No, I’m still not level 50. I’m level 42 and just finished the first quest hub on Hoth. I’m the overlord of overlevelling. I needed an excuse to share this screenshot, though. (You’ll want to click through to see the dialogue.)

With that out of the way, here’s a combination of “posts you can expect in the future” and “a public to-do list so Stop has to write these things.” In no particular order:

• Shadow DPS specs, esp. for leveling – Balance, hybrid Balance, full-on Deception, Kinetic Combat.
• A look at the Focus tree for Jedi Knights. Holy crap, I have fallen in love with this tree.
• Legacy system wishlist.
• A guest post from my leveling partner on morality/choice in SWTOR. As soon as he quits having to GRADE ALL THE THINGS, anyway.
• Speaking of which, if you’d like to write a guest post, let’s talk turkey. My list of available post topics is pretty much wide-open.

Or as I told someone earlier – don’t be Blender. Our guildmate ended up at 49 with half a level to go, with absolutely no source of XP outside of space missions, flashpoints, PVP, or dailies – all because he chose to skip almost all bonus series and probably a lot of bonus quests, as well.

Over on the Inquisitor’s Roadhouse, Anexxia asks: “why the rush to 50?” Well, let me tell you who’s not rushing. There’s a story here.

Oh, how I love looking at Alderaan. I’m pretty well ready to go, though. It starts with Kyzur, a rotund miraluka Jedi Sage with a problem where his head clips through hoods. It took me 30-odd levels to realize I’d made a huge mistake. (Pardon the pun.) I just wasn’t having fun with the Sage playstyle at all. I loved the story, but evidently I am still primarily a melee player. Yet I still wanted to get my legacy. (Silly things are important to me.) So between levels 30 and 32, I tackled the first three quest hubs on Alderaan, then said “oh screw this” and did my story quest there, my end of act 1, picked my legacy out, and left Kyzur Epsilon Barsen’thor to take a well-earned rest on the Republic fleet.

Enter Jentra. Rolling out the door from day 1 as the action-oriented Shadow to Kyzur’s “let’s talk it out” Sage, I remembered why the Shadow/Assassin playstyle was the first one I played in beta. Fluid, fast, stealthy, loved it. I blew through Tython and Coruscant, slogged through Taris – which I am happy to say takes nowhere near as long the second time, mostly because you know where everything is – and was rolling through Nar Shaddaa’s first quest set when friend and NSTK guildmate Xindrola caught up to me. Somehow. Despite spending way too long on Taris. (Xin’s argument is that he was saving for a speeder because he’d blown a bunch of cash on investigation and armstech; upon being told that Nar Shaddaa was not the spread-out hot mess that is Taris, he hopped planet immediately.) I helped him catch up to me in the Kintan Kings quarter, then we duo’d the rest of Nar Shaddaa. All of it. To give you an idea how grossly overleveled we were at this point, we were able to immediately accept the Nar Shaddaa Bonus Series. (Level 28, I believe, is the minimum for that.)

We actually tried it at first, but it was slow going. “C’mon,” I said, “let’s just go to Tatooine.” And so we did. Everything fell before the combined might of a Shadow, a Commando, M1-4X, and Tharan Cedrax. Alderaan as well, which is where we left off last night – we still have the Glarus Valley quests, but he’s now completed his end of Act 1 and I’m doing mine tonight (again). But it was slow going at times. Xin’s still a bit new to MMOs (he played a little WoW, and I think someone talked him into FFXI because they were sadistic), so keeping him oriented in the right direction can be a challenge – I’m eager to kill Sand People for their rifles, while he’s busy trolling the wildlife by punting it into canyons with Concussion Charge, for instance. He still lives with family, so he (understandably) gets called away from the computer for minutes at a time – pretty frequently sometimes. Getting lost also happens occasionally. I want a leash sometimes.

We’re also still grossly overleveled. When we got to Alderaan, I was one level ahead, and every quest outside of my story content was grey. All of them. 5 XP apiece. Woohoo? (Even now, still at the last quest hub of Alderaan, I’m level 36. I’m pretty sure I’m at the high end of the level range for Balmorra.)

But on the upside, it’s a lot less boring than doing the same content again would be by myself. I get to see two stories for the price of one – 90% of the trooper stuff is available to me in Spectator Mode, and likewise for consular stuff for him. We have two crafters’ worth of crew skills available to us (granted, Armstech is really only useful for Tharan, but he is our healer). We can usually roll Heroic 4s with a combination of smart CC and, in one case, me kiting a boss around LIKE A BOSS.

And Social points? I am rolling in Social points. I’m 200 or so away from Social III. My Social points abruptly jumped during Tatooine; I was barely in Social I when I got there, but was at Social II and then some by the time we left – even before the bonus series.

Still, I wouldn’t characterize myself as being in a rush to 50. Pretty much the exact opposite. I am, however, in a rush to see something I haven’t seen before. Luckily, I’m on the verge of doing just that: every quest left on Alderaan is one I haven’t seen, as is every planet after Act I.

