Blog Posts from "Gamer's Edge" - Gameriot.com

Oh HI! Remember Me?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:00:55 -0400

It seems like forever since I've taken the time to write something up, and I guess it has been. For whatever reason "blogging" (I ******* hate that word btw, it just rubs me the wrong way) really hasn't been high on my priority list for the past while. I don't see my schedule really loosening up any time soon, but I'm gonna' try and focus more of my free time on writing some interesting stuff. I'd really like to get back on top of daily updates (picture a Shadow-Gaming revival but with better writing and content), and if that happens I may end up moving to my own page again. We'll just have to see.

A big part of my hiatus from writing (at least on Gameriot and related sites) has been due to my hiatus from WoW. It's nice to write about other topics, but if you're going to bother writing for a gaming audience then you better have some gaming things to write about as well. I'm happy to report that I'm back in the game full-swing.

My second interview with Winter Sky has been done for a while, but she's a little reluctant to post it due to the response that she got last time.

(9:38:49 PM) Winter: its just bull****
(9:38:54 PM) Winter: im just there to chat
(9:39:01 PM) Winter: people dont realise that im just a person too
(9:39:05 PM) Me: yeah
(9:39:06 PM) Winter: or maybe some of them do

Obviously I responded by saying:

Actually I can see where she's coming from, and after I explained that her experience is really no different from anyone else who presents themselves on Gameriot, she agreed to let me post the interview. Still not sure if I'll bother, we'll see.

Have a good weekend everyone. I'm spending the fourth at my gf's cabin so I won't be around to respond to anything on here.

Happy Independence Day etc., etc.

Interview with Winter Sky, Porn Star

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:42:29 -0400

Crossposted by Rage on Digg:
http://digg.com/gaming_news/From_Warcraft_to_*****craft

Quite possibly the only porn star in history to be discovered through her controversial presence in online gaming, Winter Sky (a.k.a. Teslyn) has recently become a successful fixture of the porn industry. .

Pictured below with Ron Jeremy:

Starting out with a minor role in World of *****craft, a porn series dedicated to the popular fantasy MMO, she quickly became a feature actress of that franchise and many others

What you can expect to see in World of *****craft (SFW parts):

Because I know Winter pretty well, a number of people have approached me with requests for an interview. The porn industry is an enigmatic one, and very few people know what it's really like. Winter was more than happy to answer all of my questions both in regards to her personal experience and the industry as a whole, and the resulting interview can be found below.

That's it for the interview. If you've got any more questions feel free to post them here and either I will relay them to Winter or she will reply directly.

Interview With a Porn Star, Need Arena Points

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:12:17 -0400

I really have no idea how many people will actually be interested in this, but after a number of repeated requests I finally asked Winter if she'd be willing to do an interview about her experiences as a "porn star" and the industry as a whole. She's more than willing to help out (and looking forward to the free publicity), so I'll be working on that for the next couple days.

I've already talked to her enough that I feel pretty informed, so I thought I'd give the rest of you an opportunity to put forward some questions for the interview. Obviously I'll come up with some basic ideas but I'm happy to pursue more specific subjects as well. Winter's actually a pretty chill person who just happens to like sex enough to do it for a living, so you can count on her being pretty candid if your questions aren't retarded.

Some random quotes from the past couple months (since she started in porn):
(9:10:18 PM) Me: you don't like facials though right?
(9:10:41 PM) Winter: no they are fine
(9:10:46 PM) Winter: i dont like to swallow\ (9:10:59 PM) Winter: facials only suck when it gets in yur eye
(9:11:05 PM) Me: can't say I'd enjoy that myself
(9:11:10 PM) Winter: feels like someone punched you in the face
(9:11:12 PM) Winter: seriously
(9:11:18 PM) Winter: your whole eye is sore

(11:04:58 AM) Winter: some of it was a little weird like
(11:05:11 AM) Winter: why the hell did i not r4eact when the demon chick started playing with my ass
(11:05:20 AM) Winter: wouldnt i have tried to get her to stop
(11:05:35 AM) Winter: there was something the editor left our right there (11:06:01 AM) Winter: he was supposed to do a special effect where her face changed into the demon face
(11:06:11 AM) Winter: but he didnt put it in
(11:06:19 AM) Winter: so that part doesnt really make sense
(11:06:36 AM) Winter: o well its porn its not supposed to make sense right (11:07:19 AM) Me: haha
(11:07:33 AM) Me: I don't think it's supposed to be cinematic genius, no

