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Buff(ing) For BlizzCon: Choose your quests wisely
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon is a bi-weekly fitness series written by ShrinkGeek authors Rafe Brox and Michael McGreevy. Join the WoW.com team in getting in shape for the ultimate WoW geek event: BlizzCon. I had serious health issues from being way too heavy not that long ago. Without going into the whole story (you can read it all here if you're so inclined), it was imperative that I lose weight and keep it off. I'm still trying to reach my overall goal, 10 years later, but I'm a lot closer now. I won't kid you – it hasn't been easy, but no epic quest with an awesome reward ever is (and, unfortunately, there isn't a development team that is going to nerf the Getting In Shape quest once the elite raiders have beaten it). I'm about to state something that nobody in the diet and fitness industries really wants to admit, because doing so might make a potential customer take their particular approach to getting healthier less seriously. The fact of the matter is, though, that it's 100% true, and if they were to deny it, they would be lying. All diets and exercise programs work. Every. Single. One.
Choose My Adventure: Week 5 stories
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. Oh my. With Foxlight on the scene now, the CMA adventures have become far more fabulous. Have you voted on his spec and professions yet? The polls are still open. Here is the remaining schedule for the week: Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, and Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Wednesday, 11 p.m. to midnight EDT. Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, his new troll mage: some time Saturday. Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the blood elf paladin: Saturday, 8 p.m. EDT. Michael Sacco as Sahko, the orc warlock: Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT. Amy Schley as Patent, the troll rogue, Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, and Gregg Reece, the orc warlock, will be making appearances as they can. Turn the page for the stories from last week and some advice.
Drama Mamas: How to befriend when antisocial
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. We'll get to the drama in a minute, but first I must talk about the awesome avatars that the awesome Kelly Aarons of Byron and World of Warcraft, Eh? fame has awesomely drawn and painted for us. Awesome. See them after the break. Yeah, yeah. You want drama. We've got your drama right here. The thing about WoW (and MMOs in general) is that while you may be able to solo through it, the most benefits are reaped by at least a minimum of social interaction. We are answering a letter this week from someone who isn't very friendly but still wants to make and keep friends in Azeroth. Try not to get too distracted by the awesome avatars. Awesome.
Anti-Aliased: Burnout, revenge
Oh those sparkle ponies. They were a fun diversion last week, and a pretty fun topic to write on. Kudos to Blizzard for making crazy amounts of cash last week -- you guys at the marketing department really knew your audience and how much they'd pay for a shiny mount. While I may disagree with the size of the price tag, I still admire how well that move worked out for them. I'm sure we'll be seeing more things like that for World of Warcraft in the future. Anyway, let's move onwards to this week's topic: MMO burnout. Almost all of us experience it at least once with one of our favorite games, and some of us have experienced it more than once across a single game or many games. Right now, I'm really with you guys who are suffering from burnout. I've been looking for a good game to sink my teeth into, but I just can't seem to find "the one" right now. So I'm off doing some other activities, trying to rekindle that spark of love for MMOs. This week I want to talk about some of the ways I've been combating burnout, much like Mr. Kyle Horner did before me, and hopefully you guys can chime in with some ways of your own!
Choose My Adventure: Week 4 recaps and leveling advice
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. We have recaps from last week after the break and personalized leveling advice on page 2. But first, here is the schedule for the rest of the week: Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, and Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Wednesday, 11 p.m. to midnight EDT Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter, will be making appearances as he can this week. Amy Schley as Patent, the troll rogue will also be making appearances as she can. Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, his new troll mage: some time Saturday. Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, will be making appearances as he can. Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the blood elf paladin: Friday, 8 p.m. EDT.
Drama Mamas: The broken leveling pact
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. My husband and I make concept duos. Sometimes we make duos that our friends and guildies follow; an early Horde PvP project turned into an effective reforming of our guild, which wound through the battlegrounds and eventually morphed back into PvE raiding. Sometimes we change courses (a lot). A recent level 50-ish Horde shammy/pally combo turned into an Alliance reroll so we could revisit all the Alliance quests again pre-Cataclysm, which in turn became a reroll when I decided the new mage wasn't as fun as the old pally ... And that's been fun, but we've been feeling pangs about abandoning our rogue gank squad, which stalled out somewhere in Borean Tundra when the shaman/pally bug came calling. Through all this, no matter how much we end up questing through the same old places, we've learned that it pays to stick together. We tradeskill separately, and we're cool about class-specific quests, but we try to stay neck in neck on quest progression. The whole point, after all, is to do all this crazy stuff (our current pre-Cataclysm Loremaster/Explorer quest-gasm) as a team. That's what makes it fun. But we didn't always know that. We used to get impatient if one of us didn't feel like logging in that night. We used to oh-so-innocently run up "only three levels" ahead of one another. We used to get so swept away with the thrill of the XP hunt that we forgot that the point was to accomplish it together. Dear Drama Mamas, Someone I thought was a good friend agreed to leveling a druid with me in preparation for the oncoming expansion. The plan was to get to 80 as quickly as possible, then realm transfer to a PvP server and do what we could in terms of PvP success. Then once Cataclysm was released and the feature became available, we would race change to Worgen, then work our way up the ladder again, our feral/resto combo hopefully unmatched.