SPLASHY CLAIM HERE: If you follow this post in detail, ad nauseum, to the "T," I 'guarantee' you'll get into the guild of your dreams! *TM money back guarantee honored if receipt is provided in person There have been plenty of posts out there in the blogosphere about how to get into a guild. I've even blogged about it before myself. Why am I posting on this topic? Because I want to! I was recently thinking about how happy I am with my current guild and how 'lucky' I was to get into it. Luck had little to do with it. If you want to get into a good guild, it's going to take some work. But I can tell you that once I've decided I want in, I'm Getting In, Dammit! So, take a seat because this post is going to get pretty long. STEP ONE: Decide what you are looking for in a guild. Before putting in the time to create your application, you've got some homework to do first. So, list what you want from a guild, and prioritize. Here's what my 'wish list' looked like - roughly in order - of what I wanted: -Raids after 8:30 pm PST -Raids no more than 3 nights a week (preferably two) -Progresses reasonably well. In my case my criteria at the time was that they were clearing Firelands normal and started on Heroic Modes (I'd never even seen FL). -25-man raiding -Guild values maturity. I personally can't stand guilds full of /general channel trolls, rascist/sexist jerks, or run around saying how awesome they are and everyone else on the server sucks. -Needs a dps DK -Alliance The latter two weren't dealbreakers for me, but it definitely helps your chances if they need the class/spec you have to offer, and it helps your wallet/rp values to stay the faction you started with. I ended up with all of the above except staying Alliance. I nearly caved and applied to some 10-man guilds but was able to find a 25-man guild that met my needs and happily was accepted there. So, you need to know what you're looking for before beginning your search. Do try to keep some realism in play here - if you've never raided hardcore, apping to the World #1 guild is probably an extreme longshot. Otherwise, the sky is the limit. STEP TWO: Decide what guild(s) you want to apply to. This may sound easy, but it's not. Spend some time on the internet researching guilds that meet your criteria. If one of your values was staying on the same server, you may look in /general, /trade, or /guild recruitment channels in game. Otherwise, you'll be looking at the official wow guild recruitment forums. Literally thousands of guilds post their interest there, so it's a wealth of potential guilds. I look for threads that suggest what Iooking for: "Late Night PST guild" is a decent start. "Late Night (pst) guild LF DK for HM progression, 2/8" is better, but feel free to look at every thread on the offchance they may be what you want. You can create a brief thread of your own, but I prefer not to do so. Still, guild recruiters do sometimes respond to those and I've even found a few possibles myself looking at responses to player posts. Other places to look for guilds: Elitist Jerks has recruitment forums and the guilds that usually post there are typically fairly well-established, progression-minded groups. On the other hand, not nearly as many guilds post there. Still, it's worth a look. Looking For Guild I believe still has some current guild postings, or you could try Wow Lemmings. You can certainly Google the main things you're looking for and sometimes hit on recruitment forums or even specific guild forums directly. Done? Not even. Build a list of guilds you're interested in. It should be several - if not 10 or more - guilds long. I actually create a folder in my browser and put the links to all of them there. Go to their forums. Read their 'before you apply' and 'about this guild' posts. You want to know what they're about. If they're what you're looking for. And of course, if you're what they're looking for as well. Done now? Nope. Next,  I read their application form and start thinking about how I might fill it out, but before I do, I look to see what previous applicants have written and more importantly, what responses they've received. A few guilds have fully private apps which sucks. Otherwise though, it can be very telling which applications were well-received and which ones were declined. Study that, and learn from your predecessors' successes and failures. Find a few that get you excited? Great! Let's get started Finally! One caveat: I recommend that you apply to one guild at a time. If you're too impatient, you may choose to apply to multiple guilds, but it's generally a good idea to let them know you're also apping elsewhere (Good Form, Peter - but also if they find out and you haven't told them they probably won't be pleased). STEP THREE: Writing your application.   A: Obtain the guild's required form Some guilds have an online fill-in-the-blanks form (guildomatic, etc), some will have very specific questions, and some simply say: "convince us to accept you." Read their instructions carefully. I can't tell you how many rejected applications I've seen that were simply due to ignored instructions. If they tell you to include a WOL parse (World of Logs), then include one! If you can't, at least explain why you can't - DON'T ignore it.   B. Fill out the application in detail. Answer EVERY QUESTION. I even like to answer questions they don't ask - as you'll see on my most recent successful app below. I've never seen an app rejected simply because it was too long.   C. DO Be polite, check your work (I write my apps in Word so I can edit and spellcheck first before I paste into their forums), research your answers, use humor carefully, sound confident yet humble :), get fancy with colors, demonstrate your knowledge of your class, be honest, be earnest.   D. DON'T Be a jerk or arrogant, say you'll 'pwn' their meters if accepted, use leetspeak, use poor grammar, leave questions blank, Write ONE LONG PARAGRAPH, show your lack of class/spec knowledge, try to hide a spotty gear/spec setup, try to hide a past of guild-hopping or trolling forums/chat, give one-word answers, be dishonest, or expect that saying you 'were a hardcore raider in BC' will earn you anything. This list could go on and on. At this point, let me offer a few examples of poor applications. I'm stealing all of these from fairly well-known and successful guild's site(s) (not my own) and obscuring only identifying information. Since this information is in the public domain, I have no problems stealing it. "Hello,
I was a hardcore raider back in BC and WotLK. Between the time of Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader our guild lost raiding motivation. I played casually into Cataclysm but never raided anything. I took a break from WoW to get my life on track. Now I feel confident that I can balance college, work, and WoW. Link to armory page: XXXXXXXXXXXXX I am able to play Arms, and Tank. Both my sets are geared for DS. I am currently learning to master the fury-titans grip spec. I am seeking a guild that is laid back but fun to get along with. I think having fun while raiding is very important. I am seeking a guild that understands what a life is and that it comes first over everything. I am currently on the Bloodhoof server, but I am willing and able to transfer. Thank you for your time."   That's the whole application. All of it. It does not tell you anything about how the person is as a raider, nor does it tell you much about the person except to suggest that he/she is lazy.     1) What class do you play?Surv Hunter   Response: "With our current roster there is zero chance of bringing in a hunter. Sorry." Problem here? Their app was ok, but they proceeded to apply despite no vacancy in the guild recruitment post. Some guilds will post that they are always willing to accept exceptional applicants, but in practice, if they're full of a spec, it's very difficult to get in despite that. Not impossible, just very difficult. Your best bet at that point is to either: 1) get a current guild member to vouch for you, 2) accept a friends/family invite and hope to get a benchwarmer spot, 3) Have a truly stellar app, or 4) all of the above 1) What class do you play? Holy Pally (snip for demonstration purposes) 12) Are there any members that can vouch for you? IDK nvr looked
Response 1: "3 unenchanted items. 3 Int/Crit gems. 2 Int/Mastery gems but you are reforging away from mastery. Power Torrent instead of Heartsong. Yellow gem in a red socket. Ember meta instead of Burning. Purple gem in a prismatic socket, and another bad yellow gem in another prismatic socket. 2 points in Blessed life. Only 2 Morchok normal kills, while we are working on heroic DS. I would suggest reading http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3657280029 before trying to app to another guild. App declined due to inexperience and gems/enchants/spec." App response: "lol...gems and chants can be fixed in 2 mins...as for some of what you said....IF U READ WHAT U TOLD ME TO READ...playstyle really ....what works for u ,don't work for everyone. yes 3 items unchanted that i can fix EVERYTHING else...is a arguement of playstyle. as far what i have done and not that i can not fix so easily....thank u for your time and best wishes....try a positive approach u will get farther.. i'm a good healer and a quick study. but,huh better luck next time lol"
Response 2: ""What works for you won't work for everyone" This is true, however if you want to stick to a certain playstyle you should be consistent about it. What you did isn't a certain playstyle, it is arbitrarily picking whatever gem suits your fancy, or whatever reforge. You didn't put time into your toon, to optimize or to learn how to be the best you can be. I don't have to be nice when you don't put any effort in." Problem(s) here? Application was very brief, and demonstrated lack of effort (IDK if there are any members he knows). The officer reviewed the links the applicant did provide and commented on his poor gemming/reforging. The applicant was defensive and critical. When a guild provides feedback, feel free to defend yourself gently and with supporting evidence, but don't ever tell them they're wrong. Most Importantly, Your application must prove you are a good player. DO research your class even before you apply (I didn't mention this earlier, because you should do it before you even look for a guild). Make sure you have the right enchants/gems/reforges, that your spec is 'right' given your role, etc. If you're using heartsong on a crappy weapon, respond that you were saving for getting a better weapon before using power torrent, but you WILL put power torrent on that weapon if desired by the guild. When the guild reviews your armory, you want them to nod and say that you clearly know what you're doing. When they look at your WOL parses (provided you have them) you want them to be happy with what you see. If you don't know these things, take the time to research them on Elitist Jerks, any other applicable sites, and ask friends/guildies about them before trying to get into a new guild. Ok, what about a reasonably good app? Well, here I'll link mine because it got me into my current guild despite severe gear and experience gaps. You CAN get into your guild of choice, but having excellent gear with the correct setup and spec will help tremendously. It's definitely TLDR: but I'll comment on the app at the bottom if you don't want to read it and just skim down: Casual Corps App
