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Random Acts of Uberness: Welcoming a bouncing baby Hordie
I once joined a guild in which one of my first experiences was a chat box full of conversation with a player whose spouse had just passed away. When I say "just," I mean it had been less than an hour since her death. Her passing followed a protracted illness and had long been expected. After taking care of the immediate arrangements, my guildmate simply needed a friendly place to keep himself occupied and maintain a sense of normalcy. We were glad to provide that refuge for our friend. Sometimes our fellow WoW players are the only ones around with whom we can share our real-world joys and sorrows. This week's Random Acts of Uberness begins with the story of another, albeit much happier, life event that occurred in the wee hours of the morning: the birth of a baby Hordie. New dad: Akeylese, Ravenholdt (US-Horde) Not really so much of an act of uberness but a good story anyway: I have recently started to become interested in PvPing and during a match of Deepwind gorge, I was defending the goblin mine with Akeylese, a tauren warrior. He was quiet at first and wasn't so active. He then apologized and said he had just had his baby at 3:46 a.m. and that he was talking with his guild members about the birth of his daughter. I congratulated him and we began to talk about the good ol' days of WoW -- what our favorite race was, our favorite expansion, how long we had been playing, etc. We easily won the BG and didn't have to do much, so we got to chat for a while. After the BG, we exited and I was able to whisper him and thank him and congratulate him again. So I want to congratulate him once more on his baby and wish him and his family the best! -- Ashtaron, Elune (US- Horde)
Random Acts of Uberness: Happily wiping "as long as people are learning"
Another week, another full report for Random Acts of Uberness. You guys just can't seem to stop being nice to one another. Who knew? Caught being uber: Zerep, Area 52 (US-Horde) I'd like to extend a thank you to Zerep, <Scorn> of Area 52 (H). He queued for heroic dungeons as a tank, but I zoned in to find a ret paladin in Righteous Fury mode, swinging Hellscream's Decapitator and completely mopping the floor with dungeon after dungeon. Myself and the other DPS knew what a gravy train we were on and "rode his coattails to VP captown," as it was put. He was happy for the company, and we had a great time, periodically cycling through healers. One of us would scarcely type a warning into party chat that yes, he's in ret, yes, he's tanking, trust us and buckle up -- and Zerep would be off and running, usually doing more DPS than the rest of us combined by a healthy margin. It was a blast, and even with the occasional wipe when we'd bite off more than we could chew, it was still the fastest I've ever capped valor in a week. Zerep was fun, friendly, uber, and a @#$%ing nightmare to see in action. Thanks again for an awesome series of dungeons! P.S. Thank you for these periodic bursts of positivity in what can be a hostile and cynical community. -- Beeph, <Reprisal> of Steamwheedle Cartel (US-Horde)
Random Acts of Uberness: Wherein a reader unmasks an anonymous nominee
Idle curiosity turned into a Random Act of Uberness of its own last week when reader latusthegoat went sleuthing after the identity of one of our Random Acts of Uberness nominees. Here's the instant replay: Caught being uber: Night elf warrior from Stormrage whose name starts with a D To the fellow warrior from Stormrage (I forget how to spell your name, but it started with a D): A couple of my guildies and I queued up for the first branch of SoO last Friday evening. I ended up realizing after we got the Enter Raid button that I had chosen to tank by accident. I usually don't tank an instance until after I have run through a couple times in fury spec, just to get a feel for the boss and mechanics. Anyways, I told you to just point me where I need to go, and you coached me throughbeautifully. We coasted through the first two bosses, and you took us all the way to the Sha, where you informed the entire raid that you wouldn't be tanking him again, but here's how you fight him. I have never once had such a fantastic experience in LFR, with everyone chatting about how long they've been playing (I think I was the baby, having only been playing for a few months and most everyone else since vanilla), and you made an impact on my best's opinion of Stormrage (which has never been good). Much applause, kind night elf. I hope to tank with you again if the rolls allow. -- Gamad, Argent Dawn (US-Alliance) What latusthegoat did after reading Gamad's story added another layer of uberness to the affair.
