Dual Shock

20 days of WoW Day 6 Favourite Dungeon A three part question if Ive ever seen one! This clearly needs to be answered in a way that avoids all mention of Uldaman. It still makes me froth to think about it (although rumor has it its a bit better these days - and I completely lost track of which level range its supposed to be in anyway). 1) Old World There are quite a few good ones here - but all my perception of them is tinted with years old "experience". I have to say that in retrospect I begin to like Blackrock Depths more and more - the feel of a whole city complete with bar and grill is nice. I do enjoy Schomolance a lot - the whole boss encounter at the end is quite nicely done. The favourite, though, will probably be ZulFarak for a while. Specifically because of the pyramid event. This little tranquil scene soon turns into an escort mission.  Of sorts. Not very far - just down the steps of the pyramid. And while all looks peaceful when you get to the edge ... It doesnt st...

20 Days of WoW Day 17 What do you do when the server’s down ! Sleep, most likely. Our server downs are on Wednesdays at 5 in the morning. I dont work the night-shift. However, if - for some unfathomable reason - the servers were down during my intended playtime, Id probably do something else. The likelyhood of finding me in a corner, shivering and shaking is slim (although there has been a flu going round lately). Lord of the Rings, possibly. Or Raving Rabbids. Or even just read a book. Im old fashioned like that.

20 days of Wow Day 4 Favourite Emote Now this one is a weird one. I have to say that I dont play much on roleplaying servers any more (this used to be different in other games, but I never found WoW to be a very suitable medium) - and as such my use of emotes is more limited than I might be elsewhere. I mean ... I dont need to convey my emotional state much when I beat up 10 generic rats, and Im sure my raid leader would frown on complicated emotes during a raiding encounter. This is different before and after the fight - but in the middle? Not really. So my most used (and thus by default favourite) emote is /wave. Its something I use resonably often - usually when galloping past someone I know on a road in the middle of nowhere.

20 Days of WoW Day 2 Favourite Race After reading quite a few of these posts in the last days, Ill have to come out with the truth, I suppose. I dont pick my favourite race based on looks or abilities or swing animations. Im just going with "most useful gameplay bonus". So far, no game has managed to make all races identical and just cosmetically different - there are always some stat changes. Which is also the cause for my lovely dwarf (who formerly looked like this) to now look like this: Taller, certainly, but more importantly: possessed of Diplomacy. Which will come in extra handy with all the new factions in Cataclysm. And then, Ill probably go back to dwarf - which has great tanking specials. ?

20 Days of WoW Day 9 Which race class combination are you most like in RL Its a bit like painting a self-portrait, isnt it? Do I paint myself with soft focus, from a distance, behind a shrubbery or do I go with the brightly illuminated, well designed setup and some boob-tape? Now, Im no Ferraro (fake or otherwise), so I think I wont get around a description that fits well. Ah yes, here we are. Less hair, overall, and nowhere near as fit as the dwarven male model, but I think the dwarf race suits me best. Dark and rich, or was it stout and bitter? Now with the body shape out of the way, that only leaves class. And here we might have a slight discrepancy. I would never voluntarily put myself in harms way - not even to protect others. Do I look silly? No wait. Ignore the picture above. Think of something else. Right, now ... pink rhinozeros? If you have to. Do I look silly? Id much rather stab someone in the back than hit a shield in their face. That way Ill also never have to find out if...

20 Days of WoW Day 16 Favourite quest quest chain I was wondering what to put here. I was thinking about a lot of quests I had done, and especially about all the new ones in the 80 to 85 regions. There were quite a few there that I liked - the wedding preparation and celebration was nice and different, I had to laugh at the Death Star reference in the King of the Mountain questline. However, for a truly "favourite" quest or questline it would have to be something Id like to do again. And even hacking the mainframe - and the followup - is not something Im really looking forward to doing again. Note: You are given the hacking tool. No, my favourite is an old world quest - newly designed with the Cataclysmic overhaul of the world. This one is available for Alliance in Northwatch hold (and there is a daily in Tol Barad). Blowing up boats just does not get old. I could do that all day! Favourite quest: Run out the Guns!

20 Days of WoW Day 8 Favourite guild name you’ve come across Its almost Christmas (Happy Loot-Day everyone!) so there is plenty of time to post between eating calories - lots of them - and drinking more calories. I seem to have gotten stuck on the "20 days" post series when a cataclysmic event shattered my concentration (Brilliant, eh? eh? Yeah, I thought so, too). So .. back on track with the favourite guild names: My favourite choice so far is still "Oh crap leggit". However, it seems the guild does not exist any more. Wether that was due to a disband or because some weird person thought it not politically correct to have "crap" on his twelve-year olds screen (who probably murdered 80.000 humanoids before he noticed the name - ah well) I cannot say. I think that probably disqualifies them. Ill go with [Error Loading Guild Name], which seems to exist several times by now. And which would not confuse me so much, if I didnt see a lot of "Unknown" ...

