Taking a break.

I've been playing WoW since around the time it came out... so like many of

you, I've had my 24 hour WoW days. A lot of the time i had those days for a

week at a time. I started noticing that after constant playing day after day

and never taking a break that I was gradually doing worse.

Well eventually I'd be "forced" to take a break for a few days by some RL

events and live my life. I'd come back 10x more ready to play and more focused

than before. I played way better and it wasn't boring to me. I think what it

was is that I'd get so used to playing that it became more of a job than

something I enjoyed to do. Grinding bg's over and over or running heroics all

day just for some badges turned into this terrible task that made me stop

caring and play worse.

What I'm trying to say is this: TAKE A BREAK! This game will be here when you're

done I promise. Everyone could use a little outside time, or some time with

the family. Even the most unsocial people can use breaks. Find a sidewalk

and buy some chalk and just go to town. Who cares what you do. It helps!

Sorry for the short article. This just crossed my mind and I felt like writing

it.

And HERE is a video for you to check out if you're bored.

Legendary Items Re-Imagined

A life long friend of mine recently made some very cool fan art. As long as i can remember he has always been modifying video game content in some way. Whether its Storyline, Artwork, or Character development, he's always impressed me with his creations. So enjoy my friend Devo's Art Gallery and Revamped Legendary Weapons!!! Oh yeah he is also the site's main artist!!!

When I was five years old I had the good fortune of playing the very first Final Fantasy on the NES and ever since I have been an RPG addict. Much has changed since those days and I have gained a great deal of experience over the years and my tastes have been refined. However, some things never change and for me one of the most appealing parts of any good RPG or fantasy world is its lore, especially surrounding any legendary and mythic items that exist within. That brings me to the point of this little project of mine. World of Warcraft has some very awesome legendary weapons weaved into its lore but as the years have gone by, many have become outdated and obsolete to players and that is an absolute shame in so many ways to let such things go to waste. With the launch of Cataclysm, so many things have undergone a complete overhaul and update and in that spirit I have decided to do the same with all of those outdated legendary weapons and breathe new life into them by updating them to Cataclysm standards. So buckle up and prepare for a nostalgia trip as we revisit WoW's very first legendary weapon: Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros...

Wouldn't it be odd to see someone in a lvl 85 raid group or in the Arena wielding this bad boy nowadays? Since breathing new life into outdated legendary weapons is the whole point of this endeavor, I figure we'll just start from the beginning and work our way up. For being WoW's first legendary weapon, Sulfuras does a great job of being bad ass. I didn't really have to change too much here. Along with the level 85 mathematical upgrade I gave her a stylin' new inventory icon and some rather appropriate flavor text from Ragnaros, himself. Give yourself time to take it in and when you're ready we'll move on to another old school favorite: Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windeseeker...

Who doesn't love this one? When you still see people going out of their way to get this thing even though it is nowhere near the caliber of current weapons you know you have a truly awesome weapon on your hands. I've always liked this weapon but I really feel that Blizzard didn't pay enough attention to it and make it feel truly legendary. Well, that is now a thing of the past and Thunderfury has joined the ranks of the elite. Beyond the obvious level 85 stat increase I gave her the modern treatment and added some much needed flavor text and created a brand new inventory icon. That old generic one just degraded the feeling of a weapon that is supposed to be legend, in my opinion. With that said and my small rant concluded, we are ready to move on in our journey. Druids rejoice! The next weapon is for you: Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian...

Ah yes, the staff of Medivh in all of its glory. I love the lore behind this staff but I really didn't care for the way it was actually used in-game. I took the time to really research the history of Atiesh as well as its creator, and came to the conclusion that this epic weapon was really best suited for Druids. Thus, we have my new rendition that is strictly for said class. Beyond that change and the level and stat caps I added some flavor text to give it a bit more of commanding presence. Our next stop brings us to one of the most controversial weapons in all of WoW...one that is chock full of more lore than almost any: the Corrupted Ashbringer...

Ashbringer...what more can we say about such an epic weapon? That is exactly why I had a bit of a problem with the original Blizzard version of this weapon. I realize that it is a very weakened form but, even in its corrupted state, it is still Ashbringer and thus a legendary and very powerful weapon. Plus, when you think about what you had to go through to get this thing, I'd say that it needed a bit more respect through better and more lore-accurate stats. Anyway, this concludes our tour of the weapons of Azeroth. It is now time to turn our attention elsewhere and journey through the Dark Portal into Outland. So muster all of your courage and step into the land of demons.

