Twisted Nether Blogcast » News

New Battle.Net Community Site Preview

Fimlys — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 02:03:13 +0000

It seems that Deathwing will not be the only thing bringing changes to Azeroth as we know it, something new and exciting seems to be afoot over on the new WoW community site including the introduction of the new battle.net based forums! My name is Beruthiel and I’m here today to give you a little bit of a primer on how to navigate the new forums. While you are trying to find your way around this uncharted territory please take note that there are several new and exciting areas that are still under construction – including the migration of your realm forums over to the new battle.net system.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of exploring the changes these new forums bring us, I did want to encourage you all to take a few minutes to explore some of the new non-forum related features that the new WoW section on battle.net has for the community! You will find things like the game guide (still under development) and the community section where you will find things like fan art, contests and screenshots! Did you go and check them out? No?!?! Go on, go take a look. I’ll wait. Alright, back? Pretty cool, huh? I thought so too!

Navigating the New Forums In addition to a lot of the very cool new things that Blizzard added, the also upgraded the forums to do a lot of pretty neat new things. A lot of your forum navigation will look the same, but some of it will be a bit different! Let’s take a peek at what they can do now, shall we? Because I’m partial to druids, I’m going to explore in the new druid class forums. Once you’ve chosen what forum you want to visit, you will find that the main page of that forum will largely look the same, only a bit more graphic! It will lists posts and their authors, as well as how many pages are in the post just like they have always done. You can get a summary of the first paragraph of the posts by simply mousing over the post title in the forums. If you’d like to make a post, you will find that entering information is much the same. You will still have the option to enter quotes, lists, bold and italic characters as well as quotes. Once you’ve entered everything that you’d like to add to your post, you will use the “submit” button to publish it, much the same way you did on the old forums. Once a post has been published, you now have a new ability! You, the reader, can upgrade posts that you find helpful by using the thumbs up button found in the top right corner of the post. Conversely, you can downgrade posts that you found derogatory or unhelpful by downgrading those posts with the thumbs down button. If you find a post that you’d like to report for spam or trolling, or that you feel doesn’t really promote the community that the forums are trying to develop, you can report that post by selecting the triangle next to the thumbs down icon. You can use this same reporting method to request a forum moderator “sticky” a particularly helpful forum post, such as a class or leveling guide. Once a post has been reported, for any reason, it will be indicated by a silver bio-hazard looking symbol in the top right hand corner of the post.
You can find out information about the poster by selecting the down triangle next to the posters name. This is also where you will find the option to view all posts by that poster or opt to ignore all posts by that poster.

Managing Your Character Profile

You may not always want to post on the character that is listed on the top of the screen. That’s fine! We’ve got a really cool new interface for managing the characters that we want to represent us in our post. Simply select the down triangle next to your name to bring up the interface. Here you will have the option to select which character you’d like to use for posting and an option to manage your characters.
Note as well that this interface also provides a really fantastic option to search for your posts! Gone are the days of digging through post after post looking for something that you said two months ago!

Upon expanding the “Manage Characters” selection, you will find all of the characters that are associated with your battle.net account, regardless of what server they are on. From there you are able to manage more than just the handful of characters that are currently being listed.
In addition, you will notice that you have a new option to “view” your “profile”. This will conveniently take you to your armory page (which has also been updated!).

Overall, I think that these are fantastic improvements for the WoW Community.

I think that Blizzard is making a huge effort here to create a stronger community*, and the new tools that they have given us to do that are just amazing. I can’t encourage you enough to go and visit the new forums and community sites, I promise that you will find at least one thing there that tickles your fancy. Go on! Take a look!

*note that even if you were previously banned from the forums, your posting privileges have been reinstated, but the mods to ask that you behave!

Big Crits – Week 1

Fimlys — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:28:40 +0000

The first episode of Big Crits, the raiding guild web show by Stoneybaby, is available right now on their website with week 2 coming soon. Here is the description from the website:

Week 1 is about getting used to a new guild and a new group of people. Normally when you join a raiding guild you’re joining an existing group of people who are accustomed to working and playing together. Now imagine joining a raiding guild where every single person is new.

It was a good first week over all. We cleared the Lower Spire, Plague Wing, and Blood Wing, and rescued Dreamwalker.

So go check it out!

Announcing – Big Crits

Fimlys — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:43:16 +0000

by Stoneybaby

First of all I want to say a big thanks to Fim & Nib for letting me shout out to the TNB listeners about the Big Crits show. I’ve always been a huge fan of the show and the work they do for the WoW community. Thanks for keeping us together and more importantly entertained! [Ed: Aww.. Thanks]

As you may have read by now, I’m embarking on a new adventure. I’m starting up a new WoW guild, an end-game raiding guild called Big Crits. We’re going to start with a group of geared and experienced 80s from around the realms and dive in to tackle ICC. Here’s the best part: we’re going to record it all and make a web series about it.