20 days of WoW Day 3 Favourite NPC I thought about which one for quite a while - and its been a bit difficult. I read the posts about faction leaders - and couldnt identify with the cause of any of them. Annoying buggers, the lot. I wondered if there was any NPCs that made me laugh or made me want to join .. and in the end, it came down to two of them. Narain Soothfancy and Azuregos. Both are completely mental and once had the best quest text in the game. Unfortunately, it seems with Cataclysm the whole questline was removed. You meet them both on a heroic bookstealing quest. Thats right. Some of the books need to be liberated right from the library. For the Good of Azeroth , no less! A psychic gnome versus the leader of the Blue Dragonflight. In the end, the more bonkers one of the two comes out ahead. I couldnt help but pick Azuregos after this masterpiece of conversation: You seek the scepter shard charged to the protection of the Blue Flight? Snack: How did you know? I mean, yes.....

20 Days of WoW Day 12 Suggestion for Blizzard to put in the game Mhmm. Right. Im not in development for a good reason. I pick ideas apart, not come up with new ones. This is not going to work very well. However, in the spirit of competition .. err... this questionaire, I shall do my best to come up with an idea. It might not be original, but I promise that it came to me without help from outside. That I can remember anyway. So basically what I am trying to say is: If I stole this idea from you - Im sorry. I read it probably a long time ago and it stuck. This should be considered praise, but in the situation of intellectual property theft youll probably see it differently. Think of it as an inspiration particle gone wrong. Right. Back to the topic at hand. The only thing I can think of currently would be proper mounted combat using my own abilities. Sadly - this has already been implemented (edit) in Halls of Origination. I wanted to crawl over the side of something like the Flame Levi...

20 days of WoW Day 7 Favourite Minipet A tricky question this one. Do I actually have a favourite minipet? I dont think so - but because that is a bit short, let me provide a bit more detail. I got a few shiny minipets. Some of them are quite cute - or come with a story of amazing discovery or some such. I have to admit that I collected them mainly for the achievement points, though. The ones that have the most "work" associated with them are my Kirin Tor Familiar and Mr. Pinchy, I think. And yet, Id never pull them out in an instance. I know that theoretically they were fixed a LONG LONG time ago, but let me tell you a story about Lower Blackrock Spire. Better grab a hot drink and a blanket, though.. its been a long time ago... Anyway. When I was but a little nipper, we used to raid Lower Blackrock. Yes, its only a 5 man instance these days, but back then it was possible to go there with 10 people. Just to have some additional safety. Sure.. less loot in total, but youd actu...

20 Days of WoW Day 1 Introduce yourself Now we shall ignore - just for a moment - that I never managed to finish the last one. However, this time round, Ill only start about a week late. Might work in my favour. Saga over at Spellbound started a new list of things. So I shall cheat on day 1, and well see how it goes from here. My favourite introduction ever is this one: I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru. Using only a hoe and a large glass of...

20 Days of WoW Day 10 If a level 3 called “yurmom” asks you for gold you say do I used to be a nice person and just ignore them. I think I wasnt asked too often either - must have been the stained armour and all the dried blood in the beard. Nowadays, I get pestered more often - which might be due to the shiny new greens or something. I dont know. (spiky man-hair added myself, to make it look more realistic *nodnod*) Nowadays, I just tend to open a trade window, ?put 1000 gold into the trade box, start a stopwatch and go to get a new drink, to the toilet, wash some clothes, write a blogpost, browse some blogs, the usual. Standing record is a level 17 warlock waiting for 4 minutes 47 seconds before running off. I got a whole bunch of whispers going "pleazzzzze" in all sorts of spelling styles during that time, too.

20 days of WoW Day 1 Class I got this from my wife (and this time, I take longer to finish than her!), but shes grabbed it somewhere else - and to be fair I didnt quite manage to track down where it all started. The whole list is this: Day 1 - Favourite class and why? Day 2 - Favourite race and why? Day 3 - Favourite NPC? Day 4 - Favourite Emote and the best situation to use it in. Day 5 - The meaning behind your mains name? Day 6 - Favourite dungeon and why? Day 7 - Favourite companion non-combat pet? Day 8 - Favourite guild name you�ve come across? Day 9 - Which race/class combination are you most like in RL? Day 10 - If a level 3 called �yurmom� asks you for gold, you say/do? Day 11 - Favourite WoW holiday (e.g Brewfest, Childrens week) Day 12 - Suggest any idea for Blizzard that they could put in the game. Day 13 - Which faction are you �for�? Day 14 - Healer, tank or dps? Day 15 - Favourite Battleground and why? Day 16 - Favourite quest/quest chain? Day 17 - What do you do when th...