Storyboard: Signing up for the team
Major organizations in a game's lore are kind of a big deal to the characters living in those games. They represent something important, after all, either in terms of intent or power. So why doesn't your character sign up with the organization of his choice and start working for it instead of just alongside it? What do you mean that there's no mechanical way to fully model that? Come on. Sure, that's a bit of a problem, but if there's one thing you've taken away from my columns other than the word "verisimilitude," it's that no problem is insurmountable. Fortunately, signing on with your in-game organization of choice isn't all that problematic, even if there isn't an actual dotted line to sign for membership. So let's talk about signing up with your local recruitment office for fame, fortune, and the occasional bit of character motivation that you can't massage in any other way.
Random Acts of Uberness: No more nastygrams
Isn't the World of Warcraft a more inviting place to log in when you're not butt-scrunched down into your chair in anticipation of the first nastygram from a groupmate? Caught being uber: Night elf warrior from Stormrage whose name starts with a D To the fellow warrior from Stormrage (I forget how to spell your name, but it started with a D): A couple of my guildies and I queued up for the first branch of SoO last Friday evening. I ended up realizing after we got the Enter Raid button that I had chosen to tank by accident. I usually don't tank an instance until after I have run through a couple times in fury spec, just to get a feel for the boss and mechanics. Anyways, I told you to just point me where I need to go, and you coached me through beautifully. We coasted through the first two bosses, and you took us all the way to the Sha, where you informed the entire raid that you wouldn't be tanking him again, but here's how you fight him. I have never once had such a fantastic experience in LFR, with everyone chatting about how long they've been playing (I think I was the baby, having only been playing for a few months and most everyone else since vanilla), and you made an impact on my best's opinion of Stormrage (which has never been good). Much applause, kind night elf. I hope to tank with you again if the rolls allow. -- Gamad, Argent Dawn (US-Alliance)
Random Acts of Uberness: A renaissance of kindness
Is the Siege of Orgrimmar turning into a war on meanies? Is World of Warcraft undergoing a renaissance of kindness and cooperation? We have a nice, fat installment of Random Acts of Uberness today, much of it seemingly inspired by the spirit of cooperation as we all stretch our wings in new patch content. "Since I came back just less than a month ago for the most part people have been fairly nice," commented Bob2525 in last week's column. "The rares in particular have been great sources of kindness. That's not to say everything has been roses but overall the kindness level has risen since the last time I played." Ron2 concurred: "In the last two weeks, I've seen a lot more positivity in raid finder. I've seen people thanking the guy who set out a feast, telling the tanks and healers that they did a good job, and occasionally telling jokes in between bosses. Not everybody is that way, of course, but it only takes one or two nice people to change the raid environment." So who's been exceptionally uber to fellow players this week?
Random Acts of Uberness: A toast to LFR raid leaders who explain fights
"Thank you for doing your job" is my husband's favorite deadpan witticism when someone at his office puffs up in expectation of praise for something that's actually a basic job duty. It's true that anyone who signs up for a group activity such as an LFR raid should be prepared to meet certain bottom-line expectations for raiding -- but you know, there's a first time for everyone. A good raid leader knows how to make those times successful for the whole raid group. "Last night in SoO LFR, the tank actually took time to describe the 'need to know' stuff for each of the fights and even answered questions," wrote ErikSetzer in last week's comments. "That's uber for a huge reason: We one-shot our way through those four bosses. But then when I did Pinnacle of Storms LFR, the tanks didn't even ask, and it got especially ugly on Lei Shen, with two or three wipes before someone finally asked, 'Okay, who doesn't know the fights?' One or two people admitted they hadn't been in there before. At least four people had the achievement ding when Lei Shen dropped. So yeah, it would have saved a lot of time and gold to just say what was needed. Sadly, they didn't try that in ToT. But the tank in SoO? Saved us all a lot of trouble. Kudos to that dude." "My LFR last night went well because we had a leader who gave clear, simple directions instead of complaining that we didn't automatically know everything," agreed Pulcherrimus. "We one-shot everything except Sha of Pride, which we two-shot. That was pretty uber." "@Pulcherrimus The same thing happened in my lfr last night," added sfreemanoh. "(I wonder if we were in the same one?) Every single boss went down smoothly except for Pride which took 2 shots, people explained the fights, everyone was courteous in instance chat...it was like a whole different game!" Wonderful LFR raid leaders of Azeroth, the experienced and inexperienced alike salute you. Keep on 'splainin' like you do. Keep reading for more of this week's Random Acts of Uberness.
