Brewfest is probably my favorite World Event  in WoW.  Why?  Because it’s one giant party.  You get oompah music, to obtain fun pets (who could ever forget the adorable Wolpertinger?), throw beer steins at Dark Iron Dwarves, and drink until you see pink Elekks.  How could that not be fun?

But with all the things you can do at Brewfest, plus the massive amounts of people clogging up your computer, it can get confusing or even annoying figuring out how to do everything you want to get done.  Below I have a quick rundown of the quests, achievements, and tips on how to get the trickier ones done by the end of the Brewfest week.

To Start…

In any major city, look for a Commoner (Human Commoner, Dwarven Commoner, etc) dressed in lederhosen.  He’ll direct you to the Brewfest Organizer outside of Ironforge.  Take a jaunt outside IF and look for the Brewfest banners to start things off.

The Quests

Once you get to the Brewfest itself and talk to the Brewfest Organizer, you have a choice of multiple quests:

• Chug and Chuck!
  Do this one first; it is much easier to hit S.T.O.U.T. when you’re sober than when you’re drunk (in fact, it’s nigh impossible to hit it when you’re drunk).  Pick up a Complimentary Brewfest Sampler from the table under the tent, target S.T.O.U.T. and toss it!  I suggest you put the item in an easily accessible slot for you, rather than searching through your inventory for it.
  Reward: 10 Tokens

• Now This is Ram Racing…Almost
  This quest is designed to teach you how to use the riding reigns and how your ram’s speed works with Ram Fatigue.  So first, read my quick tutorial on Ram Racing Basics:
• Ram Racing Basics
  Your ram has 4 speeds: Walk, Trot, Canter, and Gallop (the last 3 have symbols that can be found on your buff bar).  Basically, you use your ram’s reigns, given to you by the quest giver, to increase the ram’s speed.  The faster you go, though, the faster your ram’s Ram Fatigue (also seen on your buff bar) increases.  If your Ram Fatigue hits 100, your ram is slowed to a crawl for the next 15 seconds.  Walk and Trot each allow your Ram Fatigue to decrease, while Canter and Gallop increases your Ram Fatigue.  Fatigue wouldn’t be a big deal, except that any quest involving you riding a ram will have a time limitation.  When you’re trying to complete a Ram quest, the best way to do it is to either Canter or Trot the entire time.  Steady yourself at a canter until your Ram Fatigue hits around 85 or 90, then slow yourself to a Trot until your Ram Fatigue hits around 50.  Then Canter until you’re done.   The trick to steadying yourself at one speed is to use your ram’s reigns until you get to your required speed, then use them once every count of 3.  The only way to slow your ram down is to stop using the reigns and let it slow on its own.
  For this quest, all you have to do is keep your ram steady for 8 seconds at each of its 3 higher speeds: Trot, Canter, and Gallop.
  Reward: Opens There and Back Again, Bark for the Barleybrews! (Daily), Bark for the Thunderbrews! (Daily)

• There and Back Again
  Simple once you’ve mastered the art of Ram Racing.  Run your Ram to Kharanos until you can see Flynn Firebrew (he’ll have a purple arrow over his head).  Flynn will automatically toss a keg at you as soon as you get close enough; you won’t even have to stop!  Turn around and head right back to the quest giver (he will now have a purple arrow over his head, too).  As you ride by, you will automatically toss the keg to him.  Do this 3 times, and you’re golden.  Don’t forget to keep an eye on your Ram Fatigue and relax to a Trot if you have to.  Also, make sure you have an open spot in your inventory for the keg to land.
  Reward: 10 Tokens

• Bark for the Barley/Thunderbrews (Daily)
  Another Ram Racing quest!  This time you need to run up into Ironforge and in a circle to each of the wards, plus the bank.  Get back to the Brewfest and turn it in on time, and you’re good to go!
  Reward: 15 Tokens

