Project Lore

Sap-mining Is Also Pretty Fun...For Me World of Warcraft does get boring sometimes.  There I said it, are you happy now?  Azeroth can't keep my attention all day, everyday, but that doesn't always means I simply logout and do something else.  No, heavens no.  That wouldn't fly while I was in the middle of a raid, although people do it.  It wouldn't fly before I got my dailies done either.  In these rare instances I find other ways to distract myself while remaining in Azeroth, or, at the very least, still being connected to the make-believe continents in some capacity.  Say YouTube videos or WoWHead "research." Over the years I have come up with a few fun things to do with my rogue.  Mainly, ways to abuse my generic abilities.  My favorite past time is causing people to pull mobs by distracting the mob towards them.  It's not that easy to accomplish, but worth it for the hilarity and "WTF" moment that the player is sure to experience.  An added bonus, you can do it to either faction.  Then there's the always classic jacking of a mining node via a Sap, /fart and a right-click.  This dirty tactic has only become better since mining became a single strike instead of repeated looting.  No longer will you catch a beating before you can take off on your mount.  Beware of PvP trinkets though! This may be a little more than a dirty trick since it can easily cause a full wipe, complete with hefty repair bills.  But Wrath brought rogues an aptly named ability, Tricks of the Trade, and I'll be damned if I am not going to use it for laughs now and then.  Normally my rogue buddies and I trade these during encounters for the 15% damage buff, vanishing to keep aggro down of course.  On the off chance that I want to be a donkey I will put ToT on an unsuspecting player and listen to him go batty on Ventrilo.  "How the hell did my aggro spike like that?  I never pull!"  On the flip side, you can do it to hunters and priests to see how fast they can react with Feign Death and Fade.  And they say there is no twitch gaming in WoW. Other classes have their own entertaining means of harassing players.  I am sure all of you have seen mages put out a metric ton of portals at once, causing you to accidentally click on the wrong one.   Or waste precious minutes avoiding the the dozen Theramore portals in an attempt to find the single Dalaran mirage.  My personal favorite mage tactic is to play the warlock and ask for help with a summon.  The players who are barely paying attention, which is many at this juncture of a raid, will click on the portal and be sent to the far reaches of Azeroth rather than summoning their buddy.  "I wanted to goto Shattrath anyways." A single beer from Brewfest brought the best practical joke I have ever seen in Azeroth.  The prankster in the video pops a frosty beverage during a Sapphiron encounter.  Simple, drunk fun right?  Well, thanks to the brew's Ice Block-type debuff, the raid thought it was safe to remain behind him for the beast's Ice Bolt.  A full wipe was the effect, another cause of too much beer. This is only a small taste of the dastardly deeds we can do to each other inside World of Warcraft.  What are your favorite tricks and jokes to play on other players?  Perhaps someone can top the Sapphiron wipe and earn +2 nerd points.

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Via Wikipedia

Some of you may have noticed a lack of a blog from me on Friday. No, I wasn't “Indisposed,” at least not in that sense. I decided to take a mini-vacation before the holidays for some early-season skiing in Westminster, MA. It was a wonderful time filled with friends, food, drink, falls and bruises. However, I went without a computer from Thursday evening until this morning, only checking my e-mail when I got home late last night. I am still recovering.

The freshly made and natural snow could not keep me from thinking about my favorite MMORPG. Some may call that addiction, but I call it “letting one's mind wander while on the chairlift.” Top on my mind was my lack of leveling, causing me to fall behind my guildmates a little further. Now that we have started doing Naxxramas, it actually means something to be behind. Lucky for me, I know those encounters from my Naxxramas 40-man days, so I am not completely clueless. Also, the instance is very easy.

After getting over my lack of dinging, I focused on more productive objectives, like faction grinding. I still haven't decided if I am gonna begin my faction grinds and Championing sessions right after I hit 80, or if I should switch off and focus on leveling my Priest. To continue contributing to my little guild I will probably begin Heroics, with raiding as they need me, and only play my healer during off hours or when needed by other members.

As I sat in the cold, I tried remember which factions I would need to work on the most. I came up with a rough idea of which factions I should do. The Alliance Vanguard will be my initial focus for the sexy dagger.  Although they don't have the best collection of items to offer, the design of Northrend has led me to quest for them substantially, thus it should not require much grinding. Due to my incessant need to prove my worth to factions, I already have gained enough reputation for the Kalu'ak's chest piece (just not the level requirement), but I will definitely come back to them for the epic fishing pole, and the vanity pet modeled after my favorite animal IRL.

While fighting off the blistering winds I couldn't recall who I should Champion for after I complete AV rep, Kirin Tor or the Frenzyheart Tribe. While the Frenzyheart Tribe have three pieces for a rogue, none of them are offered before revered, and the pants are not as beneficial as the item from the Kirin Tor. To top it off, the dagger from the wizard sect is acquired at honored, and is a great main hand for a Mutilate Rogue, making the decision easy once I looked into the specifics a second time.

It is hard to guess past that though. I expect to be doing Naxxramas before the holidays, and much of the Tier 7 gear will not be replaced by faction items. In the end, the stuff offered by the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Knights of Ebon Hold and Sons of Hodir will be used to fill in a few slots, or only for their enchantments.  Hopefully my Priest will get more use out of these other factions.

Anyone else have their Championing schedule mapped out?  Did you do it out of sheer boredom as well?

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Tuesday morning has gotten me yet again. Another week goes by where I try to login to World of Warcraft before work and check on my Auction House stuff, do some general bank clean-up and perhaps have a few minutes for some quick dailies. But today is Tuesday, and that means that nothing can be done in Azeroth from the morning to mid-afternoon.  When I was a kid I hated Tuesdays because I had CCD after school, now I have a new, non-religious reason to hate them!

(Sidenote: I was going to define that term for you, but I actually do not remember what it means.  I do remember that the kids jokingly called it Catholic City Dump though.  Plus two internet points to anyone who knows what it really stands for!)

After wallowing in self-pity for a fews minutes I always try to find something else to do.  Before I head off to work I almost always get annoyed a second time. It isn't that I think Blizzard is trying to ruin my chances at epic flying mounts for my alts – I know that is exactly what they are doing – that annoys me, but the fact that I never remember it is Tuesday. Yes, yes, I know they put up the message on Monday night, but honestly, who remembers anything from the day before?

After snapping out of my depression I have a few things I tend to take care of during those long hours of waiting. Naturally, one has to check out the numerous WoW-related blogs like:

• WoWInsider
• MMO-Champion
• World of Raids

I would add ProjectLore here but I kinda work for them, so I see the stuff all the time. You guys should definitely make sure to check us out!

Then you have all the WoW-related comics:

• Shakes & Fidget
• Dark Legacy Comics
• Flintlocke
• Looking For Group

Finally, I move on to real life stuff like checking my email, my stocks (so depressing as of late), play with my four crazy ferrets, and play other video games. Then I try to login again...it never works.

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