(7:11:34 PM) Winter: but i have to go to partieslike every night
(7:11:42 PM) Winter: to network
(7:11:44 PM) Me: oh poor baby
(7:12:16 PM) Winte: haha well you dontknow me very well if you think im very excited about that
(7:12:31 PM) Me: haha
(7:13:02 PM) Winter: im not a big partier
(7:13:06 PM) Winter: but i go cause i have to

If anyone wants to play with my new Orc Rogue, I need points for the next couple weeks and haven't really had the time to meet many people on Tich Horde yet. My gear isn't exactly min/maxed but I'm reasonably competent and I'd love to meet some new people and get some games in (ideally you're at least a 1900+ capable player so I don't feel like killing myself). Leave me a message on aim if you want to mess around (sn = aimjulian) and help me out with some points.

Warrior/Lock Account for Sale

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:55:45 -0400
Since this is apparently the badass new site to ***** WoW accounts, here's my contribution:

Standard leveling gear with some level 60 epics.

Selling for ~$300 or best offer, I'm fairly certain this is an outstanding deal but I don't pay much attention to the WoW account economy.

Just pm me if you're interested.

Changing Your Life: a Must Read

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:08:45 -0400
I've been wanting to post this here for a while, and I think it's about time. I'm graduating from college in two weeks, and it's just a crazy feeling to realize all the different opportunities that are out there in the world. In reality, I don't really know what I want to do with my life beyond going to graduate school in a year to pursue a doctorate degree, and there are so many other decisions to make that will have a huge impact on my life.

Here is one of the most inspiring stories I have ever read:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=787&page=28

I linked directly to page 28 because that's the only page where the whole story is collected in one place (otherwise it's scattered in order around the thread). If you can find the time to read it, this is an amazing autobiography (in progress) of a man who has traveled all over the world and had some incredible experiences. I don't think I have ever read something that has made me reevaluate my life and my future more than this. This story is just one of those things that make you realize all that's out there in the world.   When I originally found this thread I spent the next three hours reading every page and every response, and the story has honestly changed my life in a number of ways.

:

I had my laptop with me and I was made to fire it up to prove it was mine. I did as I was asked and then a whole bunch of airport staff came over and wanted to see it. It took me almost half an hour to get away. I made it through customs and walked out to the taxi stand. It was evening now. The air was warm. A Ugandan dude came up to me with a sheepish look and handed me a note. This must be my ride into Kampala. The note said;

“Run Adam, run. It’s all gone to shiit. Get out while you still can.”

There was what appeared to be dried blood on the note. I didn’t even consider for a moment that this was real. Where was I supposed to run to? The Congo? I asked the little dude if he was a taxi driver. He was. I loaded my bags in the back of his taxi and we were all set to go when just at that moment Uncle Mick and Colin came out from behind a pillar with grins on their faces. Yeah guys, really funny. The first thing that Mick said was, “Where’s your fecking guitar?”

“I sold it to get here.”

“You sold it!? We only got you the job cause of how you play the guitar!”

We unloaded my bags from the now unhappy looking taxi drivers car and piled into the company car. It takes an hour to drive into Kampala from Entebbe. The first thing that struck me was the number of people. Between the airport and the city it’s basically scrubland and jungle, but there were people everywhere. Every 50 or so meters there was a fire on the side of the road with people standing around it. I couldn’t get my head around the situation. We were following an open-backed truck which had about 20 revelers in the back. They were drinking and shouting and carrying on and we couldn’t get past them. The state of the road was disrepair taken to lavish extremes. Suddenly the tailgate of the truck dropped open and a large box flew out of the truck. We had to swerve to avoid it. It cracked open and a body rolled out. It was a coffin. They were going to a funeral. We were stopped behind the truck as we watched the ‘revelers’ jump out to retrieve the body. They were all laughing and passing around bottles of beer. Smoke from the roadside fires drifted across the scene. Mick turned to me and with a deadpan stare said,

“Welcome to Africa.”

Hopefully some of you will find this as eye-opening as I have. If not, at least I tried.

Ironman, Playing Rogue, and Cancer?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:01:46 -0400
Unless you're interested in 3am ramblings then this blog probably won't do much for you, so feel free to save yourself the time.