Name: Hinenuitepo
Level: 85
Class: DK
Race: Worgen
Please take the time to answer these questions in detail. This is your opportunity to sell us on you. Generally answers should not simply be "Yes" or "No".
1. Provide a link to the Armory profile for your character. Since the armory can be unreliable, please also link both the talent spec you'd raid with and your current dual spec. PLEASE STAY LOGGED OUT IN YOUR MAIN SPEC AND RAID GEAR. Caveat #1: I am coming back from a 7-month ‘retirement’ from Wow, so my gear and character don’t look at that great at first blush. Yeah, I know. >.> Obviously, I’m apping for a server transfer, and would (for the first time ever) faction transfer as well if accepted. http://xxxxx/. Unholy main spec: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#xxxx, Blood Lichborne offspec: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#xxxx. Of course, right now Frost DW is fotm and while I prefer unholy I’m willing to give frost a shot.
2. Do you have any other characters you play regularly? If, so please list them (Name, Class, Guild, and Armory Link). If you don't disclose them here, we'll assume you're hiding something. Hinetitama, Shaman, unaffiliated http://us.hinetitama/; when I feel like healing a bit I hop on her. My only other 85 at the moment, as I quit playing not long after Cataclysm came out. In the past, I’ve played a number of other chars. Level 80s: Hirohubris (rogue), Hinemanu (hunter), Annunakis (DK). I have several other 60+ alts but not sure if I’d be playing them much at this point.
3. What time zone are you in? Are you available during our primary raid time? (8:50pm-12am server time, Wednesday and Sunday.) Will running late be a problem for you? How much are you likely to play outside of our primary 25-man raid times? I live in XXXXXX(PST). Your raid times are ideal as I play after the fam is tucked in. It’s conceivable I might be late very occasionally, although it should be very rare. In considering returning to Wow, I made a decision to make every effort to limit my outside of raid times. Short answer: only as much as is required to keep my consumables stocked and any initial rep grinds/point runs needed to prepare for raids. Permit me a short digression here. I’ve been playing Wow since Jan 2007. I was introduced to the game while (snip for excessive personal content) I pushed my DK as far as I could, regularly putting out first-page WOL parses and even starting a DK-centric blog (http://dkdeathgoddess.blogspot.com). I earned my first legendary – Shadowmourne - and had a lot of fun, but eventually the 4 late nights a week coupled with still playing 25-plus hours a week took a toll and a couple months into Cata I decided it was time to move on. Familiar story, right? After my 7 months off I’m still finding I miss the game and reactivated my account. There is no question I can perform at a very high level. I love to theorycraft, I study all the fights, and generally do whatever it takes to min-max my role as a raider. The question is, can I balance RL demands with raiding? Casual Corps looks like the perfect fit for me. Raiding – with what sounds like a mature, focused group – two nights a week = perfection. I’ll still log on enough to be raid-ready each night, but otherwise don’t plan to spend a whole lot of time online. If CC wants a raider who will come in, do whatever it takes to complete an encounter, but doesn’t expect him to be online all the time, I think we’d be a great match.
4. Please list your recent guilds and your reason for leaving them. Please include all of the guilds you've been a member of during this expansion. I was in Insomnia of Baelgun for most of LK and early Cata. I left the game because of burn out and too many hours required. Insomnia has apparently dropped to a 10-man guild with a 4-day schedule still, so I don’t intend to go back to them, although we’re still on friendly terms and I’m sure they’d take me back if I were willing.
5. What in-game activities do you partake in regularly (Raiding, PVP, Farming, Annoying people, Collecting Twill…) and what do you hope to find in Casual Corps to support these interests? Raiding is why I play the game. Additionally, I farm and play the AH. I NEVER grief or waste my time in /general and find the immaturity of most /general communities annoying and simply a waste of time. In the past I’ve levelled alts or done pvp, which I do enjoy but don’t anticipate doing as much in my return. As mentioned above, CC appears to be a focused raid group; perfect!
6. Do you have a functional microphone for use with Ventrilo, and are you able to use it quickly during combat as required? Yes
7. How much latency do you normally play with? What FPS? Do you crash or disconnect during raids? Around 100ms, about 30-50 fps, but never have problems with aoe-heavy fights. I almost never crash or d/c, but if I do, it’s thanks to our friends at Comcast. As I submit this, I’ll be creating a couple level 1 alts to see how I do with your server and to hold my name(s) for me.
8. Do you have any previous experience with members of Casual Corps? How did you find out about us? None: I’d be transferring if accepted. I saw your post in EJ’s /LFG. I had three criteria in looking for a guild: 1) competent raiders, 2) compatible raid times/lower hours total raiding (w/ decent progression), 3) mature individuals who aren’t continually posting that they ‘roll deep.’ It appears that CC is an ideal match from what I can see.
9. What Add-ons do you use while raiding? What raid frames do you use? Do you use an add-on for debuff monitoring, etc? This is your chance to explain how you utilize your UI elements to be an effective raider. Please provide a screenshot of your UI in-combat during a raid. I use DBM, Power Auras, DKI Runes, Omen, Recount, Tiny Melee Stats, IceHud, Grid, OneBag, SpartanUI, and a few others that don’t do much during raids. As far as debuffs applicable to DKs, Grid can be configured to do what I need. Essentially, I try to find the balance between keeping the screen as free of clutter as possible so I can see the fire to avoid, but enough information to ensure I do the best job I can. IceHud, for example, puts my health in big bold colors so I can see when I need to not tunnel-vision on dps and take care of myself. TMS tells me when to use my cooldowns optimally (when procs will optimally buff my gargie), Grid lets me brez if needed, general raid awareness, and debuffs, etc. I’m no purist – addons are ftw. I’m always open to new/improved addons that will help me do my job(s) better. Meh, here’s what I was able to dig up in terms of old screenies: http://imageshack...jpg/ & http://imageshack.jpg & http://imageshack..jpg and here’s a couple of ones since my return. I haven’t been in any raids yet but will get them to you if you want them and I can get in any (I was in BWD a week or so after Cata release downing bosses in my heroic blues, but two groups last night wouldn’t take me since my gear is sub-360).
10. Please give a brief description of your main spec gear (list the unbuffed stats pertinent to your class and spec) and your dual spec gear. Is your dual spec raid-ready? Explain why you've chosen the gear you're wearing, and how you've come to select it. If you have weaknesses in your gear, explain why, and what you hope to do about it. Please include Glyphs. As you can see from my armory, I’m primarily 359 geared, which as previously mentioned is due to quitting back in January. Therefore, my gear has lots of weaknesses. I actually explained my upgrade strategy in one of my last blog posts if you’re interested lol, but in general I’d go for ilevel upgrades first, try to get an early set bonus, and then try to get items that will have a longer shelf life before filling in the blanks. I’m upgrading fast now and spent the extra gold I had lying around to purchase a few upgrades to help me get caught up. My biggest weak spots are my blues that are harder to replace out of raids (head/wrists etc). In general both frost and unholy dps stat priorities are pretty simple: Str -> Str -> Str -> hit to cap -> haste -> mastery -> crit -> expertise, with expertise having relatively more weight for frost due to DW. Given that frost is currently predominant, I’ll be working on 1H weapon upgrades. I have a soul blade, but need at least one decent OH from one of the troll heroics. I’ll keep upgrading as much as I can, but I’m not particularly keen in joining BWD pugs and spending hours wipefesting with incompetent raiders. I’d definitely much rather join an established raid guild for additional gearing if at all possible. In any case, I’m first and foremost a dps DK. I’ve long preferred the unholy playstyle to dpsing any other way, but I’ve raided as blood (back in the day) and frost. The pendulum swings, and I often follow it. The Frost rotation is actually fairly simple right now and I’m more than capable of running it, but I’d rather see if I can get a shot/permission to run unholy. Like BRK in his Cata raiding return and ‘proving’ he can rock the BM spec, I think I’d be able to demonstrate my raid-worthiness as unholy, but could always go Frost if needed. I know you recently listed your preference for a tank. I’ll be honest. I won’t be happy as a full-time tank in perpetuity, but have raided as a main tank from time to time when one was needed (while a replacement was being recruited) and my off-spec is typically tankie/Blood. My raid off-spec gear is sad at the moment, having prioritized dps gear and not playing very long in Cata. That being said, I’m willing to fill in as a tank as needed and to OT whenever an encounter calls for it. I’d consider myself a moderately proficient tank in terms of raids – I’ve tanked most heroic LK raids (and all the normal ones) for example. In terms of glyphs, my preferences for unholy are pretty standard: Death Coil, Scourge Strike, Raise Dead, AMS, Pestilence, Blood Boil, Blood Tap, HOW, Death’s Embrace.
11. What consumables do you use while raiding? I’m partial to beer basted crocolisk, but I’ll sneak in the occasional fortune cookie – gotta watch my figure though! I generally keep lots of Flasks of Titanic Strength and/or Golemblood Potions on hand. If expected to tank, I’d make sure to have my alternate foods/flasks/potions on hand as well (Ironically, avoidance > stam for now).
