[1.Local]: You had us at "Toolhelm"

Geeks behaving badly
Cozying up to thousands of other WoW fans on the convention floor at BlizzCon definitely exposes you to the rank and file (or is that the stank and vile?) of gamer behavior (and physical funk). Still, that's no reason to be a slug about it; give a brother a break.

kdeselms: Try to remember that there's going to be a certain percentage (perhaps a large percentage, given the subject matter of the convention) of basement-dwelling, under socialized mouth-breathers there and you'll be fine.

Sargenus: Not all mouth-breathers are bad. I have a nasal condition that makes it hard to breath through my nose! *storms off crying*

/mute Sargenus on Vent
/g We're behind you every breath, bro.

Finding the silver lining
It's not every day that a WoW.com commenter pushes the needle right off the top of the scale of sheer optimism. Enter chevysdad07, with an upbeat reaction to our profile of a disabled player and her partner who share keyboard duties on a single main character.

chevysdad07: Great article! Me and my lil' brother play together. He suffers from a rare form of autism, and doctors said it would help to get him involved with something that changes a lot and (where) he can interact with people. (WoW fit the description very well.) It's actually the only reason I started playing. Soon after I started, I got him to watch me play, and he was hooked.

He hasn't (gone) to school since fourth grade (he's now 13) because he can't deal with people, and it's very hard for him to learn new things. He could hardly read or spell or really do anything before WoW, but he can spell Gnomeragan (or however you spell it LMAO) better then I can now. He can pronounce very hard words for his knowledge level (hell, even for mine LOL). ...

He has learned a lot from WoW and is continually learning new things about the game that relate to real life. I give Blizz full respect for giving me an opportunity to help my lil' bro in any way possible. ...

Four true facts about life:

• You can't stop the stone after it's thrown.

• You can't do anything alone that is as fun as with others.

• You can't take back a word after it is said.
  

• Love is completely untamable and unknowing, no matter how you think you know it.
  

• Life never stops, not even for a second.
  

• Smiles make more of an impression than an atomic bomb.
  

Think about all of these before you start each day and you will have a more fulfilling day. My grandpa told me those when I was about 8 years old after I had got into some trouble (nothing ... I promise ... I'm an angel), and I have started each day with that perspective.

I hope you two (are) well in the future and I hope you have a great life together and last together for all time. Y'all are one physical and mental thing that isn't complete without the other half and shouldn't be apart.

You have a good ole Southern boy's full respect and have given me a little better feeling about WoW and the people who play it and more or less a better outlook on life itself. People like you, I believe, are the modern-day heroes of yesterday. You set a perfect example of life in a true form. Y'all take care and have a great life (and virtual life).

Same to you, chevysdad07!

Visually impaired players: the unseen inhabitants of Azeroth
You could get a whole new perspective on the game – literally – from reading the comments of the visually impaired players on this post.

wow: I have achromatopsia, which is a form of colorblindness. Stupid Horde with their red names floating above them just blend into the background. The new "colorblind" options, such as plus signs for profession skillups, help a lot. Forget decursing on my Mage; putting red around a player's icon does not stand out at all.

But that doesn't dampen wow's sense of humor.

wow: I also found it helpful to make my first 'toon a Rogue. I can't see some people and they can't see me.

/bah-dum-TISH
/vanish

The sin of tab-targeting
Add-on lovers and add-on haters agree to disagree.

Tiago: ... I didn't like aggro meters either; they make things too certain. You always know that if your bar doesn't pass that bar that you're safe. Less risk, less excitement, more boredom. Yes, they are useful. They make the fights easier, and because of that, everyone started using them. Then Blizz just assumed people were using them, and fights were designed around that assumption. At that point, if you're not using it, you're gimping yourself.

Yes, I am a tank. Sometime it's hard to select an add to grab when a huge boss is in your face, along with some other adds. But I much prefer it to watching a set of boxes, and if one of them turns red to signal I lost aggro, I just click the box and press 1 to taunt. Another red box, click the box, press 1.

I can feel the excitement already.

Cyanea: That can be said for tanking regular dungeons and maybe some heroics ... but if you're in a raid, it's hard to explain to your RL that you lost aggro on X mob and caused a wipe (or at least a few deaths and a nice big repair bill for everyone) because you wanted to make things riskier.

When you're tanking, you're the one person that 4/9/24/39 other people count on to keep them from dying. If there's a tool that makes that job more certain, I think it's disrespectful to the others who trust you to do your job if you don't. But that's just my take on it.

Tiago: Cyanea, I completely understand what you are saying; that is my point exactly. As soon as there is a tool to make things more certain, you're gimping yourself if you're not using it, since things are balanced around the fact that you are using that tool.

Take any sport – basketball, for example. If you had a special pair of sneakers that always scored any throw you made, it would make things a hell of a lot more certain. That guy making the throws now doesn't let down his whole team. Awesome for him. Is the game better for it? I'm pretty sure that it's not ...

Is WoW more fun now that we have an aggro meter? I much preferred (when it) wasn't there and fights were more forgiving to compensate. And an aggro meter didn't make me pump aggro better than before; if anything, it decreased my overall aggro, since now I know how far behind the first DPSer is and that I don't have to try as hard. But we can just agree to disagree. I know I'm the minority here.

Worgen Garwal hotfixed, now untamable
Oh, the ethics of taming Humanoids as pets!

Keir: They are right, though: The previous pets, aka the Slime, weren't supposed to be tameable and were accidentally classified as Beasts. They're allowed to keep them after being untameable. If the Hunters have this pet removed, surely Blizzard shouldn't have let the Slime, etc., be kept in the game either.

Alchemistmerlin: Except this is a Humanoid pet, a thinking, breathing person, and as such smacks a little too much of slavery. Barinthos: But this "humanoid pet" started out as a slobbering, quadrupedal beast. Also, the "slavery" thing is a far cry, IMO. There are quests to stab baby monkeys in the face with sticks and stab prisoners with hot iron rods. Also, Warlock pets (Voidwalkers) don't seem to want to be brought out of their hole, so wouldn't that also be "slavery" in a sense?

impurezero: Slavery? What about that poor Draenei who is constantly stuck sitting on your Traveller's Tundra Mammoth (folding up to live in your magical pocket when you dismount, I can only assume)? And what about those Argent Squires I see running around? CHILD SLAVERY!

At least you'd feed your Worgen pet every now and then. Those poor little kids don't even get that. They just have to carry your flagpole and be your "companion" for life.

For (the cone of) shame.

How do you learn tactics?
Could your boss skills use a brush-up?

MasterAsh: A big, big, BIG! approval of reading WoWHead comments for all the adds, abilities, etc., of an encounter. Things can change, they do change, and with Blizzard's current actions, guild masters and raid leaders should count on them to change every so often. Don't appear ignorant to your fellow guildies ... Keep up to date.

Word.

The patches of yesteryear
WoW.com's new Patches of Yesteryear series takes a look at the nerfs, buffs, patches and expansions of the World of Warcraft. There've been changes a-plenty – yet player reaction to those changes remains somewhat predictable. One reader nailed it.

dexo1123: "The VanCleef encounter and Goblin Foundry in the Deadmines have been retuned. * Two of Vancleef's Guards have been removed." Nerfing Deadmines for the casuals. Before you know it, everyone and their mother are going to be rolling around in their DM blues.

GG Blizz

Harumph -- err, GG dexo1123!