The Drama Queen

The drama queen comes in many forms is always highly amusing and entertaining.  But the DQ is also a breed that all guild masters have to keep an eye on; for some can actually be dangerous .

As I have said before I have been a GM for over 10 years now in many different games.  And I have come across many drama queens in my time, as well as all the other types of folks we have mentioned in our personality series in the casual corner.  There are several types of drama queens.

Harmless Drama Queen

One of my fondest memories back in the old Noverlogic delterforce 2 days was when a young [high pitched kid] that thought he was the dogs b…….s was screaming on Roger Wilco (no vent in those days):

“Hes cheating! Hes cheating!  I f….ing shot him loads!”

This after several weeks of explaining the concept of lag (it was the old dial up days]).  So again we explained about how – due to his lag – it was like shooting at fish under the water, i.e. what he was shooting at was in fact 10feet to the left of where he saw it as on his screen.  So we go into the next team death match and its not long before again he’s at his screaming:

” I spun round that time! I must have got him! He’s cheating!”

And he is getting louder and louder.  You can hear the spit from his mouth hitting his mic I mean this guy has lost it big time.  At this point our version of the Fonz says:

“oh stop crying cos your a noob and couldn’t hit a barn door from 6 feet with a shot gun.  If you have lag hit alt+f4 – that will fix it .”

So, you guessed it, the kid hits alt+f4 and windows shuts his game.  Well with that the kid just goes ape.  You hear his seat screech across the floor as it hits the wall behind, and he’s verbally attacking his computer.  You can hear him thrashing about knocking mugs and books around.  You hear pencils flying across the room – then you hear this loud

BANG

CRASH

accompanied by:

“I’ll teach you to lag you f…….. b….”

. . . as he beats his own pc to death with a baseball bat live on air.

Well I have to say its one of the funniest things I have ever heard online during a game.  There was 30 of us in the game and a total of 100 in the Roger Wilco server.  We were whooping and crying and laughing for about 2hrs.  No one could play any more – it was just too funny.

OK – so no less than 2 days later he is back online.  Having convinced his parents (and the police) that he had single-handedly fought off a burglar and that he had to throw his pc at him as the burglar had got hold of the bat.  So mummy and daddy got him a new pc with all the latest gizmos on it – and he still had lag (lol).

So that was just one of his many adventures, but you get what I mean by a drama queen.  This one was harmless to the guild, although; like all of this type, he would turn any minor problem into the biggest disaster of his life.

- – - – - – - -

Our next drama queen was of the dangerous ilk!

What do I mean by this?  Well, they complain so much about every thing (and nothing) but are not at all funny – just loud and annoying.  They sulk when they can’t get their own way, and generally disrupt the ambiance of the game, although not in a malicious way.

Like when I was playing wow in the beginning with a lot of the guys from deltaforce2 and a few we had picked up over the years with other game titles.  Add to the mix our newfound friends in wow and we had a group that had played between 1 month and 9 years online together.  We pretty much did things the Dominate way and always had.

But one of the new guys had a problem with this.  He just could not understand why we bothered to help lower toons, or why we explained the fights, or why he should not be allowed to need every item . . .

Now none of this was done in guild chat or vent it was all done via whisper to any one he could get to listen – almost resulting in a guild split.

These Drama Queens get a  G-kick.

- – - – - – - -

Since then I have had the displeasure of meeting our final drama queen type:

The malicious cunning greedy argumentative constantly moaning and finding fault Drama Queen

They are the virus you never want on your computer.  At 1^st they seem helpful and pleasant to talk to (its just a feint).  They make a point of talking to every one old and new (its just to widen their web of deceit).  Then you start to notice that they do not help with any of their many toons, in fact they are the 1^st person to jump onto any raid or group that their toons are not saved to – and they will sit there waiting for others to join no matter how long it takes for the group to form.

But they will never offer to get on their other toon that could fill the missing roll so that someone that does not have a high lvl toon can get in on the run.  And since the group can’t get the class they need, the group breaks up and the same person now starts mouthing off that nothing ever gets done since the leaders of the guild are no good and no one is ever online and every one else is to blame.  When, in fact, they could have solved the issue in the first place just by not being selfish.

They normally have wormed their way into the very spine of the guild and start their campaign of turning the guild inside out (to what ends one can only guess maybe to be leader themselves).  And when confronted will always try to change the subject or turn the blame to someone else.  Then they will apologize say it was stress from work so you all hug and forgive – but even then:

Its all part of there plan to sucker you in again.  All the time this is going on the guild is suffering which gives him more ammunition for his next attack.  At least until the guild dies Or you G kick him.  The fun part about this one is all the time he is trying to split the guild.  The members are moaning about him and as always he gets found out and just when he is ready to make his final attack . . .

You Launch the wrath of the guild on him and let him run to the spine of the guild for support only to find that the guild is 100% behind the leadership so all the leaders need do is G kick.  The members turn on him – all the leaders have to do is sit back and enjoy.  And the funny thing is that you instantly notice a difference in the ambiance of the guild,

Then a member that has not been on for a while turns up and “says where is [insert drama queen name] the drama queen?”  So someone tells the story of how they got G kicked and they reply:

“Dam, you finally sussed him out?  Hes been getting away with it for ever , I’ll let [insert former guild member name] know.”

And before you know it four old members have come back every one is having fun – laughing and joking again.

