Friday, June 26, 2009

Trade Chat's Anal Tribute to Michael Jackson

I really, really have to start remembering to take screen captures when things like this start to go down. Every once in a while on the trade chat, someone will ask for an anal tribute. Then everyone types "anal" and then links something that is relatively funny in that context. My contribution, for example, was "anal [Rhino Meat]."

Last night someone called for an anal tribute to honor Michael Jackson. I was literally laughing my ass off for the first time in a good long while. I can't tell you any of the others because I was blasted out of my skull again on my allergy medicine but lots of people like to link staves or pets. Now that I type that, I wonder if that's why it was so funny.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

World of Podland Podcast

I'm trying to get some folks together for a satiric/comedy WoW show that would resemble the Colbert Report and spoof other WoW podcasts. Have loose outlines together already for the first two shows. I plan to have them very lightly scripted, basically just personality traits I wish displayed and topics that should be covered, but will mostly just be improv. Should be a tremendous amount of fun.

Please shoot me a note if you have any interest in such a project: jimsurge@gmail.com

EDIT: I received a couple of questions asking so thought I'd clarify: there's no need for your real life identity to ever become known on the podcast (unless you wish to do so, of course). The "hosts" and "guests" will all be "characters."

Friday, June 19, 2009

Money Making Tips

Spend an hour farming Rhino Meat in Sholazar Basin, then hang onto the meat until Mustard Dogs is the cooking daily. Once Mustard Dogs is up, sell stacks of Rhino Meat x4. Depending on the server, I've been making between 10g-25g for the x4 stacks.

These are just straight resells on the AH from a vendor purchase:

Eternium Thread continues to be a fantastic long-term moneymaker for me.

Symbol of Kings are also getting a nice markup.

Has TB Left WoW Behind?

In a few tweets yesterday TB mentioned that he had well and truly canceled his WoW subscription! I'm not 100% sure if that is for real but knowing TB it probably is! This has sort of been a recurring theme with him lately, his boredom with the game, and should make today's Blue Plz! required listening for everyone out there in WoW podcast land. Expect a major diatribe about the absurd 3.2 changes which continue to make a joke of the honest efforts of many legitimate players and hardworking guilds.

Haven't been listening to too many podcasts this week. Have stopped listening to WoW Insider and How I WoW completely, the former because I was basically a BRK mark and things just haven't been the same since his exile, and the latter because there's just too much ass-kissing of techno people that I could give a rats ass about. I used to really like How I WoW for some of the psychological areas it got into, it's just not my cup of tea anymore since it seems to have veered too far to the pretentious.

Have basically given up on All Things Azeroth as well, and that's more because they cover topics that everyone covers and are a little less interesting (to me anyway) while doing it. They're basically doing a lite version of WoW Insider or The Instance, and that's not for me. They do have a nice, dedicated listenership though and I must admit it is funny from time to time but in terms of where I'm at as a WoW player and what info I need to improve as a player I can't get it from ATA, I need more theorycraft.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Funny to Me

I'm always fascinated with bizarre things in World of Warcraft. Maybe fascinated is the wrong word. I find certain mundane aspects of WoW, just like real life, hysterically funny. And while I know that it is probably only funny to me or drunks who laugh at anything, I seize upon some tiny aspect of the game, and just kill the "joke" into the ground.

For example, I ask trade chat on my server "what on earth do oozes spend gold on?" about once every three months to see if the responses change. And I phrase it just like that because I know, I KNOW, someone will reply "don't you mean Azeroth?" It's an eerie conditioned response, along with the "lol" that always follows from someone else:

Me: What on earth do oozes spend gold on?
Smart Guy #1: don't u mean Azeroth?
Moron #1: lol

I doubt Moron #1 is really laughing out loud. A lot of people are like this in the gaming world and online in general. They will type "lol" or "lmao" when they are just "ma," which is mildly amused. I personally use "ma" or "nt" (nice try) unless I am actually laughing because I don't like to misrepresent myself. If one of these psychos starts to think I think they are funny they might be encouraged to continue the "humour" to me in a series of whispers that earns them ignore status. And I'd rather not have to do that if possible. Really, I'm a people person at heart.

Well, this past weekend I asked the question again. And some of the responses actually did make me laugh out loud, especially the first response, which was not (for once) the classic "don't u mean Azeroth" Pavlovian response, the first response was "cigarettes."

Now, just the thought of a green ooze oozing his way up to a newspaper stand or convenience store for a pack of smokes and having the merchant put his hand into the ooze's body to get the money that is just free-floating there in the gelatinous mess makes me laugh. Nevermind picturing the ooze with a cigarette in its mouth having a moment of quiet contemplation near whatever swamp or ruins it is inhabiting, perhaps reflecting on a life they thought would turn out differently. Perhaps working up the courage to ask the boss ooze for the afternoon off because it is his birthday after all and some free time would really help him come back refreshed for more terrorizing of adventurers.

Well, that fantastic "cigarettes" reply was quickly followed by the brilliant barb "your mother." For some reason I imagine the person who typed that was either an over-compensating American from the east coast/New England area, or a chav from Liverpool or Bulwell. I can't fault them. In my younger days I might type the same thing. The "your mother" response was followed by a few obligatory "lol"'s, but again I seriously doubt the heartiness of the laughter.

Past that a few gems:

cupcakes
ham
your cousin
rent
schooling
board games
chewing gum
concert tickets
organic milk

I like "your cousin" especially well because of those insufferable bullshit artists known as "one-uppers." You know the type... you say you leveled your toon 1-80 in 8 days of game time, someone will instantly reply that their cousin did it in 5 days flat. You finally PUG your first Warsong Gulch victory after 50 tries and they comment that their cousin wins that battleground every time, topping the damage AND healing charts along the way. You grind away at dailies to outfit your new 80 with some BoE purples and their cousin got the world first for completing Ulduar (on the PTR, of course).

