Shaman Healing

Finally got my lovely shaman to level 60, so I've reached the Outlands part of the game. Got myself Dual-Specialisations, so now I've got the enhancement and restoration trees covered. I do have 1 problem though...

I am not confident in my healing ability!

So I need your help. Know any good blogs about shaman healing, or just a few pointers of your own?? Please, please, please, please, please (I'm not begging, honest!) help me out. There are so many dungeons and good healers are a rarity. Bad healers, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen. Don't want to be one of those bad healers, oh no!

So Hellfire Ramparts and beyond await my healing expertise. Where do you suggest I get the advice I need??

Days and days of pain!

That's right. Days and days of it. Not my pain though. Animated pain. Assassination target pain. But it's good pain. Soul cleansing pain.

Yeah, I've been lost in the eyes of a beautiful game since Thursday night and it has been heavenly bliss. (I bet I'll get slapped for that, but it's worth it!) I was a fan of Assassins Creed 1 but AC2 has exceeded my expectations over and over again.

My favourite part so far, other than the assorted killings - both main plot and secondary - has been the not-so-subtle reference placed in the game for nerds everywhere. Uncle "It's-a me, Mario!" gave me a good laugh and when you can go down the well (think giant pipe) next to Mario's house to find treasure, that just sealed the deal.

If you want a walkthrough, you'll have to look elsewhere, but I can assure you that there are many, many, many sites and videos that show you exactly where to go and how to get there with the minimum fuss.

That's it from me for now. People to kill, chests to be looted, Codex pages to be discovered and deciphered... the work of an Assassin is never done.

It's coming!!!

Assassin's Creed 2, 3 days to go. 10 hour shift on the day of release...

What did I do for Karma to smack me about this way?

On a happier note, I got the 50 mount achievement on my Death Knight in World of Warcraft last week, so I received the fantastical Albino Drake. To get to the 50 I picked up the Sunreaver Dragonhawk, so now I have 2 pretty looking mounts to zoom around on. Not faster than the others by any stretch of the imagination, but much nicer to look at. Now if I could only get my A into G and grind that Netherwing rep I'll have another mount... one I doubt many DK's have.

The Miserly Horseman

The 2 week holiday of All Hallows Eve in WoW has ended and the Horseman is well and truly dead... till next year anyway. My problem with the Horseman stems from the fact that I had a plan in mind and he didn't stick to it.

I had a solid group of guildies with me for the duration of the holiday, so every night we went into the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard and summoned the delirious Horseman time and time again. With at least 7 lvl 80's to call on, we figured we had a good chance at getting the Horseman's Mount. Well, we didn't. We didn't have any chances at all, because it just wouldn't drop! The different rings the Horseman holds dropped plenty of times. The Helm dropped a few times (although it didn't drop for one of the guilds up and coming alts. Next year Barbarian, next year.) and I got it on 2 different toons, but I was really after that mount. Looks like I need 3 more still for the 50 mounts achievement. Back to the Champions Seal Grind!

STO Insignia

I just figured, for anyone who has read the post titled "MMO Overload and Assassins Creed II", you may be wondering what the insignia stands for.

To give you the basics, I'll have to break it down a little for you.

Firstly, Inextirpable NCC-6783. Taken straight from the dictionary, Inextirpable means "Difficult or impossible to eradicate or destroy." That's the kind of ship I want. Can stand up to any amount of firepower that you can throw at it and still survive. Might be a bit impractical, nay, impossible, but it's the thought that counts, right? As for the rest, that's just the ship's designation number.

Secondly, the wolf. Wolves have always been my totem animal, a creature I feel a connection to. You might not be aware, but the wolf silhouette is imposed over a full moon, something else I have a connection with. The guy who designed this for me figured it was a good way to incorporate a bit of who I am into the design.

Thirdly, the Star Trek symbol with the Stars inside. The Stars are arranged as the Southern Cross, often seen in the Southern Hemisphere. In Australia these stars are somewhat significant and are shown on our national flag. This was put in there as a shout-out to my Aussie heritage and to all the other Aussies I will hopefully meet in the game.

