Hi guys. Apologies yet again for the lack of updates of late but in my defence I have been working very hard on the new wow gold guide review site that I mentioned a while ago. The site is almost ready to be released but I still need to review a few more guides to beef up the content.

Ingame I have moved on a lot since my last update. My undead is now 80, full epic and now solely focused on pvp. I am playing rogue/priest in 2v2 and it is incredibly infuriating. Our highest rating was 1998 but it is almost impossible to beat dk/druid and dk/warrior as well as mage/rogue and even some druid/hunter. I am running with 930 resilience and 2080 spell power but warriors still destroy me. We have almost given up on 2s after tanking 100 rating to retarded players who play counter comps. We can play almost flawlessly and still lose after a 20 minute game to druid/dk.

On a more positive note I have found a decent 3v3. We are running disc priest/ret pally/enhance shaman and we hit 2200 with ease. I am really hoping that this is a possible gladiator team but only time shall tell!

I am also thinking of levelling my druid which is sitting at level 61 at the moment and my rogue partner will level his dk so that we could play the FOTM for once!

So that is the quick update. I would be interested in hearing about your recent arena issues/experiences. Any other priest/rogues finding it very tough at the moment?

If you love WoW, chances are you’d enjoy playing online poker just as much. Not only are the two games similar in many ways, but there are even in-game modules for WoW such as WoW Texas Holdem that lets you play Texas Holdem within the game while waiting on a raid to start, farming gold, or traveling around in the game.

Plenty of successful online gamers (especially StarCraft players) have switched over to playing online poker. They found that the ability to multi-task within StarCraft was great training for playing online poker, as it allowed them to easily play four, six, or even twelve or more poker tables at one time! That may sound like overkill, but for a winning poker player, the more hands you can get in, the more money you make, so it’s a serious advantage (and very profitable) if you can play as many tables and hands as possible.

Does that ring a bell, as far as WoW is concerned? You bet, as it’s no different than the skills you likely already have which have been honed at WoW, as far as managing a ton of tasks at once, planning and carrying out raids, chatting with various friends, and possibly even killing time with other in-game modules. With the WoW Texas Holdem module, you can sharpen up your poker game while playing the game, preparing you to leap into the world of online poker fully prepared.

And why would you do that? Easy. Cold, hard cash, as many top online poker pros easily clear over $100,000/year, just from sitting in front of their computer and clicking a mouse. And the best part is that you don’t even have to risk a penny, as many players get started without ever depositing a penny into their online poker accounts.

It’s the magic of freerolls, which are online poker tournaments that are free to enter that pay out a small amount of money for the top finishers. It’s not enough to quit your day job, but in some freerolls the winner will get $20 or more deposited into their online poker account, which they can use to play in normal cash games and tournaments on the site. Plenty of players have turned their freeroll winnings into a bankroll worth thousands of dollars, so it’s easier than you think to spin up quite a lot of money without ever spending a penny of your own money!

As far as finding great online poker sites and freerolls to play at, check out PokerListings, which features everything you need to know and a listing of some of the great online poker freerolls (such as the Titan Poker freerolls) out there.

So put those hard-earned WoW skills you’ve spent all this time honing to even better use and give online poker a whirl. It won’t buy you that Epic Mount you’ve been eyeing but it might just pay for a Ferrari to drive around in the real world!

The recruit a friend is going great at the moment and I have a level 46 undead priest and a level 37 tauren druid. It is nice having a mate to boost through all the instances. Zul Farrak is proving to be a lot slower than Scarlet Monastery but 60 is still getting closer!

I am currently working on a new website. The idea came about when I found the fantastic guide to making gold in World of Warcraft that I wrote about here. It helped me so much ingame and has allowed me to buy whatever I need. In the past I have read so many “WoW Gold Guides,” and most of them were awful and helped in no way whatsoever. I have decided to create a dedicated, impartial and above all honest site that can help wow players all around the world to choose the best guides for making them gold.

The design is almost finished but there is still a lot of content to add. I will reveal the URL in about a fortnight if all goes to plan. So if you are trying to find the best wow gold guide then you don’t have to wait long but in the meantime you could check out the one that I found and reviewed here.

So here is the deal ladies. I am offering to recruit one or more of you as my friend! I am talking about Blizzard’s Recruit a Friend program whereby you get to try World of Warcraft free for 10 days (up to level 20 and then you have to upgrade.) Now I suspect that most of my readers will know all about this and have maybe even used it before.

