The New LFG
October 22, 2009 § 2 Comments
So wow.com has recently posted info about the new LFG interface. I’m at once filled with deep apprehension and cautious optimism.
Before you continue on past the cut I must leave a disclaimer. Yes. I KNOW this is all still on the PTR and is subject to change. So don’t tell me that. I’m not an idiot. I’m still going to voice my opinions about it.
Super heals!
October 16, 2009 § Leave a comment
I just wanted to share a cool healing experience I had on wednesday night. We were in Obsidian Sanctum and were pulling the patrol right before the 3rd drake (whose name I forget…it’s the one where you have to enter to portals cause he becomes immune). Somehow the drake got pulled at the same time as the patrol and wiped half the raid. That included the other healer and the off tank. And the few dps who were hybrids and could step in and help. So it was me, the druid tank, a mage, a warlock, a hunter, and a rogue. We got the patrols down and started working on the boss. The dps was overgeared so the damage was pretty high, but as they were all squishy the incoming damage was pretty intense. When the portal time happened, I had to dance in and out of the portal switching from healing the tank to healing the group of dps. And I totally managed to pull it off, without loosing any additional people. I was very proud of myself.
Anyway, just thought I’d share that.
“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”
~Fizz
This has nothing to do with WoW
October 14, 2009 § 3 Comments
Alright, so I wanted to share a little bit of real life frustration this morning.
I live in New York City. Part of living here means I have to take the subway. When I first moved here lo those many years ago, the subway was a magical place. A new and exciting experience full of action and adventure. I grew up in a small(ish) city and had never seen a transit system before in my life. And when I moved I was very excited about this train that would take me anywhere I wanted to go. I also lived very close to the school I was attending so I didn’t actually have to take the subway, which meant I only took it when I wanted to. Eventually though I moved to an area of the city that required me to take the subway every day. And the magic of the transit system quickly faded.
Anyway, what’s my point here…oh yeah. There are two things I hate. People (re: crowds) and the subway. It’s phenomenal how rude people are. There are 4 things that people do on the train that absolutely make me want to hit them in the face:
First: People on the platform who will stand right in front of the train door and don’t get out of the way for people who try to get off. Typically these people will also get offended if you are trying to get off the train and try to get off before they get on.
Second: People who get on the train and then don’t move past the doorway. Move to the center of the car you idiots! Then the rest of us will fit on the train!
Third: People who will stand up on a very crowded car before the train has had a chance to pull into the station and try and shove their way to the door. Where exactly do you expect me to go? The freaking car is full. When we get to the station, then you can try and shove your way off the car. Although, if you shove me again, I may turn around and punch you in the face. I don’t care if you are 10. And wearing glasses. And a girl. Don’t. Shove. Me. Again.
Fourth: (I know this one will be most controversial) People who expect that because they are older, or a woman, or have a child with them, simply expect me to get up and give up my seat. Now don’t get me wrong, if I see someone who is clearly disabled, or looks like they are in pain, or tremendously tired, or pregnant, and sometimes even if they are carrying something, I will get up (if there is room to do so) and offer them my seat. I have nothing against offering up my seat to someone else who might need it more. What bothers me is people who expect me to get up simply because they are a woman or older (note, not old as in 60+ because I try to get up for them because they look like they can’t stand–I mean older like 40 or 50+ who are perfectly capable of standing on their own two feet).
First of all, I have my own physical disability. Granted, you can’t see it, so it’s not readily apparent, but there are days where standing up feels like thousands of tiny pygmies stabbing me with red-hot daggers. Needless to say, some days I just need to sit. Secondly, the mere fact that you are older than I am and/or happen to not have a Y chromosome does not earn you some fundamental right to sit down.
Now I know what you may be thinking. “Fizz, if you yourself have a disability that people can’t actually see, shouldn’t that make you more sensitive to other people who may need to sit down because they have disabilities that you can’t see?” Well, yes actually. In fact, it makes me that much more aware of what’s going on. Which makes me more aware of when people cop the attitude that they deserve a chair simply because that’s what might be socially expected. Oh, you’re tired? Suck it up. So am I.
