Some Tips If You Mount Mount Hyjal

#1) When you’re trying to target a frost wyrm, zoom your camera all the way to 1st person, otherwise you end up craning your neck, giving a beautiful view of the back of your head; I could see Emanee’s roots and confirmed what another guildee observed: the curtains don’t match the drapes.

#2) Insignia of the Horde works great when Rage marks you. The first time. If you get marked a second time, you’re $%#@^#.

3) It doesn’t seem like Kaz’rogal is bleeding your mana, but he is. And you won’t really notice until you’re about 30% mana and then you suddenly plunge down to 5%. At 0%, you explode and die which isn’t as much fun as it first sounds.

#4) If Thrall motions you over and tries to give you a sales-pitch on some time-share real estate in Azeroth, don’t listen to him! He’s actually trying to trick you into starting the Azgalor encounter smack in the middle of distributing Kaz’rogal’s loot.

Conan the Librarian

While training to be the towering librarian I am today, my sensei asked me, "James, what is best in life?"

My programed response had been beaten into me for months: "To fine your patrons, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the illiterate."

I soon may be able to tell you why I am Conan the Librarian. Maybe.

That folks is what we in the industry like to call a "hook." And by industry, I mean hack, no-talent, amateur bloggers.

Tabula Rasa, I Will Play You Soon Enough

My $15 collector’s edition of Tabula Rasa arrived a few days ago, but work and family have been kicking my ass lately, so I doubt I’ll install and play it till spring break.

I haven’t ordered from GoGamer in a long time, but something peculiar was going on for this Tabula Rasa order. The first time I placed the order, it came back canceled. Something about not being able to confirm my credit card information. I double checked the info but didn’t find a mistake. So I placed the order a second time. Two days went by before the order moved past the “processing” stage. By that time, I was beginning to suspect GoGamer had no intention of selling me the game for $15. They clearly take a hit on their 48 sales to get people to the site to shop; I was beginning to think that they were stalling the order past the 48 hours sale.

But on the third day, the order went through and I received the game Monday. Tabula Rasa has received middling reviews so far, the most common observation being that the game is fun to play but follows established (some might say tired) MMO conventions. Apparently, the crafting system is weak and there is currently no working auction house. But I love that it’s a sci-fi setting. Star Wars: Galaxies and Eve Online are the only two sci-fi MMOs I can think of right off the top of my head, so the genre isn’t exactly that well-represented.

That Which Gives Me Wood

Hallie walked up to Wifezilla the other day and informed her to not take Boniva “if she’s pregnant or can become pregnant.”

At least, I think it was for Boniva. There are so many of those commercials I can’t keep them or their highly descriptive side effects straight. Now, joy of joys, not only is my daughter quoting them, she’s also diagnosing their undesired symptoms on her parents.

Thanks a bunch Bayer Pharmaceutical Corporation.

I’ll admit my current favorite side effect is a “decrease in semen,” caused by a drug used to treat ED or erectile dysfunction. Nothing like watching the national news and then picturing that mental image. How in the world can a drug simultaneously give you a runny nose AND cause a decrease in semen? That’s messed up.

I think it’s Levitra that dams up a guy’s semen while opening the floodgates for his snot, but again, I may be confusing it with one of the hundreds of other drugs advertised on the nightly news. I wonder how Brian Williams feels about how I’ve come to associate him with ED, high-blood pressure, and premature bone loss?

By the way, check out Levitra’s website. They have a link that invites you to “See how erections happen and how they sometimes don’t.”

Fascinating, yes? And informative, no?

I’m not sure what I’ll do when Hallie informs me what Levitra can do to me. Run screaming, probably.

High Adventure in Black Temple

Requiem is completely man-handling (for some of the guild members, I mean that literally. They can get a little grabby) the very end of end-game content that World of Warcraft has to offer. After just a few weeks in Mount Hyjal and Black Temple, more new bosses fell this past week: Kaz’rugal Thursday, Shade of Akama Friday, and Teron Gorefiend Saturday.

