Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Yes, I am just naming this column after Pixies songs so I can embed them and not even attempt a theme. Thank you for noticing. I do have a gigantic love for many of our comments, though. They are fun to read and the threads are gigantically entertaining. I also really like when a gigantically different viewpoint is presented for discussion.

My love for the new guild perks in Cataclysm is gigantic, and so is Cyanea's:

This list is the reason why we couldn't have "guild talents" and why we get all of them instead.

Any hardcore PVE or PVP guild that doesn't have either the Honor point or the Hero point gain talent is not going to be competitive. A lot of more casual guilds could've easily picked them both up, but when you're in a hardcore guild striving for world/realm firsts or whatever the equivalent is for PVP you're going to go for the most effective point distribution, forcing players who do both (like me) or who are in a primarily PVE guild and mostly PVP and vice versa to leave their friends and find other guilds just to stay competitive.

All that whining about Guild Talents was pointless.

Pointless indeed. Turn the page for some more gigantically fun and/or interesting comments from the past week.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Gigantic

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, [1.Local]

[1.Local]: Gigantic originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

I can tell you where my mind is. It's still pole dancing outside of Booty Bay after the Midsummer Flamefest. At least, that's where I think I left it. That's the last I remember knowing where it was. I should probably go check. Before I do, we have some comments to nod our heads and/or snicker over. First, the Roleplaying Spotlight goes to Bobury aka Razell:

Hi! It's Razzell here.

My parents were great researchers. If you could name it, they would study it. They studied alchemy, herbs, various creatures, blacksmithing, etc. Unfortunately, they were killed. I was at their house when Gnomeregan was invaded. My house was overrun with troggs. My parents were killed, their research destroyed. I escaped. I do miss them so. It is a good thing we are taking back Gnomeregan. For the Alliance, For Gnomeregan, and for the parents!

I, uh, hope you weren't expecting a theme this week, because I don't have one again. But go ahead and turn the page for some more themeless fun.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Where is my mind?

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[1.Local]: Where is my mind? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Hi. My name is Robin Torres and I'm a slacker. I have totally slacked on my [1. Local] duties for weeks now, so I have tons of goodies stored up for this time. I know that the above video is called Loser and not Slacker, but it still seemed appropriate. I would have embedded the Glee version, but those never stay up very long. Anyone who has ever worked retail must appreciate that version of the -- oh, great. Now I'm slacking and writing at the same time.

A couple weeks ago, we talked about a guy named Mr. Green and a Spineless Jellyfish GM in Drama Mamas. An alternate solution to ours was suggested:

Russ: You could always lure Mr. Green into the Billiards room, hand him a candlestick, and drag Mr. Body into the room and accuse him of murder!

Grovinofdarkhour: But everybody knows, it was Professor Plum, in the Study, with the Revolver. So that would never work.

I hope you weren't looking for continuity this week, because that's not going to happen. We've got too many fun and insightful things to go over to try to squeeze them into a coherent theme. It's all my fault, because I'm a slacker. So let's just turn the page and have at it.

Continue reading [1. Local]: I'm a slacker

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, [1.Local]

[1. Local]: I'm a slacker originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Tootoootoootoooooot! Yeah, I'm about to toot my own horn -- well, the horn I share with fellow Drama Mama Lisa. We so rarely get to hear the results of the advice we give on Drama Mamas, but last week we got the best feedback ever. Tootootooooot! We told AFK to make it work, and he responded:

Hey, Drama Mamas!

I really appreciate your answering my questions. You weren't kidding when you said that you were going to do a lot of finger wagging.

I read your answers, and I read the comments as well. I found Arann and Soonerwolf's comments especially helpful. I talked to my wife today about setting a date night every week for just the two of us, a family day to spend uninterrupted time with our toddler, and a personal day where we are to pursue individual activities. She actually really liked the idea. My wife has told me that she feels neglected before, but I spend every moment that I am not at work with her. I guess guaranteeing her a night together every week was something she wanted all along.

Lisa, Robin, and all of the commentators: thanks so much for your input,
AFK

Tootootoooooot! We've got more horns to toot. I may even toot my own horn again, I haven't decided yet. You'll just have to look after the break to see.

Continue reading [1. Local]: Tooting of horns

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, [1.Local]

[1. Local]: Tooting of horns originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 17 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Dominic Hobbs, our warlock columnist, speculated about flying mounts for warlocks in this week's Blood Pact. He found the following suggestion the best one from the readers (though there were many):

Tidelord:

Dear Hobbs,

While I agree with your idea of Metamorphosis or sprouting wings, I find the thought of being carried by my shoulders by a Doomguard to be utterly demeaning, and if you have seen the model for Invincible and the new "Sparkle Pony," you would see that while the wings are ingenious, the steed itself has legs stumpier than a dwarf's!

No, my dear friend. For a warlock, the only mount suitable for us masters of shadow and fire is nothing else than an enormous, obsidian-black chariot with wheels made of the bones and skulls of magi, pulled by a pack of at least ten or twelve fel-green hellhounds.

