MikeSchramm
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WoW Moviewatch: A'dal downed
This video has inspired me to coin what I will call the Lord British Postulate:If it exists as a living creature in an MMORPG, someone, somewhere, will try to kill it.History has shown that to be exactly the case, and I, Mike Schramm, deem it to be true. Get to work, Wikipedians.How else to explain that some crazed player has actually gone after the seemingly harmless A'dal of Shattrath City, and, in a "world first," killed him? That's just mean. Obligatory: But what did he drop?And I have to say that it's too bad the naaru didn't put up any more of a fight. Then again, maybe he just despawned. Do beings of sentient energy leave a corpse?
Stealthing while clinking: Rogues in chainmail
Way back when, I found a post on the forum that suggested that Shaman should get temporary, summoned pets to use, and when I said it'd be a great idea, you guys laughed at me. And yet, come the expansion, we get those fun little Elemental Totems to play around with. So while you might laugh at this suggestion at first, think about it for a second before you say I'm crazy: Let's give Rogues mail!Guize on Skullcrusher has come up with what I think is a very interesting solution to the problem of endgame survivability for Rogues (we'll put PvP aside for a second and just talk about PvE for now). Currently, as players have said before, Rogues are a liability in most endgame raids-- yes, they can dish out damage, but considering how many endgame bosses pour out AoE, Rogues often end up to be more of a drain on the healers than anything else. I'm sure Cloak of Shadows has helped that a little bit (I haven't got too much experience with it yet, as my Rogue is only 61), but the fact is that while tanks can take it, Rogues take a beating more than any other class (ok, maybe healers take a worse beating, but that's only in a bad party).Enter Guize's suggestion of a 31-point Combat talent that allows Rogues to wear mail armor (alternately, to avoid having to add tons of new agility mail gear, he says it could just be a talent that bumps up armor from items). That would let PvE Rogues not be so squishy when asked to be right up there on the front lines of melee, and it would help out healers a whole lot, especially on the 25 and even 40 man instances.Now, in terms of PvP, I have to admit it seems a little unbalanced at first, considering that rogues are basically killing machines. But remember, too, that magic ignores armor-- Warlocks and Priests will still be able to DoT and fear just as much as they did before (and Cloak of Shadows is more of a problem for them anyway, and it's already in the game). There is, of course, the problem that it's really hard to be stealthy when all that mail armor would be clinking around, but if you want to finally give rogues a chance against the endgame AoE bosses, giving them the option to wear mail would definitely do it.
Do you play WoW at work?
This would actually make a good Breakfast Topic, but I figured it'd be more appropriate if I asked it right in the middle of the workday: do you play WoW at work?I've heard people do it, but personally I couldn't imagine how I'd pull it off. Most of my workday (when I'm not slaving away for the Weblogs, Inc. overlords here) is spent in an open office, and so even if I did find the time to squeeze a little adventuring in between my actual work, I have so many people looking over my shoulder that I'd get caught before long. Of course, when I am supposed to be writing for this site, I'm usually playing WoW anyway, so that evens out, I suppose.It seems, though, that if British cops can get away with playing on the PSP at work, WoW is just a sneaky laptop away. So some of you out there must be playing WoW at work right now (don't worry, we won't tell your boss), but how are you possibly pulling it off? Are you just letting it run while you do actual work? Or finding some time on your lunch break to level a little? Or are you all out hacking and slashing your way through Azeroth while a conference call goes on in the background? There is always the argument that playing WoW makes you more productive, but somehow I don't think my boss would buy that.
Transcripts from the Xfire Debate with WoW Insider
I want to make sure and thank all the WoW Insider readers who showed up to the Xfire Debate on Wednesday night-- I know I heard from a lot of people, I've got a lot of new people on my Xfire friends list, and I definitely heard a few good shoutouts. Thanks for participating-- I think it went really well.Xfire has posted transcripts of the chat: This is the main transcript, which I participated in along with reps from World of Raids, Taverncast, and Curse Gaming-- the whole thing was moderated by Gary Whitta, a former PC Gamer editor-in-chief (who, I'm told, I tussled with during the debate, but it was all in good fun). In addition, Xfire has posted the "Open Debate" transcript, which actually has a lot more to read through, and is just as interesting, if not moreso, than the "Main Floor"-- a lot of people had a lot of good opinions about the Burning Crusade, the new instances and races, and plans for the future of Blizzard's game (player housing is apparently wanted by many).Again, if you came by to see it, thanks for your support, and a big thanks to Xfire for hosting the whole thing (and especially to Xfire's Matt Gilman for setting everything up). Their Debate Club is supposed to be a regular feature, so while it'll probably be a while before they cover WoW again, it's definitely worth it to check back in with them to see what's coming up next.
Live chat with WoW Insider on Xfire tomorrow night
Just a reminder that tomorrow night, Wednesday the 31st at 7PM EST, I'll be involved in the very first Xfire Debate Club, all about World of Warcraft and the Burning Crusade. To see the chat happen live, and discuss the topics yourself, you can download Xfire here for free (I did it the other day-- the setup process is easy and fast), and then login tomorrow night at 7PM. In fact, my username is mikeschramm, so if you're on Xfire, drop me a friend request and I'll see you there.If you can make it, please come, as I'd love to hear from some WoW Insider readers (represent!). Plus, with Curse, WoR, and Taverncast all attending, I'm sure we'll hear some really good discussion on player reaction and thoughts about the expansion, PvP, and what's next for Blizzard. So download Xfire, mark your calendars, and I'll see you at the chat tomorrow night.
WoW Insider coming to Xfire on January 31st
Xfire is a gaming chat program (like Steam or Xbox Live, they allow you to create friends lists and join your friends in games online, but unlike those two they also allow you to IM those friends, either in or out of game), and they're working lately on building a community around the program through a series of online chats. They recently talked with PVP creator Scott Kurtz, this week they're chatting with MC Frontalot, and at the end of the month, they're dipping all the way down to the bottom of the barrel, and chatting with-- well, me.They're starting a series of "debates" on the channel (called the Xfire Debate Club: The Two-Handed Sword), and on the 31st at 7pm EST, the very first subject is World of Warcraft. I'm going to be chatting live on there, along with representatives from Curse, World of Raids, and TavernCast. What exactly we're talking about hasn't yet been revealed to me, but I'm sure the Burning Crusade will take the spotlight (and of course I'm planning to at least sneak a few snide comments in about how Horde is better than Alliance). In fact, if you've got something you want me to try and bring up, feel free to say something in the comments here, and I'll do my best to squeeze it in.And please come check out the debate live-- you can download Xfire right here, then just fire it up January 31st at 7pm EST. And if you want to join in on the debate and ask us questions (as well as future debates, I believe), just drop an email to "xfirecontests@xfire.com" with the subject "Xfire Debate Club" and the username you create on Xfire.But even if you don't have questions to ask, please do come and watch the chat-- I'm interested to see what the guys from Curse, WoR, and TavernCast have to say, and I'm very interested to see what Xfire users have to ask about the World of Warcraft. Should be fun.
