Frost Death Knights (Solo)

Darth Solo finds his frost death knight spec of 0/53/18 works wonders on his solo runs.  He doesn't raid, but the Elitist Jerks' build he took his from works well for him.  He describes it in detail here.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/09/dual-wield-frost-death-knight.html

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Guildwatch (Illustrated)

Guildwatch has arrived.  Hurrah!  More drama, more angst, more fun!  And photos--Man, do we have photos today! [Not to mention a free exclamation point with each sentence.]  Click on this picture to get a good look.

Dark Haven of Baelgun launched a protest about the instance problem that is supposed to be fixed after they got booted out of Ulduar.  Photo above of the dancing cows from Mike Schramm, the genius who amuses us each Wedneday (or sometimes Thursdays) with the Guildwatch column.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/09/guildwatch-it-was-my-friend/

A guild mistress and her boyfriend disbanded their guild, saying their studies needed more attention.  Strangely, they took the guild bank with them when they vanished and set up a new guild called Reflera on the Terrokar realm.  Beware!  Education is bad for the health of your guildbank!

This link takes you to a troll posting by someone who applied to a guild and was rejected. The trash talking that resulted isn't even in their own words, they cut and pasted sentences from elsewhere.  Be original in your insults, folks.
http://www.outofcombatguild.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2177

Sadly, the above link is unavailable right now (someone is embarassed, huh?) so I have one of my own for you.  This links to three separate guild applications from the same person. Wonder if they ever got in a guild?  Somehow I think not, assuming that the guilds s/he applied to actually read the application.
http://www.the-core-guild.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6164

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Realms Up or Down? Your iPhone Knows

There's an iPhone app that will tell you which realms are up or down and which will also notify you when the realms you specify go up or down.  It's $1.99.  Details here.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/09/realm-status-iphone-app-sends-push-notifications-for-the-servers/

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WOW Then And Now (A Comparative Review)

Dizko has written a two part article about playing WOW then and now which compares how parts of the game (leveling and raiding) used to work to what happens in them now. I look forward to part three on PvP.
http://limitbreak.gameriot.com/blogs/Barely-Legible-Content/World-of-Warcraft-Then-and-Now-The-Good-The-Bad-and-The-Ugly-Part-1

http://limitbreak.gameriot.com/blogs/Barely-Legible-Content/World-of-Warcraft-Then-and-Now-The-Good-The-Bad-and-The-Ugly-Part-2

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Using Addons to Track Diseases

Here's a discussion of four different addons that track diseases. The same author (a death knight) wrote an article about tracking runes at No Stock UI you might also want to read. Find it here by searching on runes and timers.
http://www.nostockui.com/2009/09/timing-those-diseases/

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All About Enchanting

HOW ENCHANTING WORKS

Enchantment as a profession seems to be very important for the higher level player as they attempt to improve their gear.  Any solo player will have a special interest in this area as they don't have a guild to help with gear (assuming there is such a thing; the Solo MMO Player is very skeptical about the utility of guilds on his realm) and find it hard to raid on their own.  I thought about quoting sections from these three websites to explain how enchanting and dis-enchanting works but I think it better if you just read up yourself and take what you need from these places.

WOW Wiki seems to have the clearest explanation of enchantments and how they work.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Enchanting

Blizzard has a very good explanation of dis-enchanting and excellent tips at the bottom of the page.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/professions/enchanting.html

WOW Enchants is a website set up for enchanters.  There is an enchanting costs page, and sections on the various items that may be enchanted but the home page gives you good information about profiting from enchanting.  I am not sure how up-to-date this site is, however.  

http://www.wowenchant.com/

LEVELING ENCHANTING

Here's a compact guide to leveling enchanting.  Again, I don't know how up-to-date this is.
http://wow.stratics.com/content/features/guides/enchant/

DATABASES FOR ENCHANTING INFORMATION

Besides the general databases on enchanting that WOWHead and WOW Wiki have, I've found several specialty databases for enchantment information.  Take a look and see which you find useful, then bookmark for later reference.

Of all the enchantment databases, Chordian has the most information in the smallest amount of space, including where to find the enchantment, sorted by what type of item the enchant works on.  To switch to another type of gear, click on one of the items at the top of the page right under the header. (The default tab is weapons.)  Note that you can customize this database but I don't know how well this works. I've added this one to the Favorite Links section. 

http://chordian.dk/enchants.htm

Allakhazam lists the enchantments sorted by the six levels in the profession.  Just click on the Apprentice tab and see what you can do.