I am currently levelling with my IRL mate but needless to say he is slightly slow and not as active as I would like him to be. Therefore when he is not on I would like to level an alternative character with someone else. If anyone is looking for a levelling partner or an awesome opportunity to get 3x experience for 3 months then this is your chance. There is only one catch! You have agree to level horde on Jaedenar. If anyone is interested in using one of my recruit a friend offers then you can comment on this post or email me at mail@worldofwarcraftblogger.com. I look forward to being your friend!

Today we have another set of 20 questions. This time is it with Larissa from thehuntersmark.net. So without further ado let us begin the interrogation!

1. Hey Lassirra. How do you find WoW from the female gamer perspective? Do you think it makes the game any harder/easier being a girl?

I actually haven’t found it any different from how I’m treated offline. At first (four years ago), sure, there were a few cases of “Oh wow, a girl!”, but they weren’t exactly remarkable experiences, just mild surprise and that was the end of it. By and large, I haven’t found myself in any situations where my gender was made relevant to what I was doing. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, since it seems like most gals think this is a big deal.

2. How do you manage to blog and also have an army of alts? Which comes first?

I do have a lot of alts, but I honestly don’t play most of them very much. For example, I haven’t touched my Mage, Warlock or Warrior in a long time — months. I level the ones I do play a little bit here and there as I have time, or I use them to unwind and take my mind off work. They give me a chance to recharge and come at the game from a different perspective. For me, blogging or related activities always come first, especially if I’ve got a deadline to meet, but I always keep in mind that this game and these characters are the reason I blog in the first place, so I try to strike a balance.

3. How did you get into blogging?

Back when I was in my early teens, I was a fan of LiveJournal, I have to admit. Though, I think a lot of teens were back then so maybe it’s not as shameful as I think. Anyway, that sort of opened the door to the concept. Later on, when I’d been playing WoW for a while and was nearing the level cap (60, back then), I knew I needed help improving how I played, so I paid a visit to my good friend Google. There weren’t many WoW blogs back then, and no Hunter blogs. The sites that helped me the most were TKA Something and Kaliban’s Class Loot List, but there was a lot of ground those sites didn’t cover, so I decided to start my own thinking maybe I could help others struggling with the same things I was.

4. How long has your blog been about and how has it evolved?

THM has been around since December of 2006. At first it was just a subdomain of a site I already owned, because I just had no idea what I was really going to do with THM and didn’t even really know if it was something I would stick with. It started with just a few anecdotes and random thoughts I’d had while playing the game. Just me thinking out loud, mostly. I wrote a couple editorial type articles that got linked from a couple other sites, and that’s when it sort of dawned on me that I’d found what THM was really meant for. Shortly thereafter, I moved THM to it’s own domain and found that more and more people were coming to say hello, ask questions, give feedback and it just grew from there.

5. Do you have any advice for any players who wish to start blogging?

Oh, lots! I’ve learned so much since I started. One thing I always say in response to this question is: “Game content is not unique, personality is. Give readers something unique.” With so many WoW sites and blogs out there now, it’s hard to distinguish yourself from the crowd, so folks just getting into it now probably have to work twice as hard to get recognition. You really have to present readers with content they can’t get anywhere else. And when I talk about personality, I’m not talking about sharing with the world your first trip through Deadmines and what a horror it was. Honestly, those stories are a dime a dozen no matter what kind of spin you put on it. Instead, it seems like readers are looking for information above anything else. Lessons and knowledge they can take with them and apply to their own journey. Unique insights into this wonderfully complex game we all love so much. Start there, and readers will come.

6. Do you prefer blogging, WoW or beer?

Oh, definitely WoW. Can’t put the cart before the horse now, can we?

7. Would you ever change your main or is huntarding your one and only love?

That’s actually something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to lately, especially with the recent changes to the class. I don’t like where the class appears to be heading now, honestly, but if I didn’t truly love the class and enjoy playing it above all others, I wouldn’t have stuck with it for four years and been writing about it for almost three. I very much doubt I’ll ever truly give up my Hunter as my main, but I’m sure I’ll have an alt “flavor of the month” from time to time.

8. Do you have an aim when you write a post, e.g to be humorous, or do the words just come as you type?

I’m very rarely intentionally funny, lol. But, to really answer the question, I’d say I do a bit of both. Sometimes there are definitely certain topics that I’ve got on my mind, and I write those down in a list (so I don’t forget my train of thought) to talk about later. Other times, I’m not quite sure what I want to say, so I just think out loud and watch what happens. Ironically, it’s usually the thinking out loud posts that get the best responses from my readers, which has always been the case and why I continue to do that. I’m not sure if that’s something that would work for everyone, but it seems to work okay for me, lol.

