Heya guys!!

So I popped on to MMO Champion and saw the new talent trees.  Of course I played with them some, so I figured why not share my tinkering?

Cataclysm Specs

Unholy

0/3/32

6 points free to spend as you like.  Bladed Armor, BCB, IIT, IUP are the likely point dumps for maximized dps.  But with such limited info still it’s hard to say which of those would eat your final points up.

Frost

0/32/6

3 points free to spend as you like.  You could argue to take the 3 points out of Virulence, but with the emphasis in blue posts regarding hit requirements in Cata it seems the most sound choice atm.

Blood

35/3/3

No points free.  Hopefully there will be further iteration on this spec.  It’s shy on points unlike Frost and Unholy and doesn’t currently meet the “design goal” like Frost and Unholy.

Comments

Part of Blood’s issue stems from the fact that there are 3 mandatory points in Frost and Unholy both that every spec will have to take.

Runic Empowerment 3/3 and Virulence 3/3 will be mandatory for every spec as they stand.  This is advantageous for Frost and Unholy, but detrimental to Blood.

As always, things will change, this stuff won’t hold, but it’s again an idea of how things are shaping up.

SJ Update

For those who read my last post and got a laugh, awesome!!

I re-read it today and laughed my ass off, heh.  Though I was quite unhappy at the time.  I keep thinking of Shadow trying to clean herself and I just laugh. 

So what have I been up to?  Delving into PC gaming!!  Interested?  I’m sharing even if you’re not!!  o.O  That’s me eying you up son!!

Steam

If you’ve never heard of it, and you have any interest in PC games at all, check it out.  Steam fucking rocks!

It’s basically a one stop shop for pc gaming needs.  You purchase games on Steam and download them to your PC.  While they do not carry all games, they carry a lot of them, sometimes even console only games.

The major advantage is that you can download the game after purchase and never have to deal with cd/dvd’s or registration codes.  It does it all for you.

Down side?  There’s some restriction on the total amount of PC’s you can use the games on.  Not sure what the count is, but I don’t go through a million computers or give these games to my friends.  So I’m golden.   Restrictions sit around the number of 5 PC’s typically from what I understand.

The had a sale over the 4th of July weekend with games discounted between 25% to 75%.  I picked up Mass Effect 2 for $23, Portal for $3, Borderlands + all 3 DLC for $20, etc…

That’s the other huge upside.  Unlike retailers they hold sales periodically which blow away retail prices.  So if you wanted a game, but didn’t wanna shell out the $50-$60 for it, Steam is a great place to watch and wait for the sales to hit.

G4TV and BBC America

I fucking LOVE G4TV!!  OMFG!

Well it’s got some seriously crappy shows on it like Cops and Cheaters, but it is the home of some of the greats like X-Play, The MMO Report, Ninja Warrior, and Attack of the Show.

And then there is BBC America, the home of Doctor Who and Being Human!  There’s some other solid shows there as well, but I *MUST* have BBCAM for those 2 shows!!

I recently moved, if some of you remember, and my stupid roomie Mythra had basic cable with only 22 channels.  You believe that crap?!  /wrists

So we finally got the cable flipped over with the 2 channel packages which have these two channels.  It was like $3/month for each package, which added like 20-40 channels?  There’s actually a few I’ll watch…maybe…

But seriously, being able to watch X-Play again every day it airs, plus catch AotS when I want to, and getting Doctor Who and Being Human back has made me seriously happy!

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is eating my soul…nom nom nom…

Played it through once and followed the plot too quickly without fully understanding how your crew is affected…so they all died except the doctor because I waited too long…

But my landing crew survived 100% except for Jacob.  Whom I killed on purpose because he’s a lil whiny bitch that spews blood covered tapons and douche whenever he speaks.  Reminds me of Kaiden, or whatever his name was in ME1.  I killed his stupid ass too.  /approving nod

Anyways, I played through the first time as a Soldier and then the second now as an Infiltrator.  Well that’s not 100% true.  I found this mod/editor which allows you to change stuff.  You can use it to cheat, but I have avoided that.

What I have used however is the class change!!  INORITE!?!  So I’ve been swapping my classes back and forth trying them all without having to make brand new toons each time.  It’s pure win!!

It’s kind of fucked though…  Soldier and Infiltrator are really powerful, but the other classes are weak in comparison.  Especially once I tried the game on “Hardcore” setting.