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/skill.html?line=333&source=live&tier=apprentice

This site lists the glows on various items which is probably important if you are a twink or are selling enchanted items.  Appearance is very important in certain circumstances.

http://www.glowchart.com/

Hope this helps the budding enchanters among us.  

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Death Knight Leveling Specs

Pwnwear lists the leveling specs for Blood, Frost and Unholy DKs.
http://pwnwear.com/2009/09/08/death-knight-dk-levelling-specs/

Note the links to other articles about DK tanking specs at the bottom of this one.

UPDATE:  Next he compares Unholy DK tanking specs in the upcoming Patch 3.3 to find the best.
http://pwnwear.com/2009/11/02/unholy-tank-in-3-3/

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Pre-Raid Trivia Contest

Relyimah is a raid leader who gets everyone to the raid early and prepared by running a pre-raid trivia contest with prizes.  Interesting, huh?  The details are in this interview along with sample trivia questions.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/08/15-minutes-of-fame-pre-raid-trivia-pumps-up-enthusiasm-strats/#continued

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BIg Bear Butt Discovers the Guild System Has Collapsed

BBB went on a PuG and discovers a lot of folks don't know how to raid.  The Solo MMO Player thinks this lack of knowledge of how to play should be put down to the collapse of the guild system. Folks don't learn how to raid without lots of practice, so if the guilds don't raid, the only way to learn is through PuGs.  Which is a miserable experience that leads to less PuGs and less learning.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/08/it-hurt-so-bad-and-thats-not-good/

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WARNING: Fake Cataclysm Beta Email Scam

A warning about a fake Cataclysm Beta scam circulating via email from the WOWhead forums--
http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=118732

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One Handed Ax Bug (Rogues)

A bug rogues using their new one handed axes will see.
http://bighitbox.com/index.php/2009/09/be-careful-with-your-new-axes/

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Enchantments Databases

Chordian has set up a lovely compact database of enchants which you can use to mark the enchantments you have personally.  The default home page is the weapons.  If you want to look at enchantments for boots or bracers, just click on that topic from the list right under the header line.
http://chordian.dk/enchants.htm

WOW Enchants is a website set up for enchanters.  There is an enchanting costs page, and sections on the various items that may be enchanted but the home page gives you good information about profiting from enchanting.
http://www.wowenchant.com/

If you want to know what effects enchantments will put on an item, this is the website for you.
http://www.glowchart.com/

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What Tanks Should Eat

Pwnwear lists what he thinks are the best food for tank buffs and talks about leveling fishing and cooking with a link to the guides to power level these two professions.  (Which the Solo Player thinks are essential for raiding as they provide great buffs.)
http://pwnwear.com/2009/09/08/tank-food-for-buffs/

Here's the fishing site's guide page.  The Horde and Alliance have heir own separate guides and there are guides to fishing for gold, etc.
http://www.elsanglin.com/training.html

Here is the cooking guide Pwnwear likes.
http://www.wow-professions.com/wowguides/wow-cooking-guide.html


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Resto Druid Guide

The five Healing Over Time (HoT) spells and the three direct healing spells any resto druid must have in his or her pocket are first.
http://druidheal.com/?p=581

Here are the three major and three minor glyphs for a Level 80 resto druid.
http://druidheal.com/?p=595

Talents for the resto druid.
http://druidheal.com/?p=609

All about attributes for a resto druid.
http://druidheal.com/?p=629

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Extended Maintenance Tuesday UPDATED

http://www.wow.com/2009/09/07/maintenance-for-tuesday-september-8th/

UPDATE:  Now folks are seeing logging into game errors the day after this maintenance.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/08/widespread-logging-in-to-game-server-error/

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A Labor Day Machinima

A Labor Day song for you, courtesy of Oxhorn.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/07/wow-moviewatch-work-work-zug-zug-dabu/

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Hungry? Don't Click Here

This URL takes you to a series of photographs of WOW themed cakes.
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/09/sunday-sweets-wow.html

More cakes, with some overlap of photographs.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/07/world-of-warcrafts-sweet-labor-day-cake-update/#continued

Sweet!