- – - – - – -

The drama queen; they wont help you Dominate, but they will give you hours of entertainment.

Have fun – Anibow

21 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Well, Not Exactly A Bubblehearth, But It’s Close

If you know Lawbringer at all (especially from the Dominate guilds) you know that I absolutely loath pvp.  Yes, I know it makes me weak and inferior to Fonze and the Dudes and all that yadda-yadda.  Whatever, I can live with the big fat monster gaping empty hole in my game.  It’s just not gonna happen.  I have no desire and certainly not enough time to learn all the nuances of that part of the game.  I’ll just stick with making a ton of gold and being a go-to healer for everything else.

Since I do dislike PvP so adamantly it pained me to level my last two characters on a pvp server.  Nothing breaks the flow of a good leveling session than being ganked 5 times in Stranglethorn because some lvl 80 is running around getting his kicks knocking off all the level 40’s.  Seriously, go arena or whateveritis you folks do.  It’s an even bigger waste of time to try to “teach them a lesson” and go get your 80 to spank them as this normally becomes an all-out zone war.

So for the most part I just go do something else and let the pvp goobers duke it out while I do something resembling constructive.  This is all tongue-in-cheek of course.  I have nothing against you if you love pvp, it’s just not my cup of tea.  So anything that keeps me from having to deal with it is a very nice cup of tea that I enjoy greatly.  Which brings us to the following tip.

It’s one of those teeny tiny little bits that’s not going to change the way you play wow, and most of you will be relatively unimpressed.  But it’s a cool little loophole that might save you an hour or two while leveling on a pvp server, or any time after that for that matter.  It’s cheap, convenient and gives you an almost paladin-like bubble hearth that is pretty effective.

It’s not QUITE as good as a bubble, since you can’t just stand there with folks hammering away at your invulnerablness while you get your hearth cast off.  So technically NOT a true bubblehearth, but it’s as close as you’re going to get without being a paladin.

We’ll call it the HideNhearth, and it will only work if you are out of combat.  So it’s not going to save you from being one shot if you’ve already been targeted by that level 80, but it will certainly completely eliminate the chain ganking corpse camping scenario.  You don’t even have to have blazing fast timing or reflexes, just a short stack of potions and your hearthstone on a hot key somewhere.

Here’s how it works:

• Pop a Potion of Lesser Invisibility
• Hearth
• Get on with your day

Couldn’t be easier.  You see, the lesser invisibility potion is not broken by the hearthstone cast, such as mage invisibility, Night elf Shadowmeld, or Rogue Vanish and Stealth.  There is no other “hide and hearth while you are hiding” skill in the game.  All you can do under other forms of stealth is – hide, and maybe run around a bit.  Shadowmeld doesn’t even allow you to do that.

All the above skills WILL drop you out of combat, and that is important here.  You can’t go under the effects of Lesser Invis potion in combat, so if you’re already targetted you’re left with the “run like a sissy” option and hope they just leave you alone.  But if you are already dead, you can just hit the potion as you rez and hearth and leave your potential corpse camper sitting around or a while waiting on something that aint gonna happen.  Which I like – you waste my time, I waste yours.

The really funny thing about this tip is that I took my banking toon – Auctionear – out to try to get a decent screenshot for this, but unfortunately being under the effects of invis make for a sorry screenshot.  I was going to run over to a Horde hot spot and try to show this in action, and while I was on my way to Thrallmar in Hellfire Peninsula some level 80 guy named “Uwilldie” (undead rogue) flew over and dismounted right next to me.  Level 68 DK vs T9/10 rogue, no way.  I’m trying to MAKE gold on this guy not going for repair bills.  So I pop a potion and hearth – doesn’t get more real and in-game relevant than that.  I had to chuckle about how much I might have used it leveling my mage.  You’ll forgive me for not having a crummy screenie.

The potions should be pretty cheap, and you probably won’t use this technique too often, which makes it an inexpensive way to buy back some time and less frustration.  It’s not exactly what you might call Dominating, but it is a useful tip and thanks to Beastarro for sending it to us at editor@dominateyourserver.com   At the very least it’s worth one slot in your bags and a “where the heck did so-and-so go” every now and then when you’re bored.

22 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Welcome back folks, we’ve got another budding author that has an interesting point of view to share with us, I’d like you all to welcome Wicked to our writing staff, go easy on him. -Agorg-

The Alt-o-holics’ Casual corner.

The time comes once in a while for us all to reflect back on our past and present and realize the sort of player we are and what we wish to be.

Hello. My name is Wicked, and I am an Altoholic.

The game of World of Warcraft has made exponential changes and advances since its early origin’s in November 2004. While patch 3.3 was looming menacingly over our heads, some people were scrambling to get toons leveled up, geared up, and tweaked to be ready to Dominate the new instances.  With good reason, each expansion and big patch has changed the various classes and their roles in the game, and at times it can be learning the game all over again, some people hate it, I happen to like it. You see I am a member of the vast legion of players known as: The Altoholics.

Some players live to raid. They get a single character to level 80 then spend every single moment online devoted to getting it better geared. They endlessly grind reputation, earn badges, farm mats and all the other mayhem associated with obtaining better gear. Their out of game time is spent tweaking stats in spreadsheets at work trying to find the best combination or gear or rotations to dominate the next raid.

Other players just get in game to hang out with like minded friends, do a little questing, and just generally have fun. They often do not have any particular goal in mind for their playtime beyond that simple pursuit.

