I met The Guild

It may not surprise anyone that I didn’t know that The Guild cast was going to be attending this years Comic-Con. I don’t make plans to see things when I go to Comic-Con. It pretty much stems from “I have seen it all”. I remember when the convention was held at the same time as a quilting convention.

I was inline about 20 min before their panel on Friday. There were already enough people in line that the empty room filled up. I had to wait for people to leave the standing room only panel to enter.

I listened to the last 15 min. I didn’t get to watch the two videos they showed. I did get to hear them say their booth number, which was the most important thing.

Later talking to Falicia Day, they did request a bigger room to their credit. But the planners didn’t see a web show would translate to a lot of attendees to the panel. *snicker* Absolutely didn’t realize what they were dealing with.

When I saw that the entire cast was there I knew I wanted sound bits for the podcast, Twisted Nether Blogcast. I had already talked to Scott Kurtz of PvP, Lar Desouza of Looking for Group, and artist Todd Lockwood.

But who should I start with?
Falicia Day? Well TNB already had a sound bit from her from Blizzcon last year.
What about Vork? Or the nice lady that plays Clara, Robin Thorsen?

I got it!

The Producer, Kim Evey!

I have learned a long time ago it is not so easy to get to the actors, artists, or writers. I have had more interesting conversations with producers, editors, and those who have access to those “popular” people.

When the booth was not busy I asked if Kim Evey was going to be at the signing later that day. Kim was actually there at the booth. I told her how I loved her work before The Guild and I was glad that she was producing the web series.

Then I left.

Thanks to Husband he pushed me back to ask for the sound bit for TNB. I was going to wait till later. *sigh* I know better. Take the opportunities as they present themselves. Kim was great as I explained what I wanted. She then did the call in for me.

With the number of people who went to the panel, I figured the late afternoon signing would be packed. Plus again I am not prone to waiting in lines. I was there for other panels too. I stayed at the Vertigo panel until Karen Berger was done introducing all the current books and projects. (I am looking forward to the Fables prose book.) Then I got in line as they started signing.This was a little slice of exclusive geekdom at Comic-Con. People who enjoyed comics, played Warcraft, watched web shows, and was at Comic-Con 2009. The line was as interesting as meeting the cast.

I didn’t ask Falecia Day, Codex to do the TNB call. I know she would do it for me. But I wanted others in line to get a chance to talk to her. I was focused on those we didn’t have yet.One after the other they called in for me. I had “Twisted Nether Blog-cast” written out on a piece of paper and they called. It was fantastic!
Robin Thorsen, Clara
Amy Okuda, Tink
Sandeep Parikh, Zaboo
Michele Boyd, Riley (Hot console gamer girl)
Jeff Lewis, Vork
Vincent Caso, Bladezz

They all signed my Season 1 and 2 DVDs. I couldn’t help myself, I bought a glossy of them all in there cosplay outfits and had them sign it too.

I had Kim sign my DVDs and picture too. I didn’t see anyone else taking the opportunity to have her sign. That is when she introduced me to Sean Becker the Director and Editor of The Guild. He signed my items also. I, of course, asked him to do a call into TNB.

Sean thought it was a brilliant ideal, mobile and easy. He was so taken with the idea he actually did two takes in the same call for me (not us, it was just for me). That will give Fim some options. After that there would be no way I would question he was not a director or an editor.
After all that, I was done. It was a very successful convention. I saw the things I am interested in. I spent time with a lot of people I only chat with occasionally. Plus I made my own fun with all the TNB calls.

About then is when I received a text from Fimlys “You ARE AWESOME!”

My reply to Fim was “I know. *grin*”

Comic-Con Thoughts

I have been watching it happen for a while now. But suddenly there are actually geek wannabes.

I see these movie and TV people at Comic-Con in San Diego. The news cameras are everywhere. They don’t get it. All they are doing is breathing my air, taking up my room, and using up my space.

There should be a rule that you cannot enter into the showroom if you cannot recite 10 winners of an Eisner Award. The fact that I am sure most people would ask “What is an Eisner Award?” makes me cringe. I include all media and press in this rule.

I can came up with seven immediately and only need another minute or so to round out the list.Other then all the people mucking with all my comic related panels, the show was a lot of fun.