I can attempt fights on Hardcore as a biotic (I’ve avoided Sentinel as I don’t like it) and just get monkey stomped over and over again.  If I do the same fight on Hardcore with Soldier or Infiltrator I knock it out in one attempt.  Not balanced…

Infiltrator is *amazing* btw!  I *heart* my Widow sniper rifle!  But once I get the specialized shotgun later I’ll be breaking out the Adept class again to try that out.

Portal

Bought it for $3.  Finished it (normal) in less than 2 hours…  Was it worth it?  Yes.  Really fun.

Will probably try the “advanced” maps later on, but I’m not as excited about that.  Portal is amazingly fun, but far too short.

Health

It’s better, but I need to get back to working out again.  My arm is no longer fucked up from moving (hurt it bad, strain or a pull or something) and I’ve not been sick in a while, excepting that debacle on the 5th.

So I’ve got no more excuses…  o.O

So you’re doing what exactly…

Basically I’ve been sitting down and relaxing some while trying to take care of me.

I don’t think I’ll be coming back to WoW as a full time raider so long as raiding requires me to not get a full uninterrupted 7 hours of sleep.  So that means no full time raiding for me with Heretic, probably now and ever.

Even if I want to raid full time with them down the road, eventually (whether it took a few weeks or months) I’d get to the point again of wanting to kill someone for sleep.

So with my current work schedule, raiding on an Oceanic server is out.  And raiding on a US server is out already…  /sigh

Beta

I’m still not in it…shocker.  If I get in, I will get some testing in and post thoughts, ideas, etc…

Cataclysm Release

I’m tempted to say no, I won’t be there for it.  But then I know me.  Most likely I will be sitting outside Game Stop yet again for the midnight release like the last 2 times.  *smirk*

Will I be the hardcore raider posting dps love like before?  Not sure.  As things stand, that just won’t be possible.

I am seriously considering coming back to WoW after 4.0 and doing the hardcore PvP thing for Cata, which would have far less time constraints.  But that is all up in the air for now.

Other Games/MMO’s?

Yes.  I will likely go check out Champions Online again at some point, though I doubt I will play longer than a month tops.

It’s got failings that I think it can’t ever overcome.  While I want to see the improvements they’ve made, I do not expect them to be enough to bring me back full time.

And next year there is the new Star Wars MMO.  That is looking really really good btw!

Here is the CGI trailer (not indicative of in game play).  You need to watch this!!

Rage

Don’t know if you guys heard about this game or know what E3 is.  E3 is a big deal in the gaming world fyi…

Rage, created by those guys who made such trivial and unknown games like Doom and Quake, is their newest project with a brand new game engine which may redefine the future of first person stylized games (not mmo’s).

If you are familiar with how many games use the Unreal engine as their basis, the new ID Tech 5 appears to be the beast defining a new age in game software.

SJ’s Games of 2011

What?  Yes!

These are the games I will end up playing next year:

• Diablo III
• Rage
• WoW: Cataclysm
• Star Wars MMO
• DC Universe

Skeleton Jack Posting

When I came back to posting after my sabbatical I said the posts would be intermittent at best.  That turned into 5-9 posts a week and hardcore raiding again.  While I gave more than I promised, I will not be maintaining that pace any longer.

It comes down to the most basic and simple of precepts.  I want to do more things that I have the hours in the day to achieve.

• Rewrite the Realms of Wonder table top RPG I created.
• Write a novel.
• Play a ton of PC games I really like.
• Play WoW.
• Write a blog.
• Watch movies I’m behind on.
• Create a new story and plot for a D20 campaign to run.
• Read books I’m way behind on.
• Work out again.
• Go find a social life and start dating again.  I’ve had enough time now since I had to break up with my fiance.
• You get the point…

It’s not a question of balance or order.  It’s just too much shit to do!

So what happens to the website and my writing?

I’d seriously consider working for another site, if it had a respectable and solid reputation, on an intermittent basis. Writing posts once a week or so, or simply focusing multiple posts during heavy content releases and backing off during slow periods.

But that would require me to find someone who wanted that, or for them to find me.

I also considered the video blog thing, doing a release once a week like other sites do.  I am a fan of the format and style of BFF and Tank Spot, for example.

And then there is the other side option of just doing intermittent posting on my site.  That would likely see spurts of crazy posting when content releases happen and I “get into” WoW.  And then fall off during lulls…

I think if I was just doing it for me at that point a large factor would be my happiness, or unhappiness, at having weird raid restrictions due to my work hours.

