WOW - The Undead Sheep

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 7

2010-10-22T09:59:00.004-04:00

Ok getting my picks in today. Some interesting matchups so let's get to it.
Let's make some money!

Point Spread

JAC @ KC (-9.5) KC WIN
I know given the Chiefs somewhat lackluster play this year 9.5 is a lot of points to lay on them but I think it's definitely doable. I'm betting that Edwards will get the start and will not be able to mount any kind of passing game. That means it comes down to Jones-Drew. The flipside is that if Garrard starts the Jags put together a competitive game given their embarrassing effort last week.

WAS @ CHI (-2.5) CHI LOSS
Both teams are struggling but which is worse? Washington is getting used to the McNabb Philadelphia fans put up with but surprisingly the running game has been keeping the Redskins in a lot of games. Chicago is struggling to protect their quarterback. In the end I think Cutler just makes more plays than McNabb and pulls a win out for 'DA BEARS!

PIT (-3.5) @ MIA PIT LOSS
Pittsburgh looks stronger than ever. Hopefully the drama with Harrison doesn't disrupt the locker room. The Steelers will play tough grind 'em out football and at the end of 60 minutes win by 10.

CIN @ ATL (-4.5) CIN LOSS
Dammit, I am not giving up on this team. Coming off a bye week and two close losses I'm praying Palmer has had a good week of practice. Keep it close guys.

STL @ TB (-2.5) STL WIN
Fine, I've become a believer. St. Louis make me proud (and some money).

BUF @ BAL (-14.5) BAL LOSS
Two things: 1 this is going to get ugly and 2 someone is going to get hurt. I think the Ravens score 30 point here and Buffalo gets 13.

NE (-0.5) @ SD NE WIN
This is simply a QB pick. I believe Brady will find a way to win this game. San Diego has been inconsistent to say the least.

MIN @ GB (-2.5) MIN LOSS
Green Bay just has too many injuries. Rodgers cannot carry this team alone when Minnesota has a few more weapons. Peterson might rack up 200 yards.

Monday Night Football
NYG @ DAL (-3) NYG WIN
Dallas needs to win this game, desperately but the Giants are beginning to get the train rolling. Running game looks solid, Manning is making better decisions, the defense is playing well. For Dallas Romo is still Romo, Austin has disappeared, running game has gone AWOL, Jerry Jones is not freaking out. I'm going to be the over for interceptions and fumbles.

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 6 results

2010-10-18T12:24:00.003-04:00

Arg. Didn't have enough time to breakdown the matchups. Oh well hope you all did well this weekend. Let's talk a bit about the surprises.

Kansas City @ Houston - well Schaub pulled out another win late in the game. Certainly not a game in which defense played a major part. If only KC could get someone to step up and make a play they could have won this one.

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay - now this is looking a little more like the champs. Things seem to be clicking a bit more but TB didn't really offer up a real challenge.

Cleveland @ Pittsburgh - the return of Big Ben was the story. He fit into the offense without being a major disruption. The Steelers gotta look like Superbowl favorites.

Atlanta @ Philadelphia - Kolb trying to hang on to his job as the starter performed well.

Detroit @ New York Giants - one late interception foiled a comeback attempt by Detroit. Still a dangerous team despite being 1-5.

San Diego @ St. Louis - wha? Big inconsistency problems in SD. One week they are scoring 40 points the next they are losing to a rookie QB. St. Louis doing with their top 2 receivers out to injury. Unbelievable.

Seattle @ Chicago - better than expected is all I can say about Seattle. Aging QB can still put together a win over a Chicago defense that looked a little ordinary.

Monday Nighter
Tennessee (-4.5) @ Jacksonville - seems like a snoozer. The spread looks doable for the Titans. I'm expecting a close game early on with turnovers keeping things exciting but Johnson to take things over late.

Change? I don't like change

2010-10-14T16:43:00.002-04:00

With the introduction of patch 4.01 a whole lot of change is happening. All in preparation for Cataclysm it seems like class abilities and talent points have been turned upside down.

