Tagged! The Screenshot Meme

So I’ve been tagged by a couple of people since I am officially one of the worst bloggers in blogging history. Thank you to Dann and HolyWarrior at The Good, The Bad and the Downright Evil for tagging me.

What you’re supposed to do is check the 6th item in the 6th folder of your screenshots folder. I…don’t have six folders in my screenshot folder so I just went with the 6th image. And behold!

lolswordofdoom

I meant to do an entry on it (fail blogger,remember) but it didn’t happen. Remember that Enti’s Quenched Sword, the gray sword that dropped in Northrend and didn’t have a level requirement on it? The text says it does next to no damage, but hand it to a level one toon and they just slaughtered everything in sight. And when you got Rend, things got even more fun. You could run up to something, Rend it and then go to the next mob because it ticked for well over 100, which was more than enough to kill everything in Elwynn Forest. I leveled Grayitems the warrior to level 10 in about an hour that way. My goal was met when Hogger died. And then the sword received a level requirement so poor Grayitems met the DELETE feature.

I’d post something else from the screenshot folder but it’s a whole bunch of fail, largely accidential key hits (how? I have no idea). I do want to post the screenshot of dinging 62 off of Onyxia, but it’s on my parents’ computer I do believe.

Real content coming, someday.

25 Useless Facts About Doofy!

If you’re on Facebook (which I am. I mean, the guy who writes this, not an actual Facebook page for Doofy. Because that would be weird.), you are probably familiar with the 25 Random Things meme that is working its way around like bird flu. You post a note where you list 25 facts, opinions, thoughts and other random things that can be as in depth or as shallow as you want them to be. In lieu of some actual blogging content, I thought I’d do the same for Doofy. And since I’m required to “tag” people here, I tag everyone reading this. Suckers!

1. We’re nearing three years since I first started WoW. Games rarely stick with me for that long.

2. There will be things on here I’ve mentioned during earlier entries, such as: Doofy was not my first character. That was a troll rogue made on my old roommate’s account. I named him Bojingo. We had been watching a lot of Scrubs on DVD at the time.

3. When I got my own account I rolled another troll rogue and levelled him again. I got him to the 50’s and then rolled Doofy. He’s still in the 50’s.

4. I was in the same guild from the low teens until returning to the game last August when it pretty much collapsed while I was gone. It took quite a bit for me to finally leave the guild even though there was nobody in it.

5. This past weekend was spent getting the Ambassador achievement. I got exalted with Darnassus on Saturday and spent today getting Exodar and Gnomeregan Exiles reputation. I only needed about 15 stacks of Runecloth to finish out the Exodar rep.

6. I’m also about 160 quests away from 3000. This frightens me, actually.

7. Even if I have nothing to do on him and plan on playing an alt, I always log Doofy in first. It’s tradition.

8. I’m a keyboard turner, a clicker and I make very minimal use of macros. I don’t use that focus thing either. How I manage to kill anything or keep people alive is a miracle.

9. Still bitter about that Illumination nerf. Even though I never run out of mana anymore.

10. I hate that you can AoE down all trash in Naxxramas. Even on 25-man. I refuse to cast Blizzard on my mage. And I try to keep my AoE damage to under 10% of my damage total.

11. I admit to being biased against night elf hunters. Which is why I love people like Pike who do what they can to buck the Huntard stereotype. (Oh and hi to Rilgon too.)

12. I lag massively in Dalaran and this computer has 4GB of RAM. I bet it’s because my video card sucks.

13. I dinged 62 off of Onyxia in the first two weeks after The Burning Crusade was released. I have the screenshot somewhere to prove it.

13. I am an UI minimalist. The only thing that really mucks with the default UI is AG Unit Frames so I can make big bars to see exact health and to heal people easier.

14. I play a paladin as a main. I have the ability to heal, tank and DPS. My respec cost is 15g. You have permission to hate me for it.

15. I am a ridiculous packrat. My bank is an absolute disaster right now. But no matter what, I will never part with the 6 pieces of the Tier 0.5 set. I would love to get the tier 0 helm and chest and finish the chain. I idly wonder if it’s doable solo.

16. I enjoy randomly putting Crusader Aura on in groups because it makes people mad.

17. The mage nerfs have filled me with RAAAAAAAAAAAGE. I was finally having fun again on Sherm. And it had surprisingly little with being able to outdamage other mages that outgear me by pretty high margins. Although that was pretty nice.

18. I believe I am the only blogger from Thrall. If anyone out there knows of someone else, let me know.

19. I’ve grown into the Doofy name and kind of accepted it even though I never intended on seriously levelling the character. In my old guild quite frequently and even sometimes in my current guild, people are referred to by their real names. Except me. Frequently heard over vent: “Hey Steve.” “Hey Sarah.” “Hiya Chris.” “Hey Doofy.”

20. Secret: I sometimes raid on my mage while not hit capped. It’s not intentional, honest.

21. I’ve never heard the term “best in slot” so much before Wrath’s release. And I like it, because saying “best in slot” sounds vaguely dirty.

