The Wyrms Fire

First Post of 2011

2011-01-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Wow, it has really been a while since my last post. I meant to write more often, but when it actually came time to do it, there seemed to be a lot of things that got in the way. Work has been crazy busy, but has finally slowed down now that we are on new schedules. School used to not be busy, but has taken a turn for the worse with the addition of Bachelor level classes. And finally, when I actually did have some time to sit down and write, I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to write. Cataclysm was covered by so many other blogs and beat to death so I just kind of left it alone. Now that things have settled down, I'm going to post about what I have been doing since the world went kaboom.

Worgen and Goblin

So of course the first thing I did when I got Cataclysm installed was create both a Worgen and a Goblin. Now, what can I say about both of these races that has not already been said? Probably not a lot! The Worgen starting zone is so very cool. I like the look and feel of everything. The music is very... Castlevania-ish and tophats! OMG TOPHATS! It's pretty funny to see this big, vicious Worgen warrior running around, saliva dripping from his mouth, wearing full chain armor and a tophat! I generally keep him in human form as much as possible.

The goblin starting zone is also very cool. I liked running around Kezan, being led to believe that I am the center of the goblin world and being setup to be the next Trade Prince. That said, I really don't like the current trade prince. He's a jerk and needs to be punted. Unfortunately, I did not like the whole area after Kezan. Oh the quests are fun and the whole interaction with Thrall is really neat. I can actually tell people that Thrall and I are BFFs forever and not be lying about it. I also like flying around and shooting all of the gnome planes out of the sky. That is really neat. But there were some dry points in the questing during the attacks from the little inhabitants and the whole zombie goblins... thing. Overall, I enjoy the Goblin zones but not as much as I like Gilneas.

Shamanigans

I now have two Shaman! TWO! My Orc Shaman is plain full of awesome and specced for Enhancement. He's gone through Durotar, pieces of Northern Barrens, Stonetalon, and currently in Desolace. I liked the class so much that I am now also playing a second Shaman in my Dwarf. He is still very low level, but progressing nicely through Wetlands. I'm taking him through the Elemental tree, but I'm not liking it as much as Enhancement. I do like Thunderstorm a lot though! Much hurts!

New Cataclysm Zones

I only have one character that I can use to quest through the new Cataclysm level zones. I ended up raising him to level 81 solely on Archaeology experience, which I was extremely disappointed in. It seems you get a lot of XP from gathering professions. The problem here is that I don't want to outlevel the quests in a zone before I get to do them all. If the quests are grey to me, then there is no challenge. So I stopped doing Archaeology and started questing in Vashj'ir. The underwater zone is really very beautiful, but I want to get out of there so bad. I can't wait to get done so I can head to Hyjal.

So that's what I've been up to since my last post. I have every single slot on Earthen Ring filled with characters, all of whom I am actively leveling. I hope to be able to post more here and have more worthwhile content. I have really missed posting here so I will do my best to get some more articles written up soon. I hope all of your adventures in Azeroth are exciting and that you are having as much fun as I am!

Day of the Dead

2010-11-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Day of the Dead marks a time in Azeroth where the citizens honor friends and loved ones who have departed the world. It is thought that during this time, the worlds of the living and the dead are so close to each other, that they almost co-exist in the same realm. Indeed, if you head to any of the graveyards located in the capital cities, you can see and interact with the souls of the dead.

I have to wonder if there is any connection with the Day of the Dead and the activity that has started today with the Twilight's Cultists and the elemental attacks that have been reported.

At any rate, you can head to any of the capital city graveyards to participate in this two day event and get your achievement. In order to get Dead Man's Party, you will need to find and /dance with Catrina. After you dance with her, you will be given a 12 hour "buff" called Honor the Dead. The buff turns you into either Catrina or Chapman for 12 hours, but doesn't do anything else for you.

Technically, that's all you need to do in order to get the achievement. Note that this achievement is not a requirement to get the achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

But if you want to get the seasonal companion pet Macabre Marionette, you will need to either acquire or bake some Bread of the Dead and give it to the Cheerful Spirit. There's a catch though. You cannot see the Cheerful Spirit without purchasing Orange Marigolds or a full Bouquet of Marigolds from the vendor named Chapman. Once you use the flowers, you'll see all of the spirits in the graveyard, allowing you to interact with the Cheerful Spirit.