Finally, the runes are significant to my Viking heritage, way back into the fog of time. The runes, reading from left to right, read as follows - Horse, Gift, Odin, Joy - Sun, Tyr, Ride, Torch. Sounds weird, right? The good thing about runes is the symbols that they represent.

On the left side: A Horse is more than just an animal. It is strength (horsepower) and travel. Giving a gift is more than you think too. By giving to someone else we also give to ourselves - happiness and love are the best gifts you can receive when you give of yourself. Odin, the Chief God of Norse mythology, is closely connected with shape-shifting and battle - together combining me and the Inextirpable within the same rune. Joy - the joy of discovery, battle, survival... Joy is represented here in many guises, all of which can be boiled down to one major representation - the joy of life.

On the right side: The Sun. Mystical giver of life. Also a rune of power, relating to the reactions within the sun granting heat and light. Tyr, the god of single combat, is also represented, giving luck to those who meet on the field of battle in honour. The next run, designated "Ride", is another run of travel, more to do with exploration and diplomacy in it's usage here. As a ship of the Knights Templar fleet, the Inextirpable will see more diplomatic and exploratory missions than usual in an attempt to keep the Federation safe. Finally, the Torch. Useful for light, the Torch can also be a weapon or a beacon in differing situations.

So there you have it, my interpretation of the Insignia of the Inextirpable of the Federations Knights Templar Fleet.  Many thanks to Dru_mcd of the Knight Templar for designing the insignia for me. You've done better than I could have wished for.

MMO Overload and Assassins Creed II

STO is coming and I can barely contain myself.

If you want the background information on the game, made by Cryptic, head over to their website: http://www.startrekonline.com/


As for me, I'm really looking forward to the exploration side of things. They have an engine built into the game that seeds an infinite number of new worlds so there is always something new to do... a new place to explore... somewhere to boldly go... yeah, you get the idea. So that's where I'm at. Strange new planets, new races, new threats to Federation security. Hell yeah, fry those suckers.


Well, I've actually joined the Knights Templar fleet, as you can see from my Insignia above. I guess that means there won't be any random frying, just frying of the enemies of the Knights and the Federation. Delicate, surgical frying. No indiscriminate frying. I guess I'll have to make a few toons just to be able to get my kill quota.



Speaking of toons, been playing with my random WoW creations recently, all due to Hallow's Eve. Got my DK the "Hallowed" title so now he is only 3 holidays away from his Violet Proto-Drake, but I'm still working on the Headless Horseman's Horse. Killing him 5 times a day for the past week has yielded nothing yet, but I'm hopeful I can finally get it before the week is out.

Finally, Assassins Creed II is only a few weeks away and looking like a great time-sink. New moves, new weapons, new ways of dispatching your various enemies and marks. This time round though, instead of following the orders of a superior, it looks like you are out there for revenge. And seeing as it is set in Italy, the revenge looks to be done in the most flamboyant ways possible. Don't believe me? Check out the E3 gameplay video on YouTube. Then grab a tea towel - you'll need it to wipe up the drool.




On the 19th of November I'll be awaiting the opening of the store I pre-ordered the Black Edition from so I can get my hands on the juiciest sneakfest to be released since the original Assassins Creed. Really, for an extra $50 on top of the normal price, do I think the Black Edition is worth it? Yeah, I do. With the game slated to be twice as big as the first, plus the 3 extra missions that come in the BE, a scale model of the new protagonist and an artbook to admire while the TV is being used for non-Xbox purposes, I'm sure I made the right choice.

Let that inner shaman shine!

Been playing lots of Warcraft lately. Started a new project in game - leveling a shaman. New guild, new people to talk with, new class to learn.

So now I've got Faeyer, a level 40 tauren shaman. It's been so much fun I've practically stopped playing my other toons, only bringing them out of storage when I've needed to do something specific (like Brewfest) or when I've wanted an escape from leveling. I will admit though, the escapes haven't lasted long. "1 more level. 1 more quest. That's all I need for now."