I friggin' love this bow. It is one of the coolest-looking bows (if not the coolest) in the whole game and just looks legendary. Sadly, there is no lore as of yet behind this killer weapon so we have nothing other than looks and stats to go by. Other than the level and stat increase as well as the addition of the mastery stat, there are really no changes to speak of. With that covered, we turn our attention to one of WoW's most iconic and unique weapons: the Warglaive of Azzinoth...

Come on, guys, this is Illidan's bad ass weapon and its a shame that it is worthless now. The lore behind these blades just makes them even more epic than they already are due to their wicked design. Once wielded by Azzinoth, a doom guard, 10,000 years ago who was slain by Illidan and then passed to him. He spent the next 10 millennia training himself to use them and he became pretty damn deadly with them. I guess 10,000 years of practicing anything will make you awesome at it. I really wanted these bad boys to be worth it again and this is the finished product. I really don't know if I made it powerful enough to do it justice. New to this weapon other than the level and stat cap is some flavor text and a redone inventory icon. Why the original icon showed it as blue I'll never know. Anyway, this is only one half of the set so I give you part 2...  

...epic, huh? Well, we have traversed the demon-infested lands of Outland to view the legendary weapons it has to offer and now must travel to the frozen wastes of Northrend and take a second look at some legendaries from the land of the Lich King. First up is Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings...

I know what you're thinking. First "Why bother, its only a five level difference?" and "Its already powerful enough". To those who know RPGs well enough five levels is a huge difference, especially at or near end-game. Just take a look at WotLK weapons as compared to Cataclysm ones and you'll find that there is a pretty sharp rise in power within those five small levels. Any healer class will agree with me when I say that this thing is just too awesome to get left behind. Even though the upgrade from 80 to 85 brought only minimal change it is still more than enough to keep the Hammer of Ancient Kings above and beyond the curve and a prime choice for PvPers everywhere. That brings us to the most current legendary weapon, you know, the one that hits like a force of nature: Shadowmourne...

Could you imagine this bad boy at level 85? Now you don't have to because I already did. As with Val'anyr the upgrade in the stats was slight but enough to keep it ahead of the curve. Its not like this thing needed any real buffs since it was already killer enough. What's left now? We've covered the three major areas of WoW so what else is there? This is where the real imagination comes in. The remaining items are those weapons that have a place within the lore of Azeroth but have not been and probably never will be within the reach of players. Because of that, these items are entirely of my own imagining and truly are "what if" weapons. The first in this whimsical section of weapons is one that often gets forgotten but nonetheless is an important part of history: Light's Vengeance...

Its hard to believe that at one time Arthas was one of the good guys and a paladin, to boot. For those who don't know, during that time he wielded a greathammer called Light's Vengeance that he eventually tossed aside in Frostmourne cave in favor of his new toy. While the lore is quite good for this weapon, I found no real references as to what it looked like other than generic models used in-game and one or two artists renditions that were very plain. I took the liberty to create my own vision of this weapon that would better suit a prince and paladin while still retaining the modest nature of a paladin. I have always thought that it would have been cool if you could have gone to Frostmourne cave and recovered Arthas' hammer for yourself. Everything for this weapon from the design to the inventory icon to the flavor text is my own creation. I just thought this one should have made it in for nostalgia's sake. Up next is Gorehowl, Hand of Hellscream...

From here on out you will seeing weapons that you would NEVER see Blizzard letting players get hold of. However, that won't stop me from making them for my own enjoyment. Here's a question to really ponder upon: What if you could actually loot the kick ass weapons of the faction leaders? Well, that is exactly the point here. Here we have Grom Hellscream's axe that really needed some help from Blizz's original. The reason for the stats being so high is simple: Why else do you think a faction boss hits so damn hard? Up next is the Sunstrider's Longbow...

I loved the lore behind this bow and I had to make it this incredible in order to properly do it justice. Just think of Sylvanas Windrunner nailing you with this thing. Makes sense to me. From here we don't go very far as we take a look at another legendary Blood Elf weapon: Flamestrike, Runeblade of the Sunstriders...

This one was alot of fun to make. I love the Blood Elves and I love the lore behind this weapon. Kael'thas told Arthas that, unlike human blades, elven ones only strengthen when repaired and who knows what else he may have done to buff it. In that spirit I incorporated that into its uber stats. As for the model I chose for this weapon, I thought it fitting that it be an augmented form of the Warp Slicer from Tempest Keep. Up next is one of my favorite weapons from Warcraft lore: Shalamayne, The Shadow Reaver...

Check this one out! The weapon of Alliance leader, King Varian Wrynn. Wrynn is one of the most bad ass characters in the entirety of Warcraft and his weapon is equally so. We have come to the end of our journey as only two weapons remain. However, they are THE weapons in Warcraft lore and hold power beyond anyone's imagining and I made sure they had the stats to match. So here is the first of them: Ashbringer...

