Just want to take a moment to remember this day in our very recent history.
When Sept 11, 2001 had come and gone I had written a story of what I was feeling, where I was, and what I was doing that day. I was thinking of posting it here but I don't know. Who wants to read about the first 4 hours of my day, so far away from what was really going on.
I've just reread it. The feelings I had that day. The fear and panic I experienced come flooding back. We are so lucky in this country that we don't have to feel that fear of invasion and war in our backyards. There are no bombs blowing up our homes, no soldiers taking our loved ones away. But I can imagine it. I can put myself in that place and feel that fear and wonder why, or more to the point how, we can do these things to each other. That people have decided that others should not live because they believe in something different or live differently. It angers me.
Then I remember it is human nature to wage war on someone or something. To band together for a cause, be it real or imagined. Regardless, it still boggles my mind how we can treat each other so horribly. Not just I don't like you, but I will kill you for it. Not just words but sticks and stones.
/sigh
"All you need is Love"? Beatles - All You Need Is Love
Wishing the world a better day xoxo
Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
MIA
Hello there...if you're following this and wondering where I've been in game lately (Ror). Work has been kicking my ass. Over the next month I am covering for my boss, changing my days off, covering my co-workers, working with incoming HHN (Halloween Horror Nights) and have an upcoming vacation with relatives visiting. When I get home from work my brain is so fried from listening and talking and processing information that all I can do is sit and stare at the TV. And I'm perfectly happy with that :). Every brain needs a rest and sometimes even WoW takes too much thinking to get in to.
I find that I tend to be the guild cheerleader so I hope they don't suffer in my absence. On the other side, I miss everyone.
I will probably not be on as much through the month of September.
C'ya soon.
I find that I tend to be the guild cheerleader so I hope they don't suffer in my absence. On the other side, I miss everyone.
I will probably not be on as much through the month of September.
C'ya soon.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Cataclysm - items and stats
Hi all,
Sorry for the delay between posts but its been, as usual, a heck of a week. Work, the guild and life in general, always seem to find a way to change my plans.
This installment is from the Blizzcon Class Items & Professions Panel discussion. The biggest piece of news to come from this panel was the change in item statistics. In game items will no longer have the following stats on them:
MP5
Spell Power (SP)
Attack Power (AP)
Defense
Armor Penetration in the same form
Block in the same form
It looks like we are harkening back to the days when items (gear and weapons) contained the core stats such as Intel, Spirit, Stam etc and those stats modified the secondary stats listed above. Here's the lowdown.
MP5 (mana per 5 seconds) will be controlled through Spirit. Spell Power as well as mana regen will be modified by Intel. Attack Power will be based on Agility. Defense and Armor Pen will come thru the talent tree and the new mastery system. Block, while I dont claim to understand it, will become a mitigation for incoming damage, and was described as being similar to Dodge. In the same vein, Stamina will no longer have anything to do with Spell Power, Attack Power or Defense. In essence Stam = health and its possible for plate wearers and clothies alike to have similar it not the same HP.
Haste, which essentially caused casters to push buttons faster, will work the same for melee. It was also stated that it may possibly increase regen of rage, energy, focus and/or runic power. It very much sounded like it was still up for discussion as to how exactly it will work.
Very short and to the point which was nice. This panel was very quick, leaving a lot of time for Q & A.
I think this is awesome. I always wondered what prompted the Blizz think-tank to come up with more math for one stat than the average CalSci classroom. It has always seemed like an annoyance. Hit, Crit, AP, Def all seem this convoluted mess that only a dedicated math wiz would tackle. In the end, for me the average Joe, I just stacked whatever seemed best or whatever the latest trends told me was the right way to go. I did do some research on my own, but I was rarely ever able to scratch the surface. I don't know if converting back to the "old days" will make any difference to me as far as the math goes. I can say with certainty though, I seemed to be able to understand it better when 1 stat like Spirit, modified 1 or 2 other stats like health or mana regen. I could measure those effects myself by simply taking off and putting on gear and looking at the numbers. After some simple calculations, if I recall correctly, 1 Stam = 20 hp, or something along those lines. I could look at it and understand what the gear was modifying. I may not have understood all the mathematical ramifications but I could get from A to B and look at C and say, "Oh ok I can see how it works", even if abstractly. Now it seems like every time I change a piece of gear it becomes an equation and balancing act if I want to maintain the stats I think "might" be the right ones for me. I have regemmed more gear just from changing one piece of armor than ever before. I am hoping this will make my personal math hell a little easier. So all I can say at this point is /cross fingers. ;)
Sorry for the delay between posts but its been, as usual, a heck of a week. Work, the guild and life in general, always seem to find a way to change my plans.