31 point talent trees? WTF. Simplifying the talent tiers makes sense. Introducing a bunch of new talents just makes for a complicated calculating system which would ultimately lead to lag. Which is another reason why I don't like change, downtime. If you've been following the forums, there are a number of bugs still present and being worked on.

Reforging looks interesting. Customizing equipment that would normally be vendored can be tailored to meet your class needs. Go ahead, get rid of that useless spirit stat in favor of something else, anything.

Mastery is another intriguing feature. Who know exactly how it will work and how quickly things will become unbalanced.

Also for Deathknights, blood as a dedicated tanking tree? Hrm. I enjoyed my time as a frost tanking dk but it looks like that tree has been turned into a dual wielding dps selection. Still I did briefly consider returning to the addiction but, nope. Nothing has changed my mind thus far. (still keeping tabs on Azeroth)

Video game crazie

2010-10-13T09:44:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I'm a little attached to my gaming stuff. Xbox, quad core pc, Nintendo DSI, and the like but thankfully I'm not this crazy. There are so many things wrong with this situation I don't know where to begin.

The story goes the girlfriends takes his PS3 to work to try and motivate him to do something, other than sit on the couch and play video games all day. He in turn flies into a rage, chases her down in her Porche (hmm, yes, indeed. It's nice to be a kept man), cuts her off, gets back the said PS3 and returns home. She continues to work and calls the cops. I guess you could say that she had enough. Cops arrest the dumbass who didn't "think it was a big deal". Hmm.

42 and unemployed. While I know the economy is tough, you can't give up. Part time employment is not beneath you. Some income is better than no income. If you show your girlfriend that you are still "trying" then she probably will continue to put up with you.

Video games all day? You know there is this thing called the "Internet"? It has teh pornz and stuff. Way more interesting than Final Fantasy. Or perhaps you might even do a bit of reading under the employment section. I think if I became a loser like this I might just give up on life altogether. I really hope nobody could become this deranged that they would resort to these kinds of tactics over a gaming console.

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 5

2010-10-09T14:22:00.004-04:00

Point Spread picks

Visitor Home Pick

JAC (-3) @ BUF JAC WIN
Buffalo is a disaster, plain and simple.

TB @ CIN (-6.5) CIN LOSE
Still banking on Cincy to show up.

GB (-3.5) @ WAS GB LOSE
No Portis = no running game.

DEN @ BAL (-7.5) DEN LOSE
Baltimore should not be favored by this much.

ATL (-4.5) @ CLE ATL WIN
Wallace was good last week, this week he will suck it up.

TEN @ DAL (-6.5) TEN WIN
Dallas should be rested, Miles Austin should have a better game but I don't think this will be a blow out.

SD (-7) @ OAK SD LOSE
San Diego is going to turn this one into a laugher.

MIN @ NYJ (-4.5) MIN LOSS
New receiver, some guy named Randy Moss, should make this a close one. But I still think the Jets will win by a field goal.

OLG Pro-line NFL Week 4

2010-10-03T12:03:00.004-04:00

Point Spread

DEN @ TEN (-7.5) DEN WIN
CIN (-5.5) @ CLE CIN LOSE
SEA (-2.5) @ STL SEA LOSE
IND (-9.5) @ JAK IND LOSE
WAS @ PHI (-6.5) WAS WIN
CHI @ NYG (-3.0) NYG WIN
NE (-2.5) @ MIA NE WIN

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 3 results

2010-09-28T11:45:00.003-04:00

Well it looks like I had a better week than last. Let's recap shall we?

DAL @ HOU - for the record, Dallas did not win this game. Houston found new and interesting ways to lose a football game. The Houston offense was completely out of sync. Dallas should have been able to run up the score in this one.

PIT @ TB - I wasn't expecting Batch to throw for 3 TDs but that definitely helped. Mendenhall 143 yds rushing and good old defense, now that's Pittsburgh football.