Drama Mamas: Invasion of privacy
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. Captain Obvious says that communication within guilds is a very good thing. But as we've seen before, sometimes too much communication can cause more drama than keeping quiet. It is smart to anticipate problems and make preparations in case they occur. But is thinking the worst of people the same as proactive problem-solving? When thinking ahead to avoid trouble, it is usually a good idea to examine your own motives and see if any prejudices are lurking that color your viewpoint. If it's possible that envy or disapproval are clouding your judgment, it is usually best to keep your mouth closed and your eyes open. I assume the best about this week's letter writer's motives for wanting to prevent drama in his guild. But in this case, motives are irrelevant to the possible drama bomb that would explode from an invasion of privacy.
Buyer's Advice: Now is a really bad time to buy an iPhone 3G
If you're thinking about buying an iPhone 3GS right now, here's some very simple advice: wait. Based on not only industry rumors but also historical patterns of iPhone releases, it's widely expected that Apple will debut a new iPhone in less than two months. While we don't know anything concrete about the next iPhone, it seems obvious the next iPhone will have more storage, a faster processor, and possibly even more RAM than the current iPhone 3GS. All of that equals better performance, and it's likely the prices will remain exactly the same as the current models -- meaning you get more bang for your buck. Even if you think the iPhone 3GS is good enough for your purposes, it's likely the iPhone 3G will be discontinued, with the iPhone 3GS filling its place as the "budget" model of iPhone. On the other hand, you might be looking at an iPhone 3G right now because of its very low price (US$99 with a 2-year AT&T contract; some international carriers are even offering the iPhone 3G for free with certain plans). In the case of the iPhone 3G my buying advice is slightly different, but I can still condense it down to one word: DON'T. The iPhone 3G is nearly two years old now. That's enough reason by itself not to drop money on this model of iPhone, but thanks to the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0, there's an even more compelling reason not to buy it: Apple's next iPhone OS won't offer all of its features on the iPhone 3G. Specifically, the iPhone 3G will not be able to take advantage of multitasking, the ability to run several third-party apps at once.
Drama Mamas: The burden of guilt
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas@WoW.com. Burnout burns (yeah, we see how that word works), but guilt grinds. We've talked about burnout here before. The only way out is -- well, out. But when your friends and guildmates still want to dive into the surf, how do you handle the guilt of leaving them high and dry? Dear Drama Mamas: Since the beginning of Wrath, I've been the main tank of my guild. It's what I've always done and I've really enjoyed it. I MT for two raids, one being a very casual 25-man (only 7 bosses in ICC) and the other being a 10-man that's a bit more hardcore (did Alg in Uld, various raid achievements, downed LK, etc.). I've enjoyed both raids very much for different reasons. The 25-man is very laid back, with many of my friends, and the 10-man sates my need for challenging progression. Recently, the leader of our 10-man decided to call it quits for awhile, just to take a break from WoW before Cat. is released. Not a problem for me, in fact, I've also been feeling a bit of WoW burnout and also thought it the perfect time to take a break. A few others in the 10-man also felt the same way. So no hard feelings there. The problem is my 25-man raid. I've been one of the anchor members for a while and have helped out quite a few other tanks that have come and gone. I've also been told repeatedly that the raid performs horribly when I am not there. In fact, I almost left this raid once before when I was recruited for a much more hardcore raid but was convinced by many of my friends to stay on.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Apple borked my box. Now what?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I ordered a 32GB iPad WiFi+3G model back in March, shortly after they were announced. I ordered a few accessories too, each of which has shipped separately ahead of the iPad. I received the first accessory today via FedEx--the iPad Dock. I've always been a fan of Apple's packaging and the dock is no exception. As so, I'm always especially carefully when opening Apple stuff as not to damage the packaging. What I did find a little odd, though, is that they put one of those plastic tabs (as if it was hanging in a retail store) right over the only opening to the box. Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to remove the plastic tab that was VERY well affixed to the box without damaging it and leaving glue-like residue behind. I guess I won't be saving this well-designed box for the future -- unless you can help! Thanks in advance for any advice. Love, your nephew, Andrew B.
Drama Mamas: Should you tattle?