I attribute the guild’s juggernaut advancement within MT and BT to two factors crucial to any end-game raiding guild: recruitment and research. Requiem officers have done an outstanding job filling class openings with talented and dedicated players. The guild has suffered a typical rate of attrition throughout its existence. In fact, I can’t recall a time when the guild wasn’t doing recruiting of some kind. But that hasn’t stopped the guild’s officers from tracking down and recruiting the best people they can find. That’s no easy task. Silvermoon suffers severe shortages of some classes, particularly healing and tanking. Requiem has been trying for weeks to get another resto druid, but you can’t recruit what’s not there; the guild’s shortage of a leafy dr00d isn’t from lack of trying to get one.

The guild also excels in research. Raid leaders come to new content fully briefed on the intricacies of novel boss fights. They explain the fights well and offer positive (most of the time) feedback after failed attempts. Teron Gorefiend is a great example. I was anticipating that it would take us a few weeks to topple this boss. The biggest challenge to the fight is being turned into a ghost and having to cc and kill four constructs before they reach the raid and wipe it. The guild leaders made sure to post a simulator that allowed a potential raider to practice the construct mini-fight before ever logging into WoW. It’s that kind of preparation and attention to detail that made the difference between Requiem defeating Teron the very first night it faced him and a night of nothing but wiping.

There’s still a lot of raiding content to face and defeat. And there’s every chance that a MH or BT boss will prove uncooperative on the path to Illidan. To overcome such obstacles, Requiem must continue following its proven formula by not getting cocky, managing inevitable personality conflicts, continuing to research the few new boss fights that remain, and recruiting the last remaining class openings with the best people they can find. When faced with a setback, Requiem has always come roaring back.

I expect Illidan will be dead by May.

Hellgate London Updates 1.2, 1.3, and 2.0

FSS posted an update outlining their plans for HG: L in the coming weeks and months. Most notable in 1.2? An in-game mail system. This will be huge, since everyone finds loot an alt could use, but there currently isn't a way to get it to them.

All in all, the game seems to have settled down a bit. If they can string together some good updates, they may begin to repair their damaged reputation.

You Don't Act a Day Over 13

Yesterday marked the 38th year I have strode this planet.

I don’t feel 38. I certainly don’t act it. Wifezilla would be the first to tell you that my maturity level often dips down to that of a snot-nosed teenager. Even as a Dad(dy) I’m more Freddy Kruegar than Ward Cleaver.

Case in point, I got this cool Black & Decker wrench for my birthday. It automatically adjusts to fit the size of the nut you’re trying to wrench. Rather than test it out on something that needed to be tightened, I pretended to get my finger caught in it. I hollered out in mock pain in front of all three of my girls. Wifezilla rolled her eyes, but Hallie and Claire always think I’m serious. After I released my finger, I asked Claire to put her finger inside the wrench, and when she refused, I proceeded to chase her around the house, Claire screaming bloody murder the whole way.

You can probably begin to understand why Claire is also afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

Just this past weekend I watched Jackass #2 and laughed through the whole thing (and nearly puked during the horse skit. I seriously had to run out of the room to avoid hurling.) When I tried to share the movie’s highlights with Wifezilla, she got mad and demanded I stop talking to her. I never did get to tell her about the bearded Arab skit.

So even though I’m 38, I’m still behaving like I always have. I’m not sure how to “act” my age, whatever that means. Perhaps I’m immersed in delusional self-denial. Yesterday, my co-workers must have smelled a premature mid-life crisis. They would wish me a happy birthday followed by a wink and a “You’re turning 21, right?” As if I need to be reminded I’m as far from 21 as Pluto is from Earth.

