Armaggedon's coming!

The recent 3.2 changes to Emblems acquisition have been a boon for most players.

I think even those that opposed them on the basis of belittling their raiding gear achievement have relaxed, either appreciating their higher geared raid mates, or joining in on the emblem feast, gorging themselves to the fill with the gear or gems that they can buy.

ToC has had a similar effect, with the high iLevel items allowing toons to punch many times higher than their previous weight.

Of course there is the other side of the coin and I have read many a story of renewed and inflated inspection requirements.

No T8.5… Sorry you can run Heroic Nexus with us.

Likewise just hours after the doors of ToC opened, people were expected to be experienced.

Now I expect I am at the casual end of the casual crowd, but I am finding myself left far behind. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Larisa wrote about how bad the Training Dummies are for, well, for training.

To be honest I have always felt this. To me they were just Dr. Boom replacements, theory-crafting tools to allow questing players to complete their quests, while allowing theory crafters a range of new tools to hone their craft.

Sure they aren’t completely useless, but once you have read the forum or blog post with a rotation that’s already been theory-crafted, why bother?

The problem is, if you are trying to hone your skills for a specific boss encounter during the encounter one of two things happens:

1. Best case you wipe and get to try and try again… different strategies, different rotations, different results?
2. Worst case you one shot the boss and don’t really learn anything.

I’m sure your raid would prefer the one shot, but it isn’t doing much for your own personal skill development.

I suggested some techniques a while back to ensure you continued to use your skills while grinding, something that isn’t otherwise necessary, but what about encounter specific training?

So my question is, what are the alternatives?

I will present a few ideas here, but I am looking for your suggestions (more…)

Read Full Post »

Of course you play your main…

Stupid question #327 from Gnomeaggedon.

OK, let me rephrase that question…

Do you play your original main?

I don’t.

My original main was a Tauren Hunter on a server far, far away.

However two of my mates do play their original mains.

Skanky Mr. Z! (Do you think his thighs look big in this?)

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Here lies Gnomeaggedon.

Oneshot by Jong (repeatedly) and loving it!

There is that personal development/group bonding question that I can never find a real life answer for…

When the day comes for the undertaker to inscribe your headstone, what is it that you want inscribed that describes the way you lived your life or the achievements you have made? (more…)

Read Full Post »