12. Please provide combat log parses for at least two recent raids (http://worldoflogs.com preferred.). Parses from when I was raiding with Insomnia are all old they’ve expired . Not sure how I can provide a parse for you at this point. I can put up a few screenies which as we know are much less meaningful but perhaps better than nothing (see screens in ui section). If you want some ‘proof’ of my current raid competence let me know how I can do that and I’ll do my best.
13. Describe your raiding experience with this character and any other characters. Ooh, a question I could write a book about (please don’t, Hine)! I first started raiding on my rogue in BC at the tail end of T4. I loved getting up close and personal with the boss and slashing away. I have to be honest, I’ve loved topping the meters and endeavour to do so whenever I can. I learned early on, though, that a dead rogue does no damage and gradually got better at living to see the boss die. As the DK has matured as a class, I’ve become content with hybrid roles at times (such as controlling adds on Magmaw, etc). I’ve raided every boss in the game through LK and the first few bosses in Cata (I think we were around 7/12 in mid-January when I left). I’ve raided primarily on my DK and rogue, although I’ve spent time on my shammy (resto) and lock as well. Having played every role possible from healer to tank to ranged to melee, I admit my first love and last love remains melee dps. In general regarding Wow, I know we’ve all felt it, but there’s nothing like facing a challenging encounter, wiping but learning, and eventually defeating the boss!
14. Describe your favorite raid encounter in detail. Explain the mechanics of the fight, and your role in it. Wow, there are so many… well, I guess a few of the early Cata fights were fun, and I REALLY look forward to Rag, I’d say for now it was probably Lich King. As a dps we’d run in and NOT hit the boss until he was in position (lol), then focus on single target burn while keeping a disease up on the ghouls and running to the Horror tank when plagued. Dance outside the ring. Focus raging spirits down. Run back in, spread diseases to LK. Switch to designated Valkyr and burn/slow the Valk, being careful to bunch up when called, then spread out. Hit boss, avoid defiles, kill vile spirits (usually was able to spread diseases to them if times right), rinse repeat. 10%, profit! I still remember the euphoria of the raid on that first kill. 
15. Describe the most personally demanding encounter that you have learned. What made this demanding? How did you overcome the challenge? Honestly, I think the most demanding ever was Archimonde which I did on my rogue. There was so little margin for error with the loss of one raider starting the domino effect of a wipe so easily. Having to carefully slowfall when booted, avoiding that nasty fire (especially when disoriented), and so on! For me personally, and for raids in general, I think that’s when warcraft raiders started learning how to put together multiple fight elements, survival in tension with dps, and overall encounter complexity, and we’ve only seen it increase from there!
16. What does your ideal raid night look like? A night with enough difficult fights that you wipe until everyone focuses, learns their role, and nails it! A night with everyone focused but still loose enough to joke about the occasional fail. A night where at least one new boss goes down, but there’s some farming fun in there as well. A night in which that guildie (or myself) finally gets that hard to get drop and the loot gods smile on us. A night where we get that achievement/title we can proudly wear in Stormwind/Ironforge (er, sorry, Alliance habits die hard. I mean, Ogrimmar! FTH! ).
17. What can spoil the fun of a raid night for you? If normally consistent raiders no-show and we can’t take on that planned new raid encounter. If some guildie gets a stick up their butt and makes it miserable for everyone. A night where we’re not focused and continue to make the same mistakes over and over. I suppose, patch night as well…..
18. Can you take sharp verbal feedback during a raid, and respond to it in a positive and productive way? Absolutely. I’m not perfect and I always appreciate constructive criticism so I can get better.
19. What do you do to prepare for progression content? How much do you rely on leadership to explain what to do? On progression, I make sure all my gear is as good as possible, I have my buff foods/materials, I’m focused, and ready to go. I read up on the fight and watch video if possible. I admit, I learn best by doing, so it usually takes me a few attempts to get the picture on how the fight goes, but from there I’m usually golden. It’s always helpful to have designated people calling things out or marking them, but having filled that role myself at times, I’m usually heads up enough to not need much direction. No, you won’t have to tell me to run out for my seed on Staghelm – more than once ;)
20. What community websites do you read or participate in? EJ, TankSpot, MMO-champ, World of Logs, Wowhead, Mr Robot Pwnwear and quite a few more blogs and sites. I’m not at all fond of the official forums.
21. Do you have a 2 minute PVP trinket? Yes, and I’m not afraid to use it.
22. How old are you? XX
23. Do you live with your parents? No
24. Is there anyone other than yourself that can prevent you from making raids? It’s possible the wife or kids may need me, but the point of late night raids is to avoid this. In years of doing late night raids, I can’t think of a single time I missed a full raid due to family issues. I think I missed one or two due to a friend being in town, but those were th/fri/sat raids, which CC doesn’t have.
25. Our reputation is very important to us. Your past and present actions create the external image of our guild. Are you the type of person that ends up involved in a lot of in-game drama, trash talking, etc? Do you understand that we have a very low tolerance for this type of behavior? I’ve been in good guilds, and not so good guilds. There’s always at least a few idiots in every one of them. I can generally tolerate that stuff, but if CC prioritizes mature, adult behaviour and can get your members to avoid the idiocy of /general or official forums, icing on the cake, baby.
26. What Else? Define yourself. I’m a highly competitive person which has suited me well in raiding, but has occasionally lead to imbalance in my wow play vs real life. I intend to do better this time around and I hope this guild will be the panacea for it. I’m a busy guy with lots of RL stuff going on; I have a doctoral degree and run a clinic for my day job. I play soccer in a 20-something league twice a week. My family is very important to me. Of lesser, but not negligible importance, are: friends, reading, beer, watching sports, and other various and sundry pursuits.
27. ***BONUS*** How do you feel the introduction of gearscore has affected the community? Obviously there has been a brouhaha about this since the first GS addon became available. I’m more pro-GS than some haters I suppose. Granted, a high GS proves nothing about skill, but when looking to pug a group or attempt a boss with strangers, GS at least tells you if the person’s gear is likely to be sufficient to be successful. It also suggests (but does not guarantee) experience with raiding and a certain level of content. Obviously, on the other hand, it’s to be taken with several huuuge grains of salt as it doesn’t tell you if the person is talented, a team player, or simply any good. It doesn’t even tell you if they are wearing deodorant. So, buyer beware. In regards to effect on the community, it’s obviously lead to frequent snobbery and not allowing people in raids that probably would do fine, and lots of rancor on both sides, but them’s the breaks. If a raid leader is cobbling together a team and won’t take anyone below a 380 GS, I probably wouldn’t enjoy running with them anyway. The irony of this question isn’t lost on me, as my primary job on this app is to convince you to overlook my low GS and see me as worth a /ginvite. ;)
***DOUBLE BONUS*** Why would you pick up Hine as a raider when he hasn’t played in eons and his gear is so far behind and he hasn’t raided Firelands at all? I’ve read a lot of apps over the years. I know many guilds would look at my app and say: ‘the dude is articulate and talks a good game, but we really don’t need a DK right now,’ or: ‘we really want raiders who are geared and know the fights.’ I think I’ve already made the case that I’ve played this game for many years and know how it works and how maximize my contribution as a raider. I’ve been back a week and am already dramatically better geared than I was a few days ago; I’ll gear up fast. I’m willing to wait for a spot in the right guild (and I’d really prefer it to be yours) that I feel is a good fit for both myself and the guild. I’ll bring maximum raid performance, focused attention and attendance, and ‘good guildie’ behaviour/zero drama. I would expect if given a shot to most likely be sat on progression fights until my gear/experience catches up, although I’d be more than happy to contribute my best whenever called on. Eventually (very soon) though, I’m confident you’d find me worth keeping in on every progression fight where the Blizzard gods haven’t created a melee hell.
Thanks for taking the time to consider my app. I hope you’re willing to consider inviting me to your team and giving me a shot.   Ok, looking at this app (mine) It's obvious that a lot of time went into writing it. It portrays someone who's willing to expend considerable energy in preparing an application - probably someone who'd be willing to contribute to the guild as well. I posted considerable information about my class to demonstrate my knowledge of the class and ability to access current information about how to play it. I polished it as much as I could to demonstrate my ability to use the English language and a sense of humor as well. I answered every question in detail and especially anticipated those that demonstrated weakness to try to answer why despite some of my shortcomings I felt I would be able to contribute. I wouldn't expect every applicant to fill out an application in this detail, but a highly motivated one (such as myself), trying to convince a guild to take me, yes, it does nothing but help.   Bottom line: Guilds are looking at applications to give them enough information to make a decision about whether they want you in their guild. And what do they want? An applicant who is skilled, dependable, mature (usually), and hardworking. If you can convince them of these four things and they have room for you, you're in.   Good luck with your search for a guild!   -Hine