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Changing Key Bindings

Xella's posting about changing her key bindings on her keyboard and mouse prompted an article at WOW Insider.  Here is what Xella says...
http://community.livejournal.com/worldofwarcraft/8030242.html

...and here is what Mike Schruamm wrote in response.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/06/keybindings-and-how-to-change-them/

However you normally position your fingers, there is information for you in these articles.  You may also be interested in the explanation of key binding in the URL below.
http://www.wow.com/2008/12/24/wow-rookie-leaner-meaner-character-controls/

If you are interested in key binding macros, search on "key binding" in the upper left hand box to find a  blog entry linking to what No Stock UI says about these.
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Gearing A Level 80 Mage for Raiding

Arcane Brilliance admits that the Wrath of the Lich King gearing articles for mages he wrote are sadly out of date. He's writing a series of articles to correct the situation.  Here's the first one.  I'll update more here as they are published.  This is Patch 3.2.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/06/arcane-brilliance-making-your-mage-raid-worthy-part-1/#continued

http://www.wow.com/2009/09/13/arcane-brilliance-making-your-mage-raid-worthy-part-2/

And this info is of Patch 3.3/.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/15/arcane-brilliance-level-80-mage-gearing-roadmap-part-1/

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How xBox Live Keeps It Clean

Here's a transcript from this year's PAX about how Microsoft monitors behavior on their xBox Live service.  Since Blizzard doesn't pay much attention to in-game behavior, I thought everyone would be curious about how The Other Guys handle misbehavior.  (Thanks for posting about this, Kotaku.)
http://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=47972f52-f025-4805-bea4-f515e4269a3a&ID=584

Major Nelson will have the audio up on his blog today or tomorrow (it's a holiday weekend here in the U.S.) if you would prefer to hear it instead of reading it.
http://www.majornelson.com/

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A Guide to Discipline Priesthood

Lilitharian sees a lack of guides to playing as a discipline priest so s/he is going to write one.  This is the introduction.  As always, I'll update this blog entry as more is written.
http://divineaegis.haecceity.nu/2009/09/06/l2disc-intro/

Here's an analysis of the talent tree for disc priests.
http://divineaegis.haecceity.nu/2009/09/07/l2disc-talents/

Disc priests gear in Patch 3.3
http://bobturkey.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/discipline-priest-gear-list-for-3-3/

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Guide to Writing Forum Comments

Tongue-in-cheek guide to writing forum comments, geared toward the illiterate whiner.
http://mendpet.com/2009/09/01/how-to-qq-a-fill-in-the-blanks-guide/

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Worship This Idol, Trees

4Healz thinks the Idol of Flaring Growth is the best thing to buy with your Badges of Triumph if you are a higher level resto druid.  Here's why.
http://4haelz.blogspot.com/2009/08/procing-over-and-over-and-over.html

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Joystiq Interviews Blizzard Bigwigs

Joystiq interviews WOW's lead producer at BlizzCon 2009.  Many thanks to WOW Insider for pointing this out as the interview touches on the future of the game.
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/04/blizzard-interview-j-allen-brack-on-world-of-warcraft/

UPDATE:  Joystiq interviews the Senior VP and Senior Producer of WOW about milestones such as the fifth anniversary.
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/10/interview-blizzards-frank-pearce-on-warcraft-milestones/

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Guide to Playing A Protection Warrior

Panzer Cow is writing a very good guide to playing as a protection warrior.  It starts in March of 2009 with new sections posted periodically.
http://panzercow.wordpress.com/tag/guides/

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Great Gadgets for Engineers to Make (and Why)

http://www.wow.com/2009/09/04/insider-trader-gadgets-for-the-modern-engineer/#continued

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Blizzard Bans Players with Viruses, Keyloggers or Trojans

WOW Insider reports a player was temporarily banned when Blizzard found a virus or a spybot on his system when they scanned it.  I have no idea how using an authenticator will help keep this from happening, although WOW Insider says this is the case.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/04/play-safe-because-a-trojan-can-get-you-banned/#continued

UPDATE:  An explanation of how the authenticator helps you in this situation.  Thanks, Lissanna.
http://www.restokin.com/2009/09/blizzard-is-taking-your-computer-security-into-their-own-hands/

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WOW Top List

Apparently Blizzard keeps track of the most popular things or quests in the game and posts them here.  Infinite Dust is the most auctioned item currently and copper bars are the most popular created item.  When it comes to the most completed quest, Taking Battle to the Enemy is both #1 and #2.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/toplist/buttons.html

I just report this stuff--I don't explain it.

