Sunday, June 20, 2010

Engineers and Their Fun Gadgets

Once you level your engineering, there are some very fun gadgets you can build.  Zal describes his favorites and what they do here.
http://blessingoffish.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/fun-gadgetry/

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Keybindings: Unique and Unusual (and Normal)

Thanks to a chance mention on WOW Insider, I found this series of articles on keybinding that Blessing of Fish (who mostly plays a Holy Paladin) has written. The first article is about using the mouse scroll wheel.
http://blessingoffish.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/keybound-the-scroll-wheel/

The second article in the series talks about the addons Clique and Grid.
http://blessingoffish.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/keybound-grid-and-clique/

If Zal writes any more Keybound articles, I'll update this.

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Cooldown Management in Icecrown Citadel

How to handle cooldowns in Lower Spire.  Note that although this is a WOW Insider regular column for enhancement shamans, the information is relevant to all who have to deal with cooldown periods.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/19/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-the-lower-spire/

http://www.wow.com/2010/06/26/totem-talk-cooldown-management-in-icc-part-2/

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Who's Dead? Tooltip

Need to know which bosses are dead when you are plugged into a raid that is underway?  Use this tooltip.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/06/20/saving-to-existing-raid-instance-which-bosses-are-dead/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

The Midsummer Fire Festival (June 21-July 5)

WOW Head has posted a guide to the upcoming Midsummer Fire Festival holiday on their site.  This year it starts on June 21st and runs through July 5.  The guide tells you where to find the bonfires and quest givers, and lists the achievements, quests and items you can obtain during the festival.
http://www.wowhead.com/guide=midsummer-fire-festival

WOW Insider has done an achievement guide.  While I prefer WOW Head's summary, if you just want to know achievements, this is the link for you.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/18/the-overachiever-guide-to-midsummer-festival-2010-achievements/

UPDATE:  The holiday boss is part of the random dungeon finder now.  Details here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/22/breakfast-topic-holiday-boss-in-the-dungeon-finder-is-the-best/

UPDATE #2:  Kirina's recommendations on what to wear.  Well, you gotta look good when questing!
http://wowrpc.waddellconsulting.com/?p=2443

UPDATE #3:  Tips on how to get through the PvP parts of holiday the quests.
http://waywardinitiative.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/a-heros-guide-to-the-midsummer-festival/

UPDATE #4:  A summary of fire festival resources.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/22/the-daily-quest-the-midsummer-fire-festival/

UPDATE #5 - Help torch juggling which requires quite a bit of manual dexterity.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/28/midsummer-fire-festival-need-help-juggling/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

DK Specs for ICC (Heroic) UPDATED

Skeleton Jack lists the specs he recommends for death knights doing Icecrown Citadel on heroic.
http://www.skeletonjack.com/2010/06/18/heroic-lich-king-for-death-knights/

UPDATE:  Skeleton Jack has posted a follow up article from the Comments on the above.
http://www.skeletonjack.com/2010/06/19/heroic-lich-king-part-ii/

UPDATED AGAIN:  More followup.
http://www.skeletonjack.com/2010/06/20/heroic-lich-king-part-iii/

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Friday, June 18, 2010

Break Out the Earplugs

Have you been watching sports news and seeing clips of the noisy long horns called vuvuselas that the South Africans blow like crazy at the soccer games?  Do you want one in WOW?  Do you have a Death Knight?  Today's your lucky day.  Frost is the New Black explains how to add the racket to your game by replacing the regular sound of a DK's Horn of Winter with the sound of a crazed soccer fan's horn.
http://frostisthenewblack.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/have-your-own-vuvuzela-in-game/

For those without ear plugs, using Control S will mute game sound effects.  Pushing Control S again turns them back on.  Control M turns music on/off.  One of these should work, depending on whether the vuvuzela noise is considered music or sound.

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Profile of Satrina Buff Frames (Addons)

WOW Insider profiles an addon that allows great customization of your buffs and debuffs as either icons or bars with timers.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/17/addon-spotlight-satrina-buff-frames/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

OnLive Gaming Goes Live UPDATED AGAIN

The OnLive cloud gaming service is now live.  Reading the comments after Kotaku's announcement, I see that for the first year that you don't have to pay to use the service but you do have to pay for the games you use on it.  There are complaints that if you drop the service, you lose the games you paid for, so actually this is a rental service where you pay the same price as if you bought physical copies of the game.  Apparently one can't use a Wi Fi connection; you have to be wired to play with a speed of 5 Mbps.  This is not available in England yet.  One commentator thinks this should have been introduced in Asia where fast connections are the norm.  Many of the games available are shooters.
http://kotaku.com/5566691/onlive-goes-live-did-you-sign-up

UPDATE:  Eurogamer has posted prices for games available through the service.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/full-list-of-onlive-pricing-options

UPDATE #2: Sale on OnLive service.
http://www.1up.com/news/onlive-rolling-game-sale-wifi

UPDATE #3:  Monthly fees are dropped (October 2010)
http://www.1up.com/news/onlive-drops-monthly-membership-fees

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Analysis of Cataclysm Raiding and Guilds

WOW Insider looks at the current plans (and Ghostcrawler's latest comments) for raiding when Cataclysm hits.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/17/the-evolution-of-raid-design-in-cataclysm/

Then they look at Ghostcrawler's comments on guild organization in Cat.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/17/ghostcrawler-on-guild-organization-in-cataclysm/

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