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Where I’ll be from here

Alright, so, here’s some answers to some questions and concerns, along with other stuff.

  • I will not be vanishing from the blogosphere entirely. I’ll still be hanging out on Twitter, you can still find me on AIM as StoppableForce1, and I’ll be continuing to hang out in Blog Azeroth chat. Can’t get rid of me that easy. ;)
  • Also, I will be blogging using one of the other domain names I’ve had sitting around for quite a while and never found a use for; as a result, you can now find me on Midboss. Email there works too: phil at midboss dot com. Got a couple entries up, and you can probably expect posting to be about as frequent as it was here towards the end of the blog’s run.
  • The Stoppable Force (the website) will remain up at least until the domain name comes up for renewal, and maybe longer – as long as the info is still relevant and useful, I’ll keep it up for people. I may eventually move it under the midboss.com domain, but that’d be a bit more involved – we’ll see.

Can’t think of much else. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave comments and I’ll respond as best I can.

Posted in Blogging, IRL.

By Stop
June 5, 2009

No comments

Roll credits

I used to develop software, did you know that? For fun. Everything from blogging tools to games, actual games, I took a stab at it just for fun. (The blog client this guy is talking about? Yeah, I made that.) I enjoyed doing it. Now, if I sit down at the computer, I’m there to play WoW.

I used to play other games, too. I’m a huge console gaming fan, still am. Own everything but an Xbox 360, and that’s only ‘cause it’s broken. Used to play TF2 with some regularity, used to get lost in RPGs on the DS or the PS2. I even like more casual games like Plants vs. Zombies. And I wasn’t kidding about the RPG thing. Ask my friends how often I raved about this or that game, and look at the stack of games sitting in my room, or in my apartment. Now, if I’m in my room, I’m probably going to the computer… to play WoW.

Did you know I used to be a regular roleplayer? I really don’t do any in-character, except on here, but I used to play regularly on several MUSHes. I’ve considered re-apping at one of them, which really set this whole thing in motion. Now I don’t even have MUSHClient installed because if I’m at a PC, my laptop or my desktop, I’m clicking the golden W in the navy circle.

I used to get out more. My friends still tell me nowadays they never see me, they miss me. I chalk it up to having three, no, four days a week where my evenings are tied up. I don’t miss going out to bars and getting utterly shitfaced (that’s just a result of growing up, I suppose), but I do miss regularly seeing people.

I used to exercise. Pretty regularly, too. I liked exercising. I wasn’t the healthiest person, no, but I did get into the kitchen and play around, I did walk or jog or lift a few weights from time to time. I’ve frankly turned into a slob over the course of the last year and a half. I have a closet – literally, a closet (I have two in my room) – full of laundry that needs to be done. I’ve gained a bunch of weight. I take less than 3000 steps a day. Let me repeat that: I walk fewer than 3000 steps a day.

I’ve had to take two semesters out of my graduate studies due to not doing homework. I bet you can guess why I didn’t do homework. I’ve started back this summer, and that’s the other reason for this post.

I used to blog about other things. I have a LiveJournal that’s fallen into complete disuse, I’ve started other blogs and stopped them before they’ve even started. I have a podcast with two of my friends – it’s probably the one thing I still do regularly. I used to like making films – the 48 Hour Film Project was one thing I always looked forward to every year. I missed it last year, for the first time in five years. I had a raid.

I can no longer tell you what my favorite TV show is. If you ask me why I stopped watching Heroes, I’ll tell you it’s because seasons 2 and 3 were absolutely stupid (and they were), but there’s no reason I haven’t started watching again. I occasionally catch something on the DVR but mostly it fills up before I get a chance to relax with it. I haven’t seen this entire season of House. I like House.

There’s a pattern here: every time I think of something I used to like doing, I realize I’ve stopped doing it because of WoW.

I guess in some respects I’ve still retained a lot of things other people haven’t. I’ve still got a great roommate and a fantastic girlfriend, I’m still only 4 classes away from finishing my Masters, I’ve still got a job I love doing even if it does stress me out from time to time. And WoW’s been beneficial in some aspects – or rather, blogging about WoW has been. I’ve made a ton of friends via my blog that I don’t think I would’ve met otherwise – hell, I almost became “internet famous” again. ;)  

I’ve got a lot of things, but I really miss the things I don’t have anymore, all because I’m pouring my life into an MMO.

An MMO that’s really not fun anymore.

It stopped being fun a while ago and crossed into a realm halfway between addiction and obligation.

This isn’t an easy post for me to write, but gang, I’m done.

This is Stop, aka Queklain, aka Zulfon, aka a crapton of alts signing off.

