TED: You a One Buttock Player? And a Goodbye to Priestly Endeavors

I love TED. I really do. Every year, there’s some great people with great ideas who give awesome talks. Benjamin Zander is no exception. Although the talk here is mostly about classical music, the underlying themes involve embracing new possibilities, new experiences, and new connections.

What can you take here and apply to WoW?

I picked out a few select quotes that and modified them slightly:

“Most of you have heard the story of two salesmen who went down to Africa in the early 1900s to find if there was any opportunity to sell shoes.”

Situation hopeless, stop. They don’t wear shoes, stop, one of them wrote.

The other wrote:

Glorious opportunity, they don’t have shoes yet, stop.

Warcraftized:

“Most of you have heard of the story of two Guild recruiters who were trying to attract Priests into their Guild and they managed to find one.”

Player hopeless, stop. No enchants or gems, stop, one of them wrote.

Glorious opportunity, he hasn’t properly optimized his gear yet and we can help him, stop.

Here’s another one:

You notice that there is not the slightest doubt in mind that this is going to work. It’s one of the chararacteristics of the leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming.

Imagine if Martin Luther King said “I have a dream!”, but of course I’m not sure if they’ll up to it.

To GM’s:

“The conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound… He depends for his power on other people to make them powerful… I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people.”

But enough, go check out the video above.

On another sad note, long time Priest and Hunter blogger Kirk from Priestly Endeavors has decided to call it.

Some highlight reel posts:

Today’s Drama Advisory Level: High

dss-high

Although it isn’t exactly a typical drama thread per se, it is still some pretty damn good cheap entertainment. The screenshots reveal all (literally).

hmm

EDIT: Might help to have a link to the post, wouldn’t it?

WARNING: Beta Scams Prevalent

With the release of Blizzard’s Beta opt in program, players should be much more alert to the various scams that are making their way around the Internet. I just received an email moments ago informing me that I got selected for the Wrath beta.

Unfortunately, the email address that it got sent to is not linked to my Warcraft account in any way.

Note that the URL is something akin to *.byethost5.com.

I gotta admit, it’s a pretty good looking fake.

wrath-beta-hoax

Dear Matt, What Should I Look for in Joining a Guild?

I like to run an advice column every once in a while because even though I don’t get many emails, the ones I *do* get are quite the stumpers. This week, I don’t have Wyn around to help me so I’ve turned to guest writer and Guildmaster Auzara from Chick GM to share her 2 cents.

I’ve been a reader of your site ever since I started my first priest, and I must say the articles have been inspirational. I’m coming out of lurker mode to ask your (and/or Wyn’s) advice on joining guilds.

My wife and I play together and over the course of many months we have made many friends online. Through our entire course of leveling to 70, we have remained unguilded (as we are on all of our characters). It has mostly been unnecessary because, with a large pool of friends, we can always find a group when we need one.

All of our friends are in different guilds and almost all of them have invited us to their guilds at one point or another. We always kindly turn them down and explain that we’ve been considering creating a “vanity guild” for just the two of us.

But lately, a recent group of 4 additions to our friends list (who all belong to the same guild) have been pretty persistent in trying to recruit us to their guild.

They are nice guys, and have been going out of their way to help us get better gear. One of them is an officer in their guild and has even offered me BoE gear from the Guild Bank. So now are stuck in a corundum:

We’ve turned down offers from many other friends. If we join these guys’ guild (and not one of our own making), it might look like we’re slighting our other friends’ guilds.
We really wanted to make a vanity guild, but if we finally do that, our new friends might feel slighted that we rejected theirs.
Frankly, most guild names are embarrassing, including our new friends’ guild name. We don’t like the idea of running around with something stupid displayed on our character’s nameplates. We put a lot of effort into coming up with clever names for all of our characters, and it seems wasted to have a bad guild name spoiling it.
While our new friends’ guild is making PVE progression, inspecting our friends show mostly PvP gear. We did a little PvP pre-60 but don’t much enjoy it at the higher levels. I guess I’m just a little worried about their guild’s focus.