20 Days of WoW Day 13 Which faction are you “for” Hmm. The obvious question here seems to be "Alliance" or "Horde", and I dont think I can answer that. Sure ... I play Alliance now. The whole war seems to be forced and unnatural, though, and I just dont get the justification of it all. Especially with larger threats looming everywhere. The progressions changes from expansion to expansion as well - while Burning Crusade seemed to focus a bit on making Horde and Alliance cooperate, Wrath of the Lich King downplayed the whole thing a little - only dragging it out kicking and screaming when it was needed for the story. Now, with all the good deeds of Icecrown forgotten again by a dragon sitting on the clocktower, we have a hearty rivalry between Horde and Alliance again. Oh yes. So yes, I cant decide. In fact, I dont want to decide. I think someone should brutally murder the leaders of the Alliance and Horde in their sleep and force the rest to work together in a malevo...

20 Days of WoW Day 14 Healer tank or dps Hmm. This used to be easy, but it actually depends on the situation (and on the game). The quick and easy (and in most cases right) answer is "Tank". However, there are a few conditions. One: This only applies to World of Warcraft (and to a lesser extend Star Wars Galaxies). I tried tanking in Everquest 2, Asherons Call, Asherons Call 2, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragon Online. The only game I really "got" it was in WoW. Star Wars Galaxies is different, because Jedi was the only tank class and melee DPS class at the same time - and it was brought on late and rubbish as well. Two: There are days when I enjoy something mindless. Now I do not want to look down on DPS, because performing at the top of the game is obviously easily as challenging as tanking. However, if you want to do okay, you can just play around with DPS and blow some crap up. Its fun, its quick and for me its a lot like a one-night stand. Nothin...

20 Days of WoW Day 15 Favourite Battleground and Why Interesting question - and not one I can even evaluate properly at the moment, as I have not yet gotten around to doing Twin Peaks and the Battle for Gilneas. I like the concept of Flagrunning more than Node Capture and Hold, so Warsong Gulch should be pretty high on the list. It is, however, a Battleground plagued by stupidity on my realms so far. I find it thoroughly enjoyable in the lower level brackets, and it declines steeply at maximum level. I thought Id like Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm - they looked like mostly symmetrical maps, they appeared to be sensibly complex, so you couldnt just be overrun by overwhelming force (I have bad flashbacks to Warsong Gulch in the Burning Crusade. Seeing a tauren warrior with the door riding up to the entrance, followed by a rogue with the twin blades of trade-chat-linkage, followed by 8 of their guildmates does not inspire confidence. However, I rarely have seen a victory...

20 Days of WoW Day 11 Favourite WoW holiday A quick one today, it seems. I just had to look through the whole list of holidays again (thanks to long flight times during archaeology that is not a problem ... really ... got all the time in the world ... anyone out there? ... anyone?) just to be sure I didnt miss anything. So: favourite one is Midsummer . And its easy, too, because almost all the other ones manage to disqualify themselves by including a stupid achievement that is entirely based on luck and which has in no part any concern for dedication (or at least they did when I had to do them - Perma Peddle is apparently now buyable!). A close runner-up is only Childrens Week, because it teaches young children everything they need to know about World of Warcraft. Killing kings and misbehaving in battlegrounds for achievements is just perfect. Anyway... Why midsummer festival? Because basically, what you get is a lot of people who want to set fire to something big. Like a pile of guns....

20 days of WoW Day 5 Meaning behind my mains name Right. Humm. There were complaints (mainly by my lovely wife) about my last post being boring. I accept that and agree .... but I didnt pick the questions! So anyway, in a feeble attempt to make this one a little more interesting, there is going to be backstory and such ... and a TL;DR at the end. You can skip there now, if you really want to. So names... My very first character in any MMO was rolled in Ultima Online. As I may have rambled before, back then everything was better, the sky was bluer (not actually true - you couldnt see the sky) and the snow was colder (possibly true - we had snow and there was polar bears). The character selection process was not based on classes, but rather on a skill set. Any skills could be combined into whatever you wanted to play, really. Yes, there were obvious choices pretty soon - powergaming is not something that was invented only recently. Back then, the flavour of the month was a halberd wieldi...