I don't actually plan on seriously participating in the Gameriot competition this month, so I'll try to make sure all future blogs are content-based rather than ZOMGIWANTHITS-based.

BG9 is a Joke

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:07:09 -0400
I kinda' thought that all the BG9 drama was over (I never really got involved myself), but I recently got a pm from someone who apparently wants to stir things up a bit.   While he and his teammates wish to remain anonymous until they transfer, they seem to be an extremely talented group of players. Dominating their battlegroup across multiple seasons and brackets, they are yet another "foreign" team looking to attack the BG9 ladder.   I promised to do an interview with a couple of the team members and post it, because these guys want as much animosity and competition as possible when they eventually do transfer.

The two players I spoke to play Priest/Druid/Shaman and Warrior/Rogue/Hunter, respectively, so I will refer to them as "Healer" and "DPS."

Dahis: Let's start with a brief summary of why you want to transfer and what you want to accomplish on BG9.

Healer: the whole legend of BG9 is like some kind of overhyped joke. Nobody respects anything you do unless it "happens on bg9," but every arena vid I've seen from there has been a piece of ****

DPS: A couple are alright, but certainly not enough to justify the elitism. BG9 just seems like a group of white supremecists who decided to discriminate by server because it's too hard to tell race online.

Dahis: HAHAHAHA I just pictured a number of BG9 regulars sitting at their computers in white hoods, not a pleasant image. If BG9 is such a joke then why do you want to transfer?

Healer: put those *****es in their place

DPS: can't prove anything anywhere else. The self fulfilling prophecy of bg9 already has too much momentum.

Dahis: What about the tournament realm? Seems like a pretty obvious place to throw the gauntlet.

DPS: we'll be there, but we're waiting for the 2nd round.

Healer: as soon as pandemic crawls out of whatever basement their hiding in, we'll be there to stomp faces.

Dahis: Aren't you at least a little impressed that the majority of top teams on the current TR come from BG9?

Healer: pandemic is still considered the top bg9 team, and their mvp priest clicks party frames............ lol gg 2 second dispells

DPS: How many of those teams are originally from bg9? Many of them just did the same thing we're hoping to do. I understand that bg9 has a ton of good teams, but it's such a ******* joke to assume that everyone else sucks b/c of that.

Healer: I promise you that our team has at least a couple individual players better than anyone on bloodlust

Dahis: I guess we'll find out soon enough. What makes you guys so good?

Healer: we don't have down syndrome?

DPS: when we lose a game we figure out everything that went wrong and everything we could do better. We adjust our strategies constantly until there's really nobody who can consistently beat us anymore.

Healer: seems like bg9 just emo rages about countercomps instead of trying to get better. I guess it's easier to whine about the skill cap instead of hotkeying your **** and learning to keep shouts up

Dahis: Speaking of countercomps, what teams are you planning on running for the second round of the tournament?

DPS: r/l/d, r/m/p, w/l/d.

Healer: ^^ and a couple more we don't want people to know about yet. 3dps is all about the SURPRISE *******

Dahis: You might be surprised by the quality of some BG9ers, I'm sure they'll welcome the competition if you're as good as you say you are. Hopefully I'll see you around when my net works.   Thanks for the interview.

Healer: won't take much for them to surprise me at this point

DPS: play rogue again imo

RANDOM VID FOR RANDOMNESS

Disclaimer: The post title does not reflect my personal feelings.

Sick Music, the Myth of e-Fame

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:25:49 -0400
I wrote another blog earlier today but ended up taking it down pretty quickly. After a bit of rumination, I decided I couldn't really get my idea across without sounding like an arrogant douche. This is a pretty frequent and unfortunate problem for those of us who are even more handsome than Pwyff. Once you reach this level of awesome it's pretty hard to keep it under control.

Still it wasn't entirely a waste of time, because one of the responses gave me an idea for this article (which may or may not be equally worthless, we'll see). A lot of people seem to think that the "e-famous" are constantly seeking attention and get some sort of intense pleasure from the adoration of fans.   While I won't speak for everyone, I do know that this is not the case for the majority of reputable players I know. Why?

