Jul 31

If you’ve installed X-Perl UnitFrames 3.0.3c r299, you’ll notice you get an error message when you mouse over your buffs or debuffs. To fix this problem, modify the code in XPerl_PlayerBuffs/XPerl_PlayerBuffs.lua on lines 381 and 391 as shown at http://binarymuse.pastebin.com/pastebin.php?diff=f76a70239 (you’ll want to change the text on the red lines to the text on the blue lines, replacing “self.partyid” with “player” in quotes).

Related posts:

1. Problems with Dual Specs and Action Bars
2. Best Debuff Ever
3. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?
4. Heroic/Raid Saves in 3.1
5. Model Viewer + Free Time = New Signature

Jul 18

From http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=79546.0:

On a non related sidenote, I would also like to point out that the old Emerald Dream maps that have been in the game files for years have been slightly updated throughout the 3.2, and in the Build 10072 of the PTRs the Map.dbc file with some of the settings for each zone was updated to make it a 40 Players max zone.

Take it for what it’s worth, folks.

Related posts:

1. News and Such
2. WWI News
3. Patch 3.0.2 Today
4. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
5. Early Spring Cleaning

Jul 14

Well, this past Saturday, my baby priest, Allianya, dinged 80. (This is the same priest that I dualboxed to 60 with my paladin earlier.) Her tailoring isn’t as high as I would like quite yet, but I’m working on it. I was very leery on jumping into heroics right away, but I got a spot as DPS and did okay–pulled about 1400 DPS in heroic VH. Got a few good drops, including Azure Cloth Bindings from H VH.

The following day, I started healing heroics. I felt like I could heal H VH, and it went quite well. The group I was in decided to run CoS and asked if I could heal–I said I’d be willing to try. Somewhere along the line, the group decided to try for a drake run–I was pretty skeptical, as my gear isn’t super great–a few iLvl 200 blues, a couple crafted epics, and a bunch of 187 and lower blues–even a couple green quest rewards! But, they said “hey, let’s give it a shot and see what happens.” Not long after, and The Culling of Time is ours! No drake for me, which is fine, as Allianya can’t even fly yet! After H CoS I healed H UP and it went well also.

Yesterday included such excitement as DPSing H DTK (and I pushed just over 2000, which I was very happy with, and included Oh Novos!), and then healed H HoL (with Lightning Struck and Shatter Resistant) and a Defenseless H VH (not a big deal, I know) and an H UK (with On the Rocks).

Overall, I’m really enjoying healing, especially as Disc. The playstyle has really clicked with me and I’m having a lot of fun, and the successful runs have helped instill a little confidence, so I’m not terrified to go looking for a heroic to heal! I look forward to working on my gear pretty heavily in the near future and getting raid-ready!

Related posts:

1. Decisions
2. Why I Love Druids
3. An Evening of Upgrades
4. Preparing for WotLK
5. Foray into Multiboxing: RAF Experiment Done

Jun 30

World of Warcraft’s default UI updates your action bars when you learn a new rank of a spell. For example, when you train from Wrath rank 1 to Wrath rank 2, the button where Wrath rank 1 was located on your action bar automatically becomes Wrath rank 2. It’s important to note that each rank of a spell, each training level of a skill, etc. has a unique ID number. So when the UI updates your action bar from Wrath 1 to Wrath 2, it’s replacing the spell ID 5176 on that button to spell ID 5177. Same thing for professions; when you move from Enchanting (Apprentice), spell ID 7411 to Enchanting (Journeyman), spell ID 7412, you actually unlearn the former spell and learn the latter one. WoW automatically updates your action bar for you.

However, WoW does not update the action bar for your second spec. I leveled through my 60’s mostly healing instances on my priest. Almost every time I visited the trainer, I was in my healing spec. During those visits to the trainer, I learned all my new spells, not just my healing ones. So, when at level 68 I finally switched back to my shadow spec, none of the action bar buttons for this spec had the correct rank of the spell on them. I did not notice for a level or two, after I was becoming frustrated with how hard it was to kill mobs.

