Sunday, January 24, 2010

warrior protection power aura imports

Make sure you put these on page 1, and they must be the first power auras there (copy any existing ones to another page and delete the ones on page 1 first). Also make sure the spec is correct in these.

Set=Prot@
Aura[1]=Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Warrior_RallyingCry; size:nu0.20999999344349; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu170; x:nu-292; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu1; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:botrue; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:botrue; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:botrue; id:nu1; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stCommanding Shout; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; spec2:botrue; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:bofalse; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:botrue; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1@
Aura[2]=Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.84313725490196; anim1:nu4; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Warrior_Revenge; size:nu0.20999999344349; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.96078431372549; y:nu59; x:nu-292; customname:st; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu7; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu52; slot:nu90; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; spec2:botrue; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:botrue; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu2; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stRevenge; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:bofalse; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0@
Aura[3]=Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu5; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:botrue; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Nature_ThunderClap; size:nu0.20999999344349; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu113; x:nu-292; customname:st; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu2; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu1; alpha:nu0.5; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:botrue; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:botrue; id:nu3; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stThunder Clap; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; spec2:botrue; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:bofalse; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu2; inverse:botrue; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu1@
Aura[4]=Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.85882352941176; anim1:nu4; g:nu0.91372549019608; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Defend; size:nu0.20999999344349; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.85490196078431; y:nu2; x:nu-292; customname:st; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu7; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu42; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; spec2:botrue; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:botrue; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:botrue; id:nu4; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stShield Block; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:bofalse; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0@
Aura[5]=Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.94509803921569; anim1:nu4; g:nu1; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\INV_Shield_05; size:nu0.20999999344349; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.92941176470588; y:nu-56; x:nu-292; customname:st; groupany:bofalse; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu7; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu21; slot:nu92; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:botrue; isResting:nu0; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu0; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; spec2:botrue; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:botrue; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:botrue; id:nu5; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stShield Slam; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:bofalse; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0@

Thursday, January 21, 2010

How not to Suck in World of Warcraft: Leveling

There are lots of different types of people who play MMOGs. I've seen 'em all. Some will play the game and get to see the stories unfold before them, and play some of the coolest video game content ever made. Others will screw off and never see past level 50. The best part of an MMOG is the teamwork and the friendships you make. It's fun and all playing with your neighbor or work buddy, but meeting new people is what it's all about. But when you are stuck down in the 30s bracket, you likely won't meet many people...because most people are at max level, i.e. 80 as of 1-21-10 ala WoW. What types are there? Let me tell you.

1) The weekend warrior/solo-ist/retro-gamer: This player logs in like once a week if he's lucky. He doesn't really care, and has no emotional investment whatsoever. He's as likely to play frogger from the 80s as log in to level his fishing in WoW. He's likely to hit 80 about a year after Blizzard shuts down WoW servers, i.e. never) He plays WoW because it's the "in" thing, but would rather be gunning down people in a game that is a decade past it's prime solo-style.

2) The fail-at-life gamer: This player lost his job due to the game. He probably runs a guild now, and raids 4-7 days a week. He's got several alts, all of which are in alt raids. He doesn't understand why his members don't put in more effort, and when drama hits he almost loses his mind considering his entire life is invested in the game and some pee-ant is tearing down the foundations of all his life's work. This guy hit 80 so fast he never even saw the content.

3) The perfectionist/achiever: This guy will hit 80 sooner or later. Unfortunately it'll be later. The problem is he has to do every quest, and I do mean every quest. He reads every quest, every sentence, every word. He stops in towns to listen to the random chatter of computer-controlled AI conversations. He may even talk to the computers. After he finishes one 10-20 zone, he leaves and does the other 10-20 zones even when he's level 30 and everything is grey. He has to get every tabard, and has to learn every skill. He has to visit ever tavern and kill every creature, tame every beast, gaze at every sky set. And should he take any measurable break from the game, he has to start all over again. I predict this player will reach 80 in 2020, by then the game will be dead. I have bad news for this gamer. In less than 12 months, all that content you have yet to do, will be gone forever. You TOOK TOO LONG DUMB ASS!

4) The raider/social gamer: This player plays the game to have fun with friends. They spend some time in-game, but recognize the value of a job, friends, exercise, etc. They probably game too much, but they don't let it ruin the other parts of their life. It will take this gamer anywhere between a month and 3 months to hit 80, assuming they don't fry their computer or account in the process.

What I want to tell you, is how to level and not suck. First off, knock off the achiever crap. Get to 80 and then you can go back and do all the old shit content. If you don't hurry up, some content will be gone forever. Not to mention, there is some content that you can only do with a group of people, and most people don't hang out at lower levels. Blizzard has gone out of their way time and time again to do away with twinking. If you don't know what twinking is, then you are probably a weekend warrior and there is no hope for you. I recommend you save some $, cancel your subscription, and start up some old school pong/frogger.

Leveling is a byproduct. It happens when you log in and don't sit on your hands. Maximizing your leveling efficiency, and therefore giving you more time to do the fun stuff, is the science. It's all about minimizing your downtime and the time you do spend is as efficient as possible.