A male twi’lek smuggler.

Using /getdown.

You’re welcome.

Shiny New Art

On Twitter, DiscoPriest - artist of the Disciplinary Action and new Space Cadets comics – announced an art giveaway, in which she’d redo your SWTOR character in the style of a Space Cadets character. Sadly I did not get in on the contest (don’t ask me why!) but I still wanted one, mostly after seeing Asros and Fynralyl sporting theirs on Twitter and the guild forums, so I did it the old-fashioned way – I commissioned one. It was well, well worth it! I opted to get one done of my new Jedi Shadow (more on that in a sec), Jentra. Here’s the before… (click any of the pics below to enlarge)

And here she is after becoming a total Space Cadet:

So cool! Thanks again, DP – love ‘em. If you’d like to get one of your very own, here’s the easiest way to do so – the cost is $20.

• Take a screenshot of your character at the SWTOR login screen. (You can use the same screenshot button that works in-game – for me, that’s Print Screen.)
• Optional: take a full-body screenshot in-game. I apologize to Disco for the shoddy quality of my in-game pic (controlling the camera over a remote connection is nigh impossible!) but she did extremely well all the same.
• Send the pics, along with a short email requesting a Space Cadet-style avatar, to the artist.
• She’ll take care of you from there!

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Shiny New Character

As you can guess from the fact that I didn’t get Kyzur cadet-ized, I’ve switched away from playing him. The Sage playstyle is okay, but it just wasn’t clicking with me. Unfortunately, it took me about 20 levels to figure that out. At that point, I was so close to unlocking my Legacy that I figured I may as well just go ahead and do it – and that’s what I did.

(A side note here about my Legacy. For no apparent reason, my original choice of Legacy names (Cygma, as in Sigma, as in Kaiser Sigma) was not allowed by the Legacy system for no apparent reason – and neither was any other spelling of it. I wonder if it can’t be five characters long? Seems kind of arbitrarily short. So I went with a backup – Epsilon. It took a little bit to grow on me, but I got used to it. About 75% of the way to Legacy Level 2, to boot.)

Jentra, my shiny new Shadow, just got to Taris. Yes, that means I’m now one of those people with multiples of the same class – but the Shadow and Sage play so differently they may as well be different classes. Just to ensure it’s not a total repeat, Jentra’s making different choices than Kyzur did in many places, even if it’s just seemingly inconsequential dialogue. As a result, she’s developed a definite anti-Imperial leaning, and is less likely to be your staunch, stuffy, upright Jedi. If Kyzur represents the Jedi Order’s guiding voice, Jentra is its striking arm.

FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

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A Lesson on Lizard-men

So I’d complained on Twitter that, starting at around Tatooine but definitely noticeable on Alderaan, Qyzen Fess seemed a lot… squishier. I also had a much easier time pulling threat from him if I was spec’d for DPS. Getting some upgrades on Tatooine seemed to help his survival and threat somewhat, but I still had to bubble the green dude every time I got a chance. When I got Jentra, I was happy to have Qyzen again at a low level, where he’s very, very tanky.

Then I noticed something: a little green icon in his buff bar, for Trandoshan Regeneration, his “tank stance.” And then I realized that I hadn’t seen that icon when I was playing as Kyzur since, oh, sometime on Taris. Later on, after several groups, I resummoned Qyzen – sure enough, Trandoshan Regeneration had turned itself off for no apparent reason.

Learn from my mistakes: always make sure your tank is actually in tank stance!

Welcome to Business as Usual, my weekly dose of gold reports, wow news, etc… IT DOES A BODY GOOD The holidays are here, and Goblin Warrens all over Azeroth are abuzz with what has long been a Winter Veil tradition providing would-be questers with a nice glass of Ice Cold Milk. But why? In short, people are lazy and/or ignorant. There’s a quest Treats for Great-father Winter that is needed for the Winter Veil meta achievement, and so people grab the milk not realizing that they could buy it from a vendor only a few steps from Great-father Winter himself. Again, it’s either blatant ignorance or laziness, either way it’s more gold for me. Of course, this is chump change (the key word being chump) but it’s become a holiday tradition and it serves as a reminder, people are stupid. And so every year I remember to thank stupidity and sloth… THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT The holidays have a profound effect on the game, people are gone to visit family, etc. Similarly, the kids are all home trying to grind out as much gold as possible before they go back to school. This year there was something else on the horizon, Star Wars: The Old Republic. So, with Skyrim and SWTOR there’s definitely plenty of competition for the attentions of gamers. Myself, I haven’t been on much. Being married for the holidays means you usually have somewhere around 4 sets of households to visit (at minimum) for Christmas, we’re no exception. I spent New Years at my grandmothers, my wife and I spending time and eating great food with my rather large extended family. Christmas Morning, we woke early and made our way to my father’s house for breakfast. At Noon we were off to see my step father, and then my mother in law. We dropped in to see an old friend before making the long drive home. In short, 2 days and two tanks of gas later we were ready to take a well deserved nap. Overall though, the holidays were good to me. And more than anything, it was good to spend some time with loved ones. But that’s not why you’re really here, is it? Read on… LIQUIDATION Between hitting the gold cap and outside interests I haven’t had much time for Azeroth or the Auction House, I’ve put production on hold entirely and continue to liquidate my ample stores of materials hoarded in preparation for the patch. I still have stacks of Inferno Rubies to move, as well as whole banks full of goods. ■ 141 Bold Inferno Ruby ■ 57 Brilliant Inferno Ruby ■ 78 Delicate Inferno Ruby Of course, production will be up again I’m sure, but for now I’m just doing ez mode gold. And buying up pets, mounts and other goodies that I don’t already have on Khaas… THE MONEY SHOT So, with the help of the mobile auction house I’ve been turning a profit on stockpiled goods. Despite the recent distractions...

Welcome to Business as Usual, my weekly dose of gold reports, wow news, etc… IT DOES A BODY GOOD The holidays are here, and Goblin Warrens all over Azeroth are abuzz with what has long been a Winter Veil tradition providing would-be questers with a nice glass of Ice Cold Milk. But why? In short, people are lazy and/or ignorant. There’s a quest Treats for Great-father Winter that is needed for the Winter Veil meta achievement, and so people grab the milk not realizing that they could buy it from a vendor only a few steps from Great-father Winter himself. Again, it’s either blatant ignorance or laziness, either way it’s more gold for me. Of course, this is chump change (the key word being chump) but it’s become a holiday tradition and it serves as a reminder, people are stupid. And so every year I remember to thank stupidity and sloth… THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT The holidays have a profound effect on the game, people are gone to visit family, etc. Similarly, the kids are all home trying to grind out as much gold as possible before they go back to school. This year there was something else on the horizon, Star Wars: The Old Republic. So, with Skyrim and SWTOR there’s definitely plenty of competition for the attentions of gamers. Myself, I haven’t been on much. Being married for the holidays means you usually have somewhere around 4 sets of households to visit (at minimum) for Christmas, we’re no exception. I spent New Years at my grandmothers, my wife and I spending time and eating great food with my rather large extended family. Christmas Morning, we woke early and made our way to my father’s house for breakfast. At Noon we were off to see my step father, and then my mother in law. We dropped in to see an old friend before making the long drive home. In short, 2 days and two tanks of gas later we were ready to take a well deserved nap. Overall though, the holidays were good to me. And more than anything, it was good to spend some time with loved ones. But that’s not why you’re really here, is it? Read on… LIQUIDATION Between hitting the gold cap and outside interests I haven’t had much time for Azeroth or the Auction House, I’ve put production on hold entirely and continue to liquidate my ample stores of materials hoarded in preparation for the patch. I still have stacks of Inferno Rubies to move, as well as whole banks full of goods. ■ 141 Bold Inferno Ruby ■ 57 Brilliant Inferno Ruby ■ 78 Delicate Inferno Ruby Of course, production will be up again I’m sure, but for now I’m just doing ez mode gold. And buying up pets, mounts and other goodies that I don’t already have on Khaas… THE MONEY SHOT So, with the help of the mobile auction house I’ve been turning a profit on stockpiled goods. Despite the recent distractions...

