[1.Local]: In which He-Man and Eddie get pwned

Pwned by the password (and the Turpster)
Last week's [1.Local] saw us chatting about some of the misdirected requests we get here at WoW.com - players seeking WoW game support, customers of Wow! cable and telephone service looking for customer support ... Lost game passwords ... The list goes on ...

And since the people who mistake us for whoever they're looking for tend to be a little confused to begin with, many of these messages can get at least a little bit humorous. We corral all of it with a rafter of form letters we let fly whenever people contact us with one of the more common topics. These letters are cc'ed to the rest of the team, so that we're all aware what's been answered.

This week, however, the victim of confusion – and a pointed reply - was one of WoW.com's own.

From: Eddie Carrington
Subject: Hey Guys

I recently changed my Blogsmith password, and it seems I've forgotten what I changed it to.

(Go ahead and rub it in ... /waits patiently.)

But in all seriousness, is there a way to recover my password?

Thanks, Eddie

With the usual staffer who handles such situations out of pocket that particular day, the response to Eddie's posting dilemma was scarce – until Turpster stepped in with a familiar solution.

Hello Eddie,

WoW.com is not owned, operated, or affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment or their World of Warcraft game. If you have any technical or account problems, you need to contact Blizzard directly. Go to worldofwarcraft.com or wow-europe.com and look on the left hand column for their Support links or contact Blizzard Customer Service directly ...

Thanks, Mark Turpin

We can only imagine the results if we ever added authenticators to the WoW.com system ... (Oh, and welcome back to posting, Eddie!)

Pwned by keybindings
If you don't currently use keybindings, have you ever given them a try? There's a trick to setting them up, and there's a trick to getting used to them. Readers pitch in with ideas on how to do both.

AlmtyBob: There's a difference between not fixing what's not broken and not wanting to better yourself. You think you're the former when you're the latter, like all clickers. Just because you can pull enough DPS as a clicker that you don't get /gkicked doesn't mean you're doing it right.

Start by binding a couple of keys (that you can hit while moving) to your most commonly used abilities and add a new key or two each week. Practice on Icecrown mobs or target dummies. Don't rebind right before a raid.

We recommend the tips in the reader comments of this post for anyone who's considering trying, adding or modifying keybindings.

Pwned by The Guild
Felicia Day and The Guild? Resistance, apparently, is futile.

Ste: Honestly, I was getting so sick of people saying "The Guild rules!", "Felicia Day is so aaaawesome!" So I decided to check it out for myself.

*sigh*

It has to be said: The Guild does rule, and Felicia Day is indeed all kinds of awesome.

The cynic in me is angry at myself right now.

Check out the latest episode of The Guild on MSN Video.

Pwned by the numbers
You want numbers? We got numbers.

LilBanshee: The way armor scales is often misunderstood ... Sure, the amount it reduces a single hit by diminishes at higher values, but what does not diminish is the effective health increases it gives you. Consider the information at Wowwiki: Armor under the heading "The following is the same formula for a lvl 80 tank against a level 83 mob." The way you presented the information, and indeed the way WoWWiki presents it, makes it seem like each successive amove of armor helps you out less than the last. This is a skewed interpretation of otherwise accurate data.

The problem is that both you and they are comparing the wrong things. What matters is your effective health total scales from armor. For example, at 50k armor you only take 25% of the initial damage, so a tank with 40,000 health therefore has an effective health of 160,000 unmitigates points of physical damage. The formula for that is: MaxHealth * (1 / PercentageDamageTaken) = EffectiveHealth

So, taking the percentages given on WoWWiki, and sticking with my 40,000 health tank example:

at 0 armor: 40000 * (1 / 1.00) = 40000 EffectiveHealth
at 5000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.769) = 52000 EffectiveHealth
at 10000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.625) = 64000 EffectiveHealth
at 15000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.526) = 76000 EffectiveHealth
at 20000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.454) = 88000 EffectiveHealth
at 25000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.4) = 100000 EffectiveHealth
at 30000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.357) = 112000 EffectiveHealth
at 35000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.322) = 124000 EffectiveHealth
at 40000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.294) = 136000 EffectiveHealth
at 45000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.27) = 148000 EffectiveHealth
at 50000 armor: 40000 * (1 / 0.25) = 160000 EffectiveHealth

From the above we can derive this: X armor = 40000 + (2.4 * X) EffectiveHealth. Therefore, armor does NOT have diminishing returns, every point increases your effective health by the exact same amount as the last point (specifically, a linear 2.4 effective health per point of armor), just like how stamina also increases effective health linearly. Also note that the '2.4' value scales up as your stamina scales up. For example X armor = 50000 + (3 * X) if you have 50,000 health. So if you increase both stamina and armor you get geometric growth rates, quite the opposite of diminishing returns!

(This lengthy comment is followed by two more dense, numbers-heavy contributions.)

Dragon: See everything above my comment? This is why Armor Pen, Spellpower, etc. are being removed ... My head hurts after reading this. Cataclysm can't come soon enough, in my opinion.