Holy crap, right?! Yeah, I know that this is way beyond broken but stop for a second and think. This weapon single-handedly took out entire undead and Scourge armies and eventually shattered Frostmourne. This is as epic as it gets and shouldn't be nerfed to make someone happy. Here it is in all of its glory in what I think the stats should look like if a player could wield such a glorious weapon. That leaves only one more weapon and I am sure you can guess what it is. I give you the granddaddy of them all, Frostmourne...

Here it is, folks. The weapon that changed the course of history in Azeroth, Outland, and Northrend by itself. The most powerful artifact in WoW's legendium and greatsword of the Lich King. Any weapon that can threaten the existence of an entire world by itself SHOULD be overpowered and broken...period! So, enough said. This is my vision of what World of Warcraft's most powerful weapon's stats should look like in the hypothetical hands of a player character.

Devo (The Artist), The Lich King
And here's something for fun. I love the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and have modded it quite heavily. In this picture is literally myself after using a 3d modeling program to create my face and place into Oblivion. And yes, I am wearing Arthas' gear and wielding Frostmourne. Mwahahaha!

Well there u have it guys enjoy and thanks again to DEVO!!!

3 ways to spend your tax refund on WoW!!

So i know a lot of you are itching to get your money back from the government (me included) so I've created a list of products to help you improve your WoW Gaming Experience...

Razer's DeathAdder

This is the mouse i use personally and I'm telling you i can't play with anything else. This thing is super sensitive and very customizable. It comes with Death Adder Software that lets u adjust sensitivity, dpi, and programmable buttons. The sleek design allows it to become a extension of your hand. It just feels natural in your hand!! The one i personally use has blue LED's that light up and pulse. It also includes two buttons conveniently placed near your thumbs. Great for those clutch spells on your action bar. They now offer it in black and a left hand edition. For a measly $59.99 you can't go wrong with this purchase. They have detailed description and Customer Testimonials on their website. Now get rid of those out dated mice and go check it out here!!

Logitech Gaming Keyboard G510

And if your considering a new mouse...I'm gonna assume you could use a new keyboard as well and there is none greater than the Logitech G510. This keyboard was made for gaming. It includes so many extra features that will really improve your gaming experience. The first thing that really sticks out is the Heads Up Display built into the top of keyboard. Not only does it show your computer's vital stats but will also shows your Health/Mana Pool and when u receive whispers. You can also customize the color of back light that best suits your mood or gaming rig!! One of the best features of this keyboard it has built in integrated audio controls for your headset. And i don't mean mute and talk buttons...this keyboard will actually turn your analog 3.5mm headset into a usb audio device for the best quality possible. Very useful for communicating amongst the WoW community. Of course the keyboard comes standard with media controls and Internet controls (most do these days)...but not many come with this amazing feature..Game/Desktop mode. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally hit the windows button and alt tabbed in crucial moments!!!! (FAIL!!) With this feature in the Game mode setting, the contextual menu and window keys are disabled!! AMAZING!! One more thing that must be pointed out is the G-Keys...these are 18 programmable keys. This might be a little much for the beginner but if you are experienced with macro's and LUA scripts these are going to be your bread and butter. Overall this keyboard is amazing!! The customization is endless and the user friendliness is always welcomed. Logitech sells this epic piece of equipment for $119.99 and you can view all its features here.

Antec Nine Hundred Two Gaming Case

The foundation that holds all our Gaming rigs together...DUCK TAPE...i mean the CASE!! The Antec Nine Hundred is the best case I've ever used and have built many rigs for my friends with this case with absolutely no problems!! This case has it all. In my personal experience i hate liquid cooling...i just don't trust it. This fan keeps my rig cooler than my friends liquid cooling rig. The fans are placed so perfect for maximum air flow. This beast comes with 4 high quality fans. Two in the front that pull air in right in front of the Hard Drive Bays. One one the back pulling air out!! And a fan that reminds me of the Bubble Room in Williy Wonka's Chocolate Factory at the Very Top....its massive!! The thing that attracts me most to this case when i first bought it was the placement of the power supply. Its at the bottom which i am a fan of!! Gives you more room for beefier video cards and more room for big CPU FANS!! The front panel includes 2x Hi speed usb ports (Type A), an eSata port (7 pin) for external sata storage, and of course your standard Headphone/Mic ports on the front. The case is also rigged for expansion slots. 8 total, 3 slots for your optical drives, and up to 5 hard drives internally! I have used the first generation of this case for years and recently picked up this updated version (only difference was the eSata port and the Fan on top) and has been just as smooth sailing. This case is not a purchase its a great investment for the hard core gamers rig. This case will outlast your components!! Its costs $140.45 on Amazon.com. Here is a direct link to the Antec Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case on amazon! Trust me its worth it!!

