thottbot
Latest
WoW Firefox search plugins
How many times a day do we all search Thottbot, Allakhazam, WoWWiki, Wowhead and others? It gets old really fast to type in the address or go dig it out of bookmarks every time right? About 50 of you are right now thinking, "geez ya noob, like thottbot is my homepage!" Before you get all huffy and start chargin' your fireball, realize that there is a better way to look-up those [ACME Pauldrons of the Whale]. Think of them as WoW UI add-ons for Firefox. What? That's right, IRL WoW add-ons for your Firefox browser. Check out these search plug-ins that you may get some use out of if you look up things like a banshee. By the way, I've heard that Lady Sylvanas can Google stuff like nobody's business, but that is unconfirmed as of this writing.Firefox search plug-ins for WoW-WoW Armory (both US and EU versions)-Allakhazam Quests-Allakhazam Items-Allakhazam Mobs-Curse gaming add-ons-WoW Official forums-WoWWiki-Wowhead-WowdirectoryThe links to all of these search engines are at Mozilla's "mycroft" website, which lets users build their own search plug-ins for their favorite sites. For any of the search plug-ins, simply click the name of the site you wish to install, and Firefox does the rest. Our very own search plug-inAlso, I am proud to introduce the official WoW Insider Firefox search plugin that you can now download for your WoW Insider perusing pleasure (without having to type the address or leave your browser). Please use this plug-in responsibly, no members of the Burning Legion are allowed to use this search. Enjoy
Analysing the $1mil acquistion of WoW database site
Last week, World of Warcraft database site Wowhead sold for reportedly a whopping US$1 million to Affinity Media. Our sister site WoW Insider takes a look back on the deal and its implications to the community.First comes the fear of goldfarming influence. When the news first broke, there was talk of Affinity's relation to goldfarming company IGE. All ties have purportedly been cut by Affinity, clinching the deal for Wowhead. To be sure, no goldfarming or power-leveling ads have been shown on the database site. Affinity CEO Mark Jaffei claimed in a Q&A that the original leaker of the acquisition talked up goldfarming has financial interest in a competitive site.More importantly comes the fear of non-competition, as the three biggest WoW databases -- Wowhead, Thottbot and Allakhazam -- are now all owned by the same company. The battle for traffic hits had pushed the sites to improve the quality of their databases, and there is worry that Affinity will not require competition the three sites. Only time will tell if those fears prove valid. Check out WoW Insider for a thorough analysis of the news.
Thottbot will be fine
Just in case you were worried that all the comments you had put into Thottbot were gone, don't be. We've heard from the man himself and everything is going to be fine.In an email, Thott says "Some of the back end stuff lost its mind and kept reporting threads as non-existent. The site calmly accepted this and created a new thread start each time someone posted a comment. Now there are multiple thread starts for each page. Once I write something to merge them all it'll be back to normal."Great to hear that one of the best WoW resources on the Internet is safe and secure. Where else could you learn how Goblin Rocket Fuel can lead to online romance between an engie and an alkie? (second comment)
Comments wiped on Thottbot
Sometime today, it seems as though the comments on Thottbot.com were wiped. Maybe. Some Thottbot entries, like this one for Atiesh, have plenty of old comments still on them. But others which definitely used to have comments, like the Bad Mojo Mask, seem to be wiped clean.Which is definitely trouble, because while there are a lot of WoW resources out there, Thottbot was well known not only for its completeness (they even had spells in there that were only used by NPCs or objects), but for the player comments on each quest. Not only could you find out where a mob spawned, but you could see players telling you how hard it was, how they had beaten it with their 49 lock by chain fearing, and whether the rewards were good or bad. Without the comments, Thott's just not Thott.There's a few rumors floating around as to why this happened-- it could just be a server mistake, or it could be an attempt by Thott to clean out the gold sellers that were advertising in the comments. Some of the comments may have disappeared and come back, so it could be just a temporary thing (unfortunately the site news doesn't provide any clues because... it was wiped, too). I've dropped a note to Thott himself to see if he can give us any feedback on the subject-- I'll let you know if we hear any moreSo if you've ever used Thottbot in the past, now's the perfect time to give back-- leave a comment on a few quests or items you know well to help rebuild the database. I'm sure a site like WoWHead would love to take advantage of Thott while they're down, but Thott's the first and original. I would hate to see them go down like this, especially if it's a tech mistake of some kind.Update: Comments are now back on the Bad Mojo Mask entry, as well as on the site news. Whatever the problem was, it looks like it might have been only temporary.