I’m out of town for Christmas, so don’t expect too much out of me – in game or out! As for progress, I’m level 31 and somewhere on Alderaan…and fairly sure I’d rather be a Shadow.   So I rolled one of those, too. I’m just waiting until I unlock my Legacy with Kyzur, so I can maximize my Legacy XP.    Happy Holidays, and may the Force be with you!

1. I’d done a ton of reading about the game itself (aside from playing in the beta), but that didn’t mean everyone else had. A lesson of perspective. There were lots of inquiries in-guild about Advanced Classes, Crew Skills, and so on, many of which could be resolved if you knew where to look – but if you didn’t, you could easily be lost. That’s why I’ve been trying to write what seems to me like absurdly basic things on our forums (and encouraging others to do the same); what seems basic to me may be news to someone else. Resources like Anexxia’s SWTOR FAQ are extremely helpful.

2. The Esseles isn’t indicative of other Flashpoints – at all. In retrospect, The Esseles (and, presumably, the Black Talon) are rather strange as far as Flashpoints go, even compared to the very next one available to you. It’s much longer, the fights are much easier, and roles are much less necessary. It’s the difference between night and day; I hope it doesn’t catch people by surprise.

3. Money is simultaneously scarce and yet abundant. Mission Skills can be spendy – but if you can craft the nice things, even now – while prices are unsettled – people will usually buy them. Skills start costing 2k and 3k apiece in the 20s, but you can easily get 30k credits without even trying on a planet like Taris just from questing. I’m not worried about having the credits to buy speeder training next level – but I am glad that I’ve got the STAP available to save me 8000 credits.

4. There are benefits to leveling as a healer, even in a game without a “dungeon finder” feature. Two of the three classes on the Republic side that can level as a healer start with a tank companion. Same goes for the Imps. Leveling as a healer, and learning how to heal, usually means you’re going to be able to solo Heroic 2+ quests while still performing like normal in regular quests. This is also how you’ll learn that yes, Virginia, those healing threat reduction talents are really necessary. (Heroic 4+ is probably a bit out of your reach. Your tank-companion still takes a little too much damage, while not dealing enough of their own.)

5. It seems much easier to end up over-leveled than under-leveled these days. To end up underleveled in the summer betas, you didn’t really even have to try that hard. In the live game, I’m actually wondering exactly how much you’d have to skip out on to end up underleveled. As for me, I’m significantly over-leveled, at least for a while – running the Esseles four times in two days, diligent completion of all available space missions at any given time, completion of every quest on Taris (no matter how much I hated running around Taris), and more has led me to end up on Nar Shaddaa at the high end of its level range – and I’m about to level up again. And I haven’t even done any PvP!

6. The mod system can yield some real flexibility – even in Flashpoints – and make sure nothing goes to waste. An anecdote: in my second Esseles run, the third boss (the first robot-thing on the Imperial ship) dropped a double-bladed lightsaber. I sighed a little – all the stats and such were perfect, a fantastic upgrade for me, except I’m a sage… then I realized every item in that lightsaber was a mod, and my own saber was also moddable. Since there wasn’t a Shadow to take the saber from, I felt no qualms about taking that double-bladed lightsaber, looting it for all its delicious mods, and slapping them into my single-bladed saber for sagecraft!

Also: there’s a fully moddable suit of sand people lookalike armor on Tatooine. You know what to do.

7. Some of the 3D models could use a little help still… but I’m confident BioWare will find some way to make it look good. The most prominent one, at least for me, deals with full-face miraluka headcovers and, presumably, body type 4 males. I’m unable to wear anything with a hood because the headcover pokes through it – it didn’t bother me until I noticed it (it looked vaguely like patches), but now it bugs me to death, so I’m wearing and modding non-hooded garments. It’s also kind of strange with head items – basically they’re applied to the face, but they’re applied underneath the headcover, so they clip through it. And then there’s the old “twitchy lekku” issue that seems to affect a lot of twi’lek NPCs…

8. You can still get into the Collector’s Edition/Digital Deluxe VIP lounge, even if you didn’t buy one of those editions. It’ll just cost you a million credits to do so. And it won’t give you access to the CE vendor, reportedly. But hey, it’s your million credits.

Welcome to Business as Usual, my weekly dose of gold reports, wow news, etc… BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Yes folks, I did it: I hit the 1 Million Gold cap. You might be wondering what took me so long, especially considering how much gold I’ve made since Cata’s release. The simple fact is I’ve spent a LOT this expansion, and I’m not just talking day to day expenses. For starters, I’ve dropped hundreds of thousands of gold into my guild, Devastation. When Cata was released I made sure we had a solid chunk of gold banked to start out. We had a bank filled with necessary materials to enchant, gem, and craft gear. I even went so far as to buy epics for fresh 85s the first week so we could make an exploratory run on the new instances. I crafted thousands of flasks for the achievement/cauldron recipe. In the times when we’ve run dangerously low on materials, I’ve cleaned out the Auction House and deposited the needed items in our bank. In short, I’ve been doing everything I can to make sure the guild has what it needs to succeed. But, that’s not the only thing I’ve been dropping gold on. Pets, I’ve bought a few. Likewise, I’ve bought BOEs for myself and for my alts. And a lot of profession power leveling for alts as well. And I invested in some guild banks, including a level 25 bank that I’ve since renamed to SRS Business. As you might imagine, a level 25 guild doesn’t come cheap. I dropped 85k for it initially, but I still feel it was a sound investment. I also dropped some serious money investing for the patch, and that’s been paying dividends (as will become clear in a minute). There’s not much to report this week so, I’m going to stick to the gold news for the moment. THE MONEY SHOT There are certainly signs that the gem industry is destabilizing, but this week didn’t show any notable slow down (yet). I called it early this week though, Sunday morning I woke up to find I was just the other side of 1 million gold. So, I collected the weeks profits and decided that was enough for the moment. My business model was pretty straight forward for the past few weeks, and deviated only slightly this week. With the release of Winter Veil I had to indulge in a little holiday tradition where I list Milk on the AH for 10g each. Chump change, sure. But it’s times like this that remind you that people really are that lazy and ignorant. I’ve been selling enchanting materials this week too, it became obvious that I had way more material stored than I’d need to ride out the initial wave of people enchanting their new gear. Also, I figured this might be just the little boost I needed to cap out (glad I did this). Jewelcrafting was almost entirely from red gems, which are still moving...

I’m now playing and blogging about Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it’s awesome.

My site is DarthJedi.com (it has RSS too). I’m doing theorycraft, of course, eventually, and will be playing a Bounty Hunter healer at least for the first year or so.

As before, pwnwear remains open and I pay for its upkeep, cleanse it of any spam, and DK tanks are still hanging out here. Personally though I’m focused on SW:TOR.

Related Posts:

• Report on other games, from Gamescom 2010

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This is actually a copy of a post from our guild forums. Lots of people asking this, and I think it’s not quite the question they actually want to ask.