WoW raiding is reminder enough. I’m the oldest member of my raiding guild. By far. I think the next oldest guildee is 33. The rest are made up of punk twenty-year olds who can swig their Red Bull and raid till the wee hours of the morning without breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, I’ve too often awakened to my face plastered on the keyboard, multiple keystroke impressions firmly imbedded in my (increasingly wrinkling) skin, and Emanee running endlessly into a wall. Don’t get me wrong, I keep up with the young whipper-snappers most of the time. It’s just there are days when it’s a real slog.

But the truth is, I wouldn’t trade 38 for 28 or 18 or 8. I’ve got a swell wife(zilla), cute kids, financial independence, and plenty of discretionary time to engage in my favorite hobby, gaming. Being young has its perks to be sure. I miss being able to eat whatever I want in whatever quantity I desire at any time of the day. Those days are long gone. I used to mow through a bag of sun-flower seeds like Wifezilla at an all-you-can-eat pasta buffet. But then I suddenly developed high-blood pressure (I swear, one day I didn’t have it, the next I did), so no more spats. And chugging Mountain Dew? I had to switch to the diet version. I’ve never ingested horse urine, but I suspect Diet Mountain Dew is a packaged version of it.

I swore I wouldn’t indulge in a cliché, but I guess I’m living one right now: you’re only as old as you feel. Or act, in my case. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to email Wifezilla about a certain Jackass skit that involved a block of ice, a water bottle, and a sack. She said not to talk to her. She didn’t mention anything about emails.

How Good Can the Game Be If It's Already Marked Down to $15?

In the interest of gaming journalism, I've purchased a copy of Tabula Rasa for the crazy low price of $15. I'm sure millions of Furious Cognition readers have withheld purchasing TR because I haven't reviewed it yet. Fear not homely readers! The game will be hurtling to my home shortly and when it arrives, I shall install it and play it post haste.

I can't wait till I start getting review copies for games. That is--always has been--the sole purpose of this blog.

Abrams' Star Trek Pushed Back Till May 2009

As per X-Play on G4TV. Apparantly, production is going fine but the producers felt the movie was more a summer blockbuster than a holiday release.

I would have to agree.

Toshiba Throws In the Towel

I don't have any official source since I heard this from the Rod Ryan show (The Buzz) driving into work this morning: Toshiba officially announced it will no longer manufacture HD DVD players.

This isn't exactly surprising coming off the heels of movie studios abandoning the format themselves in favor of Blu-ray. I do feel burned somewhat, though maybe not quite as bad as people who not only bought the player but also a library of movies.

This will get me seriously thinking about buying a PS3. I mean, if I ever want to get a Blu-ray player, for another $100 I could also get in the door of a next-gen console. The sticking point: I can't think of one game I want to play on the PS3. In fact, the only console game I really want to play is Mass Effect and that's coming to PC this May.

In the meantime, my Toshiba plays DVDs in near HD quality. In fact, I can't discern a visual quality difference between Lost on DVD and Lost broadcast in HD. So it's not a total wash.

I'll just keep telling myself that.

Mass Effect Coming to PC in May

1UP reports that Bioware and EA will publish a PC version of Mass Effect, due to hit stores in May. When asked about a possible port to PC, Bioware usually responded they had no plans for such a port or "no comment."

Bioware hasn't made a game yet that I haven't liked, so I'll be picking this one up in May.

New Content for LoTRO with Book 12

Looks to be an interesting update, adding avatar customization and an overhaul of the burglar class. You can read about the update here.

Midget Bikini-clad Sanitation Workers of Might and Magic

I’ve gone back to playing an old stand-by, Heroes of Might and Magic V. For the uninitiated, HOMMV is a turned-based strategy game with two basic modes of play: 1) a strategic map where you direct your heroe(s) to explore territory, gobble up resources, build armies, and attack enemy heroes and strongholds; and 2) a tactical map where you duke it out with an opposing army.

The game has gone largely unchanged through its fifth iteration. I’ve played all five in the course of my gaming career and agree with the general consensus that II and III mark the pinnacle of the series.

