Anyway, there’s Sasche conferring with Vol’jin, oh yeah they’re tight now that she’s a Darkspear Revolutionary, oh yeah she’s totally behind the cause she … what? Oh it’s nothing, really she’s been fighting for … WHAT! Oh, it’s just Gahz’rooki. No REALLY! She killed a bazillion of Garrosh’s lackeys for THE CAUSE … honest, she’s 100% behind Vol’jin on this, the fact that she got a battle pet out of it had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with it. She was kind of happy though, because of the pet Cat kind of forgave her for harshing her mellow the other day. Now everyone’s friends again, glad that’s over but now Cat’s got other problems.

That’s Reacher, he’s kind of the team leader of her battle pets. I think he got the job because their outfits kind of match, she likes that. They are discussing tactics … or the apparent lack of them. She accepted the challenge What We’ve Been Training For a few days ago. What has now become obvious is OMG WE SUCK AT PET PVP BIG TIME! I think in about 20 matches she’s only managed to win 3 and they all could have gone either way, she just squeaked by.

After brainstorming with Reacher on where they were going so wrong, they decided it was their lack of knowledge about the abilities of battle pets. I agree, I’m just not familiar enough with all the possible damage and special attacks they all have, and with my memory the future doesn’t look bright either. I think I got comfortable with certain pets and didn’t use some of my others to get to know them and NOW THEIR COUSINS ARE KICKING MY BUTT. Sigh …

Reacher’s idea was to hang around on street corners on the weekends hoping to take advantage of people with limited play time. Maybe it would even the playing field, maybe they wouldn’t be up on all the abilities either. That Reacher sometimes worries me. I think I’d better start battling with more of my pets, stop playing favorites and learn about them.

This all sneaked up on me. It started with, “Oh! Yay! I caught a Fawn! It’s so cute and it’s even a common, I’m so lucky!”

And now we’re having emergency staff meetings trying to decide if our existing rares are good enough or need replacing.

Pet battles … some seriously, serious business.

Some people’s characters are an extension of themselves, mine aren’t. I don’t really know where the hell they came from … really. Cat is happy doing pet battles, exploring, occasionally killing things if it’s absolutely necessary. She’s very low maintenance. Sasche on the other hand is causing problems, she wants to do things that aren’t possible. So with Patch 5.3 instead of, “Oh YAY! More pets to collect!” Sasche was a big downer and said “Oh YAY! More stuff I can’t do.”

Playing exclusively in the daytime can really limit what you can do. I’ve been in many guilds with the same result. There may be a few people on in the daytime. They are out doing dailies or collecting mats to prepare for WHAT THEY ALL DO AT NIGHT. They aren’t doing anything together. After a while … and I just couldn’t help it … envy would raise its ugly head every morning when I’d see what the guild had done or achieved the night before. I decided I’d be happier on my own. If I don’t have to see how everyone’s progressing, it won’t bother me. Kind of a virtual nah nah nah nah nah I can’t hear you.

Cat gets this, Sasche does not. She is younger than Cat, maybe she’ll mature. So after Sasche rained on our parade, Cat and I were just not feeling it this morning but the lure of leveling a few pets was too strong and she logged in.

Tyledres you MUST be psychic, this wonderful gift could not have arrived at a better time! Thank you SO much. I teared up over this little guy. I was even in Karazhan yesterday, nothing dropped and I had to leave before getting to Prince Malchezaar.

I found a suitable place to introduce Minfernal and Netherspace Abyssal, they were a little wary of each other at first, then Drak told a joke and kind of broke the ice. Fast friends now. Then to pick a suitable name … hmm … I didn’t feel comfortable naming him Tyledres cause I kept imagining Ty at the bottom of the ocean under tons of water because of the whole abyssal thing. I kept having to take deep breaths when I thought of it. Won’t do. I’ve got it! Frosty Claws after Frost and Claws and because Ty was kind of like a physic Santa!

Thank you again so much Ty and you’re timing was scary perfect! I may just let Cat play today and let grumpy Sasche stew a while and consider the error of her ways!