We live in an odd time zone (we play from Japan) so normally there aren’t very many people on at the same time. It so happens that two of our new friends also live in Japan and are on-line at the same time as us.

I guess my question for y’all, as people with much more guild experience, is “does it matter?” What things are important in a guild? Is it petty to be hungup over a bad guild name? Do you have any advise for turning down guild invites from friends without insulting them?

From Guildless in Japan

Dear Guildless in Japan,

First piece of advice I can offer is that you do not let gear dictate what a player’s primary interest lies. I have multiple characters with Vengeful and Brutal gear but I will always place raiding above everything else. Ask that Guild one question:

What do you do? Raid or PvP?

If what they’re doing is what you want and your partner want to do (IE, raid), then you should probably join it. Is it petty to be hung up over a bad guild name? Probably but this is a matter that’s debatable on multiple fronts. Although the reputation of a guild is important to me, the name isn’t. If I want to raid and I have to wear the tag of <The Chuck Norris Crew>, I’d probably go into my options and disable the showing of guild tags. But if it really matters that much to you, then you probably shouldn’t. I’ve always been performance based. For example, others spend hours choosing every facet of their character. I just hit the randomize button. It all depends on you.

To me, not joining a Guild because of the name is like not buying a car because it doesn’t have racing stripes.

For textbook answers on how to turn down Guild invites, feel free to use one of the following excuses:

Sorry, I can’t join your Guild. It doesn’t have what I’m looking for.
It’s against my religion to join Guilds ending in a (insert last letter of Guild here)
I can’t! I’m washing my hair!

But by joining a Guild, you’re already joining a group of people that already has it’s foundations down in terms of tanks and healers. No Guild can survive without a stable group of tanks and healers. Apart from that, you’re going to have to use your own judgment on whether or not the atmosphere of the Guild is one you want to be apart of.

For a more in depth answer, see Auz’s below as she offers much more from the GM perspective.

Dear Guildless in Japan,

It’s clear from your message that you’re feeling conflicted and pulled in many directions at once. As I read your message two things stuck out to me. The first is I’ve heard more about your what your friends want than what you want. The second is, if you have been planning to create a vanity guild, what has prevented you from doing this already? With those things in mind, I’ve tried to work my way though the things that are affecting your decision and the questions you’ve asked in a semblance of order.

“Does it matter?” How much being in a guild matters is entirely up to you and to a lesser degree the expectations of the guild. In a social game like WoW, your game time is shaped by the people you experience it with. Your guild doesn’t have to determine who you experience the game with. You can be as involved or detached from a guild as you choose to be and the guild expectations allow you to be.

“What things are important in a guild?” This is largely dependent on the individual guild. In some guilds your worth to the guild is determined by how much DPS you can provide. In others, your encyclopedic knowledge of your mom jokes might be the your key to success. The best way to find out what’s important to a guild is to find out what the guild requests from it’s members. Do they require 15 hours of raiding? 10 hours of role playing in Ironforge? That you refrain from cursing in trade chat? Active participation in their forums? A successful guild will tell you upfront what they expect from their members. From there it’s up to you to determine if that matches what you and your wife wish to provide.

“Is it petty to be hungup over a bad guild name?” No. Someone else may not be bothered by a bad guild name, but the fact is you are. If you weren’t you wouldn’t have asked that question. What bothers you is never petty. The question isn’t “is it petty?” The question is, “is it something that should prevent me from joining a guild?” The answer is to ask the question another way; “does the potential benefit of being in the guild outweigh the annoyance I’ll feel when I login to find <I’m with Stupid> over my head?”

It appears there are three major things affecting your decision:

Loyalty to old friends and fear of causing offense should you join an existing guild.
Concern that joining an established guild may cause you to feel compelled to participate in aspects of the game that you don’t enjoy.
Fear of alienating your new friends who’ve been helpful, persistent, and a few share your time zone in a server where that is unusual.

