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Random Acts of Uberness: The secret of lending a hand
Apparently, the secret is getting out: It's building good times with other players that positions World of Warcraft at its most enjoyable. This principle helps explain why you'll find so many old timers not inside raid instances but spending entire evenings somewhere like the Amphitheater of Anguish helping other players. This week's Good Samaritan was spotted on the Timeless Isle. Caught being uber: Jakrer, Malfurion (US-Horde) Jakrer was using the new Raid Queue system to find those who needed Celestials, and he probably sat there all night doing it. I have a stack of alts, simply listing my name, earned an invite, the boss dropped fast, he remained with those who were left, invited more people from the Raid Que system, they downed it, and then he kept inviting more and more. Easily a great help for us Altaholics out there. He probably made sure a lot of people got their legendary cloak as well. -- Anonymous, Malfurion (US)
Random Acts of Uberness: No more anguish in the amphitheater
That point in the quest line where you fully expect to stall out unless you happen to stumble across precisely the right collection of alts at precisely the same time? No issue -- not if a level-capped good samaritan is already waiting there to lend a hand. Caught being uber: Kallirawr, Cairne (US-Alliance) While leveling my latest alt, and first alliance character, through Zul'Drak, I figured the Amphitheater of Anguish quests would be good for some fast XP and gold. Knowing there are usually people there looking for groups, I headed over figuring worst case, my heirlooms and hunter pet would let me get through the first few bosses while I waited to find members of a group. Much to my surprise, there was a level 90 Worgen Hunter, Kallirawr from US-Cairne just chilling at the Amphitheater waiting for lowbies to show up needing a group. With his help, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes with a big chunk of XP and a decent amount of gold. Without thinking, I opened a trade window to give him some of the gold I had earned and before I could get the warning that cross realm trades are not permitted, he was closing the trade window telling me that he didn't want or need anything for his help. It was a real pleasure to encounter a player who was willing to spend some of his gaming time helping others knowing that he wouldn't be able to get any rewards other than the satisfaction of helping a fellow gamer!! Thanks & Cheers! -- Trin/@Mageycake
Random Acts of Uberness: Because Monday doesn't have to stink
Urgh, the Monday after a holiday. We've got a few weeks to plow through before winter breaks save us from the daily drill. Looking for something to keep your spirits up until then? It's looking like Azeroth's a pretty good place to find positive people and an uplifting experience. Caught being uber: Delvthar, Khadgar (US-Alliance) Just a shoutout to a Dwarf Hunter from Khadgar named Delvthar! My home realm is also Khadgar and I was leveling my DK Gerrico with a friend and her Warlock in Dread Wastes last week, grinding to get to lvl 90! My friend and I saw a rare elite spawn and moved over near it and started buffing up and eating some stat food to take it out. Before we could start, Delvthar swooped down on his flying mount landing just a short distance from the rare. I thought "here we go again, as has happened so many times, a lvl 90 swoops in and grabs the rare". I was more than pleasantly surprised when he not only didn't grab it, but he stood there and waited for us to tag it and then helped us kill it after which he humbly bowed, hopped on his mount and flew away! So thanks Delvthar for helping restore some faith, and for bein uber :) -- Gerrico, Khadgar (US-Alliance)
Random Acts of Uberness: The Sha of Happiness edition
So what uber thing does it take to make the Sha of Happiness happy? This week, we have a special Random Acts of -- well, maybe not Uberness but more like Happiness from the Sha of Happiness herself (shown above with her snarling buddy Angryorc). Caught being uber: Elderly couple met at BlizzCon Unfortunately, I don't have the name of the couple, but they were elderly. The lady started playing Warcraft due to her daughter asking her time and time again to play, then the daughter bought and set her up with an account. She met this man in game, and they quickly fell in love. BlizzCon was their honeymoon and for them to recognize me as someone that's a "pillar of the community" was humbling. We compared LFR battle stories and it was so interesting hearing their take on things. It is humbling and honouring that they asked lil' ol' me for a hug. -- Sha of Happiness Among our other Random Acts this week is a little doggy who's so cute he got his human a resolved game time issue plus an extra snippet of game time. Tail-waggin' good times!