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas@WoW.com. For a long time, I looked at the world as if everything were black and white. A lie is a lie and the truth should be told to everyone, no matter how much it hurts. But through the years, this attitude has not proven itself to be good for getting along with people. Yes, I wish everyone were honest, but that just isn't the case, and sometimes dishonesty really doesn't hurt anyone. While I still believe in taking a stand for what is right, I think it is wisest to save your energy (and the resulting drama) for what is really important. This week, we hear from an honest player who wants to do the right thing.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Did Steve Jobs gift me an iPad?
Dear Auntie T, Hi! First time writer. I was just curious if anyone else was receiving an email like I received. My first instinct is to say it is fake and/or an April Fools' joke. However I want to be sure. The entire message is below. From: Steve Jobs Subject: Congratulations! You've won an iPad! Date: April 1, 2010 4:05:24 PM CDT To: [Redacted] Reply-To: steve.jobs@apple.com Dear Kris [Redacted], You are the winner of a brand new Apple iPad! Please show up at your nearest Apple Store on saturday April 3rd from 9am to 3pm. Bring an official ID an give Authorization Code # [Removed just in case it is real.] I personally hope you enjoy our new product! Steve Jobs Apple Corp. Please give me your take on this. Thanks! Love the site. Love and Kissies, Kris McG.
Drama Mamas: Overpulling your love life
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas@WoW.com. Most of the troubled souls who write in to Drama Mamas already know the steps they should take to free themselves from their predicaments. They simply want to hear their conscience speak aloud, to come face to face with the writing on the wall. Things are no different this week for lovelorn correspondent A Troubled Tank. Although his plea for help is more eloquent than most, his sticky situation (and subsequent avoidance of the issues he lays out with clarity and precision) is all too familiar. Dearest and Revered Mamas of the Drama, This warrior finds himself in the prickliest of predicaments. On the server Earth, my main is a pretty normal dude; what is relevant is that he is in a relationship. My alt in Azeroth is getting him into trouble, however. Viewed as objectively as possible, my main relationship is a good one. However, it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. The problems of the relationship, which do not bear additional mentioning, are primarily external to the relationship. That is, if whoever runs the Earth server would nerf various things, it would be rather good. However, context and circumstance delegate it to a troublesome bore. Enter my alt's crush on a guildie. She is beautiful, charming, funny, intelligent and never bugs, scolds or annoys me. O would that she would reside in my zone, or one neighbouring mine! Yet alas, she resides on a foreign coast. She who is of relationship ilevel 277 is beyond my reach. Nonetheless, I daresay she adores me. Though as a warrior my Intellect is low, even I can tell she is my perfect match. What's worse, my guildie crush is unaware that I am seeing someone. Our friendship started innocently enough, but soon it was clear that we fit like a tank and a healer. My Earth server girlfriend and I are like two DPS, laboring in a 30-minute queue. My alt's heart's desire completes my set bonus.
The Tattered Notebook: Mail time
Ah ha! Finally! Freedom from the human reporter, Seraphina! She is going to PAX East, leaving me to my own devices! Now, finally, I can enact the plan I've been waiting so long to do! ...answer one of your e-mails. Muhahahahahahaha! Ok, ok darlings. I know that perhaps this is not quite the same as world domination or the destruction of Qeynos, but it's special for me, yes? Usually I have to be somewhat pleasant in these weekly scribblings. But, with my oversight gone, I can let you experience the wrath of a true Tier'dal! ...with helpful advice along the way, of course.
Drama Mamas: Suicide threats
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. Warning: This week's topic is very much on the serious side and has nothing to do with WoW except that it occurs in-game a lot. Because it brings up some sensitive subjects and is very close to home for me (as you will see), I may be very heavy-handed with the moderating. I would appreciate it if you kept all of the comments constructive and non-trollish so I don't have to. Making fun of me, Robin, is ok though. I'm already laughing at me, so you can only laugh with me. Drama Mamas, I recently went to ToC5 with my RL friend, and in the party there was a mage. A very chatty mage. I humored him and chatted away. Today the guy whispered me and talked about wanting to do some instances etc.. Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. I think he said something about not having any friends as well. But later the same day, he started talking to me about how he hates his life because he has no friends, and his girlfriend just broke up with him.. He actually started talking about wanting to kill himself.
The Queue: The dating game
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today's edition of The Queue is one part off-topic and two parts on-topic, but each and every part is worth it. Trust me on that one. Oh, and there's a couple more bad words than usual. You have been warned. I hope none of you are too scandalized by it. Windswept asked... "There is this girl I like that works at the mall, I want to ask her out but I don't know how. What would YOU do?"