How to be a good player
Over the last week, it seems like we've done a lot of complaining around here. We've dealt with noobs, kids, and terrible groups. And yet through it all, a lot of good advice has come from you, our readers. So to wrap up a week of complaining about bad players, here's five different ways you can make sure you're a good player.1. R-e-s-p-e-c-t. If there's one thing a bad player does often, it's disrespect other players. WoW is a game where you're meant to play together well, and that's not going to happen when you ask a warlock for a portal, and then get angry when he can't do it (see #3 about that). Yelling at people (a.k.a. using all caps when you speak), assuming help, ninja-ing loot or resource nodes-- these are all signs of disrespect. Blizzard has built all sorts of benefits into helping people in this game, so chances are if someone isn't doing something for you, or isn't helping in some way, it's because you haven't given them the respect you should.2. Help yourself first. If no one can help you, don't just get angry about it-- help yourself. If you can't find out what do to for a quest, look on Thottbot. If no one wants to run an instance, find something else to do, watch the LFG channel, and before you know it, somebody will be looking for exactly the thing you wanted to do. If you really, really need 1g, just step out of town and kill a few things until you get it-- I'm not kidding, money is just lying around on dead guys in Azeroth. WoW is a great game in that you can't lose-- no matter how broke or low level or low geared your character is, there's always a way for you to get better, even without anyone's help.3. Know the game. Everyone says this, but everyone says it because it's true. There are countless resources out there to help you play your class-- read at least a few of them. If someone does something you've never seen before, nicely ask them about it, and they'll probably talk your ear off about all the stuff they can do. And if you're in an instance and you're about to fight a boss you've never fought, let your group know so they can fill you in on what to do during the fight.4. No begging. This falls right in with #1, but it's worth repeating. In life or in Azeroth, don't beg. There are always better ways to get what you want (see #2).5. Relax and keep an open mind. One of the biggest complaints this week was about people who were angry because one of the other players wasn't doing something they thought was right. Warriors dual wielding with daggers?!? Druids tanking instances?! Priests pulling!? And yet all of these things aren't just possible-- sometimes they're the best way to do what you need to do. Don't get angry just because someone isn't sticking to the cookie cutter classes-- if everyone lives, it works. And even if everyone doesn't live, don't freak. Wiping, leaving a group, even a huge repair bill doesn't equal the end of the world (that's for when the Burning Crusade shows up).There we go, a constructive end to a week of complaining. And if someone doesn't follow one of these rules, you can send them right back here to find out where they went wrong.
Breakfast Topic: No peeking!
When questing, I often use Thottbot to help me optimise my hunting. Using the site I can find out where NPCs are to report to, where the mobs are concentrated, and even read helpful hints from other players (and contribute my own). Thottbot's proved invaluable on many an occasion, especially when attempting quests that are reasonably difficult to solo.However, recently I've found myself peeking ahead -- looking at the end of quest chains to see if the total XP and rewards are worth it, reading around the subject and generally spoiling any surprises that might have been in store. I've made the decision to stop this until I'm actually stuck on a quest, rather than before I even accept it, and it's a hard one to abide by.Are you over-reliant on Thottbot? If people ask where certain items are, is your first response to direct them to the site -- or to grab that laptop and look it up for them? Or do you see it as a form of cheating, and prefer to find surprises out for yourself?
