Friday Recap: Oh, Warcraft, How I've Missed you So...

Oh, Warcraft, how I've missed you so.

So Tuesday marked the releaseof World of Warcraft's first Cataclysm "pre-patch", 4.0.1. This patch integrates many changes to Azeroth, from the new talent trees to the vast graphical upgrades. The new raid-lockout system will be added, as well as the new Justice Point currency to replace old badges.

I think I may come out of retirement, just for the lulz.

Unfortunatly, the new race/class combos and the "new old world" won't be avaliable until 4.0.3 comes out, and the new races, level cap, and questing areas won't be avaliable until after Cataclysm. Regardless, it gives me the chance to dust off my old account, relearn how to play my class, and get ready for launch.

Now all I need to do is find a small group of friends willing to sit in line with me on December 7th. As a wise old hobbit once said, "I will take it!... but I do not know the way."

To the other WoW-heads out there: what are your plans for Cataclysm? Starting a new toon? Camping out for the release?

Post publishing thoughts: I broke down and paid for another month on WoW. Let me say, it's very, VERY different... fun, mind you, but very different.

Forewarning Wednesdays: How to Prepare your own Zombie Plan

Hello fellow social outcasts, today, we're going to talk about one of my favorite subjects: zombies, and how you can keep them from munching on your brains as a midnight snack. This is not to be taken as a fully-fledged field manual, and I can't say that following my advice will help you when the outbreak comes, but this will point you in the right direction.

With that said, let's get started.

Part 1: Know your Enemy


There is all kinds of information out there about zombies, but what information can you rely on? Some of it seems to be very vague, and more of it, well, inaccurate. Here are a few general points you can focus on:

1. Zombies eat flesh
Be it brains, intestine, or just a chunk of your fore-arm, zombies want one thing: to take a bite out of you. They can smell meat, and like wild animals, they try anything to satisfy their hunger.

2, Zombies roam in packs
Zombies, unfortunately, were once human. While they are no longer, they still behave much like our more primitive ancestors might have. They prefer to hunt in packs, and will often wait for the cover of night. Don't expect them to operate any form of machinery, or formulate master strategies, but they will understand the element of surprise.

3. Noise and light attracts them
Light is an important part of any shelter, but you have to be careful about how much you let escape. The same goes for noise. Zombies have worse senses then they did in life, but that doesn't mean they can't hear, see or smell you. Be careful about running a gas-powered generator that makes a lot of noise, and while signal lights are great for being spotted by the authorities, at the same time, they will bring the dead to your door.

There are many, many more things to know about zombies, but this covers the basics of what you need to know. When in doubt, treat them as pack wolves. It would be a terrible mistake to underestimate them.

Part 2: The Safehouse


Whether you call it your fort, stronghold or safehouse, you'll need a place you can safely rest, eat, sleep and bathe without worrying about any sudden zombie interruption. Here are a few tips to maintaining your own stronghold, complete with a list of basic materials to allow you survival for up to a month.

1. The Location 
There are many different options when choosing the location for your stronghold. Let's cover a few of the good ones, and a few basic requirements you'd need.

For one, you will need a place to sleep, a place to eat, and a place to wash up. This may seem as a no brainer (literally), but there can be some big problems when you start sharing space. Sickness can be more threatening then a sudden zombie attack.

You will also need some easy way to get to the surface world, be it to go for supplies, get some exercise, or even to escape should your fortifications be compromised. A single-entrance basement is great, but if you're suddenly blocked off by hordes of dead zombies, you'll starve, if the disease doesn't get you first.

A yard is almost a must for any permanent fortification. If it's large enough, you can attempt to plant vegetation, have an exercise area set up, a latrine, and most importantly, a place to burn bodies. A forewarning: if you allow the bodies of the infected or otherwise to pile up, it will bring all kinds of disease that will mean certain death for anyone in the stronghold.

2. Supplies


The average person needs to drink around 2-3 liters of water every day, ideally. That means that to survive, you would need, per month, about 16 gallons of water, per person. That may seem like a lot, but in reality, that's not unreasonable. You will also need water to wash clothes, cook food, water plants, or for other miscellaneous reasons. If you plan to hold out for a month, with 4 people living in the shelter, you should have about 80 gallons of water, per month you plan to stay.