I’ve written a lot on the subject already; there’s the post at WoW.com as well as some posts on the Big Crits blog, so there’s plenty to read if you want to learn more about what I want to accomplish with this show.

I kicked things off with a post on WoW.com and Big Hit Box about this project. It launched with a bigger bang than I could have hoped for, and I’ll tell you the weeks leading up to this I was freaking out.

I’m freaking out because I’m…

leaving the realm where I first started playing and leveled all my toons.
leaving my guild of 3+ years.
leaving a GM that I highly respect and would follow into battle IRL, and leaving the raiders that I love to play with.
changing factions and moving to a new realm where I have no friends and no knowledge of the player base.
investing a large chunk of cash into a recruitment video and editors for the show.
a show that doesn’t even have a cast!
a guild that doesn’t even have members!
I’M… I’M… WHAT AM I FRIGGIN NUTS?!!`1?!?~!?

Those were pretty much the thoughts I woke up to every morning and went to sleep with every night. When the recruitment video was delayed a week I have to be honest – I breathed a little sigh of relief. I thought to myself, “maybe I don’t have to take this chance. Maybe I can just stay in my safe, comfortable world.” Maybe maybe maybe.

But no. I committed myself to this path because I believe in it. I believe it’s the right time, the right thing, and if I don’t do it I’ll never forgive myself for not trying.

And so I kicked it off.

Since Tuesday night my inbox has been flooded with apps. It’s been an amazing start to the journey. We should have a full guild by Monday and start raiding (and recording) after raid reset Tuesday.

Now the next set of doubts creep in. You know that voice in the back of your head that does nothing but cast face-melting shadows. Come to think of it, taking chances is like fighting a Shadow Priest. There’s DoTs of worry and big critting moments of panic, Psychic Scream, Despair, and the Vampiric Embrace of self-doubt. The questions creep in:

What if it’s the most boring group of people ever?
What if everyone’s really cool and funny but die in the fire and can’t break 6k dps?
What if half the people quit the first week?
What if I suck as a GM?
What if the gold market crashes, the zeppelins fall out of the sky and Arthas /point /laughs at me?
What if…?

What if.

Fugit.

Here in NYC there’s a highly respected CEO whose rally cry to his people through the last few difficult years has been: “lean into the pain.” Make hard decisions. Have tough conversations. Face yourself honestly.

Definitely the hardest part of this journey was leaving my guild and those raiders. That was painful and a difficult decision to make. But it had to be done so I had to lean into the pain.

Times are tough IRL for a lot of us right now. I work in tech staffing and have seen and felt it firsthand. My advice is to you, whether in game or IRL is: Lean into the pain. Then buff up, flask up, check your weapons, and ATTACK!!

May all your hits be crits!

-Stoneybaby

New night/time for TNB recordings

Nibuca — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:46:40 +0000

Good news everyone!

Due to popular demand TNB will be changing our recording night and time! We’re changing our “regular”** recording nights to Fridays at 7:30 PM PST (yes, that’s also earlier for all you east coaster). Additionally, we’re going to be doing the whole show live***.

Hope to see you there!

** TNB reserves the right to occasionally have different night/time as our schedule and our guest’s schedules dictate.
*** TNB further reserves the right to interview “live”, “dead” or “undead” as the mood strikes us. Just sayin’

Back from the Con

Fimlys — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:21:23 +0000

Hey! Thanks to everyone that participated in our TNB liveblogs. We had a great turnout. If you haven’t gone to see it already, Twisted Nether has a Flickr stream.. Lots of Blizzcon ‘09 Pictures up. I’ve got pictures from the wow.com meetup. I have pictures from OUR TNB meetup! Go take a look! Here are a few samples

“The Fifth Network”

Nibuca — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:25:35 +0000

A Mediaweek article describes gaming as the “the fifth network” and suggest that based on a report by Nielsen PreView called The Video Game Handbook the time spent playing games is quickly overtaking the time spent viewing large TV networks. Although the article says that “TV doesn’t feel threatened” .. maybe it should.

A Farewell to Phae

Breana — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:28:36 +0000

As many of you already know, Phae from Resto4Life, will be closing her doors on March 19th. Phae has inspired many bloggers and with her grace and knowledge, not only helping solidify druids into a proud community but WoW bloggers in general. With the creation of Blog Azeroth and her wonderful spirit, Phae as touched all of us in one way or another. Join us as we say good by to Phae and wish her the best in the next phase of her life!

How you can participate!

Send us comments, letters or questions you would like us to ask Phae, but Friday , Feb 27th 10 pm EST. Feel free to email them to info@twistednether.net

Thank you guys. Send those letters!

Thank you Phae, your Nourishment has flourished in more ways you will ever know. You will be greatly missed!