Then there are the Altoholics. We are those guys that seem to play all day and night for days on end, yet only have one or two quest geared 80’s to our names. No fancy epic or badge gear, maybe not even a single epic flying mount. We rarely raid, yet we are always online playing one of countless toons.

We are the people that complain to blizzard that 10 toons slots is just not enough. Seriously how can you have one of every toon and still follow Gavin’s Advice of having a banker and mule with only 10 slots? It’s preposterous!

A typical altoholic routinely spends no more than a few days or a week on the same toon. The reasons for this can be as varied as the character names. A few common ones are;

• Some people toon hop because they are following DYS’s advice of never leveling outside of rested XP. That is probably the BEST way to maximize leveling efficiency in the game outside of the RAF program, more on that little gem in another article.

• After a time toon hopping like this players often fall into another trap as it were, though it really is more of an addiction. Who doesn’t like to go ding as often as possible, it is seriously addictive!!

• Others just flat get bored very easy. A Few days playing the same toon and we run by another class and go “Oh I have one of those, wonder what his rest xp and trade skills are like?”

• Some of us hop toon when we find guild mates, or friends of almost the same level. Or We hop to and alt to help another player or guildie and stay on the toon for a while afterwards

However at the root of every altoholic is a true love of this game universe that Blizzard has created for us. It brings us back for more until we fall asleep at our keyboards, and then has us daydreaming about it all day at work/school. It is the reason we fork out $15.00/month regardless of the economy. The love of the game has us searching for the next toon to play when we feel the tingle of boredom creeping in. The love of the game has guilds like Dominate resurrecting and reinventing themselves as outlined in Agorg’s Lifecycle of a guild article . The love of the game has altoholics like myself paying $25.00 per toon to change servers and move all of our horde alts to Fenris to join Dominate. Their format for the guild just makes sense, and any true altoholic can’t ignore a good guild when they see one.

Keep your weapons handy and, as always, DOMINATE

Alts are cool, chicks dig scars, DOMINATING is eternal.

Wicked of Dominate
<Fenris>

6 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Anyone who’s been playing on-line games for a while will understand where I’m coming from with this and Dominate is no exception. Every guild/group/association goes through this, be it in WoW or even in real life to a certain extent.

If you haven’t guessed it yet this is going to be one of those thought-provoking-life-changing-deep-seeded-realization articles (or some reasonable facsimile )

As we speak Dominate on Fenris is going through it’s 4th iteration (cycle). Some of the players are new some have been here since the beginning and yet others are returning after a hiatus but all share a common goal. Any guild that is to survive this cycle  must have one if nothing else to truly rise from the ashes: a purpose.

The Birth:

Dominate (for those who don’t know yet) is a loose association of like minded individuals that stems from a web site (www.DominateYourServer.com). It all started on the web with Gavin putting up tips from time to time to help anybody get better at WoW. Over time this eventually lead to the creation of guides: Horde Leveling guide, AH Mastery guide. Popular demand is the real reason there is a Dominate guild on Fenris in the first place. When the guild was started everyone had a common goal: Dominate, Raid and Progress through content as a group. And we did through every cycle to varying degrees.

The First steps:

After everyone signed the charter and we had 150 members in the first 2 weeks it was time to see what we can do with all the toons. We all started running heroics and doing the special events in anticipation of the next expansion (Wrath). When the expansion hit it was a good ‘ol fashioned leveling race to 80 through new content with almost no outside help. Wowhead was incomplete, no web site had any real information on anything even the Horde leveling guide had us running to Alliance quest givers on occasion. 14 days after the launch of Wrath we had enough to form our own 5-mans on a consistent basis with new 80s popping up every day and the true spirit of this guild shining bright. Everyone was there helping everyone else out with advice, materials, professions and anything else we needed. There was a real sense that we were going to do something great.

Growing up:

It wasn’t long we had 5-man dungeon runs every night and anyone that came online would find a group really easily, we were getting all the gear we could in anticipation of our first real challenge: Naxxramas, a zone that would make or break us. A month after the expansion had launched we had enough “geared” 80s to head into Naxx … And wipe the whole night without killing a single boss. We took it in stride after a great motivational speech from our Guild Leader we went back to the drawing board and got more gear from heroics, OS and VoA. By the next raid lock out period we were ready for our next crack at taming the beast. That night we cleared spider wing and one more boss, everyone had gotten some piece of loot and we felt great, so great we spent as much time talking about that raid in vent afterward as we did actually in the instance. We were on fire and the world of Azeroth was our oyster.

The glory “years”:

After that week we started on the road to conquer the rest of that place we had most bosses on Farm in no time. We were attracting more and more people every week and it didn’t take long to build up 2 complete 10-man raid teams. After that 25 Man Naxx was ours for the taking. Our players were gaining experience and everyone was getting more gear every day. We were updating our guild ranking every day in whichever web site was most used at the time and we managed to crack the top 10 server after only 2 weeks of raiding Naxx 25. That spurred the troops onward and KT was ours to pwn.