Basically what I'm trying to say is this. If you're going to invest your time into a hobby like WoW, you should be doing it because of the competition, the social aspect, to get better, and to have fun. If you've got an agenda beyond that, then you need to at least get a realistic idea of what the end result is going to be. Don't invest yourself if you're only going to find out (like all my guest writers) that the grass is only greener because it's made of plastic.

I've seriously considered rerolling incognito more than once. I've never really gone through with it because it's impossible to do without leaving friends behind, but it's still a pretty fantasy. But when it comes down to it... I'd be fine as just one of the crowd.

I'll save the "standing out" for real life

MUSIC
In an effort to save this post in the eyes of everyone who thinks I'm a whiny tool, here are a few lesser-known artists that don't suck.

I'll start it off light (HILARIOUS)

Guster: If you like Dispatch and OAR, there's about a 99% chance you'll like Guster. The first song on their myspace playlist sounds different than most of their stuff and isn't that great, but the majority of their work is awesome.

http://www.myspace.com/guster

Bedlight for Blue Eyes (THANKS TO KLYNX): Find The City and the Ghost if you can, it's my personal favorite. In the tremendously overdone quasi-punk/rock genre where 900 bands sound exactly the same, this is one of the few to stand out to me.
http://www.myspace.com/bedlightforblueeyes

Forever the Sickest Kids: Another decent punk/rock band
http://www.myspace.com/foreverthesickestkids

Dear Juliet: Some emo kid that's actually pretty good.
http://www.myspace.com/dearjuliet

Goot: Some other solo kid with a little more upbeat sound.
http://www.myspace.com/goot

Miss Telma has Stolen my Heart

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:07:36 -0400
See title. I dunno if I'll ever have the time to write again, she sounds pretty serious

For the Dispatch Lovers

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:06:45 -0400
I won't pretend that I do the original song justice, but I found this clip on one of my older camera tapes (~1 year?). For everyone who has been patiently awaiting more music from me, I've gotten sucked into the technical aspect during my limited free time (I advise against double majoring) but I should have some new original stuff ready soon after I'm done figuring out FL Studio.

Cover of Dispatch- "The General"

This post is 1% content and 99% an excuse for learning how to embed video (thanks Slapnuts).

Where I get my Music...

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:21:45 -0400
People always ask me where I get all the crazy music for my PvP videos. Essentially, I just try and keep my ears open for good stuff throughout the months leading up to the production of a new vid. Sometimes I go out of my way asking friends or looking online, but sometimes I just randomly encounter some amazing stuff.

Today I came across a particularly exciting windfall (http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=smE-uIljiGo&feature=user ), and I have to say the guy is absolutely nuts. It's been a long time since I actually cared enough to buy a CD, but I picked this one up about five minutes after hearing this song. I personally need to find a lot more time to work on my own music, and stuff like this incredibly inspiring.

Fair warning, the guy seems a little awkward. I don't know if he's just acting or might have some form of autism/whatever, but I couldn't care less because he is the ****. Just thought I'd put that out in the open for all the ethugs who will flip out at anyone who's not a 6'4" NFL player.

Hope you enjoy it, I just thought this guy deserved the attention.

WTF Happened to WoW? 11/23/04 to Present (LONG).

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:49:23 -0400
Despite the title, this is going to involve a lot more speculation and reminiscing than whiny QQ (though I always reserve room for some). If you're looking for enraged rants, then let me direct you to the Gameriot gutters. They're quite big, just be sure you don't fall in.

I was talking to some old WoW friends recently, and it made me realize how much my experience in this game has changed since a couple years ago.   I started out with basically zero understanding of the game (thus the Troll Rogue), and I only even agreed to play because some RL friends coerced me into it. I didn't think I'd ever play that much, but I got hooked just like everyone else and eventually ended up as Rogue class leader of a respected raiding guild on Kil'Jaeden. While I have since grown to hate the entire concept of scheduled four+ hour raids due to many obvious conflicts with real life, Sardaukar was easily the coolest group of people I have ever had the pleasure of playing with.

In 2004/2005, people killed each other because it was ridiculously ******* awesome, not because it was actually worth anything. Spontaneous 5v5 matches would break out when rival guilds came across each other while farming for raid consumables, and the forum responses were full of respectful competition instead of nerd rage. PvP was cathartic, it wasn't just another gear grind or a way to flex the almighty e-peen. Long raids would often end with small groups heading out for some world PvP therapy, and half of the excitement was knowing that anyone you **** on would be trying to do the same for the next week.