The biggest change between V and its predecessors is the update to a full 3D graphics engine. Gameplay remains largely the same, though I do miss Jon Van Caneghem’s influence on the series. Jon originally produced it under the corporate banner New World Computing. 3DO scooped NWC in the late 90s and proceeded to stamp the Might and Magic logo on any piece of crap game they could code, everything from Crusaders of Might and Magic to Vampire Transvestite Hookers of Might and Magic.

Ok, so I made that last one up. You get the picture.

As a result, the entire Might and Magic series suffered and when 3DO inevitably went bankrupt, HOMMIV looked to be the last title in the beloved series.

But like the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes (and the same army unit in the game), Ubisoft bought out the rights and after several years, produced HOMMV. It’s a solid enough title, largely staying true to the game Caneghem originally made. My only complaint: the Eurotrash storyline and dialogue. Ubisoft published the game, but a company out of Russia, Nival Interactive, developed it. And based on the campaign dialogue, you can tell a mile away.

I think one of the developers at Nival Interactive knew just enough English to be dangerous. At least I hope that’s case because if they hired someone to translate that muck, they need to get their money back AND flog the translator for hate crimes against the English language. Seriously Nival, mail me the script for your next game along with a $1,000, and I’ll de-Russianize your lousy campaign dialogue so your American audience can play the game without alternating between booing the screen and covering their eyes and ears.

Other than that, it’s as good a turned-based strategy game as you’ll find out there today.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Coming to Theaters in August

From www.theforce.net, Update #4:

Well we've been speculating since the Hasbro meeting and we now have a confirmation. Star Wars is coming back to the big screen in the form of Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Hitting North American theaters on August 15th, the series will then continue with 30 minute episodes on the Cartoon Newtork with repeat airings on TNT. International dates will be released soon.

I didn't ever believe Lucas when he professed he was done making stuff in the Star Wars universe. And I'm even less surprised that his new content comes in the form of an animated movie and TV series. Lucas has often hinted that he prefers digital and animated actors to the real thing. I guess he was sick of those pesky thespians complaining about the lousy dialogue he was making them utter (Harrison Ford famously told George Lucas concerning a Star Wars script, "You can write this sh--, but you can't say it").

So, I guess this is a good thing, though I'm much more interested in the live action TV series I hear is rumored to be in production since last fall. Last I heard, Kevin Smith was supposed to be involved somehow, directing I think. I doubt I'll go to the animated movie, but I'll definately rent it and I'll certainly follow the animated TV series.

I'm still holding out for J.J. Abrams taking over the entire operation and producing a whole new trilogy that takes place after Return of the Jedi. Hell, get Mark Hamill back and have greying Luke garbed in rippling black, kicking ass and taking names like only a Master Jedi can. Mark is at the perfect age to depict a maturing elder Jedi, a seasoned Master at the height of his experience and power.

Mr. Plate

One of the few perks of having children, besides basking in the glow of their undying love, is child-labor. Hallie turned seven recently, a perfect milestone for dishwashing. I’ve been doing that unenviable task for the past fifteen years, so I’m more than happy to pass the torch to my eldest daughter.

Last night, Hallie cleared the table, grabbed her stool, and began rinsing and loading the dishwasher. Wifezilla passed by when Hallie picked up the first dish and overheard her say, “Well hello Mr. Plate, you’re my first customer!”

Sometimes the cuteness is baked in.

Flash-forward

Every disc of Lost Season Three had four episodes burned onto it. All but the sixth and last disc. That one had only three. I didn't realize that till last night when I cranked up my DVD player, expecting to watch the final episode of Season Three. Imagine my surprise to find out the episode in which Charlie dies IS the final episode.