• This One Time, When I Was Drunk…(Daily)
  You can obtain this quest from the Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage, which shows up after the Dark Iron’s drill up from the ground in the middle of Brewfest, which happens about once every 30 minutes.  After defeating the Iron Dwarves (much like in Chug and Chuck!, pick up the mugs from the tables around the camp and use them, which will make you drink, then chuck the mug; you should have a fresh one thrown to you if you’re standing near the tables), a large cog wheel will be left behind, giving you this quest.  Simply turn it in, and you’re done!  It should also give you the Down With the Dark Iron achievement.
  Reward: 10 Tokens

• Catch the Wild Wolpertinger!
  Everybody loves Wolpertingers, right?  Now you can have one of your very own!  Head into Brewfest to get yourself nice and drunk (or obtain a pair of Synthebrew Goggles simply by asking for them from Goldark Snipehunter) and search around the areas surrounding the Brewfest.  Find a Wild Wolpertinger, select it, and toss your net onto it.  Easy peasy!
  Reward: Wolpertinger Tankard (pet)

• Pink Elekks on Parade
  Take yourself to the areas outside Darnassus, the Exodar, and Stormwind.  Buy some alcohol (or again, put on your Synthebrew Goggles) until you see adorable pink Elekks wandering about the area.  Target, then zap with your Elekk Dispersion Ray.  Done and done!
  Reward: 40 Tokens

• Direbrew’s Dire Brew
  This is a quest you pick up from the corpse of Coren Direbrew inside Blackrock Depths.  Saunter your way to BRD with 4 friends and once zoned take a look to your right.  There you should see several Dark Iron Dwarves guarding a set of controls.  Once you kill them, you can take the controls to the room where you’ll see Coren Direbrew ranting and raving.  In the bar you’ll find the daily quest from the Brewfest Spy, Insult Coren Direbrew.  This will allow you to activate and then kill him.  The first time you kill him, you will be able to pick up Direbrew’s Dire Brew, from his corpse, which yields this quest.
  Reward: 40 Tokens

The Achievements

If you check out your Achievements, you’ll see that the one for Brewfest under World Events is the Brewmaster Achievement.  Most of the achievements for Brewfest are pretty straight forward and easy, but they also require you to spend your tokens carefully.  For all the achievements, you will need 550 tokens in total (552, assuming you don’t win a Brewfest mount from Coren Direbrew).  There are 2 dailies (Bark for the Thunder/Barleybrews, and This One Time, When I Was Drunk…), which give you 15 and 10 tokens respectively.  Brewfest is open for 14 days, so if you do your dailies every day, you’ll end up with 350 tokens.  Including the extra 100 tokens you get from the one-time quests, you should have 450 when all’s said and done.  This is obviously not quite enough to cover your achievement expenses, but here’s the good news: you can sell items back to the vendor within 2 hours of purchasing them for a full refund  (thank you, 3.2).  So to get all your achievements done, you can purchase the items you need, use them, and sell them back to use the tokens for something else.

• Disturbing the Peace
  This achievement requires you to wear 3 pieces of Brewfest clothing , get completely smashed, and dance in Dalaran.  The 3 pieces are:
  Chest (Dress/Regalia) – 200 Tokens
  Shoes (Boots/Slippers) – 100 Tokens
  Hat (Blue/Brown/Green/Purple) – 50 Tokens
  If you’re going to attempt to get all of your achievements done for the final Brewmaster achievement, save your tokens for this one first.  Buy all 3 pieces at the same time, get smashed, dance in Dalaran, and then return to the Brewfest to sell them back.

• Brew of the Month
  This is a fun little item that signs you up for the Brew of the Month Club.  Every month you’ll get sent in the mail a sample of a new beer; each beer will do something comical after drinking a few (you might start seeing sand gnomes, pink Elekks, or maybe even breathe fire!).  It’ll cost you 200 tokens to purchase the quest item to become a member, so if you’re counting your tokens to complete the Brewmaster achievement, wait until you’ve done Disturbing the Peace first- you won’t be able to get your tokens back from this one.

