Revisting Blogs about Classic WOW

I've started trying to find old class content from 2009 and earlier for the Classic WOW game.  It's not easy.  Most of the links with good information at one time are now dead and gone. Arcane Brilliance, SpicyTuna, Empowered Fire, Big Red Kitty, Psynister, they are all defunct.

But Critical QQ is still around, with lots of mage information.  This appears to be the first posting, Halloween 2007.  I recommend you rummage around as you'll get a real feel for what players were like in the original game.
https://criticalqq.wordpress.com/2007/10/

This article about the Fire Mage in PvP is from Critical QQ in 2010.
https://criticalqq.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/fire-mage-pvp-problems-and-solutions/

Slice and Dice's article about mages destroying rogues on heroics might be useful.  He played a rogue back in the day, so don't look for much mage info here.  But if you are a rogue, this is the blog to explore.
https://samueltempus.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/whats-up-with-my-heroic-dps/

Big Bear Butt is a famous hunter but this early article is all about feral druid specs.  Enjoy it if you are a druid but if you are a hunter, this is the Mother Lode.
https://thebigbearbutt.com/2007/08/22/variations-in-feral-druid-specs-no-math/

Harpy's Nest is all about playing a priest or mage.  This is a typical article.  It lists all the places you can pick up the Polymorph spell if you are a mage.  Who doesn't want to turn stuff into a pig?
https://harpysnest.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/the-many-flavours-of-polymorph/

Finally, Frost is the New Black is all about playing a frost mage, a restoration druid and a shadow priest.  I'm not sure all the information on these characters is all Classic-specific, but it's a good place to explore.
https://frostisthenewblack.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/meanwhile-frost-is-pretty-awesome/


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WOW Classic: Choosing Characters and Addons

If you are playing Classic World of Warcraft this week, roll a caster.  Melee players will have trouble with some quests.   Hunters will start out great but then begin having trouble as they level.  The original game didn't balance characters well, so some are weak and some are strong.  Word to the wise from the Solo MMO Player….

For help, Warcraft Tavern has a lot of class-specific material.  No idea how good it is.  The Solo MMO Player is relying on his memory of playing the classic version of the game.
https://www.warcrafttavern.com/guides/type/classes/

This forum has help for new players.  Again, no idea how helpful it will be for Classic WOW.
https://wow-noobs.livejournal.com

Hunters have to level their pets and level their weapons.  Just because your pet has an ability, doesn't mean you can use it.  You have to train the pet to do these things.  Pet trainers are next to the hunter trainers but not every town has a pet trainer.

When it comes to addons, Bartender doesn't work very well.  Never has.  Probably never will.  (The Solo MMO Player says you have to be drunk to even attempt to get it up and running.)  Dominos is much simpler to use.  Dominos Classic is specific for the Classic version of WOW.

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Guild Wars Character and Hero Builds Lists

Character builds for Guild Wars One, both PvP and PvE.
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Another list of character builds.
http://www.gwpvx.com/PvX_wiki

An exhaustive list of Hero builds.
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Category:All_working_hero_builds

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Rift TV

TGN.tv has created a series of Rift videos about various aspects of play.  There are two pages of everything from general introductory videos and gameplay to character creation and dungeon guides located here.  It's worth a browse to see if there is anything of interest to you but remember that these were made from the various betas.  There may have been changes for the retail releases of the game.
http://tgn.tv/?s=rift

Here is a good introduction video on how to use the UI and maps, etc.
http://tgn.tv/▶-rift-guide-sanctum-city-maps-surprises-tgn-tv/

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RESOURCES COURTESY OF IMRAITH

Imraith the Aloof has complied several nice lists of resourcees on her blog.  Check out the Pages section on the right for class-specific macros, links to gear and class resources, profession info, and some Auction House material.  Looks like she has a good eye for helpful information and the knack for organizing it well.  This is definitely a resource to check out.
http://imraithdossantos.blogspot.com/

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Transformations

If you like to change your characters' appearance, you'll enjoy reading Blessing of Fish's collection of ways he changes his.
http://blessingoffish.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/draenei-in-disguise/

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Manage User Profiles with Reflux (Addons)

A guide to setting up reflux to manage all your characters.
http://huntsmanslodge.com/6538/a-few-notes-on-reflux.htm

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A Bust

FigurePrints, the company that does 3-D statues of your characters, is now offering smaller busts.  Smaller version, smaller price tag.