Random Acts of Uberness: The voice of reason
"Reading this column always makes me want to go out and be randomly awesome for someone," mused JenniferKinnison in the comments of last week's Random Acts of Uberness. "Which, of course, is part of the point. Plus, it's just the right thing to do to help another person out. It's so unexpected these days that it's to be treasured all the more when it happens." Caught being uber: Avelianah, Draenor (US-Alliance) I and a friend were in one of those LFR groups that give people chills (not the good kind), full of newer folks trying to gear and perhaps not knowing the fights as well as they could have. There were a couple of uber nasty trolls doing their best to rip apart anyone they thought "deserved" it, and trying to kick multiple people. I would like to send out a hug of appreciation to the repeated voice of kindness and sanity that was Avelianah from Draenor. From giving out pointers, explanations, kind words and discouraging the L33T kicks to the 'thanks for the group' at the end of the instance, she was real class. -- Anonymous
Random Acts of Uberness: The lovely pandaren lady with the fabulous robes
It's the times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're bringing back the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. Caught being uber: Hiyorin of Argent Dawn (EU-Alliance) So there I was! Fighting a rare by the western edge of The Valley of Four Winds on my level 87(?) rogue. And I am losing of course, nearly dead. But suddenly out of the blue comes a friendly pandaren in a set of fabulous robes! Within seconds, she has frozen the rare and started sending of all sorts of shiny magics after him! I keep my distance as the enemy is slowed, frozen and whittled down to nothing! Saving my life and getting me loot, for no reason, other than being kind! (Or so I like to believe.) Thank you, Hiyorin, Argent Dawn EU, the lovely Pandaren lady with the fabulous robes. -- Anonymous
How to use TradeSkillMaster 2
WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make gold on the Auction House. Check out Basil's gold making podcast, Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! TradeSkillMaster is the only addon you need to make millions of gold, and it's the only way to do that without expending an unreasonable amount of energy crafting and auctioning the items you sell. It's just been completely overhauled for version 2, and you should know that: Version 1 is never being updated again. When it stops working, probably on 5.4 patch day, it's never going to get fixed. Version 2 forces you to completely redo all your settings. There are no imports of your old groups or anything else. Basically, you have no choice: if you want to use TSM (and no other addon comes within spitting distance of being as useful as it for gold-making), you have to upgrade to 2, and you're going to have to redo everything. If you're really unlucky, an addon updater might have already overwritten your old version with the new one and taken all your setup with it. Version 2 took me a few days to get to the point I'm at now where I can do almost everything I did with my version 1 settings. In fact, I found all my experience with TSM 1 caused this process to take longer than it would have if I was completely new to the addon. Some concepts (like groups) are now very simple and intuitive, but it took me a while to get over my experience using TSM 1 groups. That said, once I made the jump, I found that things are faster now and I expect I'll be able to make my gold with less effort. There are some things that are gone (or moved) but once I decided to try going without them, I realized I didn't miss them as much as I thought I would. There's plenty of help, but diving right in, here's what you need to know to get started with TSM 2:
Random Acts of Uberness: The Sha of Uberness
In the age of LFR, it's the times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're bringing back the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. This week on Rare Sightings of Azeroth: the Sha of Uberness. It might not seem like much, but I just dinged 90 for the fourth time, this time a discipline/shadow priest. Being barely geared for heroics (and having a difficult time healing some of those), I sort of shrugged when I saw somebody advertising for people for a Sha of Anger group. I decided "What the heck" and whispered the person. He surprised me by not only telling me he didn't care about my gear but offering to let me heal if I wanted! Sha of Anger is something I've wanted to kill since the first time our eyes met. This was a shining moment for me, not only to say "I killed Sha!" but to say "I healed Sha!" to my friends, who thought I hated all things having to do with raids. I just want to say thank you to that random hunter whose name I cannot remember. I hope you read this and know that you made a healer's entire week with that run. Thank you! -- Vilandros, Muradins Resurrection, Muradin (US-Alliance)
Whoa -- did you just experience a Random Act of Uberness?