So remember–if you’re leveling up with dual specs, each time you train, it’s worth it to switch to your alternate spec and check to see if any of the skills you just learned need to be updated on that particular set of action bars.

This public service announcement is brought to you by BinaryMuse.

Related posts:

1. Dual Specs Not Dead Yet
2. Clarification on Dual Specs at the Class Panel
3. The Death of the Epic Mount Quests
4. My Day as a Tree
5. Double-Specs Not Dead Yet

Jun 16

I found a forum post in my Blue Tracker yesterday that I got a kick out of.

Stonewhisper from <The Rat Pack> on Scarlet Crusade:

Mounts are 20, flight at 60… this is insane. Pure insanity. There’s no other way to describe it. All those months, years of grinding and leveling, farming gold, silver, copper… rendered meaningless. Everything I know about life now… soon to be gone. Just with this simple announcement.

So yesterday, resolved to my fate, I spent the day with the wife and kids, trying to keep up a strong appearance but knowing inside everything I held dear was coming crashing to a halt. Last night, as I kissed them all goodnight I silently wept at the losses I was about to suffer for this injustice. Eventually nature asserted itself and I drifted off to my final sleep as a whole being, as a man of pride and honor.

I awoke early but was afraid to open my eyes and face the desolation that my world had most assuredly become. But then… I felt a movement. Daring myself to peek at the horror that awaited me (dear God… mounts at 20…), instead… I see my daughter in bed next to me! Next to her, my wife was still here as well! I gasped in stunned disbelief as I noticed a brightening outside the window… the sun! It was indeed rising yet again! The sun… my son… wait, he wasn’t here! Fearing the worst, I burst into his room, and there he lay, still sleeping, still here… all was well!

Could it be… could it be true?! Is it possible that people getting mounts sooner and easier than me really won’t affect my life or… wait! The game!

It seemed an eternity as the computer booted up and the game loaded. Finally, the character screen… they’re all there! Can it be? Yes! Nothing is changed! No missing gold, mounts, honor… all of it still the same!

Can it be true? Can people have things a little easier than I did and my world not end? I dare now allow myself a glimmer of hope…

TL;DR: In no way, shape or form does allowing people to have an easier path to things today diminish or negate what you have already accomplished. You have nothing to cry about.

While people who disagree with his point will use his severe sarcasm to dance around the point, I find that he makes an excellent statement. I don’t fully understand why people have such a sense of entitlement–”I couldn’t have this nice thing so neither should anyone else.” Play the game, have fun, and leave everyone else alone. As stated by Zarhym: “Mount change announcement not ruining your life? We must fix this bug in an upcoming patch.”

Related posts:

1. Patch 2.4
2. Why do We WoW?
3. Playing with Others
4. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?
5. Letter from War: A New Threat

May 22

On the eighth of May I posted about my expirement with dual-boxing a set of characters with Recruit-A-Friend. As of yesterday, that experiment. With approximately 1 day and 20 hours /played, the priest and paladin are both level 60 (well, the Armory insists the pally is 59 but he’s definitely 60 .

Overall, the expirement went really well. I took the paladin along the path of retribution and just used Righteous Fury to hold aggro, while the priest went holy for improved healing and some DPS talents like Divine Fury, Searing Light, Holy Specialization and Surge of Light, along with Glyph of Smite. Mobs died quickly, and after the paladin got the replinishment effect it was difficult to run out of mana on either toon.

At level 56, while I was in the Plaguelands leveling, a guildie offered to run me through Scholomance and Stratholme. I gathered up all the quests and off we went. By the time we were done, both characters (the priest especially) had some nice blue (and a purple!) gear, and was about 30% from dinging level 61. So, now I’m taking my time leveling through Outland, with a focus on getting professions up to speed before I set foot in Northrend.

The experiement was a lot of fun, and though I considered doing the same thing with more characters (and I might in the future), for now I’m eager to get my priest to 80 and into heroics and raids, and my budday Neal and I are still doing our RAF with other characters.