If you have plenty of time and enthusiasm in the meantime, dig into the other figures and theories in this post.

Pwned by game lore
One of our most frequently requested resource lists, a chronological order of Warcraft- and World of Warcraft-related novels and other reading material, finally made it into this week's WoW Rookie column. Readers were ecstatic, lending info tweaks and additional resources of interest.

Lisa Poisso: Eddie Carrington here at WoW.com recommends LoreCrafted, although I don't at first glance see anything there specific to your question. Perhaps readers will have more ideas?

And this just in from Daniel Whitcomb: Another place to look for an overview of the WoW storyline is actually on the official site itself. This page actually has a timeline and a basic history overview that, while not 100% comprehensive, gives you a good feel for the major events of Azeroth's history and their place in the timeline.

duffry: I found the "Story of Arthas" series someone put together on YouTube very good. Basically cut together from the pre-WoW games.

WoW.com relishes digging in to Warcraft lore in with regular features such as Ask A Lord Nerd and Know Your Lore. Do you have any other favorite sources for game-related lore?

Pwned by play time
The subject of internet and gaming addiction has always brought out strong opinions from our readers, and this interview with a mental health expert who's now specializing in internet addiction treatment is no different.

ivyleaves: Thanks, Mike, for a good interview. Unlike some, I appreciated you calling her on her unwillingness to actually play WoW or a similar MMO. I don't care if she doesn't like it; it is part of her job. She cannot say she is "studying" this topic w/o knowing all of the aspects. It's not the same as taking heroin to study drug addiction, either, because heroin has already been studied.

I absolutely agree that excessive gaming is a symptom, not a disease. People who game too much, smoke too much, drink too much, gamble too much, are self-medicating or doing something else to make their life more bearable. This is a topic close to my heart, as my son was severely depressed and an excessive gamer for most of his school-age years, to the point where I had to have him in a residential treatment center for a year. The problem was not WoW or any of the other console or MMO games, it was those issues he tried to use gaming to cope with. He is now going to his first year in college, spending the weekends at his girlfriend's place and going back to playing BGs in WoW after a long self-imposed boredom hiatus. The treatments he received were for the depression and anxiety, not gaming addiction.

I also play WoW, as he introduced me to it. (I am the original gamer in the family.) I am coming off of a several week WoW vacation because of a family emergency in another state. I often take a week off of raiding just because I feel too tied down to it. Which all reminds me - I am definitely of another generation and still love WoW. I am over 50 and know many other gamers over 60. That lady is mouthing some lame excuses for avoiding games.

Have you or someone you know ever struggled with throttling WoW and real life?

Pwned in the Thunderdome
Voting is still open in this week's Two Bosses Enter Wrath boss fantasy deathmatch - and if this comment doesn't inspire your vote, we're not sure what will ...

Pollux:
Salramm: "Hey, babe, do you know why I wear this cow skull on my head?"

Svala: "No ... and I'm desperately fighting the urge to be intrigued."

"Don't fight it, baby, let it grow. You know, you've got beautiful eyes."

"YOU LIE!!! YOU CANNOT SEE THROUGH MY METAL SHEET!!!"

"No reason to get feisty, honey. You're a sight for sore eyes, that's all. All I've got for company is my Ghouls..."

"Do I really want to know what you mean by that?"

"Oh, I think you know already, sugar. Giggity giggity."

Svala draws near, apparently unable to resist The Fleshcrafter's animal magnetism. Salramm, excited by the tension in the air, inadvertently detonates his Ghouls. Svala brings her face close to Salramm's. He feels her chill breath on his neck. He reads intently every glossy millimeter of her plump lips. She leans closer, hovering next to his ear. Salramm's hands begin to tingle as she whispers softly to him.

"Know what I do with this sword when I need to relax?"

"You could show me ..."

"Suit yourself ..."

Svala slides the cow skull off Salramm's head, which is kind of hard because it's sort of crusted onto his forehead a little. She runs her supple fingers through his hair, which is also kind of hard to do without large clumps sloughing off. At this point, however, Salramm is in too much of a state of delirium to notice. He can hardly see straight, he's so absolutely suffused with boyish anticipation. Svala, leaning back slightly, gently flaps her wings until she is just over an arm's length away from the hypnotized Fleshcrafter.

"Are you ready?"

"Mmmmm wha? Yeah ... Yeahhh, ready, Freddy ..."

Svala is somewhat confused by this mention of "Freddy." She shakes it off, though, and continues. Svala slides her tongue along the edge of the blade and cuts herself, which was completely accidental and hurts a lot, but it only intensifies her growing excitement. Salramm drools a little.

Then, with a bob of the tail and a flick of the wrist, Svala Sorrowgrave plants her colossal sword firmly and directly into Salramm's poor, unsuspecting head. Poof. A cloud of malodorous dust erupts from the cleft cranium as the Fleshcrafter crumples. Svala withdraws her titanic weapon, places the cow skull over Salramm's sweaty and smiling face, and walks away with a jaunty strut.