My default answer to this is, as always, play what you want to play. If you base your game on other people’s needs, you’ll burn out. I’ve seen it from roleplaying on a MUSH all the way up through every MMO ever. Play what you want to play – let the role thing balance itself out.

Now, on the other hand, it’s possible that some of you asking “what Advanced Class should I pick?” are really asking “what’s the difference between my Advanced Classes?” That I can answer. (If you have experience with WoW, this link might help you decide, too.)

Jedi Knight

The Jedi Guardian advanced class wields one lightsaber and carries a force generator or shield generator. The Jedi Guardian is capable of tanking or damage-dealing.

The Jedi Sentinel advanced class wields two lightsabers. The Sentinel’s only role is damage-dealing, and you have a few options of how to do that – slow and steady, with damage over time, or with fast acrobatic weapon strikes.

Jedi Consular

The Jedi Shadow advanced class wields a double-bladed light saber and carries a force focus, force generator, or shield generator. The Shadow is capable of either tanking or damage-dealing; in the former role, it relies on damage mitigation, in the latter, it plays a lot like a traditional rogue class, although the Balance tree combines melee and ranged for a sort of ‘battlemage’ playstyle.

The Jedi Sage, near and dear to my heart, is a completely ranged playstyle – that lightsaber is basically for show (and deflecting ranged attacks sometimes), and your offhand item is a force focus. The Jedi Sage can heal, or it can do damage with its damage-over-time abilities and telekinetic attacks.

Trooper

The Vanguard advanced class wields blaster rifles and a power generator or shield generator. The Vanguard class is capable of buffing up its shields and tanking, or getting in close for a unique melee/range mix playstyle of damage-dealing. (You get to knife people. How fun is that?)

The Commando advanced class wields those big freakin’ assault cannons you’ve probably seen many of them carrying, and also a power generator – I think. The Commando is capable of dealing damage – big surprise! – but they can also focus on healing. You literally get to shoot people back to good health.

Smuggler

The Gunslinger advanced class wields two blasters, and – much like the other dual-wielding AC, the Jedi Sentinel – the Gunslinger is there to deal damage from cover, and lots of it. The Gunslinger can specialize into better guns or better bombs, but one way or another, you’re dealing damage.

The Scoundrel advanced class wields a blaster pistol and uses a scattergun or shotgun as their “offhand” weapon, though you only see it during special attacks. The Scoundrel has two totally different playstyles – you can be a healer, and heal people from range, or you can deal damage – and the Scoundrel, unlike the Gunslinger, gets up close and dirty, shooting people in the back at point blank range with the Scattergun.

The Empire

Lest you think I forgot about you, here’s a quick Republic-to-Empire class and AC primer.

• Jedi Knight -> Sith Warrior
• • Jedi Guardian -> Sith Juggernaut
  • Jedi Sentinel -> Sith Marauder
• Jedi Consular -> Sith Inquisitor
• • Jedi Sage -> Sith Sorcerer
  • Jedi Shadow -> Sith Assassin (Balance -> Madness)
• Trooper -> Bounty Hunter
• • Vanguard -> Powertech (blaster rifle -> single blaster pistol)
  • Commando -> Mercenary (assault cannon + generator -> two blaster pistols)
• Smuggler -> Imperial Agent
• • Gunslinger -> Sniper (two blaster pistols -> sniper rifle + power generator)
  • Scoundrel -> Operative (scattergun/shotgun -> knife)

Pay what you want for awesome games and help charity. PAY WHAT YOU WANT, PLAY ALL YOU WANT I’m a big fan of the Humble Indie Bundle, unfortunately I was late to the party. I missed the first two, but part of the deal with bundle 3 was a bonus including all of deal 2 games, so I didn’t miss a whole lot. Still, it’s a great idea and a great cause so I wish I’d heard about it sooner. What is the Humble Indie Bundle? It’s a website where you can buy a bundle of indie games, with proceeds going to charity. The kicker is, you get to decide how much you want to pay. PAY A LITTLE MORE, YOU GET A LITTLE MORE As with previous Humble Bundles, if you pay more than the current average you get bonus games. As of this writing, the average is only $5.32! In other words, for $5.33 you get 9 Indie Games. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS When making your purchase, you’ll notice several options (sliders) that allow you to allocate portions of your payment to either charity, the game developers, or the organization that runs this deal (because they actually do have to pay for the bandwidth, etc). There are several pricing options, including paying “Retail” ($100) for the games and “Custom amount”. The default split allocates 65% of the funds to the Developers, 20% to Charity, and 15% to the Humble promoters. However, as suggested above moving the sliders will allow you to alter the split as you see fit. There’s also an option to go All in for the Developers or for Charity. Charity proceeds go to the American Red Cross and Child’s Play Charity, I’d have to check with my attorney to be sure, but yes it appears this is something you should keep track of for Tax season. After you pay, you’re presented with several options for downloading the games (personally, I use Steam) and away you go. The Bundle will only be available for 2 weeks, so get it before it’s gone! THE BUNDLE ■ Jamestown ■ Bit.Trip Runner ■ Super Meat Boy ■ Shank ■ Night Sky HD BONUS ■ Gratuitous Space Battles ■ Cave Story+ DISCLAIMER: The sad fact is that some people are literally taking advantage of this great opportunity, and only paying as little as one cent. I’m not saying give till it hurts (hell, giving anything hurts for some) but if you’re only paying one cent you’re kinda a douche. I say this because there’s got to be cost involved in putting this thing together, and frankly I’d rather not see the Bundle disappear because of cheap douche bags. Also, I should note: I am in no way affiliated with the Humble Bundle or any of the developers involved, I just think it’s a damned good idea and worthy of all the support I can give it. Thanks for reading, see you next time…  

If you’re on Juyo, say hi to Kyzur!

Welcome to Business as Usual, my weekly dose of gold reports, wow news, etc… DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! Recently when shopping at a local Wal Mart, I found something interesting – Star Craft II: Collector’s Edition. Now, these aren’t exactly rare on eBay, but they typically go for something like $150. But Wall Mart decided to dump these on the shelves at a $20 under the retail price. It was the kind of deal I just couldn’t pass up, I wanted to try the game out for a while and since I was building a new computer it seemed like the right time to shelve a copy for the new machine. Of course, I wouldn’t be much of a Goblin if I didn’t make money off of buying a new game. I bought two copies and eBayed the other, I ended up pocketting $20 after all of the associated expenses… INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH On the subject of the new computer, I received most of the parts a week ago. Unfortunately things have been ridiculous here, so I just haven’t had a chance to get the thing running. But today, I’ve got some time off of work so I’m going to see if I can get the wiring buttoned up and install Windows. The computer itself has as one friend said “a very busy front bezel”, I’ve used a Lamptron FC6 Fan Controller, which so far I love. It has 4 dials for controlling fans, and an LCD panel that gives you fan speed as well as temperature at each fan. Additionally, I’ve added a panel with hot swap bays for SSDs, the panel also acts as a card reader and gives me a couple of extra USB connectors. Then of course there’s the Blue Ray burner and another bay with a pair of LCDs for tracking temps on both my video card and processor. The result is 19 wires running from the front bezel alone! I’ve gone with a few mild mods, I added some nickel plated, spring loaded handles to the top of the case. They’re cheap, they look good, and it makes moving a heavy case around a lot easier. I also added a couple of extra 120mm fans to the top, originally these were for a water cooler – however after getting a look at the major hardware (namely the video card) I decided on a smaller radiator placed at the back. ■ Case: Lian Li V1200B ■ Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ Gaming Motherboard ■ Processor: AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ Eight-Core Processor ■ Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 ■ Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 ■ Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold 750W Modular Power Supply ■ Internal Storage: Corsair Force Series GT 60GB SATA III Internal SSD (x2) ■ External Storage: Seagate 2TB External Drive ■ Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H80 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler ■ Fans: COOLER MASTER SickleFlow 120 R4 120mm Silent operation...

