I can now confirm that being two-boxed (twin-boxed?) is just as deadly as being quad-boxed. Fortunately i will have 150 marks tomorrow.
That is all.
No wait... Lui has been getting mad upgrades and her GS is no longer fail. I guess i'll have to start working on Fyre some more. Raiding and doing heroics yesterday has already gotten me nearly to full of VP for the week. I got some sweet new pants, too.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
MC Raider
Yesterday i was with the guild farming trash in FL not once...but twice. In addition i soloed MC, finally completing every raid in Vanilla.
Incidentally, every time i see FL i still think of Flame Leviathan and mentally shake my fist at him for never giving me any chopper parts.
Incidentally, every time i see FL i still think of Flame Leviathan and mentally shake my fist at him for never giving me any chopper parts.
Monday, August 29, 2011
multiboxing...legal in all 50 states
So last night in the Regrowth and onward into the Molten Front a quad-boxing team of ele shamans kept camping us hordees who were trying to do dailies. Yes, i use a PVP server, that's where my sister's home was when i started rolling characters, and if we were going to play together that was the place to be. But in these areas it has been an unspoken understood that no pvp was going to be going on. I think this is nice considering how challenging the Isle dailies were at first, when i was constantly getting ganked only to change which quest i was working on, be followed, and ganked some more. In that case it was a stunlocking shadowmelding rogue that could eventually be defeated if we got enough guildees together. In this case? 5/5 Vicious Gladiator x 4.
I opened a ticket after dying about 10 times. (S)he kept stealing my kills or killing me just before completing an objective. They weren't technically camping me so much as slaughtering anything and everything that moved. Even with multiple hordees fighting back, we had no hope. Four Lava Bursts to one character = instant death. And if you weren't the focus of this, your dps wasn't even making a dent. The biggest annoyance about this was not having to watch four draenei moving in unison, casting in unison, or three draenei following a fourth. It is that Blizzard considers this to be legal. Sure, if you want to devote all of your time to gearing yourself up season after season, go for it, but some of us have a life, not to mention budget constraints. My "gaming" computer that was sold to me as "more than enough" for WoW can barely handle running one version of the game, let alone four, because it has a horrible graphic/video card. I have no way of competing. I'm not very good at PVP to begin with, i prefer PVE. I think running on a PVP server is more realistic in many ways, but at the same time...if you were running around in France during WWII as an Allied soldier and saw a random Nazi minding his own business, would you instantly decide that he needed to die? Maybe i'm alone in this when i say no.
I understand that a lot of people love to PVP, and that is why it's in the game. But...when i can't even defend myself, it doesn't feel fair. When i'm fighting something else when i'm killed, i still take the 10% armor reduction, even when that mob stays alive and is then killed by the same quad boxer...and the real reason for my death had nothing to do with the mob at all.
Am i just being a sore loser? I can see quadboxing old content (overkill for some of it), but in a non-Arena, non-BG environment, is this fair? Any time i see Loli running around, does this mean i might as well just log on to another character for half an hour?
The Draenei team:
Löli
Løli
Rayko
Admetias
I opened a ticket after dying about 10 times. (S)he kept stealing my kills or killing me just before completing an objective. They weren't technically camping me so much as slaughtering anything and everything that moved. Even with multiple hordees fighting back, we had no hope. Four Lava Bursts to one character = instant death. And if you weren't the focus of this, your dps wasn't even making a dent. The biggest annoyance about this was not having to watch four draenei moving in unison, casting in unison, or three draenei following a fourth. It is that Blizzard considers this to be legal. Sure, if you want to devote all of your time to gearing yourself up season after season, go for it, but some of us have a life, not to mention budget constraints. My "gaming" computer that was sold to me as "more than enough" for WoW can barely handle running one version of the game, let alone four, because it has a horrible graphic/video card. I have no way of competing. I'm not very good at PVP to begin with, i prefer PVE. I think running on a PVP server is more realistic in many ways, but at the same time...if you were running around in France during WWII as an Allied soldier and saw a random Nazi minding his own business, would you instantly decide that he needed to die? Maybe i'm alone in this when i say no.