22. I have no desire to level my shaman. He’s 90% to level 75. I had him elemental for a few levels and it went by pretty quick but it was mind-numbingly boring. He’s currently resto and I use him to heal guild alts through the mid-level instances.

23. I hate PVP.

24. I have the 10,000 Honorable Kills achievement.

25. #23 is very likely a result of #24. Since the only way to get properly itemized holy paladin gear before BC was PVP, I did nothing but Alterac Valley in the 3 months between hitting 60 and the release of BC. I probably have less than 100 HK’s since BC’s release.

The Essential Parts of Any Raid: Ventrilo Edition

About a year ago I made an entry on The Essential Parts of Any Raid, showing who you needed to bring in order to have a successful raid. Now, since most raids use a voice chat service such as Ventrilo, it’s time to go through the people you’ll need in your channel to have a full and entertaining evening.

The Loud Talker

Pretty self explanatory. If you’re wearing headphones, prepare to have your ears blown out. If it’s through your speakers, turning the volume on them down prevents you from hearing anyone else. Unfortunately playing too important a role to mute.

The Low Talker

This player either has their microphone about six feet from their mouth, is a quiet person in general or is just too cheap to spring for a new mic. Talks frequently. Wonders in raid chat why they’re being ignored.

The Non-Talker

The player that never talks, ever. Owns a mic. Communicates exclusively in raid/guild chat. One hell of a listener, though and generally a solid player. Talked once and nearly wiped the raid as everyone freaked out.

The Play by Play Guy

Like CNN and The Weather Channel, constantly updating the condition of the raid. The mob health, their health, raid buffs, how much they just crit for, their drink supply, the temperature of their Hot Pockets, etc. For this person, I link them some Ground Gear.

Captain Obvious

“Come on, DPS, step it up!” “Healers, top off those tanks!” “Here come some adds, let’s get a tank on them!” “Rebuff!” /headdesk

The Dude That’s Always Logged In

Inexplicably always logged into Vent even if they’re not logged into the game. May be in a different channel with one or more unknown persons. Causes frequent discussions between guild officers as if the password should be changed.

The DJ

Whenever Push To Talk is hit, a wave of music fills the raid’s ears. For some reason, this player cannot DPS unless something is cranked to 11 in the background. Has never played World of Warcraft with the volume on. Choice of music is either extremely emo or some sort of death metal. Oddly able to be understood over vent when they speak and a good listener.

The Most Important Person In The Entire Raid

A horrible combination of The Play By Play Guy and Captain Obvious. Is also, unfortunately, a Loud Talker. This person will constantly mention over Vent every single thing that happens to them, even if it’s a standard part of the fight and happening to every single member of the raid.

Karazhan example: Maiden of Virtue’s Repentance. “I can’t move! Somebody help me!”
Naxxramas example: Maexena’s Web Wrap. “STUNNED!”

And when they die…”I’M DOWN!!!!!!” as if you might as well wipe since because THEY’RE DOWN!!!! the rest of the fight is meaningless. Will request battle rezzes every time they die. Which is often.

Any others I’m missing?

The Awkward Stage

Despite some attrition thanks to the holidays, Brade Frurry managed to put together two 10-man Naxxramas runs. Kel’Thuzad has now died a few times (the first kill coming on a non-scheduled raid during the holidays), Sartharion is laughably easy (and one group even managed to get him with a drake up) and Malygos adventures begin next weekend.

And now we think we’re ready to give up scheduling 10-man Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum raids and only do them with 25 players. Or are we? This decision was reached tonight after each group cleared Naxxramas this week, the first kill for many. It was further amplified by the fact that half the loot from the first four wings was disenchanted.

We’ve dabbled in heroic raids briefly almost out of boredom, clearing the Spider and Plague quarters without much trouble despite a handful of pugs (which are now no longer necessary). Sartharion was found to be just as easy and even died with 19 people in the raid (achievement, yay!). When we got to Patchwerk, though…yikes. And how do you kill Instructor Razuvious with one shadow priest?

So my question is: When is the time to make the switch into 25-mans full time? As soon as you have the numbers? When you’re sharding things from the 10-mans? When you’ve beaten Naxxramas once? I’d like to see some Emblems of Valor as much as anyone, but I think it’s a bit of a bigger leap than some think.

Unsolicited World of Warcraft Predictions for 2009

Even though nobody asked, here are five things that I think will happen in the coming year. I’ll check back in a year and see how I do.

1. World of Warcraft: The Emerald Dream is announced at Blizzcon ‘09.

I mean, come on, this is the biggest chunk of lore that Ensidia hasn’t killed yet. It’s coming. In 2011, but it’s coming.

2. Ulduar (and later Icecrown Citadel) are PTR’d and beaten the day they are patched into the live game.

The only way I don’t see this happening is if one of those raids features about 10 bosses. The only reason Naxxramas took 3 days to clear was people had to get 10 additional levels first. Now, your top guilds (or really, everyone) is going to hit each of the yet-to-be-implemented raids day one and bring it down ridiculously fast. Blizzard has the capability of testing these things internally and I’d like to see them do that to give your bleeding edge guilds a challenge. Don’t let it get farmed to death on the PTR. There should not be detailed strategies for Arthas on day one. But there will be.