DET @ MIN - hmm, I thought Harvin was out. Favre still threw 2 INTs but the Detroit offense could not follow up last week's effort. Adrian Peterson solid as ever, 2 TDs and 160 yds rushing.

ATL @ NWO - now this was a good game. Exciting comeback in regulation by New Orleans and solid defense by both teams in overtime. Atlanta beats the champs by a field goal.

CIN @ CAR - WTH, Palmer?! Perhaps it's time to consider benching him for a game to get his head in the game. Thankfully Carolina weren't able to do much and Benson did just enough to give Cincinnati the victory. Still no endzone celebrations...

WAS @ STL - looks like Washington still has come problems on defense. Seriously? No action Jackson and you still can't beat St. Louis?! I mean this game wasn't even close, it's like Washington just stopped playing in the second half.

NYJ @ MIA - this was an odd spread but thanks for paying me anyways.

GB @ CHI - close game like I figured it was going to be. The Chicago defense put pressure on Rodgers all night, and Hester made a huge play to keep them in it. Cutler did just enough to get the 'W'.

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 3

2010-09-24T12:00:00.005-04:00

Updated

Hope you have recouped from your losses last week. Here's what I like.

DAL @ HOU (-3.5) HOU LOSS

Dallas, welcome to an 0-3 start. Fire somebody, trade, do something already.

PIT (-3.5) @ TB PIT WIN

Pittsburgh is showing it can win with defense.

DET @ MIN (-10.5) DET LOSS

Are you kidding me? That's a big spread to cover given the team's offense has been all over the place. Heck, Detroit might even win this one outright.

ATL @ NWO (-4.5) ATL WIN

The champs have been in some very close games and the Atlanta offense has really been able to move the ball. Should be another close one for New Orleans.

CIN (-4.5) @ CAR CIN WIN

I'm hoping the T.Ocho show gets off the ground this week. I want to see some TD celebrations already!

WAS (-4.5) @ STL WAS LOSS

Ok, so McNabb still has some game. Time for him to make me some money.

NYJ @ MIA (-0.5) NYJ WIN

Wha?! Miami is favored? WTF? Jets are going to roll.

AND in the Monday Nighter ...

GB (-4.5) @ CHI CHI WIN

I'm going with Chicago. I think the D will keep the pressure on Rodgers all night. Look for Cutler to win this one outright.

Good luck!

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 2 results

2010-09-20T09:32:00.002-04:00

Holy shit. Another bad week. Hopefully you have been picking the OPPOSITE of what I've been picking.

Observations:
The T.Ocho show has yet to take off.
Somebody gonna get fired in Dallas when they go 0-3 next week.
Vick is back, but the Philadelphia Eagles defense sucks.
The Buffalo Bills next to change QBs.
Are we having another meltdown in Tennessee?
Minnesota, meet average Brett Favre.
St. Louis almost pulled it off, good effort.
The Jets played Rex Ryan football and took care of the Pats.
Texans had an exciting comeback OT win.
The battle of the Manning brothers went to the elder.

Big days for:
Matt Schaub 38/52, 497 yds passing, 3 TDs.
Donovan McNabb 28/38, 426 yds passing, 1 TD.
Adrian Peterson 145 yds rushing, 1 TD (just stop fumbling).
Jason Snelling 129 yds rushing, 2 TDs.
LeSean McCoy 120 yds rushing, 3 TDs.
Miles Austin 10 catches, 145 yds (nice day in a losing effort).
Jahvid Best 9 catches, 154 yds, 17 rushing attempts, 78 yds, 2 TDs rushing, 1 TD receiving (talk about doing it all).

Best Team Effort
New York Jets

Worst - Panthers or the Bills, I can't decide.

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 2

2010-09-19T10:01:00.002-04:00

Updated

Sept 19

Point Spread
Game Pick Result
PIT @ TEN (-6.5) TEN Loss
PHI (-6.5) @ DET PHI Loss
KC (-1.5) @ CLE KC Win
MIA @ MIN (-3.5) MIN Loss
SEA @ DEN (-3.5) DEN Win
STL @ OAK (-4.5) STL Win
HOU (-3.5) @ WAS HOU Loss

Good luck!