Other seasonal items include a Candy Skull that regenerates health, an Orange Marigold that allows you to detect lesser invisibility, a Spirit Candle that increases the stat of the same name, a Recipe: Bread of the Dead that teaches you how to make this using the Cooking skill, a Whimsical Skull Mask that you can wear only during the Day of the Dead Festival, and a Bouquet of Orange Marigolds that also allows you to detect lesser invisibility.

All in all, the holiday is a pretty fun event and something to keep people entertained until the next big World Event. And with the Twilight Cultists acting up, there is sure to be lots to do in the next few days. Be sure to pick up this achievement while it lasts.

RP - Unbound

2010-10-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

** The following is the introduction to Khelandros' RP mount. For those who are not aware, Khelandros has a runic dragonblade with the essence of a 10,000 year old dragon named Wyrmsfire trapped inside. The essence is bound to the sword, much like a demon is bound to a demon hunter. I hope you enjoy the story. Feel free to RP this in game as well. **

The crunch of the freshly fallen snow reverberated loudly in the chill night air as the one known as The Dark Destroyer walked away from the ruins. Coldarra was a barren wasteland, inhabited by members of the blue dragonflight. Mortals dared not step foot into this region without invitations, and those were not forthcoming any time soon.

The chill of the night settled in on Khelandros, frost rimming the plate armor of his father, armor that had at one time shone brightly in the light, but is now scorched to a blackness deeper than the darkest of night. The cold did not bother him. His time as a Death Knight in service to Arthas allowed him to learn and master the cold, using it to fuel and strengthen him.

Through the light snowfall, he could make out his destination: Frostbridge. The ruins of this bridge have a legend associated with their making. It is said that the bridge was created for a human, who had become good friends with the great dragon aspect Malygos. It would be the only way to gain access to the isle and watched over by the dragonflight. Since the great war, the bridge had been destroyed and is no longer usable.

Wyrmsfire, the runic dragonblade created 10,000 years ago, sat upon the death knight's back buzzing with anticipation. He and the death knight worked well together. Both had willingly sacrificed their souls in order to be where they are now. Both knew the risks, and the potential rewards of their sacrifices.

With each step closer to the bridge, the dragon blade quivered with excitement. It became so much that Khelandros removed the blade from his back and held it extended in his hand. Blue frostfire danced across the blade, and the runes of power emblazoned upon the sword in the ancient writing of the dragons flared a bright blue.

Khelandros finally reached the base of the ruins of the Frostbridge. The frostfire spread from the blade of the sword to the handle, burning his hand. Khelandros had felt the fire before and it had never affected him. The shock at the burning sensation caused him to release the weapon. The sword fell from his hand and embedded itself into the stone pathway of the bridge.

Wringing his still throbbing hand, the death knight took a step back. He had never seen the sword behave this way before. The runes on the blade continued to burn bright, frostfire dancing across the sword. Then the voice that Khelandros had become so accustomed to spoke.

"The Frostbridge. The presence of my brothers and sisters is strong here."

The runes running along the blade darkened and became black. The frostfire extinguished itself. The presence of the essence of the dragon faded from the sword, and all became quiet. Khelandros looked around, as the falling of the snow was the only sound that could be heard. Through the distance, he thought he could hear a faint rumbling. He pulled the edges of his dark hood back from his face, exposing his ears. Yes, it was there.

A shaft of bright light burst through a crack in the metal of the sword. One by one, the cracks grew and let more light shine. The ground began to tremble and shake as the sword exploded with a thunderous crack, sending shards of metal throughout the area.

Khelandros looked around. Broken shards of what used to be his dragonblade lay scattered. He picked a piece that had embedded itself into nearby stone wall, looked at it once, then placed it within a pouch at his belt. He moved over to the area where the sword had once been, the site now scorched and blackened. He moved ever closer to the edge of the cliff, where the bridge had extended over a large gaping chasm and abruptly ended.

Just as Khelandros looked over the edge, a huge blue blur rushed up from the chasm, knocking him backwards and onto his back. Reeling from the force of the impact, his vision blurred. Catching his breath and forcing his body to calm down, his eyesight slowly cleared and focused on a huge leviathan of a beast standing before him. He reached for the sword at his back, finding only an empty space where Wyrmsfire once sat.