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Game Blog and Podcaster Interviews

The Grinding to Valhalla project interviews game bloggers and podcasters.  If you are curious about the people behind the game content you enjoy on the Internet, this is the place to explore.
http://grindingtovalhalla.wordpress.com/

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Rune Timer Primer

No Stock UI looks at rune timers to replace the default rune interface.
http://www.nostockui.com/2009/08/rune-timers-a-primer/

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The Explain-O-Matic Explains Macros

WOW Insider's dug up a neat tool that will explain line-by-line just what a macro does.  In case you can't figure it out on your own (or are learning to create macros yourself).
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/03/the-explain-o-matic-will-explain-your-macros/


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Should Guild Members Use Authenticators to Access Guild Bank?

The pros and the cons here.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/03/requiring-authenticators-for-guild-bank-access/

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How to Create Images to Use in-Game

Lots of useful information here for those who like to create thumbnails or image addons, including file formats, pixel sizes, etc.
http://dreambound-druid.blogspot.com/2009/09/creating-graphics-for-use-in-wow.html

This is an achievement creator.
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/achievement-creator-dukelupus-com/

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Soloing Steamvault in the Coilfang Reservoir

Darth Solo tackles Steamvault as a Beastmaster Hunter which I believe is a Level 80.  He talks strategy which makes this of interest to any solo player.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/09/solo-ing-coilfang-reservoir-steamvault.html

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All About Priests

World of Matticus is laying out the priest character and all the variations (holy, discipline, etc.) in great detail.  There are currently three parts to this guide.  Part one is talents for PvE priests.http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/06/06/healing-priest-guide-part-1-talents/

Part two is how to build a spec.
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/06/16/priest-guide-part-2-how-to-build-holy/

Part three covers the writer's discipline spec which is not a standard one.
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/08/26/priest-guide-part-3-how-to-build-discipline/

Part four will be about macros.  It's not up yet but I will update this blog entry when it is.

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Detailed Aion Review

This review is by a gamer who played it in the closed beta version.
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/08/26/aion-beta-review-from-a-wow-players-perspective/

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Guildwatch At Long Last

Guildwatch appeared a bit late this week, but your weekly dose of drama has finally arrived.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/02/guildwatch-into-the-coliseum/

The winner of this week's Class GM award goes to Scarred of NC Gaming who was accidentally passed a stack of shards which he promptly sold in Trade Chat.  Yes, he really is the GM of NC Gaming.  Or at least he was.  I imagine he might have been demoted after this event.

The Take the Mount and Run Award goes to Korron who went on a raid with his/her guildmates.  Someone rolled Greed of 100 and the Ashes of Al'ar rare mount dropped, but Korron wanted both and took them, quit the raid, quit the guild, changed his/her name and has vanished into unknown realms.  Guildwatch's columnist thinks there must have been bad blood already but I think this is just Greed Personified.


Horde Smash Good wins the Run Away from This Guild award when they /gkicked a bunch of folks from the guild, including one poor guy who had been away from the game for a bit while he was in the hospital.  


As usual there is a lot of raiding and guild recruiting going on, just not on the Solo MMO Player's realm.

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Cccchanges (Faction, Forum, Argent Tournament Problems)

Lots of new stuff happens in WOW all the time. Here's a quick list of the most significant changes this week.

The paid faction change service is up and running, so if you want to be Horde instead of Alliance (or vice versa) pay the gold and you are good to go.  You can change your name and appearance, too.  Note there are mount and reputation restrictions, there isn't a server transfer involved and some folks won't be allowed to switch if their server is already tilted too far to the side they want to join.  Read the fine print in the second link.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/02/faction-change-service-now-available/

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faction-change/index.xml

Blizzard has opened a Cataclysm forum.  Speculate there to your heart's content but don't forget to push for the original game to be put in the Caverns of Time so it is still playable.  It would be a crime to lose it so give Blizzard the idea that having original content still available will keep players paying them.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/02/official-cataclysm-forum-opens/

There have been problems with jousting in the Argent Tournament which are described here as well as some ways to avoid them.  Blizzard promised to "address" these.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/02/patch-3-2-2-5-man-coliseum-joust-woes-to-be-addressed/

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Raid Bosses That Test Healers

WOW Insider has published the first in a series about bosses that strain healing skills the most. I will update this blog entry when more in this series is published.

http://www.wow.com/2009/08/17/raid-rx-raid-bosses-that-brought-healers-part-1/#continued

http://www.wow.com/2009/08/31/raid-rx-raid-bosses-that-brought-healers-to-their-knees-3-4/

