Since last week was my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a small vacation, and took Wednesday through Friday off to enjoy some leisure time. A mental health holiday, as it were. It I had quite a good time doing it, too.
Tag: warcraft
It’s been a pretty social week out this way, which has been a lot of fun, on the whole.
Weekend started out lousy, got better, then got much worse.
Friday night, WoW date with catalana was scuttled by Internet troubles. Spent some time with Comcast on the phone, then they were going to send out a technician on Sunday. Bah. Borrowed a cup of wireless from a neighbor, which was good enough to surf, but not to do anything that required long sustained connections like WoW or ssh.
Saturday, went to the library book sale, and scored a lot of fun books (including a 1974 “Encyclopedia of Love and Sex” that should be worth at least a few giggles) and an eclectic stack of CDs. From there, got a call from Comcast that they’d found and fixed the Internet problem (which was a neighborhood outage and not specific to my apartment. Went to a housewarming party a friend was having, where we gathered quite a few more books from a recent warehouse clearing.
During the party, got a call from a co-worker that we had a server down and she was going to investigate it. Called various up-line people to inform them, but figured she had it under control. She checked it at various times…but was working close with the vendor support staff to try and recover.
Came home and had my online date that had been canceled the previous night. Much fun had. Then…
Another call from co-worker. Things still going badly, needing me to come pick up for her, as she’s been on this for over fourteen hours and is getting cross-eyed. I ended up working 32 of the next 48 hours.
So the bookends of the weekend weren’t very good, but the middle was lovely.
Well, the poll I posted tells me that enough people are interested in me nattering about WoW and most people don’t care as long as I cut tag them, so I’m going to forgo a special filter. I hate making locked posts anyway, unless it’s really something I want to keep to a restricted audience.
So, starting out, we’ll talk about what my low-level alt is doing….
Given that I want to post more often (just to be in the habit) and I spend a fair emount of my time these days playing World of Warcraft, I’m considering adding posts about things happening to and around me in-game to my blogging schedule. I’d never bothered before because I didn’t think anyone would really care, but I have enough people on my friends list who play, now someone who plays, or just find things i write interesting that it might be worth doing. So, a poll:
The Ironforge Song
by Rob Wynne
TTTO: “The Toronto Song” by Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie
I hate the Great Forge and the Mystic Ward too
The Hall of Explorers and the Tinker Town crew
The roof is too high, the air is too dark
Its covered with lava and there isn’t a park
The men are all drunk and the women won’t wench
and the children are loopy cause they fell in a trench
The water is frozen and the king has no friends
And they wear lift boots and they think they’re Stormwind
In Ironforge, Dun Morogh
(Spoken)
“You know, actually I pretty much hate all of Dun Morogh!”
“Oh ya, me too!”
I hate Brewnall Village and Anvilmar
Amberstill, Coldridge, and Gol’Bolar
Frostmane sucks and the North Gate sucks
and Kharanos sucks and Gnomeregan sucks
I took a trip to Ironforge to visit Mistina Steelshield
She beat me up and she stole my cloth and she left me in a field
I went to Alterac Valley and was hit in the head by an Orc
(spoken)
I don’t even know how they did it. I mean, I was playing Guitar Hero at the time….
Dun Morogh sucks!
(spoken)
“Yup. Yknow, actually you know now I really think about it, I think I pretty much hate every gosh darn province and territory in the Alliance!”
“Well, except for Westfall”
“Ya, ya I love Westfall”
“It’s very nice, lots of cows and trees and rocks and dirt”
But
I hate Darnassus cause they look so weird
And Azuremyst Island is too small
Dustwallow Marsh is dumb ’cause its the name of a swamp
Gadgetzan doesn’t have a good mall
Hillsbrad is a warzone and it makes me mad
Dun Morogh sucks! Dun Morogh Sucks!
(spoken)
“Stranglethorn Vale has a population density of 4.9 people per quest objective — isn’t that stupid??”
The Plaguelands are boring and the people are dead
And as for the Redridge Mountains — they’re too red!
(Spoken)
“And the only good thing about the area of Elwynn Forest is that it’s right next to us”
‘Cause Westfall…..doesn’t suck
But Moonbrook does.
Here’s another song that’s likely to make sense only to my friends who play World of Warcraft. It’s also useful to know the song “The Toronto Song” by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. To ease confusion on either of these points, I’ve provided a link to the source tune (thanks, YouTube!) and links to all the things referenced from WoW, courtesy of WoWWiki.