EDIT: ROTFL! Well, crap. It’s always upsetting to see typos after you post BUT THE TITLE TOO. I have edited and now Ty properly has Psychic powers, geeeez …

Okay, I’ll stop channeling Conan the Barbarian. I was in the neighborhood fishing when I remembered seeing both Cymre and Matty a while back in their very own shell thingies so I went to find Gokk’lok and get a shell of my own. Cat had no interest, too busy pet battling but Sasche wanted one … go figure.

So anyway … unbelievable as it may seem, THAT’S not the big reveal. Additions to my blogroll are. More like I’m adding a whole new blogroll to my existing blogroll but they have no calories so I can have as many as I want. Being lazy, this has taken me forever and considering my disorganized method of saving them I may have missed some but here are those I managed to track down.

Admiring Azeroth

Azeroth Life

The Bizarre World of Roo the Hunter

Diary of a Gnome Spy

mrandmrswow

The Pixel Lives of Lorelei

She Rides Dragons

Sunshine, Luxypie and Rainbows

wowstorylines

They are free and have no calories so you will look wonderful displayed on your very own shell!

On Sunday I was all set with my Anglers Fishing Raft, my annoying to everyone else fast Druid flying and yes, even though it clearly states, “pools in Pandaria” I still used my Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm for luck. All set.

Oh! There’s Matty! She’s preparing too! As the countdown to the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza ticked down we wished each other good luck. Didn’t think much of it at the time but it appears Matty’s luck is REALLY GOOD. Like rabbit’s foot good, or luckydo good. She’s a freaking Draenei leprechaun I think.

The thing is, I thought I had all the required achievements except to win the fishing contest. I had fished for years and years to get the One That Didn’t Get Away but I knew I had it. No, I later learned Cat didn’t have it and then remembered it was an upstart Goblin who is now history who got it.

Good lucks wished … tension mounts … we’re off! My first cast I was shocked to receive One That Didn’t Get Away. WHAT? I didn’t have it? But I got it on my first cast? This must be an omen … it must!

I’d read that the contest usually had a winner around 20 minutes in. I saw I had 20 fish at around 8 minutes in. I’m on track! It’s the luck of the Draenei! I just know it! There was one tense period when I got about five or six Oily Blackmouth in a row but I was still looking good … no more Blackmouth … nothing but Tastyfish! 38 … 39 … 40!

I hearthed to Booty Bay and ran to turn in my fish to Riggle Bassbait who was damn hard to see as he was surrounded by characters. Did I make it? Huh? Huh? DID I? YES! My hands were shaking so badly I had a really hard time picking my reward but I finally managed to select the Dread Pirate Ring. Thought my alts would appreciate that. After that Cat ran around Stranglethorn telling all her friends.

So yeah … don’t ask to rub her tummy or anything but if you need luck, well apparently Matty’s got it. Don’t know if it’s in her tail … maybe those horns, but she’s one Draenei Lucydoo! I just wish Night Elves had that lucky mojo going so Cat’s good luck wishes worked as well. Thank you Matty!

Oh come on! You knew I’d have to go there … just have to. Don’t think she’ll be going anywhere soon. To get my name I had to roll her on a high population PvP server. But she’s a Rogue … and a Goblin. You never know she might make it, only time will tell.

For those of you not familiar with the Firefly Series, reavers are … wait, here’s a description from someone with first-hand experience.

  “If they take the ship, they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And, if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.”
    ― Zoë Washburne

But the thing is, sometimes they’re sated. Sometimes if you stay calm and hold your ground and don’t run … they’ll leave you alone. Every time Sally sees the opposite faction she feels like she’s passing a reaver ship in deep space. Sometimes they leave her alone … sometimes they don’t and sometimes she doesn’t even see them coming.

She generally sees Horde approaching and thinks, “Oh CRAP CRAP CRAP!” Okay … be calm, act cool. Yeah … I’m bad. I’m bad, don’t even think about going there … yeah, you don’t want to mix it up with me, move along. YOU DON’T WANT ANY PART OF ME BUDDY! Oh geez … whew … they’re gone. That was close.

Her other technique if she has time, is to fly straight up into the stratosphere and hope they leave. Geez, damn reavers.

It certainly adds some excitement to leveling Sally but I think this is going to be a long, long, trip. And sometimes the reavers strike from behind, you don’t even have warning.

