As sad as this is, I have decided that a thread such as this could easily cause problems for me, and therefore has been removed.
If you read it, I hope you enjoyed it, if you didn't sorry about that. :o)
There have been a lot of posts lately about people who are addicted to this and that ... mainly this game:
I Am Cynra’s Impotent Rage
Ask WoW Insider: Stay at home mom wants to give back to the community
The first one pretty much sums up how I feel about the second ...
You wanna see some people with addictions, check this out:
This is not even the beta key, this is a chance at an upcoming beta ... (I have friends who went to Blizzcon and have this sort of key and didn't get the invite)
Click that and it states inside:
I was one of thousands of Blizzard fans at the Worldwide Invitational last month in Paris and thereby got my hands on this once in a lifetime event-exclusive card.
Due to me not playing the game that much at the moment I'm offering the card, with the codes unscratched for the peta and beta, up for sale to someone who will enjoy it more.
(For a small fee lol)
The Archangel Tyrael pet is avaivable in-game now with the latest patch, this is a brand new exclusive pet that only is available to those who have this WWI 2008 Paris card. Take your chance to stand out in a crowd and own an exlusive in-game pet!! Pictures of the pet are below.
The card also contains a beta key for a upcoming Blizzard game. Take your chance to test a Blizzard game before everyone else!!
Blizzard betas are the hottest thing out there in the gaming community and considering they have 3 major titles coming out in the future this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!!
plz note ---> A blue poster on the official forums has mentioned that these are not guaranteed WotLK keys. Anyone selling their key as a guaranteed WotLK key is trying to scam you for your money. According to their opt-in FAQ, they "haven't announced which betas the BlizzCon or WWI keys will grant access to". This doesn't mean the key isn't for WotLK. Just that it isn't guaranteed to be.
However, considering the only announced upcoming games are Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and Wrath of the Lich King it will most certainly be one of these!!!
FYI that one is currently going for 513 GBP which translates into aprox $1024.92.
The thing about Gaming:
It’s in my blood, and one might even call it a bit of an addition. I can remember when I was younger spending hours playing Mario Brothers until it was complete. Then there was Mario Brothers 2 and 3, Legend of Zelda, Gran Turismo (and the many sequels), Doom, Starcraft, Warcraft, Unreal Tournament, and a slew of other games. Gamers are gamers no matter what way you cut it. Being the best is at times all that is important.
The thing about all of the above games and many more is that I have beaten them … all of them. I have never played a game that was able to be beaten that I have not beaten. Here in lies the problem with WoW. It’s unbeatable. It’s a virtual world with no end. Blizzard makes sure of it. It keeps us playing. If I downed Sunwell tomorrow, I would probably stop playing, but that is a long way off ... and I am sure the expansion will come out right after I finally do.
There are people that play the game that are content to just farm, play alts, and just mess around. I am not one of those people. I have made some very good friends through the game, and they are friends that would remain friends when the game is gone, but they are a small part of what draws me in. It’s the thrill of raiding, downing bosses, overcoming the odds.
I read for the first time this morning The Confessions of a Hardcore Raider. I am what most would consider pretty hardcore, I put quite a bit of time into the game, although I do have the ability to go and do other things, and do from time to time, many times I would prefer to just sit in the virtual world and play away.
There are people who the game encompasses their entire lives. I recommend that every raider read the entry above, and then look at how much of your life is encompassed by WoW. It will end someday, and when it does what will fill that void?
This post is dedicated to Monique and the courage it must have taken to tell her story in an attempt to help others with addictions of all kinds.
Normally when I do tips on what to do and what not to do to irritate the WoW world that you live in, I don’t name names. I am upset enough about this one that I am going to name this persons name in hopes that someone reads this and avoids this happening to them.
The main question at hand is at which point do you owe it to a guild to help them keep progressing? How long after receiving what I have referred to in the past as an elite piece of gear do you need to stay and help those around you? Yes, it’s your $15 a month, but by taking [Mantle of the Avatar] (T5), (The first set I might add), and the only set of [Boots of the Divine Light] in a guild, you have gimped their ability to progress. Basically that gear doesn't belong to you, it belongs to you and 24 other people who help you get it.
Let me back up just a little bit. We as a guild are now 3 of 6 in SSC, 1 of 4 in TK, and have downed Rage Winterchill. There was a member of our guild named Kruelladevil, who has been in the guild for a while. It has always been known that Kruell hated playing a holy priest, and preferred shadow, but respec’d every time we raided in order to get a raid spot. We raid with shadow priests, and would not have been denied a spot being shadow. We even use a couple of strats on bosses that require them. (See Void Reaver). We have been farming Rage Winterchill and the trash to Anetheron for weeks.