Max Level Newbie
by Rob Wynne
TTTO: “I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General” by Gilbert and Sullivan
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70
I’ve never been on raids, but I insist that I would like to be
I know the kings of Azeroth, but what they drop’s a mystery
From Netherstorm to Shadowmoon, no one has ever heard of me
I’m very uninformed about the way to play my character
And if your toon is female, I will prob’ly grin and hit on her
On every pull at the worst time, I will hit tab and free the sheep
And halfway through the boss fight, i’ll be in a corner fast asleep
I AFK in battlegrounds, thats how I got my purple gear
The stats don’t match my build, but I still like the way that I appear
In short, you see I have no clue and everyone I know agrees
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70
I’ve been to Ironforge, and yet I do not know the tram exists
I pester folks on general to take me out to Tanaris
Although I’ve never played your class, if we team up it won’t be long
Before I tell you all the things I think that you are doing wrong
Invite me to your group and i’ll insist that you should summon me
Then when you do I’ll ask for food and other things that I might need
Before the pull has been discussed I rush right in to start the fray
But when the fight gets out of hand I am the first to run away
I ninja loot by rolling need on every drop that’s green or blue
And if you haven’t kicked me yet, I’ll do it on the epics too
And so, you see why everyone in Shattrath City laughs at me
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70
My warriors try tanking with no shield and a two handed sword
My priests will heal you only right up to the point that they get bored
My rouges pickpocket every mob and cause the pull to go awry
My shamans never use their totems even when you ask them why
My warlocks never look to see what’s nearby when they cast a fear
My druids always go to dungeons wearing the same set of gear
My paladins cast random seals and never bring a judgment down
My hunters pets chase random mobs and during fights just run around
I run from PVP but I will gank you when your back is turned
Although I post in forums, I don’t read them so Ive never learned
That while I claim that I’m the greatest player you will ever see
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70
Several months ago, I finally gave in to the lure of the worlds most popular online RPG and started playing World of Warcraft. (You can find me on The Venture Co server as Pryderi.) For months, I worked my way up to level 70, meeting lots of cool people along the way, and finally, about three weeks ago, I finally reached that exalted summit. One of the interesting things about WoW is that, unlike a lot of games where you hit the level cap and wonder “OK, now what?”, there is a whole complex set of challenges designed especially for the top level characters. So rather than being the end of the journey, max level is a new beginning.
Of course, it’s possible for people to get all the way to max level without ever really learning to play your character effectively, which becomes painfully obvious to the people you end up in groups with during endgame content. I try very hard not to be one of those players, but I got the idea to write a song about the types of players everyone dreads teaming up with. This may not make sense if you don’t play the game, but hopefully the meta-joke at least works outside of context.
I apologize in advance for inflicting yet another parody of this tune on the world, but it fit too perfectly.
Despite being a bit loopy from painkillers due to my recent fall, I managed to have a pretty fun weekend.
Saturday morning, kitanzi went out to do the weekly grocery shopping, and brought home a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This was pretty much how I picked up my copy of Half Blood Prince, too: avoid the midnight madness and grab a copy in passing at a non-book store. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much reading on it as I’d have liked, because the first time I tried to sit down with it I was having trouble concentrating. I’m currently about a third of the way through it, and actively avoiding spoiler discussions until I finish, hopefully tonight or tomorrow.
Early Saturday morning, our new washing machine and dryer arrived! I have to give major props to Best Buy, who made the entire transaction, from purchase to delivery to installation, about as painless as one could want. The new machine sure extremely spiffy, and have lots of features and functions that we’re not yet exactly sure what they’re really for, but I’m sure we’ll have fun figuring them out. The first test for the washer was the pair of jeans that I got muddied up when I fell down the hill. They came out as good as new. We’re officially impressed.
Saturday night, we went to joyeuse13 and abovenyquist‘s housefilk near Brookhaven. We hadn’t seen them in far too long, so it was doubly nice that it was at their house. We also had some special guests from far away, with janeg and shaddyr both visiting from various parts of Canada, and our own bedlamhouse making a rare local appearance before shaking the Georgia clay from his boots en route to the Midwest. And of course, many of the usual suspects were there, including sffilk, filkferengi, mrpsyclops and his daughter, J., and spambrian. I was limited by not having my filkbooks with me (they’re in a box somewhere), and I’m afraid I wasn’t in very good form, but I did have a good time. I remember playing Richard Shindell’s “The Next Best Western” and, during a run of Canadian folk/filk, Sam Baardman’s “Down To The River”, which I at least had memorized and thus didn’t need to fumble for words to play. Oh, and I did my own “Sauron” during a small run of Tolkien filk, which was fun. We ended up leaving slightly early, around 11pm, because kitanzi was driving and wanted to get home before she was too tired to drive safely.
Sunday, we went over to the old apartment to get most of the last odds and ends out of the place. kitanzi packed stuff in the car while I set about the place with a can of Spackle, patching the holes in the drywall from where we’d mounted shelves. We’ll be going back over this afternoon after work so I can sand them down, and we can haul the last of the trash down to the tip. The house cleaners will come in on Wednesday to give it the last polish, and then we’ll turn the keys in and that will close the book on my time at The Wellington.
We spent most of the rest of the weekend at home. Watched the last of the season 3 Doctor Who Confidentials, chatted to folks on the Internet, and I played a fair amount of World of Warcraft, which was about as much attention span as I had for any one task, anyway. I just hit level 58 with my hunter, and made me first proper trip into the Outlands.
How was your weekend?