If it was for someone else, it’s easier to stick to a “job” and just crank out articles at a slower pace on set deadlines.  At least for me anyways…

I’ve also considered just posting every 1-2 weeks with “Mega Posts” of awesomeness.  Sometimes you’ll see me have 5+ posts in a month covering one topic. Instead I could crank out one mega posts every week to two weeks with wicked cool info about DK’s or WoW.

What else did I think about doing?  Oh, making this blog a “Skeleton Jack Blog” and not a “DK Blog”.  What does that mean?

Posting about gaming in general from my perspective, whether MMO or not.

No, becoming “yet another stupid gaming site” wouldn’t be the goal or design.  I’d be focusing on humor, interesting things about games, my experiences in games, etc…

The Answer

There isn’t one, which you could surmise had you just read all of that.  It’s up in the air still.

The only fact that is relevant is that I still *love* to write.  So that is a major influence in the final result.

What if you had a guild where you could get a full 7 hours+ sleep before or after raids, and still tackle top end heroic content?

I’d probably be posting about it and loving every second!! 

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: /rl, Cataclysm, Website

Heya guys!!

Know when you’re having a bad day?  Well, it’s been a bad fucking day…

I got stuck at work for a 12 hour shift because someone took the day off for the 4th…  Yes, I’m totally happy that *you’re* off for the 4th while I’m at work for 12 hours…  Yay!!

For the intellectually deficient, that was sarcasm.  For those who got it anyways (most of you) you get nothing.

Moving on…

So I’m at work a lil past half way through the shift and I have to fart.  So I fart.  I’m by myself…why wouldn’t I?

And even if someone was there (excepting a cute chick) I’d have probably farted anyways.  Why do you even care?!

Now I don’t feel anything other than air.  Normal.  But it sounds weird…  Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.  That sick sloppy noise your ass can make.  Yup.

You’re welcome for that totally unnecessary and graphic image I just painted in your mind.

I stand up and notice that my seat is wet.  Yeah…it was that forceful it dispersed through my jeans without feeling it and even soaked through to the chair.

Fuck me.

Clean myself up, the chair, etc…  Start calling the roomie because I can’t leave work.  Repeatedly call the roomie.  No dice.

So I get stuck at work and can’t reach the roomie to get me some clothes…  I totally wanted to be at work today for 12 hours sitting in my own feces!!  Thank you forces of the universe!!

Come home many hours later, take a shower, get comfortable, eat, watch NCIS, and relax finally…

Yeah, you’d think the story ends there, but no.  My body had other ideas of a good time…

So I’m sitting there in my chair with my feet up, chilling, when suddenly my stomach heaves and I begin to vomit.

I manage to keep my mouth shut and nothing comes out!  “OMFG THANK GOD!!”

Stomach heaves again…

*SPLURT*

Vomit shoots out of my mouth as if it was a high pressure hose due to already having previous vomit in my cheeks.

Yeah, this really happened.

So I vomit all over myself, but not on the furniture.  Now you’d think a normal person would be stoked they didn’t get any on the furniture so that they wouldn’t have to clean it.

But no, my mind instead takes the route, “How the fucking hell did *that* happen?!  I missed everything except for me?!”  *shakes head*

Nope, I left out one detail.  While I was sitting there watching NCIS my cat Shadow was cuddled up on my lap.

So I vomited all over myself and my cat.

Yeah, I shit you not.  This was my day.

So I stand up and make for the bathroom to look down at my cat…

This is so fucking messed up.

She’s sitting there trying to lick the vomit off of her, but as she licks it she shakes her head and shudders visibly from tasting it.

So my poor cat is basically eating my vomit because she can’t figure out how to get it off of her.  /sigh

I stop immediately and pick her up and carry her to the tub.  Which initiates cat clawing and howling.

No, don’t claw me or howl in misery because I vomited all over you ya stupid cat.

Instead, howl and cry because I’m about to put you in water to get the vomit off of ya…  Jesus.

15 minutes later I’m clean and Shadow’s clean.

Poor thing is a long hair cat though, so she looks so pitiful all wet.

Now I’m up and awake and afraid to go to bed.

I’ve already shit diarrhea all over myself, vomited all over myself, and vomited all over my cat…

What the fuck is next?  If I go to bed am I gonna piss myself??!!?

Fucking hell…

Popping vitamins, some stomach stuff I have, and immodium.  Fuck today!

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

P.S.  FYI I am not fucking suffering well today.  In fact, today can go fuck itselt!  But hopefully my misery can afford you a smile or laughter at my expense.  I’d be fucking laughing my ass off if this happened to someone else.