• Have Keg, Will Travel
  This achievement can be obtained in 1 of 2 ways: first, you can spend the 2 Tokens it costs to purchase Barley Hops.  The Hops work like Preserved Holly in that it turns your mount into something more festive.  In this case, a Brewfest Ram.  Second, you can kill Coren Direbrew (with your Insult Coren Direbrew quest) for a possibility of either a Kodo or Ram to drop.  The Hops is really the more reliable course of action.

• Down With the Dark Iron
  Completed when you turn in This One Time, When I Was Drunk… for the first time.

That sums up the more confusing or time intensive quests and achievements for Brewfest.  Hopefully this small walkthrough plus its tips will help you become a Brewmaster with minimal problems and irritations.  Good hunting…and please…try not to stand on the NPCs!

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Is the Buff to Guilds the End of Guild Alliances?

The news of all the upgrades to Guild systems in the expansion is really exciting; Blizzard has stated they’re trying to make being in a guild more viable and interesting.  It seems like from whatever polls they’ve taken, they’ve gathered that the social aspect of World of Warcraft is something drawing in a large portion of their players, so they’re trying to improve and bank upon that.

So far, here’s a list of the things the Guild Advancement system is slated to have:

• Guild Experience
  Your entire guild will have and experience bar.  Gaining experience for your guild may be possible from things like leveling, gaining reputation, killing bosses, or winning Battlegrounds or Arenas, all on your guilded toons.

• Guild Talent Tree
  As your guild levels, it naturally gains talent points as well.  These talent points can give your guild members a range of very useful abilities, such as reduced durability taken during fights, removal of buff reagents for raid-wide buffs, and even mass resurrection (my inner-raider can’t stop drooling!).
  

  Guild Talent Tree sample, with example talents "Everybody's Friend" which removes reagents for raid-wide buffs and "Penny Pincher" which reduces repair costs by 30%.

• Guild Currency
  Gaining Guild Experience will convert into (somehow) a special kind of currency called Guild Currency.  You’ll be able to use Guild Currency to purchase a vast array of items, from purely cosmetic and fun to very useful.  There’s the possibility it will be able to be used for mounts, standards with your guild’s insignia on it, as well as being used for a guild talent respect.

• Profession Plans
  Profession Plans can also be bought with Guild Currency.  Once a plan is bought, any person of what profession will be able to purchase the plan from their profession’s trainer.  It will also be possible to craft guild heirlooms, which will scale with level just as regular heirlooms do today.  Additionally, an interface is being added so that anyone online can see other online players’ profession levels and patterns (no more spamming, now we can just ask!)

• Achievements
  Just like normal achievements work now, except, naturally, guild-wide.  Achievements for having Grand Masters of every profession and obtaining Legendary items were mentioned.
  

  Guild Achievement examples, showing the "Working as a Team" achievement, where the guild has a Grand Master of each profession.

• News Feed
  Keep everybody up to date on the latest happenings in the guild with the News Feed.  What bosses were killed, what achievements people have earned, what the most recent loot was.
  

  The Guild Professions interface on the left, and General Guild interface on the right, including the experience bar, News Feed, and MOTD.

• Improved Looking for Guild/Recruit Feature
  A new Looking for Guild interface will be included.  This interface will let you better specify who you are and what kind of guild you’re looking for.   Some specifications for the Guild Recruit feature may include the guild’s play style (casual, moderate, or hardcore), common days of activity, class roles needed, and what levels of toons are being accepted.
  

  Looking For Recruit Interface

• Other Guild Invitations to Calendar
  Finally, something many people have been waiting for: the ability to invite another guild to an event on the Calendar.

As you can see from this Guild Advancement system, a lot has been done to make it beneficial to be in a guild.  Plus, besides encouraging people to be in guilds, it also discourages people from guild hopping; the system is put together to actually encourage guild allegiance.  These days it can be much easier for people to just jump around to whatever guild seems to be doing best, get some gear, and go.  There tends to be fewer people willing to stick around and work (I.E. wipe, pay for consumables, practice) for the final goal, be it downing a boss or winning a Battleground.  With this new system, as soon as you leave a guild, all the benefits you’ve received from being a member are wiped.  The game will still be completely playable, but any professions, heirlooms, or other guild doo-dads you’ve collected during your time will be gone.

