ch ch ch changes

So after extensive testing yesterday...it seems that my fans are a good enough solution for leveling, dailies (with phasing), and heroics, even with the graphics turned up halfway.  I was leveling a pally near SMC, decided to turn up the graphics, and the change was extremely noticeable.  Observe:

In a way, you wouldn't think that graphics quality would affect gameplay so much as mechanics such as quests, player interaction, and the skills/spells/etc., but let me tell you that it does make your experience miles different.  After leaving my settings on Good i kept noticing the movement of the water, shadows, and just the scenery in general.  I had known it was there from playing in the past, but with the settings on Low...you just don't get to take it all in.  I've always noticed WoW for it's artistic merit.  I have a whole collection of floor screenshots collected from dungeons and cities.  My favorite location in WoW is the throne room above the Undercity.  It was the first floor that i noticed in the game, and they really outdid themselves in Wrath.  While most of BC probably had plain floors--i don't really remember them being special--the floors in Wrath were intricate.  The most noticeable example of this effecting lore, if nothing else, is the quest chain where you help Aggra save Thrall.  The Desire chapter is especially grim with the graphics turned down.

The first screenshot was taken on Fyreanjel (and granted it was not during a vision), the second i was on Luinel.  With all these screenshots i only decreased the size and added the caption, i did nothing to the contrast or brightness.  It's obvious what the graphics do for you.  It's not that you can't play with them on Low, but with them on Good you are able to immerse yourself more completely into the game.  The first time around i could not even see the kids.  If i was fighting then i could not see Thrall, i had to swim out into the center to even make him out.  On Lui it was easier to see what was going on, and my graphic card didn't crash during the cinematics or just short of me being able to finish filling a bar (i kid you not, it crashed repeatedly in the 80-95% range while i was on Fyre, which was very frustrating.  It took me forever to get past Doubt).

In other news, i met someone new while in ZG on Fyre last night, someone who actually took the time to explain fights to me (/gasp!).  I am so sick of the newer players who make stupid mistakes, blame it on the healer or tank, and are impatient and unhelpful.  This was a nice change.  I don't know if it means that i'll be finding some new friends to play with, but it made a pleasant afternoon, even when i got kicked on the last boss after they called a wipe on purpose and then voted to kick me.  The new guy was our tank and he told them to have fun waiting 30 mins. to find a tank and dropped group.  It will be interesting to see if i can do some heroics with him today...  The best wrist upgrade for Fyre is in ZA.  I have a feeling that i'm not going to be enjoying the troll dungeons very much, but if it means that i can get to raid, and can run them with people who become friends... even better.

nothing to report

I think i played for about an hour last night after i finished the Hunger Games and couldn't sleep.  Fyreanjel finished helping Aggra save Thrall:  i meant to only finish the water/desire quest but ended up seeing the wedding.  My graphics card didn't crash once.  So hopefully the fans will be a good enough fix for the time being!

As for the novel, i enjoyed it a great deal and am already reading Catching Fire.

delayed upgrades

For the first time in days i was able to get onto LJ because i was logged out.  So i read some posts made by my "friends" and try to log in to comment and nothing will work.  I don't understand why there's so many problems with LJ but it is particularly frustrating right now as someone is going ballistic.

Meanwhile, i ordered a hammock, and it arrived in a timely fashion, but i keep running to town to get, return/exchange, obtain more parts for it and my PC.  I feel like i should just stay in town at this point.  I finally got everything i needed for both projects except for the fact that my father left our drill at work and will be out of town for a couple of days.  I am so sick of sleeping in my old, broken down bed.  My body has been screaming more and more about it over the past couple of months.  I can't remember the last time i woke up and didn't have a backache.  I wanted to buy a hammock back in 2003, before i even got my GED or went to college, so now i finally have one.  I just want to put it up already!

The fans...well i looked up info on my computer's graphic card.  The consensus seemed to be that it crashes because it gets overheated.  This only happens to me when i'm playing WoW, really, so i don't know, but i figured buying some fans was cheaper than upgrading my power and graphics.  No job right now, i'm really not too smart to even try to be gaming right now, but of course once i get a job i won't have time, right?  So i trusted Mr. Anonymous when he said which size fans fit in my tower--80mm or 120mm--and since 80mm was $5 cheaper (each) i decided to go with those.  Turns out my tower can take 100mm or 120mm, and 80mm is too small.  I feel embarrassed that i didn't just measure for myself, but i exchanged for the larger size and restrained myself from paying $30 for a coolant system.  Open the boxes, the bolts are not going to work at all, why are they even included?  So i went to the hardware store and get some screw nuts and bolts.  When i got homei put both fans in facing the same way:  towards the back of the tower.  In other words, the one in front is meant to be sucking air in, the one in back is meant to be pushing air out.  Well i get everything screwed in and figure i better make sure that it's all working before i close up.  Which is good because as it turned out both fans were blowing air out.  They somehow rotate in opposite directions even though they are the very same fan.

I haven't logged into WoW yet.  Last night was a bit cooler and i decided to level my troll druid rather than work on my shammy.  It was rainy out and cooler than it has been, and my computer obviously crashed less often, but it was still doing it periodically.  I'm kind of scared that now i've actually got the fans in that the problem is going to persist.