In the age of LFR, it's those times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're relaunching the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. We know you can't always remember player names or realms, and that's OK. Tell us what you do remember: what day of the week it was, what time of day, your own home realm, any details you recall about the other player, where you were and what you were doing in game. If the players involved read WoW Insider, we're betting they'll recognize your story! Send in your shout-outs and kudos now to lisa@wowinsider.com. Need an example of what we're looking for? It's short and simple. Take a look at this story of appreciation from way back in 2010: "I'm not to proud to admit it: when we're short on tanks, my husband and I will let our kid tank for us -- our just shy of seven-year-old, who diligently (and with trade chat disabled and parental controls on, his toon parked in our friends-and-fam guild instead of the casual raiding guild our mains are in) ground his teeny gnome warrior up to 80," writes Haelmari of US Eonar-A. "Tonight, we and some guildies needed a random. He wanted to play. Win/win, right? "We lacked a healer, so we sucked it up and joined LFG ..." The uber resolution of Haelmari's situation, after the break.
The Daily Grind: Are group finding tools a necessity?
In Guild Wars 2, there's no interface for you to queue up and immediately flash over to a group from anywhere in the world. On the one hand, this means that you have to actually go to dungeons and interact with people willing to take on the challenges. On the other hand, this also means that you need to hurry up and wait in order to gather your fellow adventurers, a problem that's only exacerbated when something goes wrong and you all have to die and respawn. World of Warcraft's dungeon finder tool is sometimes seen as the greatest way to jump in and experience dungeon content, while at other times it's seen as an effort to tear apart server communities and trivialize the experience of working together to clear something. So today we turn the question over to you, our readers. Are group finding tools a necessity in this day and age, or would you prefer to play games without them? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Google Groups' latest collaboration tools now available to all users
Ever get the impression that organizing an event is like herding feral kittens? If so, then you might want to check out Google Groups. If you're unfamiliar with the service, Groups are basically bulletin boards that you can participate in via email, with the ability to set boards either public or private. Up until this point, some of Groups' best features have been limited to to users of Google Apps for Business, but that all changes today. Now everyone can create a group inbox and email address to collaborate on items -- which really beats wading through a gaggle of forwarded emails. You can also assign tasks to other members of the group, manage email and mark items as resolved. No time for dealing with the same questions over and over? Hit 'em back with a canned response -- don't worry, your secret's safe with us.
The Daily Grind: What was the last good grouping experience you had with strangers?
I'll admit that I'm not one to actively seek out strangers for grouping. I've been burned in several bad pick-up groups and am somewhat of an introvert, so teaming up doesn't come naturally. Still, I've been pushing myself to get out there and do it more, which has created several positive moments. The other night in The Secret World I ended up grouping with a newcomer to the game who was beyond polite and friendly. In turn, I helped him navigate a few quests and answer questions about his build. I logged out feeling as though I had created a good memory, not just racked up a few more quest completions. So what was the last good grouping experience you had with strangers? Let's focus on the positive and not on snarky, "I've never had one!" answers, please and thank you! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Have you ever been vote kicked?