OLG Pro-Line NFL Week 2

2010-09-15T11:30:00.003-04:00

Updated

Here's what I like for the early line Sep.15

Point Spread
Game Pick Result
PIT @ TEN (-5.5) TEN Loss
PHI (-5.5) @ DET PHI Loss
MIA @ MIN (-6.5) MIN Loss
HOU (-3.0) @ WAS HOU Push

I like Tennessee to roll over the rookie QB in Pittsburg. Look for Chris Johnson to keep on running while Vince Young scrambles and makes plays for the Titans.

With Michael Vick in midseason form look for the Eagles to stroll through Detroit and their number 2 quarterback. Even if Stafford plays he won't be 100%

Minnesota's offense looked out of sync during the first game of the season. They still kept it close but were just lacking something. Look for Brett Favre to get the offense back on track with some consistent passing. Adrian Peterson looked good and should pick up his first 100 yard rushing game. I'm expecting Jared Allen to get the defense riled up by taking out their frustrations on the Miami players.

Matt Schaub and the Houston offense did not get the passing game rolling Indianapolis. Washington played well enough to beat Dallas but did not impress. Expecting a high scoring game here. I don't think McNabb will be able to keep up.

OLG Pro-line NFL Week 1

2010-09-15T11:17:00.003-04:00

Since I have more free time I'm going to keep track of my NFL gambling habit. Here's how badly things went on week 1.

Point Spread

Game Pick Result
OAK @ TEN TEN Win
CIN @ NE CIN Loss
IND @ HOU HOU Win
DET @ CHI CHI Loss
ATL @ PIT ATL Loss
MIA @ BUF BUF Loss
CAR @ NYG CAR Loss
GB @ PHI GB Win
SF @ SEA SF Loss

Definitely not a good start to the season.
OLG

You're from where?

2010-09-08T10:05:00.002-04:00

Xbox live chatter can get out of hand but sometimes it gets mistaken. A gamer was suspended over an interpreted slur during a match. It turns out the moderating mistakenly took "Fort Gay" as a slur. The gamer protested and with a bit of investigation the ban was overturned and the gamer received an apology. Expect many gamers to start using the "Fort Gay" slur to see how far they can push moderators. I'm sorry, where are you from again? (link)

Why Does This Smell Funny?

2010-09-01T10:41:00.002-04:00

Um, no thanks. Keep that copy of Red Dead Redemption. If a bunch of suspicious guys come up to you offering you cheap video games perhaps you should decline. Four men in New York were arrested for stealing video games. In fact going on a "rampage". The suspects had a list of locations and very *cough fishy packages. The thieves were observed stuffing video games down their pants and promptly busted. The catch? 219 video games and a long hit list of Toys'R'us locations. Welcome to loser thieves of the month.

I think the next time I purchase a game I'll take it home and scrub down the case with anti bacterial cleaner. The thought of random balls coming in contact with my hands is disgusting. (link)

Still here

2010-08-31T16:09:00.002-04:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. Here's what happened. I still haven't killed the Lich King. I'm no longer playing ... officially. I did not renew my subscription. I'm enjoying Starcraft 2 ... when my Internet connection is working. My ISP has been screwing me around for the past month. I'm playing a lot more Xbox and watching tv to pass the time.

Basically a combination of poor timing and technical difficulties have made my decision for me. While I do miss the World of Warcraft I've found other things to occupy my time that don't cost me $15 a month. I guess you can say I've gone cold turkey. I never realized just how much time I spent playing until now. It's kind of startling how much free time I have now to do other things. Rather than queuing for a few dungeons I can watch a few tv shows, play some xbox, and still have time to spare.

While it's not better or worse, it's just another form of entertainment. Now if I could only get my ISP to fix my Internet problems things would be just dandy.

Starcraft 2 anyone?