As for booths this year, SyFy did a non-booth. They rocked it with putting their promotion money to use by rebranding a eatery into “Café Diem” from the show Eureka.This made me want to give a gold star to the people who came up with the idea over at SyFy.

Also, the Old Spaghetti Factory is reopened in San Diego as of February 2009. They had converted it to a fancy dinning a few years back. I don’t need $35 Lobster Raviolis when I am at a convention or a San Diego Padres game. I am very glad to have them back. (Note from Husband, “spag. Fac” = Spaghetti Factory, not knowing this made Hydra yell. So I am passing it on.)

This year we drove down each day. Normally we either stay at a hotel or take the Amtrak. We only attended Wednesday through Friday. That was enough.

Until next year!

Nightmare

[Husband] I had a nightmare.
[Me] Oh, honey. What about?
[Husband] I was fishing for the four gold coins I was missing and I got three of them.
[Me] … *not seeing the nightmare*
[Husband] Then I woke up and realized I still needed all FOUR. *grumpy face*
[Me] *laughs hysterically* You know I have to blog about this right?
[Husband] Yes.

Two Years

... and still blogging.

Thank you for reading.

Mouse Guard RPG

I cannot reinforce enough on how lovely Mouse Guard is to read and look at. There is a second hardcover out, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, and it lives up to the first.

Talking to David Peterson I was excited to learn that there was a RPG based on the adventures of Mouse Guard. He was surprised about being nominated for three ENnies, Gen Con EN World RPG Awards.

Check out this nice little RPG. Then vote for him over on the ENnies site (voting should start soon, if it is not up yet). I have yet to read through it all but it looks to be a great starting place for parents to start RPG with their kids.

Warcraft Figures - Gnome Warlock With Voidwalker

...and... what tier set is this wonderful gnome lock in?

San Diego Comic Con 2009

This will be my 18th (I think) year going to the convention in San Diego. I anticipate as always lots of friends, books, fun, yelling, walking, and catching up. We already are booking up our meal meet-ups.

I will be going to the Blind Ferret Entertainment, the lovely creators of LFG. If I am feeling up to it I warned Fim that I would see about getting Lar and/or Sohmer to call into the hotline over at Twisted Nether Blogcast to say “Hi”.

There is a new phone number over at TNB 407-705-3161. Go call them if you have a question. I bet Nib would LOVE to answer any lock questions. Oh. Tell them Hydra of Almost Evil sent you. This is not a one time request either. Call them anytime. Kthx.

Pause

"A sad warlock is not a good warlock to be around." ~Pristly sister.

I am very lucky. I realize that often.

But not until yesterday did I appreciate how much having family that are also gamers meant. Many of my family are not just gamers but are Warcraft gamers.

I can explain my troubles and they don’t need explanation of words like DKP, raiding schedule, PvP, gear scores, raid leader, guild, noob, and threat. We can talk about the game, RL, and anything else that comes to mind. None of it needs any explanation.

Just talking can make a lot of things better.

Lock DPS Review AKA I Don’t Get Complacent

I am comfortable how I have been doing my damage. But I don’t want to get complacent. I need to fix some of the issues I am having and then go from there.

I needed fresh eyes too.

So I whispered the top rated lock on the server Alliance side. I didn’t pick him randomly. I have run with him before. More importantly I have read his evaluations of other locks when they apply to his guild. I wanted help but I didn’t want to go to his guild. Would he help me?

I have to admit I was excited when he said he had time. It was a very long conversation. Here is an overview of what we talked about.

Issue #1 – Hit Cap

This is the number one stat all casters need to be concerned about. As we know hard hit cap for raids is 17%. With the addition of T8.5 pieces, a new offhand, and some other gear my current hit rating is 336 and 12.81%. About 12% is good for the talents and raid makeup I run with.

I scoured all my current WWS reports and I don’t see any misses. The only misses I am seeing is from Domora. Apparently she has much better aim with her whip then her fist. Go Girl!!

Issue #2 – Spec

Raider101. Warlock Den. EJ. I don't run with a completely standard spec. I have a few talent points that I do move around from the typical lock spec. Those few points that are different tend to be in place for my own raid dynamic. I have checked them recently and ran dummy tests which gave me the results I was expecting.