No sweat though. I've been DVRing the new season so we forged ahead and watched the first episode of Season Four. Interestingly enough, the last couple of shows in Season Three depicted Jack in flash-forward vignettes. He's back from the island but clearly suffering. He's grown a big, bushy beard and pops pills to ease some underlying anxiety he feels. He's adopted all the symptoms of an addict and even tries to commit suicide, an attempt that fails when a passing motorist sees him and then crashes into his parked car.

The opening episode of Season Four continues these flash-forwards. But they're coming to us now out-of-sequence. For instance, Jack visits Hurley in the loony-bin. He chuckles that he's thinking of growing a beard. Before he leaves, Hurley apologizes for joining John on the island and adds that maybe they should never have left and that the island is calling them back.

I'm still not sure what any of this means yet. The show is developing some strong metaphysical story lines that will likely continue to spawn more questions then answers. That's not bad necessarily, just imaginative. My suspicion is that the cast is stuck in some form of purgatory, and the forces that assail them on either side could be those of heaven and hell. Which would make the island neither of those things, but some neutral territory for good and evil to fight it out.

Regardless, I'm excited to see more of this show, even if it's only a paltry eight episodes. I hope the writers got a good contract negotiated because they sure have been a pain-in-the-ass.

24 Hours or 24 Months?

CNN.com ran a story estimating the time it would take our favorite shows to make it back into production.

The prognosis isn't good.

It's rumored that 24 won't make it back at all this year. The earliest we can expect to see new content from Keifer and company is 2009. And that's assuming Sutherland can stay sober and out of trouble. Honestly, haven't innocent Christmas trees around the world suffered enough?

Lost is another tragic victim of the strike. It managed to finish eight episodes before picket lines formed, but that's far from a full, normal season. It seems the Lost producers would love to crank production back up for up to eight more episodes, but that the network will likely prove reluctant since the additional shows would air during the summer, a traditional TV hiatus for viewers and networks alike.

Through the Looking Glass

Wifezilla and I watched Charlie die last night. He did so heroically, made all the more poignant because Desmond told him exactly how it would happen. Charlie forged ahead anyway. Though Charlie's death was dramatic enough by itself, I suspect that it's going to be a hard episode to watch when Claire, Hurley, and the rest of the castaways find out what happened to him. Especially Claire. She hasn't got Charlie's "Greatest Hits" list yet and she doesn't realize that he tucked his DS ring in the baby's crib. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have something in my eye when all that plays out. Damn you man-tears!

We only have one more episode left of Season Three and I can attest to the quality of all 24 shows. The season turned out to be nothing short of a tour de force. Not only did it successfully redefine the entire show, it also got the storyline and characters back on track after a lackluster Season Two.

J.J. Abrams and his staff are incredible producers. Abrams' instinct for plot lines, dialogue, and character behavior go unmatched in Hollywood at this moment. He's currently producing and directing the new Star Trek movie, which means that movie is going to kick some serious ass. All of which gets me day-dreaming: could Abrams perchance be brought to the Dark Side? Force push Lucas out of the picture and revive the glory that is Star Wars? I can only marvel at the masterpiece Abrams would create using the that universe. But the only thing bigger than Star Wars canon is Lucas' ego, so I think the latter would have to die before anyone gets a crack at my most cherished movie franchise.

If you've never watched Lost, I can't recommend it enough. But don't start with Season Three. Go back to the beginning with Season One. You can watch all three season for free on www.abc.com, in HD no less if you've got the hardware. If you don't want to watch TV on your computer, then rent them from you DVD provider of choice. I haven't gotten a bum disc from Netflix in months and they're lightning quick with delivery.

Monkeys Should Stick to Throwing Feces

That leak my neighbor and I repaired a couple of months back has re-sprung (Yellowstone National Lawn ). We had a bit of a cold snap this past week and when I went to meet Hallie off the bus, I noticed a one-foot diameter puddle immediately above the repair. A quick check of the water meter confirmed the slightest of spins, despite no water running in the house.