Maybe, just MAYBE if you said things like, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ instead of, ‘what’s wrong with you’ and ‘I can’t believe you are so rude’ I would be more inclined to put aside my own pain and let you sit down.
It is entirely possible that I am way off base here and am just a cranky old gnome, and that maybe I should relax a little.
Or maybe the people on the subway should stop being such assholes.
Transfer Aborted: Instance Not Found
October 11, 2009 § Leave a comment
Alright, so I’m not a computer programmer so I don’t know all the ins and outs of servers and instances and such. What I do know is that when I log in on a Saturday night and can’t log in to any instance or raid I get rather upset. I try not to rail on Blizzard specifically too much for issues. Most of my daily gripes are player related. First it was “additional instances cannot be launched.” Now, it’s “transfer aborted: Instance not found.”
I don’t know what that means in computer speak. What I do know is it’s obnoxious. I’m not surprised that something like this happened. WoW is a computer program. Computer programs have bugs. What’s actually bothering me is that there is no information about the problem. Not even an acknowledgment. By the time most people read this post, it’s likely that Blizzard will have given some info and the problem might even be fixed. But for now, nothing. Not a single blue post on the forums.
All I wish for is an acknowledgment of an issue. A blue post that says, “hey here’s an issue. This is why it’s happening (we think). Here is what we are doing.” I don’t even need an estimation of how long they think it will take. I just want to know that Blizzard is doing SOMETHING.
Oh well. It’s not really that big of a deal and it will be fixed soon. It’s just annoying.
“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”
~Fizz
One step forward, two steps back (aka another Gnomer post…sort of)
October 9, 2009 § 5 Comments
So one of rumouncements (that’s rumor/announcements for those of you playing along at home) posted on WoW.com today was about the retaking of Gnomeregan. Seeing as how this issue is near and dear to my heart I was super excited to see a semi-official source saying that we will be retaking Gnomerergan. I looked at the image in the article and read the text in it, “For Gnomeregan! After five years of players purging Gnomeregan of its irradiated inhabitants, Gnomes may finally be able to reclaim their home as a new capital city for the Alliance…”
Seriously. Awesome.
However my joy was short lived. First I had to bring myself back down to reality and remember that this was all hearsay and speculation anyway. The second thing that I realized was I had missed the last part of the text in the quote on the image. “…until they mess it up again.”
Ok look. I love gnomish engineering in all its quirks. Sometimes the failures are more fun and exciting than the actual intent of the device (catastrophic poultryizer failure anyone?), and it’s these little quirks that make playing Gnomes fun. We’re eccentric, clever, ingenious, and loyal. We are not however, children, footballs, fools, or failures.
What I’m getting at I suppose is I am bothered by the continual lack of respect for gnomes, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the players who play them. I’m not railing against the taunts and cries of the Horde. They are the opposing side. They are supposed to hate us. I’m bothered by those who would call us allies. Goodhearted teasing isn’t the problem. I tease my friend who plays a Night Elf about being a dang dirty lazy hippie. So when a few jokes about my stature or the reach of my arm comes my way, it doesn’t phase me. It’s when people step in with the attitude (and sometimes the phrase), “Step aside shorty, let the real heroes take care of this.” It shows a fundamental lack of faith and trust. So when I read that we might get to retake Gnomeregan “until [we] mess it up again” I can’t help but feel the heavily implied (intended or not) disrespect.
Don’t write us off.
You may regret it.
“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”
~Fizz
PS: Anyone who doesn’t think that the gnomes are heavily denigrated, just go read the comments in that post I mentioned. Yes, many of the comments are cheers of huzzah, and there are an equal amount of people crying “If you give the Gnomes back their home, the Trolls should get theirs too.” But if you really read the comments, you will pick up on an immense amount of flippant disregard for the Gnomes.
PPS: Just as a side note, for anyone wondering, yes I support the Trolls getting their own city (whether it be the Echo Isles or not).
The Cranky Old Gnome 