Issue#3 – Spell Rotation

I am completely comfortable in both the Affliction and Destruction rotations. I have spent hours tweaking them and know them inside and out. It is instinctive to me when DoTs should be refreshed. To ensure this I use a dot timer, currently DoTimer.

It was suggested that I try out Quartz. I currently use the Xperl cast in the player name. It tells me the estimated lag too. But since it is in the player name area it is quite small. This may help since in some fights I am seeing 14 fps.

I also saw on Abi over at Shadow Word: Blog that he is using ForteXorcist. He even replaced her Necrosis for it! I will try it out and see if I like it too.

Issue #4 –Stone ‘em

We have both Spellstones and Firestones. I forget firestones exist. I will need to start using that when I go destruction.

For most individuals it ends but I have had a unique issue with this last topic.

Issue #5 – Haste

I am ignoring it no more. Well I was not ignoring it. I admittedly noted it was a stat on my gear and continued on. SB filler and Immolate/Incinerate really does make haste matter. I am carrying to much spirit for spell power and not enough haste.

I have a warlock guildie that would do 20-35% more SB then I would. It would drive me NUTS. Our corruption, CoA, UA, and at the time siphon life would be within 3% of each other. But SB? He always got more off then me. I reduced my moving. I am always casting. I always have dps on (unless instructed not to).

He still does. Guildie lock has 445 haste rating (13.57%) and Hydra has 348 haste rating (10.61%). That is a 28% increased difference over mine. THAT is why he can get in more SBs. It was not necessarily my technique but the actual difference in haste on our gear.

This will not bug me so much. I will adjust my gear for some more Haste. Most importantly I now know why there was a difference and can work with it instead of ignoring it.

Sometimes it is nice to get a consultant.

Goblin in the Gulch

Gavlon over at Greedy Goblin was playing 19s Warsong Gulch. He was looking at players behavior while trying to complete objectives. It was a good assessment.

All of his talk about time and gold. I was shocked that they spent time on the Furbolg Medicine Pouch. That is a reputation grind and can be only bought at honored. Many a druid I have helped with that grind and it is not a small feat.

He also leveled engineering for his priest for the head piece. He could have stopped at getting the Shadow Goggles. Particularly since he was dedicated enough to go fishing. The idea that Gavlon was fishing for the fishing hat sends me into giggle fits.

There are other … ok lots of things… that would have been better and ultimately cheaper. All of you that actually know twink gear stick to the spirit of the exercise. Everyone else, they are geared enough, just not my definition of a twink.

It only takes three people to easily control the game, two to be annoying.

With three you have one to carry the flag, one to defend, and one to float from the two to help where the apposing team is strongest.

From the beginning all I wanted was two others in team that would listen and KNOW how to play. The other seven in the game can be a pack, that kills in the middle, runs in a mob, and basically runs in circle chanting “Red is dead.” Ultimately, using Gavlon’s term being M&S**.

The most important tool in a battleground is your zone minimap. I feel like it is so important it is on my side bar Zone Map = Shift + M.

The M&S will tell you where the Horde is and as a flag carrier you can attempt to avoid them. The M&S will also tell you if the apposing team is going ramp or GY. The idea that you would get this information from actual BG chat is lolable. Twinks have macros for this, M&S don't know it is important information.

Also the “stall” in game he talks about is called a Turtle. Turtle is where the one team just defends in their base. I don’t have the patience anymore for the epic two and a half hour turtles. Granted with the debuff long games are at least a reduced possibility.

Not once did you see me say I needed "three GEARED to the teeth players". Nope, it is about knowing what you are doing that is more important. The ability to react to the information given to win.

It is good to see new people starting up twinks and running them. I am looking forward to being able to turn off experience and only fighting twinks. I may actually want to run games more then once a month.

**For those that don’t read the Greedy Goblin, M&S = Moron and Slacker.

Don't Smell It

Why is there no bag cleaner? Since level 1 we have had heads, hearts, intestine, etc inside our bags for one quest or another. After 80 levels we need a backpack disinfectant.

Mount Glitchs

My headless horseman mount in/on the sidecar of a motorcycle.
If the driver uses their Iron Boot Flask, it folds up the side car. The rider is still inside.
Talk about eating dirt.

