Filed under: Druid, Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Burning Crusade, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives, Wrath of the Lich King

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, our author is completely spaced out on cold medication, and is somewhat concerned that her raid performance has improved under the circumstances.

The time has come (the Allie said)
To talk of many things.
Of Roots and Bash and Travel Form,
And Strength (which scales with Kings).
Why Tauren cat form sucks so hard,
And whether trees have wings!

And, yes, before anyone asks, I’m tripping on too much cough syrup and ibuprofen after receiving a belated viral Christmas gift from a relative. So I’ll just put this out there right now; this column’s probably on the weird side. I took a long look at all three Druid specs over 2008 and saw a few sad things, a few happy things, a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants, and now I’m channeling the famous Mary Tyler Moore episode “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” and that has to stop because I do not believe Mary Tyler Moore ever played a Druid.

If you’re completely uninterested in reading an account of any spec that’s not your own — although that would make me weep into my little cup of generic label cough syrup — here’s a set of quick links to each:

• Balance
• Feral
• Resto

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008

Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Guilds, Instances, Humor, Guildwatch, Bosses

Lots of guilds were off for the holidays, but we still had a surprising amount of news: lots of drama, plenty of downs to report, and a few more guilds recruiting for a serious run at the new endgame.

Hope your holidays were happy — here at Guildwatch, we got exactly what we wanted: angry forum threads, tips from all over the realms, and even a few very offensive vent recordings. If you’ve got news of guild drama, downings, or recruitment, send it to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. And hit the link below to see this week’s GW.

Continue reading Guildwatch: Farming instances for the holidays

Guildwatch: Farming instances for the holidays originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items

The Huffington Post (among other sources) is reporting that FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate has resigned. This is the woman who, less than a month ago, said that World of Warcraft was one of the top reasons for college drop-outs. Now, I can’t entirely blame someone for seeing MMOs as a bad thing, there are certainly a lot of people who don’t seem to have the ability to throttle their playtime, but that really wasn’t her first silly act or statement while she held her position (taking advice from corporations is bad, mmkay). A lot of people will take this news as a godsend.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she didn’t do any good at all. Your personal views may differ from hers depending on the topic, but she’s generally pretty well regarded for her efforts when it comes to issues regarding children and their protection. Personally, I don’t agree with the extreme ‘think of the children!’ mentality (or Tate’s approach to it) that’s become increasingly common, but again, my opinion doesn’t represent a nation. A few out of line comments don’t negate her efforts entirely.

Continue reading FCC commissioner Deborah Tate resigns

FCC commissioner Deborah Tate resigns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Account Security

Back in late October and early November, you may (or may not) remember that Blizzard was having some substantial issues with their character transfer system. To prepare for the release of Wrath of the Lich King, there was an epic number of people moving characters around for one reason or another. A problem came up where some characters were getting lost in limbo along the way. Stuck, and unable to be played.

One of our readers wrote in this morning with a followup, and it seems that everyone who had issues is being granted a 15-day playtime credit on their account to make up for it. Half a month across the board is a pretty substantial credit, especially considering many of the people we’ve heard from were only locked out of their characters for a couple of days. I’m sure we’d all prefer there was never a problem to begin with, but this is a pretty generous compensation if true. I was impressed when they gave everyone a three day credit awhile back.

Continue reading 15 day credit given to players affected by character transfer issues

15 day credit given to players affected by character transfer issues originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan art

Emkephalin from Terenas sent us this picture of a wonderful Christmas present created for him by his mother. As the story goes, Emkephalin introduced his mother WoW a few years ago, like so many other players who play with their family. She waited until she’d officially retired before starting the game, which probably was a wise move. In a few short days, she reached the limits of what you can do on a trial account, and immediately went out and picked up her full retail copy.

Flash forward to this Christmas season. Among WoW-playing and scuba diving, it turns out Emk’s mother also creates tile mosaics. You can imagine his surprise when Emkephalin removed the wrapping paper from the top of this table to see the wonderful Horde pattern created on the right. Emk was obviously pleased enough to drop us a tip, as well as a picture link to see it for ourselves.

This is a continuation of how WoW has inspired people for the season. I can’t wait to see what next year brings, and am probably going to invest my time between now and then to learn how to make something myself. It certainly would be awesome to enjoy coffee over such a distinctive table.

A table for Horde, please originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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