Friday, April 27, 2012

For The Children

Children's Week is upon us, which means that it's time for The School of Hard Knocks to rear it's ugly head again.

Hey... it's For The Children.

As usual when it's something PvP related, I recommend that you turn to Cynwise.  If you're going to be in the BGs trying for your achievement, take a look at his guide for the event.  If you're a regular BG participant, you might want to consider his Modest Proposal.

Me?  I'm thinking that I'll drop in on a BG or two, just to lend a hand.  Not on Aeth, though, tempting as that might be.  Perhaps I'll get some starter PvP gear on Laenshield or Aretae or even Aeven and see what PvP as a different class feels like.


Friday, April 13, 2012

Scratch That... Apparently, I've Been REALLY Good!

Just got an invite to the Diablo III beta as well.

Looks like I'll be playing lots of games in the future!

...

Yes, yes, I know.  It's not like I wasn't going to do that anyways; but now I have a justification for it.

Apparently, I've Been Good

Blizzard has decided that I CAN HAZ PANDAS.

This isn't my first time beta-testing a game (take a gander at Frayed Knights, which I suspect you'll enjoy if you have anything more than a rudimentary sense of humor).  I may be weird, but as a software developer, I actually take the whole "beta tester" thing kind of seriously.

Yeah, I'll get to see da Pandas.  I'm also looking forward to filing some reports on truly heinous bugs.

Don't laugh.  I just told you - I'm weird.

In fact, as kind of a good omen of the bounty of bugs to come, I managed to file one even before I had the Mists beta installed.  The Mac installer crashed in a weird and unusual way, so boom - off goes the problem report to Blizzard.

An auspicious beginning, I think :-)

Moar Panda news to follow...

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

With The Fury of a Thousand Suns

Ah, Noblegarden!  The seasons are turning.  Spring is in the air, and it is a time to put aside the struggles of the world for a time, and celebrate not victory, but life itself.

Ah, Noblegarden!  One of the few in-game holidays without a PvP component.

At least... that's what they'd like you to think.

The truth of the matter - the sick, twisted truth - is that while there is no direct PvP activity during Noblegarden, the entirety of this oh-so-innocent looking holiday is designed to fill you with the seething, white-hot fury of a thousand suns, directed at your fellow WoW player.

Consider, please.  What is the primary activity of Noblegarden, eh?

Running around and collecting Brightly Colored Eggs.

So pastoral, yes?  So... so peaceful.

Until you show up in Dolanaar and realize that there are about a thousand other people doing the exact same thing.

Have you ever had a character who was a miner?

Have you ever, on that character, spotted a node, swooped in on it, and stood on the node while you fought off the inevitable slavering horror who lurked nearby?

Have you ever done so, only to hear, as you finished off your foe, a sound that simultaneously chilled your blood and filled you with a blinding, burning hatred?

"Tink... tink... tink..."

Yes... the sound that lets you know that, when you turn around, you'll be greeted by the sight of some inconsiderate jerk of indeterminate parentage stealing your freaking node.

Recall the times this has happened to you.  Take this thought.  Roll it around in your head for a bit.  Allow it to seep into your psyche, until you remember the feeling of incandescent rage that bubbled through your entire being, bringing all your thoughts to a roiling boil of distilled hatred that suddenly crystalized into a single, focused desire.

Nay, not a desire, but a need.

A need to kill.

Got it?

Now imagine that feeling washing over you every thirty seconds.

That, my friend, is what it's like collecting eggs for Noblegarden.

Two days, and I'm about halfway towards the 500 chocolates I need for Aeth's Swift Springstrider.  Two more days, and I suspect that I will be filled with a loathing of my fellow WoW player so blindingly intense that Deathwing himself would be taken aback.

If I could, I would cheerfully murder each and every person in Dolanaar.

Cheerfully.  Whistling a jaunty little killing tune the whole while.

Fortunately for them, my murderous rage is blunted by the sad, sad fact that one cannot simply gank members of one's own faction.

Believe me, I've tried.

That druid in flight form, camping two prime egg spawns?  If looks could kill, man, you'd be dead.  And not just dead - I'd camp your dismembered corpse, and sit and munch on Barbecued Buzzard Wings while I waited for the chance to kill you again.

Fortunately for you, Blizzard - in their wisdom - keeps me from this immensely logical course of action.  Which leaves me with a surfeit of vitriol, a desire to find another player and ruin their entire week, that I need to unload somewhere.

Now, where could I find that kind of catharsis?

If only there were some location - some battleground - where I could let slip the dogs of war and vent my pent-up feelings, even if it were upon some poor proxy for my despite!

Heh.

So, yeah.  Noblegarden?

Totally a PvP holiday.

Totally.