I understand that a lot of people love to PVP, and that is why it's in the game. But...when i can't even defend myself, it doesn't feel fair. When i'm fighting something else when i'm killed, i still take the 10% armor reduction, even when that mob stays alive and is then killed by the same quad boxer...and the real reason for my death had nothing to do with the mob at all.
Am i just being a sore loser? I can see quadboxing old content (overkill for some of it), but in a non-Arena, non-BG environment, is this fair? Any time i see Loli running around, does this mean i might as well just log on to another character for half an hour?
The Draenei team:
Löli
Løli
Rayko
Admetias
Thursday, August 25, 2011
i < 3 Kara
Yesterday afternoon some guildees started putting together a ICC run that ended up falling through. I was still in a raid with two offline members, so i decided to make the most of it and attempt to solo some BC raids. I had been debating with myself of a couple of days on whether i wanted to go BM and tame a Spirit Beast.
Why? Well a couple of days ago i was trying to solo UtP again (my choices of where to go next for mounts are getting thinner now that i'm exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard) and i still cannot solo the first boss. I always die, usually with Kill Shot up and with her at about 5% health. The braziers and phase 2 are what do it to me. Maybe if i feigned death at the right time...but i don't know what that time would be. Bandages and pots are insufficient, i need to have heals, just one or two would be enough. So the question become survivability. Iorek doesn't do enough damage to get me out, with Sneux it's a close thing that doesn't always happen. So the only thing i could figure was Spirit Mend. Then i discovered that Chimera Shot heals. I haven't been MM since BC, but i ran as that for a long time, a lot longer than i did as BM (even when that was "the" raid spec, i opted to be the SV hunter, even though i didn't really have "enough" agility for Expose Weakness to be a viable raid buff).
So yesterday i went duel spec finally (last time i had checked it cost 1k g to train! When did it become 10g?) and built a soloing/pvp build. Which is crazy because i always thought that SV was the pvp build with its trap bonuses that i never spec into, but apparently MM and BM enthusiasts are insistent that their way is best.
I no longer have any t5 and i'm still getting raid geared for Cata. I couldn't survive Mag and couldn't get past the High King in Gruul's. Kara, however, was a completely different story. I one-shot everything up to Netherspite. I couldn't solo NS because Sneaux can't take the beams so NS would heal to full while i had fatigue. I don't have the burn to take her down before the second phase 2. The only thing i can think of at this point is to try tanking in melee range. This seems ludicrous, but if i'm taking all three beams at once...i don't know. I tried to solo chess, but the first cheat (fire on the floor) occurs while i'm still stuck behind pawns that have yet to be slaughtered. So i can't solo that, either. Basically it looks like i can clear Kara up to NS.
Later in the evening the ICC raid was rebooted and i now have a LK kill under my belt and some achievements to boot. My dps is lame compared to everyone else in the raid, but we beat the rocket ship with only two jet packs (yeah i accidentally started it when i went to the wrong npc and didn't read the text fast enough...it had been a while since i was in ICC once before /facepalm).
Screenshots are forthcoming. I really gotta feed the pets and myself.
Why? Well a couple of days ago i was trying to solo UtP again (my choices of where to go next for mounts are getting thinner now that i'm exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard) and i still cannot solo the first boss. I always die, usually with Kill Shot up and with her at about 5% health. The braziers and phase 2 are what do it to me. Maybe if i feigned death at the right time...but i don't know what that time would be. Bandages and pots are insufficient, i need to have heals, just one or two would be enough. So the question become survivability. Iorek doesn't do enough damage to get me out, with Sneux it's a close thing that doesn't always happen. So the only thing i could figure was Spirit Mend. Then i discovered that Chimera Shot heals. I haven't been MM since BC, but i ran as that for a long time, a lot longer than i did as BM (even when that was "the" raid spec, i opted to be the SV hunter, even though i didn't really have "enough" agility for Expose Weakness to be a viable raid buff).
So yesterday i went duel spec finally (last time i had checked it cost 1k g to train! When did it become 10g?) and built a soloing/pvp build. Which is crazy because i always thought that SV was the pvp build with its trap bonuses that i never spec into, but apparently MM and BM enthusiasts are insistent that their way is best.
