WoW Patch 1.9

I was just reading up on what's coming in patch 1.9 of World of Warcraft. There are new armor models for each class which all look way way cool. But the coolest thing by far is what they have planned with the Auction House. They're adding an Auction house in each of the major cities for each faction, additionally, they're linking them together so that if you put an item on the AH in Ironforge, players in Stormwind can bid on them. The same holds true for the Horde and neutral auctions. This is cool on a variety of fronts. Players will no longer have to make the trek to Orgrimar or Ironforge to visit the Auction House, and even better, it will help with some of the lag issues that currently plague both Orgrimar and Ironforge. A lot of the lag in those cities are due to the sheer numbers of players hanging out in one area. Adding the additional Auctionhouses will cause people to spread out more and thus reduce some of that painful lag.

There's pleanty of interesting stuff. Check out the details here. I didn't see any official release date for the patch, but I am sure it is forthcoming.

New World of Warcraft launcher thingy

So there was a minor patch that was released yesterday for World of Warcraft. It didn't seem to do much except it installed this new "launcer" utility that comes up before you log in now. I really don't like it much. I haven't read much on it, so I'm not sure why Blizzard felt the need to add it, but I do wish they'd go back to the old system of logging on.

Oh well, I guess sometimes change is good, and sometimes it sucks ass.

Un-fucking believable...

It is official... hell has frozen, and I was there to witness it. The Portland Trailblazers won.. yes, WON... tonight against the Chicago Bulls. It was a close game, the final score was 96 to 93 with the last two points being a couple of foul shots with .6 seconds left on the clock... that's 6 tenths of a second... not a lot of time for the Bulls to do much. They tried a last second three pointer which would have tied the game (how exciting would THAT have been?) but it was rushed and missed.

I'd like to say the game was close because both teams played so well, but the truth is that both teams sucked tonight. Unfortunately for the Bulls, the Blazers sucked a little less than they did. I thought for sure the Bulls were going to smoke the Blazers because they were up five or six points within the first three minutes of the game while the Blazers seemed sluggish and couldn't seem to handle the ball. But as the game progressed the Blazers started finding their groove and the Bulls seemed to lose theirs. The largest difference in points during the game was one or two... but the last few seconds of the game was the best. I was definitely on the edge of my seat.

Oh yeah.. and they had the University of Oregon Cheerleaders and the Oregon State Unversity Dance squad in the most pathetic game of Dodgeball I've ever witnessed... but damn those girls were HAWT!!!

Of course, since I know she reads this, I should mention that they aren't as hot as Special Lady Friend.

All kidding aside, I had a great time. I have to thank my friend for inviting me, it turns out, it was just what the doctor ordered. I feel fabulous.

'Tis the season...

I was reading about the charity Child's Play and I had this sudden desire to help out. I haven't quite figured out exactly what I want to do, but I figured a good start would be to post a link to them from my blog. If you don't happen to be familiar with them, they donate toys and video games to children's hospitals across the nation and, now, around the world. They've been tremendously successful in the three years they've been operating and I don't see that changing any time soon.

So, as my contribution to the cause I've posted a link in the sidebar of my blog to Child's Play and also to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital.

I know at this point there aren't a lot of people reading my blog, but if I can reach out to even one random person who wouldn't otherwise have heard of these charities, then I feel good. I'd like to do more, but at the moment I'm not sure what "more" looks like. One thing I want to do, and encourage anyone else to do, is buy some of the Doernbecher holiday cards. Some of the art on them was done by patients of Doernbecher's and the proceeds go to support the hospital.

Anyway, that's my piece. The usual mayhem and chaos will ensue next post.

New depths of geekiness...

Just when I thought it was safe to go into the water, I discovered a new depth to WoW geekdom. Someone made a video devoted to their pet. Not only did this person make a video, but they wrote an original song. It isn't so much the fact that this person did this (and actually did rather well)that bothers me, no it's the fact that the whole time I was watching it I was sitting there thinking maybe I could make a video.



I think my conversion is complete. I have come over to the dark side, and I like it. I was even thinking of seeing if I could find a statue of a tauren warrior or something for my room. I think I need help.

spam... spam.... SPAM!!!!

It's bad enough I have to deal with all the pigfuckers out there that feel the need to inundate my inbox with advertisements for a larger penis or bigger orgasms for my girlfriend, but now they have stepped inside World of Warcraft. Yep, I got a message in my ingame mailbox this morning. I can buy 100 gold pieces for $100 if I go to this idiot's website or contact him on yahoo. I don't particularly care about gold farmers for a couple of reasons... first is that Blizzard actively discourages the practice, but since I don't participate in such things it isn't my problem. Secondly is that I figure that if someone is stupid enough to spend real money on virtual property, then that's on them. But I draw the line at receiving spam in game. Up until now it was my only sanctuary from such things. I think I've made it very clear how I feel about spam.

I reported it to the GM as harrasment, partially because there isn't a category for it in the ingame help, and partially because I feel it is harrassment. If I was so inclined to purchase virtual gold, I can easily find it on ebay or simply with a google search.

Hulk mad!!!

WoW: The Burning Crusade expansion

I just found the official website for the new expansion for World of Warcraft. It looks like it's going to be pretty amazing. They're going to open up Outland as a playable contnent and they're adding the Blood Elves as a playable race on the Horde side, but haven't announced any new races for the Alliance. I can't wait, I'm already thinking about what I want my new Blood Elf to be... maybe a rogue or something. In addition to new areas, they're adding new items including socketed items like you saw in Diablo 2. There will be a new profession "jewelcrafting" that will be available, and the level cap will increase to 70.

Ok, so maybe I'm a little over excited for this, but it's just too too cool! I couldn't find anything on the official release date, but rest assured, when I do I will post it.

EDIT: I just looked at the FAQ page and there is no official release date, however there is mention of new flying mounts... oh, I think I just made a mess in my chair...