Due to the fact that Kruell is a raider, he was given loot priority just like the rest of us. When we farm Kara/Mag/Gruul, we take alts and such as there is no reason for us to take our T5 raiders in there anymore. Kruell has a Shaman he has started to play more and more. He has been taking it into Kara/Mag/Gruul and wanted to start taking it to T5 level raids instead of his priest. This is an enhancement shaman, so not only do we lose a healer; we in its place pick up a poorly geared, underplayed shaman. Although this isn’t a HUGE loss as Kruell spent more time dead than alive on his priest anyway … He would easily double the number of deaths of the priests. He never did quite get the hang of a little thing called agro management.
Off of the trash drops in Hyjal, Kruell picked up the first pattern for [Boots of the Divine Light] (BOP) that Defiant has recieved. The following week, we drop VR for the first time and he nabs [Mantle of the Avatar]. At this point, Defiant as a whole has invested time, gold, and effort into his now T5/T6 toon. This is two weeks ago. He now this week removes his toon from Defiant, telling us he is no longer going to raid with Kruell, but would still like to take his Shaman on raids with us. Basically he removed the priest so he could get priority with his Shaman.
He's an idiot if he thought we would even consider giving him a drop off hogger after doing this.
If you see Kruelladevil apply for your guild on Greymane, tell him to piss off. You DON’T want him. He will STEAL from your guild. This is just wrong! Now whatever guild a person does this to not only has to replace that person, but are now set back 2 weeks, (assuming those drop two weeks in a row I might add), to replace the gear that was stolen from them.
As an FYI, this is the second time that I know of that he has gimped a guild in this fashion.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A SECURITY EXPERT, NOR DO I CLAIM ANY INFORMATION HERE IS CORRECT. THIS BLOG IS FOR MY OWN PERSONAL AMUSMENT AND APPOLIGIZE IN ADVANCE THAT YOU READ IT EVERY DAY. THEREFORE, USE THE INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK.
There is a new hot topic in the world of WoW. It’s called Keyloggers. It’s all over everywhere to defend yourself, check your computer, do something! Make sure your account is safe! What the hell does all this mean? How exactly do I do that?
Let’s start with what it is.
SearchSecurity.com defines a keylogger as:
A keylogger, sometimes called a keystroke logger, key logger, or system monitor, is a hardware device or small program that monitors each keystroke a user types on a specific computer's keyboard.
It goes on to state:
A keylogger program does not require physical access to the user's computer. It can be downloaded on purpose by someone who wants to monitor activity on a particular computer or it can be downloaded unwittingly as spyware and executed as part of a rootkit or remote administration (RAT) Trojan horse. A keylogger program typically consists of two files that get installed in the same directory: a dynamic link library (DLL) file (which does all the recording) and an executable file (.EXE) that installs the DLL file and triggers it to work. The keylogger program records each keystroke the user types and uploads the information over the Internet periodically to whoever installed the program.
Ok, now we know what it is, what the hell do we do about it? There are a number of things you can do to make sure you are as safe as you can get:
Monitoring what programs are running
A user should constantly observe the programs which are installed on his or her machine. Also, devices connected to PS/2 and USB ports (which have both been hacked) can be used to secretly install a keylogger and then remove it (along with the user's data) by the perpetrator.
Anti-spyware
Anti-spyware applications are able to detect many keyloggers and cleanse them. Responsible vendors of monitoring software support detection by anti-spyware programs, thus preventing abuse of the softwares.
Firewall
Enabling a firewall does not stop keyloggers per se, but can possibly prevent transmission of the logged material over the net if properly configured.
Network monitors
Network monitors (also known as reverse-firewalls) can be used to alert the user whenever an application attempts to make a network connection. This gives the user the chance to prevent the keylogger from "phoning home" with his or her typed information.
Automatic form filler programs
Automatic form-filling programs can prevent keylogging entirely by not using the keyboard at all. Form fillers are primarily designed for web browsers to fill in checkout pages and log users into their accounts. Once the user's account and credit card information has been entered into the program, it will be automatically entered into forms without ever using the keyboard or clipboard, thereby reducing the possibility that private data is being recorded. (Someone with access to browser internals and/or memory can often still get to this information; if SSL is not used, network sniffers and proxy tools can easily be used to obtain private information too.)
It is important to generate passwords in a fashion that is invisible to keyloggers and screenshot utilities. Using a browser integrated form filler and password generator that does not just pop up a password on the screen is therefore key. Programs that do this can generate and fill passwords without ever using the keyboard or clipboard.