The beginning of the End:

Just when things were rocking and we were doing good that’s when we started seeing the problems. Like all guilds we had our share of problems, from Key Officers going AWOL for personal matters,  to squabbles over spoils and even the occasional public rivalries between the Tanks. We also had people leave the guild for a more “hard core” raiding guild after they got geared up with us and learned all the fights and the ones who left because we “didn’t raid enough” or at the “right times”. There was also a member who got his account hacked and even though Blizzard did eventually restore all it, he’s never really come back. Others just got tired of the game and simply needed a break be it because of real life constraints on their time or simply a genuine need for a break. I don’t know if it was any of these alone that did it but I am certain that the confluence of events led to our eventual collapse. I got to tell you the higher you climb, the longer the fall seems. One particular week we missed a raid because there simply wasn’t any Tank on-line, the next raid night we were short 3 healers. Then we said let’s resume raiding in 10 days or whenever the next patch comes out, but some people have a very short attention span and needed their raid fix then and there. Ultimately when patch day hit the guild just wasn’t the same and we had to start over again.

From the ashes:

Dominate was started from a web site that had one single goal in mind: to help the average player become better. We have, from the beginning, been brought together by an ideal and a common sense of “dominating and having fun doing it”. Because of that Dominate can never really die, those who believe in what we stand for will be there through thick and thin, the hard times and the good. Those who believe that helping people level (through hints and tips and knowledge and possibly a phenomenal leveling guide)  is just as important as gearing the new 80s and Raiding Ulduar or any new raid out there ( ToC, Onyxia, Icecrown etc.)  This, the true Spirit that holds us together, can weather any storm.

Copy and paste this back to back a couple times with different people and it could very well be the story of any guild on any server.

Starting over … Again:

Gavinn and Lawbringer have both stepped down from the day-to-day leadership of Dominate and some of the more experienced players and some newer ones that have believed in what we stand for since the beginning have stepped up to the plate to rebuild in the Spirit of Dominate. With the help of others we are rebuilding from the ground up the guild was formed over a year ago with one purpose: a Casual Raiding/Training Guild. We have really high hopes and even higher expectations. Whether  you are in the middle of leveling your first toon or if you’re at your 5th 80, we have need of every class to rebuild the Dominate guild on Fenris Horde side.

Getting it Right:

If you like helping out other people and don’t mind answering the occasional noob questions or if you’d always wanted to ask some noob question but have always been scared of the backlash in trade chat, then Dominate is for you. If you are sick of the drama and would like to play the game in a friendly, cuss-free atmosphere where respect and a positive attitude are the primary criteria of entry, you’re more then welcome to join us : Horde side on Fenris server(/who Dominate)

As of this writing:

1. Dominate GM: Anibow (DK)
2. Second in command/Raid Leader: Dindrane (Prot/Holy Paladin … aka Agorg)

These are some of the things that we have learned along the way and have decided to incorporate into the current cycle in order to grow:

• Better communication between the guild leadership, its members and officers.
• Using the Spirit of DominateYourServer.com as the unwritten rule of the guild.
• Actually helping players of all levels (including 1-79) learn to play their class and play as a team.
• Organize runs for lower levels .
• Help the newer 80s get gear as well as experience raiding.
• Getting every 80 their free Bronze drake … I like free.
• Restructuring the guild staff so that all jobs get done by those who enjoy them.
• Restructuring ranks in a visually meaningful manner.
• Getting some PvP in there as well (Premade BGs, daily PvP, Holiday PvP etc)

That’s not to say that we’re perfect but we do try to make a difference wherever we can.  We are once again on the look out for like minded people that believe in what we stand for. Wherever you are in the world of Azeroth: always DOMINATE!

29 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

So far we’ve met the GEAR HOG the FONZ Today we’ll introduce you to his gang, The Dudes and the Diva. There are many others that you will be familiar with so I’ve listed some here for you

1 High pitched kid
2  Splinter butt
3 The quite ones
4 Drama queen/prima Donna
6 The leveling nut
7 Reverend
8 LOADS OF MONEY
8 Tactician
9Mr fix it// or leave it to…

These are some there will be others I have only mentioned the types that stay in a guild. And, yes, I will do articles for all the above I hope you enjoy them and take them in good heart.

Some of the above are essential for running a well honed long term guild. Now when I say long term I mean long term not 6 months I mean years! I will go into these in more depth and in a far more serious style in a article about how to run a guild at an ulterior time. Ok, that’s far too long being sensible so let’s see who can we pick on next.

Oh! Yes! A personal favorite of mine. You see I’m a Brit I play only in U.S. servers, I’ve played many different game formats and I’ve been playing with some of these guys/gals for nearly 10 years (That’s a long term guild) and for the last 4 years we have been in wow.

Now we are in DOMINATE so, I digress, as I said I’m English! I stick out in vent like a zit on a preacher’s nose as he asks you for your vows…

The Diva

The Diva

You instantly know when the DIVA enters the game or vent they seem to ghost across the channel or screen. Their voice is very deep and very seductive and they hang onto the end of words just so…

Now without meaning any offense, so please don’t lynch me (oh cow boy thing going there). They are, normally, shall we say, gentlemen. They are perhaps more in touch with their feminine side, not that there’s anything wrong with that, more chicks for me.

Although there are some ladies I could mention as well who melt at the sound of my English voice in Vent. You can hear them melting into a puddle every time I speak and everyone just falls about laughing (including them might I add)

Or I’ll be explaining something in vent and they will ask me: “Can you repeat that?”
Someone else will say: “What don’t you understand about it?”
And the DIVA (male or female) will say: “Oh, I understand, I just wanted to hear Ani say it. I love the way he says [whatever]”

Now, it’s not just how they react to me and my voice, it’s how they carry that whole persona to their toon. You can always tell a DIVA by the way they act and talk in chat and vent. They are always sweet and considerate, always immaculately turned out toons.