Drama Mamas: Wake-up call to guild officers
The Drama Mamas are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. How to handle that sticky situation? Ask the Drama Mamas at DramaMamas@wow.com. That's it! I've had it. There's a nasty little problem gnawing its way through guilds across Azeroth, and the people who can fix the situation aren't even listening. One simple change would solve probably half of the questions the Drama Mamas receive every week. Even worse, we've covered this matter multiple times before, but certain people (ahem) don't seem to have their listening caps on. So allow me apologize in advance to our letter-writer this week, because I'm not going to answer his question. (And let me apologize to Robin in advance, too, since she'll be left picking up the actual question.) Instead, I'm going to lay out the underlying situation clearly enough that perhaps a few of the guilty parties will wake up and take notice. Guild officers: listen up. Hey Mamas: With my current guild we've been hitting ICC-25 regularly since its release, but I've noticed we've been hitting a wall lately. Sadly, "the wall" isn't Putricide or Blood Queen or any of the bosses, for that matter. The wall is the guild itself. We've cleared all non-gated bosses up to Dreamwalker, but now all of a sudden people seem to have cold feet. Our healers are pretty crummy, except for one or two of them (if they show), which has meant that certain fights have been disproportionately harder than others. Festergut is one those. But our guild's failure on Blood Queen, due to the healers' inability to stay on top of the damage, is now preventing us from moving on to Dreamwalker. The rationale here is that if the Queen is impossible for us to get down, then we shouldn't even "waste" time on Dreamwalker.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Does size matter (when it comes to iPads)?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I am planning on getting an iPad WiFi+3G when they become available, but I am still undecided on which (storage) size I should get. I currently have a 16GB iPhone 3GS which comfortably, for now, holds all my media needs. While I have a lot of music and photos and some video I don't feel the need to have it all on my phone at one time. Looking at what I store on my iPhone I think an iPad 32GB would more than fit my needs -- but will my media files be larger on the iPad with the larger format of the device? I don't expect that my iTunes songs will take up anymore than they do on the iPhone, but will the format of pictures and video take up more storage space? With AT&T increasing the download size limit over 3G it got me wondering if 32GB on the iPad will be more like a 16GB iPhone. At this point I would be deciding between the 32GB and 64GB. Just wondering if the $100 price difference would be better spent buying the 32GB and putting the $100 toward a year's worth of 3G connectivity? Love, kissies & hugs, Your nephew, RJ
Drama Mamas: It's time to leave now
The Drama Mamas are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. How to handle that sticky situation? Ask the Drama Mamas at DramaMamas@wow.com. It's time to leave now. You know it. We know it. Your guildmates probably know it, too. But you just can't bring yourself to open that door. Leaving a guild is so uncomfortable, so guilt-inducing, so potentially dramatastic, so ... awkward. Is it any wonder that the best way to leave (disguised as "whether" to leave) a guild is one of the most popular questions to hit the Drama Mamas mailbox every week? Dear Drama Mamas: I have recently decided that it may be time for me to make a change from one guild to another; however, because I am an officer in my current guild, I feel rather guilty in doing so at this time. The raid times have become enough of an issue that they became a noticeable problem in real life, and I recently informed my guild that I would no longer be raiding with them. This past weekend, I ran into a former co-worker of mine who happen to be on the same server. One of them informed me that their guild is looking for my class, and their raid times coincide almost perfectly with my preferred playing times. Their guild is a bit more progressed than my current guild, which is rather appealing, as is the prospect of getting together with some real life-friends, but I feel like if I join their guild, I am bailing on my current guild. Do you have any suggestions on how to break the news to my current guild (or officers) that I am thinking about applying to another guild, or any suggestions on how to make a transition go smoothly? Thanks, Anonymous
Dear Aunt TUAW: Why GPS?
Normally readers write directly to Aunt TUAW using our tips line or feedback form. But today, we're switching things up a bit. Instead, Auntie is responding to a comment left on her last post about whether you should buy the Wi-Fi only iPad or wait for the 3G version. That's because Aunt TUAW has a bug up her sleeve about GPS and its role on the iPhone, the iPad, and its tie to social media. Without further ado, here's today's "letter" and Auntie's response. Dear Aunt TUAW, I'm on Facebook, but why do people need to read Facebook updates when they're traveling? Whatever happened to looking out the window at new places? And geez, how about a simple paper map?!? If I have to go somewhere new, I print out a Google map before the trip or bring the old Rand-McNally. I may be weird, but look at all the dough I saved. :-) I live in northern New Mexico with wilderness available just a few miles outside of town. We hike and walk everywhere, assuming the MUD isn't so bad. I've never used an iPhone or a GPS device of any kind. What I'm wondering is, just why do people have those things? Seriously. Is it just a game? I take hikes in the backcountry with a compass and a topo map, just like in the old days with the Boy Scouts. :-) I can look at a hillside and point to where it is on the map. I almost always know where I am. So what is it about living in a city, forgodssakes, that makes one addicted to GPS??? Aren't there street signs? If you didn't have GPS, would you just sit down on the curb and have a nervous breakdown?!? Sincerely, John Hamilton Farr