I swear to God, most homeowners go the lifetime of their house without even thinking of the main water line to their house, and I've had to fix mine in four different locations in the span of nine short years. After so many line breaks I speculate that a carnival of touring, organ-playing monkeys installed my house's outdoor plumbing system; hopefully they grind their accordions better than they plumb. I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to completely abandon the convenience of modern indoor plumbing in favor of early trips to my local creek, bucket in hand. I have no problems with my main gas line, so boiling the water would be a cinch. All I have to do is talk Wifezilla into waking up at 3 am each day to fetch the water.

I think the chances of me successfully convincing Wifezilla to carry a bucket of water on her head for three miles equals that of my main line never springing another leak.

Where Have All the Good Guilds Gone?

That's the question Ryan Scott puts forth in the Games for Windows monthly column, "Crisis on Infinite Servers." In the February 2008 installment, Scott writes that guilds today "zerg" enrollment to accomplish goals like raiding, doing 5-womans, questing, etc. Rather then establish a protocol for recruitment, including an interview process (rigorous or not), guilds today focus instead on getting as many members to join as possible, often with little more ceremony than "Hey, wanna join my guild? Ok. /ginvite."

I guess to some extent, I see his point. But towards the end of his column, Scott writes something that seems to contradict everything he'd written before. He says, "You're only worth as much as you bring to the weekly 25-man raid, and if you're not committed enough to that cause . . . well, we've got plenty of other applicants in the queue. Next in line, please?"

He loses me here because isn't the entire point of joining a guild to accomplish certain goals? Some guilds exclusively raid, like the guild I'm in for instance. If a guild member isn't consistently showing up for 25-man runs, then why would the guild want to keep that member? And why would that guildee want to stay in the first place?

For all the prestige of raiding without all the cumbersome, time-consuming raiding that goes with it?

You either want to raid or you don't, and most WoW guilds don't retain five or six layers of class types to ensure they can always field a raid. Instead, they try to build a roster of committed gamers, people who consistently raid.

Scott seems peeved that a raiding guild would replace an uncommitted player with one who actually wants to raid. But I think he might be confusing loyalty with goal-setting. Earlier in his column, Scott talks fondly of a guild he belonged to in Ultima Online. He writes, "And as my one-time guildmaster once succinctly noted to new members, 'If you call for help in this guild, don't be surprised if like nine people show up.' That's commitment for commitment's sake."

Methinks Mr. Scott indulges in nostalgia. Even if he doesn't, I would ask him what this UO guild would do with a member who not only didn't show up to a fellow guildee's plea for help, but outright refused? Would that be any different than a guildee not showing up for the weekly Tempest Keep run? I don't think so, and in this instance, I think Scott would be the first in line to boot a deadbeat member who didn't share the goals and values of his old UO guild.

Scott meant it as a criticism, but in a raiding guild, you really ARE worth only as much as you can bring to the raid. WoW end-game raiding content is too complex and challenging to field 25 casuals. If you're not good at your assigned role, or you don't show up on time, or you just don't bother to show up at all, then you're not a raider and you shouldn't be in a raiding guild. Maybe that's not your fault, but it's definitely not the guild's fault either. Scott seems to imply that guilds should put loyalty before their chartered goals, deal with members who pursue goals different than that of that guild as a whole. But I don't see how any guild, no matter their mission statement, could be successful by not staying focused on their ultimate goals.

Commitment for commitment's sake? You'll find no better example of it than in a MMO raiding guild, even if that same guild has to cull some misfits to preserve its raiding effectiveness.

That's commitment for progression's sake.

The Line in the Sand

Tycho at Penny Arcade has had enough.

Really though, the line was crossed back when LeGeNDZ formed last year. It's hard enough to stomach leet punk gamers performing unnatural acts to the English language, but when corporate joins in the mayhem, well, that's an entirely different level of butchery.

AT&T > Comcast (It's Comcraptic!)