I no longer have any t5 and i'm still getting raid geared for Cata. I couldn't survive Mag and couldn't get past the High King in Gruul's. Kara, however, was a completely different story. I one-shot everything up to Netherspite. I couldn't solo NS because Sneaux can't take the beams so NS would heal to full while i had fatigue. I don't have the burn to take her down before the second phase 2. The only thing i can think of at this point is to try tanking in melee range. This seems ludicrous, but if i'm taking all three beams at once...i don't know. I tried to solo chess, but the first cheat (fire on the floor) occurs while i'm still stuck behind pawns that have yet to be slaughtered. So i can't solo that, either. Basically it looks like i can clear Kara up to NS.
Later in the evening the ICC raid was rebooted and i now have a LK kill under my belt and some achievements to boot. My dps is lame compared to everyone else in the raid, but we beat the rocket ship with only two jet packs (yeah i accidentally started it when i went to the wrong npc and didn't read the text fast enough...it had been a while since i was in ICC once before /facepalm).
Screenshots are forthcoming. I really gotta feed the pets and myself.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
nostalgia
The irony of WoW announced transmorgification is that i have always been nostalgic about the tier gear and other raid drops that i earned. If there were any way possible, i would still have all of those old pieces. I had four pieces of (new Naxx) Crypstalker and tier 4 and 5 that it seems so wrong that i was forced to delete. But even more than that...i have always felt a strong pull towards Vanilla content. I've seen a lot of t1 and t2 pieces that went the same way. But nothing gets to me more than the fact that as soon as i hit 60 i started looking at tier gear and fell in love with the original Crypstalker set. I would have loved to get that set, attuned for Naxx, was chomping at the bit to get into there, but i only did once and we couldn't down any of the bosses because we couldn't find a large enough group. There's gear that isn't in the game anymore that i would kill to have. I can't even get into a group that can full clear MC (went once, fell apart with two bosses left), have never been to the Sunwell...but those pieces are still in the game. For an instance that i came to know intimately at the beginning of Wrath, i regret that i no longer have those pieces of Crypstalker, but i still want the original deal.
Friday, July 29, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Monday, July 25, 2011
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?
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Deathwing is coming to town...
You've probably (maybe) noticed that i've been absent of late. I don't blog on Blogger much anymore, i've mostly been converted to LiveJournal (gasp!). There was a while that i was taking a break from WoW, too, both to let go of some baggage from my old guild, and because of financial reasons. But i've been playing again for about the past six weeks and several developments have ensued.
I know, last xpac i had a bunch of screencaps, but once again i was never offered a beta key (the opt in was always glitched for me, after multiple downloads, it would never send the info to Blizz), and when i tried to download the PTR, it was glitched, too. When it tried to patch it would freeze and never download past the same point repeatedly. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing would work. So i have absolutely no idea what it's going to be like to dps with focus, heal with triage, or tank with holy power (or whatever it's called, i didn't even know about this change until last night when i saw the patch notes). I think the druid eclipses sound pretty sweet and am planning to roll a Troll Druid and a Warrior Goblin. I doubt that i'll take the Goblin past the starting zone, much as i've never got my DK to 70, but maybe i'll enjoy druids more this time around. Unfortunately, i've heard tell that kitties are broken.
And that's about it. Patch 4.0.1 is installing as i type, and i can hardly wait for class to be over so i can get on to this computer and start to see what changes Deathwing has in store. Unfortunately, i also need to study for a midterm tonight.
- Lui finally got into ICC, one shotting everything in the first wing (not my usual raid style, i'm used to working for everything and wiping repeatedly, then kicking the boss' a$$ against all odds)
- i FINALLY managed to get an Azure Whelpling to drop in Azshara after farming on and off for about a year
- i got a Brewfest Kodo (but alas, not a Ram)
- Lui is 3k gold away from a mechano hog.
- Fyreanjel dinged 80! She's been healing up a storm in dungeons. Having three heirlooms really helped her get from 70-80, as only having one was making it take forever and was very discouraging.