The animation would be so full of demonic splendor and top-of-the-line graphics that it would cause the video card of any cowardly mage to explode violently.

Grow In Shadows-
Caneyn Ravenshield, Future Worgen Warlock

Continue reading for an in-depth discussion of cheating -- and what's this about breeding WoW.com staff?

Continue reading [1. Local]: Chariots and cheats

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[1. Local]: Chariots and cheats originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Would it be wrong of us to lead off this week's [1.Local] with a comment from someplace other than WoW.com? This comment on Blizzard's astounding sales of the Celestial Steed comes from our sister publication, Massively, where one would think readers would be a little more objective about MMOs and microtransactions as a whole.

Pingles: I play Allods, a free-to-play cash shop game and have purchased items to support the game. So at first I was a bit perturbed at how anyone can accept a subscription game charging for things in a cash shop but I think that Blizzard may very well get a pass on this one.

The reason: WoW is a behemoth. People don't mind throwing $25 at something that ALL of their friends are going to see and that they envision spending the next few years playing with. This isn't just a game to some folks. This is a social and long-term commitment.

I have to admit that when I purchased a bag in Allods I wondered whether I'd be playing the game a year from now. I don't think folks wonder the same thing with WoW.

Back here at home at WoW.com, opinion about the new ride seems fairly split. Pull up a seat and let's chew on it some more. Oh, and you'll want to be sure to check out a truly epic take on the situation from [1.Local] regular (cutaia), whose fiancée Autumn Kosik created the headline photo, above. (Thanks for sharing!) Most definitely worth a trip to the end of the post.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Celestial RMT and the Fresh Steed

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, [1.Local]

[1.Local]: Celestial RMT and the Fresh Steed originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

When it comes to the chatter in [1.Local], sometimes it's the sidetracks and the tangents that pull up the most interesting results. By now, we've all heard comparisons between James Cameron's "Avatar" and Disney's "Pocahontas." ("Pocahontas in Space," anyone?) Leave it to our readers to take things a step farther.

sherekhan88: Actually, maybe because of too much WoW, I was able to piece together Avatar as "The World of Warcraft movie, as envisioned by James Cameron." It goes like this:

Guy log ins on his new Night Elf Hunter WoW character. He tries to cast Tame Beast on a panther that's too high level and almost dies. He gets Apprentice Riding and Exalted with Stormwind and gets a pony mount. He skips Journeyman Riding, but later gets Expert Riding in Outland. After much grinding, gets Netherdrake mount.

Meanwhile, humans want to mine giant Titanium node under Teldressil. They use vehicles to raid Darnussus. The World Tree crashes, lots of Nelfs ragequit.

Meanwhile, Sigourney Weaver tries to do a server transfer, but fails. Stuck with Blizzard's customer service for a week.

Main guy finally gets Artisan riding and bags a Time-Lost Proto-Drake mount. He then epeens it in Shattrath. Nelves follow him. Gathers more people with Netherdrake mounts and Stormwind horses. Later they forgot Blizzard never gave them mounted combat.

Main guy and Nelves defeat Humans using greens; midway through the battle main guy's game time card almost runs out. Humans ragequit after losing, Nelves call them noobs. Main guy Feigns Death for lulz, does server transfer, but comes back when he found out Paragon AND Ensidia are both on the same server.

Coming up after the break: More (unique? lovable? twisted? overenthusiastic?) nuggets of wisdom, plus the World of Warcraft week in review from WoW.com's commenters.

Continue reading [1.Local]: The lore according to James Cameron

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, [1.Local]

[1.Local]: The lore according to James Cameron originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

April Fool's Day around WoW.com usually means bracing for impact with emails and comments from nerd-raging readers who haven't ... quite ... caught on that there's something special going on. This year, though, you all really outdid yourselves. You played along! You danced, you sang, you /fishslapped, you showed us your sunflowery sunny dispositions, you popped back in every two hours like clockwork to see what new havoc was going on. Special thanks go to Kelly Aarons and Zach Yonzon for oudoing themselves on the fabulous artwork, and three cheers to Justin Glow for helping us change out the site header every two hours. Gather 'round for a group hug, everybody -- ya'll are an awesome bunch.

Sedirex: All 5 iterations had their own logo, top stories, and hot topics (on the right). The evil part of this joke is that if you're like me, you felt obligated to check every 2 hours to see them, as, unlike the posts, they don't remain after the site changes focus again.

Jayfitty: That was actually a pretty awesome routine. I'm not sure how I feel about so much turmoil happening here at WoW.com. Hopefully we can just settle on one type of Insider and commit to that. Every time the website changes I have to update my wardrope, Facebook page, Twitter and haircut to reflect said changes. And to go from Edward hair to Gaga hair in one day isn't easy.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Yo, it's April, fools!

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[1.Local]: Yo, it's April, fools! originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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