What does this mean for Guild Alliances?

Now, while I personally am stoked for these changes (as far as I can tell, they’ll bring nothing but fun in for those already in solidly performing guilds), I fear for those that use the Guild Alliance as their primary way to accomplish high-end content.  These days it’s relatively common for 2 or 3 smaller guilds to band together into an alliance to attempt to accomplish higher end content; 2 or 3 guilds that run their own solitary 10 man can easily form a 25 man together.

Often these guilds stay separate because they simply like having their autonomy; often they’re a small group of friends who play together and have no interest in joining another guild with people they don’t know as well.  While the ability to invite more than one guild to your Calendar is a plus for guild alliances, everything else they’re implementing is basically a detriment.  To receive a guild achievement for a boss kill or Battleground, for example, it was stated that 75% of the guild will have to be present.  This means that any guilds that happen to be accomplishing content as an alliance will likely not be able to receive any of these achievements.  Allied guilds will have separate talent trees as well, separate obtained profession plans.  While these issues don’t keep anyone from playing the game, it will certainly keep them from taking part in many of the game’s new features, at least to the extent that other bigger guilds do.

Cataclysm has a lot of wonderful new features coming that are going to make raiding and general game-play easier and more fun for most of us.  It’s understandable that Blizz wants everyone to take advantage of the social aspect of the MMO (whether it’s to make them more money or to actually help us enjoy the game more), I just hope it doesn’t end up strangling smaller guilds and alliances.  So enjoy the new Guild Advancement system, everyone…it has a lot of amazing new features to offer.  But for anyone in a guild alliance, it may be time to start contemplating what to do when Cataclysm hits.

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There was a day when raids were not run with voice chat.  I don’t remember them – I’m not quite an old enough gamer to have participated in those days – but I know at least in the beginnings of WoW voice chat programs like Ventrilo and Teamspeak (not to mention the faux-voice chat Blizz has included in-game) were not nearly as prevalent as they are today.

On the surface, they’re absolutely perfect.  What better way to explain fights, give out directions (“more dots, more dots, many more dots!”), and in general have a great time then to be able to actually talk to your fellow raiders in real time?  Why deal with all that pesky typing when you can give out your directions and be able to keep your hands quite literally in the game at the same time?

I’ll tell you why: because voice chat can make your raids less successful.

I love Ventrilo.  It’s a great tool and can lead to faster, cleaner, and more cohesive raiding.  It also allows you to get to know your fellow raiders better, meaning (in most cases) you can have more fun.  But Vent and other voice chat programs can slowly become a crutch for raiding guilds and eventually make your raids less productive.  Here’s some reasons why:

1. The Little Guys
   Here’s an easy one: what about your two or three members who simply can’t use the chat program?  Some guilds cite Ventrilo or Teamspeak as a requirement for guild entry, but what happens if speakers or headsets break?  There will be times when people can’t use voice chat, and those times will be very frustrating for those raiders.  With everyone so dependent on voice chatting, questions and comments in /raid are quickly ignored.  It’s easy to forget that two other people need directions and details explained to them when they’re not talking to you.  Besides, what happens when you pull a boss and nobody knows two of your healers are in the bathroom?
2. Chatty Cathys
   It’s great to have fun when you’re raiding, and before and after the pwnage has occurred, it’s nice to have some friendly talk time.  But there are always a few members who insist on having those unrelated talks during the raid.  There are few things more distracting than someone raving about last night’s South Park while you’re trying to tank, heal, DPS or at the very least, just not die.  Voice chat programs are a breeding ground for interrupting WoW-unrelated discussions.
3. “Speak Easies”
   Basically, being on voice chat makes it easier to speak your mind.  While sometimes that can be a good thing (as in, “Look out, Pwntank, you’re standing in a void zone!”), it can also be a bad thing (as in “WTF PWNTANK YOU’RE !@#$ STANDING IN A !@#$ VOID ZONE!!!”).  If you don’t notice the difference yet, ask a friend.  Not that we don’t see people being mean to each other all the time in Trade chat, but Vent and other chatting programs make it easy.  Sometimes having to actually type things out puts up enough of a filter to calm the nerves and make someone rethink what they’re saying.  Push-to-talk isn’t always enough for self-censorship.  Snide and hurtful comments can affect a raid’s productivity whether it causes a person to leave or causes the Raid Leader to start having to field complaints.
4. Sheer Forgetfulness
   Simply because directions are going on in Vent does not mean that there aren’t important things going on in /raid as well.  Sometimes tanking and healing assignments are posted there, sometimes (as in point 1) someone who can’t be on voice might be making an important comment about the fight.  Using voice chat programs too often makes people forget that there are still things going on in /raid that they need to be paying attention to.
5. Encouraging Complacency
   This is probably the most dangerous problem of all.  After using a voice chatting program for so long, people forget how to function without it.  They forget to watch for the AOE being cast – they’re used to it being called on Ventrilo.  They don’t remember when to hold their DPS – they’re used to it being called on Teamspeak.  They stop looking for void zones and surroundings-related problems – it’s easier to let someone else tell them when they’re in danger.  Basically, the chatting program becomes complacency incarnate: raiders stop proactively thinking about the fight and just let information be fed to them.  Voice chat then stops being a mere crutch that raiders lean on and begins being a necessity.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use Ventrilo or Teamspeak at all.  It’s merely to point out that, if used incorrectly, it can gimp your raid.  In the event your voice server goes down or a large portion of your raid can’t be on voice chat, it can completely ruin it.  I know nobody likes hearing that Vent or TS is destroying the raid; it makes things fun and easier.  But if you start running into attention problems or getting complaints from your two or three raiders who can’t get on voice chat, here’s a suggestion: try running one raid without it to see what it’s like.  If your raid can still operate smoothly with minimal hitches, voice chat probably isn’t a problem.  But if people are confused, slow and generally disorganized, you may want to consider what chatting programs are doing to degrade your raids.

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When You Care Enough To Stab The Very Best

When it comes to being a DPS class in PvE and raiding, you want to squeeze out every ounce of damage you can.  As a rogue you’re not required to switch stances to tank (an occasional evasion-tank wipe aside) or toss out an occasional heal (unless your healers are doing something very very wrong); so single-mindedly doing as much DPS as possible to make that boss fall on his face is usually going to be your number one goal.

Only the very leetest of us can remember to poison our weapons, keep up Slice and Dice and Rupture and maintain a strong sense of situational awareness (recall that dying is the quickest way to ruin your damage) all at the same time and without any aid.   Sometimes dropping your cycle can make you lose several hundred DPS, so while using addons isn’t necessary for PvE rogue-ing, it can help you keep those cycles solid and squeeze out every bit of energy possible to get that monster down as quickly as you can.  If you are new to raiding a good mod is just the thing to help you tighten up that rotation until it becomes second nature.

What Mods are Right for You?

Before you start downloading addons willy-nilly or even start reading my comments on the ones below, I suggest you think about what type of addons are best for you.  Here’s a quick list of things to think about when deciding what WoW mods will help you do what you want to do (and not what I or anyone else think you want to do):

• Install’n’Go vs. Detailed Setup

Some addons you can toss into your Addons folder, log into your account, and boom, you’re ready to zone in.  Others take a few tweaks to make them suit you personally, and still others will require you to sit down and tinker with them for 30 minutes before you get them just right.  How much do you care about the personalization and perfection of your addons?

• Altaholic vs. One-Toon-Wonder

If you love playing with all 10 or your available toons on a server, you may want to consider using 2 or 3 addons that will work for all your classes rather than one geared specifically for each class you have on your list.