One thing i love about the shaman class is the flexibility. Cast spells, melee attacks, healing... the whole gamut of actions are available whenever you want. I've gone down the enhancement tree, giving me great melee capabilities, though I will eventually get dual specialization so I can take healing as well.

Speaking of healing, I've never played a healer before, always sticking with a class that I wasn't heavily relied upon. Sure, my paladin is Protection spec, so I am considered a "tank", but whenever I took the lead in a dungeon I made sure I had a great healer backing me up so there were never too many issues. But as a healer people are relying on me to keep them alive - scary in my opinion.

Now I do know it's a game, that if anyone dies it isn't the end of the world, but if I didn't try my hardest to stick to my role within the group why would I bother playing? Why play Need For Speed if you weren't there to win? Why play Call of Duty if you didn't want to shoot at people?? World of Warcraft has been slammed by many people, for whatever reason, but they all fail to realise that we play the game for a purpose. For some it is an escape from reality. Others like the sense of accomplishment that comes with end-game raiding or PvP. I personally like belonging to a group, helping other people in that group achieve their goals while achieving my own. I think that's why I am loving the shaman - or as I said in the title - letting my inner shaman shine. The shaman is mostly self-sufficient in a solo capacity. They can fill a number of roles within a group (even multiple roles within that same group). Their healing prowess puts them on the same level as a priest or a paladin in that respect, even better in some cases, but healing shamans seem to be a rarity in the current game.

That's where I want to be eventually, healing through Naxx, the Argent Tournament, perhaps even Icecrown Citadel in the future. Who knows?

What are we doing to the children?

Please, won't somebody think of the children?!

Now I've gotten that out of my system, on with tonight's show... erm, blog.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Great cars, so-so game. It was fun for the first few races really, then I realised that I couldn't change the cars - they look and drive just like road cars, which probably fills a niche. Sadly I'm not a part of that little world. Probably spoiled by the NFS range of games.

This is why it's good that I also got NFS Shift. Would have to be the most fun I have had racing all year, which is indeed a challenge being this close to the end of 2009. It all comes down to the racing line. That's right, following the damn green arrows as they arc away to the corners where they change to an alarming red (Brake you idiot! Brake!!). The cool thing is that if you stick to the arrows like that VD you picked up at that party, you get points for it. Lots and lots of Driver upgrading points. It also adds to your "precision" driving skill. Drive like your nan, avoid crashing into other cars and follow that line to be precise. If you go the other way, you are deemed "aggressive". That's driving into other cars, spinning them out of control into various walls and drafting your way into powerful corner slides (as opposed to drifting) for maximum aggressiveness.

So far, I've strangely been on the nanna track. Gotta stop trying to stick to that line and take some bastards out. Take one for the team!! Sorry readers, bed is calling and tomorrow is a great day for racing - on the Xbox, not the road.

Not At All Famous - Nope, Not One Bit

Infamous. I'll just let you sit there for a minute and reflect on the title of this great PS3 only game...

Taken a minute? Good! Well, what do you think?

Nothing? Can't take anything from the name... hmm... Well, what about a screenie??

Basically, you are a human lightning rod - shoot electricity from your hands, absorb it from televisions, lightposts, generators, anything electrical. You can also climb up buildings better than Spiderman, glide around on railway lines faster than Superman. That's right, you are the new superhero of Empire City!!

Or the new supervillain. That's the path I took. The red lightning is a dead giveaway. The thing I love about this game is the impact your choices have on how the game turns out. Steal from a guy (in a mission) and the people in the area start to hate you. Kill too many bystanders and they throw rocks at you (or run away terrified). The good vs evil isn't a clear-cut choice every time either. The guy hanging from the street light - do you shoot him with lightning or walk away? I walked away and was given a bigger evil rating.