Random Acts of Uberness: We love the Random Uberness
Somewhat fittingly, Random Acts of Uberness is a random act of publishing. Since the content isn't time-sensitive, the editors tuck it into any open niche that happens along in the front part of the week. What's not so random, however, is that I always compile this feature on Mondays, because even the most mournfully Monday-ish Mondays brighten up when I'm editing this treasure trove of positivity. Keep 'em coming, guys -- we love publishing Random Acts of Uberness as much as you love reading (and experiencing) them! Caught being uber: Xferhorde, Steamwheedle Cartel (EU-Horde) I was redoing a lot of Azshara last week for fun, I've always loved the zones new quests. As I was questing I saw the new mail icon pop up and just left it for a while. i assumed it was one of the automated mails from npcs thanking you for your help. Imagine how surprised I was to find 1500g sent from a character called Xferhorde. I was trying to raise money for heirlooms at the same time, I was thrilled! I tried to respond with thanks but his character wasn't found. All the letter said was 'enjoy'. So I just want to thank him for his awesomeness. -- Hundraxx, Steamwheedle Cartel (EU-Horde)
Random Acts of Uberness: Our favorite feature on WoW Insider
We may not get as many comments as The Queue, but I'd venture to say that people who read Random Acts of Uberness are as fond of this column as Queue readers are of their daily Q&A. Just take a peek at the comments we do get! I'm wondering if now wouldn't perhaps be a good time to start counting up all the comments Random Acts gets that say "This is my favorite feature on WoW Insider." You'd all be down with posting that to make our comments the most uber comments on WoW Insider, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? And on to today's business: WoW players were cool to one another at BlizzCon this year -- but hey hey hey, so were the ones who weren't there, too! Caught being uber: Dotup, Cenarius (US-Alliance) After a relatively clean run through wing three of SoO on LFR (it was my first time tanking in there), Dotup sent me a whisper giving me some advice for the next time we fought, saying what would make life a lot easier on the whole group. I just wanted to give a shout-out and say thanks for taking the time to help me do my job right! :D -- Anonymous LFR Tank
Random Acts of Uberness: Save the zombies!
It was rough going for the spirited clutch of level 1 undead (significantly smaller than the sea of zombies shown above) attempting to push its way from Grom'gol Base Camp to Stormwind on Magtheridon EU for Hallow's End, when some friendly Alliance faces appeared on the scene. Caught being uber: Sellsword and Kendrasil (Magtheridon EU-Alliance) These two players spotted our little ragtag group of level 1 undeads attempting to run from Grom'Gol Base Camp in STV to Stormwind -- a Zombiewalk to celebrate the last night of Hallow's End. As soon as they realised we were aggro'ing pretty much the whole zone, they began killing mobs as they came at us. They were patient enough to wait with us each time we stopped to regroup for those who did die en route. And they patiently looked on as we took on Hogger. (We got him!) They accompanied our little group all the way to the gates of Stormwind, where we eventually fell at the hands of those overzealous guards. Thank you both! -- Anonymous level 1 undead Hogger-slayer
Random Acts of Uberness: Welcoming a bouncing baby Hordie
I once joined a guild in which one of my first experiences was a chat box full of conversation with a player whose spouse had just passed away. When I say "just," I mean it had been less than an hour since her death. Her passing followed a protracted illness and had long been expected. After taking care of the immediate arrangements, my guildmate simply needed a friendly place to keep himself occupied and maintain a sense of normalcy. We were glad to provide that refuge for our friend. Sometimes our fellow WoW players are the only ones around with whom we can share our real-world joys and sorrows. This week's Random Acts of Uberness begins with the story of another, albeit much happier, life event that occurred in the wee hours of the morning: the birth of a baby Hordie. New dad: Akeylese, Ravenholdt (US-Horde) Not really so much of an act of uberness but a good story anyway: I have recently started to become interested in PvPing and during a match of Deepwind gorge, I was defending the goblin mine with Akeylese, a tauren warrior. He was quiet at first and wasn't so active. He then apologized and said he had just had his baby at 3:46 a.m. and that he was talking with his guild members about the birth of his daughter. I congratulated him and we began to talk about the good ol' days of WoW -- what our favorite race was, our favorite expansion, how long we had been playing, etc. We easily won the BG and didn't have to do much, so we got to chat for a while. After the BG, we exited and I was able to whisper him and thank him and congratulate him again. So I want to congratulate him once more on his baby and wish him and his family the best! -- Ashtaron, Elune (US- Horde)
