The 90s called, they want their Chuck Norris references back...

Nothing says your product is still hip, cool and current like getting Chuck Norris to promote it... >.>

Chuck Norris' ironic popularity and jokes are older than WoW itself and when I see this commercial I just scratch my head baffled that someone thought this was a good idea. It leaves a negative impression, WoW is dated, Chuck Norris is dated and the 2 of them together just remind me of those facts. Whoever OK'd this promo should be moved to a different department.

On the flip side...

Whoever thought of putting Aubrey Plaza in a WoW spot is a genius. He/she should be promoted and given a big ass Christmas bonus. Also whoever had the idea to put her in a Horde shirt deserves some kudos. Even if the spot is kinda random and weak (mine diamonds? Yes I know there's Azerothian Diamonds, but really it's a pretty loose WoW reference) just the fact that it's Aubrey makes this one a home run. Bravo!

Problem with Raid Finder #27 - "No loot for you!"

"I don't need <insert whatever item you just lost the roll on> who wants to trade for <insert another item you didn't win the roll on>."


I've seen this comment or one similar in just about every raid finder I've been in. Players rolling need on anything everything they can regardless of whether they need it or not for the purpose of trading of another drop.

This is a new kind of ninja unique to the DF in addition to all the other forms or Needing loots that screws other players, i.e.. mages/lock rolling on spirit gear, rogues on strength trinks, warriors on agility polearms, that last being redundant since all polearms are agi based now. Eh... just observations, still better than doing nothing and rolling on no loot. RF loot rules have already and will continue to be fine-tuned so things are looking good. Just wish my computer didn't choke in 25s now days. On one occasion while on my priest I made it through the Siege and when Hagara was at 15% or so I finally DC'd, my resources being choked from this 2 hour raid. By the time I logged by in she was dead, looted and I was locked out on her. Sad indeed, maybe Greatfather Winter will drop a new PC down my hut chimney this year.

How to Gear Up for Raid Finder

Step 1. Keep running Hour of Twilight heroics until more of your gear is ilvl 378 than isn't.

Step 2. Check to see if you can queue for Raid Finder.

Yes? Enjoy RF!

No? Repeat Step 1.

It's not rocket science and I know some rocket science.

WoW 7th Anniversary Gift Package, the gift that keeps on giving... oh wait

This ones a couple days old be still high up on my irked list. You might have noticed that little present from Blizzard sent to all your toons was auto-deleted this weekend. When the anniversary started and I received this package on my first character I thought it was great. "I'll totally use this more than another dumb vanity pet", I told a friend at the time. Fooled me though, not having it's limited duration listed on the item and not catching news of this fact elsewhere most of mine just sat unused in the bags of alts I could have been power leveling or rep grinding on. I actually did a bit of rep work on my shaman, got exalted with Cenarion and Sporgarr and almost with Thrallmar, but this was pre-patch week, then patch week and I had much higher priorities at time time then going and grinding some old reps. Even if I knew of it's soon to be deleted status I probably wouldn't have made much use of them due to the coinciding time frame of the patch, which ultimately just made this a rather crappy present and I'm now wishing it was just pet of any sort, at least that's something!

The Trip Falls of Race in the Age of Transmogrification

Let it be said here and now, that NOT all races are created equal in the World of Warcraft, especially in regard to how well that epic armor set will look on them.

I have 1 toon of every class for both Horde and Alliance. Draenei shaman/Orc shaman, Undead warrior, Human warrior, Belf pally, Dwarf pally, etc... and so on. I love playing both sides, muhahaha.... I started out Horde and after reaching 8 85s I loaded up my heirlooms and realm/faction transferred one of them to start up my new stable of alts on the other side. Now that Transmogrification is here I'm being reminded about how some physical aspects of some races have always bothered me and that is not all races work well for dress up.

The undead faction are missing elbows and kneecaps and their spines split right though there armor and tabards on the back. Trolls, Taurens and Draenei go bare-foot (bear-foot lolz) leaving basically just a shinguard type piece visible from their foot armor. Goblins just like Gnomes are so small and squat that many armor sets look squished and diminished in their otherwise epicness. Orcs are blessed with godly like shoulders and practically look like bosses in some armor whereas Taurens and Worgens have long extending heads/necks that can really warp and skew the way a helm looks on them. Humans are often cited as the most balanced physique (and for the women I say hell ya!), but in my opinion the males hips are way too thick and straight and have always bothered me regardless of was class or armor they were. They're somewhat reality based, but perhaps human males in WoW would look cooler if they were modeled more after He-Man action figure versus G.I. Joes. Anyhow... things to consider while you while away the hours piecing together that perfect armor set for Transmogrification. Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so if you're stoked that's all that matters, this is just my opinion.

Case in point The Deathbringer Garb warlock tier 8. First seen by players on Apothecary Putress in the cinematic for the Battle of Wrathgate. This set imo is one of the more awesome and iconic sets from all expansions and classes. Go figure it's looks perfect on an undead, with their rotting appendages only complementing the bird's skull helm and image of ritualized death. On my worgen though, it loses it's epicness due to their weird bodies, that tuff of fur sticking out of the back of it's stretched out helm. On a human or blood elf it looks more like a halloween costume than the demonic spine-chilling gothic garb as we first saw it on Putress. On a goblin or gnome all you can see is the big giant beak overpowering all the other aspect of the set. This specific set of warlock tier belongs to the Forsaken and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise.

