RealID on Blizzard Forums: No More Trolls?

So I guess Blizzard is going to start requiring real names on the World of Warcraft and other battle.net forums, using RealID, a move echoing the optional use of RealID in-game. This could be good and bad. Most people are making comments on the  various blogs and news outlets I've read are complaining about the lack of privacy, the potential for legitimate posters to be stalked or trolled in other venues as "bad people" find out who they are.

My reaction? Yawn.

I haven't even looked at the forums in ages, mostly because I could never find any useful information there. Forums by their nature are very disorganized at best, with posts and threads following the latest fad topic. At worst they are full of the sort of trolls and flame wars that Blizzard apparently is trying to get rid of. Sadly, despite the best efforts of some really great people I am sure, the vast majority of WoW players never go to the forums, for various reasons. This new requirement to use RealID is just one more reason to stay away.

Give me WoWHead or WoW.com any day. Give me something I can use.

BTW, is it not AWESOME that people are using WoW as the basis for doctoral dissertations?

Blog Post Breaks

I am curious, what people think of having breaks in the the post that you have click a link to see the whole post?

Like this . . .

It’s Like Facebook for WoW . . .

Have you ever filled out one of those silly questionaires about yourself for FaceBook of MySpace? Here's one I came across for WoW. Borrowed from Rhii. Regular readers may already know some of this stuff.

1. Raider, farmer, PvPer, or altoholic?
Definitely an altoholic. I only started serious regular end-game raiding with the opening of ICC. And that has dropped off a bit in the past few months.

2. Favorite raid or dungeon?
Kharazan, which now that I think about it, sorta counts as an endgame raid that I crawled many times with my former guild in the eleventh hour of TBC. It just wasn't the absolute endgame at the time. Also having read the novel The Last Guardian, the place had a huge history for me, though much of what occurs in the raid has little to do with the book.

I also like the staircase battle in Zul'Furrak, the waves, and the back-and-forth leading to the second battle with the NPCs we'd just rescued? Great story.

3. Number one choice for a new playable race?
I've always thought the Pandaren would be fun to play, but I am looking forward to having a Worgen Death Knight, if I can't change an existing toon I'll start a new one. I want to start another Worgen just to go through the starting zone. Unfortunately I'm full on my normal server, Uldum. I'll have to go to a secondary server, or move or dump another toon.

4. Class you suck the most at?
Warriors. I can't keep mine alive when soloing. And I haven't gotten to the point where I could group up and tank.

5. Original UI or modded UI?
Definitely modded. I play other games and the inflexibility of some UIs is frustrating.

6. Profession you’ve never leveled past 200?
Blacksmithing. I've tried, but I don't get it, drops are better than anything I could make at the level I can make it.

7. Favorite flying mount?
I love my main's Magnificent Flying Carpet, and my secondary's Flying Machine. Come September, I'll have a Violet Proto-Drake.

8. Nozdormu — friend or foe, you figure?
Time will tell. :)

It would be interesting to discover we'd been assisting the Bronze Dragonflight to maintain the "flow of history" when we should have been helping the Infinite Dragonflight alter it. See Orson Scott Card's
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus for a story exploring a similar theme.

9. Useless item you have in your bank that you’ll never get rid of?
I have a ton of these things. My bank is full of old seasonal items and tabards.

10. Most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?
Hmm, that I can remember from the AH? A Captured Firefly I bought for about 400 gold, a bargain. However, knowing how much I could get for it, I couldn't justify keeping it and sold it for about 700 gold. From a vendor, easily, the swift flying ability for my main. I still haven't accumulated enough to get swift flying for my second. Too much raiding, not enough farming.

11. Favorite starting area?
Does the Death Knight starting zone, The Scarlet Enclave, count?

If not, I guess I'd say Deathknell in Tirisfal Glades. It's so spooky and atmospheric. I love the Forsaken dominated areas. I have a feeling I'm going to love Gilneas, though.

12. Inane goal you worked hardest to achieve?
Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich? and Master of Arms on my main, a priest with no need of weapons skills.

13. Darion Mograine VS Tirion Fordring, gloves off — winner is?
Um, I'm gonna go with Fordring, though I can't stand the voice they have for him. And he is much too melodramatic in-game. But based on Of Blood and Honor, by Blizzard's own Chris Metzen, Tirion represents the epitome of heroism. His personal honor was more important than any misplaced racial loyalty or patriotism, and he was vindicated by the Light in the end.

14. Game music or your own playlist?
Game music or nothing. Like Rhii, "I feel unconnected to the world if I am not listening to in-game sound." It breaks my immersion.


15. Particular option or setting that you always toggle on a new alt/server?
Again going with Rhii's response: "Auto-selfcast on, please!"

16. Highest amount of levels gained in one play session?
I have no idea, I am sure it was in an early session an alt, once I'd gotten the game mechanic down.

17. Thing you’d most like to experience or see in-game?
"I really… really… really… REALLY want to see the rest of Ulduar. Really." (echoing Rhii) And the Black Temple.