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When, Where, What to Gem

GEM BASICS

Until the Wrath of the Lich King came out there were four types of gems (red, yellow, blue and meta) that fit into sockets on your weapons.  Putting a gem into a socket enhances your gear in some way.  Note that once you put a gem into a socket, it is there forever. It's superglued in place, so to speak.   It cannot be removed although you can put another gem on top, which will destroy the first gem.  So be certain before you act.  You don't want to make a costly mistake.  Here is what Blizzard says about gems and gemming gear.  By the way, The Solo MMO Player says most gems go on gear, not weapons.  I find that an interesting choice on Blizzard's part.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/items/socketeditems.html

After the Wrath of the Lich King expansion the gem system expanded into three primary gems (red, blue, yellow), three secondary gems (purple, green, orange), and then the meta gems which seem to be rare or epic.   Blizzard says in the basic gem info link above that you can put any gem anywhere except for meta gems that will only go into meta sockets, but there are special bonuses if you color match, so probably you want to do this when possible.  A secondary (such as orange) gem can go into two different sockets (red or yellow).  Along the same lines a purple gem can go into a red or blue socket and a green gem can go into a yellow or blue socket. Doing this color matching of gem to socket keeps to The Plan and might award you secondary bonuses.  Of course you may not care about these bonuses, depending on how your character is set up.

http://www.wow.com/2008/07/18/gems-in-wrath/

WOW Wiki talks about what the gems mean and how they work here.  It's confusing but at least they break down the gem types so that you know which ones are available in which area.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Gem

Those who are jewelcrafters can buy epic gem cutting patterns using Dalaran Jewelcrafter's tokens.   You can't buy the patterns with gold, and this has been heavily criticized (see second link below).  Raw gem material is gotten by mining titanium ore and by alchemy transformations or bought through honor or Emblems of Heroism.

http://www.wow.com/2009/06/16/epic-gems-and-profession-changes-in-patch-3-2/

http://www.wow.com/2008/12/10/jewelcraftings-flawed-design/

Apparently there are a lot of folks not happy with the state of jewelcrafting after the Lich King changes.  You can read a good critique of the current system (Patch 3.2 Call of the Crusade) here.

http://www.wow.com/2009/05/22/insider-trader-jewelcrafting-nerf-incoming/

RESEARCHING GEMS

The WOW Gem Finder looks like a useful little tool as you can search for abilities or colors, and everything links to WOWhead so you can look up more information on their extensive database once you know what you are looking for.  It is not up to date however.  It doesn't include the changes in the gemming system that the Wrath of the Lich King expansion brought to the game.

http://www.wow-gem.com/gems.aspx

There is a list of gems broken down into four categories of red, blue, yellow and meta on the Allakhazam site (it is not up to date either).  Click on a category and a list of all those type gems opens with the effect shown.   This isn't searchable and I don't think it is nearly as useful as the WOW Gem Finder but here it is for you to use if you like.

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/gem.html

RECOMMENDATIONS

I've found several articles recommending certain gems for various classes.  I can't judge just how useful these are but they are here in case you play one of the classes I found information on. 

Death Knights (PvE only)

http://www.wow.com/2009/02/01/lichborne-pve-gems-for-death-knights/

Hunters (enchantment recommendations here also)

http://www.wow.com/2009/01/22/scattered-shots-a-pve-gem-and-enchant-guide-for-hunters/

Restoration Druids

http://www.rollinghots.com/2009/06/29/jewel-studded-resto-gems-in-patch-3-2/

http://4haelz.blogspot.com/2009/09/gemming-your-resto-druid.html

Rogues
http://samueltempus.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/gems-for-your-rogue/

Shamans (enchantment recommendations here also)

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/shaman/enhancements

Warlocks (2007)

http://wowmb.net/forums/f104/26552-socketing_guide/

FIGURING IT OUT ON YOUR OWN

What you have to do is look at your own specs and gear and decide what you need, then research where you might find such items.  This is a top-down approach.  You could also just look up info about gems you get in drops in raids you plan to run, or can make, and decide how best to use them.  This is more a bottom-up approach.  Solo players probably need to do both things as they don't have a guild bank that has gems one can take and are probably not raiding except through PUGs.

This two year old article may be of some help.

http://www.wow.com/2007/07/06/insider-trader-a-diamond-is-forever-a-consumers-guide-to-ge/

Here is an example of figuring out socket bonuses.  It's really just applying a bit of math to the gems that enhance areas you want to optimize.

http://bighitbox.com/index.php/2009/08/lets-talk-about-socket-bonuses/

Note that the Solo MMO Player thinks enchants might be more important than gems.  Don't obsess over this to the extent that you don't play and enjoy the game, in other words.

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