The dragon moved closer to where Khelandros knelt. In it's maw, it clutched a sword, which it dropped to the ground. The great beast finally spoke.

"Do not fear, my friend. You are in no danger. For we are friends, bound to each other forever and always."

Khelandros roared up to the dragon. "Speak your name, beast! Who are you?!"

The dragon smiled, revealing rows of sharp dagger like teeth.

"I am Wyrmsfire."

Preparing for Cataclysm

2010-10-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

December 7th is the day all of us are waiting for. The day that all of our collective Azeroth lives will be changed forever... at least until the next expansion. There is LOADS of new stuff coming out of BlizzCon, but as of yet, no major announcements. I've been thinking about what I am going to do when Cataclysm hits, and honestly, I have NO idea.

I have only two characters out of my 10 that I am keeping: Khelandros, Level 80 Human Death Knight, and Istaria, Level 34 Human Priest. The rest of my characters are getting the proverbial axe and dying in the firey destruction of Azeroth. In their places, I will create the following characters:

Atrias - Human Hunter
Khelidas - Forsaken Hunter
Wyrmsfire - Troll Druid
Conundrum - Gnome Warlock
And a as yet unnamed Dwarf Shaman

Those are just my alternate characters. I will be also trying out the new starter areas for the other races, but I probably will not play those characters as much, if at all. And as for the new races:

Khisanith - Worgen Warrior
Kravix - Goblin Rogue

Once I have completed all of that and I have had my fill of new starter area stuff, I'll start leveling Khelandros through the new level 80+ zones and get him to 85. I will also be bringing Istaria along for the ride as well, but I am sorely tempted to reroll her from scratch as well. I dont know yet. We'll have to see.

Shamanigans - Day One

2010-10-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

There are only a few classes that I have not played extensively throughout my time in Azeroth, and only one class that I have been able to successfully level to the level cap. I like all of the available classes, I really do, but I have never been able to play either a Druid or a Shaman to any significant level. I think the highest I have ever gotten a Druid to was level 20, but that was before patch 4.0.1 so things may change. I will try to pick things up with a Troll Druid once Cataclysm rips Azeroth a new one.

In the mean time, I need a distraction. My daily routine seems to consist of me logging into Khelandros (my only level 80) and running the 9 daily quests at the Argent Tournament. I'm working on collecting enough Champion Seals so that I can get heirloom armor sets for each of the alts I am going to roll once Cataclysm hits. As of right now, I have the plate set for Paladins and Warriors, the Elemental set for Shaman, the leather set for rogues, and the other leather set for Druids. I also have the cloth set too. The last set I am working on is the mail set for hunters. But other than that, I'm not doing much with Khel.

So I decided to try and roll an Orc Shaman, just for shits and giggles. I gave him the heirloom set I have for Shaman and have decided to write about my experience leveling him. I'm going to have fun with him, no matter what. So I've decided to create a column dedicated to him, and all other things Shaman called Shamanigans.

Now, since patch 4.0.1 dropped, the new leveling system is in place. Honestly, I think it has it's good things and bad things. I like that as I level, it will tell me that I have gained a level and will notify my if I have new abilities and talent points available. It's a pretty useful feature. Also, since the patch, the whole leveling experience has changed in terms of abilities and spells that you get at different levels. Its a totally new experience. Now, what I don't like is the frequency at which you gain new abilities and talent points. It hasn't been very consistent with me. I am used to gaining a new spell or skill at each even level that I gain. Now, I never know when I am going to get a new spell. I expected one at level... 4 I think. And I didn't get the new skill until level 5.

Anyhow, I took Wyrmsfire through the Valley of Trials and completed everything there, while getting him to level 5. Here's a picture of how he looks at the moment.

I would like to take him as far as I can before Cataclysm hits. Because as soon as it does, this character will be one of the ones that doesn't make it through all of the destruction. In his place, I will roll a Wildhammer dwarven shaman who will continue on in the Shamanigans column!

If anyone would like to adventure with me, and contribute to the Shamanigans, please feel free to contact me any time. I'm on the Earthen Ring server and the character name is Wyrmsfire. See you guys for the next installment of Shmanigans!