Related posts:

1. Foray into Multiboxing: Introduction
2. Foray into Multiboxing: Dual-Boxing with Recruit-A-Friend
3. Foray into Multiboxing: Part 1
4. Foray into Multiboxing: Part 2
5. Levelin’ Like a Madman

May 22

This forum post by Kaplah from Firetree made me laugh:

Sometimes it’s fun to visualize websites as being actual places you can walk in. I like to think of the WoW forums as a sprawling building with wings, courtyards, and meeting rooms for example.

General Forums: A room filled with picketers and angry protesters. A handful of people are desperately raising their hands and telling everyone to remain calm as the Blizzard gods have not forsaken them. A troll jumps in and yells “Blood Elves rule!” and a violent riot erupts. The people who actually enjoy the game step in then immediately turn around, desperate to hop on the next boat back to Azeroth.

WoW Getting Started: A shining and grand hall. Bright-eyed innocent new players step in and are greeted by smiling veterans, covered in armor more wild and fantastic than the naïve newcomers’ wildest dreams. Envision the jedi academy and Hogwarts combined.

Guild Relations and Recruitment: A big job fair. Numerous new lowbie guilds have small booths with free pens that nobody seems to pay notice to. The big raiding guilds have bouncers outside their exhibitions which tell people in tier 6 that they’re not on the list. There’s a bar and free shrimp.

PVP: You open the door and an axe flies out followed by sounds of crashing and fighting. You slam the door shut and back away.

Suggestions: A courtyard where one can see throngs of people standing on boxes and preaching such mad things as “crabs as a playable race!”. Onlookers crowd among these boxes with keen interest. Several cry “heresy!” at the preachers and throw fruit.

Tech Support: An infirmary filled with sick patients. Doctors dressed in blue scrubs rush about trying to assign treatment. A person donning a t-shirt marked “Linux” sits patiently while his doctor looks sadly at another physician and whispers, “There’s nothing we can do for him…prescribe morphine.”

World’s End Tavern: Pretty much as it sounds: A smoky, ale-laden tavern in the middle of the woods, filled with adventurers of all sorts looking to share stories and learn of the land’s lore. Every so often a naked mad man wearing nothing but a playstation 3 t-shirt jumps in and calls everyone freaks.

Class Forums: A series of adjacent rooms with different groups meeting in each. As you pass by the paladin room, you see a guest speaker discussing his latest book, “Seriously, We’re Pretty Friggin’ Awesome.” A Death Knight cuts a warrior at the vending machine line.

Off-Topic: There is a large heavy steel door at the far end of the hall. You push its icy surface open slowly and peer into the quite dark void. You take a step in and hear the moaning and screaming of the forsaken souls banished to this dark realm. Before you can run away, the floor collapses into a writhing mass of outstretched arms and hands that begin pulling you under. As the darkness surrounds your vision, you swear you can hear Cher playing in the background…

Of course I’m exaggerating some stuff here for the sake of humor. If anything the forums are fun and diverse webpages to visit and I enjoy posting and reading within them. Let’s just hope for the love of physical safety that it never becomes realized as an actual physical domain

Related posts:

1. Moving Forward
2. Patch 2.4: People are Far Too Optimistic
3. Arena PTR Open
4. These are the People in your Raid
5. Role Consolidation, or “Great, Now I’m Useless”

May 8

It’s been a while since I posted anything in the Foray into Multiboxing category.The priest and paladin I was leveling on my old server, Shadowsong, go to about level 21 before I quit dual-boxing them. Part of the issue was that I moved servers, and let the second account die; the other part of the problem was the speed at which the character’s leveled.

In a group, the experience awarded by mobs drops due to the fact that it was easier to kill in a group. WoWWiki covers the math in detail, but in simple terms:

XP Gained = Mob’s XP / Number of Group Members * Modifier

Modifier is a constant that changes based on the number of people in the group; it’s higher in larger groups, so as to not punish people as much for running instances with full groups, etc. While playing solo, or in a two-person group, Modifier is 1.