You will also need some way to generate power. Generators are great, but they make a ton of noise, and have to be run outside. That can attract hordes of zombies. It's recommended that you use bicycle-powered generators. One, they're quiet. Two, they're great for exercise. Three, they don't require fuel.

Transportation is very vital for finding supplies. I know you'd be inclined to use a big truck, or some other fortified vehicle, but trust me, they use gas quick. Instead, try using bicycles for more mobile, inexpensive transport. They're fast, quiet, and a good workout.

~*~

This pretty much wraps it up for this week. Come back next Wednesday, when I cover a few more important bits of information, including Who to Bring with You, and Weapons you can Count On. Happy zombie hunting, friends!

Monday LOLs: Memes gone mainstream

Sorry, again, no post to share today. Super busy... so here's a funny thing I found at Hobby Lobby today. Enjoy!

QQ Corner: World of Warcraft - Worgen Mounts

I planned on writing a review of Minecraft today, but I recently changed my mind. Why, you ask? Well, because Minecraft is in alpha, and I really haven't gotten far enough in to make a solid judgement on it. I also decided to change because of the HUGE amount of QQing I've heard on the WoW forums as of late, so here we go:

If you haven't been following the Cataclysm information, there's been a new development in regards to the worgen. Blizzard finally released the mounts. What are they? Worgen, in place of mounts, are getting an ability called "Running Wild". The flavor text says: Drop to all fours to run as fast as a wild animal. What does this mean, you ask?

It means that Worgen are now the only race that doesn't have it's own true "mount". It means that, instead of giving them one of their own, Worgen now drop to all fours and run just as fast as a regular mount (or an epic, if you have the training). And you know what? This is totally awesome!

There has been alot of  complaining about it, though. Most of it comes from Alliance mount collectors, who are upset the Alliance won't be getting more mounts. These mounts are prime for mount collectors to increase their total, as others require raiding, achievements, or other kinds of grinding. With the new Horde race, Goblins, getting their own mounts, many discount this as unfair.

More complaints come from an offhand mention of an old World of Warcraft beta skill, Plainsrunning. This was given to Tauren players in place of mounts, as Blizzard didn't have one they could use. Back then, racial mounts were race-specific, and Tauren were way to big to fit on them. In patch 1.0.1, kodos were added, so when the game launched, Tauren had their own mount.

However, these two abilities are completely different.

Plainsrunning was a passive ability that worked when a Tauren ran for more then 10 seconds. After that time, they would burst into epic mounted speed. Players had no control on when this would happen, and in PvP and instances, this would be either unfair or very unlucky (think if you main tank was running to a boss, then THIS happened...)

The new Worgen spell is NOTHING like this. It is a 1.5 second cast, just like normal mounts. While you're on all fours, you are considered mounted. You can be unmounted, as normal, and you can't cast spells or abilities, like when you're mounted.

Basically, it's just like a mount only Worgen can have, that had no extra model, and doesn't count twords your mount total. I think all the debate is silly. Worgen can still ride other racial mounts, so nothing is lost. In the end, it's just less *PEW PEW* and more QQ.

Thanks for reading.

Dad, I Want to be an Artist

I had this realization the other day.

I'm sure many have noticed how I like to criticize art. Be it music, movies, painting, or even games, I always like to criticize them. Even things I love, like the Star Wars movies, or some good old Rammstein, I have to take a step back and evaluate for their "artistic merit"... but where did this come from?

Well, I'll tell you. I am a man of many, many hobbies. Just to name a few, I paint, play guitar, play bass, sing, write, and (no surprise here) blog. I dabbled in woodwork, read a lot about blacksmithing, and even dived into home wine-making. I read a lot about these mediums, and before long, I came to know quite a bit about them. I started using words like "cinematography" and "director's vision" while watching movies, and "writer's voice" and "flow of events" when reading (or being read to).

I found, for a while, I put all of these things to the side, and tried to put all my time in one source. (Anyone who has read more then two posts on my blog knows what I'm talking about.) As of late, I needed a way to express myself. I practically killed myself trying to deal with it all alone, but I couldn't, then I realized how many hobbies I had, and dived right in.