World PvP was rampant, the Orgrimmar gates were full of dueling legends, and people actually did cool ****.   When we locked a rival guild's main tank out of Blackwing Lair for a good 15 minutes by clogging the orb with bear Druids, he quickly became the guild mascot. Anytime someone said "OMG I found Daysbane" in gchat, half of Sardaukar would show up and camp him 'till his guild arrived for a tremendous battle royale. Daysbane loved it, his guild loved it, we loved it.

We crashed the server at least twice by raiding Alliance cities. One time we spent a good hour corpse-chaining a Warlock into the King's room in Ironforge, then stealthed a couple Rogues into the corner and summoned the entire guild. I think we might have wiped what would've been another guild's first Onyxia kill with the subsequent server crash, but even they thought it was awesome.

Back in the day, people were so far from even testing the WoW skill cap that the truly good players were almost godlike.   Some people went all week without losing duels, and PvP skill was so polarized that it actually delivered respect. Sardaukar had a four-man group (myself, Lithast, Sylk, and Thezilch) that once wiped an MC raid in BRM until they canceled it for the night (next time come more than 6-10 at a time imo). The Kargath->BS canyon was the site of many a grand melee, and YOU ACTUALLY SAW SKELETONS ON THE GROUND IN PLACES OTHER THAN ARATHI BASIN.

1. Provide more consistent and frequent incentive for legitimate arena competition. Monthly prizes for ladder dominance would be ridiculously easy to include, and they would motivate enough REAL interest to help ensure that the top teams actually beat top teams on the way there. I don't care if the monthly prize is 10,000 gold and a Hafu mount or a ******* tabard, as long as it's something that people will get motivated for. We need something that says "hey I'm kinda' gud at WoW" but doesn't take five months (i.e. titles). In theory rating is supposed to say that, but it needs a motivated playerbase.

2. WORLD MOTHER!$!@% PVP. I know Blizzard will never listen to any specific suggestions I might come up with, but just figure it out and stop being *****es.

3. Raise the skill cap. Add some abilities or mechanics in WotLK that mix things up enough that allow/force people to expand their game. Let the top WoW players define themselves in more significant ways than whether or not they let buffs fall off. At the other end of the spectrum, make WoW difficult enough that weak players can't be 80% as effective as good players. Hopefully this will force them to get better. If not, well.... clickers deserve to get **** on.

4. Hire me as a developer and pay me an unreasonably large sum of money. I'll probably just run around calling you idiots instead of getting any work done, but maybe that's what you need.

Fin.

P.S. if anyone can get me in contact with Sylk or Lithast I will luv u.

The Well: Dahis

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:31:46 -0400
The Well

A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except tuesday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down: "Why not on tuesday?" The voice from in the well shouts back: "Because on tuesday, its your day in the well."

I don't know how successful this is going to be, but I don't have much to do tonight and feel like being helpful. Here's your chance to ask me anything about anything without having to feel like you're hassling me with a PM. I'll answer whatever I can to the best of my abilities, though douchebags will quickly be called out as such. I receive a lot of questions about all kinds of things, so this is just an attempt to take care of as much of that as possible in a single venue.

I'm playing Warrior again. My last video was all weeks old footage filmed at 300+ ping, so I feel it's pretty necessary to make another with my revised playstyle and the 70 ping I'll have this summer.

WoW Porn, Druid Video, and Miscellaneous Retardation

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:26:36 -0400
If I had to say "NSFW" to prevent you from opening a post about porn in a family/work environment, then may Ming have mercy on your soul (clearly he's a god around these parts, amirite?).

I don't pretend to be anywhere near the top of any gossip ladder, particularly those that pertain to WoW. When Hafu inevitably gives birth to the worlds greatest gamer, I will probably be the last to know.   When Estel files for divorce and subsequently jacks her share of Ming's $50 fortune to fund her career in anime, I doubt I'll find out until the case has become a rerun on The People's Court. Yet when my... friend got a hold of me to let me know that she'd be in the next installment of "World of *****craft," I am ashamed to have responded by saying "WTF is that?" Apparently I am even m more secluded than I thought, for the grape vine has yielded some particularly interesting wine.