And always a good player their manners and grace in vent and chat are a pleasure to behold and for me they’re as funny as hell. They’re not just great they DOMINATE but they do it in style darling.

The Dudes.

So one by one they join vent and you know its them because like a thief in the night they come in and drop to the pad (their channel in vent) without a word and leave the same way: it’s The Dudes.

The Dudes

They are so cool that they’re red hot,
I mean they have the lot, the hair, the talk, and swaggering walk.
Like a scene from west side story.
They’re in it for the glory with a flick of their comb,
Some poor n00b just got pwned.
Yet it if you meet one on one in vent,
Their vileness is spent.
Till the Fonz joins in,
Then the house is rocking.

Let’s face it they’re COOL with a capital C
And it’s no secret that their leader is Z.

I mean when these guys are jumping some suckers in for thumping [so cool that they’re]
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

In BGs it’s a tactical take down,
The other teams having a nervous breakdown.
The opposite team gets the flag to make it turn red,
But before they know it: they are all dead.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

On the prowl high up in ice crown
They see a victim fighting on the ground.
From that moment his chances diminish
He’s in for a bloody finish.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Yes! They’re cool and they’re good,
But they’re no Robin Hood.
They aren’t in it for fun,
They just wanna nuke someone.
Ice ice baby[ ding dada ding dada ding ding ] ice ice baby

Now it sounds like they’re just parading,
But they’re the best at hard core raiding.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Don’t get me wrong, don’t think these guys are twats,
Just take a look at the stats!
I mean these guys aren’t just great,
They really DOMINATE !!
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Just because the guys turned alliance,
They ain’t lost their taste for violence.
In case I didn’t mention
These guys are now DYSSENTION!!
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby…….

11 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

EVERY GUILD ON EVERY SERVER HAS:

I thought I’d give our fellow readers a break from the monotony of gearing guides, tanking and numbers to throw a little perspective your way. Over the years of playing on-line games, you come to realize that there are some people who are always there; their voice, name and appearance may change but they are always there. Here is a look at two of these types of people that you have certainly come across if you’ve played video games for any length of time.

The Gear Hog:

The Gear Hog

You know how when you’re in vent and someone has a question about the best way to set their video settings, and you’re trying to walk them though the process in detail, when suddenly a voice cuts across your Vent with some inane chatter that has absolutely nothing to do with your conversation?

It’s always the same person.  Mostly likely, the first thing they say when they come online is: “Guess what gear I got from my last run?” or “You should have run this instance last night that weapon you need dropped” or if you’re in vent and they are in a group/raid that you are not in they will happily tell you everything that drops, as it drops. And if you are in a group/raid that they aren’t in, as soon as they know you have finished they will ask what dropped… And even when you are in the same group/raid, they will always announce what has dropped even before the loot master has had a chance to see it.

They always want to roll on every item and always want to NEED on every item they CAN use, even if their current gear is better. Their own gear is never good enough for them, yet they are always one of the best geared members of the guild. This goes for everything from weapons to armor, trinkets to rings, pets and mounts. They say their age is 24ish but sound and act more like 14ish [and that’s most likely their real age].

They annoy the hell out of everyone in the guild, but to be fair 97% of the guild doesn’t mind, 1% hates them and 2% loves them. Let’s face it: every guild needs one, they always know where to get that trinket you need or the best way to spend your marks or emblems and are a great source of knowledge. Love them or hate them, let’s face facts: their insight to getting gear will help you DOMINATE. The Gear Hog: what would we do without them?
{on a personal note if you recognize yourself above and you know me, take solace in the fact I am of the 2% that loves you}

The Fonz:

The Fonz

So you join a guild and get into vent and everyone is cool. There’s the normal mix: the Gear Hog, the High Pitched Kid, the Fence Man, the Dudes, the Quiet Ones, Loads-o-Money, the Drama Queen, the Diva, Mr. Fix it and others. They all get on well, the banter is flying, there’s the odd cuss word but nobody moans and everyone is jolly.

That’s when the Fonz (leader of the Dudes) comes in vent. Everyone can recognize the Fonz: every other word is a cuss word, it’s all about how this [expletive] n00b got pwnd and that [expletive] ninja took this. All of a sudden the Dudes, that up until now have been well behaved, suddenly follow suit and vent is racing with cussing and badmouthing every other player on the realm. It really makes you wonder why the others put up with this? In 2 seconds flat the whole ambiance of vent has gone from being fun and at ease to being in a hooligans’ bar on the wrong side of town.

Finally, someone decides to get a Raid Group together and you are tossed an invite to a 25 man Ulduar raid with all the above mentioned players. Now you really want in on this raid – it’s the reason you joined the guild in the first place. So you decide to go, after all if they’re raiding, they will be too busy to talk their garbage. So you set off in anticipation of getting a chance to show you’re worthy of your guild invite.

You step into Ulduar, the buffs go up, the fish feast goes down and the Tactician starts to tell everyone how the fight goes, who’s tanking what and where, off tank, heals, DPS. He describes the fight in depth for those that don’t know the fight, warns what attacks and debuffs to look for. Just then, the Fonz adds his words of wisdom along the lines of: “Just f……… tank and spank, if you die, you’re a [expletive] n00b, come on lets go, can we pull now?”