2010-08-12T10:47:00.002-04:00

So I've been dabbling with Starcraft 2, playing the terran campaign, playing some multiplayer, getting my ass handed to me, and it's been fun so far. It's all coming back to me now. Assuming you have the hardware to run the game, it's quite beautiful, the graphics are heads and tails above the original version. The storyline is interesting and offers varying paths to victory. A bit of rpg elements to it by way of researching technology to upgrade your units, either by Protoss technology or Zerg. The units have changed, some new and some old familiar ones. Achievements add to replay value by testing your abilities in harder modes. It's what I expected and more.

* be sure to include that bit of code in your config file to prevent your video card from overheating.

Here are a few tips.

Economy - if you can't build what you want at the very moment you want to, build another SCV/Probe/Drone.
The first 18 units you manage are the most important. They will lay the groundwork for your resource gathering and will determine how quickly you progress. Practice some single player vs the A.I. to get your build order down.

Hotkeys - time to relearn them. Some of the keys have changed so be sure to take a closer look. Mouse clicking is fine but a quick button press can save you precious seconds. Bind #1 - 3 to essential buildings, base, barracks/gateway/spawning pool. This gives you a quick way to get back to your structures to continue building units.

Units - you will need to build Supply depots/Pylons/Overlords sooner than you did previously with Starcraft 1. I find that I end up having a dedicated worker by 14-15 units. If I don't have a dedicated worker at that point I find that I get stuck and have to wait to build new units. Which can be a quite annoying when you are trying to rush someone (or defend).

Have fun!

Character Assessment

2010-07-20T10:57:00.003-04:00

Shaman - gone as far as I can in 10 man ICC. Only thing left is 25 man gear. Elemental T10 set still needs to be completed. Starting to build up dust due to inactivity.

Mage - close to obtaining a full T10 set. Extremely difficult given I rarely get into raids because of my low gear score. DPS still needs a bit of tweaking to top the meters. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with my gear and performance.

DK - Unholy DPS set still needs the ring from HHOR, otherwise that's as far as non raiding gear will take me. Tank set could use the neck piece from HHOR but any other gear tweaking would break T9 set. No T10 pieces at all.

Rogue - boots from HHOR and those damn engineering patterns obtained by jumping through the wormhole to get to that underground vendor. Both times I managed to jump through no items were available for sale. I waited the entire 30 minutes and nothing. So much for item respawns.

Pally - holy set is well set. No T10 but full T9 and crafted chest and wrist pieces. Since I only do heroics and the weekly I'm still a FOL healer. Just can't bring myself to change my play style for a HL build. Ret set is a work in progress.

Warlock - almost 4 pc T9. Need a few more emblems, rings, trinket, and Seethe from HFOS. Despite the crappy gear dps is very nice and easy. Destruction is a piece of cake.

Druid - work work work. Needs more emblems. Still haven't figured out boomkin yet, feral seems noob proof but it's hard to judge with crappy gear. PvP gear in progress and before you know I'll be farming that mount from Sethekk Halls.

Warrior/Hunter/Priest - banks alts in the meantime.

Same Ol' Routine

2010-07-19T11:00:00.005-04:00

Busy much? I had forgotten how "fun" sitting in the random dungeon queue was. Praying to get a good group to carry my alt through as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Ah, what an experience to be a fresh 80, yet again. Which path to take for my druid? The time tested and true path of the emblem grind? Or take the path of bloodshed in the battle grounds of PvP?

PvP gear would be useful for some tanking and dps. Ideally PvE gear would work the best. Emblems or honor? How about the weekly WG quests mixed in with randoms?

(Oh yeah, did I mention I managed to get my druid to level 80?)

While I know very little about how to play a druid properly here's what I've managed to pick up along the way.

Healing on the move is fun. Cast Rejuvenation, rinse, repeat. At least I'm moderately useful in PvP despite my pitiful gear.

Bears dance funny. Moonkins dance funny. I can do more damage consistently in cat form in my crappy gear. I have done more damage in moonkin form but overall damage is pretty pathetic. I wish Hurricane did good damage as much as it looks.