Ladies and gentleman, I shall spare you the suspense. WORLD OF WARCRAFT PORN IS HERE. This is no animated hentai bull****, but a live-action celebration of sexuality in a virtual world. In the World of *****craft, Rogue's do it (and take it) from behind, lesbian Warriors do business in chain mail, and a bunch of other **** probably happens that I can't describe because my imagination sucks when I'm tired. Regardless, I don't think you'll see the following cinematic brilliance anywhere else.

http://www.*****lore.com/

I actually haven't watched any of the episodes yet, but my "friend" sent me a copy of the most recent one and I guess she shows up in the last two, so please feel free to go all out and hook her up with some % revenue.   I have yet to watch any of it, as I promised my friends not to ruin the "experience" before we can have some kind of ridiculous wow-porn party.

In other news (as they say), I don't really play WoW. The internet connection at my apartment is a bandwidth-capped wireless connection shared between like 100 people so I generally only have <10,000 ping about 10 minutes. Regardless, I filmed a total of about 5 minutes of Druid footage in AB during the off times, and threw it together pretty quickly for anyone who wants to see it before I say the following:

WTT FOR HUNTER (or Warrior if I can't get a Hunter)

Anyway here it is: http://files.filefront.com/zomglamewmv/;9838714;/fileinfo.html

For those of you always *****ing about how pvp videos are highlights, this is literally 100% of the footage currently on my PC.   It's nothing special, but it's probably the only footage you'll ever see of me playing Druid.

If you stream it I'll kill you because the quality sucks.

I would love to write more but my friends are threatening to kill me if I don't leave RIGHT NOW for St. Paddy's. Peace all.

AFK's End: Intelligence

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:39:29 -0500
Hello Blizzard,

It was recently (read: years ago) brought to my attention that your premier computer game, World of Warcraft, is about as well-designed as one of Ming's Gameriot blog posts. While this random combination of dramatic and colorful elements is enough to enthrall the average user with only an implied semblance of cohesion, those of us with a real understanding of quality production would like to see more.

It is because of this that I have decided to approach you with the following proposition: listen to me, and I will fix your game. "Psh" you might say, "who is this arrogant amateur who thinks he can improve on OUR design?!?" Well, I am DAHIS, and apparently I'm kind of a big deal.

Because I understand the technical difficulties of limiting incoming porn torrents to the point where your employees actually do some legitimate work, I will start by presenting my revolutionary advice one small piece at a time. Today's topic? Honor gain in World of Warcraft, and how to fix it. Below lies my proposition, and if you have any cute females working for you I would like to extend an additional proposition regarding a threesome with my GF. Thanks.

If you want to take a break from your long-standing trend of pvp-related retardation, severely limit the effectiveness of inactivity in the Battlegrounds, reward skill, and bring back world PvP... please do the following:

Reduce the bonus honor from Battlegrounds by 50%, increase the honor gained from PvP kills by AT LEAST 100%.

REVOLUTIONARY, I KNOW.   **** guarding the flag, you'll get more honor spamming Moonfire. Or you can just head over to Netherstorm and pwn some *****es for your new belt.   Seriously though, make kills (you know what I mean, real PvP?) worth it and dramatically reduce the impact of AFKing while simultaneously reviving world PvP? No way, that just makes way too much sense.

No worries Blizzard, I will be here all week.   Further genius is yet to come.

$$, epics, and gold can be sent to my new email account: lol@you.com.

Thank you for your time,

Dahis Jones

ROFL Ming

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:45:31 -0500
Too bad Jasi's writing tonight's article, your tears will be delicious. "WTF ROGUES FORCED TO PLAY WITH FINESSE WTF WTF NARUTO HAS FAILED ME."

Edit: lame, apparently I spoke too soon and he actually likes it.

I'm Back... and WoW Still Blows (sort of)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:57:41 -0500

So for those of you who haven't heard... I'm sort of playing again. By sort of, I mean I have a 70 Druid on Tich who is destroying AV with Shadowmelded greatness as I write this blog. Thanks to all the people who convinced me "you can totally just 'play' AV all the way to full epics and start owning again," I hate you.

WoW certainly has its redeeming qualities, particularly the friends that always get me sucked back in whenever I try to take a break. It's fun, it's a competitive outlet, and (unless you're getting rocked in arenas) a pretty effective stress relief. Yet despite all the "welfare epics" supposedly available in season 3, this game is still way too much of a ******* gear grind.