- i've tried tanking on Blanche a bit (she's at 67 atm), but i'm really not into DKs, and blood is my least favorite of the trees
- i got on Invy for a while the other day, because if she dings twice she'll be able to open a bunch of lockboxes that are filling her bank. A draenei shammy 8 lvls above her ganked her. I came back and got the shaman to 5% health before missing a kick (couldn't remember the hotkey, it's been at least six months since i was on her) when she was going to heal, and then snuffing it. She left me alone after that. I felt pretty good about nearly killing her (i mean, come on, EIGHT levels!).
- Last night i gave Estelril (my fledgling tankadin) some heirloom shoulders and blew through 13-20. She was one bar from 21 when the servers went down this morning at midnight PDT.
- Last night Estelril healed in RFC, gradually losing three of the group members. And then the rogue and i (the only veteran players in the instance) 2-shot all the content that stood between us and that satchel, with me tanking and healing and her stunlock OTing.
I know, last xpac i had a bunch of screencaps, but once again i was never offered a beta key (the opt in was always glitched for me, after multiple downloads, it would never send the info to Blizz), and when i tried to download the PTR, it was glitched, too. When it tried to patch it would freeze and never download past the same point repeatedly. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing would work. So i have absolutely no idea what it's going to be like to dps with focus, heal with triage, or tank with holy power (or whatever it's called, i didn't even know about this change until last night when i saw the patch notes). I think the druid eclipses sound pretty sweet and am planning to roll a Troll Druid and a Warrior Goblin. I doubt that i'll take the Goblin past the starting zone, much as i've never got my DK to 70, but maybe i'll enjoy druids more this time around. Unfortunately, i've heard tell that kitties are broken.
And that's about it. Patch 4.0.1 is installing as i type, and i can hardly wait for class to be over so i can get on to this computer and start to see what changes Deathwing has in store. Unfortunately, i also need to study for a midterm tonight.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Analyzing the Arguments in Avatar
Reading the first sample paper, I was struck by the writer's observations about Toy Story. I had never analyzed the film because it's a kids movie; I viewed it as being escapist and nostalgic rather than critical or rhetorical. I can see that the screenwriters had used exaggerated comparison to be funny, but I'm not sure that they were trying to prove a point about families. Science fiction, on the other hand, usually contains a message hidden within the story that can apply to the viewer's life. But movies don't always work on both levels, sometimes the meaning is valid, but the movie isn't entertaining, and sometimes the story is entertaining, but the meaning is lost in the setting or special effects. The latter is the case for the movie Avatar, a film with incredible animation but lacking a coherent message, mostly because of the Cameron's failure to effectively utilize exaggerated comparison.
There are conflicting messages in Avatar from the beginning. The music has strong African influences, Pandora's vistas are a rain forest, and the protagonist is a Caucasian veteran. On face value, one might think that the movie is about racial inequality, because the Na'vi seem to be distinctly third world, and all of the humans seem to think that they need to be educated and westernized. The trouble with such an argument is that there are people of all races in positions of authority within the ubiquitous and unnamed “Company”, from African American, to Indian, to Hispanic. Therefore, all of the exaggerated comparisons that could be made between these backwards blue aliens and Native Americans or Amazons or Africans do not seem as valid. Yes, these individuals who work for the Company have been homogenized, but they do remind us of the failings in our own history that we disapprove of in the present, so surely they have been overcome in the future, as well. That they haven't seems unrealistic, leaves the viewer wondering how these Humans can be as ignorant as Cameron claims.
As it turns out, in the future, everyone is equally taken advantage of by the Company, and the economy is still down, despite the fact that the Company can afford to make “a significant investment” on spaceships and clones. Cameron falls back on an old cliché for his bad guys, which has gotten a little old after using it in both Aliens and Titanic. The viewer can immediately draw several parallels between Avatar and Aliens, whether it be the evil and removed Company with a far reach, the Marines that are eager to kill aliens, the hydraulic robots that sentries are strapped into, or Sigourney Weaver strutting around telling us that The Powers That Be are idiots. But one starts to wonder just how bad the economy is, if they've got a monopoly on Pandora mining this rare ore, and somehow have the ability to fund a huge military operation, on top of the even more expensive scientific one. Some viewers probably won't be able to get past the Company and its employees as antagonists, and yet the protagonists work for the Company, as well, while we're left wondering why the Company (or at least their mercenary branch) completely ignores the scientific findings that they've spent so much on.