Unrelated but nevertheless disturbing is Applebough, the fruit vendor in Dalaran who happens to be a tree. That he sells "fresh apple juice" is pretty disgusting. The thought of him selling his own fruit crosses a moral line for me. Not quite into the category of selling one's children, but darn close. That said though, if I were Applebough and had already crossed the line I wouldn't stop with just juice or apples. Why not sell pie crusts, apple seeds, apple cider & apple cider donuts, apple cobbler, etc. and expand the profile? Become known as "the apple guy." Might bring in some more customers.

Any strange in-game happenings that strike you as funny? Let me know!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Playing at the WoW

I've been beating my head against the wall doing the Argent Tournament and picked up the Staff of Feral Furies for my hunter, replacing an even more embarrassing polearm which had spell power on it. Still need a true hunter weapon of course but it's certainly an upgrade for now. Only need to do this for a few more days for the 150 seals needed for the Argent Hippogryph, have already picked up Crusader title (and Ambassador, hardly had any Sen'jin rep prior to this daily grind).

Ran Obsidian Sanctum with one drake last night, and our guild isn't geared for it. Our guild also isn't geared for morons standing in the lava wall with no drakes, of which I was one. This was only the second time I've run OS on the hunter, and did much better the first time. Anyone have a link to a decent OS youtube? Preferably one with instruction and not lame techno-pop?

I've got a priest/rogue combo I'm still working on. The RAF bonus is gone and I still need to do tons of runs to get them a couple of pieces of heirloom gear. They're only around the level 28 range, pathetic waste of money that was. Also have a 21 pally I'm just going to park until the patch comes for the mount.

Mount changes. Man... I remember those days of running until level 40. Sucked but was such a great accomplishment when you finally got that mount. Just like the horror of having to do Strat to get the Pally epic mount. When it was all over you'd just go for a ride to wherever because hey, you could! I sort of see this move as a way to appease the crowd that wants to start all alt toons at lvl 55 as long as you have one lvl 80. Should make it a lot easier to level alts... especially since you'll basically be able to fly through Outland.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My Completely Unscientific Poll

Did a "quick" Twitter poll, and 9 of the 44 UWoW followers actually responded. They were probably like: UWoW? What's that again?

The question was, if you had to name one, what is your favorite WoW podcast at the moment?

Not surprisingly, Blue Plz! topped the list. I say not surprisingly because TB has been very supportive of this blog on his show and I imagine that many of his listeners enjoy the honest, beholden-to-no-one opinions offered here. Here's the tally:

Blue Plz! 4
rawrcast 1
Ctrl Alt Wow 1
The Instance 1
All Things Azeroth 1
Bind on Equip 1

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Warming to the Occassion

Starting to get back into the blog a little bit now that the dust has settled.

For those of you who have asked Fred is doing well. He's moved down to Reddington Beach in Tampa, Florida where the climate and other medical factors are better suited for his particular health condition. He says you can still contact him directly at uwowfred@live.com, just remember the replies from him might go into your spam folder! I'm actually going to set up a gmail account for myself today to avoid this auto-filter nonsense.

Toothy has come in off the ledge since Nottingham Forest somehow survived the drop in the English Championship. He's still Doogie Howser'ing his way through university and does not extend best wishes to anyone. Haven't heard a thing from Pete Pete, and I suspect I may never again. Mel has been around, she is apparently STILL working on a new logo, one that will remove the words "World of Warcraft" while retaining the "UWoW" brand. I'll likely be removing the words "World of Warcraft" from the blog, and just calling the place UWoW, since it is a resource for you... the podcast-going WoW-lovers. We may still see infrequent pieces from these folks in the future, but they are no longer formally associated with the blog.

Wanted to post a note I received a few weeks ago from our friends over at The Grind Podcast, which was one of my favorite WoW-related shows:

Unfortunately, The Grind Podcast will be no more. The logistics of producing and releasing a quality show each week proved to be daunting. Steve Hamner and myself, David Sanna, have made the decision that although the Grind must end, we would like to continue. The final two episodes of The Grind podcast will be hosted at a new feed on Itunes. Our new show, Inside Azeroth, will begin recording in less than two weeks.

You can find us at: InsideAzeroth.com


Thanks again for your blog. It's a must read for any WoW podcaster.

Cheers,

David Sanna
InsideAzeroth.com

It's a shame because I really thought The Grind was getting into a good groove and it really grew on me quickly. But from these ashes comes a new show and I hope everyone will check that out too. I haven't given a listen yet but will report back when I do. The last Grind, #48, was posted on May 10.

Some interesting other news going on lately. I thought the Blue Plz! special 4th anniversary show from May 22 was the best WoW-related anniversary show I've heard. It was a flat-out party and that's what made it EPIC for me. Great stuff, good reflections by other WoW Radio folks, just well done.

I was disappointed that I missed this past weekend's live rawrcast broadcast, on which TB was a guest, so can't wait to give that one a listen. I have to hand it to Stompalina, she seems, along with the Bind on Equip and Ctrl Alt WoW folks right now, to really be making an effort to reach out to and collaborate with other podcasts and other broadcasters on a regular basis.

More to come... in the FUTURE!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Live(ish) (Sorta)Chat!

I've jumped on the AIM & the Skype for the time being:

AIM: jimsurge74

Skype: jim.surge

Although I must warn you, I sound like I am in the space shuttle on Skype ATM.

Have to get a better headset. Any recommendations?