But most importantly, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to maximizing my dps in whatever spec I'm in. In feral, I'm just maxing out my combo points and pressing a random finishing move. In Moonkin (oom-kin, more like) I'm always running out of mana despite utilizing Innervate at every opportunity. Cast Starfire/Wrath until you get the little moon thingy then cast the other one.

Don't mind me. I'm just here to collect blues and emblems.

What happened to Hit?

2010-07-12T12:55:00.002-04:00

No hit rating on warlock gear? WTF?
(Yes, I know I'm late to the party.)

Recently I've renewed my interest in gearing my warlock. No longer content to be running around in blues while happily farming eternals and herbs. You might as well look going doing it. Hence the emblem grind began on another level 80 toon.

Bleh. I think I'm mildly content now with everything being all purply (save for one trinket) until I realized that I was way under the hit cap. Looking into completing the T9 warlock set I was dismayed. No hit rating on gear. Shoulders? Pants? Crap. I supposed I could pick up the hit trinket with haste upon USE but I'm not real keen on that. What happened to all the hit? Where did it go? Is Blizzard pushing emblem farmers to go the route of that crummy hit trinket?

I think after picking up a few more items in a futile attempt to gear hit capped, gearing my warlock will cease. At least I can have fun doing so. Recount shows I'm holding my own when it comes to dps. Amazing how easy the rotation is. I'm much more relaxed when I'm mashing my buttons compared to other dps classes. The only thing that is less than stellar is the aoe damage.

Warlocks ... what are you doing for hit gear?

Feeling kinda ...

2010-06-14T13:51:00.002-04:00

Meh. Lately I've found my effort ... something less than desired. There's definitely something lacking when I log into BattleNet. What's the problem? Loot? Hmm, there are a couple of items that would be nice to have but I'm not "jonesing" for any of them in a bad way. Gold? I think I've accumulated a comfortable amount of gold. Not to the point where I can buy whatever I want (ie. Kingslayer title) but it's enough for my impulse buy needs. Adventure? Quests? Achievements? Sparkly horse? Pokemon pet? Succubus sex slave?

WHERE THE PROBLEM AT?

Well it's not the content. I'm still satisfied with doing the existing content (somewhat) and attempting/completing hard modes. I still get a bit of a "WOOHOO!" when I win a roll for an item. I still get a satisfying smile after killing an enemy combatant on the fields of Wintergrasp. I'm content to herb/mine/skin to my heart's content and simply bank the mats for potential future use.

For all this game is worth the in game distractions are really a minor part of the experience. Really it comes down to the social interaction. The cooperative play, the dependency on each other, the immaturity, the lack of responsibility, the baddies. Yup, that's it. The players. I'm getting sick of them. (That means you) Whenever I think I've been exposed to new annoying behavior, I get violated in a whole new way. I wish I could only remember the good experiences but things never work out that way. The good experiences are gone before you can thank your fellow puggers. The bad ones leave a scar, reminding you forever of how bad things can really get.

It's hard not to be passionate about a game that you invest many hours playing but in the end, it's just a game. In order to protect myself I've "disconnected" myself from the virtual world. Meaning? I just don't care anymore. That's probably the worst thing that can happen. Why? Because if you don't care, then why even bother playing? When the game stops being fun then players stop playing. I've even sabotaged a few raids here and there simply but not caring enough to move out of fire (yes, I intentionally died) or even casting a timely heal.

(Ever wonder if you didn't cast that heal, if anyone else would pick up the slack and whether someone ELSE would save them with a cooldown? Nope. At least not in my experiences)

Ok, so that was a bit evil. Intentionally dying or letting someone see the rest of the fight from the perspective from the floor, yeah, a little bit evil. I won't lie that a smile crept across my face. I've had to come up with new ways to entertain myself. Hopefully my past sins will be forgiven and I will get an invite this week.

Diamond in the Pug

2010-06-10T12:08:00.003-04:00

Maybe not a pristine black diamond but maybe an aquamarine. Some dungeons you just dread. Some groups you can tell are going to be bad from the get go. But you can't judge a book by it's cover. Even the worst groups can bring great moments out of mediocre players.