After learning a few of my favorite songs on guitar, and making the best batch of mead I've ever tasted, I realized how much I love the arts. It even got to the point I considered changing majors. Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life, I'd ask myself, and will I enjoy it? Can I be creative and still be a Software Developer?

The answer to that, I can't say, but there is one thing I do know: Dad, I want to be an artist.

I Hate Computers - Weekly Outlook

Hey guys,

I set up Monday to be a gaming day, but it appears I accidentally deleted the post I had made, so who's up for another Wednesday pickup post?

The post I had scheduled for Wednesday will be posted Monday, and is titled Dad, I Want to be an Artist. It's a look into somewhere my mind has been in the past few weeks, and it's something I'm thinking about following through with.

The post for Monday should be finished by Wednesday, finger's crossed. If not, it'll be posted Friday. It's about a very interesting game that I've found, and I'll analyze not it's gameplay or graphics like most do, but I'm going to focus more on it's artistic value, and how games like it are going to help shape the industry. Yes, expect a long post.

The Friday Recap will be as per usual, unless it gets pushed back to a Saturday recap... at any rate, it'll be done at some point.

Expect an exciting FULL week of posts, so stay tuned!

A Return to my Roots: DMing a 3.5 Campaign

I'm super excited I get to take my place behind the old DM screen again, and I mean the OLD screen.

For the first time in over two years, I'm going to start a DnD game that isn't 4th Edition. By the looks of things, I'll be going back to good ol' 3.5, full of it's ugly tables, confusing rules, and overall lack of a grapple mechanic (SHUT UP. IT DOESN'T EXIST).

While I never really found much ease working with 3.5 in the past, I think my time spent in 4th Edition will help me out greatly. 4th Edition is much, much easier for DM's, and allows them to tell a great story without having to come up with too many weird mechanics, or having to have a Ph. D in game logic. All of this comes at a price, however, and it's at the player's expense.

After going back and reading (parts of) the over 100 books written for 3.5, I realized how much of this was true. Sure, DMing 4th Edition was just as fun for me, but it really did limit the players by quite a bit. I really came to see how it was more board-game like then 3.5, and how that can be boring for some.

At the end of the day, I came to this conclusion: 4th Edition is great for a pick-up and play game, with lots of kick-in-the-door style of puzzle solving, and not very much room for whatever else. 3.5 gives the players a huge selection of character creation options, with all kinds of neat tricks, spells and feats, and is clearly meant to last much longer then just a few short games.

Long story short, I'm glad I'm back to 3.5. Next stop: Azeroth!

(ALSO: Happy Birthday, me!)

Things that Get Me Through the Work-Week: Humor

Humor is that magical thing that makes anywise unbearable situation that much better. With a little bit of humor, and the right mindset, anything that can be seen as mundane, boring, or even painful can be made all that more tolerable. It's what gets me through those tough days.

I'll give an example.

One of my good friends and co-workers was having a bad day. He looked like he was about to fall to tears, even as he worked hard as always. You see, his girlfriend he'd been with for over a year, and living with for 8 months, had been cheating on him. He finally called her on it, and they broke up. She spent the next night clubbing, and told him it was all his fault.

I was sure he wasn't gonna make it, and he being a usually hard worker, I felt very bad for him. Just when all seemed lost, however, humor came to the rescue.

Several of my other co-workers would talk to him, try to consul him, then follow it up with a quick joke. "I'm so sorry, man. That's rough. But hey, on the bright-side, now you don't have to sneak all those hookers in while she's asleep."

Not long after, my manager saw that he and another employee were trying to scrape something off a container using a knife. "Woah," my manager yelled, "hold the phone! What the hell is wrong with you?! Where the hell are your cutting glo- you know what, never mind. I'm just gonna walk away..." Both employees looked alarmed until they saw him snicker and keep walking. It was the first time that day I saw him smile.

So remember, people, put a little humor in your step, and your bound to get through that work week. Happy Wednesday, everyone!

That got a few laughs, to be sure.

Why Starcraft 2 will be the First Game I Buy in 2 Years

It's no secret I'm a huge fan of Blizzard Entertainment. Not just because of their games, but because of their design mentality, their close-connection to their fan-base, and a winning business model that attracts employees from around the world, and keeps them coming back for work every day 9 to 5.

