There have been two exciting developments over the weekend.

Mana Obscura Mage Community Forums

Not one, but TWO new community forums have opened, both dear to my heart.

TotemSpot Shaman Forums

These community forums run the risk of being missed by many, so I think it’s worth spreading the news far and wide.

If you blog or podcast on:

Hunters, Warriors, Paladins, Priests, Rogues, Death Knights, Druids, Warlocks, or of course Mages or Shaman…

Then spread the word!

If you are in a guild with a forum…

Then spread the word!

If you are running laps around Dalaran…

Then spread the word!

We all know that most people either play more than one class, or would like to play another class and will go looking for resources to help them perform at the highest level.  Yes, even Hunters have closet Mage alts, DK worship their ancestors on their Shaman.

We know this because we do this.

So, spreading the word can be as easy or hard as you want to make it.

Give them a simple plug:

New Mage and Shaman forums have opened – go sign up and join in the discussion.

Hide a link to the forums cryptically in your posts.. a little Easter egg for those that choose to be curious:

Warriors are a class unlike others that fling fireballs or lightning bolts

Blame me:

Gnomeaggedon said I have to/should/could/will tell the world under threat of a fireball up the blogroll about the new Mage and Shaman forums.

Whatever you do, whatever your write (or read about), start spreading the word

2 big new community forums!

and they don’t require RealID!

Gnomer and Out, Squidly and Stout!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/07/26/mage-and-shaman-forums-start-spreading-the-news/

I have been a little tardy in spreading the word on this one, but I see that other Mage blogs have been doing their bit, and WoW.com gave it a plug the other day, so I didn’t feel I was failing the Mage community.

However, on the off chance that you only read one Mage blog, and that’s this one, let me tell you about it…

Magecraft, set up by Dannamoth and one of his mates, Matticus it has some truly awesome potential.

Along the lines of PlusHeal, it is intended to be a safe haven for Mages of any experience level and ability to go and ask the questions that are troubling them.

As with all forums, you generally only get out of it what you put into it, so go have a read, ask questions and have a shot at answering others (or at least contributing to the discussion)

On a slightly unrelated note, Jong has an excellent post on a major way of increasing your DPS… actually it probably applies to all classes, whether DPS, tanks or Healers, the fundamental principles apply… check it out: Jong-Tsu Art of DPS, Chronicle II: Know Your Sugarmommas

That’s it for today…

Remember only 2 more days to get your Blogday gifts to me… (but I will give you until Sunday 21st… 4 days in total!)

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/06/17/magecraft-is-better-than-gnomecraft/

Today while reading the post that I first head the news in Subcreation down, Alcaras pulled the plug I read a response from alcaras saying it’s back up again!

Mages rejoice!

Thank you alcaras!

I saw this topic from a couple in azeroth: Coolest. WoW Forum Post. Ever.

And I must say, that as a father of a little one, yes it is the coolest WoW Forum Post. Ever.

And it’s a Mage post to boot!

Here it is if you want to go straight there (it’s a long thread.. but the 1st post nails it):

Mage Guide to takng Down Beach Murlocs

Gnomer & Out!

Now with the demise of Subcreation, I think the question should be reviewed again.

Is Eliist Jerks enough for the vast magority of the Mage population, or is it a little too high end?

Do the various other Mage (and other DPS) forums (Unofficial World of Warcraft, Allakhazam, etc) cater well enough, or should there be another central forum for the Average Gnome Mage on the street?

Should someone create PlusDPS.com?

Gnomer and Out!

Get on with it Gnome, you are rambling…. actually delirious is probably a better word.

I was just thinking, while listening to the TwistedNether podcasts, about how I always assume that everyone knows so much more about the game than I do (OK, with the exception of the 9 million people that don’t read or intend to improve upon their abilities beyond the talent selection screen.. assuming they know it is even there).  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say I know it all… in fact, rather the opposite.

It occurs to me that the ones “holding”, or more importantly spreading the knowledge, are also the ones that are able to acknowledge that they have gaps in their knowledge, or… are Forever a noob.

From that starting point of “I have gaps in my knowledge, and I am prepared to fill them”, one moves onto “I have questions I need answers for, and I am prepared to ask them”.

The thing is, where do you ask these questions?