First off, if you have an 80, never level another toon unless you have the heirloom shoulders and chest.

Secondly, don't level purely in dungeons. The dungeon finder makes it appealing, but you'll burn out. Plus pugs are often a fast way to ruin the game for you. There are more bad pugs than good ones. What's a pug you ask? Go level some more and you'll figure it out. ;P No seriously, quests done in an efficient manner.

First off, you'll want some addons to speed you on your way.

The magic combination is: Tourguide, Tomtom, and Lightheaded. Tourguide and lightheaded are 100% necessary. Tomtom is important if you don't use cartographer or carbonite. Tourguide basically helps you go through quests in an efficient manner. You skip the ones that have low drop rates, or take you really far out of your way, or simply are not worth the time sink. You pick up quests that often require turn ins later in other zones, and the ordering of the quests is done such that you will be in those zones at the right time, place, and with the right stuff. Be wary of too much dungeon delving though. You'll find tourguide is behind and all you'll have is green quests. Sometimes you can skip a few, but be wary of skipping too much, especially if you're new to the game. I recommend no skips except at level 58 (go straight to outlands) and 68 (go straight to northrend).

Choose a leveling spec. Don't screw around with your talents. You will just be wasting your own time. Go to the forums at worldofwarcraft.com and there are forums for every class. Each forum has stickies. Each sticky will recommend a leveling spec. Or you can google it like "druid leveling spec" but don't forget to include some information about the current build of the game, or you might get advice that is 3-4 years old. So "druid leveling spec 3.3". Some basic pointers are
A) always choose stuff that improves your dps
B) if at all possible choose a spec that is as mana independent as possible

For classes, I'd say
Rogue - Combat (check shadowpanther for leveling info)
Warrior - Arms (although prot is decent once you hit 40)
Druid - Feral (balance is good at 60+ too)
Hunter - Beastmastery
Mage - Frost
Warlock - demonology
Paladin - Retribution
Priest - Shadow
Shaman - Enhancement
Death Knight - Unholy

You get skills at every even level from 1 to 60 (i.e. 2, 4, 6, 8, ... 54, 56, 58, 60). Just because you ding at an even level, doesn't mean you should rush back to a trainer. Check wowhead.com and make sure the trip is worth ruining your momentum. Some levels give you skills that you won't use until you are max level.

One thing that seems to slow a lot of people down is bag space. They fill up with junk, and then have to make frequent trips to vendors. Often they'll be standing in the middle of a zone going through their bags trying to find the cheapest item to discard, so they can continue (for another 30 seconds before having to do the same thing). Take your gold and buy the biggest bags you can get. When you visit a town, keep a full stack of the best food and water (if you have mana) in your bags, but sell every other food/drink item. Only keep one type of health pot, and one type of mana pot. Sell everything else. Get an addon like gearscore to give you an idea of the value of the gear you are wearing. Only keep the best item of a given slot (i.e. no reason to have three different bracers in your bag while leveling, even if one is better for dps, tanking, healing...it doesn't matter when you are only leveling as the gear will be outdated in the next few days anyways). I have a macro that will sell all grey items to a vendor as long as you have the vendor window open.

/script for bag = 0, 4 do for slot = 1, GetContainerNumSlots(bag) do local name = GetContainerItemLink(bag,slot) if name and string.find(name,"ff9d9d9d") then DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Selling "..name) UseContainerItem(bag,slot) end end end

If you keep your bags free of junk, get the three addons I recommended above, and spec for damage you should level like a crazy person. It isn't voodoo, it is just doing things smarter not harder.

Do not turn in every quest after you complete it. Try to complete 7-10 quests, and then turn them all in at once. You'll find it is much faster that way. Don't forget to buy your mount and fast mount at 20 and 40 accordingly.

Good luck, and I'll see you all at 80!


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Avatar in 3D

I just got back from watching Avatar in 3D. It was actually the XD version so best screen and sound I can get in Albuquerque. Saying it was amazing would be an understatement. It was possibly one of the coolest movies I have ever seen, and the very first movie that was primarily digital and that idea simply is forgotten in the first 30 minutes of the show. It blends seamlessly, and James Cameron shows his genius all over again.

I can't recommend seeing this movie strongly enough. It's Dances with Wolves meets Aliens.

My only suggestion is go small on the drink. If you buy a big drink, there is a strong chance you'll miss part of the movie because it is so long.

Friday, January 15, 2010

My Guide to not sucking in World of Warcraft

I guess there has to be a disclaimer. Because truthfully, if you find this guide helpful, then no single blog post is going to make you play well. So I guess I need to break this into sections. Some sections will be further discussed at future times.

1. Addons
2. macros
3. Leveling
4. Roles within a Party
5. End-game
6. Class-Specifics

For starters, let me cover Addons.

1. Addons
1a - Yes you need them. If you think you don't, then you are obviously so full of yourself that you shouldn't be reading this at all. The reason they are necessary is that Blizzard did not have an infinite budget when designing the user-interface and you do not have an infinite amount of time to decide on any action in-game. You need information presented to you in a more timely efficient manner. So let me go over the absolute essential addons that you should not go without.