Posted in IRL.

By Stop
June 3, 2009

17 comments

Experiment in progress

I started playing with the WoW.com Profiles stuff today as a sort of experiment. It’s kinda neat, though still a few kinks I’d like to see worked out, but maybe I’m an unusual case. :)

Regardless, here’s my profile, which consists of me doing things with my shadow priest and a few duplicate posts as I eventually figure out that a /reload and re-upload won’t work because it doesn’t clear uploaded data.

C’est la vie.

Posted in Blogging, Raiding, Tools and Resources, Xajek.

By Stop
May 27, 2009

No comments

How do you deal with “exploders”?

anger You know the ones, the exploders – at the first hint of trouble, be it someone in the wrong place or someone asking a question on Vent at the wrong time, they’re the first ones to let their tempers flare. They’re quick with a “if you’re doing ________, you’re doing it wrong,” and they’ll snap at anyone who tries to calm them down. They may be raid leaders, they may be members, they may be officers. Maybe you’re a raid leader with one of these folks in your raid. Maybe you’re just a regular raider, in a position where you just have to suck it up and hope it’s not you they’re yelling at. Maybe it’s you.

How do you (or your raid group) deal with hot-tempered folks in raids? Sure, in progression, there’s bound to be some level of irritation as your raid throws themselves against bosses and endures huge repair bills, but I’m talking about those people who’re blowing up every week on any person for the tiniest thing wrong, even when it doesn’t affect what you’re doing because hey, you’ve got this boss on farm. The ones who raise their voices over trivial matters, and who – heaven forbid – can never be corrected on anything.

Posted in Opinion, Raiding.

By Stop
May 26, 2009

3 comments

Forced Conscription: when to use Army of the Dead

Spell_DeathKnight_ArmyOfTheDeadEvery max-level DK has a delightful little spell at their disposal called Army of the Dead. For those of you who haven’t seen it, quizzed your friendly local death knight about it, or read the link, here’s the lowdown on it:

  • 6-second channel, totally unlike any other DK spell. Each second summons an Army of the Dead Ghoul. They like to arrange themselves in a half-moon around you; it kinda looks like Thriller.
  • It has a 20-minute cooldown, halved to 10 with 2/2 Night of the Dead. Unholy DKs will have this roughly every boss fight in a raid; others might have it every other boss fight (or every fight if you wipe a couple times.)
  • While channeling, the DK takes 50% less damage from all sources. All of them.
  • Once summoned, Army of the Dead Ghouls behave a lot like the unnamed ghouls summoned when an non-Unholy DK casts Raise Dead, leaping straight into combat with a delightful “eeeeaugh!” – but with one important difference: Army of the Dead Ghouls will taunt enemies. They will taunt anything not marked as a raid boss. This includes trash, instance bosses, adds of raid bosses, you name it. On the other hand, they will not taunt anything whose level is ?? (Boss).
  • From my personal experience, they don’t like to change targets once they’re on a given target, but their given target at the beginning will be slightly random if there’s multiple choices because they’re summoned in a wide circle around you. However, sometimes they do seem to change targets, and I can’t find any rhyme or reason why.

As you can imagine, the Taunt feature is both a lifesaver and a total pain in the ass. For example, I once saved a Heroic UP run after the tank was wiped at 5% on Ymiron by letting my Army tank the boss. Sure, he only has to hit them once or twice to smush them, but that’s 6-12 hits that I or someone else doesn’t have to take. But at the same time, you’ve probably been in a group with a DK who’s summoned zombies that bring Gluth’s dinner to him like they have invisible maitre’d outfits on.

Make no mistake, the ghouls are a DPS boost – a pretty significant one. Not quite the most damaging thing you can do with 5 seconds of your time, but on fights where you can use them, it’s worth it. That said, where should you go for it? Here’s what I’ve found, in the places I’ve been.

Continued…

Posted in Death Knights, Guides, Raiding.

By Stop
May 22, 2009

4 comments

Still alive

Hello, faithful readers! According to the stats chart for the past week, you people keep coming even if I’m not writing anything, and that’s both inspiring and fascinating. In fact, one of my busiest days on this blog – ever – apparently came in the middle of last week, while I was on the road!

I haven’t been writing because I was on vacation, so if you were in or around Greensboro NC or Greenville SC, you may have seen me! However, you probably wouldn’t have known me from Adam. Such is life.

Anyway, here’s a smattering of things I felt were worth mentioning, and I’ll try to post something slightly more substantial soon.