“When I’m in the field, whatever I say goes. Understand?”

Whatever you say, short stack.

First off, go read this post by Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi about the modding system. It’s absolute gold for a high-level overview of how the modding system used to work, and how it works now. Having experienced it both ways, I’m definitely not misty-eyed over the days of yore (by which I mean “as recently as this summer”). There are definitely some parts I want to pull out and comment on, though, so here goes.

To start with, we’ve introduced a new color and item type: the Custom items. Those are shown with an orange border and are fully moddable. This change is purely cosmetic. What we have done is take all fully moddable Prototype items (blue) and simply changed their icon color. This helps us create a better and more unique identity for fully moddable gear.

This is a really recent change, and I like it. When I logged out of the Thanksgiving weekend beta, I had two modded items – a modded lightsaber (whose color crystal, amusingly, was actually orange-colored) and an armor I’d picked up from a quest reward and promptly slapped it with a purple-quality mod that had dropped from a random enemy. When I logged in for the final beta weekend, those two items were now Custom quality instead of Prototype (blue) – and let me tell you, those orange items really pop. It might take some getting used to for players from other games where orange = legendary (not to name any names), but it’s definitely nice to be able to pick out moddable items at a glance.

- Item modding can now be done anywhere at anytime. No workbench required.

This has been the case for a while, actually, but it’s nice to see it confirmed as a part of the system continuing forward. Item workbenches are still scattered around, but even on the last night of beta players were confusedly wondering on General chatter what the point of the item workbenches was, so I imagine these will either just become background flavor, or go the way of the dodo.

- Crafters can now reverse engineer mods and create blue and purple mods.

Hooray for more uses for reverse engineering! It really is a fun system, I think, although maybe frustrating when you can’t get that one recipe you want – armor reverse engineering tends to be a little more random than mod or medicine reverse engineering, for example – or need rare crafting materials that your companions just can’t seem to get from their mission skills.

- Mods can now be extracted from a Custom item. This is the single most important change and has many, many consequences. However, we feel that being able to slot a mod and then extract it back truly opens up the system and makes it a lot more fun, easy and safe to experiment with. I’m not 100% happy about how the system interface and GUI works today (it is still a bit clunky) but at least it is functional.

Also fantastic. It means that unlike, say, gemming in WoW, you don’t have to worry about the permanency issue – just drag the mod out (or, now, right-click it) to remove it. This system already works pretty nicely. Remember when I mentioned that orange lightsaber crystal? I actually removed the blue crystal from my own lightsaber and installed it in my companion’s, since it was better than her green one. I then sold her green one for a little cash.

- Partially moddable premium (green) items were removed as they essentially lied to the players: an item missing a mod slot would never be able to match a high end non-moddable item. Instead, to compensate for the loss of diversity, orange versions of all green armors was created and given to the crafters. So, yes, if you see a green armor you really like, you still can have that appearance until end level. It does take a bit of work – you either need to become a crafter yourself, befriend one or trawl the GTN.

(Note: recipes for those orange appearances are discovered through Underworld Trading missions.This allows us to have a truly large number of those recipes without overwhelming the crafting trainer inventory. As a side effect, this opens up class quest green armor appearances from other classes as well as long as you fulfill the armor requirements.)

This has a couple implications. First, Underworld Trading is now sort of vaguely relevant to all crafts – but I think it’s much more likely that you’ll either see these patterns spread out to other mission skills, or you’ll see them on the GTN instead. Works out nicely for the skills that already pair nicely with UT, though…

Secondly, this brought back something cool that you could do early on in the beta. Back when we were primarily playing Empire (because we didn’t want to spoil the Republic storyline for ourselves), I saw a Sith Warrior running around in what was, by all appearances, a full set of Bounty Hunter armor. I inspected him, and found that he’d gone the full crafting route – basically he found a full set of moddable Bounty Hunter armor and replaced all the Aim/Endurance mods with Strength/Endurance ones, making a set of armor that looked like a Bounty Hunter but was suited for a Sith Warrior.

With the return of cross-class orange appearance armor, this is a thing you can do again. So for all you Troopers who aren’t huge fans of the “Stormtrooper-esque” motif? Brush up on those crafting skills (or make friends with crafters) and get ready to look like a Jedi Guardian instead. Are you a Jedi Sentinel who’s jealous of the Gunslinger’s awesome hat? Maybe you can craft your own awesome hat, and be some sort of… cowboy… Jedi… look, I don’t know, I’m just saying what’s possible.

- Some crafting recipes that allowed the creation of moddable armors and weapons have been replaced with non-moddable versions. Why the nerf? Because those recipes were no longer properly balanced once we allowed mod extraction. It became far cheaper and faster to create an item for the sole purpose of extracting every mods out of it than creating mods in the first place. This also allowed nearly every crafter to create every type of mods, which wasn’t very balanced either. Instead, the crafter can now make a non-moddable item for those players that enjoy that and, thanks to newly introduced recipes, a moddable (but empty slotted) version of the item.

Good to know. Plays well with a core theme of SWTOR: choice. It sounds like whether you prefer your armor moddable or just standard loot, you’ll be able to at least take a stab at going at it your way.

Welcome to Business as Usual, my weekly dose of gold reports, wow news, etc… WAITING FOR SUPERMAN My more observant readers may have noticed a real lack of me lately, of course guild members already knew I’ve been busy with the really real world. There’s the holidays and work to consider, and of course my young puppy Leo. But that’s not the whole story… IS IT GETTING HEAVY? So what have I been doing in the past month of seeming inactivity? Well, I’ve been writing a lot. Currently, I have about 5 articles I’m cleaning up for Cracked.com. Yep, I’m trying my hand at being a hired geek, of course it’s freelance work so there’s no guarantee they’ll buy all or even anything I write. But, it’s more likely than becoming a rock star at this point. And of course there’s the ever present holiday rush, my wife handles the yearbook and school paper here. So, for the next two weeks she’s putting in 14 hr days getting pictures and things before school dismisses for Christmas. On that topic, there’s also the shopping to do. Since I’m no longer estranged from the bulk of my family, holiday shopping is kinda important again. And of course, I’ve been working on winterizing our apartment. The building is from the late 1800s and winters here can be brutal, so some preparation is a must. If that wasn’t enough, there’s the fact my wife and I are both in a better position financially speaking than we have been in previous years. That means, we can do things like go get Sushi or steak. We can afford a new television and/or computer. Then of course, there’s Skyrim (yeah, there’s that). When you have the combination of a new 55 inch tv, a new XBox and a game like Skyrim… let’s just say you’re not going outside for a while. And what about World of Warcraft? As I said in my last post, PANDAMONIUM! the seven year itch is here. And I’ve taken some time to reflect on my time in WoW. By the time Blizzcon came around, my continued existence in game was questionable at best. Blizzard had a weekend to earn back some of that lost good will, and really Day 1 was the most important. Mists of Pandaria excited me, more than Cataclysm ever did. Patch 4.3 brought a few things to whet my appetite before the expansion, but not enough to make me go balls deep in the game again. But what I’ve learned from all of this, the future is still not so certain… IT’S JUST TOO HEAVY FOR SUPERMAN TO LIFT If Cataclysm has taught me anything, it’s that even World of Warcraft is mortal. The game may not be shut down entirely like Hellgate: London, but an EverQuest like decline is a real possibility. That realization led me to another, even if wow is no longer a significant factor I still want to write about games and my experiences...

New in this patch: Corso finally shuts up. Build notes after the jump.

General

• Experience gains on Origin Worlds have been adjusted to help solo players reach level 10 more easily.
• Improved the overall performance of vanity pets.
• Using the /stuck command will no longer kill the player unless a safe location cannot be determined. Players can now only use /stuck every 120 seconds.
• Moving to a new planet instance no longer uses the player’s Quick Travel cooldown.
• Mail sent to another player will now have a 30 minute delay.