Operation: Gnomeregan

2010-09-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to The Wyrms Fire, where here ... there be dragons! I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my crazy stories about my adventures in the world of Azeroth. Today, I will be talking about the Gnomeregan event that is happening right now, in game. So ... let's get to it then.

Operation: Gnomeregan

I have never seriously played a gnome. The highest level I have ever made it to on a gnome is level 20, which is where my current gnome Conundrum sits at. Come Cataclysm, he will be sacrificed to the alt-gods and rerolled, in order to experience the new starting areas. I don't know what it is about gnomes, but I have never been able to take the race seriously. Is it because they don't have their own starting areas or city? I doubt it, because I am able to take both dwarves and orcs seriously. I really can't pinpoint it at all, but maybe a fresh start in a world aflame will change things.

The Gnomeregan event is open to all Alliance players, from level 1 to level 80. You start off by going to Ironforge and speaking with the High Tinker in the Tinkertown area of the city, who sends you on various quests out in Dun Morogh. All of these quests are easy to do, even at level 1. I did them on my level 80 death knight, so of course I did not have any problems. Once you finish with the vehicle and delivery quests, you have to assist with the retaking of Gnomeregan. I am not going to spoil the even for you, but I thought it was well done and leads very well into the state of gnomish affairs that players will see come Cataclysm.

As a reward for completing the questline, you'll receive the following rewards:

The achievement Operation: Gnomeregan
The item Gnomeregan Pride
The cloak Gnomeregan Drape

Next up, I'll talk about the Echo Isles event, which in my opinion, is much cooler and also introduces us to the troll druids! Be sure to check back for the post!

Loremaster!

2010-08-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Monday night, I sat around on my only level 80 character, thinking about what I could do that I havent done yet. I started thinking about all of the things that won't be able to do once Cataclysm makes the world go boom, and I came up with Loremaster. I had heard of several others going for it on my realm and decided that I'd give it a shot.

Here's the problem: Khelandros is a level 80 Death Knight. What that means is, is that between levels 1 and 55, I have no quests completed. Khelandros currently sits at 55/700 Quests for Eastern Kingdoms and 81/700 for Kalimdor.

I had to pick somewhere to start, so I decided to go where I could fly and where I was closest to completing some part of the Loremaster achievement: Outlands. I found that I had not completed any of the zones, but I was within 10 quests or so of each one so I figured it would be an easy task to complete.

WRONG!

I flew over Hellfire Peninsula, with my Low Level Quests tracking on. I didn't find didly squat! Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. And I was only 73/80 on the quest tracker. I was frustrated beyond belief when a friend of mine suggested a mod: EveryQuest. I downloaded EveryQuest from Curse and began going through the list of quests for Hellfire, filtering out the Horde quests, PvP quest, and other quests that were not specific to the Loremaster achievement. Over the course of the next several days, I finally got through Hellfire Peninsula, Nagrand, and Zangarmarsh. I'm currently halfway done with Terrokar Forest, but have done less than a handful of quests for Blade's Edge, Shadowmoon Valley, and Netherstorm.

Once done with Outlands, my plan is to next move onto Northrend where I can continue searching for quests while flying. Makes it easier and faster when you don't have to worry about those pesky Horde areas and mountains.

I've also included several other mods in addition to EveryQuest that will help make life a bit easier:

EveryQuest - Lists every quest in each zone, though it doesn't show you map locations. You can get another addon to EveryQuest that will show you quest giver locations, but I found it rather confusing because it doesn't take into account whether you've done the quest or not, or if the quest have been removed altogether. Additionally, it spammed my chat window with a bunch of unneeded info and made things rather unpleasant. I'd stay away from the QuestGiver addon. You can downloaded EveryQuest from Curse or WoWInterface.

Lightheaded - This is an awesome mod and addon to EveryQuest that displays full quest information from Wowhead, including user comments. No more having to alt tab out of the game. The quest info opens up within the EveryQuest quest window, giving everything an easy to find location. You can download this from WoWInterface.

Loremaster - The achievement titled addon to EveryQuest is awesome in that it provides a little extra information about quests, most importantly if it counts towards the Loremaster achievement or not. Completely awesome! No more wasted time! You can download Loremaster from either Curse or WoWInterface.