This installment is from the Blizzcon Class Items & Professions Panel discussion. The biggest piece of news to come from this panel was the change in item statistics. In game items will no longer have the following stats on them:
MP5
Spell Power (SP)
Attack Power (AP)
Defense
Armor Penetration in the same form
Block in the same form
It looks like we are harkening back to the days when items (gear and weapons) contained the core stats such as Intel, Spirit, Stam etc and those stats modified the secondary stats listed above. Here's the lowdown.
MP5 (mana per 5 seconds) will be controlled through Spirit. Spell Power as well as mana regen will be modified by Intel. Attack Power will be based on Agility. Defense and Armor Pen will come thru the talent tree and the new mastery system. Block, while I dont claim to understand it, will become a mitigation for incoming damage, and was described as being similar to Dodge. In the same vein, Stamina will no longer have anything to do with Spell Power, Attack Power or Defense. In essence Stam = health and its possible for plate wearers and clothies alike to have similar it not the same HP.
Haste, which essentially caused casters to push buttons faster, will work the same for melee. It was also stated that it may possibly increase regen of rage, energy, focus and/or runic power. It very much sounded like it was still up for discussion as to how exactly it will work.
Very short and to the point which was nice. This panel was very quick, leaving a lot of time for Q & A.
I think this is awesome. I always wondered what prompted the Blizz think-tank to come up with more math for one stat than the average CalSci classroom. It has always seemed like an annoyance. Hit, Crit, AP, Def all seem this convoluted mess that only a dedicated math wiz would tackle. In the end, for me the average Joe, I just stacked whatever seemed best or whatever the latest trends told me was the right way to go. I did do some research on my own, but I was rarely ever able to scratch the surface. I don't know if converting back to the "old days" will make any difference to me as far as the math goes. I can say with certainty though, I seemed to be able to understand it better when 1 stat like Spirit, modified 1 or 2 other stats like health or mana regen. I could measure those effects myself by simply taking off and putting on gear and looking at the numbers. After some simple calculations, if I recall correctly, 1 Stam = 20 hp, or something along those lines. I could look at it and understand what the gear was modifying. I may not have understood all the mathematical ramifications but I could get from A to B and look at C and say, "Oh ok I can see how it works", even if abstractly. Now it seems like every time I change a piece of gear it becomes an equation and balancing act if I want to maintain the stats I think "might" be the right ones for me. I have regemmed more gear just from changing one piece of armor than ever before. I am hoping this will make my personal math hell a little easier. So all I can say at this point is /cross fingers. ;)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cataclysm - races/classes
Hi,
I'm tired today so I'm going to do the next bits in installments. Here are the new race/class combos. I am not going to go over the new racials, but the plan is all current racials are being looked at to make sure they are all at the same level of cool.
The biggest changes will be to Hunters and Warlocks as far as class changes.
Hunters will no longer be on a mana system but will be utilizing Energy/Focus instead.
Warlocks shard system is being revamped and shards will no longer take up inventory space. The system is not yet completely fleshed out for either class so to speculate would be a little premature.
I'm tired today so I'm going to do the next bits in installments. Here are the new race/class combos. I am not going to go over the new racials, but the plan is all current racials are being looked at to make sure they are all at the same level of cool.
The biggest changes will be to Hunters and Warlocks as far as class changes.
Hunters will no longer be on a mana system but will be utilizing Energy/Focus instead.
Warlocks shard system is being revamped and shards will no longer take up inventory space. The system is not yet completely fleshed out for either class so to speculate would be a little premature.
| DK | Drui | Hunt | Mage | Pal | Pri | Rog | Sham | Wlk | Warr | |
| Alliance | ||||||||||
| Human | X | NEW | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Night Elf | X | X | X | NEW | X | X | X | |||
| Dwarf | X | X | NEW | X | X | X | NEW | X | ||
| Gnome | X | X | NEW | X | X | X | ||||
| Draenei | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Worgen | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Horde | ||||||||||
| Orc | X | X | NEW | X | X | X | X | |||
| Tauren | X | X | X | NEW | X | X | ||||
| Troll | X | NEW | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Undead | X | NEW | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Blood Elf | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | NEW | ||
| Goblin | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Crazy Weekend - Blizzcon & my thoughts
This is my intermittent post. It has been a crazy Blizzcon weekend. Even though I was not able to attend I did totally geek out via DirecTV, Twitter and Ustream.