  • Two more down: Eye for an Eye and Skeleton Jack are closing their blogs. So long, gentlemen. E4AE always made ret paladinning sound fun, and SJ – well, what can I say? You made me like Unholy-spec DPS, despite all my best efforts to the contrary. Adios to both of you.
  • Your stupid food trick of the day: you can eat a Magic Eater, be transformed, and still ride Argent Tournament jousting mounts (you’ll hover somewhere above it, except the basilisk, who rides on its back). If you’re in whelp form, you’ll also have a tiny whelp-sized lance in your paw attached to your wing.
  • Thanks for saving me a month or two: The Argent Hippogryph is being lowered in price from 250 to 150 seals as of, well, today (even if it displays wrong – reportedly it may cost 150 but still display 250). I am pleased, as thus far I haven’t spent a single seal because I’m aiming to get the ‘gryph. It’ll actually be my 25th mount.
  • Personal accomplishments: Freya down, Hodir down more smoothly than last week, Thorim…well, still working on that one. We essentially have The Siege and The Antechamber on farm, so I’m hoping I can see a Worldcarver soon. Or a Rune Edge. Either would be a nice upgrade. Unfortunately, the theme for Ulduar this week was “holy caster drops, Batman!” We did see two of the Rogue/Death Knight/Mage/Druid tier pants tokens this week, and I snagged mine, so hello best-in-slot-for-now pants.

And to finish this off, here’s a couple screenshots of the Magic Eater/Argent mount combo. Click to embiggen:

WoWScrnShot_051809_022112

WoWScrnShot_051809_194550

Posted in Achievements, Blogging, Fluff, Patches & Updates, Questing, Raiding, Screenshots.

By Stop
May 19, 2009

1 comment

Coming soon to a server near you

nelfdk Well, I didn’t raid last night. It was an oversight, but one hopefully avoided soon. (Yes, I reserve the right to be cryptic.) However, in my don’t-feel-like-doing-anything funk resulting from aforementioned oversight, I started leveling… another Death Knight. Those starter quests go a lot quicker once you’ve got 20 days /played on another DK, except for the fact that I keep hitting buttons for abilities I don’t have yet.

If you’re on Kael’thas, say hi to Voltarus. Trust me, I’m just as surprised as you are that they accidentally let me name myself after Drakuru’s personal necropolis.

Posted in Death Knights, Fluff, Raiding.

By Stop
May 11, 2009

1 comment

L2joust the Stoppable Force Way

joust

I see comments like this every day, whether it be in BA chat or Twitter or what-have-you:

Leafy: Anyway, now I am going to drive home and then fail to joust for a while.

It pains me to see so many people having such a hard time with jousting. It doesn’t require any twitchier reflexes or awareness of movement than, say, a typical raid boss – and not even a particularly hard one. If you possess the following skills, you can joust:

  1. The ability to reach numbers 1-4 on your numberpad.
  2. The ability to strafe in a circle, whether by using the keybound strafe buttons (Q and E by default) or by “fake strafing” (holding your right mouse button down and moving it one way while using A and D or the left & right arrow keys to move in the opposite direction).
  3. Two functioning brain cells to rub together.

BIG FAT BOLD DISCLAIMER: Now, I am fully aware that there are multiple strategies for jousting. Everyone has their own strategy. However, I have been using this strategy since day 1, and I have never lost a jousting match except to (1) players or (2) complete disconnects. This works on valiants, this works on champions, and (as long as you drag them away from other enemies) this works on Boneguard Commanders. (Side note: get the Commander at the back near the stairs and drag him up them while fighting. You’ll thank me later.)

ANOTHER BIG FAT BOLD DISCLAIMER: This is going to be very hard to do correctly if you still click your skills. I have nothing against keyboard turners – you can keyboard turn and do this, probably – but if you still click skills to activate them, this more than likely will not work for you. Caveat emptor.

If you have your own thing that works for you, fine – DO IT. This guide is for the completely hopeless, for the totally-given-up, for the people who pitch hissy fits at the thought of having to joust again. Read on.