No this wasn’t a gag.  This was really my day  I’m gonna go play a video game and murder pixels or something…

Tags: /rl

Heya guys!!  If you noticed, or not, I’ve posted 6 posts today and 3 yesterday.  Pretty much if it was saved and ready for print without any proofing left, I hit the “Publish” button.

Relating to why you should read the post made today regarding my burnt out:

I’m taking a week off of from my website at least.  Not sure if longer…  Need to work out some things.  I don’t plan on logging in to approve comments, read anything, empty spam folders, etc…

So feel free to post comments and ask questions.  Please do so in fact.  Even if I quit posting on a longer term scale I’ll make sure to get in some comment answers and info up.

Just be aware it’s going to be at least a week before I decide to come back in and check everything out.

Again if you’re wondering what’s up, you need to read my post a few posts down.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: /rl, Website

Heya guys!!  So with my recent post about my UI and mods, I thought it would be a good time to talk about tracking your buffs for optimizing your DPS.

The best option I’ve seen to date for this purpose is the mod Tell Me When.  It’s simple, easy to use, light weight, and efficient.  You can’t ask for much more than that.

Tell Me When

This mods creates new frames that can be resized and moved to any position on your screen.

As you can see from this screen shot above of the Interface Addon control, you have up to eight frames which can have a variable amount of columns and rows.

The above screen shot is the 2nd stage of setup.  From the previous picture you can see that I turned off all of the other frames except for one.  The one that I kept has 2 rows and 7 columns.  More than enough for my needs!

Now to set up the buffs (or debuffs) you need to know the names of the specific buffs (not the item name).  If you’re not sure, search the item on WoW Head.  The comments usually have the buff names listed.

If you click on this 2nd pic and zoom in you can see there are 14 boxes.  I will start on the top row and count from left to right, then repeating the process on the bottom row.

First Row

Number 1:  A lit up Killing Machine icon from my KM talent.

Number 2:  A grayed out Killing Machine icon.  This is where I originally had KM set, but found it was easier to notice putting it one box to the left.

Instead of deleting it however, I set it to inactive so that I can use it later if I choose.  That is why it appears grayed out.

Number 3:  A lit up Unholy Strength icon from my FC weapon enchant.

Number 4:  A lit up Speed of the Valkyr icon from my DBW trinket.

Number 5:  A lit up Unholy Force icon from my SoV sigil.

Number 6:  Empty

Number 7:  Empty

Second Row

Number 8:  A lit up Freezing Fog icon from my Rime talent.

Number 9:  A grayed out Freezing Fog icon.  This is where I originally had FF set, but found it was easier to notice putting it one box to the left.

Instead of deleting it however, I set it to inactive so that I can use it later if I choose.  That is why it appears grayed out.

Number 10:  A lit up Paragon icon from my DC trinket.

Number 11:  A lit up Strength of the Taunka icon from my DBW trinket.

Number 12:  A lit up Frostforged Champion icon from my AV exalted ring.

Number 13:  A lit up Aim of the Iron Dwarves icon from my DBW trinket.

Number 14:  Empty

Options

This mod gives you a lot of options.  How you choose to use it is up to you.

Appearance: You can change the size of the frames and their position on your screen.

Timers: You can set up the mod to even have a “clock” style countdown for buffs.

Buffs: Can track buffs easily.

Debuffs: Can also track debuffs on you or your target.  Whether it’s a debuff placed on you by a boss, or tracking debuffs you placed on a target in PvP.

Cooldowns: Can display an icon when an ability or item becomes available and off of CD.

Focus Targets: Can let you know when a debuff falls off of your focus target.

TMW in Action

Here is just a limited scope view on what TMW will look like in combat.  Fully customized however, this mod can do so much more.

A special notation should be made for “troublesome” boss debuffs as well.  Is there a particular debuff a boss places on you that you’ve had difficulty noticing the boss mod warnings for?

Set up TMW to pop up an icon whenever it’s present on you.  Choose the location and size of the icon, and you’re good to go!

The above shows me with Killing Machine, Paragon, Strength of the Taunka, and Unholy Force buffs present.

The above shows me with Killing Machine, Freezing Fog, Paragon, Strength of the Valkyr, Unholy Force, and Frostforged Champion buffs present.

If you zoom in on the pictures you will see that the buff mod I use on the right hand of the screen shows multiple buffs present.

However only the buffs that I programmed into TMW show in the middle of the screen, making it very easy to see just the important ones.

If you look closely you can also see the circular “clock-like” count down on the icons showing when they will wear off.

A brand new buff is fully lit up, while the count down starts graying out the icon as it wears off.  Once it is fully grayed out, the buff duration has ended and the icon vanishes.