The setting: Old Kingdoms
The players: 1 undergeared tank, 1 undergeared healer, 2 undergeared dps.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster. The run goes slow, which is fine. It shows the inexperienced tank is taking his/her time to be careful. You know it's a bad group when my alt warlock in blues is competing for top dps. Tank and enhance shaman die to trash before the first boss. Second boss, nobody dies. Third boss, shaman dies to cyclone strike, the Twilight Volunteer gets to Jedoga, tank dies almost immediately. Second attempt, the add dies, and we down the boss. Shaman again dies to cyclone. We then proceed to die to the trash mob at the bottom of the stairs.

The next boss is when the run gets interesting. Volazj of course gets to the first insanity. First thing that happens is that the 5k GS hunter dies almost immediately. Apparently he/she is the worst hunter ever. I manage to kill the druid healer (although I forgot that I can banish trees, doh) but nobody else. Tank dies too. Then the instance sort of bugs out, there's a lull where the druid and shaman have no adds to attack but are still stuck in the insanity phase. This gives them a chance to rez the tank, and heal up. Insanity eventually ends. Bit by bit Volazj is slowly dropping. Second insanity, tank survives this one and so does the druid. The shaman, not so much. Out of insanity, shaman ankhs up, slowly Volazj is dying. Somehow the shaman pulls aggro and gets one shot-ed.

And then there were two. The undergeared tank and druid manage to survive the encounter and kill Volazj while I sat there slack jawed in awe of what had just transpired. The incompetency shown during the entire run completely pushed to the wayside in this final boss fight. Some anxious moments there when the tank's health dropped but the druid healer did just enough to keep him alive. I probably had enough time to run back in given the duration but I had little faith in these two players.

Just goes to show you that even bad players have their moments. I'm so used to be the one involved in these situations but it's nice to be able to sit back and watch other players do well. Bad pugs can be mostly terrible experiences but if you look hard enough, there's bound to be a diamond in the pug.

Strike a Pose

2010-06-08T12:14:00.003-04:00

I just couldn't resist taking this SS while I had a few moments to myself stuck inside an ice tomb. Quick, strike a pose! A last second riptide on myself can be credited for the resulting pic.

One last piece

2010-06-07T13:15:00.002-04:00

How many times have you said this to yourself "I just need one last piece"? Whether it's that pesky 200 ilevel trinket you're trying to replace or that last piece of tier, that quest for the final piece of the puzzle is ostensibly further than it seems. Thus the mirage keeps you in queue for the icc 5 mans: Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection. Hours spent grouping with other clueless players who just want their loot. On the off chance you actually run into intelligent players, the encounter is over as quickly as it began. Why aren't there more players like this?

Gearscore means nothing. Don't get prematurely excited when you see 5k+ scores when you zone in. It should be noted that 6k gearscores come with elitist attitudes by default and even less patience than a 5 year old (or 12 year old as it were). Undergeared noobs just happy to be there can be a mixed bag. Like I've said before I can deal with undergeared players who make an effort. What I cannot stand are players who do not try or continue to fail at their specified role.

My rogue has had limited success in upgrading gear. Now only the boots from HHOR need to drop for me and I will be set. More armor pen to push me to go combat. Also this dagger is intriguing. 1.4 speed is nuts. I guess I'll be spending more time in the icc 5 mans on this toon even after the boots drop.

My mage, not so much. I've yet to see the trinket drop. I'm wondering if I should pick up the emblem trinket and just switch to fire. I think I'll have to be content with doing really well in 5 mans while being mediocre in raids.

My DK has been collecting dust. Recent attempts to obtain either the boots from HHOR or from HTOC have not been successful. I've gone ahead and just given up. After spending some time in WG I bought the PvP ones. Not great but a direct upgrade from my old ones. The armor pen would be nice though.