  1. Mount up. Doesn’t matter what mount. Keep pressing using your Defend ability (4) until there are 3 little green shields circling your mount. Now you’re ready.
  2. Walk up to your enemy of choice. Stand behind and a little to the side of them. Open the dialog box. Accept, and:
  3. IMMEDIATELY STRAFE LEFT. Even better if you do so in a partial circle. While strafing, as soon as you can do so, launch a Shield Breaker (2) and keep strafing.
    • SIDE NOTE: A lot of people recommend meleeing here: this is worthless on Champions, in my opinion. Remember, Champions start off with three shields, and Valiants with two, so you’re only doing 10% of a melee hit to a champion. Regardless, if you can launch one as soon as you speak to someone, do it on Valiants. For Champions, start strafing instead.
    • For the rest of the match, strafe in a circle around your opponent. They will usually try to move away: pursue them, then keep moving in a circle. This keeps you from being an easy target, and keeps you in range to do Shield Breakers and Charges.
  4. As soon as the cooldown is up, launch a second Shield Breaker. Champions will now be at one shield; Valiants will be at 0.
  5. Charge! Valiants will take the full brunt of your charge, Champions will take most of it and lose their shield.
  6. While you are charging, start hammering the Thrust button (1). You’ll get one melee hit during the charge.
  7. The charge is going to carry you a ways past your opponent. Wheel around to face your opponent, press Defend (4) and when you reach your opponent, press Thrust again. Thrust is on a separate cooldown from the rest of the mount abilities, so you’re able to Defend and Thrust literally at the same time.
  8. Return to step 3, and continue until your opponent is defeated. Circle-strafe, shield-breaker, charge, thrust, circle, defend, thrust, repeat.
  9. Rejoice in your victory.

Once the fight is over, heal up and get three layers of Defend again. Repeat the process until your dailies are over. That’s all there is to it.

Posted in Achievements, Guides, Questing.

By Stop
May 6, 2009

5 comments

Orphans? Bah

orcish_orphan Ordinarily, I’d be all about a holiday, but Blizzard’s desire to shove nonsensical PvP requirements into primarily PvE achievements is getting really old. There’s a reason why Zulfon can be “Zulfon the Noble,” and Queklain is always “Queklain the Hallowed,” but you’ll probably never see either be “Merrymaker.”

I’m not entirely able to explain why I hate this, but I think it’s the same thing as why I don’t play on PvP servers: if I want to PvP, I’ll go PvP. If I don’t, I don’t. By throwing in these achievements, in order to receive two tangible in-game rewards (the title and, eventually, the mount), Blizzard is essentially saying “suck it up: you have to go do PvP, no matter how much you hate it.” Yeah, I know, no one is forced to do them, but no one is forced to get a 2200 arena rating either: arena people arena because they enjoy that, and I hunt achievements because I enjoy that, but when my achievements force me to do meaningless PvP-based sub-achievements? Screw it. Holidays can piss off.

On top of that, I don’t even think Blizzard has completely thought through how these holiday PvP achievements work. I wouldn’t want to be a battleground-runner this week. I had a feeling that hundreds of non-PvPers struggling to complete objectives that more or less pit them against their own team and the other team would be an… inhospitable environment. Apparently I was right. Euripedes has a plea from the PvP side of the fence for Blizzard to please, stop this nonsense:

So here’s a suggestion, Blizzard:

Stop it.

Seriously.

Nobody likes it this way.

The people who want to PvP are frustrated because their battlegrounds are filling up with these incompetent morons who haven’t the slightest idea what to do and have absolutely no will to change that.

The people who don’t want to PvP are frustrated because they have to participate in something that, at best, has no interest to them and, at worst, is akin to smashing their face into mirrors and then stabbing themselves in the legs with the shards.

You want to have these people participate in PvP for an achievement? Fine. Then do it this way:

  • Win all five battlegrounds with your orphan out!

Shazam. You still force them to do something they don’t want to do, but at least this time they don’t have to completely screw up the battleground to do so.

Let me clarify: I’m not totally against PvP achievements. I think forcing them into the meta-achievement is a stupid idea, but I can understand maybe they’re there to give the event a more well-rounded flavor. Fine. What I am against is poorly-designed PvP achievements. Here’s a few examples of what I consider good and bad PvP achievement design:

  • Well-Designed
    • G.N.E.R.D. Rage. Neither side is negatively-impacted by the G.N.E.R.D.S. buff. If you die, applying the G.N.E.R.D.s buff is super-easy, because you get them out of every damn candy bucket in Azeroth, and you can trade them between people – so if you’re out, but your buddy has a ton, just let him give you some before you queue up. In fact, this one has the bonus that you can do it anywhere – world PvP, Wintergrasp, Battlegrounds, maybe Arenas even. You name it, if you can get an HK, you can finish G.N.E.R.D. Rage.
    • Rotten Hallow (H). This is the Horde PvP Hallows’ End achievement, and it’s really only PvP in the loosest sense of the term. It’s quick, it’s fun, and on some servers (Feathermoon, looking at you) it’s not even going to get you flagged or attacked.
    • Elders of the Alliance / Elders of the Horde. It might not be the easiest achievement for some people (heck, you might have spent some time running around the city as a ghost looking for the elder), but at the very least, you could strip naked and corpse-run your way to victory. It may not be easy or enjoyable, but it’s sure as hell not going to run anyone else’s day.
    • All the Midsummer events: Desecration of the Horde / Desecration of the Alliance and King of the Fire Festival. I did these before there was an achievement for them on Queklain (well, I think I missed a few fires in Outland), and I look forward to doing them again as Zulfon. Stomping out fires is quick and easy and earns you a skirmish here and there from dedicated defenders (unlike Rotten Hallow, stomping out the fires does flag you), and as for the city fire retrieval… these things are a lot easier to find than the elders (well, except for Orgrimmar’s, because we have bonfires everywhere all the time – but in, say, Stormwind, a bonfire in the park really sticks out), and sneaking from spot to spot as a non-stealth class? Hell, it was like Metal Gear Solid meets World of Warcraft. One of my fondest memories was riding into Stormwind on my dreadsteed, stealing the fire of Stormwind, sprinting north, and jumping into the canals; the guards gave up, though an intrepid hunter didn’t. Deep underwater, I died, then self-rezzed… then, sneaking through the canal system of an unfamiliar city, I made my way nearly all the way to the castle itself without ever drowning. Finally, I found a boat next to a low section of the wall… leaping out, I mounted up my dreadsteed again and rode like a bat out of Hell to the tram, /cackle’ing all the way IRL. It was awesome, and I look forward to doing it again (and finishing it as Queklain – Flame Keeper Queklain seems apropos for a warlock!).
  • Poorly-Designed
    • Rotten Hallow (A). The Alliance side of the Rotten Hallow achievement is at least partially like the Horde one, in that they have a “crash the party” achievement, and the wickerman area well outside of Undercity is arguably even easier to get to than the Southshore Inn. The issue is the other half of the achievement: the Alliance is relying on being around the Inn when someone from the Horde does their Hallows’ End thing to get this finished. This is ultimately unfair, and if this is the design Blizzard truly wanted, than the Horde should have been forced to clean up the mess at the wickerman as well.
    • With a Little Helper from My Friends. This would have been a lot better if there was a Winter Wondervolt machine in the battlegrounds and in Wintergrasp, or if the buff didn’t wear off after death. I tried doing this one: tons of gnomes show up, swarm out, get a few HKs, die, lose the buff, and /afk out to get a new one rather than wasting their time. Great job on this one, Blizzard. </sarcasm>
    • And lastly, the inspiration for this, School of Hard Knocks. I don’t curse often, so when I do, you know I mean it: Blizzard Entertainment World Event Designers, what the fuck were you thinking? I entirely agree with ‘rip: if this had been “win once in each Battleground with your orphan out,” this would have been (1) entertaining, (2) possibly enjoyable, and (3) at least contributing to the point of the battleground, i.e., to win. As it is? Let’s take Eye of the Storm: not only does your average PvE achievement hunter not bother taking any towers this week, you also end up with a giant clusterfuck around the center flag, with no one doing any kind of D and eventually a win is achieved (for the other team, of course) via the towers because there were only 2 people on your team who weren’t chasing the flag and only the flag. Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin are even worse, I’m sure: I don’t dare poke my head in to find out.

So no, you won’t see me in Alterac Valley with an orcish orphan trying to keep up, or letting the Alliance cap farm so I can take it back and get a quarter of an achievement. That’s not my style. Brewfest? Midsummer Fire Festival? I’m all over those. But as for my orphan… all he gets is a day away from the orphanage, and I get a pig and a beholder.

Sorry Blizzard: maybe next year, if you’ve started thinking these things through.

Posted in Achievements, Opinion, PvP, Queklain, Zulfon.

By Stop
May 5, 2009

1 comment

Only a student… (RP)

Razuvious In the Alliance stronghold of Wintergarde Keep, Commander Eligor Dawnbringer educates Alliance adventurers about the many bosses of Naxxramas. About Instructor Razuvious, he has this to say:

“Pay attention. This is Instructor Razuvious, Kel’Thuzad’s appointed trainer of all death knights. It is said that his own technique is so potent, only a disciple of his could possibly withstand his might.”

Due to neglecting my RSS reader, I hadn’t seen Anna’s Friday 500: To Battle!, but when I did, it struck me as the perfect opportunity to imagine a meeting between master and student. At least, I’m imagining it – to poor Zulfon, it’s life or death. Also: 500 words is kind of hard – I had to keep finding words to remove… sorry ‘bout the actual story, I don’t do this kind of thing too often!

Continued…

Posted in RP, Zulfon.

By Stop
May 4, 2009

4 comments