The military presence is problematic: Marines are stupid and will follow any orders that the Company might give, we're led to believe. So being violent is wrong? Maybe not, because the Na'vi turn out to be warriors, exceptional ones, though they have strong religious ties to Pandora as a nature goddess as well. Which is an odd direction to take the story in, in a way. Of course the backwards natives are religious, one might think from a modern perspective, and yet they revere the environment, which is what we are expected to do in real life, as well. Only, somehow, the Company and military seem to have forgotten that, despite the fact that they have purportedly already destroyed Earth's environment. So now Cameron is not only insulting the military, but the viewer as well. We're so stupid, that we're destroying the planet on purpose, even though we know what we're doing, both now and again in the future. The odd thing about his position is that most people in the military are more conservative and religious. I suppose that would make them anti-environment in his view, but wouldn't they also be more likely to recognize the Na'Vi as also being religious? Which could open an entirely different can of worms with conflicts around the world, but he somehow dodges this by making it seem as if all Humans are now religious-neutral, instead of making this just another repeat of westerners trying to convert the natives to Christianity.
This does not change the fact that, at the heart of the matter, Cameron is arguing that Nature is aware and should be elevated to a god-like status. The Na'Vi are able to interface with horses, pterodactyls, hammerhead buffalo, panthers, and even trees. The trees make one huge brain, with the power to give life. So how does this compare to our own planet? Anyone who has seen the Lion King knows that we are connected in a Circle of Life, but everything about Pandora is carefully orchestrated and interconnected in such complex ways that it's rather hard to believe that such a world could exist without being designed to be so. If there is an Eywa, is he also arguing that God, or at least a god (perhaps Mother Nature), exists? It's all rather vague, and he never answers the question. Instead, the outcast soldier rallies the warriors to defeat the technologically superior Marines, which leaves the viewer feeling skeptical that such an ending is even probable. Still, he poses interesting questions.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wow
Imagine that, when RTD finally gets off his pansexual bandwagon, the episodes on Torchwood actually become good! First we have the ex-TW member who's sucking the life out of Gwen (simple yet brilliant), and then we get a TW lite episode, with a guy who's rather like Elton, but even more lovable. The random pics on the phone were poorly handled once they paid off (my mobile won't let me take three pics in a row, at least) but was cute in concept. i like how Gwen had to follow the clues and it was like she could hear him. And did you notice? She got a new car. i guess the insurance paid off or she decided she didn't want to keep the car she bled all over? Who knew that Suzie was so malicious? So maybe the show gets better, but it took seven episodes that were pretty lame to happen first. i like the credits, but it needs more Ten (lol, like that's gonna happen).
Saturday, March 27, 2010
from boring to disturbing
So, coughing up rose petals, there's an interesting way to die. i felt bad for that girl until she gleefully let her invisible friends start killing off classmates and family (i didn't feel as bad about the pedophile, but what did the stepdad do that was so horrible? i mean, he was a jerk, but he was trying to protect her). The bit with Jack's lost love was so pointless (ETA: not that she was a lost love, but that she ignored Jack's advice and was stupid enough to go outside). i wanted the cat to save her somehow, but it just sat there. Too much to ask for i guess. /sigh Not at all the ending i wanted, though seeing Jack actually be emotional was nice.
And then we get the crazies in the country. It was like a bad horror film where no one actually died, the just were freaking out about people that were already dead. It was funny, how Ianto said he hated camping, because they didn't get to camp. i suppose it featured members of the team, making them care about them a bit more. But Gwen and Owen... can i just slap that girl? i didn't take her for stupid like that, to try to fix one bad situation with another bad one. Plus, it's just sick. Why did she even join Torchwood if what she really wanted was a desk job?
And then we get the crazies in the country. It was like a bad horror film where no one actually died, the just were freaking out about people that were already dead. It was funny, how Ianto said he hated camping, because they didn't get to camp. i suppose it featured members of the team, making them care about them a bit more. But Gwen and Owen... can i just slap that girl? i didn't take her for stupid like that, to try to fix one bad situation with another bad one. Plus, it's just sick. Why did she even join Torchwood if what she really wanted was a desk job?
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