18. Worst PuG moment?
I have two. Once I was being harangued by some ass who criticized my inclusion of Frostfire in my Arcane Mage's DPS Rotation. I ended up dropping group. The sad thing is he was right, but he was such a jerk about it that he ruined my gameplay experience. If he had been more friendly about giving his advice, I would have been more receptive, we might have ended up friends.

The second was when a hunter (I really don't want to use "huntard") was being an ass in Drak'Tharon Keep, I can't remember what his initial offense was but a vote-to-kick came up and I voted that he stay, giving him the benefit of the doubt. He then started gloating that he'd beaten the vote-to-kick and I lost all sympathy, the vote came backup and we booted him. right before the last boss. His buddy was the Dungeon Guide, and couldn't believe the rest us us had kicked his friend, but we finished the instance and got our badges.

I guess it shows how being rude or a jerk in PuGs can ruin the gameplay/immersion for others. And get you uninvited.

19. Best dungeon/raid moment?
Not sure, I guess the first time we cleared Kara. Despite the above stories, I do enjoy running dungeons, even with strangers. Being a carebear healer helps. People generally appreciate it.

20. Worst quest ever that you totally hate doing?
I can't remember the name but the jousting near at the foot of Ice Crown Citadel. Too easily overwhelmed, It became easier once I realized "Threat/Cit" group requests were for that one. But I didn't do those very long before I was exalted with the Argent Tournament and stopped doing either.

21. First thing you do when you hit 80?
Shouted it out in guild chat. Probably let out a holler IRL, too. Oh I thought it said "did." I've only managed it twice.The second time wasn't as special. lol

22. Character (of yours) you would RP as if you had to?
Not sure what this one means exactly. Both Rowan, the Priest, and Hazel, the Mage, have pretty thorough backstories; though their personalities are aspects of my own, I guess. I don't do a ton of RP in-game, more in-head, lol.

23. Keyboard, mouse, or both for using abilities?
A bit of both, hot keys for DPS and the Healbot interface on my healers.

24. Thottbot or WoWhead?
WoWhead. Once I found WoWhead, I never went back to Thottbot.

25. Acronym you’ve seen in chat but don’t understand?
Can't think of one right now, though I come across them occasionally.

26. Plot point you’d like to see resolved someday?
The Scythe of Elune questline, though it looks like the Worgen starting area will involve that very thing.

27. Biggest thing you’re looking forward to in Cataclysm?
Seeing the altered landscape and being able to fly over old Azeroth. New Quests/Lore!

28. Guild event you’d like to see?
Another full Naxx run, and a trip through Ulduar.

29. Level range you hate being in?
I'm go with the consensus and say the 50s, it just seemed so long. But I did like the WPL quests. (Chromie!)

30. Favorite map to quest in?
Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills: they both seem so rugged, and yet livable. Like a real place here on Earth. I can practically smell the wood smoke from the campfires and cabins.

A Word on Exclusives and Extras

Like many bloggers, I read other people's stuff and comment on it. I often discover that I have filled several paragraphs that maybe I should have just put on my own blog and referred back to the OP.

So both  GeeCee and AyAitch (heehee, I don't have initials) have discussed the fact that Cryptic is now selling a bunch of formerly exclusive items in the C-Store. I posted much of the following on AyAitch's post on Combat Archeology:

Review: (Avatar:) The Last Airbender

OK, so I took my crew to see "The Last Airbender" today. The film has been the subject of a lot of poor reviews. I am not sure these people understand what it takes to condense around ten hours of story into less than two hours for a movie. I have generally given up on the ability of professional movie reviewers to have a clue about what the movie going public wants. But I won't let this post turn into a rant against critics. The film seems to be doing fairly well at the box office since it opened, pulling in an estimated almost $33 million in its first two days, according to Box Office Mojo. I know the theater we were in--a Saturday matinee at 12:50 p.m.--was packed with children and their parents.

Another blogger, Kevin Lam, wrote prior to seeing the film what he thought should be included as the basic theme of the movie, boiled down from the full first season of the show. I think the filmmakers did a pretty good job of distilling the story to the essentials that Kevin recommended, though they didn't quite do what he wanted in highlighting a potential romance between Aang and Katara. That may occur over the next two films, the two actors seem a bit young for it.

Comments have been about the acting, the writing, and the direction. Well, basically everything about the movie somebody has an issue with. Oh well, I did not see it in 3D, so I can't speak to that, though I have determined 3D to be pretty much useless in the movies I have seen this year in that format. It adds absolutely nothing to the story and very little to the WOW factor of the special effects. We're paying a bunch of extra cash for a waste of time, IMHO. One thing that was inexplicable was the altered pronunciation of several names, including the title character, Aang. Given that the show had been on for several years, I am surprised at this, even if the names are possibly more properly pronounced in the the presumably Asian cultures from which they originated.

The Last Airbender was actually a pretty good film. Not great, but good. The girls saw all the plot compression/omission. But considering this was an abridgement of an entire season of the TV show, I thought it flowed pretty well. Don't expect Shakespeare or even "The Dark Knight." It's not that rich. But it is a decent bit of Saturday Matinee fluff. Looking forward to the sequel.