The Tactician interjects with something along the lines of: “Yes, it’s alright for those of us that have done this, but let’s give everyone a chance” Kindly reminding the Fonz that not everyone has been here a million times yet.

Fonz says: “Screw that lets go, if you die don’t release, watch the fight and if you die again your a [expletive] n00b”

All the time you’re thinking: “Jeez, why do they put up with this Jerk?!?” You don’t want to say anything because you’re new to the guild, so you suffer in silence and hope that you at least get some emblems to make it worthwhile. This sounds like a wipe in the making.

Well, the raid finally gets underway and the gutter talk is still going on but the raid is going surprisingly well. You settle into your stride, working your rotation, avoiding the fire and stepping out of void zones, you check your DPS and Yeah! You’re doing your average looking good, then you notice the Fonz’s DPS is almost twice what you’re putting out and the dudes are way up there too. So you pay attention to the Fonz on screen and you finally get why everyone puts up with him: yes, he portrays himself as a bad ass dude in vent, but when you see him in game: WOW! This guy must be cheating he can’t be that l33t can he? I mean he’s obnoxious, self centered, rude, opinionated, all in all a right royal pain in the backside. Yet he is a one man army and at the end of the run, your ears are bleeding and your head is throbbing but you don’t care: your bags are full of new gear, you got emblems, you got some gold and you can’t wait for the next run.

It’s funny because 6 months down the line, he still annoys the hell out of you, but you find when it’s just the two of you in vent, he is a polite, helpful person but the second anyone else joins vent, he turns back into the Fonz.

So, despite all his bad points with him on your side, you will always Dominate

The Above article’s credit goes mostly to Anibow for original script and to Agorg/Dindrane for editing and applying structure, punctuation, grammar, syntax, the space bar and the return key to the original text. What can I say folks he’s a fighter, not a writer.

If you want to come check us out in-game you can see the necessary information to reach us here: DYS.com Guild Info.

Until next time, keep on DOMINATING.

22 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

As the World Of Warcraft Turns

How History Affects Play In World Of Warcraft Just Like Real Life

When you were three years old, you probably had a stuffed animal that you slept with every single night.  If you’re as old as I am you might have gone through the mind numbing experience of playing retarded games like “Chutes and Ladders.”  You might have done some of the particularly stupid stuff we did (not to mention dangerous) when we would buy several thousand (yes THOUSAND) bottle rockets around the 4th of July to . . . get this, shoot at each other.  Yes, we even went so far as to take PVC pipes and make shoulder mounted rocket launchers to improve our accuracy – sigh.  (And if you do anything of the sort your parents should knock you upside the head and not blame me for giving you a dangerous idea – it was seriously dumb and I hope you’re not).

In the early 1900’s the big band sound was all the rage – I doubt any of you have a single tune from that era on your Ipod.  In certain ancient civilizations drinking urine was pretty chic.  The early 80’s brought us fondue parties, and we’re all certainly glad cell phones aren’t the size and weight of bricks any longer.  If you’re wondering if there is any point to all of this it’s that each of us experiences life in a completely different way, and each generation moves through the experience along a unique path.  What is cool today is going to fall right into the nerd ditch in just a few minutes.

There are a few of us who have played every game that Blizz has ever made.  Diablo was the first game to really do the online multi-player thing.  That was way back in the day where just about the only internet connections outside of gigantic metropolitan cities was a 28k dial-up (ick).  Needless to say the original B-net was pretty lame for those of us in the rural category.    Beyond that, you could play all the way through the entire game in about 30 hours – even the first time through.  It was fun, but fairly linear, and then you made a sandwich and played Nintendo.

I loved Starcraft, but didn’t get around to Warcraft until the middle of 2006 (after a couple of years of non-stop D2).  I figured if I was going to get into WoW, I needed to go back and play WC, WCII, and WCIII so that I would understand the storyline and all that kind of goop.  You know how much it helped me?  Zilch, Zero, Nada.  I learned next to nothing from playing the three prequels – at least nothing that actually accelerated my play in WoW.  I still get lost in the lore, but who gives a crap if it doesn’t make me a better healer.

And when it comes to playing the game, the very best players are those who play well NOW.  It’s kind of fun to think back about how unbelievably hard Kara was the first week it came out, but does it really make you a better player if your guild is falling apart now and you are still slogging through Ulduar?  You still think you’re leet  just because your old crew pwned Kara?

Pardon another small digression at this point.  You don’t have to listen to me at all.  I’m just a dood writing for a small web site about a game.  But one of my favorite writers ever – Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien had a theory about history and what it really means to any story.  He said (and I quote very loosely here) that:

…if you are going to write about someone walking down a road toward some mountains that the author needed to know who built the road, everyone that ever walked on it and everything that had ever happened in the mountains ahead.  Those little references to past history gave weight and depth to the story even if the reader never comprehends them all….

After his death, Tolkein’s son found this huge chest full of little notepads.  They were full of handwritten stories from Middle Earth that have been published as the “Books of Lost Tales.”  In them, Tolkein tells the full story of middle earth from creation all the way through the Lord of the Ring trilogy in poetry and prose.  Call them his own personal expansion of the Silmarillion.  They are amazing, and by far his best stories were in that back history and not in the last story (that’s just Lawbringer’s serious inner Tolkien geek talking though).