I think you should put two of these concerns to rest right away. This game is first and foremost how you and your wife choose to spend some of your entertainment time. No one other than you and your wife has the right to impose their will on how you spend that time. Choosing to join or not join a guild out of fear of alienating your friends will make you miserable, which will in turn alienate you from your friends. (Funny how that works.) Regardless of the decision you make, if after explaining it to your friends, they aren’t supportive then you are better off without their friendship.

The remaining concern is something that needs further examination. How do your new friends react now when you want to do something that differs from what they want to do? (Especially the officer) Do they pressure you to partake in their activity? Do they offer a different suggestion for how to spend time together? Do they do leave you to your activity? Do they join in your plans? How they treat you now as friends will likely correlate to how they would treat you as a guildmate.

Another thing to consider when addressing this concern is to determine what parts of the game you two enjoy. You note that you don’t enjoy “higher level” PVP, but what do you find enjoyable? Before you can decide if a guild’s focus might be counter to your own, you have to determine your focus. Next look at your wife and right now decide, how much time do you two want to spend playing wow? If they are asking for more of a time commitment than you are currently making and more than you want to make, then walk away now; that isn’t the guild for you.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but creating a vanity guild takes 8 signatures (other than your wife and yours) and 10 silver. If this is really what you want, it’s relatively simple to accomplish. I can see two possibilities that would prevent you from having done it already; you two are either debating the perfect name or you two aren’t completely sold on the idea of the vanity guild. Perhaps some part of you wonders what it would be like to be a part of a community like these friends are offering.

Hopefully at this point I’ve helped you unravel some of the things that are tugging you in different directions so that you and your wife can make the right decision for you regarding your guild status. From there you’ll need advice on one of two topics:

Explaining to old friends you’ve chosen to join an existing guild even though in the past you’ve declined theirs.
Determining how to head off future and current friend’s recruitment attempts.

Fortunately for you, the examination of what you want out of your gaming time that you’ve just done will help you in both of these conversations. In either case, take your friends aside and assure them that your friendship with them is valuable to you. Next explain your decision to them, highlight why you think this is the best decision for you. Lastly ask for their support, either in the form of ceasing further recruitment attempts or in helping you as you adjust to your new home.

My final suggestion is this, if you come to the conclusion that you and your wife are happy with your solitary ways, then go create that vanity guild! It will reduce the amount of invitations you receive AND you get a guild bank to share. Honestly, it’s just a winning solution all around.

Thanks Auz!

Introducing the Drama Advisory System

From time to time, I’ll come across various pieces of drama on the forums or in my forays across the blogosphere. Everyone loves a good dramatic thriller, especially if it doesn’t happen to them or to anyone they know. It’s just comedy after that. I like to share them every once in a while, but no tale of drama is the same. Some of them might be relevant to some people. Others might not really care about the nature of what’s being discussed. Being inspired by the good folks at Homeland Security, I’ve created my very own drama advisory system! Before every story, I’ll prefix it with a rating so you can determine if it really is worth your time to read.

Drama Advisory System

Bloggers, feel free to use this for your own purposes (feel free to wipe the link from the bottom if you like as well).

Summer Fun!

Usually, I’d crank out a full-fledged post to tell you what to do, but I’m too busy having fun! So here’s the official press-release from Blizzard.

They’ve added a lot of fun stuff… so what are you waiting for?? Grab some matches, and GO PLAY!!

Update: There is neat stuff dropping off the new boss in Slave Pens - most notably, a very interesting new enchant: Deathfrost. That and the icy-theme of the gear drops seems to be a preview of things coming in WotLK.

Also, some people collect non-combat pets; I collect holliday outfits. I’m pretty pleased with myself this time around.

I decided not to go for the shoulders - I just don’t like how they look.

Luv,
Wyn

Renew Your Interest in WoW

renewal
Image courtesy of hbrinkman

There’s been some general apathy going around the WoW community. A lot of players have gotten bored of the game or aren’t quite sure what to do next. It’s as if they’ve reached a roadblock in their WoW career and there’s no where to go, nothing to do, nothing to talk about.

Does this sound familiar?