3. Emblems of Heroism will be redeemable for Emblems of Valor.

I don’t know if the exchange rate will be 3-for-1, 5-for-1 or 10-for-1, but this will be implemented some point next year. I know I could gear other specs (yeah, right), but I’m just about out of a need for badges emblems on this character, and that’s after buying the Tier 7 chest token which got replaced the next day when Sartharion dropped his on heroic. I know I won’t be the only one in the same boat and I’ve only been doing Naxxramas for a month. Meanwhile, we’ve only dabbled in 25 man content due to not having the consistent numbers and I could use, oh, about 150 more of those things.

Enter the Heroism for Valor exchange. This keeps people interested in running heroics and Naxxramas long after they’ve run out of things to purchase with Emblems of Heroism. And keeps your entitled casuals who can do Naxx 10 and Sartharion but can’t get 25 man raids going happy.

4. Dual specs solve little.

I know it will help certain classes greatly, but whenever this is finally implemented (3.1?), I forsee there still inexplicably seeing a need for tanks and healers when trying to get together for an instance.

Me: “Can you tank or heal?”
Nub: “im a ret dps paladin”
Me: “What’s your other spec?”
Nub: “pvp ret”
Me: /facepalm

Also, doesn’t the whole idea of dual specs seem too…easy? I’m waiting for a catch. The ability to flip back and forth between two specs with no penalty whatsoever just seems like cheating to me. Also I’m going to have a holy spec, and another holy spec. I’m just going to rearrange a talent point or two.

5. Refer A Friend is reintroduced later in the year with benefits extending up to level 70.

The levelling nerf from 60 to 70 is already in effect and this is a logical extension. Compared to the Lich King content, questing in the Burning Crusade sure is painful, and of course they want you to experience the newest expansion, so they might as well have you blow through this content as well so you can head on over to Northrend

What do you think, sirs?

The Neverending Mana Pool

A quick poll for my readers:

Is 25.7k mana raid buffed enough? I say no. My guild thinks I’m crazy. What say you?

A Doofy Year

I just now decided to check when exactly I made my first entry and it happened to be made on 12/12/07, which means this blog is now one year old. Hooray!

I see 14,187 hits in a year, which is 14,185 more than I expected to ever get. I never came close to topping this as the best thing I’ve ever written (2,333 hits!) and that is rapidly approaching one year old as well. I thank all my commenters and linkers (if I’m not linking you back, please let me know!) I also thank you guys for sticking with me during my forced hiatus from WoW. The new place is doing well, though I really, really miss my money.

It’s been a Doofy 2008. Here’s to 2009 being even…um, Doofier.

Paid Sex Change!

First there was the paid server transfer. Alright, that’s cool, let people escape to a better opportunity if they’re on a dead end server.

Then there was the paid name change. Okay, fine. Perfect for the person who realizes that Leoglaxxx is a horrible name for a hunter.

Now there’s the paid sex change. Yes, really. There’s been no official announcement, but I was just looking at it on the official WoW site…”Character Customization” is live. For $15, you can change everything about your character’s look, even their sex. They’ll even throw in a name change if you want for that cost, since if you make yourself female “Mightydude” just wouldn’t be a proper name now, would it?

I didn’t get into the specific details, since Blizzard wanted my credit card information (which they already have, silly Blizz) to charge me the fifteen bucks and I didn’t want to take the risk of getting charged, but here’s the fine print:

This service lets you change your character’s gender, face, hair and skin color, hairstyle, name, and other cosmetic features determined by their race and gender combination.

Since everything but gender and name can be changed in game at the barbershop, it really is a $15 sex change operation. And a trip abroad isn’t even needed. Oh, and also

You cannot, however, change your character’s race or class.

But at the rate that they’re going, I’m sure that will be live sometime in 2009. Gnomadins will have their day, oh yes.

Irony of the (last) Week

In my hyperventilating post last week in the aftermath of completing that Heigan fight, I forgot to mention that completely entirely weird thing about it. I present to you the following facts:

Attempts made at Heigan the Unclean: 4 (or was it 5? I forgot.)
Successful “Heigan Dances” completed by Doofy in the kill: Probably close to 20.
Successful “Heigan Dances” completed by Doofy in all the previous attempts, combined: Zero.

Yes, I died horribly the first time we reached phase 2 of the encounter on all of the previous attempts. I never made it back to the platform for the cycle back to phase 1.

No, I can’t explain it, either.

I don’t normally update in the middle of a raid…

but…

Heigan the Unclean. I won’t go into any details about the fight, WoWWiki or Wowhead it.

I just three manned the last 50%. And two manned the last 12%. It was me, a prot paladin and a shadow priest. And just two paladins at the end.

I can’t just, no, I’m at a complete loss for words. That was just…oh my god.  The fight took 27 minutes.

I’m still shaking.