Some of his best tales were those he never intended anyone to read.  All those stories just gave him what he needed to create what is arguably the best fantasy trilogy ever written.  But whether or not YOU know all the history of Middle Earth will have very little impact on your enjoyment of reading LotR for the first time.  I read LotR about 15 times before I discovered the Books of Lost Tales.  And while reading the past history HAS given me more enjoyment of the final story, it hasn’t made me a better reader.

My whole point of this comes from something that most of you should know is one of my pet peves.  It never fails – every time Blizzard changes something about the game – and I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME, some doofus is going to write something that looks almost exactly like this:

Blizzard is just ruining the game for everyone.  Now you can get all this epic gear too easy and I remember how hard it was when I had to use a hammer on my old keyboard in VC just to get this one spell to work and now people get all these better graphics and rogues are stupid the new races suck because goblins have voices that bother me . . . . . .

…ad naseum.  You get the point.  The problem with this is that not a single one of those people actually live their OWN lives that way.  It bothers me because it couldn’t be any less intellectually honest.   It’s untrue, silly and just an excuse to gripe out loud in public and I don’t really like people like that in RL, so it REALLY bugs me when people punk about a game.  Sigh to the nth degree.

If those people really believed the juice they were pouring, they would go back and play all of the same lame games their parents played when they were growing up.  If your ability to enjoy the “WoW” experience is completely dependent on having “experienced” the same thing that people 4 years ago had to experience in the same ways they experienced them – how much MORE true would this be in real life?

But we certainly don’t see people hand spinning thread to make fabric to make their own socks – now do we?  I mean, how can you really appreciate socks if you never had to make your own socks like your great-great grandmother had to do?  You don’t deserve socks, and the fact that you can get better socks these days than ever before at basically any store in the country for super cheap just makes socks worthless and stupid and I hope that socks go out of business because cheap and good socks have completely ruined the footwear industry.

Apply this spurious thinking to virtually anything in any part of your real life and you’ll see just how silly it gets almost instantly.  If the game didn’t change you would have gotten bored out your mind three years ago and be stuck playing LotR or AOC right now because WoW would be a non-entity.  But it doesn’t mean that every new player HAS to play every stinkin’ thing that has ever been important to the game in order to have any fun or be any good at the game like it is right now.  They don’t make high school football players play in leather helmets just to experience the way it was back in the day.

Back in the day was lame compared to right now.  40 man raids were a pain in any piece of anatomy you care to mention.  The game right now is better than it has ever been and the next expansion will make it even better.  I know this is true because if the game wasn’t getting MORE fun then LESS people would play it.  You cannot sell a crummy product for 8 straight years.  Change is necessary and good the vast majority of the time.  Blizz gets griped at 24/7/365 and they use that input to change things that need to be changed and ignore the silly stuff.  If you’re so smart, go form your own company, develop games and see how that goes.

Most games fail because they do not stay fresh.  They keep the same old same old content and people get bored of it in about 2 hours.  WoW is good BECAUSE it has changed so drastically.  It more accurately resembles real life in that way.  Players that are new to the game can see the history they have missed when they ride through  the northern part of Deadwind Pass and wonder “what the heck is down THAT road?” But that certainly doesn’t mean they ever have to do Kara in order to have an appreciation for how good the game is.

When Cataclysm hits, it will be be a little sad for me to see Darkshore destroyed.  I’ve spent so many freakin hours in Auberdine it’s not even funny.  But it will give ME a better appreciation of the new content.  I agree with the goobers that having been through things gives those of us who DID go through them a better overall appreciation of the storyline, but that depth of understanding doesn’t make us better players.

Plus, on the flip side, if the level cap was still 60 and we were all still grinding it out for our T2 – the game would REALLY be dead.  THAT would ruin the game.  Not changing would kill the game.  Moving content forward so that even those of us who have done almost everything still have something to work for is NOT going to kill the game.  And every time the game moves forward, you have to go back and keep some balance so that the new player has some hope of doing the cool stuff at the end.

In all reality the reason Blizz does change the game is for YOU.  Yes, you; the guy standing in the back griping in a solid stream about how Blizz is ruining the game.  If you still had to level up the same old way you always did and do the same old dungeons you’ve always done you would stop paying your monthly fees and actually quit (we could only be so lucky).  Blizzard changes the game to keep the pros and old-timers interested.  Your leveling envy for the new guys who have it easier is just an envy complex and you should grow up and get over it.

You would roll your eyes so far back in your head you would never find them again if teachers these days said the same stupid stuff they used to say to my generation in high school: “you can’t use a calculator because if you never learn to do math on paper you won’t be as good at it.”  Dumbest thing I ever heard.  If we are supposed to NOT advance we would all still be skinning animals for their tallow to make candles just to have some light after the sun went down.

It’s even worse when the argument co-joins two disparate thoughts such as: “Don’t use electricity.  The Romans and the Greeks didn’t have electricity and using it makes you weak and inferior.  Sure, I have electricity NOW, but in pre-BC there was no electricity so you should go back and pedal the generator to drive your computer like I had to in fail-ville back in the day.”

Every generation stands on the backs of the work of the previous generation.  We don’t make kids develop their own languages and letters from scratch like someone had to 7,000 years ago.  We advance by taking what was done before us and then using that knowledge to do things quicker, better and faster than ever before.  But the jealousy of “how easy it is these days” always comes out.  Sure, I had to use a slide rule, but the reason we don’t use them any more is because it would be a waste of time and effort when there are far better methods of solving mathematical problems these days.  Sure, you had to figure out how to lead a 40 man raid on Onyxia, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should have to go back and do it exactly the way you did it.