TomTom - Simply put, this addon adds an arrow to your interface pointing you in the direction to a particular quest giver, which is awesomesauce if you tend to get lost a lot, like I do! TomTom can also be downloaded from Curse or WoWInterface

So that's all there is to the Loremaster achievement that I have for you all at the moment. I plan to update the blog with my status as I can. I hope to be able to finish it before Cataclysm comes around; well at least finish Outlands and Northrend anyway.

The Agamand Family of Tirisfal

2010-07-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how Cataclysm is going to change the face of Azeroth as we know it, I wanted to experience some of the zones and their quests before they all change. One of my favorite areas in the game overall is Tirisfal Glades. Aside from being very creepy looking, the zone is beautifully designed and has several very cool quest lines that I find fascinating.

One of the feelings that I get from Tirisfal Glades is an overwhelming sense of sadness at the torture that people had to have gone through. The zone itself is populated by the Forsaken, most of whom were previous residents who had been struck by the plague and either risen as a mindless member of the Scourge or freed from the Lich King's control and taken in by the Forsaken. One of my favorite questlines in the zone involve the Agamand Family.

The Agamand family in Tirisfal Glades could have been considered extremely weathly and well off. They owned the area in the northwestern part of the zone, which consisted of several mills, windmills, and even a family crypt that housed several generations of their ancestors. But peace was not theirs to be had.

The Scourge invaded the Glades, and Gregor ordered the family and their servants to defend the land from the filthy undead. They held out for some time, as they were well stocked and had a huge garrison of servants to help in the defense.

Devlin Agamand had other plans in mind for his family. Unlike his father, Devlin wasn't very brave and always found shortcuts to weasel is way out of trouble. It's of no wonder that he fell first to the plague.

He was to help agents of the Scourge invade the Agamand Mills family estate, which he did willingly. The defenders were able to defeat the Scourge forces, but sustained severe casualties. It wasn't until too long after the encounter that Scourge forces overran the mills, claiming all souls in the name of the Lich King.

Each member of the Agamand family now serves the Scourge in the name of the Lich King. Gregor, his wife Nissa, their two children Devlin and Thurman, as well as hundreds of family servants all patrol the mills.

Captain Dargol, one of the initial invaders of Agamand Mills, has made the family crypt his base of operations and has used necromancy to reanimate the corpses of many of the Agamand Family ancestors who also patrol the area.

That's really about it for the Agamand Family. Theirs is a sad tale that ends in servitude to the Lich King, and their ultimate deaths at the hands of a band of adventurers working for a very upset Coleman Farthing.

World Explorer: Exploring Azeroth One Zone at a Time

2010-06-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

I recently found out that the Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha had started a little while ago, and that got me into thinking that the expansion is not very far away. With my play schedule what it is, it takes me forever to get anything done, and there is a lot of things that I would like to do before the world is torn asunder. So this category is going to be dedicated to my trek across Azeroth!

At some point in time, Deathwing is going to 'asplode from the ground and the world is going to look like a pimple just vomited on a fat kids face. Some zones are going to be changed very little, such as Westfall. Still, other zones are going to be receiving a major overhaul, like the Barrens and Desolace. I know that there are many zones that I have never stepped in, such as Stonetalon Mountains, The Burning Steppes, and Silithus. There are other zones that I've spent more time in than I can say without being embarrassed.

I want to see the world! As it is now anyway. So I'm spending the next few weeks casually exploring the different areas of Azeroth and Outlands. I'll be taking screenshots of the areas that I find to be really cool looking. Like this shot of a waterfall that I found while flying over Nagrand.

I've actually gotten a lot of the achievement done. In order to complete the World Explorer meta achievement, you will need to complete the explorer achievements for Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, and Northrend. I went for the Northrend achievement first, since I was already there, and I had most of the zones uncovered anyway. What was cool was that I got a tabard from Brann Bronzebeard, the Tabard of the Explorer, which I thought was really neat.

Next I went off to Outland, since I had most of those zones completed as well. There were two zones that I had barely entered when I was leveling so I had a lot of exploring to do. The character I am using to complete this achievement is a Death Knight, so at level 68 I hightailed it to Northrend. So once I got done with Outlands, I headed to Stormwind.

The Eastern Kingdoms took a lot longer to complete because I had to ride everywhere on my land mount. I ended up completing that achievement and now have the continent of Kalimdor to look forward to. Honestly, I'm actually doing this more to see the world as it exists today. Once Cataclysm hits, the world is going to be forever changed. I don't ever want to regret not having had the chance to experience a zone and the storyline that goes with it.