In the end, assuming a two-person group (which is what I was running), and also assuming both characters are the same level (which they were), each character receives half the experience that a player killing the mob alone would receive. This makes the leveling experience when dual-boxing slower, and makes questing not only more efficient than grinding mobs, but practically required to make any decent headway at all.

However, Blizzard introduced once system that flipped that world upside down: Recruit-A-Friend. It was intended to get new players up to level more quickly so they could play with their high-level friends; the high-level friend would send an invitation, and for 90 days, the two accounts would be linked. For the duration, characters on both accounts receive 300% XP from everything assuming that (1) they are grouped together (2) they are relatively close to each other, and (3) they are within 3 levels of each other (if not, only the lower character gets the 300% XP).

So, the higher-level friend would create a new alt with his new WoW-playing noob buddy, and for every mob kill get 150% normal experience (the experience is split, making it 50%, and that is tripled, making 150% total), and 300% experience for every quest.

This is huge.

A friend and I have been leveling a few alts using the Recruit-A-Friend system. It is really… really fast. The 300% XP from quests is amazing–I’ve had quests give me half a level or more worth of experience.

At the same time, I’ve decided to dual-box again, this time using Recruit-A-Friend, during the times my buddy and I aren’t playing our RAF characters. 150% XP from mobs makes it much less painful to do, ie, quests where each character has to loot a certain number of items, and the 300% XP from quests makes practically every quest worth doing. Last night I started another pally/priest combo on my new server, and when I logged off they were level 10. I’m still using the same technology from my previous posts, so if you’re interested, be sure to check out the other posts in this category.

As time progresses, I’ll post some other information, tips, and tricks.

Related posts:

1. Foray into Multiboxing: RAF Experiment Done
2. Foray into Multiboxing: Part 1
3. Foray into Multiboxing: Introduction
4. Foray into Multiboxing: Part 2
5. Patch 2.3 and the Experience Curve

May 5

Direct quote from http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/090505.html

BLIZZCON^®2009 TICKETS ON SALE MAY 16

Exclusive coverage of Blizzard Entertainment^®’s gaming convention available through DIRECTV^®satellite TV service and Internet stream

IRVINE, Calif. – May 5, 2009 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that tickets for its fourth BlizzCon^®gaming convention will go on sale May 16. Live coverage of the event will be available as a DIRECTV^®Pay Per View event and, for the first time, as an Internet stream. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment^®’s Warcraft^®, Diablo^®, and StarCraft^®game universes. The event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on August 21 and 22.

“BlizzCon always offers us a great chance to meet players and celebrate our shared passion for gaming,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to delivering another entertaining and memorable experience to all attendees and to those joining us from home.”

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests, and more.

Tickets to the convention will be priced at $125 USD each and will be available for purchase from the official BlizzCon website at www.blizzcon.com beginning May 16. For those unable to purchase tickets on that date, a second block of tickets will go on sale May 30.

To streamline the ticket-purchase process this year, the company has made upgrades to the Blizzard Store, including a first-come, first-served queue system and a fixed time limit for completing purchases. Also, those interested in attending BlizzCon can simplify the purchase process by registering a Battle.net account at www.battle.net before ticket sales begin.

Due to its popularity last year, the DIRECTV^® BlizzCon Pay Per View event will return in 2009, available to existing DIRECTV customers for $39.95 USD. The event will again deliver a minimum of eight hours of live HD coverage from the show floor on each day of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demos, and more. In addition, gamers around the world who are unable to attend BlizzCon will for the first time be able to purchase the Pay Per View event as an Internet stream, also priced at $39.95 USD (pricing may vary by region). DIRECTV customers who order the televised event will receive this Internet stream at no extra charge, allowing them to watch in the format of their choice. Anyone who orders the event will also receive this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft^® in-game item — to be revealed at a later date.