Why is this useful?!

Tracking your buffs and timing your use of buffs, cooldowns, and abilities can shift your dps by a margin of anywhere between 500 to 3000 dps dependent upon numerous variables of course.

That is not an exaggeration.

Frost

As Frost it is critical that you always know when KM and Rime have proc’ed in order for you to take the maximum benefit from those talents.

The same also goes for Raise Dead.  You need to cast this when you have the most buffs on you.

Unholy

As Unholy your Gargoyle damage can shift dramatically by using it when you have full buffs up and Heroism.

If you don’t know when the buffs are on you and cast Gargoyle when they’re down, then the dps gain from that spell drops significantly.

Minions

One shot pets have their stats set by your current stats at the time of casting.  So Raise Dead (non-Unholy), Summon Gargoyle, and Army of the Dead all fall into this category.

They’re not true pets like an Unholy ghoul.  They’re more like one shot minions.

If you have 5 temporary buffs on you when you cast Raise Dead or Summon Gargoyle, and then they fall off 5 seconds later, your summoned minions stay buffed.

Their stats are set at the time you cast them, based off of your own stats.  Or your AP and Haste more specifically.

Summation

This isn’t a guide on how to set up the mod, but it’s very easy to use.  Set it up in the Addon Interface first, and then type /tmw in chat when that is done.

You don’t have to use this specific mod, but you need to be using something like it.  Seriously.

You need some type of UI modification so that you are fully aware when temporary buffs are on you.  It will change your dps for the better.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: DPS, Mods

Heya guys!!  Is it?  I don’t know anymore…

I *hated* Facebook (and MySpace as well for that matter)…

Come be my friend!!

Have you seen my wall!!

Hey I knew you in high school!!  Be my friend even though we never talk and I’ve no interest in trying to talk to you voice!!

YUCK!!  Stupid blathering idiots most of the time.  SHEEP I TELL YOU!!!  YOU PEOPLE ARE SHEEP!!! /grrr

So why do I have Facebook?  I got lured in years ago to create an account just to see pics of a girl from WoW.  You’d have done the same thing!  Don’t judge me!!

And that was it.  I never went back.

So what changed?  Turns out my guild is all over Facebook and a few people asked me what my account was…  Next thing you know I’m filling in crap and putting a pic up, etc…  /sigh

Now I have not once talked to WoW people through Facebook since doing this…  So I questioned myself,

“WTF DID I DO THIS FOR!!!  BAAHHHH!!!!  BAAAHHH!!!  I’M A SHEEP TOO!!!  BAAAHHH!!!”

(I actually do a wicked bleating noise imitating sheep in rl.  You’d lol if you heard me really say that, heh.)

And then!!  THEN!!!  High school people started stalking me…  Ugh.  Shoot me now?  Please?

I hate when people friend request you when you they were never even on a talking basis with you to begin with.  What?  Now 15 years later you want to be friends?  You don’t even f’ing know me!!  /facepalm

So what made me think, “This might not be so bad…”

First there was family.  I don’t have good relations with my family as they are a bunch of abusive, mentally deficient, !@#holes!!  But there are one or two gems (of which none are related by blood sadly).

So I’ve been talking to them recently, which I have not done in years.  Not since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  That’s a plus in the “Not the devil” category…

And then today I’m in Facebook trying to get rid of some stupid auto alert for some event I got invited to that of course, I will never go to.  You *KNOW* what I’m talking about.

And there’s Eriss online.  Who is Eriss?  Read my About page ya ninnies!!  She’s why I’m here!  She got me to play WoW to begin with (and drug me kicking and screaming I might add…).

Her and I used to talk on the phone all the time.  She was, and is, a great friend.  So I saw her online and clicked on something (no idea what) and the next thing you know we’re IM’ing each other!!

Why is this a big deal?  She met a guy on an EU server.  Moved to England with her kids, married the guy, and had twins!!  INORITE?!!?! She’s happy as hell!  How awesome is that?!

So those phone calls are non-existent now (yes I have a Skype account and Vent, go away…).

We got to spend quit a bit of time talking and catching up.  It was really cool.

So Facebook may not be the devil after all…

What does this have to do with WoW other than WoW players are who got me to use this crap?  No clue! 

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: /rl

Heya guys!!  Today it’s time to talk about not only Summon Gargoyle, but minions as well.

What are minions?