Coming soon... My epic tale for putting together the perfect Blood Knight xmog set. Stay tuned!

Not a Bullseye...

You sure about that?

Void Storage aka trinket and wand storage

Void Storage is limited to soulbound items, non-stackable items and any gear you place in there will be stripped of all gems and enchants. Though implemented along with transmogrification it should not be looked at as long term storage for your transmog gear, not just yet anyway. Firstly, it's a brand new patch and everyone is getting upgrades left and right from the new dungeons, LFR and guild raiding. If like me you had your xmog sets ready to go last week on patch day and then started running the new content you'll be re-xmogging every upgrade you get to keep your set matching. If you keep putting those collected gears back into void storage you'll be spending a lot of gold just to keep your toon looking good. Just keep your xmog gear in your bank or bags for those continual upgrades you'll be getting over the next few weeks.

So what about those full sets of tier I've saved from my 3, 4, 5 or 6 years of raiding? Well I like having those old epics in their original condition with the enchants and gems from their time. They remain as they were when I raided in them and I'd like to keep them that way. I do not want them stripped of their epicness and thus will continue using 3+ bags in my bank just for my old tier and weapons.

Vanity, holiday, archaeology, miscellaneous on-use goof items. This accounts for another 2+ bags worth of slots in my bank and these are the kind of items you bust out on a whim while kicking it in town with friends or whatever. I don't want to drop a couple hundred gold just to play with some of the random toys I've collected over the years. So Brazier of Dancing Flames, you'll be staying in my bank, but Gnomish Gravity Well you'll always have a spot in my bags cuz you're just too much fun.

So what it came down to was those unmodified items that I for sentimental reasons can't delete but will never use, equip or show off again. Mostly trinkets, wands and old tier I farmed since hitting level cap and thus never chanted or gemmed. So my Dislodged Foreign Object now sits snuggly in the Void, but my Rigomortis stays in the bank.

All in all the limitations are my issue with void storage, not the cost, but still I found this to be a great addition for WoW and I managed to free up about 20 some odd slots in the bank on my main which was an absolute blessing having struggled to make due with as few as 12 empty slots altogether for the last year or so and being forced to delete items I didn't want to. So despite my initial impression (scroll down) I'm all about Void Storage just wish it was a little more accommodating.

The only problem with the new Darkmoon Faire - PvPer's

Every time I've gone to Darkmoon Island since it launched last night I zone into an epeen match between at least 2 dudes and several others that need to chime in. This results in me adding about a half a dozen new names to my ignore list. Thank you Blizz for upping the cap on the ignore list awhile back! While in a capital city I couldn't care less about the idiocy of Trade Chat and my home realm is a lot worse than others I've played on. Medium population, not a lot of capable pvp/raiding guilds, so a lot of people just sitting around bored and lonely and needing attention. We have several Trade Chat stars who've been trolling the /2 for years on a pretty consistent basis. But that's in Org or SW, this is Darkmoon Faire Island.

In a game with War in the title that revolves mostly around a lot and a lot of killing, the new Darkmoon Faire is a warm fresh breath of dare I say, family orientated gameplay. And it's fun! All the classic midway/carnival games are represented, there's daily quests for the Faire that grant rewards like prize tickets for pets/mounts/novelty items and even profession skill up points! There's rare and exotic beasts on exhibit from all around Azeroth and Outlands, tasty treats and drinks to enjoy, a dancing bear, pony and ram rides, a fortune teller who gives a sweet +5% dmg buff, and the fishing around the island is very lucrative. All in all the new Darkmoon Faire is a grand addition to WoW and another wonderful surprise from patch 4.3 (possibly my favorite patch in years). DMF will keep new and old players alike entertained for a very long time to come, either as a small diversion to the usual questing and dungeons or for the lengthy pursuit of one of the new pets and mounts available. It's just too bad this 'other element' is also here thanks to the Deathmatch Pavilion.

Don't get me wrong, I love that Blizzard is putting an effort into 'world pvp' again. As soon as I got to the Deathmatch Pavilion I swapped in my pvp spec/gear and hopped into the fray, finally bowing out after my rez timer hit that 2 minute limit haha. My issue is that I just don't think it should be here. Put it back in Gurubashi and the other world arena's and give them their own separate chat channel once they enter the area so questers, passersby, revelers and the rest of us don't have to listen to them. Then again, its' very possible that these guys will eventually get bored with this arena just like all the others and this will all be a non-issue in the next couple months. We'll see.

The all new Darkmoon Faire is here!!!

My review coming soon, but need to get back to patch up some banners, aid some injured carnies and waste another stack of tokens on that damn canon til I get my bullseye, but so far it's looking pretty good.

Hot Tip:
Stock up on some Elixir of Water Walking and while everyone is busy with the festivities hit the coast and fish in those shipwreck debris pools. They hold the same Sealed Crates commonly found in the waters of Tol Barad which contain random selection of Cata crafting mats in addition to unique DMF items such as Darkmoon Firewater, sure to be a big hit on the AH. Very quick respawns too.

LF waist enchant

I blur names for privacy, but that's just one dude from beginning to end looking for that waist enchant. Ah noobs...