Right now i'm in the middle of the Hunger Games.  We got part of the kitchen tiled today, then went to the pool, where it was a pretty bad experience.  The water slide is closed.  I got told off for wearing goggles in the deep end of the pool, which is ludicrous as half the lap lanes are in the deep end, 5' deep or more (the diving drop off is in the middle of one of the lanes!  I was staring at it while doing the front crawl).  Oh, and we were told that even though it was kids free swim that the adults have to pay with cash, that your paid pass isn't valid unless you pay for the kids.  Which is stupid, we paid for the pass, right?  And we complained that my teenage sister and her teenage friends weren't allowed to come in free the week before and were all charged the adult rate...which of course they won't do anything about unless you prove with a receipt when they don't give you a receipt.  But they only let kids in free if there's a paying adult, but having one teen pay the adult rate and the other teens come in free isn't allowed either.  So that's the last time i ever go to the Lincoln Park Pool.  I will allow that no goggles on the diving board is an okay restriction to have (not that it's dangerous to dive in goggles by any means, but they might break and be lost), but no goggles in the deep end for surface diving, full body bobbing, or lap swimming?  B.S.  Oh, and it's $4 to get in, four times as much as we paid in Arizona, and the pool is rarely clean.  I don't want to swim underwater or with my face in the water without goggles at Lincoln Park or Orchard Mesa (which gets even dirtier, which is completely incomprehensible because it's an indoor pool).

So...i think i'll get back to my novel and leave the WoW for in the AM.  Oh, and hope that my new old school stud finder works better than the useless Stanley electronic stud finder that i still need to take back to Wal-Mart.  I seriously doubt that live wires and only a couple of studs compose 95% of the walls in my room.

Aggra?

I have to admit, i was kind of a Thrall/Jaina shipper.  Not hugely, so it's not like i'm angry about the fact that he's married to someone else so much as wondering where she even came from.  Even after leveling a Goblin warrior, i don't have the slightest idea who Aggra is, i guess that i didn't find her to be particularly memorable.  At first i thought she was the chick from the Twilight Highlands--Garona?  apparently she has her own vivid background and is half Draenei--and was wondering how that even happened.  I guess you have to read the book to know the entire story, which i'm not against, since i'm already a Christie Golden fan from back in the Voyager days, but i have no access to said novel without buying it off Amazon.

I am looking forward to seeing more of Thrall, but i'm not sure that i understand.  Why can't he be a leader and a shaman at the same time?

hot summer

It has been a very long time since i posted.  I haven't been as immersed in Cataclysm as i was expecting.  I've played on and off, have two 85s.  My shaman is ready for the first raid(s?  i don't even know for sure, but she's nearly fully decked out from heroics and vendor gear), my hunter...i'm not going to bother raiding with.  This xpac seems to be all about shamans and druids.  It also appears to be good for trolls.  So i'm enjoying my shaman and kind of working on a Troll druid and a Worgen druid.  I feel bad, but i can't stand Taurens.  The whole vegetarian zen thing is not me at all.

So i've mostly been focusing on Fyreanjel.  I'm actually surprised how much i have even gotten on Lui this expansion.  She's at a point where i'm probably going to be mostly leaving her alone.  Sadly, i do not enjoy playing a Hunter anymore.  She's got her hog, she's leveled, i've been working on BC rep more than anything (she finally has her Netherwing Drakes!).  Maybe i'll farm some more rep and mounts with her but she's on the backburner for the time being.

So there are a couple of reasons why i haven't managed to go farther.  For one, i seem to be in a lazy excuse for a guild.  It's easy to be invited to a guild because of the guild leveling, it's quite another thing to find a guild where people aren't jerks.  I have run heroics with guildees a handful of times, normals even less.  I geared Fyre completely independently, they haven't helped me at all.  PUGs have been friendlier and more helpful.  Any time i run old content, i'm the one helping the noobs out, but any time i try to run endgame, no one is willing to give me any help at all.  This doesn't bode well.  I really really want to find a better guild.

Secondly, there's something wrong with my graphic card.  When i was finishing getting gear for Fyre it would randomly crash, requiring me to restart my computer.  Not good for anyone, but even worse when you're the healer.  My graphics are turned down all the way except for those that i need in order to stay out of the gunk on the floor.  I could use a better mouse, but i'm a decent healer, i think i could even become a great one.  Now that i'm playing again, the card crashes about every 15-20 minutes.  After doing some research, i'm wondering if it's overheating.  I know its not a great card, but i don't really have the funds to replace it right now.  So later today i plan to buy two fans and stick them in my tower and see if that helps.  I already took the cosmetic front off of the tower this morning.  It was metal and plastic, blocking one of the vents, and had a lit logo that was needlessly drawing more power.  So basically i've lost my nightlight, guess i'll have to dig out one of my old ones and use it again. xD  But if it's not overheating...i'm going to have to figure out a new card that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

Eviengeline--my spriest--is level 60.  I'm looking forward to getting her into Nagrand, which is of course my favorite zone in BC.  However, i'm thinking that i should delete most of my lowbies on Hakkar and focus on leveling on other servers.  I don't mind being on a lowpop, i mind being on a server where everyone seems to be rude and pretentious.  There are no great guilds on this server, not anymore.  All of my sister's old guildees jumped ship ages ago.  So i don't know if i'm even going to be able to find a great guild for Fyre, and if i can't fix the crashing issue then there's not much point in trying.  I have really been craving leveling, am really curious to see what it's like to take the Alliance route all the way, actually, seeing how i never get past lvl 15...no wait, i dinged 16 on my Worgen last night, she's my new frontrunner.  I think that i'm more likely to be able to find a Christian guild if i play Alliance.  Which stinks in a way, i love playing Horde, but something has to change.  I love this game too much to give up on it for good.  I tried, i really did.

In other news, i've been watching a lot of films this Summer (but that's a completely different post).  Oh, and the biggest reason i quit WoW:  i was making the big push to graduation.  I am now a college graduate with a BA in English.  No luck finding a job yet except for the fact that i'll be teaching knitting to homeschoolers this Fall.  Other than that...no idea.