On-screen keyboards
Program-to-program (non-web) keyboards
It is sometimes said that a third-party (or first party) on-screen keyboard program is a good way to combat keyloggers, as it only requires clicks of the mouse. However, this is not true, because for most on screen keyboards (such as the onscreen keyboard that comes with Microsoft Windows XP), a keyboard event message must be sent to the external target program to type text. Every software keylogger can log the text sent as typed characters from one program to another with an on-screen keyboard, and additionally, some programs also record or take snapshots of what is displayed on the screen. (Screenshot recorders are a concern whenever entire passwords are displayed; fast recorders are generally required to capture a sequence of virtual key presses.)
Drag & Drop
Most keyloggers cannot intercept texts which are drag & dropped from one window to another. With the help of this technique, sensitive data could be transferred, for example, from a password manager to the target application.
Several of the articles I have read this morning go on to state that if you aren’t using the keyboard, there is no record for the keylogger to record. Therefore in theory, (see the disclaimer at top before doing this), you can put your information into a text file, then just copy and paste it into the fields. The problem with this is it would appear that any program that does a screen shot in addition to logging keys will still pick up on that.
The easiest way to avoid keyloggers is to never click links on a web site unless you know the site. For instance, I do not guarantee any link posted here, although I have visited every link listed so if they are infected we are both screwed.
I hope this helps some of you decide how to protect yourselves against this threat to our fun.
References:
Wikipedia
SearchSecurity.com
Defiant has made the step from the not hardcore “casual” 4 nights a week raiding guild to the elite. Not to be confused with the uber elite however. :o) We are now 3 of 6 (Lurker/Hydros/Tide Walker) in SSC and 1 of 5 in TK with a seriously bugged VR dead. We have killed him twice now and have several members of our guild wearing T5! Hence the elite status!
I want to give some VR advice for any guild doing what we were doing and waiting to down him until Bliz fixes him. It’s quite easy really … the hunters distract him while the raid ganks him.
Ok, Ok, I will explain.
First, the entire raid gets within Melee range of him. Even the mages have their auto attack turned on so in between casts they are smacking him with their staves, maces, throwing shoes at him, (Love ya Ary), what ever they have. There are even some jokes made because some of them now have their skill higher than 150 from the encounters. You then take 2 hunters; they run around the ring on the outside. They have to be 180 degrees from each other as not to get smacked with the orbs. They don’t DPS, they just keep moving, and it’s a very boring fight for a hunter. The easiest way to judge distance is if you can not arcane shot VR you are too far out, if you can't take one step further away from him and be out of range for your arcane shot you are too close.
Your Shaman’s must do a continual chain heal, while priests do Prayer of Mending, and circle of healing non-stop. This requires shadow priests to be in their groups as to keep the mana up. If the shadow priests die, the raid wipes. While doing the fight this way, they are vitally important. The hunters MUST be careful to stay away from the group, and must have health stones, pots, all that stuff … they can’t ever get close enough to the group to be healed, so they have to be able to heal themselves … I did it in full PvP gear just to boost my stam way up, there is no need for DPS as you aren’t doing it anyway. This has worked like a charm twice for us. The main catch is if your hunters go down, VR will now target the next furthest person out from him … i.e. the group at his feet.
You must have at least 3 tanks, (you will have this for trash anyway), and everyone must stay behind them on the threat table .. that way when he punts a tank, and changes his focus to the second on the list, he doesn’t turn and one shot a squishy. (Which is relative considering we are all squishy to him) ...
Edit: There is a small change to the strat, we have the tanks stand one on top of each other so that he does not move when he changes tanks ... this allows the healers to move around less and cast more.
Ensuring you stay ahead of the enrage timer is fairly easy as it is a 10 minute timer, therefore you must do 10% every 60 seconds, which really is not that hard. We just start slow with the DPS for the first 60 seconds, and then open up on him after that …
I hope this helps! Good luck and enjoy the shoulders!
Upon reading some of my favorite blogs, I felt this needed to be included. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Aetherial Circle, Big Red Kitty and the family of Sharvan of whom I did not know, but from everything I have read this morning sounded like a wonderful woman. For those that keep tabs on that blog, The Running of the Bulls is now dedicated to Sharvan and her family that has been left behind. She was a founding member of Aetherial Circle. Please stop by over there and express your thoughts and concerns for their loss as this is a rough time for them. Only one thing comes to mind when I hear of things like this, “Only the good die young. The rest of us are just left with the memories.”
Refer to this link for info on the Runing of Da Bulls for Sharvan:
http://www.bigredkitty.net/running-of-da-bulls/