As each zone is explored, I plan to take a screenshot or two of a truly magnificent sight and post it here under the category of World Explorer in the form of a post card. Or I will try. I'm not very good with the graphics editing and stuff. Hah!

Well thanks for visiting The Wyrms Fire! Be sure to check us out for our next lore inspired article!

Lore of the Land: Tichondrius the Darkener

2010-06-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

"In his fury, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the eredar and the Nathrezim and set the loathsome demons free. These cunning creatures bowed before the dark Titan's vast rage and offered to serve him in whatever malicious ways they could."

Tichondrius the Darkener

The nathrezim, or dreadlords as they are also known, are physically imposing demons who were among the first of the creatures to be brought into the Burning Legion along with the Eredar. Among these vile and cunning demons, Tichondrius served Kil'jaedan and was a fiercely loyal lieutenant.

During the Third War, Tichondrius was tasked with watching over Ner'zhul, the newly minted Lich King. He didn't like this job, not one bit. He felt that there were other tasks out there more befitting the leader of the Nathrezim, but he eventually agreed to babysit. He would deliver orders from Ner'zhul to Arthas, and was directly responsible for the resurrection of the lich Kel'thuzad, the destruction of Quel'thalas, and the sacking of Dalaran.

The cunning leader of the Nathrezim could also be said to have been directly responsible for the death of Cenarius. You see, Mannoroth was extremely angry with the orcs failure to seize Azeroth the first time. He was looking for any excuse that would allow him to invoke his rage upon the orcs, and Tichondrius knew this. Nathrezim are known to cause dissent from within through trickery and deceit, and so he used these skills to further fan the flames of Mannoroth's rage. Tichondrius informed Mannoroth that the orcs had fled to Kalimdor, and soon the two trailed after the orcs. Tichondrius convinced Mannoroth to use his blood to corrupt the orcs again. Mannoroth spilled his blood into a Fountain of Life, from which Grom and his Warsong clan drank. From the tainted water, chaos orcs emerged. It was Grom Hellscream himself who ended the life of the demi-god.

Tichondrius was killed shortly thereafter by a fel infused Illidan Stormrage, who had absorbed the powers of the artifact known as the Skull of Gul'dan. With the leader of the Nathrezim dead, Anetheron took over for his brother for a time, and was eventually replaced by Mephistroth or so it is assumed. The last we heard about any Nathrezim activity on Azeroth was the coup staged by Varimathras and Apothicary Putress in their feeble attempt to take over the Undercity.

OMG HAX!

2010-06-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

Account security is a very real and very serious topic that many people don't seem to pay enough attention to. Many people seem to think that World of Warcraft is just a game and they don't care if their accounts are hacked and shredded to pieces, or that they lose all of their gold, items, characters, and everything else that they have worked so hard for. I used to be one of those people too! Until I realized that there was more at stake than just my in game items.

If a smart hacker (i.e. NOT a bot or Gold Farmer) got access to my account, they would be able to see my email address and other personal information. What about my credit card information? What about my Real ID information when the system becomes active next patch? There's a lot more than just pixels that is at stake. But how do we protect ourselves from these theives? Well that is what this column is going to be about: General Account Security tips and tricks. This week we are going to talk about email security.

I have two email accounts that I check on a regular basis. One is for my spam/junk mail and the other is one that I keep private. The private email is the one that I have associated with my World of Warcraft game account. I protect this account at all costs by not signing up for newsletters or giving it out all willy nilly. That is what my spam email account is for. Imagine my surprise when I got an email inviting me to the World of Warcraft Cataclysm Alpha Test. The from email address was noreply@blizzard.com. So what tipped me off to this being not legitimate?

Using common sense (which is hard for some people, I know) I knew that the Alpha Test is for Blizzard employees and their family and friends. I only know ONE person who works at Blizzard, and that is only through Twitter. I KNOW he didn't invite me. So how did Blizzard know to invite me? They didn't. It's a scam. I found it kind of funny so instead of immediately deleting it, I opened the email and checked it out.