Anyways back to my ranting. I usually sit, stew, and gut out bad groups out of sheer stubbornness. I guess when I enter a dungeon, I'm set on completing it no matter what the cost. Kind of my own personal goal: finish what you start. No matter how bad/annoying/daunting or difficult the circumstances, I'm determined to find a way to succeed. To the detriment of my own sanity (it would seem).

Anyways I had a great idea for a new loot system. Change up the way loot gets awarded and increasing the chances of your stuff dropping. Every time you queue you select from the loot table the items you are looking for from that particular dungeon. 1 item for regular, 2 for heroic. Now, this doesn't mean your loot will be a guaranteed drop, just the chances are increased. Each player gets their own loot bag at the end of the instance, preventing people from skipping out after 1 boss. Also preventing the hassle of loot drama (ie. tank rolling on healer gear). Kinda like the way Oculus runs now. Emblem gear is so easy to obtain why not make it even easier? You would have more happy casuals than ever playing by taking away some of the frustration over poor drops rates.

Of course this would also mean more well geared baddies putting more pressure on raid leaders to properly vet players in order to get invites. The hard core player would also be pretty pissed off too but let's face it. The casuals are the ones responsible for the bulk of the profit Blizzard generates. Appealing to the ones who pay the bills often lead to undesirable changes for the minority base. But it wouldn't be unprecedented given the changes that have happened over the past 2 years.

1. give out more free loot
2. keep casuals happy
3. ???
4. profit

Carry Me

2010-06-03T09:52:00.002-04:00

I'm enjoying the noob life. Running heroics on my poorly geared warlock in the wrong spec, un-enchanted, un-gemmed, and just plain wrong. Doing less dps than the tank and lovin' it. I'm just here to need on stuff, provide soulstones, and candy. Other than that don't expect me to do anything else. I'll be the one who's jumping around and dancing while you guys kill the boss.

Sweet. Ah, the life of the uninspired player who has not a care in the world. The player who 'lols' at getting lost in a dungeon. The player who marvels at others in T10. The player who can AOE at the beginning of every fight and still not pull threat. The player who life taps after taking a huge hit from the boss/mob (hehe, enjoy that mister healer).

Hooray for blues! Need, need, need.

Carry me through this heroic will ya? I'm still trying to do this quest.

Can you heal?

2010-05-31T10:44:00.003-04:00

Ah, trade chat. That old past time enjoyed by all. Watching the wall of text hoping to find the raid you're looking for. Don't blink, because before you know it that tiny window of opportunity is gone. A poke, a prod, a whisper for information often result in responses that irk one's nature. I see a VOA that peaks my interest and whisper away. The query invokes a tepid answer.

"Can you tank heal?"

I think my eye just twitched. Must resist urge to reach through the internets and punch someone. Being fairly well geared on my resto shaman I'm not sure if I should be angry, happy, or sad. Angry that my abilities are being questioned. Happy that the RL has at least some common sense to enlist qualified raiders. Or sad that shamans still have the stigma of "only being a raid healer" attached to the class. All healing classes can tank heal, although with varying degrees of success. Some class mechanics just have it easier than others.

Perhaps my ego got hurt a little too. In hindsight, can he be faulted though? With so many bad puggers out there and the ease at which gear can be obtained, it can be a crapshoot when filling raid spots. Especially when it comes to a vital role such as a MT/OT healer. That is certainly not a role where you want a bad player. I'm so used to getting instant invites as a healer that I often forget how lucky I am. I guess I'm just getting crusty in my old age.

Well, long story short, my gearscore finally got me an invite AND I did MT + OT healing duties without any issues. Rolling riptides on the tanks, pre-casting healing wave for incoming damage, even an occasional lhw on a clothie. In fact easily out putting 1.5k more HPS than the other shaman. (*flex) All my spells got a good workout. Although I got one shotted by the Toravon trash (seems to be a trend for me lately). That fortitude buff could have come in handy, bubble? Anything? I hate those trash mobs and their damn one shots.

Moral of the story? Shamans can heal tanks. Oh, and this "crusty" shaman does not like having his abilities questioned either.
=P