- Carbonite : I can't stress this enough. I've seen people try to argue questhelper or tourguide over Carbonite, but there simply isn't an adequate replacement for it. There are so many features. It takes time to learn them though. Don't combine your mini-maps either. Get used to using two mini-maps, at least while you level. You'll find it there is so much information if you combine them, that it will frustrate you. Note, you can use tourguide in tandem with Carbonite (and I highly recommend you do that, and do it starting at level 1). What does Carbonite do for you? Well, it helps you search through inventory, combine friend's list, has a built in quest helper with tomtom arrow, has a punk list for people who aren't carebears and play on pvp servers, and best of all it will highlight the regions on your map (and mini-map) where a quest item drops or can be found. It is absolutely invaluable. Go ahead and remove it if you want, but don't blame me when I blaze past you in levels and end up doing 2x as much damage as you in a party simply because I wasted less time.
http://www.carboniteaddon.com/

- Arkinventory : replaces your bags into a single large bag, that you can organize by profession, or item type, or level, or whatever. You can even create custom code rules which can organize your stuff. It is a god send. It takes time to figure out. Don't wimp out in the first week of usage. Figure it out and don't give up.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/ark-inventory.aspx

- Power Auras: An absolute must-have addon for anyone who intends to actually be good at the game. I can't tell you strongly enough how powerful this addon is, if you simply learn to use it. So many abilities will "proc" a buff for a few seconds, or will give you a very tiny window of opportunity to use an ability for zero-cost or double damage or whatever. Power Auras is the tool to use to help you visually identify these little nuances in-game. Can you play without it? Yes you can. But I bet I can train a monkey to out dps, out-tank, and/or out heal you if insist on playing the game caveman style (i.e. without power auras).
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8579-PowerAurasClassic.html
http://powerauras.wikispaces.com/

- Recount: How do you know if you are doing something wrong if you don't have a metric to measure it against? In english, how do you know if you are traveling at the speed limit if you refuse to install a speed-o-meter in your car? Recount is the metric for personal performance. There is no alternative. Use it, love it, learn it, and become better than you thought possible.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/recount.aspx

- Gearscore: I almost didn't include this addon. It's more of a supplementary tool to Recount. Say you are in a group, and you are in a damage dealer role. Let's say on a given boss fight you have done on average 3000 damage per second (shown by recount nonetheless). But some other guy in the group is laughing at you and did 5500 damage per sec. Gearscore will evaluate their gear and you can compare it to yours. It is a quick and easy way to see if the damage difference is because they are much better geared than you, or if you simply suck and need to "learn2play". I suspect eventually gearscore will go the way of the dodo, but for now it's a decent tool for self-evaluation.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/nvgearscore.aspx

- Deadly Boss Mods: Do not play the game with other people without this. Simply do not. Don't join groups. Don't do battlegrounds. Don't invite anyone to a party unless they live with you. You will embarass yourself and likely wipe the group repeatedly without it. Download it and watch for the warnings and danger signs that it gives.
http://www.deadlybossmods.com/

- Omen: a threat meter, there are others, but make sure you have a good one (and no, the built-in one by blizzard sucks and in no way counts).
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/omen-threat-meter.aspx

Right now you are thinking "ZOMG so many addons" but you have no idea. There are so many more out there. I could recommend 50 more, but the above mentioned addons are what I consider to be essential. Without them you'll level slowly, perform poorly, and likely cause wipes and be put on plenty ignore lists of others. If you don't care about being good at what you do, then by all means ignore these recommendations. I may have forgot others, but will add them.

Also, don't be too worried about trying to keep up to date. I recommend you grab the curse client from curse.com and have it help you update your addons for you. I don't pay for it, so can only update 2 at a time, but it is easy to do and I update almost daily with a few clicks of the mouse before logging in. Wowinterface supposedly has an alternative, but when I used it, it nearly ruined my wow installation. Wowmatrix may still work, but some sights block it now.

There is no reason to suck. Using Carbonite with Tourguide should let you get levels fast. You should be able to get 5 levels per hour the first 10 levels. After that 2 levels per hour to 20. And then 1 level per hour to 40. Eventually going to 1 level per 2 hours, and so on and so forth. It should only take a couple days to hit level 30, playing just a few hours a night. There really is no excuse to be level 30 after playing for years.

New Game coming out soon: Mass Effect 2

I'm very excited about a new game coming out soon. Mass Effect 2 should be released January 26th 2010 or close to it. I played the first one and loved it. I am so very much excited to play the 2nd one. The story is really good and I can't wait to see what happens next.

failure to blog

Hopefully this blog will work. Earlier attempts using a facebook app failed completely.

Just wanted to say that I cooked another prime standing rib-roast last night, after dry-aging it for four days, and it was amazing. I simply do not understand how people can insist on eating carbon charred burned overdone meat, but the medium rare rib-roast is phenomenal and potentially the best piece of red meat I've ever had.