Blogsphere?
I am a recent convert to the WoW Blogsphere, yet I expect that the readership is minor in comparison to other resources – and from an ex-outsider’s perspective, they feel more like one-way lecture halls, than group-discussion seminars, or think tanks.

So where else would one go for assistance?
The obvious choice is the Official Forums, but it becomes readily apparent that anyone asking a noob-like question, even if a good one, just badly formed, or perish the thought, grammatically incorrect, is TROLL FODDER.  Even long time and knowledgeable posters have had their spirit crushed by the weight of the official forum trolls.

So then where else?
Well, I found it suprisingly difficult to get noobish advice for my Mage. Most wiki’s seem half formed or out of date.  Most forums are full of the Frost vs. Fire debate etc.  But there was one gem in the rough.  One forum that turned my underpowered Mage into Gnome bursting with firey goodness.

I introduce you to the UnOfficial World of Warcraft Forums, and Particularly the Mage Forums.

Want to know how bad a Mage I was, yet when I posted my noob pleading for help post, I was handled with kidgloves my the likes of Twoflower, Rgirty, and Malentra.  Well check out my first post here Help with underpowered mage… Don’t reserect it.. it’s old, but you will get a feel for the nature of the folk here, and how a sensible question will be met with a sensible and knowledgble answer.

A couple of other threads I still have bookmarked, that may be of interest to Mages, though they may be getting a little long in the tooth.

• Gear Requirements for kara and beyond–please help
• Best [pre-raid gear available

Anyway, I just thought I would share an awesome resource, and my coming-of-mage forum post with you.

Gnomer and Out!

• Last 5 hours in WoW comes full circle
• Twister Nether
• Oceanic Forums
• WoLK Mage Talents and Skills
• Bad Hunter, Bad…
• Food for thought (well reagents anyway)
• My Mage Sucks

Last 5 hours in WoW comes full circle
In a BA Shared Topic, started from one of Matticus’ 20 questions (as picked up by Larisa ), Matticus has given us his “last 5 hours in WoW“.  So the topic has come full circle.

He also mentions that the topic gets a guernsey on the latest Twistednether Podcast .. Have you checked them out yet?

Twister Nether
I admit I am a late comer to the Twisted Nether podcasts.

1. I only started blogging just after they started, and have been engrossed with the print blogs, and thought I had no method of listening to them.
2. I only recently got a mobile phone with both storage and mp3 playing capability… it all finally clicked, so I am slowly catching up.

If you haven’t started listening yet.. get into it.  They are a great summary of what’s happening in the World of WoW and WoW blogging.

Oceanic Forums
I read that there are now Oceanic forums… not sure how I feel about this… I never get the time (or real motivation) to read the realm forums, so I don’t know if I will be trotting over the check out the realm forums in a hurry.

WoLK Mage Talents and Skills
I see there are some Mage WoLK skills and talents floating around now (see Spooner and MMO Champion

What I am going to do with this.. dunno really. If against all chances I end up beat testing, then it will probably come in handy.. otherwise I doubt I will put the energy into the theorcraft.  Though I guess it probably warrants a trip over to Elitist Jerks to see what they make of it all.

Bad Hunter, Bad…
I was drawn to Aspect of the Girl’s blog  for the read on her torturous misadventures with a pug hunter.  It brought up many sad memories.

The (otherwise) excellent Pally tank that was rolling on everything – and getting most of it, but quit the party when he lost a roll 1/2 on Curator, only to return to the instance to stop us getting a replacement.

The AFK healer.. also just after Curator.  We realised he was on follow, not thowing heals while we hada  1/2 wipe on trash.  We gave him 10 minutes of whispers before we gave up and drew some mobs to him while the rest of the raid ported for the night.

The AFK shaman during Attuman.. he had been bagging us for the previous 10 minutes… not just in raid chat, but on trade channel as well.  We realised he wasn’t actually doing anything during out attuman fight…  Ohh this guy had a bad rep all round.. to the etent he changed his toon name, but was still caught out (noticed he hadn’t changed his Vent name…. lol)

Food for thought (well reagents anyway)
WoWInsider’s Forum post of the day: Table plz, a discussion about how mages feel about creating their tables, time and time again.. heaps of comments… I haven’t gotten through them all (a maybe never will).