AT&T hasn't done anything lately to piss me off. I can't say the same thing for Comcast (It's Comcraptic!). In a behind-the-scenes deal this past summer that I'm sure involved plenty of brimstone and soul-selling, Time Warner hastily abandoned the Houston market to Comcast, much like a lion leaves the husk of a wildebeest for the circling hyenas.

Within days of the take-over, Comcast promptly jacked their rates while also cutting their television line-up. I went from paying $120 a month, to $148. And that's for less channels.

Hmm? Satellite you say? Yes, that had crossed my mind. However, my brother regaled me of satellite installation horror stories. Couple that with the tiny need I have for broadband Internet, and you can quickly see how satellite was not the product for me.

And then, almost as quickly as Comcast took over Timer Warner, AT&T started flooding my mailbox with offers of cable TV AND Internet. I rebuffed the offers at first. I used to have AT&T as my cell phone provider and I was, uh, unimpressed. But the marketing fliers kept coming, and when my Comcast cable went out for an entire day and then returned with dancing, zigzagging lines in the picture, I called AT&T and booked the installation.

So now I'm paying $120 for 3Mbps Internet and an HD cable package that includes Showtime, StarZzZzZz, Encore, and TMC. Not to mention hundreds of other channels I never plan to watch. I've only had the service since Sunday, but so far so good. Even better, their cable modem doubles as a router. In fact, I think the cable TV signal goes through it as well. It looks to be the cutting edge technology for cable TV and Internet. All I know is that returning Comcast's DVR receiver game me a thrill of consumer satisfaction.

Free market competition. It's what's for dinner.

Emanee Slays Kael Single-handedly, WoW Community In Awe

Ok, so maybe 24 other people helped.

Whatever.

Look, I don't want to quibble over small details. The main point is that Emanee finally got both her vials and now has digital permission to step foot into Mount Hyjal.

I can testify that Kael phase 5 was an absolute blast. The blond bombshell blows the roof off his chamber and floats in midair like Magneto, only Kael is a lot more GQ. He sears raiders with ranged blasts of hot lightening while also defying the planet's gravity, sending everyone careening into space. It's got to be the most visceral of the boss fights I've experienced so far. If phases 3 and 4 weren't such pains-in-the-ass, I'd like to farm that boss more. But I think the bulk of my guild is sick of Kael already and has their sights focused keenly on Mount Hyjal and Black Temple.

Stay tuned for the inevitable report of Emanee single-handedly killing Illidan.

January Guild Names of the Month (Now with More Drama!)

I wanted to get this posted by the end of the month, but obviously missed that deadline. Nevertheless, here's my picks for January 2008, all Silvermoon related:

Pit of Infamy

--Show Me Yer Crits--

I will if you show me your wit.

Beacon of Reasoned Judgement

--Hellfire Templars--

Because anything with "Templars" in it sounds good.

SPECIAL JANUARY PICK!!!!!

WoW Silvermoon Thread of the Month

This ones goes to the original poster, Rubee, who recently started a thread in the WoW Silvermoon forums explaining to everyone (even people that have never heard of her, like me) that she isn't a drama queen anymore, that she was a victim before and now she's not, and that a whole bunch of people are the real dram queens, not her . . . or him . . . or . . . I'm not sure. Why? Because subsequent posts explode into heated drama, mostly from her . . . or him . . . or I'm not sure and somewhere along the way, Rubee reveals she's a hermaphrodite. Her posts and the revelations inside them are so random, I can't help but believe they're true. And even if they're not, the thread is still a recreational read. I can't link it at the moment because I'm at work, but I think the thread's title is something like, "Grow up Silvermoon."

On a side note, Rubee recently quit her guild, --Chaos and Mayhem--, amid some typical soap-opera antics and name-calling, but I looked her up on the Armory and she's a reasonably well-geared shadow priest. I've forwarded her name to Requiem's guild leader as my possible replacement because surely a drama-queen hermaphrodite is a better raider than a nub who forgets to train spells.