Girls Night Out

This was the most fun in Obsidian Sanctum I have had in months. We had a girls’ night out. All invited. We would figure out raid set up once we put the raid together.

A friend set it up. We were wracking our brain about who we knew was an ACTUAL female. I was able to talk to a few. Of course afterwards I came up with a few more I need to talk too for next time. We should eventually be able to fill a full 25 Woman raid.

We did have a few guys try to shoulder into the raid. When we were looking for more to fill the 10 woman raid, offers of “I will mute myself.”, “I can tank.”, and the easily ignored “Can I come?” were many.

At one point there was a discussion about Hydra healing. Laughter ensued. Hydra brings the dps. Iuncusia brings the melee dps or some tankage. I tried dispelling diseases and I had trouble with that. (It is a sordid tale.) We had plenty of healers so it was not an issue.

Once we decided to 8 women OS. We needed an off-tank, instead of Hydra getting to pwn face, Iuncusia was off tank. First time tanking in OS, but I felt very comfortable tanking. It could have been that I was Naxx OT the week before.

There was no yelling. There was a lot of chatter. There was some giggling. There was lots of killing. In the end there was one dead dragon.
(Yes, I saved myself to an OS 10 just to take the picture with Hydra.)

I lied there was yelling.

While tanking, I was on Sartharion’s adds. I had never done this before. There was an unfortunate Growl on the boss. *blush* So there was me screaming “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Here you can have it back. I’m sorry.” ... but with cussing. Lots of cussing.

We plan on trying this every other week. The next one is already planned. We think we are going to try going EoE sometime too. Many have the neck piece quest. Since a lot of our guilds no longer run OS and EoE as guild runs these will be quick fun runs.

Girls only raid, Vent required.

Who owns your Guild Site?

He builds a guild with others. Put the guild website together. Stuff happens. Then he decides to leave guild. Does he have rights to the guild website?

True. He did the site, with help. He bought and owns the domain. He maintained the server.

There was a falling out.

He is no longer part of that guild.

He left and then held onto it all.

To me is seems a bit petty, immature, spiteful and … honestly weird.

I picture this guy, standing next to his computer desk with a back screen. He is all proud of himself and smug. He stands there for a moment, as no one else cares. Then in the quiet, he stomps his foot and sticks out his lower lip in a full blown pout.

That is not entirely true. People do care. They care enough to move on. They hack the site to link to a new site. They image the database to ensure the information is not lost. Unfortunately the one thing they couldn’t fix was the change to the application form listing.

Over time as people typed in “War Machine on Farstriders”, they were brought to an incorrect site. They applied on a guild site that the guild had no control over and if they didn’t talk to a guild member they would never know. (A certain blogger, with her own tiny web presence, could have fixed said search organically. But nooOOOooo they didn’t think to even say anything to use her minions (*points at you* BTW) to fix future google searches.)

This issue with a bunch of other things decided the guild officers to move the guild to a new name. It has taken a long time to come to this point. The change recharged the current officers.

Tempest on Farstriders is now raiding.

Need More Stable Slots! - SPCA Charity Drive

Brajana over at Mend Pet is hosting a charity drive for the SPCA . The drive is thru July 31, 2009.

There are links.
A bunch of details.
And prizes to be had!

Check out the SPCA website to see what is going on with them. I liked all the stories and reading about the Shelter of the Week. I found one of my kitties, Lyta (named after character from Babylon 5 and Sailor Moon) at a shelter and was the best thing ever.

Pounce over to Mend Pet and see what is going on. Say "Hello" to Brajana while you are at it.

Happy 4th

...fellow Americans.

Yesterday was Wii Sports and a reminder that if you want a hard game you need to re-play Super Mario Bros. 3. Mario 3 is unforgiving. One mob hit and you are dead.

Today, Husband and nephew resurrected our x-box and played Star Wars: Battlefront II.

I helpfully yelled at the two of them "DON'T STAND IN THE FIRE!!"

After a pause for a bad PvP run (something about corpse camping) The two of them are starting up Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

Me. I am watching NASCAR.

House smells like pizza, apple pie, and cantaloupe.

Happy Independence Day! Stay safe, cool, and free.