Applied with discretion and thoughtfulness it's a useful tool, but in the hands of an overly snarky or bad-tempered group it can certainly be abused--we are talking, of course, about the group vote kick option. Most of the time when I run group content I don't even remember it's there, but occasionally there's that one person who won't stop butt-pulling adds before the tank is ready, or who just can't seem to resist spewing a never-ending stream of gross and offensive epithets, or someone logs off and just doesn't ever come back online. When that happens I'm very, very grateful for vote kicks. Sometimes, unfortunately, it gets applied less sensibly; I've heard of players being kicked for every reason from their choice of toon being disliked to not having "enough" heirloom gear equipped, and situations like that can be infuriating. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that I have never myself been kicked from a group. I'm sure this is mostly due to the fact that I'm not a huge dungeon runner, so I'm not in random groups very often, but also at least partially because when I do run group content I tend to play a healer. Kicking a healer, while sometimes necessary, can also occasionally result in a very bored group sitting around for a while waiting for a new one, which is no fun. Sometimes people don't believe me that I've never been kicked, but I've met plenty of players who also say they haven't, either, so I've never thought myself particularly unusual, but I still I count myself as being lucky in this respect. How about you, though? Have you ever been kicked? And, perhaps more importantly, was it deserved or were you the victim of a trigger-happy kicker? %Poll-83117%
The Nexus Telegraph: Raiding in WildStar is its own creature
When WildStar comes out, it is going to have raiding. It's going to have the sort of raiding and group content that is meant to be challenging. No facerolls intended here; you'd better bring your A-game on raid night, or you will be facedown in the dirt so often that people will think you're doing a performance piece on the Kennedy family tree. I am not a lover of raiding. This is not difficult to find evidence of on this site because I've talked about the issues with group-only endgame antics on more than one occasion. Heck, I wrote about how raiding turns you into a horrible person. So you would think I'd look at what we know about WildStar's endgame and start facepalming, possibly whilst shaking my head and muttering obscenities. But I'm not. I'm totally cool with what we've been told so far about the endgame because there's much more than just the raiding aspect in the game, and I'm intrigued by how it's working out.
The Daily Grind: What's your ideal group size?
World of Warcraft is introducing flexible raids soon, allowing you to experience major content with any size of group that you want. Assuming, of course, that you want to experience that content with at least nine other people. The flexibility is nice, but it doesn't allow you to run with any group size that you want. But maybe that isn't an issue for you in the slightest. Maybe your ideal group size is a dozen people. Perhaps you'd prefer five people along with you, or seven, or just two. City of Heroes scaled most content to group size no matter what, asking players to bring as many people along as they liked and not worry about having too many or too few. So let's throw the question over to you, dear readers. What's your ideal group size? Are you happiest in small groups, pairs, large groups, or massive onslaughts whose numbers block out the sun? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
9 newbie tips for running dungeons without looking like a newbie
We were all newbies once -- and some of us who have left the game and come back have found themselves being newbies a second time. And while there's no way to avoid newbiedom entirely, with a bit of foresight, even the newest player can run a dungeon without looking like a newbie. These 9 tips should help you get started on your dungeon running career -- and even if you're well on your way to being a professional, a refresher course never hurt. 1. Know your (instance) role If you've never been in a dungeon before, the idea of group roles may not be intuitive. But when you're working with a group, you'll typically have one person assigned to tank, one person assigned to heal, and the rest of the group dealing damage (DPS). Additionally, some classes have crowd control abilities they'll be called to use in instances -- if you've got one, make sure it's on a hotbar rather than hidden in your spellbook. Whether you're playing with friends or you've jumped into a random group, know what your role is before you go. Need tips on getting started? Here's some advice on getting started as a tank, getting started as a healer, and tips on improving your DPS.
Addappt goes public, gives iOS users group contact control and messaging
While Addappt has been teasing painless contact syncing between iOS-using friends and colleagues since its December launch, its invitation-only nature has kept most of us on the sidelines. It may be time to try Addappt now that an update opens the doors to the public. On top of widening the app's audience for its update once, share everywhere approach, the 1.3 release brings group management that easily lets us lump coworkers or social circles together. Messaging is appropriately easier as well -- it's possible to quickly text or email everyone in a given group, including the option to share more photos at once than the five that iOS usually allows. A port to Android isn't yet on the cards, but iPhone and iPod touch owners tired of missing phone number changes can give Addappt a whirl today.
