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EVE Online prepares to roll out Retribution ship rebalancing
With EVE Online's newest expansion, Retribution, only a couple of weeks away, the devs are all abuzz over the features and changes coming with it. One of the biggest of these is a widespread effort to rebalance ships and put them in line with each other. CCP Fozzie reports that 40 new and existing spaceships are slated for the expansion overhaul, with more on the way after that. Even though change can be a scary prospect, Fozzie sees the rebalancing as a boon to the community: "Every time EVE's balance changes, it creates new opportunities for clever players to demonstrate their creativity and separate themselves from the pack. We know that our customers are amazingly creative with ship fittings and tactics and that if we give them a new set of tools they'll do things better than we could have imagined with them." The post goes on to detail the changes being made to frigates, destroyers, cruisers, weapons, and mods when Retribution goes live.
LucidChart web app brings diagramming prowess, collaboration to Mac and iPad
At one point in my career, I trained business analysts in the tools and techniques of their trade. One feature of business analysis methodologies is that they use a lot of diagrams to visually represent use cases, process flows, and relationships. During those classes I talked a lot about creating and sending diagrams to others, but I never dreamed that we'd be able to collaborate on them from just about any device. That's what the LucidChart HTML5 web app brings to the picture -- amazing diagramming tools and online collaboration. A lot of the business analysts I know have refused to switch to Apple products due to a lack of one single application on the platform -- Microsoft Visio. Sure, the application can run on a virtual machine on a Mac, but a lot of these folks tell me that they don't want to run VMs. Here's some good news for those people; LucidChart lets you import Visio documents so you can wave goodbye to that anchor around your neck, and you can start doing your work on an iPad or Mac. Can you use LucidChart on an iPhone? Yes, but it's a painful experience on such a small screen. %Gallery-130173% I had a chance to try out LucidChart both on my Mac and an iPad, and I found it to be fast, full-featured, and easy to use. You can try out the web app for free, and then there are different subscription levels. An individual account with up to 5 collaborators and 100 MB of storage is US$4.95 a month or $39.95 per year. For those who want the premium features -- Microsoft Visio .vdx file import, wireframing/iPhone mockups, and revision history -- there's a professional account that costs $9.95 a month or $99.95 per year. That account is still for one user, but unlimited collaborators can work on the document and there's a full 1 GB of storage. Teams and workgroups can have team accounts that start at $25 per month ($249 per year) for multiple users, unlimited collaborators, and storage starting at 5 GB. The team accounts have all of the professional account features plus shared templates and images. Educators can also get free accounts during 2011. As this is a web app, there is no need to install software. You simply point your browser to LucidChart.com and log in. The site displays a clean interface showing documents, team, community, forums, account and referrals. The documents page (below) displays all documents that you have created and stored on the system. This is also where you can create subfolders to store project documents, import Visio files, or create new documents from scratch. Clicking or tapping the big "New Document" button displays a window showing templates for different types of categories. For instance, in the Drawings category are three different types of Venn Diagrams and in Flowcharts are templates for business, sales, and support processes. Need a powerful mind-mapping tool on your iPad? There's a Mind Map template. Creating network diagrams is a breeze with the template that is available, and TUAW readers who are busy with startups will love the org chart templates. The Software/Web templates are quite useful. There are software/web templates, UI design templates, sample ERD and data flow templates, a site map template, and a tool for creating iPhone app mockups (see below). For those who are eloquent fans of the Unified Modeling Language (UML), there are templates for activity, sequence, class and state diagrams, as well as the ever-popular UML Use Case diagram. Are you a fan of swim lanes? Got 'em. Just to get a feel for how easy or hard it is to use LucidChart on the Mac and iPad, I made a handful of charts and also created a mockup of a TUAW TV Live app (no, we're not actually doing one -- but it was a fun thing to try). What's very cool is that you can start a document on your Mac (or PC if you swing that way), then pick up your work on the iPad when you leave the office. As you'd expect, the web app is very similar on both platforms. There are a few differences in terms of location of tool palettes when you're on the iPad, and of course you're navigating around the app with finger taps instead of mouse or trackpad clicks. Once you've learned how to use the app on one platform, you know how to use it on all platforms. To share a document with others, there's a small share link at the bottom of the page on the desktop version. You can send a link to the document to your collaborators, and for others who happen to be on line, you can actually view the document and chat about it in real time. The share button is actually much more visible and easier to get to on the iPad being at the top of the screen, but there is no chat function on the tablet as far as I could see. All in all, if you're a system analyst, developer, or anyone else who needs to easily make and edit diagrams, flow charts, and other such materials, be sure to take a look at LucidChart. The individual account is very competitive with other Apple-oriented diagramming and drawing applications. For example, the very capable OmniGraffle from OmniGroup runs $99 for the regular version ($199 for OmniGraffle Professional) and doesn't include the many collaborative features of LucidChart. The LucidChart license allows you to run the app on any of your devices; you'd need to buy a license for OmniGraffle for iPad (an additional $49) to be able to work on that device. It's not all about costs, though. There are other tangible benefits, such as cloud storage of your documents and collaboration with others. The one negative with LucidChart is that it really does require an internet connection to be useful. Although I was able to use the app offline for a short while to make changes to drawings, it often locked up until the internet connection was re-established. However, for engineers or others who might need to work on documents in the field, LucidChart works very well with a 3G connection. Be sure to take a look at the gallery to see some screenshots of LucidChart in action, and if you're intrigued, sign up for a free trial.