You blazed a trail.  It was hard work and the next people coming down the road shouldn’t have to cut the same weeds you cut.  The really neat thing about WoW, if you’ll stop and think about it, is that you are becoming part of a fantasy history.  The changes work because the game works better now than it used to and that’s the way things should be.  Gear should get better and some things should get easier as the society as a whole progresses.  You have become part of that progression.  Don’t complain, it’s really cool that someone has enough forethought to sustain a fantasy world that moves enough to not get stale and boring.

Regardless of whether you are one of those people who have their brains plugged in all the way or whether you are in the slightly disconnected from reality group – when Cataclysm hits you are going to have no choice whatsoever.  The storyline is about to take a giant leap forward, and one of the oldest parts of the story – Deathwing – is going to change the whole World of Warcraft permanently – and for good.  And it IS good that the game is getting a complete overhaul.  It means we can enjoy it for another few years instead of having to move on to something far more lame – something where the story line never changes (console games ftl).  I, for one, will be glad when content progresses to the point where I never have to step foot in the Occulus again.

So I don’t want to hear that kind of stuff any more.  You wouldn’t apply that fail logic to anything else in the world (I know people try but that doesn’t make it less silly), and just because you apply it to WoW doesn’t make it less fail.  If you think the game is ruined then for pete’s sake quit playing right this second and plow a field with a mule and walk to school uphill both ways in the snow so you’ll enjoy life more because you have experienced the same way of playing life that your ancestors did – but watch out for the saber-toothed tigers – I hear they are a little tough in PvP.

60 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

The Domination Podcast Episode 20

This week on the podcast the summer intern turns in her first field report.  Needless to say it’s a little . . .different.  The guys discuss a little patch 3.2, especially the ToC instances.  This may be one transcript you will want to read along.  You can download it below.

The Domination Podcast Episode 20

 

 World of Warcraft Domination Podcast Episode 20 [12:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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When Nerds Get Angry Bad Things Happen

We’ve all heard it in vent.  We’ve all read it in chat.  What’s really funny is that it’s funny.  The other thing about it is that players of all skill levels seem to get the debuff from time to time.  Yes it’s annoying, but it does provide some comic relief.  So for all of you who might have been on the wrong end of a raging nerd, this is your chance to vent a little.

Not too long ago I was working on a gag for the podcast and was browsing through some youtube junk to find the best nerd rage moments.  Since we try to be at least moderately family friendly (since my mom reads this), I won’t link any of the examples directly.  Who knew people’s vocabulary shrinks to about 15 words when they get mad?  I just don’t understand it.

Now, we all get a little sideways with certain things from time to time.  I can get a little peeved with semi ignorance in raids and burning meat on the grill (I hate to waste a good meal).  But it may be that when some folks get behind the comfy little walls of their computer room, they lose all semblance of self restraint and tend to get a touch crabby.

There is a time and a place for crabby as well, I’m not knocking it one bit.  I certainly don’t anticipate spending every day of the rest of my life being cheery and bubbly.   But some things are worth getting upset about, and others – not so much.  For the most part WoW falls into the not so much category, or at least it should.  But I’m beginning to ramble, so I’ll get to the point.

I came across a video where this guy is in a BG.  He’s talking to the screen as if he’s on vent or something (like anyone can hear him).  He begins to yell “66 Shaman, need a heal, 66 Shaman, getting low on health, 66 Shaman about to die . . .” you can guess the rest.  In the end he’s absolutely shrieking and throwing stuff.  It’s so bad on so many levels I don’t really even know where to start.

A shaman calling for heals is one thing, but being a few levels too low to actually do anything constructive anyway is quite another.  Do people actually think they are helping at all when they go into BG’s on the low end of the scales?  It’s sort of like the guys who complain in the “For the Horde” or “For the Alliance” runs at level 75 or something.  Pretty amazing – and that’s why it’s called nerd rage.  It’s someone being really mad over something really dumb that the average person wouldn’t even think twice about.

My final call goes to PvP’ers.  PvP must attract a certain type of personality.  The kind of person who, if they are not beating someone to death just gets a bit freaked out.  Then when they lose – watch out.

A couple of the best players I know do quite a bit of arena.  I have to leave the vent channel they are in whenever they start because the tidal wave of geek griping that invariably ensues is just too much for me to handle.  Typical exchange:

“Oh, fear me some more you worthless pile of (*^%”

“That was the most no talent bunch of noobs ever”

“OMG! spam more *(&%^ why don’t you rogue . . . I’ve never seen anyone suck that bad.”

This is, of course, only when they are losing.  When they are winning – nary a peep.  Silent when pwning, raging when getting pwned.  This seems bassackwards to me, but hey, who am I to judge?  In the end, I guess I like goober explosions more than I dislike them, but only because it’s fun to make fun of.

So whether it makes you chuckle, or makes you roll your eyes, it’s clear that critical cussing is here to stay.  All you can really do is let them vent and make your own choice as to whether to associate with them any longer.  Or, you can rage right along with them if you like, I suppose.  It just seems to me that if you yell at nerd rage you might just be another step down the ladder in some way.

36 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

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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