 

As far as sand-box games go, this is probably my favourite now. You take the pace of the game as fast as you want - follow the main path, do the side quests, or go shard collecting!! I did every side-mission as it came up, freeing different parts of the city from the control of the gangs that take over at the beginning. Gang members come in all shapes and sizes, from the tiny scorpion-like constructs that sting you if you aren't fast enough to zap them, all the way up to the giant robots that have a person inside with similar powers to you. Watch out Cole, you're going to become a human pancake!

Finally, after looking at some of the awesome powers that you have access to, I hear you asking:

"Mr Wolf, sir, is that it?" Here's one last screenie to give you a hint:

Marvelous that.

Laaaast Night, Shee Said....

Well, she didn't say much, that's for sure. But it was Games night, and boy weren't there some games!!

The question is, where do we start? The fun that was COD4 (again!!) and talk about the new upcoming sequel? Nah, not my cup of tea really. But it was fun and I managed to give James a run for his money, which I think is a first.

Wii Sports!! Um... let's not talk about Wii sports. I'm not that great on a sporting field as it is, but on the Wii I was even worse (if that is indeed possible).

Perhaps the Pro Bodyboarding game from the PS1... now that was a laugh. No instructions, no practice, just straight into the surf with you!! Yeah, let's just go get a fake tan and say we were at the beach.

So it comes down to UFC again. This time we watched the tutorial bit about clinches and submission holds and breaking them and the like, which made the game much more technical and actually made it quite a challenge. The speed of the Muay Thai boxer outclassed the Kickboxing freak of nature more than last time we played, which meant more even matches and less predictible outcomes. We even managed to get to the 3rd round once - first time round we were lucky to make it to the second - and there was even a submission hold that worked towards the end of the game. I think if we went back and counted James probably won more bouts than me, but it was still a close thing every time we got into the CG ring. Much better experience than last time indeed.

Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?? No, really - do you?

Felicia Day singing, her "Guild" mates joining in. 'Nuff said!

UFC - Fun but flawed

Played UFC 2009 on Monday night... well, played the demo anyway. Finally a game I can beat James at, but I found it essentially flawed. It takes a little getting into though to find the problem.

I was the talented kickboxer and James had the super-quick Muay Thai fighter. First fight took a while while we wrested with the controls, blocking when we wanted to punch and throwing body blows when a head shot would have finished off our opponent, so we got well into the second round before the outcome was reached. After that though, a pattern emerged. Head kicks from the kickboxer quickly wore down his opponent and once he was on the ground, some solid punches to the head finished off the round. I think the fastest result was a mere 30 seconds since the bell rang. Crazy!

And here is where the problem became apparent. Unless the assailant stopped attacking and allowed the referee to halt the match so we could stand, there was nothing the guy on the ground could do, not that we could find anyway. I tried again at home and there was a hold move that could be done, but I only saw it once and had no idea how the AI managed it. So really, once you were on the ground, you were toast.

Realistically, there should have been more options available to defend yourself. I think I'll stick to Fight Night 4, if and when James or I get it.

Rock 'em - Sock 'em - Racing!!

Holy Geez!!! Burnout Paradise is INSANE!!! (This is not a clinical diagnosis, just an opinion.)

Played it on the PS3 last night and when I finally got used to the NOS and handbrake buttons (they are the opposite to the XBox NFS ones) I had a blast. Running other cars off the road to add them to your junkyard, to win races or just for the hell of it is what the game seems to be about. Plus there is the part where you crash your car and start a chain reaction of crashes, trying to cause as much damage (in $$) as you can before you run out of NOS and are forced to stop.

Also played Smackdown vs Raw 2007 on the XBox - Undertaker ftw! Well, not really. Undertaker got beaten in the cage match (I couldn't figure out how to get over the top of the cage) and with a little assistance he won the Royale Rumble (I gave James the controller and he managed to flick Triple H out of the ring in less than 20 seconds) but it left me wanting. Wanting Fight Night 4 that is.

That's all from me tonight. Happy hunting!

So...