Random Acts of Uberness: Happily wiping "as long as people are learning"
Another week, another full report for Random Acts of Uberness. You guys just can't seem to stop being nice to one another. Who knew? Caught being uber: Zerep, Area 52 (US-Horde) I'd like to extend a thank you to Zerep, <Scorn> of Area 52 (H). He queued for heroic dungeons as a tank, but I zoned in to find a ret paladin in Righteous Fury mode, swinging Hellscream's Decapitator and completely mopping the floor with dungeon after dungeon. Myself and the other DPS knew what a gravy train we were on and "rode his coattails to VP captown," as it was put. He was happy for the company, and we had a great time, periodically cycling through healers. One of us would scarcely type a warning into party chat that yes, he's in ret, yes, he's tanking, trust us and buckle up -- and Zerep would be off and running, usually doing more DPS than the rest of us combined by a healthy margin. It was a blast, and even with the occasional wipe when we'd bite off more than we could chew, it was still the fastest I've ever capped valor in a week. Zerep was fun, friendly, uber, and a @#$%ing nightmare to see in action. Thanks again for an awesome series of dungeons! P.S. Thank you for these periodic bursts of positivity in what can be a hostile and cynical community. -- Beeph, <Reprisal> of Steamwheedle Cartel (US-Horde)
Random Acts of Uberness: Wherein a reader unmasks an anonymous nominee
Idle curiosity turned into a Random Act of Uberness of its own last week when reader latusthegoat went sleuthing after the identity of one of our Random Acts of Uberness nominees. Here's the instant replay: Caught being uber: Night elf warrior from Stormrage whose name starts with a D To the fellow warrior from Stormrage (I forget how to spell your name, but it started with a D): A couple of my guildies and I queued up for the first branch of SoO last Friday evening. I ended up realizing after we got the Enter Raid button that I had chosen to tank by accident. I usually don't tank an instance until after I have run through a couple times in fury spec, just to get a feel for the boss and mechanics. Anyways, I told you to just point me where I need to go, and you coached me throughbeautifully. We coasted through the first two bosses, and you took us all the way to the Sha, where you informed the entire raid that you wouldn't be tanking him again, but here's how you fight him. I have never once had such a fantastic experience in LFR, with everyone chatting about how long they've been playing (I think I was the baby, having only been playing for a few months and most everyone else since vanilla), and you made an impact on my best's opinion of Stormrage (which has never been good). Much applause, kind night elf. I hope to tank with you again if the rolls allow. -- Gamad, Argent Dawn (US-Alliance) What latusthegoat did after reading Gamad's story added another layer of uberness to the affair.
WildStar offers cross-realm play
Don't stress too much about what server you initially pick for WildStar, since the game will feature several cross-realm options to keep the larger community in touch with each other. Carbine Studios revealed a few details as to how this will work in this week's WildStar Wednesday. In the post, the studio talks about how it's supporting cross-realm play through three primary features. Players will have the ability to talk to anyone on any realm using the chat system, they'll be able to group up with friends through the party system, and they'll be able to meet random strangers through the group finder. The cross-realm play does have a big limitation, however. Cross-realm parties will not be able to hang out on the landscape, but can only enter instances, battlegrounds, or arenas, and these parties will not be able to trade items between each other. Players who are not interested in cross-realm play will also have the option to toggle their account to group with only members of their server.
