OMG RPG

Almost everyone in World of Warcraft has been part of a guild at some stage in their journey.  Whether it be a small group of friends, a levelling guild, social, casual, hardcore or otherwise, guilds and what goes on inside them are an integral part of WoW life.  Some seem to flourish and stand the test of time, succeeding over whatever the game throws at them, while others tend to fail after only a short distance.  So what makes the successful guilds last?  If you ask me, a lot of it is to do with how the players (particularly the leaders) act and mesh with each other.  It makes sense that in order to be able to work together to conquer whatever it is that you're up against, a leader needs to be able to sustain a nurturing and positive environment full of like-minded individuals (and perhaps a naked gnome or two). 

Last night, my guild was lucky enough to inherit five new people who had all come from the same guild, and I expect more to follow.  This is great news for me, as I have spent the last few weeks getting to know them and I am confident that they will slot in to our current guild environment with ease, and in a double stroke of luck they will be padding out our raiding ranks nicely.  But what happened in their old guild to make them leave?  After talking to them all, there was one common complaint that stood out among them: the guild was stagnating.  The atmosphere of their guild had changed, no longer as enthusiastic, active or fun as it had been when they first started out.  So I sat down and asked myself - what are some things that I can do, as the leader of Requiém, to make sure that the same doesn't happen to my guild? 

As I said yesterday, the Monk is a frail yet powerful character who is difficult to play with. Should you survive, you'll be rewarded with a very satisfying feeling. Should you be destoryed -- over and over and over again -- you'll probably find yourself cursing at your monitor. Whatever the outcome, there's no denying that the Monk looks impressive in battle. See for yourself, below. Part 2 is after the jump.

Yes, that's the Monk in 4 places at once, punching everything in sight.

Last year at BlizzCon '08, I beat the Diablo III demo without dying, while playing as the Wizard. The spell casting, ranged attacks assured that I was usually far away from danger while basically torching every foe I encountered. This year I beat the Diablo III demo playing as the Monk, but not before biting the big one at least a dozen, maybe two dozen times. Needless to say, there were many moments of frustration, but they were far outweighed by the level of satisfaction I felt once I stepped away from the computer victorious. The Monk might be difficult to play with, but it makes winning all the more rewarding.

Hit the jump to watch the impressive footage shown at BlizzCon during the Monk's announcement.

Unable to attend Blizzcon this year (and every year) due to location and lack of coin, I was forced to hear about all the new World of Warcraft: Cataclysm announcements second hand as they came through in floods of tweets and blog posts.  Not that I am complaining, its still exciting to hear any news of the upcoming expansion and changes to current content even from afar.  For some the changes prove to be an instigator of drama, though, and as I re-typed out the news from twitter into guild chat there were plenty of complaints mixed in with the excited "oohs" and "ahhs".  From the angry hunters not wanting to be rid of their mana, to tanks freaking out at the loss of defense rating, to self-professed lore nerds expressing their disappointment at the inclusion of the new races, there seemed to be a definite air of displeasure hanging around the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for some.  However these were all initial reactions from people who didn't yet know all the mechanics or reasoning behind the changes - now that we've all had a bit of time to do some research and let them sink in, perhaps our gut reactions might have changed.

Sometimes missions take you into enemy territory, and Raynor's first foray out of the NOOBZ box was no different.  As soon as he sprung free from his packaging, he wanted nothing more than to survey his surroundings and learn about his newfound enemy: Mickey Mouse.  What we collected in the following is our documentary footage of the expedition.  Beware:  some content is disturbing -- it was, after all Disneyland.

We first caught site of Raynor out on the patio.  He had spied a new threat on the horizon.  The enemy, run by a one Mickey Mouse, had set up camp just a few clicks away, and was quickly converting resources into the materials of a deadly new kind of warfare -- Savagely spewing magic and fun at their enemies until even the most hardened warrior had his cynicism stripped from him and his inner child laid bare; gruesome was the only word for it.

World of Warcraft is a game where friendships are cultivated every day.  Some may only last for a short while, but many will stand the test of time, enduring expansion packs, major changes, guild rifts, server transfers and even faction changes.  A lot of these friends could have met before the game and may have even started playing together.  Or, it could be one of those relationships that seemingly sprang from nowhere, when you just happened to meet someone in the course of your game that ends up being one of your closest friends - but one that you've never seen in the flesh.  So what happens when you decide to meet?

I have been given the opportunity to meet one of my longest and dearest WoW buddies in a few months time, thanks to some really cheap airfares and another observant friend who told me about them.  We've known each other in an online capacity (mostly WoW, but we did meet on IRC before that - yes, we kicked it old school) for at least six years, but have never met in real life despite only being an hours flight away.  It's got to a point now that we often joke about how our eventual meeting would cause the universe to explode, but now that my flights are booked and plans are beginning to form, I'm pretty sure that being in each others company won't cause a Temporal Paradox (although that would be pretty nifty, we are different people after all).

Here's the scenario:  You've been raiding with your guild in World of Warcraft for a decent amount of time now, and your guild leader or an officer has asked you if you would like to lead this weekends raid.  It might be for a try out as a permanent position on guild staff, or they might simply not have enough hands on deck in order to lead the raid themselves for that week.  Either way, you accept, but then realise afterwards that this is quite possibly one of the biggest things you've ever had to do on WoW.  You want to make a good impression - and come across as a capable, responsible raid leader. 

Technical ability is important, but there is more than just your skills at dps/healing/tanking required in order to lead a successful raid - a fact many people seem to overlook.  It takes a special kind of person to make a really successful leader - with knowledge, a winning attitude and high organisational skill.  Remember that your demeanour and confidence are just as valuable (if not more so) than how high you can get on the meters, and you and your raid will go far.

Last month, I finally completed Resident Evil 5. Actually, it was my husband and I. Even though I had misgivings about the action/horror/first person shooter genre, I actually found myself enjoying it. Shooting down swaths of zombies with my AK47 while collecting goodies was fun! But, what made it even better was that I was playing with my husband. Resident Evil 5 actually got me thinking: what if I can play an RPG that has a co-op mode?  A few RPGs already tried incorporating that feature, but I’m talking about the real deal here - split-screens and plot lines that involve 2 main protagonists. And no, I'm not talking MMOs either - I'm thinking of an actual RPG that you can play with your real-life friends! How cool would that be?

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm addicted to addons.  My entire user interface is custom as you can see in the above picture, and has been for such a long time that I often have trouble using the default interface when having to play World of Warcraft on a different computer than my own (which is probably not a good thing).  Maybe its the web designer in me at work here, but I really enjoy finding new ways to improve the visibility, usability and functionality of all elements within my UI. 

Earlier this week I decided to update all of my main addons, and so I began looking about for some new ones at the same time.  After only a short search I came across some real gems that have proven invaluable to me over such a short space of time, and I just can't keep quiet about them.  Here's hoping they will all continue to function after Patch 3.2 today, and I'll post updates to this article once I find out (after I've slaved at work all day, dreaming of my new pink kitty form).