Blizzard Entertainment, at least in recent times, has failed to put out a bad game. The reason for this is simple: if it's bad, they won't release it. Ever since the not-so-famous Warcraft Adventures, Blizzard Entertainment (or I guess I should say, Activision-Blizzard now) has always stated they would rather pull a game that's finished from the production line that have it released and hurt the company's image.

This is why Starcraft: GHOST was cut, and why the last game I bought was Wrath of the Lich King.

I can't think of any other company that I have so much faith in. Blind faith, perhaps, but faith nevertheless. While I may not be super excited about all their big upcoming titles (Cataclysm, yes. Diablo 3, maybe not), I still think Blizzard is one of those rare companies that takes so much pride in their work, that they'd rather pull a product from the shelves then let it be a flop and waist their fans' time and money.

Needless to say, you all know where I'm going to be Tuesday...

My Family, and Why I Hate Birthdays

*WARNING - SOAPBOX*

Expect lots of ranting to follow. You have been warned.

I can't say my dad and I have ever really gotten along. Every time we seem to get a little closer, he does something really dumb that makes me want to scream. We'll play catch in the park, then he'll get drunk and cry on my shoulder for literally hours. We'll spend a day together, he'll spend the whole time telling me how terrible my mother is. I'll tell him something going good for me in my life, and he'll proceed in telling me how much I'm going to mess up. He can't go one day without shooting me down.

Now go back to look at every birthday party I've had with him. Every time we get the family together, he and my step-mother will wait for everyone to get together, then they'll take turns bashing me into the group for no real reason. It'll be on everything, from how much they don't like my friends, to how bad my hair looks, to how ugly my choice in shoes are.

Let's go over what's most likely on the menu this time:

• My new religion
• My girlfriend
• My job
• My scholarship that I'm (not) about to lose

Let's address these line by line:

Yes, dad, I'm a pagan. To be more specific, I'm a Thorsman, a heathen. I really haven't shared this with my family yet, so I don't expect this to be an issue, but who knows, maybe they'll finally notice that Mjolnir I wear all the time.

Yes, dad, I have a girlfriend. She's smart, funny, has a very level head, and shares quite a long list of interests with me. Above all, I'm happy. If that bothers you, I'm so sorry.

(On a side note, I think he may have a point about that "lack of maturity" thing he likes to mention...)

For the 4th time this month, dad, I'm doing well at my job. I was employee of the month last month, and I got a raise the month before that. I like my job, it pays well, and I don't care if it's basically a bus-boy job, I'm still proud to have it.

Now, for my favorite one: No, dad, I'm not about to lose my scholarship. Sure, I'm taking 13 hours this semester rather then 18. I'm doing that for a reason: money. I can't afford to take that many hours and still pay for books and food. Are you willing to help me pay? No? Then butt out.

With all that said, it is nice to see my family every once in a while. I just wish I could get through one family gathering without the whole house shouting about religion, politics, and how bad of a person I am.

Ah well, no-one knows like family, am I right?

First Post - Too Many Hobbies, and Summer Boredom

Oh look, just what I need: another hobby.

Sarcasm aside, I have way too many hobbies. Generally, this would mean that I have plenty of things to do to take up time. I mean, I've dabbled in woodcarving, painting, song writing, short stories, saber-smithing, combat choreography, gaming, Judo, and now blogging.

The main problems lies in that I have no idea what hobby I want to do at any particular time. I usually spend my days driving around town, hanging with my friends, girlfriend, working, or going to class. Combined, all that takes up most of my time. Too bad it's summer, when most of my friends have gone out of town, state or country, and class is no longer in session.

That just leaves me to my job, my few good friends that stayed behind, and my girlfriend (all of whom I'm convinced are sick of my hanging around by now).

Oh, and not to mention my couple hundred hobbies.

All is not lost, however. All my friends will be back by the beginning of August. In less then a month, class starts back. I'll be moved back into my own place, and I'll have plenty of things to keep me busy. What, with class, a part-time job, my awesome friends, my bad-ass girlfriend, and all the stuff in-between, who has time for boredom?...

Or, for that matter, another hobby.