I know I’m on a PvP server. I’m not complaining about being killed but really, the timing sucked. She was on the quest Colossal Guardians. To kill one of these bad boys is an enormous production of healing Void, bandaging, fearing, and it takes about five minutes at least. He came along and killed her at about 4:55. He killed her and then did the quest. Guess he couldn’t wait. That’s how those reavers roll.

Really reavers? Shouldn’t you be in school? At work? What is up here. But it’s all good, every time she gets killed I get to enjoy flying death again. I miss that. I think she has yet to be killed by a mob since starting to 90 … just reavers. Will she make it? I truly don’t know but I’m enjoying the trip so far … well, at least until one of those reavers use her skin for a pair of underoos.

The article is written by Chris Swain

Chris Swain is a leader in the game industry having co-founded the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab at USC and leading over 50 products in industry including games for Disney, Microsoft, Sony, MTV, and Activision, among others. His USC thesis student, Jenova Chen’s masters project was the game Flow. Serious games that Chris has created include Ecotopia, Play the Game Save the Planet, a cinematic, story-driven game focused on environmental protection, and The Redistricting Game, which educates citizens on how the U.S. congressional redistricting process leads to polarization in government. He is the creative director in the Game Design program at the New York Film Academy

It’s a question that has, at some point or another, lingered on the minds of most people who have a deep love of gaming. And that demographic is rapidly increasing: the ESA put out a fantastic industry report last year and if the numbers are to be believed, mainstream gaming is playing a big part in an increasing number of people’s lives.

Looking at it one way, this popularity boom can be disconcerting to someone looking for a break into the industry – surely the competition is growing, too?

Yes and no. Because if you look at it the other way, the amount of real vacancies are also increasing with consumer demand, and it’s not the Johnny-come-latelies who’ll be able to fulfill them…

… it’s the gamers like us, who were practically born with controllers in our hands, who are better equipped to design the games of tomorrow.

Because gamers make the best game designers, hands down.

Why The Geek Will Inherit the Earth

Well, maybe not the entire Earth, but at least the bit of it that forms the game design industry.

Heavy gamers possess an in-built advantage over light (or non) gamers when it comes to designing a great player experience, simply because they can identify one in the first place. Regardless of whether they can outwardly express it or not, heavy gamers have an inherent understanding of the key aspects that underpin a fantastic game, including:

- Challenge level. The balancing point between a game being too easy (resulting in boredom) and too challenging (giving rise to frustration) is a fine one, and not easy to identify unless you’ve got a lot of experience from the player’s side.

- Narrative storytelling. A discipline unto itself, the intricacies of a good story well told can be instrumental to a game’s success (depending on genre).

- Understanding reward. A non-gamer can make the mistake of thinking it’s all about handing out arbitrary points to players to drive them forward; a heavy gamer knows that it’s way more nuanced than this.

- Breaking the rules. It’s a cliché, but for a reason: if you’re not intimately familiar with the conventions of game design, you’ll never be able to bend and break them effectively.

A non-gamer can be the best programmer in the world and have decades of academic understanding behind them, but without being a gamer first and foremost, much of what they create is likely to come across as paint-by-numbers.

Since you’re reading this, there’s a fair to even chance you’re a pretty passionate gamer yourself, so take heart. You’re already way ahead of the game.

All Well and Good, But Where To Go From Here?

As with anything in life, you need to formulate a plan of action if you want to achieve your goals. The first step is deciding what it is you actually want in the first place.

There’s a strange notion among some gamers that somewhere on the planet there is a well-paid vacancy for ‘sitting around and playing CoD all day’, and it’s just a case of finding the hidden application form. The job is precisely imaginary as it sounds; the closest real-world equivalent would be running a massive gaming channel on YouTube, and even that is more nuanced – and laborious – than most people realize (not least the massive amount of work people like PewDiePie have to put in to hit profit-turning subscriber numbers in the first place).

So while we have to unfortunately put such fantasies to one side, it brings us back to the all-important question: what do you want to do in the industry?

There are more sides to game creation than a Coke can, so start by determining where your passions and key strengths lie. The great thing about this industry is that there’s a role for just about everyone; it’s a misconception that anyone in game design has to be an expert programmer fluent in six different coding languages! If you’re a skilled artist, sound editor or even an architect, most skillsets are transferable to the video game industry.