First thing first, let's see who this email goes to if I hit reply. So it goes to noreply at blizzard.com huh? But... who gets the email if it says noreply? Clue number one! Canceling the reply, lets take a look at the body of the email. The formatting of the email looks good. There's styles and headings, text is both bolded and italicized. It looks really good and professional. None of the text is misspelled, which is usually the first indication that the email is a hoax. So let's look at the links next.

So the first link in the email asks me to go to http://alpha.worldofwarcraft.com and follow the step by step instructions. They even gave me a serial key. Ok, looks good so far. Lets check to see where the link actually goes. If I hover my mouse pointer over the link and look at the notifications section at the bottom of your browser you can see what the link really is. Even if they match, it's not guarenteed to be 100% safe. So lets see where this one goes to. Hmm... http://www.cataclysm-signups.com doesn't sound very Blizzard-like to me. Various other links in the email point to the same website, which I did NOT visit. I don't suggest you do either.

So what is the best way to protect your account? Well first, and probably most important, GET A BLIZZARD AUTHENTICATOR! Did you understand that? You can order one from the Blizzard store for around $5, or if you have an iPhone or Droid mobile phoen, you can download their app for FREE! Either way, get the Authenticator. You'll also get an in-game pet, which looks pretty cool. It's a two headed red/orange core hound pup.

There are other ways to protect your account. Don't open any links directly from the email. Hover your mouse cursor over them and see where they really go and search for them on Google. Also, look for proper spelling and grammar in the emails. Most valid emails will contain little to no errors within the body of the message. Also, and this is a BIG indicator, the name you have on file with Blizzard will appear in the email. Most emails will start off with Greetings, but never include your name. Official email from Blizzard will ALWAYS include the name that you have on file with them.

Blizzard employees will NEVER ask you for your password. EVER! If someone claims to be a Blizzard employee and they ask for your password, run away very fast. Never give out ANY account information, even to your friends. Your friends may be trust worthy, but they may not be as knowledgable as you are when it comes to hacking attempts and inadvertantly get your account hacked.

And that's about it. Just use common sense when dealing with your account information and emails inviting you to participate in Alpha/Beta tests. Did you remember what the number one way to protect yourself is? That's right, get yourself a Blizzard Authenticator and you should be well protected.

Take care all and be safe!

A Storm Is Coming

2010-05-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

I had a creative bug hit me during the quiet hours here at work, and I had to just let it out. So what follows is a short story about... well... see for yourself! It's not too terribly long.

Stormwind.

Night has fallen on the city. Business owners lock their doors. Parents call their children home. The only places still open are late night taverns, playing host to the various night owls. The streets are safe enough, the Stormwind guards make sure of that. But they can't be everywhere all of the time. They can't save everyone...

A man stumbles out of the tavern, barely able to keep his footing. The drink was especially good tonight. He makes his way through the dimly lit streets and soon finds himself alone in the park. He stops for a moment and looks around. Yes, there it was. A whooshing sound, faint, light as the wind. But he sees nothing and continues on his way.

Up ahead he sees three individuals. Not wanting any trouble, he crosses to the other side of the park. The three cross as well. An overwhelming sense of fear sobers the man up quickly as he hastens his step. The three quicken their stride as well. The man turns the corner and opens into a full sprint, heading into a side street. He comes up short. Dead end.

He turns around.

Maybe I can bribe them.

He pulls a small pouch from his waist, the sound of coins jingling inside. He takes a step back towards the entrance of the alley, then another. There is no one there. He begins to move forward, thinking it was just the drink playing on his fears and the dark of night. He stops and looks up. Yes, there it is again, the whooshing sound. But just as before, he could not see anything or anyone.

He begins to move again, towards the lighted end of the alley. But this time, it's not empty. Three men stood, barring his way. They spread out and begin making their way towards the man.

"I.. I-I have money. Please... just take it. Leave me be."

The first of the three spoke. "Oh, we'll take the money. And more, old man."

The other two laughed... deep... mocking laughter. They closed around him. One of the men brandished a wooden stick, roughly a foot long. He slammed it into the man's stomach. The man crumpled over, groaning in pain. The other assailant was behind him, choking him with another of the wooden weapons. The first man who spoke approached. He didn't even say anything. He just began pummling his target in the stomach.