Random Acts of Uberness: No more nastygrams
Isn't the World of Warcraft a more inviting place to log in when you're not butt-scrunched down into your chair in anticipation of the first nastygram from a groupmate? Caught being uber: Night elf warrior from Stormrage whose name starts with a D To the fellow warrior from Stormrage (I forget how to spell your name, but it started with a D): A couple of my guildies and I queued up for the first branch of SoO last Friday evening. I ended up realizing after we got the Enter Raid button that I had chosen to tank by accident. I usually don't tank an instance until after I have run through a couple times in fury spec, just to get a feel for the boss and mechanics. Anyways, I told you to just point me where I need to go, and you coached me through beautifully. We coasted through the first two bosses, and you took us all the way to the Sha, where you informed the entire raid that you wouldn't be tanking him again, but here's how you fight him. I have never once had such a fantastic experience in LFR, with everyone chatting about how long they've been playing (I think I was the baby, having only been playing for a few months and most everyone else since vanilla), and you made an impact on my best's opinion of Stormrage (which has never been good). Much applause, kind night elf. I hope to tank with you again if the rolls allow. -- Gamad, Argent Dawn (US-Alliance)
Random Acts of Uberness: A renaissance of kindness
Is the Siege of Orgrimmar turning into a war on meanies? Is World of Warcraft undergoing a renaissance of kindness and cooperation? We have a nice, fat installment of Random Acts of Uberness today, much of it seemingly inspired by the spirit of cooperation as we all stretch our wings in new patch content. "Since I came back just less than a month ago for the most part people have been fairly nice," commented Bob2525 in last week's column. "The rares in particular have been great sources of kindness. That's not to say everything has been roses but overall the kindness level has risen since the last time I played." Ron2 concurred: "In the last two weeks, I've seen a lot more positivity in raid finder. I've seen people thanking the guy who set out a feast, telling the tanks and healers that they did a good job, and occasionally telling jokes in between bosses. Not everybody is that way, of course, but it only takes one or two nice people to change the raid environment." So who's been exceptionally uber to fellow players this week?
Random Acts of Uberness: A toast to LFR raid leaders who explain fights
"Thank you for doing your job" is my husband's favorite deadpan witticism when someone at his office puffs up in expectation of praise for something that's actually a basic job duty. It's true that anyone who signs up for a group activity such as an LFR raid should be prepared to meet certain bottom-line expectations for raiding -- but you know, there's a first time for everyone. A good raid leader knows how to make those times successful for the whole raid group. "Last night in SoO LFR, the tank actually took time to describe the 'need to know' stuff for each of the fights and even answered questions," wrote ErikSetzer in last week's comments. "That's uber for a huge reason: We one-shot our way through those four bosses. But then when I did Pinnacle of Storms LFR, the tanks didn't even ask, and it got especially ugly on Lei Shen, with two or three wipes before someone finally asked, 'Okay, who doesn't know the fights?' One or two people admitted they hadn't been in there before. At least four people had the achievement ding when Lei Shen dropped. So yeah, it would have saved a lot of time and gold to just say what was needed. Sadly, they didn't try that in ToT. But the tank in SoO? Saved us all a lot of trouble. Kudos to that dude." "My LFR last night went well because we had a leader who gave clear, simple directions instead of complaining that we didn't automatically know everything," agreed Pulcherrimus. "We one-shot everything except Sha of Pride, which we two-shot. That was pretty uber." "@Pulcherrimus The same thing happened in my lfr last night," added sfreemanoh. "(I wonder if we were in the same one?) Every single boss went down smoothly except for Pride which took 2 shots, people explained the fights, everyone was courteous in instance chat...it was like a whole different game!" Wonderful LFR raid leaders of Azeroth, the experienced and inexperienced alike salute you. Keep on 'splainin' like you do. Keep reading for more of this week's Random Acts of Uberness.