Naturally, there are numerous paths to career success depending on your chosen field, but for the most part some universal advice applies which can get you there.

Choosing a Route

It’d be fallacious to say that you can’t teach yourself game design. You can, and many successful game creators have, but it’s an extraordinarily long and difficult road. In addition, learning in isolation can deprive you of useful feedback from fellow developers, as well as fun collaboration opportunities. Even when an industry-level knowledge of game design is acquired, it will invariably take a lot of funding (and luck) in order to take your private projects to a mainstream audience.

Getting your foot in the door via an internship vacancy (usually at a small to mid-sized studio) has proven to be a successful route for many people trying to break into the industry. Scouring the job boards for a position can be laborious given how rare such opportunities are, and when you find one you’ll probably be grafting hard for very little (if any) money, but it’s a good way to make connections and, ultimately, a name for yourself.

If you’re in a position to study, enrolling onto a game design degree program can really put you on the fast track. The New York Film Academy run a variety of workshop-based degrees at their game designer school, which not only accelerates the learning process but also sets students up for real working positions within the industry. Best of all, graduates leave the NYFA with a polished portfolio comprised of games which they created during the program.

Ultimately, with a bit of elbow grease and determination it’s entirely possible to turn a passion for gaming into a well-paid career. Exactly how you shape it is up to you, but as the adage goes, every journey begins with just a single step.

Make sure you take it.

So anyway, I was overcome by this strange compulsion, I just couldn’t fight it anymore. I got it in my head that I shouldn’t have any level 1 battle pets. How unloved and neglected they must feel, I should get ALL the pets to at least level 5. OMG! Did that take forever, I didn’t know I had that many. Whew. I seem to be back to normal sort of, but I feel it won’t be long before I think they should all be at least level 10.

So I thought I’d get back to PvP pet battles. I had tried them when they came out, with low level teams. It’s interesting how things change. Pandaren Monk was all the rage back then. I tried them again after I had some level 25s. Lil’ Ragnaros seemed to dominate during this period and I must have missed the Fluxfire Feline stage. This time EVERY team I met had an Electrified Razortooth. I hadn’t even used mine yet.

I tried to come up with a suitable team but as always got distracted by things like an all rabbit team because I like to watch them jump around, not the best strategy if I ever want to get Experienced Pet Brawler.  So I figured I needed the help of someone who THINKS about pet battles and does not base their teams on cuteness or Ion Canons just because. I remembered a Ratshag post about a team Hydra used with great success. All but one of my wins were thanks to that team. Still have a ways to go though as I can’t seem to give up on my bunny team which is slowing things down.

So with all this pet battling I have accumulated gazillions of Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. I frequently get 5 or 6 for a battle. I really wish you could spend them on something battle pet related. I don’t know, maybe be able to buy a Flawless Battle-Stones for an exorbitant price.

Oh wait! I thought this was so interesting, a class on MMOs! I’m wondering if I should take it except then it would take time away from actually playing one, hard decision.

And I did something incredibly stupid, I just wasn’t thinking.  I deleted my Goblin healer as it was evident she wasn’t going anywhere. NO! NO! I love Goblins, just not the starting area, why didn’t I just respec her! Noooooo …

So ever since, this big comedian Nomi gives me spirit food every day. EVERY day. And what’s up with that kid anyway. What am I supposed to be? What are YOU supposed to be, that’s what I want to know. I thought you were a girl but you keep telling me you’re going to grow a beard. Who’s weird now Nomi? Anyway, the dailies had a few minutes before they reset so I took Nomi along to gather some leather. Hoping (yeah right) an unfortunate accident wouldn’t occur, like Nomi being crushed by falling Mushan or anything. No luck, Nomi made it and then gave me MORE spirit food. I’m not kidding kid, you’re days are numbered. Just giving you fair warning, this behavior must stop. Nobody buys this crap and I don’t need it.

It might be the stupidest reason ever for rolling another Priest Goblin … because I have all this spirit food … naw … makes sense to me!

Okay, this one’s for you Redbeard!

