Well played, trolls, well played.

Blizzard officially backed down on using real names in their forums today. Congratulations, trolls, you can now go back to calling everyone niggers, fags, kikes, and chinks without fear of anyone in your life knowing what a prick you really are.

Disclaimer

Yes, I play World of Warcraft. No, I don't plan on buying Starcraft II. (Not a fan of RTS games.) Yes, I do plan on buying Diablo 3. Yes, I do use Real ID in WoW now. Yes, I own stock in Activision-Blizzard. (Why would you not, if you give them so much money?) No, I do not agree with everything they do.

RealID

Blizzard has begun a new "thing" in World of Warcraft (and soon Starcraft II) that requires you to use your real first and last name to "friend" people cross-game, or so that you can always chat with your friend no matter what character they are playing. Soon they will require that people use their real first and last names to post in the forums.

The reaction to this, of course, is outrage. I won't go into the myriad of ridiculous reasons why people think this is bad, I will simply translate them all for you in one sentence: I'm worried about using my real name because I am ignorant of real world security issues, or I am worried about using my real name because I am - in fact - a giant fucking asshole to everyone online when I think I am anonymous and now everyone will know who that giant fucking asshole really is.

I think it's a great idea. It may cut down on the retards who feel the need to post bullshit and clog up the forums with useless posts.

New WoW races

As reported @ WoW.com , the new expansion should feature the Worgen as the new Alliance race, and Goblins as the new Horde race.

Hey, I'm all for that. I'd love a Worgen character. Actually, I'd probably start a new Worgen and transform one of my older characters into one as well. (Go, go paid character customization!)

Do I believe the rumor? Sure. They have only had Halloween masks for playable races so far, and these are now in as Halloween masks. They also have confirmed with their sources. And let's face it, when Draenei and Blood Elves were leaked before the BC announcement everyone called shenanigans. Those ended up being the real expansion races. I guess we'll all find out for sure ina couple of weeks when they announce it at Blizzcon. (Come on, Ozzy is playing. Bark at the Moon? Worgen? You know it's true.)

The three WoW amigos!

Cool Warcraft paper figures

LINK

Fantastic paper models of World of Warcraft characters and creatures.

My only complaint about the post is that he keeps calling things "full life size" when they are quite obviously not.

Joo keep using dat phrase. I do not tink it means what joo tink it means.

Mmmm, toys...

Yes, those are World of Warcraft miniatures, along with other assorted toys. Mostly from video games. :D I got a lot of those WoW minis for Christmas, and rather than spend hundreds of dolars looking for the ones I wanted by buying $15 booster packs, I went to Starcitygames.com and bought them as singles, for a total of $34. The cost of two random booster packs of 3 figures each netted me 12 figures I needed. Ah, internet, how I love thee.

Lick the Murloc!

Oh, do I LIKE the Murloc? I gotcha.

Another "World of Warcraft is addictive!" fluff piece.

STORY


"The participants in my study reported that their husbands played an average of 40.8 hours a week, the equivalent of a full-time job. How many other leisure activities do you know of that consistently command that much attention?”

Um, I can name several right off the top of my head. Let's start with TV. Then sports. Hanging out at bars. Knitting (My wife's addiction...). Cooking. The list goes on.

Say it with me: No hobby is addictive. Some people are just prone to be addicted to what they do. Get over it or find another planet to live on.

LOLCATZ

Steelseries WoW mouse

Steelseries revealed their World of Warcraft mouse at Blizzcon this weekend. 15 programmable buttons, and an in-game interface to make your macro assigning that much easier. It's on pre-sale now, and will be available 11/13/2008, just in time for the new expansion. Retail price is expected to be just under $100 US.

New mount

Sweet Mace

Varakk, Silentpaw, and Anistyn.

(Alt, me, and my wife.)

I got a cool looking mace from Scholomance. (And a hell of a repair bill, but I digress...) It looks like a skull and spinal column, and it's cooler lookign than some of the level 70 weapons later in the game.

The only way to power level

Yeah, my desk is a bit cluttered right now. Being unemployed makes you lazy, what else can I say?

So, for having 2 linked accounts, my guys get 3x the experience you normally get when grouped together. Add this to the fact that for every 2 levels the guy on my new account gains, he can assign a level to one of my alts who is lower than him, which means I will really be leveling 3 of my characters. Also, once my payments kick in, I get a cool mount.

You see, they announced all of this right as our World of Warcraft credit card started paying out free months of play, and right as Circuit City put the WoW Warchest on sale for half off. Hmmm, still only paying for once account, but reaping the benefits of 2? Sign me up!

Yes, I am a fanatic. Hey, I've got nothing else to do right now.

World of Wifecraft

FUNNY

PvP Payback

This annoying Horde hunter named Yugiia decided to join in on the fun near the Sunwell and helped gank me a few times. (Ravenholdt is Horde heavy, and there is no shortage of 5 man gank squads out to ruin the playtime of any Alliance character.)

I found Yugiia trying to complete a quest that resets every time you die. You can guess the rest. If not, the picture below will help you.



Yes, I have some "welfare" PvP epics. I also have a decent epic gun from Karazhan, and epic ammo for my gun, which is much more important as a Hunter. (Ranged DPS needs a good ranged weapon? No way!) After destroying Yugiia a few times, I decided to look him up to see why he was so easy to kill when he wasn't with his buddies. Aside from an obvious lack of skill, he has some pretty crap equipment, and a really crap ranged weapon.

But he's got glowing shoulder pads! That's important, right?

Witty WoW moments...

...that the 12 year olds probably didn't get.

Somebody said: "Remember, if you didn't buy it from me, your ass probably paid to [sic] much".

To which I replied: "I usually don't allow my ass to pay for anything. He has trouble enough just pulling my cart, so I try not to let him handle the money".

Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle!

My guild has been doing Karazhan for a while now (end-game raid dungeon) and tonight I finally got a treasure drop that I really wanted: An epic ranged weapon. Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle

I also managed to get my last 12 reputation points with Honor Hold, and that let me pick up an upgraded polearm. Hellforged Halberd

Now with my PVP helmet and shoulders and my new weapons, I'm all sorts of glowing. This makes me happy.

WoW Miniatures

So now we've come full circle.

Warcraft was based on the art style and premise of the Warhammer minatures game. World of Warcraft was based on its Real Time Strategy (RTS) predecessor, Warcraft III. Then came the flood of WoW merchandise, and now World of Warcraft is becoming a minature game.

WoW credit card

Yup, I'm a dork.

Actually, my wife and I got them because they have an excellent balance transfer deal. And because it has a World of Warcraft logo.

Yeah, I'm a dork.