Minions are any kind of temporary pet cast by yourself that do not, by definition, have a permanent duration:

• Summon Gargoyle
• Raise Dead (without Master of Ghouls)
• Army of the Dead
• Dancing Rune Weapon

Buffing Minions

You can’t do it.  End of story.

So why are buffs important you ask?  Good question!

Minions base stats are determined at the time when you summon them.  These stats are modified by your current stats at the time of cast.

So that means that if you cast a minion spell when you have no buffs up the minion will do less damage.  Whereas if you have buffs up, the minion will do significantly more damage.

Which Buffs Matter?

Just ones that affect your Attack Power and Haste.  That’s it.

Ideally you wait until you have Heroism and several proc’d buffs up from your gear before casting any minion.  Doing this will make a significant increase in your total dps.

So that’s it?

Yeah.  Pretty basic when you get down to it.

1. Minions stats are set in stone the moment they are cast.
2. Your current AP and Haste modify their stats.
3. Try to time Minion CD’s to coincide with maximum buffs always.

You should have a reliable method for tracking your buffs at all times.  See my addon category for mods relating to that.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: DPS, Things you didn't know about WoW

Heya guys!!

So I was talking to one of my good friends about what the xpac blues are and it got me thinking about stuff.  Last night I had to take the night off of raiding due to some rl complications and that allowed me to relax and just chill some.

It was nice.  I picked up Mass Effect 2 finally from Steam for $23.99!  If you play other video games you should be checking out Steam right now.  They are having some amazing sales through the 4th.

But anyways, I had already prewritten like 7 posts for this week.  So excepting this post here, and the CATA NDA lift posts yesterday, I had nothing to write.

So I was kicking it back realizing I had 3 nights off of raiding and didn’t even have to work on a blog post for several days…and I felt this *HUGE* massive weight lift off of me…

That’s bad.

Not having to raid or work on the blog shouldn’t be a relief.  But it was.  So I wrote my friend trying to vent all of this and work it out and then decided to post about it.  Why?

Well it directly addresses what a lot of people think or feel in regards to “xpac blues” for one.  And also, it could impact my raiding and/or blogging.  So why not give a heads up on my thought process?

Skeleton Jack’s X-Pac Blues

Part of the issue…ok, almost the entire issue here is time and commitment.

Current Issues

1. 4 nights a week my sleep is interrupted to raid.  I have to take a nap before raid, then raid, and then only get 4-5 hours of sleep tops before work.  And I’m a 7-10 hour sleep kinda guy.  That is getting seriously fucking stressful.
2. I can’t do normal content with my guild on off nights.  I go to bed early on my 3 off nights due to #1, so I’m in bed by 9pm server time at latest.  Sometimes before 7pm.  So 10 mans, etc, are out of the question.
3. Writing my blog at the level that I do requires a *lot* of time.  I spend roughly 20 hours a week working on the blog and/or research about WoW.  Some of that does help me learn the game better, but I wouldn’t spend nearly as much time if it was just for myself.
4. Due to the weird schedule resulting from #1 I don’t get a lot of stuff done that I would normally.  Reading, writing, working out, etc…  I want to relax and stuff when I get home, so it becomes a pain to work anything else in besides WoW on those nights…

I’m a minor celebrity in a pool of 11 million people.  That’s cool and all.  But what does it get me?  Not a whole lot.

On the “rant” side of this it sucks having to prove myself to the new guild, not getting loot (I’ve been skipped constantly since this guild merger), getting weird ass sleep 4 nights a week, always writing posts and working on blog instead of doing other things, not having time to make for working out, going out, etc…

But then I think about CATA…  I would like to raid and experience the content…it looks amazing!!  And then I think about what would be required to make that happen.

Cutting everything out that I could (including blog) I’d still have to raid 4 nights a week with interrupted sleep for at least 1-2 months before we had all content down and could take a break.  And then with CATA release I’d have to start the pattern up again with 4 nights of interrupted sleep every week guaranteed.

So I keep coming back to that.  If I dropped the blog, dropped researching stuff, and just did more of a casual style of play with only 4 nights of raiding…  I still think of raiding with a cringe of dread.  So why?

Reasoning

The time constraint and the interrupted sleep is what I keep coming back to.  Raiding takes up 4 1/2 to 5 hours total.

Be online 30 min in advance, raid for 3 1/2 hours, and then miscellaneous stuff before and after where I’m involved with WoW or getting ready to be on for a few hours, so I’m not doing anything else.  4 1/2 is probably more accurate.  So 18 hours a week gone.

Due to sleeping before and after raid times, and wanting to relax some, that turns 4 nights a week into “dead zones” where nothing gets done due to personal preferences.