• Bars vs. Timers vs. Audio

How do you like getting your information?  Are you fine with a simple timer countdown, or do you like a flashing bar or icon to fill you in?  Do you like an auditory chime as a reminder?  These preferences will seriously determine which addons you like best.

• Computer Limitations

As always, what your computer can handle will limit which or how many addons you use.  If you find that an addon is bogging down your machine, try looking for a more light-weight version that does the same thing, or at least something similar.

Of course, nothing will beat actually downloading the addons and trying them out for yourself.

Bring on the Mods!

I have the addons broken down into 4 use-based groups.  Each group is applicable for use by Rogues and each addon will have a quick rundown of its features (such as: Setup Time, Class Usage, and Information Displayed), a basic description, and my personal opinion.

Ability Trackers

Keep those Cycles Strong!  Letting Slice and Dice drop from a target can be damaging to your DPS.

• ClassTimers

ClassTimers includes a set of 3 bars: Player, Target, and Focus.  These can keep track of all your buffs and debuffs with both a countdown bar and a timer.  You can also change their locations to any place on your screen, as well as determine what abilities you would like the bars to display.

This is a great low-key addon for your stabbing repertoire.  It’s basically install’n’go and gives you all the information you need for your cooldowns.  It’s also not class-specific, so will work the same way for all of your toons.  One of its downsides, though, is that it doesn’t track CC innately; if you want it to keep an eye on, say, your Sap target, you have to set the target to be your Focus first (/focus [TargetName]).

• RoguePowerBars

RoguePowerBars are very similar to ClassTimers.  It only uses 2 bars, Buffs and Debuffs, and unlike ClassTimers does keep track of CC targets on its own.  It’s more modifiable than ClassTimers as well, allowing you to change its font, displayed text, bar size, and other physical items.

This is another fairly install’n’go addon.  It’s Rogue-only (which should be obvious by its name), which I find less attractive, but it does give you more personalization options, plus CC tracking.

• PowerAuras

PowerAuras are wicked cool because they give you an infinite supply of “auras” to put around your character that represent a certain ability.  They’re extremely customizable (almost dauntingly so), but that also makes them very useful.

I really like this addon because it gives you something different to look at when you’re killing things.  Rather than another set of bars on another section of your screen, you can look at differently colored auras around your character that give you the same information you could get from another boring bar and timer setup.  I found the extra customization time worth it.

For my PowerAuras setup, I used the outer yellow aura for Slice and Dice, the inner orange aura for Hunger for Blood and the red markings for Rupture.  I also chose to include timers for more precise timing

Energy/Combo Point Trackers

Count those Combos!  Take advantage of the combo points you gain from your finishing moves and don’t let your energy cap out.

• UIM:ComboPoints

Short and sweet: a simple row of dots that keep track of your combo points.  You can move their location to wherever you please and change a few other physical aspects.

Not much to say about this addon, other than it’s a little limited in its scope for my tastes.  I’d rather my addons be a little more functional, but it is nice to be able to keep track of your combo points wherever your eyes are most frequently.

• ComboPointsRedux

This addon gives you a little more flexibility than UIM:ComboPoints, plus it can also track your poison stacks.  It gives you 3 movable boxes: one for combo points, one for poison stacks, and one for the actual number (1-5) of how many combo points you have.  Allows for a fair amount of customization.  It also apparently works for vehicle combo points, like phase 3 Malygos.

I really like this addon; it does a little more than repeat what the WoW UI already gives you, plus it adds poison stack tracking as well.  There are also good options for customization without inundating the user with a complicated setup.

I chose to put my combo points in a vertical alignment with yellow circles and kept the poison stack tracker in horizontal green blocks.

• Rogue Focus Classic

A small and simple set of bars containing your combo points and energy, with the option to add your health bar as well.  Limited configurability, but easy to set up (basically install’n’go).

Easy and solid mod for keeping track of your energy and combo points.  Less modifiable than ComboPointsRedux, but does the job.  It’s a little small for my taste, but for some that will be optimal.