I am currently sitting on Ustream waiting for the wowinsider show to start with their wrapup for the day, after listening to the instance ustream just about all day while the PPV covered SC2 and D3. As well as starting up this blog.
So this is my chance to put my own thoughts down. Cataclysm is gonna be freaky wild shit. I am so excited to be revisiting old world content though I am terribly sorry to see some of it change. When they said that Southshore is gone and Auberdine is a wreck my jaw dropped. The changes will be so beyond different from what I leveled up in 4 years ago, and have lived in just about every day since. Its like an old friend and it feels kinda lost to me at the moment.
I am excited about the worgen but unsure about goblins. Goblins never struck me as allying with any particular faction but I can see the logic. At least it wont mess with Booty Bay, Gadgetzan or Everlook. I truly can't wait to explore it all and FLY! Have been dying for that since flying came out in BC.
I do have to add that these announcements, for me, really convince me of how much Blizzard seems to care about their product. While we all bitch and moan about this thing or that thing they seem to show an unending patience to weed through all of it and to try and make it right. Even if that means nerfing DK's to create more balance.
I am excited to see how the patches before the expansion will play out. I really had tons of fun with the zombie invasion, even when I had to hide in the back of the IF vault to DE items from the mail to keep from getting the plague. It was still great fun and I spent a lot of time hanging with friends and guildies in game just stomping around killing zombified people. It is truly the small moments in WoW that make it the most enjoyable for me. Laughing with people I like to hang with. Ok enough sobby stuff.
I am not sure how I feel about the new warlock shard system but really there's not much to say until I play it. The new talent trees look much easier and much more fun. The ancient glyph system seems pretty accessible and I'm really interested in what the paths are and mean to everyone. Each path must have a theme of sorts right?
I am most happy about the guild management, guild achievement, guild currency stuff. As a guild leader I'm excited to bring my guildmates into guild decisions such as talents etc and possibly solidify the group more as a whole. I can envision guild-wide meetings. I also really like the idea of being able to invite other guilds to your events. It will make coordinating with our sister guild much easier.
Speaking of...I'm gonna pop on and play some for the first time in several days :) while I listen to WoWInsider do their wrap up. Which hasnt started yet by the way. lol
I am currently sitting on Ustream waiting for the wowinsider show to start with their wrapup for the day, after listening to the instance ustream just about all day while the PPV covered SC2 and D3. As well as starting up this blog.
So this is my chance to put my own thoughts down. Cataclysm is gonna be freaky wild shit. I am so excited to be revisiting old world content though I am terribly sorry to see some of it change. When they said that Southshore is gone and Auberdine is a wreck my jaw dropped. The changes will be so beyond different from what I leveled up in 4 years ago, and have lived in just about every day since. Its like an old friend and it feels kinda lost to me at the moment.
I am excited about the worgen but unsure about goblins. Goblins never struck me as allying with any particular faction but I can see the logic. At least it wont mess with Booty Bay, Gadgetzan or Everlook. I truly can't wait to explore it all and FLY! Have been dying for that since flying came out in BC.
I do have to add that these announcements, for me, really convince me of how much Blizzard seems to care about their product. While we all bitch and moan about this thing or that thing they seem to show an unending patience to weed through all of it and to try and make it right. Even if that means nerfing DK's to create more balance.
I am excited to see how the patches before the expansion will play out. I really had tons of fun with the zombie invasion, even when I had to hide in the back of the IF vault to DE items from the mail to keep from getting the plague. It was still great fun and I spent a lot of time hanging with friends and guildies in game just stomping around killing zombified people. It is truly the small moments in WoW that make it the most enjoyable for me. Laughing with people I like to hang with. Ok enough sobby stuff.
I am not sure how I feel about the new warlock shard system but really there's not much to say until I play it. The new talent trees look much easier and much more fun. The ancient glyph system seems pretty accessible and I'm really interested in what the paths are and mean to everyone. Each path must have a theme of sorts right?
I am most happy about the guild management, guild achievement, guild currency stuff. As a guild leader I'm excited to bring my guildmates into guild decisions such as talents etc and possibly solidify the group more as a whole. I can envision guild-wide meetings. I also really like the idea of being able to invite other guilds to your events. It will make coordinating with our sister guild much easier.
Speaking of...I'm gonna pop on and play some for the first time in several days :) while I listen to WoWInsider do their wrap up. Which hasnt started yet by the way. lol
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