So my 3 nights left I can do stuff.  Sometimes I just sit there and think, “I’m not doing stuff when I’d do it normally because I’m making a commitment to a game…”

Don’t get me wrong…if it’s a hobby and you want to make the commitment then great!!  But I think I’m at a point where I only want to make that kind of commitment 1-2 nights a week, and no more.

And as to the blog…  That is such a weird love/hate relationship there.  I *LOVE* to write.  I love helping out my readers.  I like helping people.

I realized years ago that being a trainer or teacher of some kind would be something I would love to do so long as it did not involve being in a high school or elementary school.  No thanks to that there.  But I love to help people learn things and I love to write.  My blog is the *perfect* outlet for that desire!!

But then there is the *hate*.  Well, dislike is more apt.  I don’t really hate any part of it.  15-20 hours a week working on material to have it to where I can make 5-9 posts a week is a lot of fricking time.  Especially when combined with raiding…

So 18 hours of my week are spent raiding.  And then there’s another 15+ hours of my week invested in my blog and research.

And that doesn’t include time spent doing VoA, weekly raid quest, JC daily, random daily, and random BG’s…  So in actuality I spend 40-45 hours a week on WoW.

Fuck me.

No fucking wonder I’m burnt out on it.  All of that on top of working a 40 hour a week job where I’ve been having to pull some overtime on occasion (like this week).

The Fix

No fucking idea.  I’m cursing now on my site which just goes to show how at the end of my rope I am on this one.

New Guild?

Finding a top end guild (or even just a decent raiding guild at a lower level of play) that fits my work schedule is a pain in the ass.  I’ve already spent like 30-40 hours on that project.  I’m mostly limited to Oceanic guilds if I want to stay on a US server.

So finding a new guild doesn’t solve anything.  Heretic is a good guild and has some cool people in it.

The Blog?

So reduce writing on the blog or quit it entirely?  That doesn’t work.  I tried that.

What ends up happening is that if I’m playing WoW I inevitably get drawn back to “only make one or two posts a week…”  Next thing you know I’m pumping out 1 post a day again.

And that’s controlling myself!  I used to post between 12-20 times a week!  Especially when I’m excited about new stuff.  I did just 3 posts yesterday when I got stoked about CATA!!

Nowadays I force myself to just post one thing a day to help prevent burnout.  And even doing that it’s not working so well…

So even if I “quit” the blog, if I’m playing WoW I *know* myself.  I will end up right back here again posting about DK’s…  I can accept my own flaws and acknowledge them! 

Go Casual?

UGH!!  /scowl

*mutters angrily*  How do you play WoW casually?!!?  I. DO. NOT. GET. THAT!!

I mean, if you’re in a guild and you guys can’t progress…  Or you have kids or a business or a marriage or something…commitments to prevent you.  Or you don’t have the skill level…  If there are reasons then I get it!

But if you have lots of free time (which I do) and the skill and knowledge…  How do you look at these bosses in instances mocking you, teasing you with their epics like little tarts, without bringing down the pain!?!

I ask you!!  I do not know if I, personally, am capable of playing WoW casually.  Watching friends and guildies tackling content while I sit on the sidelines…  Not sure if that’s in me.

I considered coming back to WoW (when I quit before after playing for 5 years straight) for CATA just to be a PvP’er.  I’d do rated BG’s and maybe Arena.  And that’d be it.

*MAYBE* I could stomach that.  Not sure.

Quit WoW?

OMFG I WANT CATACLYSM!!!  O.O

I know…cake…eat it too…I get it.  I didn’t say this was “easy” for me. 

Facing the Truth

Really, what it all comes down to, is that I want two different things which are not possible at the same time.

I want to be in a top end raiding guild tackling the toughest content, but I only want to do it 1-2 nights a week tops.  GL there…won’t happen.

I want to write about WoW on my site, but I want the knowledge to magically pour out of my brain and on to the webs instantly!  But oh yeah…real life sets in.

Something is going to have to give is what it all comes down to.  Because I will not continue as is for more than another month tops.  It won’t happen.

As to what change that will be I’m not sure…

• Quit WoW entirely
• Take a break until CATA
• Stop writing on the blog
• Try to find a guild below my skill level that will take me on to just raid 1-2 nights a week
• Become a PvP’er for CATA and put raiding to the side

I don’t know…  But something will change in the future.

Advice

My friend suggested to me that she thinks I should just take a break for a while.  She knows how much I like WoW and my website.