Gearing a character from early 70 blues to competitive arena gear is probably a 200 hour time investment, minimum. You've got factions to grind for head/shoulder enchants, professions to max out, gold to farm, and some ridiculous six-digit number of honor points necessary just to avoid getting one-shot (yay resilience). ZOMG, I forgot about PuG instances as well... ****. Whether you choose to save yourself some time by botting or not, competitive WoW requires way too much of a time sink just to get started. Bring on the auto-geared arena servers or something, otherwise I want some numbers on how the gear grind affects the U.S. economy through the loss of RL productivity.

Things better than WoW:

1. Family: You all know why I left. I can't say things are better, but at least they're maintaining to the point where I don't think I'll have to rush off across the country again any time soon.

2. Friendship: Luckily there's a lot of this in-game. Obviously it's important to have a balance but in addition to my RL friends I've met some of the coolest people I've ever known playing WoW (hi Minti, Hakai, Kara, et al.).

3. Academics: Thus why I AFK AV (hate all you want, that place sucks) and write my thesis, instead of botting my thesis and playing AV.

4. Music: Moonlight Marathon took me 30 minutes to write and had 30,000 plays +hundreds of download requests. I honestly can't wait to finish some of my more ambitious stuff and turn some heads.

5. Online poker: $$$, that's all I can really say.

6. Athletics: It's like beating someone in the arena, except you get the added pleasure of watching them puke and/or cry IRL. Amazing. Also keeps you handsome so you can look just like Pwyff.

Things worse than WoW:

1-n: Loads of stupid ****.

As long as you're willing to keep your playtime to manageable level, I think WoW can be a positive experience. Unfortunately, I think we all know a few people who go beyond what is reasonable and sacrifice RL opportunities in order to pursue in-game goals. Competitive players are easily the most susceptible to this sort of trap, and it sucks that the price of high-end PvP is soooo absurd. You can cry about "welfare epics" all you want, but I honestly think it's borderline irresponsible for Blizzard to create a competitive environment that requires such a time investment for what ultimately pays off for a only select few (hi Pandemic).

Still, expect to see Minti and I (+ a third, Hips?) showing up at online tourneys and anything else that doesn't require money (read: sponsor us) once I finish gearing up. From my understanding we play significantly less than most competitive players (I started at release and have <140 days across all characters), so hopefully we can prove it's OK to play only 5 hours/week. You shouldn't have to farm thousands of gold to buy BT gems for your Druid in order to play WoW at the highest level, and it definitely shouldn't take hundreds of hours just to get started.

Bring on the premades Blizzard, BRING THEM ON.

P.S. the gear grind is exactly this fun: http://www.break.com/index/barf-bags-dont-work-at-0-gs.html

NERD RAGE: What's the Point?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:30:06 -0500
If you spend any time online, you've probably been exposed to the ridiculous amount of recent drama resulting from arena team rage-fests. "OMG YOU'RE A HORRIBLE HUMAN BEING AND PROBABLY EAT BABIES YOU BURN-EATING %$!#*SUCKER" seems to be pretty normal fare around these parts, and we've all seen the drama surrounding the various teams who have separated because of it. Since I'm desperately in need of a break from writing my two theses and I know that you're all desperately awaiting my opinion on the issue, here it is:

WTF?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for being competitive as long as it doesn't require me to play WoW more than about five hours/week, but raging at your friends and teammates because they made a mistake (from your perspective) is a little ridiculous. Even the best players are going to screw up sometimes, and as long as they know it then making a big deal about it is never going to end positively. Maybe my experience is unique, but neither myself or my teammates has ever found a reason to say more than "hey man, keep an eye out for x next time," or "I think you should probably do this instead." Raging about a mistake is only going to make your teammates defensive, nervous, or pissed the **** off, none of which will contribute to any sort of improvement.

On the other hand, simply acknowledging and discussing a play error can be hugely beneficial to the entire team. It sucks to lose points to a team you feel like you should be beating, but if you and your teammates are willing to constructively acknowledge and deal with any problems then learning from a mistake will earn back way more points than you lost.