• PowerBars

A simple bar that tracks your energy and lists your number of combo points on the bar as well.  Another nifty piece of functionality it also gives you is the ability to add tick marks on the energy bar to mark ability costs so you can use your energy as quickly and efficiently as possible.  You can also change various physical aspects such as bar length, width, and font size of the combo point counter.

This addon was new to me and I like it a lot.  It centralizes your energy bar and combo points in a convenient location for your eyes, and the option to tick-mark your ability costs is really handy.  The only thing I don’t like is that it only gives you a combo point counter, not actual circles or markers.  That, however, is just personal preference

Above I have placed a tick mark on the bar to signify the Mutilate ability.

Stun/CC Timers

Stun that Stuff!  Just because you’re a DPSer doesn’t mean you can’t be utility, too.

• Stunwatch

Tracks your stuns with bars.  Does not include a timer and does not include other peoples’ stuns.  Is limitedly modifiable; you can change its location and a few other physical aspects.

This mod is more geared for soloing, I think, than a raiding situation.  It doesn’t appear to track refreshed Sapped targets and doesn’t signal when a stun has occurred or ended.  The lack of a timer also makes it a little less useful in a group setting.  Still, for a simple visual tracker of your own stuns, it works just fine.

Here I have one bar tracking a Sapped Unbound Seer and a second bar tracking another Cheap Shotted Unbound Seer.

• SapperEnhanced

This mod tracks your Sap and Blind abilities using both bars and a timer.  It also has the ability to announce the Sap, Sap refresh, and Sap break or end in say, party, or raid.  Bars are moveable, and few other bits of customization are also available.

While this addon only tracks Sap and Blind (and not other stun effects), it does it very well.  This mod is more suited for raiding as it has announcements as well as timers, better for calling out how much time is left on a CC’d target.

Here I have my Sap timer out to my character’s left and have the Sap being announced in /say.

Poison Reminders

Be forever deadly!  Dropped poisons can be detrimental to your DPS; never forget to poison your weapons again!

• Tyler is a Nub

Silly name, yes, but a simple addon that, when your raid leader performs a ready check, alerts your Rogue if your weapons have less than 5 minutes of poisons left on them.  Also works for Shamans.

I like this addon a lot because it gives you the information you need right when you need it.  It’s low-key and non-interruptive.  And it has a silly name.  Unfortunately, this addon is only useful for you if your raid leader uses ready checks before important pulls.

• CyanidePoisonReminder

A different type of poison reminder.  Flashes text on your screen telling you if your mainhand or offhand is still un-poisoned.  It also plays an audio file (which scared the bajesus out of me initially) a few minutes before your poisons wear off to remind you that your poisons are about to drop.  This time is adjustable.

I actually like this addon less than Tyler is a Nub, but that’s mostly because of my play style.  I don’t always use poisons when I’m soloing, and the text reminders can get a little spammy for my taste when I don’t have my daggers poisoned.

The above text is accompanied by a creepy Hydross saying “Arrrgh, the poison!”

Now, these are just some of my picks…there are always more out there that are variations of the same functionality.  Finding the addon that fits you best can seriously improve your DPS performance; make sure you take some time to practice with the ones you’ve chosen to get a good feel for them before embarking on a new adventure with your friends.

Go forth and stab!

8 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

(Law was ignorant and forgot to tell you that the following article was written by Thundernudle – you’ll have to ask her how to pronounce it   )

How To Peel Away From A Group To Hang With Your Guild

We’ve all had it happen to us.  You’re hanging out with friends at a party and find yourself checking your watch.  You’re scheduling a movie date with your significant other for later in the week.  You’re gauging how long beers with the coworkers will last…and factoring in traffic.

Then all eyes turn to you: “So, can you come out?”

You hem and you haw and you shuffle your feet.  How do you explain to these people that you’d love to go out, but you have a raid in 2 hours?

Explaining to non-WoW players that you have a previous engagement with a computer can be a trying task because that’s exactly how most non-gamers see it: you at home – alone – with a computer screen, and it’s beyond most of them why anyone would choose to isolate themselves with a machine as opposed to stepping into real life with real people.