So there u have it...3 ways to spend your fat refund check...i highly recommend these upgrades. These upgrades will definitely improve you WoW experience. Check em out and let me know if you guys agree or disagree!

STREAMS!!!

So me (Feris) and Gwapes like to stream our live videos once in a while, of arenas, bg's, or just whatever we are doing to have fun. We thought it would be a good idea to put links to our Xfire streams on here so that you guys can check out what we are doing when we are online! So here they are :D

Are WoW players spoiled?

I read forums all the time and see nothing but complaining, bashing blizzard,
and whining about how it should be. Yea, some of the complaints are justified,
but alot of them are just people being spoiled whiners.


Back in the beginning of WoW you did'nt have much to work with. You had to wait
til level 40 to get your first mount, which cost 90 gold with a 10 gold riding
skill. Up until 40 you were just running from place to place trying to find flight
paths so you wouldn't have to run anymore. Even after you manage to scrounge up money
for this level 40 mount, you still don't notice much of a difference. Still running
and running and running from place to place. Then you reach level 60 where you
never have to level again, you can buy a new mount (WOOO) and you can finally
start end game content.

So here you are. A level 60 turbo-nerd with all the hope in the world. You go
to your riding trainer and right click him. He tells you he wants 100 gold
for the training, and 900 gold for the mount. What the fuck? You have about
300g from leveling and looting silver off mobs. Have fun buying that!

Well you move on and join a raiding guild. The first few nights are slow because
you're new and they already have people who planned on going to the raids..but your chance
comes one night. They decide to take you to molten core! Exciting? Sure.
You join the raid group and see you are in group 5. Should be enough right?
Not at all...you still need another 15 or so people to go. Finally you get enough
and you start downing bosses. Nothing drops at all for you the first few kills.
Then you down Garr. Nightslayer cover drops! You want it so bad! The guild you're
in links it, and the DKP battle begins and you throw out a whopping 10.
Well you're easily outbid at 15. So you throw out your final 20 dkp...its all you had.
The other rogues bid 25, 30, 35, 40 etc... finally someone wins and you sit there all
sad because you didn't win. You don't win anything else for the rest of the run for the same
reason. There used to be about 5+ of each class in a raid so winning gear was never
easy. Now? 2-3 maybe. in 25 mans maybe 4.

PvP. I don't know how many of you realize it but PvP wasn't in the game so much
at the beginning. If you found an alliance (or horde for you alliance kids)
you could kill them. But beyond that there wasn't much pvp. Blizzard saw people
enjoying that little bit and decided to make Battlegrounds. They came out with
Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley. Each one had an entry point, and each
entry point was a long walk from each other. For warsong, you had to travel to the
Barrens, or Ashenvale just to find the portal and queue for that BG.
Actually getting the gear from pvp at 60 was much more challenging. Each week you did
as many bg's as you could for honor. Honor back then was different. It was almost like
reputation, but it level'd your ranking in PvP. The first week you would probably get
Grunt or Private and be able to buy a few things. But buying epics from pvp required
almost 24 hour playing of BG's with people who had the same goal in mind. Getting warlord
or Marshall only let you get into the group that would go for High Warlord or Grand
Marshall. This was a huge accomplishment back then.

What I'm trying to point out is the fact that now the game is so much easier
and user friendly. You can now fly in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Traveling
is not hard. Getting loot just requires you to do an instance, not actually win anything.
PvP gives rewards for just winning 5 games in 2's. You don't even need to be
high rated now. So when you think this game is really out to get you or is too hard.
Just think about how it could be. You could be spending hours leveling, running 5-10 raids
so you could get 1 piece of gear only to have spent all your dkp and have to do it again, or
you could be pvp'ing day in and day out so you can buy pvp gear. I'd say blizz has done a good
job making the game more user friendly and allowing people easy access to content that, lets
face it, bad people would never see.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Once again, this was Gwapes. cy@

Top 5 World of Warcraft Web Sites

So through the years of playing World of Warcraft i have came across quite a few sites that prevent you from recreating the wheel. Here is my Top 5 (In no particular order)