Random Acts of Uberness: The voice of reason
"Reading this column always makes me want to go out and be randomly awesome for someone," mused JenniferKinnison in the comments of last week's Random Acts of Uberness. "Which, of course, is part of the point. Plus, it's just the right thing to do to help another person out. It's so unexpected these days that it's to be treasured all the more when it happens." Caught being uber: Avelianah, Draenor (US-Alliance) I and a friend were in one of those LFR groups that give people chills (not the good kind), full of newer folks trying to gear and perhaps not knowing the fights as well as they could have. There were a couple of uber nasty trolls doing their best to rip apart anyone they thought "deserved" it, and trying to kick multiple people. I would like to send out a hug of appreciation to the repeated voice of kindness and sanity that was Avelianah from Draenor. From giving out pointers, explanations, kind words and discouraging the L33T kicks to the 'thanks for the group' at the end of the instance, she was real class. -- Anonymous
Random Acts of Uberness: The lovely pandaren lady with the fabulous robes
It's the times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're bringing back the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. Caught being uber: Hiyorin of Argent Dawn (EU-Alliance) So there I was! Fighting a rare by the western edge of The Valley of Four Winds on my level 87(?) rogue. And I am losing of course, nearly dead. But suddenly out of the blue comes a friendly pandaren in a set of fabulous robes! Within seconds, she has frozen the rare and started sending of all sorts of shiny magics after him! I keep my distance as the enemy is slowed, frozen and whittled down to nothing! Saving my life and getting me loot, for no reason, other than being kind! (Or so I like to believe.) Thank you, Hiyorin, Argent Dawn EU, the lovely Pandaren lady with the fabulous robes. -- Anonymous
Random Acts of Uberness: The Sha of Uberness
In the age of LFR, it's the times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're bringing back the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. This week on Rare Sightings of Azeroth: the Sha of Uberness. It might not seem like much, but I just dinged 90 for the fourth time, this time a discipline/shadow priest. Being barely geared for heroics (and having a difficult time healing some of those), I sort of shrugged when I saw somebody advertising for people for a Sha of Anger group. I decided "What the heck" and whispered the person. He surprised me by not only telling me he didn't care about my gear but offering to let me heal if I wanted! Sha of Anger is something I've wanted to kill since the first time our eyes met. This was a shining moment for me, not only to say "I killed Sha!" but to say "I healed Sha!" to my friends, who thought I hated all things having to do with raids. I just want to say thank you to that random hunter whose name I cannot remember. I hope you read this and know that you made a healer's entire week with that run. Thank you! -- Vilandros, Muradins Resurrection, Muradin (US-Alliance)
Whoa -- did you just experience a Random Act of Uberness?
In the age of LFR, it's those times another player lights up your night with precise play, a wicked sense of humor, or unexpected generosity that your login on World of Warcraft becomes something to remember. That's why we're relaunching the feature that lets you send a shout-out or kudos to a fellow player who's made your day in WoW: Random Acts of Uberness. We know you can't always remember player names or realms, and that's OK. Tell us what you do remember: what day of the week it was, what time of day, your own home realm, any details you recall about the other player, where you were and what you were doing in game. If the players involved read WoW Insider, we're betting they'll recognize your story! Send in your shout-outs and kudos now to lisa@wowinsider.com. Need an example of what we're looking for? It's short and simple. Take a look at this story of appreciation from way back in 2010: "I'm not to proud to admit it: when we're short on tanks, my husband and I will let our kid tank for us -- our just shy of seven-year-old, who diligently (and with trade chat disabled and parental controls on, his toon parked in our friends-and-fam guild instead of the casual raiding guild our mains are in) ground his teeny gnome warrior up to 80," writes Haelmari of US Eonar-A. "Tonight, we and some guildies needed a random. He wanted to play. Win/win, right? "We lacked a healer, so we sucked it up and joined LFG ..." The uber resolution of Haelmari's situation, after the break.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online is more than just dungeons and dragons
Although many fans of The Elder Scrolls cheered at the introduction of The Elder Scrolls Online at E3, the divisions within the fanbase since then have morphed into warring creatures like Godzilla vs. Mothra, and this column is Japan. Although all of our buildings are being smashed by the battling brutes, it makes for great entertainment. I'm cheering both sides on. I love a good debate. Despite diligently scanning my spam folder every day this week, I am still without a beta invite. I think ZeniMax is playing hard to get. I promised I won't divulge any secrets; I just wanna make my Khajiit Nightblade. Is it asking too much to get a chance to explore the Tamriel dungeons? Obviously, it is. However, we did get a taste of ESO dungeons in a blog this week. And it looks as if we have an exciting combination of RIFT-style classes and Guild Wars 2 combat to look forward to. Hopefully, it's the best of both without the flaws.
The Daily Grind: Are group finding tools a necessity?
In Guild Wars 2, there's no interface for you to queue up and immediately flash over to a group from anywhere in the world. On the one hand, this means that you have to actually go to dungeons and interact with people willing to take on the challenges. On the other hand, this also means that you need to hurry up and wait in order to gather your fellow adventurers, a problem that's only exacerbated when something goes wrong and you all have to die and respawn. World of Warcraft's dungeon finder tool is sometimes seen as the greatest way to jump in and experience dungeon content, while at other times it's seen as an effort to tear apart server communities and trivialize the experience of working together to clear something. So today we turn the question over to you, our readers. Are group finding tools a necessity in this day and age, or would you prefer to play games without them? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