Non-gamers don’t see the excitement connected with raiding or PvP and refuse to try because of the stereotypes attached to it.  I know that I’ve had my fair share of laughs and eye-rolls and disbelieving “Really?  You’re really leaving the party to play that game?” The difference between we gamers is how we handle our tormentors.

There’s always the obvious excuses: “Sorry, I’m too tired to go out” or “Sorry, I have work in the morning.” I know some people who screen their calls when they know trouble is coming near raid time, and others who don’t mention that their “previous engagement” happens to be on Ventrilo and involves killing giant fiery elementals. Still others take the blunt “I’m going to play WoW and there’s nothing you can do about it” tactic, simply taking the ensuing thrashing with calm and grace, or perhaps just a middle finger.

Personally I tend to prefer the last option because I like the game, and I’ll be darned if other peoples’ lack of understanding or unwillingness to accept the fun that is WoW will keep me from melting face every once and awhile, or even a whole lot of whiles. Still, while putting up a fight and martyring yourself for the game may be a noble cause, in the end it only makes things more difficult and less enjoyable. So what can we do to understand the stubbornness of those nay-saying noobs and what can we do to potentially alleviate the irritations and embarrassments that tend to come with the gaming territory?

Traditionally gaming has been restricted to the nerdy edges of society; it’s been limited to the pasty-faced, anti-social nerds that limit their communication to the rest of humanity with either pretentious sneering gazes through thick glasses or quiet purchases of Cheetos and Coke at the local store before scurrying back to their mother’s house.

With images such as those floating around peoples’ heads, their confusion about our choice is understandable. On top of that, non-gamers have no idea what it’s like to play a computer game, let alone a full-fledged MMO. Even in a world where computers are basically a facet of everyday life, the concept of playing games and making friends with people you’ve never seen before is confusing and borderline scary. “Playing games with strangers is weird and creepy! This must be something only nerds could understand!”

It’s A Nerd Thing?

But no!  Gaming is no longer limited to isolated nerds hiding behind stringy, unwashed hair.  MMOs like World of Warcraft are very social games where teamwork is necessary and companionship and camaraderie actually enhance the playing experience.  So how do you explain that to the normies? How do you explain that not only are you still being social by skipping out of the party early, but you’re taking part in another type of serious group event?

My favorite, and what I believe to be best method of explanation is by comparing WoW (raiding specifically, that being my largest area of practice) to a physical team sport- soccer, for example (a side note here: I say “physical” not so much because physical movement is necessary to play soccer, but to differentiate it from a computer game.  I hate making the differentiation by saying “real life” because that’s the exact kind of discrimination we’re trying to fight against; computers make the game no less “real”, they simply mean you can’t see your companions face to face).

Say you’re a member of a soccer team.  At the beginning of the season you probably agreed, with the rest of your team mates, to take part in both practices and games, probably on a weekly basis.  You show up on time and prepared to every gathering and participate to your fullest extent, and if you are unable to make it to one of the appointments, you duly let your team know that they should not expect you.  This is exactly what raiding on WoW is like: a group of people working together to accomplish a common goal while having fun.

Whether it’s to kick a silly checkered ball into a goal or kill a giant monster shouldn’t matter.  Blowing off your team mates for another “more important” event without telling them is insulting; it leaves the other people in the lurch, waiting for you to show up because you said you were going to be there.  The team is no different simply because you can’t see their faces; they’re still people waiting for you to play a game. I challenge your normie friends to find something that doesn’t have a parallel between soccer and WoW, obvious “kicking a ball vs. clicking a mouse” differences aside.

No matter how clearly you present your argument, though, don’t think this will be an easy fix.  To many non-gamers, even a logical explanation such as this one will seem like a feeble rationalization for a game addiction (which may be true for some of us).  However, there will always be a few people willing to listen and think about what you’ve pointed out…and maybe next time you’ll have one more person in your corner when you skip out a little early to meet your raid time…or at least one less person jeering and rolling their eyes.

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