In addition, in the weeks ahead DIRECTV will offer a BlizzCon promotion for those interested in signing up for the DIRECTV television service. New subscribers through this promotion will receive the DIRECTV BlizzCon Pay Per View event, the Internet stream, and the BlizzCon 2009 World of Warcraft in-game item for the price of becoming a new DIRECTV customer.

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs.

As BlizzCon draws closer, further details about the show, including ordering and programming information for the DIRECTV BlizzCon Pay Per View event and Internet stream, will be announced at www.blizzcon.com.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^® and the Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net^®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Blizzard Entertainment generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming,” and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales of Blizzard Entertainment’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Blizzard Entertainment’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Blizzard Entertainment’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Blizzard Entertainment, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors and third-party developers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard’s success in integrating the operations of Activision Publishing and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated. Other such factors include additional risk factors identified in Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Related posts:

1. Blizzcon 2009: Day 1
2. BlizzCon: Day 0
3. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
4. BlizzCon, Here We Come!
5. World Event for WotLK

Apr 17

The title says it all; interesting information straight from the crab’s mouth.

For putting up with all of this garbage, you’re dedicated man. My hat is off to you

Re: GC I’m going to send you a Gallon of Gin by Ghostcrawler

Nice. I’m going to have a sweet weekend.

Quote:
But how do crabs reproduce?

Arthropods generally lay eggs. If you mean how do the eggs get fertilized, the same way they usually do. One catch with big crustaceans is that they can only mate following a molt. Males of some crabs will literally keep a claw on a female who is about to molt until she’ sheds her skin. Molted crabs are soft, which is where softshell crabs come from. However because their mouthparts are also soft, they don’t eat for awhile following a molt. This can make them difficult to catch say blue crabs (Callinectes spp.)through conventional methods, which use bait. Many crustaceans carry the eggs until they hatch. Larval crustaceans are very small and are carried through the water column as plankton. Insects by contrast tend to have a mobile adult form and a relatively immobile larval form (think butterfly v. caterpillar). Crustaceans have a mobile larva and adults that don’t travel great distances (or in the case of barnacles, not at all).

This oceanographic moment has been brought to you by Blizzard Entertainment.

Re: GC I’m going to send you a Gallon of Gin by Ghostcrawler

Quote:
Ghostcrawler, are Malacostraca the class of crustaceans or a sub-class? Aren’t crustaceans themselves just a sub-phylum of Arthropoda?

There are more types of Arthropods that any other multicellular lifeform, so the taxonomy gets pretty complex. For example, there are probably 300,000 species of beetles. There may be 50,000 species of crustaceans, but crustaceans are vastly understudied compared to insects — something to do with the difficulty of sampling.

Phylum Arthropoda (armored things)
–Subphylum Crustacea (double legs)
—-Class Malacostraca (antennae, mouthparts, head and thorax)
——Order Decapoda (10 legs)
——–Crabs, shrimp and lobsters are in this group.

Quote:
GC, don’t forget that alot of freshwater insects do move around. Dragonflies, Mayflies, and aquatic beatles come to mind as examples of where the larval form of the insect is much more mobile, and interesting, than the adult stage.

True enough. They aren’t as planktonic (generally at the whim of water currents) as most baby crustaceans though. Interestingly (to me anyway) freshwater crustaceans like crayfish also skip over the planktonic larva. It doesn’t work well for stream-dwelling critters.

Quote:
on a side note, what is the yellow ‘mustard’ part of the crab? thats not crap is it?

It is called the hepatopancreas, and is a digestive organ that does some of the same functions as a vertebrate liver. It only looks that bad because you’re usually looking at the cooked version. Some people like the taste. It isn’t typically dangerous, but can accumulate contaminants depending on where the crab lives. Unless you eat crabs every week, it’s probably not an issue.

Related posts:

1. This Was Interesting, Everyone
2. WotLK Information Released
3. So You’re Off to BT/Hyjal: A Guide by Gragnarth
4. Weekly WoW Bash: Like Playing a Hunter
5. Interesting News Regarding the Next Expansion