Damn, it's been a while. Sorry to anyone who keeps tabs on me, been a busy few weeks. Had my birthday and the job moved shops, you know the crap that life throws at you.

Anywho, I got Saints Row 2 for my birthday from my lovely fiancee and I've loved every second of it so far. Runnin' and gunnin' for your crew is a blast and living in various holes around the town is great. The fact you have to clear out an abandoned hotel for your crew to hang out in is a fun way to get back into the swing of things.

Also been playing Fable 2 (Thanks James!) quite a bit recently. Have run through the main story of the game once already and had to try it out as the evilest and most corrupt guy I could... and it was damned easy to do! Going to have to give it a go as a goody-twoshoes too just to see how it changes the game but its been hell fun to kick the shit out of the villagers of Oakfield - yeah, I bought out that town when everyone was dead - and I love the fact that you can leave the game going (even with the controller disconnected) and you keep getting rent from your various properties. Ended up with 62000 gold after one particularly long break.

James and I will be forming a joint blog about gaming soon, more a look at the specifics of a game instead of personal feelings about them, so when it happens I'll make a note of it here.

Happy hunting!

SUPERNOVA SYDNEY!!!

Oh yeah! Supernova was insane! First time I had been to the official Nerd convention and it definitely won't be the last. Had heaps of fun, made fun of the stinking furrys (or is that furries) and admired the effort the faithful put into their costumes. That reminds me, I need to research a costume for next year. Yeah, I'm considering it.

So I took a few photos on my trusty iPhone of the event, but I spent too much time slack-jawed and drooling to do very much. Karl Urban was the highlight of the event... well, he was supposed to be, but after listening to what Jake Lloyd (Anakin from the Phantom Menace) had to say about life after Star Wars (and speaking with him afterwards... he's a nerd and not afraid to admit it!) the line up for Karl Urban was stupidly long so I had to make do with the following interaction:


But I did get to see Richard Hatch (Apollo from the original Battlestar Galactica and Tom Zerich from the new one) and see some of what he had to do to get the new series on air. The guy is totally driven to do what he wants! Oh yeah, this is him signing autographs:


Not only were there people to listen to and admire, we had stalls selling everything from Twilight posters to Twilight mugs and Twilight keyrings... yes, there was a hell of alot of Twilight for sale. But that didn't stop the hardcore Pop culture fans getting their revenge!!


Hehehehe, yeah. Love that shirt. But there were other things on sale as well. Anime, Sci-Fi and gaming were all heavily represented by both the sellers and the fans. Major props to the organisers for running such a well-oiled machine. EB, Sega, Upper Deck, AMD, Kings Comics... soooo much to see, so little money to spend.

I do have to give a BIG THUMBS DOWN to the Upper Deck crew. They were rude and totally unhelpful. Not that I care for my sake. Fuck, they could tell me to piss off and I would shrug and walk away. But what if a young child (of which there were plenty) walked up when I did, only to be told "No, we can't help. We get to have lunch too you know." Who even asked you, crazy Upper Deck witch? I was reading your advertising material! And then we have the Upper Deck TCG tournament organiser. I was referred to him for a different event, but one that he was situated at anyway, and I was abruptly told that "My question did not concern him" and I had to ask someone else... WTF dude? Are you representing your company at all well? Was sitting at your computer doing JACK SHIT that involved you couldn't say the proper 3 words that would solve my dilemma?? Sorry Upper Deck, but you have got to hire staff that actually GIVE A FUCK!!!

Despite that, and the goddamn unholy furries (you are not a cat/dog/wolf!! You are a person!! you cannot have sex with a cat/dog/wolf!!) that seemed to be everywhere I turned, I had a very enjoyable day. To John and Natalie, thanks for the company. :P

The end of an era

So the place I work is closing down, changing hands, moving forward...

I'm just going to stop there for a second... WTF is with "Moving forward"?? I first heard it from my bosses boss a few months ago and now I can't go a whole damn day without hearing someone say it. Why would anyone say "Moving forward"?? We know we are moving forward!! It would be bloody useless moving backwards!!