1.  http://www.arenajunkies.com/.- Arena Junkies offers many good tools for the beginner-expert PvP'r. The main page shows a tracker of the top rated teams in all the different brackets. On the main page they also offer Current News and also show some of the latest posts on their forums. The forums are where the gold is. You get testimonials and stories from all different types of players. Not only is it full of uber amounts of posts, but its also organized very well. If you wanna learn about your class its divided up into different sections based on what class is being discussed. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent digging through these  forums and always coming away with some sort of new passion to play. Oh yeah not to mention u get to talk to real GLADS!!! Check out this site if your struggling with your class or you just want to read some legit advice from the best of the best (*cough* Vileroze *cough*)

2. http://www.wowhead.com/- This site became the Bible of WoW for me when Burning Crusade came out. The site is set up so well. Everything and Anything in the game is on this site. I can't tell you how many times this site has saved me from hours of wandering around in Azeroth. You can look up quests, items, gear, zones etc.. It also has this ingenious system of linking whatever your searching to other stuff that is related to the item you searched. This saves you hours of digging through pages of items. Another cool thing is they have 3d models of most of the items in the game, which is great when servers are down and u can drool over the purplez your gonna get when the server is back up!! The comments I've found to be very helpful and generally the flaming is kept to a minimum. This is your bread and butter in the WoW world.

3.http://www.curse.com/- Add Ons Add Ons Add Ons!!! This sight is the spot for add ons. The sight is very clean and well maintained!! They rank Add Ons by number of downloads and they have a 5 star ranking system as well. It's great because i hate not knowing what I'm downloading. They also offer an automated installer and downloader from there site which makes maintaining and updating addon's with one click of a button with there stand alone software. It checks your add on's and then check's the website and updates accordingly simple as that and i like simple. They even have add on packs that fit a certain category you might be looking for. For example if your a hardcore raider they have a pack of add ons that would have ready to kill dragons in no time. This site is a must. Nowadays its very rare to find anyone playing without add on's and if your not playing with add on's your missing out so check this site out!!

4.http://www.mmo-champion.com/- Oh how i love MMO-CHAMPION!! This sight is full of so much information about World of Warcraft. You have wonderful tools. First off when u hit the page your slammed with all the latest World of Warcraft news. My favorite thing about this is they have it all!! Blue posts, patch notes, ptr builds, links to funny wow sites, contests and much more!! The forums are really nice too!! People really elaborate and try to help you (most of everybody you know who you are trolls). This as of late has been my drug. Wake up check up on the latest WoW news. They also recently posted some really guides on a wide variety of topics. If you have a question about anything in WoW go here and you will find your answer with a slight amount of digging!!

5.http://www.skill-capped.com/- this a wonderful Arena teaching site!! the resources on this site are so valuable. The video tutorials are so well explained!! Not to mention they have over 500 instructional videos and most are in HD!!! Yes there is a membership fee but you can start for only 4$ a month and thats nothing when you see the amount time people put into these videos. They a ton of In-Depth articles about the arenas and a very friendly helpful community to help you with your Arena adventures. So go check out the site and give em the 4 bucks cause its worth it for you in long run!!

What it's like being the Girlfriend of a WoW Player

So i was sitting here chatting with my girlfriend and she told me she wanted to speak her opinion about dating someone who plays WoW. The only thing i could think was Uh Oh.....but to be honest i think its a neat idea im sure there are lots of Girlfriends, Wives, Husbands, or Partners that would like to hear her story....so here we go....

When i first met Phillyblunt (didn't want me using his real name lol) i had no clue he was into playing video games. Until one day i had called him and asked him what he was doing. He said that he was playing W.O.W. And i was like what is that? he said you probably heard of it; it's called World Of Warcraft.
as soon as i heard that name of the game i was like holy crap i'm dating a computer gaming nerd! Lol. so when we moved down here to Florida and i saw how much he was playing this game i was like this guy is really addicted! he kept yelling out this weird stuff to his friends that he plays with on there and would yell whenever he lost or died! and whenever i came home from work he was still in the same spot i left him, playing that game and i would literally have to yell at him to get off the computer to come to bed or to just sit and relax with me! sometimes i would just sit there and wonder why does he love this game so much. and then i met some of his Arena Buddies (Feris mostly because Gwapes was overseas at this point). and i asked him why do u guys like this game so much? and he said it's just a fun way to unwind after a long day and plus you get to meet tons of cool people on here! and then i realized i know why Philly (lol because i know his real name!!) loves this game so much. it's just something that he loves to do in his spare time and he likes meeting new people. so now whenever he plays i just let him. i don't yell at him for it anymore. instead i'm right there next to him being his cheerleader or letting him know when his stamna is low. (yes i know a few stuff from the game now. Lol) and i've also become friends with his friends on there. so girls out there who have boyfriends or husbands that play W.O.W, be there cheerleader instead of yelling at them for playing to much video games. Or better yet join them! i'm even thinking of joining myself. :)