The man was let go, and he fell to the floor, barely able to remain on his hands and knees. He looked to the sky, praying for help to any that might be listening. Then, yes... there is was again. The same familiar sound that seemed to have been following him. Only this time, it was accompanied by a body.

Dressed in black, he dropped seemingly out of no where, landing in a crouch between the assailants.

"Looks like a party. Mind if I play?" The man in black spoke.

He thrust his booted foot behind him and caught the first assailant in the chest, sending him flying into the wall. The wooden batton was brought down towards the saviors head. He raised his left arm, blocking the blow. With his right, a swift upper cut landed squarely on the chin of the next attacker, lifting him up into the air. He landed with a thud, motionless.

The third attacker ran towards the man in black, swinging his fists in a series of punches. Each blow was deflected with ease. The first attacker regained his senses and moved to position himself behind the man in black. The man jumped beackwards, his leg extending into another kick. Connecting with the man behind him, he pushed off and aimed a kick at the man in front of him.

Realizing they could not beat this strange man, the two attackers grabbed their unconsious friend and ran off, disappearing around the corner. All the while, the sobered up late night goer was huddled in a corner, carefully watching everything transpire.

The man dressed in black turned to look at him, then turned to leave.

"Wait! Who are you?" he asked the man in black.

The man in black replied. "A Storm is coming. Watch for it."

"How can I thank you?" was all the old man could think to say.

The mysterious man dressed all in black stopped to think for a moment, then replied: "You won't never have to."

Character Biography: Conundrum the Gnome

2010-05-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I am starting a new topic to add to my blog - Character Biographies! Because I am an altoholic and have, more or less, more than one main (is any one of them really a main, then?), I'd like to bring them out to the open for all of you to meet them.

The first character in this new topic is Conundrum. He is my low level gnome warlock. I've never played a gnome before, and to be honest, I hate them almost as much as I hate murlocs. And the Warlock class? Well I am not fond of them either. So, I have a character made from two of the things I dislike about the game. Sounds like instant 'Delete Character', right?

I rolled Conundrum simply for a pure roleplaying aspect. In the past, all of my roleplaying characters have taken on personas of either being honorable knights, serious merchants, evil villains, and even arrogant twits. But I've never done anything with a comedic side. Enter Conundrum.

Conundrum is quite short, standing at an ever impressive three and a half feet tall. He spent a short bit of time studying Engineering with his peers in Ironforge, but it just did not peak his interest. No, what he wanted was to be larger than life! He wanted respect, power, glory, and riches. None of these ever came to a gnome in large amounts, but he is determined to change that. So he decided to learn the dark magics of controlling demons and putting curses on people. He became a warlock.

Conundrum is very clumsy, helped in part by his trickster of an imp. His imp does not like him, not one bit. But unable to do anything about it, the imp just makes the best out of a bad thing and has fun doing it. Oftentimes, the imp can be heard muttering about being attached to a Master only barely taller than himself. Why couldn't he have been paired with someone more imposing. No one takes gnomes seriously!

His attire is always the same: A maroon robe much larger than he is, often causing him to trip and land on his face. He is usually sopping wet from the waist down, from trudging through the snow swept plains of Dun Morogh.

Conundrum just passed his second level test and has learned to summon and control a void walker. Now isn't this just a formula for disaster? The void walker, Grimtast, is much taller than Conundrum is, by more than double. He is also ashamed at being paired with a gnome, and is often heard voicing this opinion quite loudly. He doesn't care if the gnome hears him. What's he going to do? Poke his tail? Oftentimes, both the imp and the void walker can be seen, fighting with each other, Conundrum planted firmly on his rear off to the side. It is quite a sight, indeed.

My intent with Conundrum is pure comedy, trying to get away from the darker and more serious side of my roleplaying. I have two stories already written about him that I will share here with all of you when I get a chance to get them uploaded.

Next character introduction will be the twins Khelandros and Aeoar Glowember. Khel is a Death Knight and his sister is a rogue. I hope to have them up as soon as possible.

First Post: Testing Wowhead Tooltips Integration

2010-05-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi all. This is my first post. I am integrating something from wowhead that will hopefully allow cool tool tips and icons come up.

Cosmic Infuser

Hopefully when you hover over the item, it will pop up with something really cool from Wowhead. Additionally, you should be able to click it and it will take you to the wowhead page containing the item.

Let's see if it works!