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New Forums Up, Old Forums Down
While the shiny new beta forums are up and running, the old forums - with all their sticky posts and archived information - are offline. Drysc claims they're offline due to an unrelated issue and should be coming back, though the continued downtime is the longest in recent memory (starting late Thursday night). In the mean-time, conspiracy theorists speculate that the old forums have been pulled down to force players to test the new forums. However, while we're waiting for the old forums to rise from the dead, the beta forums do provide a source of entertainment, and in some cases information, as the same questions get asked and answered.
New World of Warcraft Forums Beta
Blizzard has unveiled a new version of their forum software, with a lot more sparkle than the previous version. While it's unclear as to what new hardware or software supports these forums, their intent is to provide a more stable and robust forum system for us all. One thing that stands out is the new search function, which, while still quirky, is far and away an improvement on the former search function. So check them out, and let Blizzard know what you think of the changes. [Fan art by Sarah Jaffe]
One man, 40 characters
A thought experiment, of sorts, over at the forums: could you control 40 characters at once, enough for endgame raids or PvP all by yourself?Inspired by this video of a mage-heavy raid downing Ragnaros, player Xzin (who currently plays five characters at once) wonders about the logistics and feasibility of upping that to 40. Given the time it would take to level 35 more characters to 60 and gear them up for MC, I can only conclude that Xzin will have to really want this challenge in order to put the money and time in. As Terra Nova debates, perhaps it's an issue of human-computer interface design and control; taking charge of 40 different characters is far more akin to a real-time strategy challenge than MMO play. Still, there are always people who want to beat the game in new and interesting directions; as he's planning to keep everything above-board, good luck to him.
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
Essential advice for druids
Play a druid? Ever confused about which form to use when? Or do you want a handy howto to give others when they ask you, in catform, to heal? Alamo's Druid Guide, or rather "Alamo teechs u 2 play DURID!", can help -- it's been recently reposted on the forums. Here's a sample excerpt:OK LISSEN Almo noes about sum durid things sinse the baginning. Maybe B4 durids was week & stuff but now Durids is very storng. 1) OK, Sum durids is bare 2) Tehm whos bare durids, can B 4 tank: ONLY DURID DON’T HAF SUM PEEPS IN THE HEAD AND A GUNZ LOL! 3) Man, sum bare druids can maek sum peeps poop in feer bc/ tehms so storng. 4) Bare druids is not so good at uh moonfare spam but its OK b/c a bare durid haf many armors & when a thing hits durid, maybe thing gets borken hand LOL! 5) Bare durids is 4 funs when u can charje & stun & haf sum armors lol. Indispensible advice for life. Thanks, Alamo![Via Wonderland]
Murlocs as the new Crazy Frog?
With a poster on the European forums enquiring after the Murloc sound as a phone ringtone, I have a horrible vision of the future. The all-too-familiar Murloc gurgle has something of the same catchiness as the Crazy Frog ringtone; it wouldn't take much for Blizzard, or some enterprising player, to remix the humble "RRrlllllRRR" sound into a new tune of epidemic viral proportions.With a captive audience of over five million who'd buy into the brand, will we see the Crazy Murloc any time soon? Novelty Christmas single, humorous Flash video; the world is just waiting for murlocs to invade.
Does Blizzard Oil the Squeaky Wheel?
I have played Warriors as my mains since the day the game was released, back when their abilities were seriously bugged. Execute would drain your rage whether it hit or not, our chance to hit was calculated incorrectly, et cetera. The boards were flooded with "Fix Wars" posts, and Blizzard fixed us, albeit slowly. It seems to me that there will always be those who are not content with their class, and if they complain loudly enough, things get fixed. The polite requests get lost in the wash.As I was trolling the WoW forums, I came across this thread. The thread quickly spirals out of focus, but there was an interesting discussion going on in the first few pages. Does Blizz give preference to the forum loudmouths, and if so, is that a bad thing?
OSX86 Forums Closed by DMCA Violation Notice
For those people attempting to get Mac OS X 10.4.x for Intel installed on machines other than Macs, the best place to get that information was the forums at the OSX86 Project. The forums are now closed indefinitely because the project was served with a DMCA violation notice and the project manager(s) are working on culling the questionable content.The front page of the forums has been replaced with this notice:Welcome! We're sorry to report that despite our best efforts, the OSx86 Project has been served with a DMCA violation notice. The forum will be unavailable while we evaluate its contents to remove any violations present. We thank you for your patience in this matter.