I know exactly how much it sucks to feel like you busted your ass and still go let down by your teammates. Senior year of high school I started first half of the track season undefeated until I tore my miniscus. I spent the next six weeks working out six hours a day and jumping off the opposite leg until I was ready for the state meet, and our team went in as a huge favorite. I ended up getting pneumonia a couple days before we left, but I was able to make all-state in both my events despite spending more time coughing up blood and phlegm (yes, this is a great story to read during dinner) than I did on the track.

I went in as one of the biggest potential point scorers for our team and I busted my ass to make sure that I lived up to expectation, but we ended up losing the team competition because of the douchebags who spent the weekend partying instead of taking things seriously. On a personal level I still had my own medals so it's not exactly like arena play, but I was still pretty enraged because there were a lot of people (particularly the coaches) counting on a team victory. It sucked, but the people who screwed up definitely knew they screwed up, and I knew there was nothing to be gained from screaming about it. I care about RL a lot more than I care about WoW, but I've never understood the point of making people feel worse when they already know they've messed up.

TL,DR version: Act like an adult and treat your teammates with respect. Nobody is going to play better because you're raging at them and WoW (WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE ENJOYABLE) certainly isn't fun when it's all about emo screaming. Turning into a d0uchebag over a video game is about as intelligent as this: http://www.break.com/index/inward-flip-does-not-go-well.html

Maybe even this: http://www.break.com/index/kid-owned-by-revoloving-door.html

Dahis' UI Released

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:10:36 -0500
Here's the UI from "Last Breath" since so many people were asking for it. I have no idea whether or not this still works in 2.3 but if you're willing to manually update some of the mods you can probably fix any problems.

Rename the Account/Server/Character folders to your own information, and select the "Twilight UI" profile in Discord Art and Discord Unit Frames. My resolution is 1440/900 so you'll probably have to mess around with the size/location of some things.

http://hosted.filefront.com/Jiin

Alcohol v. WoW Class Balance

no.spam@gameriot.com (Dahis) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:17:01 -0400

Iâ€™m in the middle of an extremely compelling discussion with one of my good friends from school, and he suggested that I compare class balance to various â€œadult beveragesâ€ as a way of representing the roles of each class in PvP. Heâ€™s quite the â€œconnoisseur,â€ so we were able to come up with some pretty decent comparisons. Note: I am not encouraging the consumption of alcohol, the current US drinking age is 21, the surgeon general warns about a bunch of crap, etc., etc. Please be responsible. Also note that despite of these comparisons, your in-game character will never be consumable.

Anywayâ€¦ here we go.

Mage:
Mages = Keystone Light, because itâ€™s basically water and thatâ€™s all theyâ€™re good for.

Fire Mages are probably Budweiser Select, because they go down easy.

Warrior:
Protection Warriors are like a fancy bottle of wine, because by the time you get through their armor you realize it wasnâ€™t even worth the trouble in the first place.

MS Warriors are like Hamms, a dime a dozen. Theyâ€™re also like that 40oz of Old English in your fridge because itâ€™s probably better to leave it alone than to try and down it.

Warlock:
Warlocks (any kind) are like NIGHT TRAIN, kicks your ass almost for free.

Warlocks are also like Steel Reserve, because any time you can drop four in a single night it's a major accomplishment.

Shaman: The melee brand of Shaman (Enhancement)= Busch, because theyâ€™re such a faux pas to bring to any party.

Resto Shamans are like Boones Farm because only girls and your virgin friends like them.

Elemental Shamans are like Coors Light, if youâ€™re gonnaâ€™ get five guys together then you probably need one.

Paladin: Holy Paladins are basically Heineken: overrated.

Druid:
Bear Druids are like Everclear, because you think you can take one but you regret it almost immediately.

Tree Druids are like Moonshine because WTF were you thinking, retard?

Boomkins are like an imported beer from Belgium because theyâ€™re always talked about but you can still never find one when you want one.

Rogue:
Rogues are like Smirnoff, because they complain about being weak but can still %$!@ you up.

Priest:
Holy Priests are like Andre Champaign since everyoneâ€™s happier when you have one.

Shadow Priests are like Tilt/Sparks, because you can go a little longer with one on your side.

Hunter:
Hunters are like Old Crow because your grandpa (early WoW) liked it but nobody your age does.

Fin

Edit:Â I thought of a new one...

Protection Warrior (2.0):Â Protection Warriors are like a non-alcoholic beer, it's like they took away all the good stuff and just left you with a sour taste in your mouth.