I could come up with a few ways to beat back this wave of depression, but I was beat to it by PTD a few weeks back (and his post was even highlighted on WoW Insider)! There are some fun activities that you can do but the secret is that you’re better off playing with friends. WoW is a social game, remember. I’m lucky that I’ve got a great group of friends both within the guild and outside of the guild that I can hang out and blow up BGs with.

If you’re absolutely bored with WoW, then you may as well call it right now and not waste any more money playing something you don’t really want to play. Wait for the expansion when everyone resets. Kick back and relax for the summer.

On the other hand, maybe you’re bored of the players in your Guild. I know in hockey, sometimes the stars get bored of playing in their current team for so long that their performance suffers. Sometimes they need a change of scenery. A trade can work out for both parties involved and help jumpstart their career again. Perhaps it’s time for your relationship with your Guild to end and for you to move onto another organization if you’re feeling the depression. It’s not what you do, it’s who you play with. I’ve seen several bloggers uproot themselves from their original servers and transfer elsewhere.

As the months have passed, I’ve noticed several former prominent WoW bloggers disappear off my radar with absolutely no notice at all whatsoever. I don’t know whats happened to them or they’re even still around, but I wanted to take a moment and recognize their contributitions to our awesome community while they were still here. Since they haven’t posted in such a long time, it’s safe to assume that the blogs have been all but abandoned.

Girl Meets WoW - Awesome blog from a progression oriented mage. Last posted April 29th.

The Light and the Dark - One of the early Priest blogs that fell victim to that of real life. Last posted March 4th.

Trollin’ - - Another Shadow Priest blog that I’ve followed for the longest time. It had a lot of mathematics in it which made my head spin. I’ve seen Trollin’ around the area though. I’m not quite sure what kind of shenanigans he’s up to at at the moment. But he’s out there lurking!

The Voice Behind the Pen: Matt’s Podcasts Available for Download

If for whatever reason you’re interested in hearing what sick Canadians sound like, be sure to check out the following two podcasts which I’ve participated in over the weekend:

I felt more relaxed on TN then the WI show, to be honest heh. When I first started blogging, I never expected of doing any kind of podcasting all with other people and players and I had a lot of fun doing it! Maybe I’ll do it again at some point in the future!

I completely missed the shoutouts on both podcasts. Ugh. I feel so terrible. If you listen carefully enough to the WI show early on, you might catch the sounds of GMail in the background. You can blame Wyn for embarrassing me live on the air =).

One more thing, on Twisted Nether I said something about there being snow at the end of May. I might’ve forgot to mention that my University is on top of a mountain and my sarcasm/jokingness may not have transmitted properly.

It’s my first foray into podcasting. With that in mind, I’d love to get some feedback and some grades on my performance. How did I do?

Saturday Random Thoughts

Always stretch before working out on the Wii Fit or engaging in any kind of physical activity. My abs cramped up trying to do some of them plank exercises.
Halls: The official cough drop of World of Matticus. Helped reduce my cough on the WI show.
Close GMail when podcasting.
Note to self to ask for feedback on podcast (both WI and Twisted Nether) when they’re mp3′d.
Relax more. Too jittery. Too nervous. Think happy thoughts. Stare at Jessica Alba posters more.
Publicly give a shout out to Wyn the next time I go on the air.
Epic gem vendor in Shattrath City, too.

Acquiring Thorium Brotherhood reputation is a royal pain in the derriere.
But it can be worth it for a straight up mana regen staff:

Saying yes to friends is hard. Saying no to friends is even harder.
Clearly people aren’t aware of the rules. What is said in BA chat stays in BA chat ;).
In need of a new banner. Need to shop around for a design service.

Owned by Tree Form

Note: This post is not WoW related. Feel free to mark as read and move on to the next blog in your reader.

No, I’m not talking about WoW’s tree form! I managed to snap up copies of Wii Fit yesterday.

No joke, it’s a lot of fun! I got up this morning and tried the tree form stance but I just can’t manage it. I guess Dwarf Priests were never meant to mimic their Druid counterparts. Feel free to read up more on my experience and goals with Wii Fit.

(Yes I know it’s called Tree Pose as Wynthea so kindly reminded me, but I had to tie it into WoW somehow.)