*cough* Sorry about that. Back to it.

So, it looks like I'll be taking a cut in hours (Boo!!) but I'll be able to spend more time at home gaming (Hooray!!) And with the new WoW patch introducing mounts for the lower levels I'll be able to get my alts moving through the game faster than ever before. Plus I'll have Assassins Creed 2 and Starcraft 2 to sink my teeth into when they are released! Release the games already! I'm dying over here!!

Anywho, I'll be posting about Supernova in a couple of days (Woohoo!!) and I'll hopefully have a few blurry pictures to post as well. Catch you then!

The Leveling Game (aka Altitis)

Started playing my little mage a bit more recently. My warlock has had a work out here and there as well. Not sure what happened, haven't done the dailys on my DK for about a week (although I did jump on him for the Midsummer quests and finished them within the day - Go team proto-Drake!!) and my hunter has stalled at 64.

I guess I have altitis again. Maybe I should see the doctor.

On a more serious note, I've started leveling my mage as Frost and I've been pleasantly surprised. Only level 11, so I've taken 2 points in Frostbite and even though it is only a 10% chance to proc it seems to work on every second mob or so. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I love being able to load up another fireball or 2 before I have to do some backpedaling.

As for the warlock I'm heading down the Demonology tree. I haven't played a Demonologist until now (my original Warlock is Affliction and I could never change that) so I'm still getting used to a different rotation of DoTs, but it seems to be going well. Can't wait for the Felguard and eventually Metamorphosis (Demon form, power up!) but seeing as I'm only at lvl 25 there it might still be a while.

Heading off into Azeroth again for another exciting day of Barrens chat. See you all on the other side!!

Sleeping in WoW

I reckon I could sleep while playing my hunter in Warcraft. Seriously. I would lay my head down on the keyboard and because I am a restless sleeper I would be casting special arrows and moving in totally random patterns. With my bear at my side (or up in front tanking where he belongs) I am unstoppable! Well, almost, but those few deaths don't count.

Looks like it is time for another installment of WoW and Burn Notice, so I will have to write more later, perhaps about how many levels I gain whilst asleep tonight.

Screenshots. That what this post is all about.

I've had some fun times in WoW, some really weird ones, but I am always on the lookout for unusual pics. Here are a few that I like:

Always wanted to be 007, but I didn't have the stomach to handle the torture. MI6 tossed me out right after this.


Helping out the Goblin Engineers testing their new rapid transport system. Trying the rival the Deeprun Tram I guess.


The Legion of Terror invaded the stage at the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftan concert in Terrokar Forest outside of Shattrath City. Not long after this security swarmed us under. I still reckon we were a better act.

Yeah, I'm crazy. But fun! (And yes, these are all setup shots, but that's the way the cookie crumbles after you dunk it in milk)

Hunter pets

Hey readers,

Got Beast Mastery today. First thing I did was tame me an albino dinosaur to add to my collection. That now makes 4 pets, all of them white. I've had the White Tiger since STV (called him Ghost), but the Polar Bear and the Snowy Owl (Phantasm and Spectre respectively) are fairly recent additions from Winterspring. So when I got the dinosaur today I decided he had to have a similar name.

Sadly my guildes (shout out to the people of Hells Pain!) were not following the same train of thought so I had to resort to Wikipedia for inspiration. Luckily I found the perfect name: Wraith. He is still a little under level (I'm at 62, Wraith is 56) and he doesn't hold agro at the moment like Phantasm does but we are working out the kinks in our relationship at a great pace.

Now all I need is 150 gold for the final spot in the stables and I'll have 5 different pets. Going to have to change their talent points when I get to 80 so they all have a role to play but that is still 18 levels away so I'll have a look at that when I finally get there. For now I'll keep an eye on how Wraith differs from Ghost so I can play up to his strengths. I have to admit, he does rip through demons fairly well. Just need to teach him to keep them off my back for longer. Can't shoot very well when I am running away.