http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/figureprints-announces-busts/

Here is the company website.

http://www.figureprints.com/

Another company does posters or mouse pads of your characters.

http://www8.printwarcraft.com/homepage.html

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Guidelines, Conventions and Rules on a Role Play Server

Lissana talks about role play servers, what you can expect there, the conventions, and a link to Blizzard's rules about how to conduct yourself while there.
http://www.restokin.com/2010/03/so-you-want-to-play-on-an-rp-server/

Since this must be Role Play Day*, Gazimoff wrote a long article about role play with a lot of useful links to guides, folks who wrote how to role play articles, and blogs documenting role play experience.
http://manaobscura.gazimoff.com/?p=229

*I think the creation of the Single Abstract Noun guild for bloggers on a role play server has sparked new interest in learning role play conventions, which explains all the new articles.  After all, folks must be looking for things to do while waiting for Cataclysm to arrive and many bloggers have joined Single Abstract Noun on either U.S. (Alliance) or EU (Hoard) servers.

Role Play 101 from WOW Insider.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/04/all-the-worlds-a-stage-roleplaying-101/

The mechanics of role play vary by server.  Here are some common ways to communicate with other players whether you are out of character or not.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/09/all-the-worlds-a-stage-the-basic-mechanics-of-roleplay/

UPDATE:  Naming conventions by class with links to help you choose a name that won't get you reported.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/23/all-the-worlds-a-stage-common-name-conventions/

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Free Character Moves on EU Servers

If you play on an EU server and want to move, Blizzard is offering free transfers.  What you can and can't do here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/03/18/free-character-moves-for-eu-servers/

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Player Evaluation Tools: Elitist Group

If you absolutely must evaluate players and don't want to use GearScore, Matticus has an article up about Elitist Group on his No Stock UI site.  It looks at gear, gems, enchants, specs and completed instances and their achievements.  It also keeps track of which players one has raided with before.

Note that there are problems with it, as there are with all evaluation tools.  For instance, any player who has been kicked out of the dungeon finder after the boss has been taken down by a greedy raid leader who wants to keep all the good gear for himself (you know who you are) won't get credit for the raid.*
http://www.nostockui.com/2010/01/use-elitist-group-to-find-out-more/

*Actually, Blizzard should fix this problem.  There is no reason anyone should be kicked from a dungeon finder group after the boss has been killed except greed on the part of the raid leader.  If no one can be tossed out after the boss goes down, the problem is fixed.

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Thought for the Day

The Solo MMO Player asks:  Do you play your character, or do you wear it?

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Mailbox Addons: Postal

Postal allows you to manage your alts' mailboxes.  WOW Insider featured Postal in their addon column last June.
http://www.wow.com/2009/06/06/addon-spotlight-postal/

More details about what it does and does not do here.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/postal.aspx

And here.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11187-Postal.html

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Gearscore and Why We Love/Hate It (Addons)

Cold Comfort takes a critical look at Gearscore and how it supports the Great Gear Myth.  He points out the variety of gear scores various sites and addons give for the same toon, explains just what Gearscore counts and what it ignores, explains how to game Gearscore, and talks about why Blizzard probably won't ban its use.  This article has links to Gearscore and Gearscore Lite download sites and explains the difference.
http://blog.cold-comfort.org/great-gearscore-debate-09/

Here is part two from Cold Comfort, which looks at the addon Experience which shows character stats, including how many times someone has killed a boss.  He advocates using "experience" as a measure of how much of the game someone has gone through instead of looking at gear, which can come to a player who has not done much in-game through various routes.
http://blog.cold-comfort.org/inexperience-weakness/

If you are feeling particularly silly, you might be interested in Namescore, which rates character names as to legibility, appropriateness and asthetics.
http://www.nostockui.com/2009/10/forget-gearscore-try-namescore/

Dreambound feels pretty much the same way about PUGs as Cold Comfort.
http://dreambound-druid.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-pug-raids-and-gear.html

And yes, I know I've just posted four blog entries about addons.  It seems folks talk about the same topic simultaneously.  Must be something in the Internet....

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Customized Character Posters UPDATED

If you don't have the cash to have a 3-D statue made of your favorite character, how about a poster instead? This company is gearing up to print posters of your characters. No word on when or the price.

http://www.printwarcraft.com/

UPDATE:  WOW Insider says the site is open for business but hard to access (probably due to the crush of visitors).
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/03/print-warcraft-opens-its-doors/

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