Well you know really, they’re the same thing. On my TRAVELS I encountered TROUBLES. Hellfire is part of my pet leveling circuit so I’m using the Dark Portal a lot lately and I’ve run into a problem I can’t remember having before. I fly through the portal and then instead of magically appearing in Hellfire, I smack into the mountain BEHIND the portal. Yeah, what’s that about? Is it the fault of the goaty little mount I’m riding or is something more sinister afoot here.

Possibly a Pandaren plot to have their way, oh I know they’re all fuzzy and cute but come on, they must have a dark side. I didn’t smack into the side of the mountain before they appeared, just saying. I’m just wondering if they are trying to enforce that “Slow down” they’re always saying in a sneaky, subtle, way … like making you run into a mountain if you don’t slow down. I am not paranoid! Seems mighty suspicious to me.

I got an urgent message from my bank alt. Cat was out of control at the AH. She was about to buy a Son of Animus for 16,000 gold. I had to go talk her down. Let’s wait a little while, see if they come down a bit. I KNOW you want one but patience. So I managed to convince her a Sen’jin Fetish and a Hyacinth Macaw for half the price was a wise decision.

Yeah … sorry, this is a reminder for me. I’m sticking this here to remind me that as soon as I login I need to go to the Darkmoon Faire and buy a Carousel Murloc. Really, no one should be without one of those. First stop I’ll go see Gelvas Grimegate about buying a supply. I don’t think being repeatedly smacked into that mountain addled my brain. I’m pretty sure I’d want some of these anyway.

Here. Just to keep things in perspective. Yes, I had my Dark Portal troubles but really, this screen shot illustrates what we all know. Things can get MUCH, MUCH, WORSE. It’s like a law. I guess they got stuck in a storm up there on that mountain in Kun-Lai Summit. Either that or some Pandaren made them smack into it.

So Cat heads over to Angler’s Wharf to turn in another book to Nat and then this. She kept trying to tame it. She thought it would make a great battle pet, really throw off the opponent … play head games with them … but no. Oh well, at least now she knows they’re out there, sneaky little Shore Crabs.

So Cat’s been trying to fish up more Tiny Carp. She only has the green one so far. She was moaning and groaning about how she’d been fishing for hours and hours and nothing. I called her attention to the time on the fishing lure. Oh. Fifteen minutes. Oh. Well it felt like hours and hours.

So anyway, while she was spending those hours and hours fishing she had a lot of time to think. She came up with an achievement for the guild. She thought getting Critter Kill Squad using ONLY the Hozen Idol would be fun. What is wrong with that Druid. Since this guild consists of me, me and me that’s so not happening. Forget it Cat.

Yeah … I’ve been stalling. I’ve needed to go to Tol Barad and do dailies to get another Fox Kit. And I don’t know why I’ve been putting it off because it’s not that hard. I have the magical tabard that sends me right where I need to be. And there’s no competition, no one’s there. The mobs are easy now, whole thing only takes a few minutes. Best of all though is now I can BUY that Fox Kit instead of the whole killing fox thing … ugh … I’ve had enough of that.

Oh … yeah … about the killing thing. Sorry my Tauren friends, really truly. But I need those fish. Only 129 commendations to go!

where can you buy disguise for island of giants

Twice already this morning some poor person was deposited here, on my doorstep. Did they find the information they were seeking? NO. So Cat set out on a dangerous … yeah, okay a kite flight … mission to acquire the knowledge they desired at great personal risk … OKAY! ALMOST NO RISK AT ALL … there, you happy?

After mapping the Isle of Giants and knocking off a bunch of Dinomancers to try to get the last pet they drop, Cat returned from her mission. Success!

Agrant Sharpshot is The Alliance representative of the Jurasssic Expedition and will be happy to sell you your disguise, Arnold Raygun is the Horde vendor for disguises.

If you’re interesting in finding out what rewards Ku’ma the Bone Collector offers to those brave adventurers who have piles of dinosaur bones to trade, visit Ku’ma in his cozy cave.

Om Nom Nom Nom! Be sure to bring your Picnic Basket along and make a day of it! Yum, grilled dino!

There, I feel better now. Some ACTUAL information. I hope they come back. Hey! Hey! Come back, I made you a map and all!