9. Do you have any exciting plans for the blog or anything that you would like to do with it?

Well, THM just finished the Hunter Island contest and I’ve brought on three new authors. I’ve been trying to get them settled in and get them used to writing regularly and all that. Beyond that, I don’t really have anything big in the works at the moment. Summer’s coming, and I’m always loathe to start anything major just then because everyone would rather be out enjoying the nice weather, myself included!

10. How are your arena skills? Are you a keyboard turner?

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m totally horrible in arenas and PvP in general on my Hunter. I seem to do much better with my Priest or Rogue there. I could never figure out why that was the case. I think it’s just because I actually enjoy PvP on my Priest and Rogue, but don’t really on my Hunter. I’m definitely not a keyboard turner, though! (Unless I’m using my mouse hand to take a drink or something.)

11. Was WOTLK more special than TBC? Was Vanilla the be-all and end-all?

I have to be honest, I haven’t enjoyed Wrath as much as I did TBC. Part of that is the fact that there have been a lot of changes to the class that I haven’t really liked, and part of that is just the nature of the content. For example, when I started TBC I spent the better part of two months farming 5mans to get gear just to be able to think about starting Karazhan. In Wrath, I was in Heroic Eye of Eternity literally two hours after I hit 80. I think they were a little off on the pacing in Wrath, and that’s taken some of the fun out of it. Honestly, though, “vanilla” WoW will always be my favorite. Maybe that’s just because I get nostalgic about it, but that’s really how I feel. I loved the diversity of the original content and how the original instances and zones were laid out. Despite all my grumbling about it in the past, BRD, Strat and Scholo are still my favorite instances in the game.

12. I see you enjoy web design as well. Did you handcode all of your blog?

Well, THM runs on a WordPress platform so all the backend code that actually runs the functions of the site is from them. I thought about designing my own backend at one point, but didn’t see any reason to reinvent the wheel. Otherwise, yeah, I’ve done the code for all but one of the design layouts I’ve used on THM.

13. Where do you see yourself and the blog in 10 years time?

I’m constantly wondering that very thing, and I’m still not sure what the answer is. I know that right now, I’m doing what I love. Playing video games, writing, and running a web site. Those have always been my hobbies ever since I was very young, and to be able to do that for a living is a great feeling for me. I hope I’ll be able to continue doing this for a long time!

14. Will WoW ever die?

I’m sure it probably will. Games always have a life span, it’s just hard to determine what that span is. I mean, people used to ask if EQ would ever die, and now very few folks still play the original. Heck, one of WoW’s (former) primary developers was an EQer! I’m sure eventually WoW will pale and folks will move onto something else. Maybe that something else will be another Blizzard title, maybe it won’t. Maybe that will be two years from now, or maybe ten. It’s hard to say, but I do think it will happen eventually.

Quick fire:

1. Favourite song?

I’m sure it probably will. Games always have a life span, it’s just hard to determine what that span is. I mean, people used to ask if EQ would ever die, and now very few folks still play the original. Heck, one of WoW’s (former) primary developers was an EQer! I’m sure eventually WoW will pale and folks will move onto something else. Maybe that something else will be another Blizzard title, maybe it won’t. Maybe that will be two years from now, or maybe ten. It’s hard to say, but I do think it will happen eventually.

2. Best movie ever?

Another tough one! I love Mel Brooks and Kevin Smith movies the most, I’d have to say. Like, Space Balls, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Totally killer movies.

3. Most expensive purchase ingame

Sadly, my flying mounts. Not epic flying mounts, because I don’t have one. The regular ones. I’m not good at saving gold, at all.

4. Top 5 WoW blogs

You’re trying to get me in trouble, aren’t you? I guess right now my favorites would have to be: Rogue Rogue (http://www.roguerogue.com/), Less QQ More Pew Pew (http://www.qqpewpew.com/), Tanking Tips (http://www.tankingtips.com/), World of Matticus (http://www.worldofmatticus.com/), and Banana Shoulders (http://www.bananashoulders.com/).

5. Top 5 non-WoW related sites

Those exist?

Kidding. Smashing Magazine (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/), ProBlogger (http://www.problogger.net/), DeviantArt (http://www.deviantart.com/), DevShed (http://www.devshed.com/) and Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com/).

5. Favourite quote / ingame phrase

It’s not really a quote or phrase, per se, but I used to love walking into Karazhan to start the clear to Attumen and having the bell tower start chiming the hour. In the guild I was in at the time, any time we were there for that, one of our tanks and I would immediately start singing “Hallowed Be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden. It was really dumb, and used to annoy everyone else in the raid, but that was one little thing I just always loved.

Thanks a lot Larissa. Visit her at http://www.thehuntersmark.net and don’t forgot to subscribe to her RSS feed here!