The Daily Quest: A daily dose of Top 10 lists
Here at WoW.com, we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Take a look at the links below, and be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites. It's Wednesday -- are you getting your BlizzCon tickets tonight? Here are a few top 10 lists to read while you're waiting in what is bound to be a very, very long line -- and if you didn't make the line, don't worry. There's always Saturday. Linedan over on Achtung Panzercow throws us the Panzercow's own Top Ten Predictions for Cataclysm. Fuubaar over at Killing 'em Slowly gives us a Top 10 List of A.D.D. Things to Do before Cataclysm. Jed over at Jed's Corner of WoW Shenanigans serves up his Top 10 tips for guild leaders. And for something completely different, Ambrosine at I Like Bubbles has a couple of handy flow charts.
The Daily Quest: Finally the weekend!
Here at WoW.com we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Take a look at the links below, and be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW related sites. It's the weekend! That time when we aren't shackled by workday worries and can kick back, relax, and half some fun. To further this purpose, some posts from the WoW blogosphere in the past week (or so) that have made me laugh -- and perhaps they'll make you laugh, too. It's no flowchart, but Destructive Reach has a pie chart documenting time spent in WoW. Blame Squelchy tells us what the Lich King has to say to those who wield Shadow's Edge. I Like Bubbles remains near and dear to my heart by continuing to post flowcharts (and things bearing a suspicious resemblance to flowcharts). Enjoy a basic raiding strats flowchart and the math behind assembling a raid. Pew Pew Lazers offers an arcane mage DPS flowchart. World of Matticus covers raid strategy using MS Paint. Bible of Dreams talks about auto-attack. And stir-fry. Miss Medicina breaks up with greater-heal.
The Daily Quest: We love flowcharts
Here at WoW.com we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Not sure what flowcharts have to do with World of Warcraft? Well, in truth, very little... unless they're World of Warcraft flowcharts, of course. I Like Bubbles' Flowchart Friday inspired me to hunt around for more WoW-related flowcharts -- to the conclusion that there aren't anywhere near enough of the helpful things. So I did what I always do in such situations: I asked the WoW.com team to contribute their flowcharts to the effort. I'll leave you, however, to judge the results. We'll start off with I Like Bubbles regular flowcharting efforts. Here's how to upgrade your holydin's gear, leveling as a herbalist, and a Venn diagram (which is not technically a flowchart, but close enough) that explains PUGs. Then there's the classic simplified cat DPS flowchart. A dizzying mutilate rogue flowchart. Basil offers an explanation of how to make money on the auction house using inscription. Joe explains the rules of VoA drops with another Venn diagram. Brian explains hunter vs. rogue mechanics. Michael explains how to raid, how to figure out night elves, and when you should RP in support tickets. Okay, I admit, we may be having too much fun here.
The Daily Quest: Keep watching the skies
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Starman over at Casual Raid Leader has a great post about taking negative feedback during raids / WoW, everyone should read this and link it to their guildies! A great post from Defeat Dragons on making your recruitment work. It was Flow Chart Friday over at I Like Bubbles. Honors Code talks about the uphill battle for a fresh level 80 tank. Healing Death Knights can be "fun," and Rolling Hots gives it a go. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Priest DPS flowchart
Any DPS guide that has flowcharts is a winner. So it is with this Priest DPS guide from DwarfPriest.com -- not only does it include some good insight on the spells both Shadow and Holy Priests have available to them for laying down the damage, but it also includes this great flowchart, which will tell you exactly how to min-max your DPS lickety-split.The basic outline is keep VT up and pour on the shadow damage, but with all the cooldowns in Shadow Priests' spells, it becomes more of a "casting priority" thing, hence the flowchart. There are also some interesting notes about DoTs (which are integral to both facemelters and 'locks) -- the last tick of a DoT falls right on the end of it, so it's always better to wait for a DoT to time out before reapplying, otherwise you lose some of the damage you paid good mana for. Excellent and in-depth guide (and the Holy Priest DPS section inspired a few laughs, too).Thanks, ErsatzPotato!