I must admit I tend to be conservative on the use off my reagents.  Not because I can’t afford them, it’s just the space they take up in my bag… if they stacked in the 100′s, I would create a table for each toon in the raid.  So I tend to create one at the beginning, and maybe later in the raid, if there is a need.  My general experience is that if someone joins the raid late, we can scrounge up some from those who grabbed them with no real intention of using them.  Arcane Brilliance I am happy to lay out every 45 min, or after a wipe, but in between I tend to go with Arcane Intellect.

Actually it’s really Pallies that I feel sorry for….

What about you?

My Mage Sucks

I just thought I would point out this blog.  If there is one thing I love about it (and there are more things), it is the Top “My Mage Sucks” forum posts that are brought up.  I mean Blue posts are all well and good… but I like to see the sucky ones occasionally.

Anyway.. I will see if I can knock something more meaningful up over the next couple of days… maybe try working on that warlock twinking series…

Gnomer and Out!

Probably 3 to 4 days a week, while doing household chores, I do a scan of the AH, the let Auctioneer’s bottom scanner call out to me (where ever I am in the house) when it finds a potential bargain.

Even though I have a fair grasp in the AH, I still have a lot to learn.  My cash on hand is rarely more than 5,000, with potential 5,000 of sales in my bags or on the AH.  Unfortunately I spend it as fast, if not faster than I pull it in (Mind you… what is the point of having more if it isn’t being used.. maybe 5,000 is the right balancing point).

Anyway, I will discuss mods & techniques in other posts, for now I want to point you to some resources I use.

Starting with the Auctioneer (Advanced) Resources.
Norganna’s forums.
A source of how to, why is it broken, new release information and gems of wisdom on making a pile of gold every dragon would be envious of.
Auctioneer Documentation Wiki  - Note the Auctioneer Advanced stuff is still a bit sketchy, but it is still a work in progress.. still the best place to start. Includes how to install, backup and get started.
Forums: Categories  or all Discussions  – follow the threads and profit.

Download Site.
Yep, get it from the source, first time, every time.  other mod upgrade sites (or utilities) are updated occasionally.  The Auctioneer site gives you the latest (preview version) of if you are more game and prepared to be bleeding edge (with all the inherent risks) get the developer version.

A quick note.
If you are upgrading, remember to
1) backup your saved variables. 

2) Delete your old Auctioneer mod before installing (reduces the likelihood of later errors)
This excerpt from the above link.

Delete old folders
Once you have found your AddOns folder, select and delete the following folders. We will be re-extracting them from the newly downloaded zip file from step 1

For Auctioneer Advanced and Auctioneer Classic versions you will have some or all these folders.
!Swatter, Auc-Advanced, Auc-Filter-Basic, Auc-ScanData, Auc-Stat-Purchased, Auc-Stat-Simple, Auc-Stat-StdDev, Auc-Filter-Outlier, Auc-Match-Undercut, Auc-Stat-WOWEcon, Auc-Util-Appraiser, Auc-Util-AskPrice, Auc-Util-CompactUI, Auc-Util-PriceLevel, Auc-Util-ScanButton, Auc-Util-ScanFinish, Auc-Util-ScanProgress, Auc-Util-VendMarkup,SlideBar, Babylonian, DebugLib, Configator, Auctioneer, BeanCounter, BtmScan, Enchantrix, Enchantrix-Barker, EnhTooltip, Informant, Stubby.

Jiras
Auctioneer’s method of tracking bugs and enhancements.
- If you find a bug, or think of an enhancement, float it on the forums until one of the Devs suggest you make a Jira.
- If you see something you like in the Jiras, vote for it!  This will increase the likelihood of it appearing in future releases.

WoW Economist

A new one I recently discovered.  Lots of interesting discussion on what works and where future profit potential exists – Including a risk rating!

Og’s Ledger
Og may have dropped off this mortal coil?  But this is a great source of information of turning your 1st 20silver into 1,000 gold using Auctioneer (primarily Classic, but the concepts are the same)

Unofficial Word of Warcraft Forums.

Guides

Professions Forums:

I love these forums in general, but there are a few mammoth posts on making cash.  Some pure AH, some a mix of AH & crafting.

Elitist Jerks: The Art of Making Gold thread

Another long one, filled with gems.

Enough for now… time to go make some money…

Gnomer and Out!