But she also pointed out that being a hardcore WoW player and blog writer is like having two full time jobs and that it might be time to let part, or all, or WoW go.

Sadly I agree with all of her points and am just not sure what the solution is yet.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: /rl, Website

Heya guys!!  So some people are not so hot at online research or finding WoW related information on the internet.  So here’s a quick and dirty list of some good sites to check out.

MMO Champion

• General WoW site with tons of useful information, including up to date news on WoW.

World of Raids

• General WoW site with tons of useful information, including up to date news on WoW.

Tank Spot

• Weekly video blog and raid boss guides with videos set this site above the bar.  The forums are not shabby either.

Elitist Jerks Forums

• The largest compilation of top end players in one spot posting about WoW.

WoW Head

• Invaluable resource for in game information.  The player comments can be amazingly helpful sometimes.

Guild Ox

• Has an amazing aspect called Loot Rank where you can plug in APE weights for loot ranking.
• Has imo the best ranking system for WoW Raid Progression as well.

Curse

• My personal favorite for downloading mods.
• I do however download the following from their direct sites:  DBM, Auctioneer, and CT

WoW Interface

• My 2nd choice for downloading mods.  Still a damn good site.

WoW Matcher

• Heard about this site from Tank Spot.  It’s not popular enough yet to be amazingly useful, but it’s actually a *damn* good website if you ask me.

Battle Net

• Sadly most people do not know the URL for BNet.  And they should.
• It is http://us.battle.net

WoW.com

• Uhm…mixed bag here…  I’ve never once been impressed by the DK posts there, or a lot of the ones there for that matter.
• However there are gems mixed in with the bad.  I’ve read some damn good stuff on this site before.

Arena Junkies

• If you are in to PvP at all, this is your one stop shop.

WoW Wiki

• As with all wikis, sometimes the info is outdated or just plain wrong.  However they sometimes have information I’ve been unable to find anywhere else.

WTF is my GS?

• Need to know a GS quick?  See below if your server uses the different GS ranking.

WoW Heroes

• Need to know a GS quick?  See above if your server uses the different GS ranking.

World of Logs

• The best combat log site on the net if you ask me.

WoW Cataclysm Beta Forums

• CATA Beta Forums pre-release.

Skeleton Jack

• BEST WEBSITE EVAR!!!!! 

So I think that is everything.  I’m sure there are other good sites out there.  But these are pretty much your “go to” sites for day to day operations.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: DPS, Questions, Things you didn't know about WoW, Website

Heya guys!!  The NDA is lifted and the secrets are slowly coming out!!

Apparently I cannot hover tooltip links from the MMO Champion site like I can with WoW Head yet (who is behind the curve currently).  I’m working on trying to find out how to make that happen.

Until then I did some poking around with the talent tree calculator at MMO Champion.  These are by no means “the end all” specs.  But at a glance, this is what I came up with.

At the very least it’s interesting to look at! 

Specs

Diseases are 30 seconds, 45 seconds talented.

Unholy DPS: 0/23/53

The spec is super tight on points as it seems to be a massive gain to spend 3 points in the 5th tier of Frost.  The 5th tier of Frost offers:

• 1 min cd ability for +20% Str for 20 seconds
• 4% Str bonus
• Raid Debuff: 4% increased damage from physical sources
• This spec would then give you 13% magic damage, 4% physical damage, and 30% disease damage making it one of the better debuff specs

If the dps showed a gain from other talents in Unholy however that spec would quickly fall apart.  It’s just really early to tell.

Frost DPS: 0/59/17

This spec has all the points you could want.  It dips into Unholy for Unholy Frenzy which is the new “Hysteria”.  It’s 10% haste for 30 seconds every 3 minutes with the “Enraged” status without a Rune cost which is nice.

Once you pick that up, you pretty much have enough points to buy everything in Frost you could want.

Blood Tank: 59/5/5

This spec has too many points, with 9 points unspent still.  I imagine the intention is to spend the remaining points on threat talents.  Which is fine, but boring.  You don’t have to give up any “tank” talents at all.

Thoughts

It’s painfully obvious that these trees need to be iterated upon further.

The Blood tree has more points than it knows what to do with.  The Frost tree has just enough extra to get everything you could want.  And the Unholy tree is so tight on points that there is no room for anything but the most optimal DPS decisions.

The “goal” of the trees forcing you to spend points on “fun” talents has not been remotely reached yet.  On a Pale Horse was something I was really looking forward to getting because it’s cool, but is impossible with the current talent trees.

That said, I’d expect these trees to change quit a bit before release.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: Cataclysm