And the secret guest is…

Breana — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:59:22 +0000

Big Bear Butt! Thanks Bear for agreeing to come on the show, we can’t wait to talk to you again. Good time to be had by all tonight 12:30 EST!

The Chipmunks Return…TNB Live This Friday!

Breana — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:38:04 +0000

Come join us for this special event! That’s right! The next Twisted Nether Blogcast will be recorded live and you can participate! Join us as we raid our virtual roundtable and discuss all things regarding WoW and blogging.

Who is going to be on the show?

We have Kestrel from Kestrel’s Aerie’s, Stop from the Stoppable Force, Ratters from Need More Rage, Vonya from Egotistical Priest and a possible special guest! Oh those hosts…what are their names…Bim and Fre?

That’s great Bre, stop selling the darn thing, and tell me when it is!

The show is scheduled for Friday, February 6th at 12:30 am EST (yes I know that technically makes its Saturday, Feb. 7rd)

Okay that is a start, now where do I go?

To participate on the live show, you will need to go to the TNB Ustream show and use the password tnb73 (the password is caps sensitive. Only use lowercase)

See, easy!

Some general ground rules:

Be nice. If you say very inappropriate things be aware you will be kicked from the room. We are doing this to have a great time, come with a beer, come during a raid, come how you wish, just don’t come to cause trouble.
You may ask questions to the participants during the show, but we reserve the right to use them if and when we can. I will be monitoring the chat room and if I can I will use the comments during the show. We love that you are with us, but I will have to weave them in. Even if it isn’t asked, we all appreciate your questions

Outside of that, we will love to have you join us and partake in an enlightening discussion that is sure to follow! If you have questions or topics you would like us to discuss, please send them in!

Hope to see you there!

TNB Wants Your Moments…

Breana — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:47:20 +0000

WoW moments that is!

We want you, our gentle listeners, to tell us your most “twisted” moment of 2008. A great save, a funny death, an awesome trick, that amazing gift, whatever your best moment is, share it with us! We want to know!

How to submit.

You can record your moment and send it to info @ twistednether.net

Call and leave us a voice mail at 206-203-4546!

Spread the word, write a post, sing a song and let’s ring in the new year with all the great memories of 2008!

No Show This Week…But We Want Your “Midnight” Voicemails

Breana — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:40:18 +0000

Seems that we had a perfect storm of Real Life slam into the TNB offices last week. First with Fim’s infection and then somehow, it spread to my computer and it crashed, taking with it my side of the interview with Euripedes. However, we have been in contact with Rip and he will be back on the show in the next couple of weeks to redo the Boss fight, I mean the interview.

Thank god he was so understanding and that you guys are so patient. We <3 you!

Also as a reminder, Fim will be hanging with BRK and Mania outside the Waterfordlakes Game Stop in Orlando.

I will be hanging and drinking at the Dolphin Mall in Miami.

For all the lunatics, like us, if you are going to be at a Midnight Event, call the voicemail and, please, please, please leave us a message! The number again is: 206-203-4546

If you want Fim to bombard BRK and Mania with questions, feel free to write them in the comments or send us a voicemail!

I will be bothering complete strangers in line tomorrow (strange things happen when I drink) so if you would like me to ask something silly, bring it on!

I will see or speak to you guys tomorrow!

Woot!

We Interrupt this Podcast…

Breana — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:36:02 +0000

Fim got infected last week via the Zombies and is a sick boy. The sucky germs got into his lungs and he has a bad case of bronchitis and this week’s TNB is not completed. It will be completed when Fim gets better and can actually talk for more than two minutes without losing a vital organ.

Thank you all for your patience and I promise when we update episode 23 you will have a fantastic magey interview by Euripedes. Keep your readers poised and ready!

Bre

Read All About It! TNB is Live This Friday!

Breana — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:37:14 +0000

Who is going to be on the show?

We have Kestrel from Kestrel’s Aerie’s, Anna from Too Many Annas, Ratshag from Need More Rage, Rav from NE L4Mobs, PST, Leafy from Lust For Flower, and our two special guests, Nibuca from Mystic Chinicary, reporting live from Blizzcon City and Krizzlybear from Frost is the New Black. Oh those hosts…what are their names…Bim and Fre?

That’s great Bre, stop selling the darn thing, and tell me when it is!

The show is scheduled for Friday, October 10th at 12:30 am EST (yes I know that technically makes its Saturday, October 11th)

Okay that is a start, now where do I go?

To participate on the live show, you will need to go to the TNB Ustream show and use the password tnb73 (the password is caps sensitive. Only use lowercase)

See, easy!

Some general ground rules:

Be nice. If you say very inappropriate things be aware you will be kicked from the room. We are doing this to have a great time, come with a beer, come during a raid, come how you wish, just don’t come to cause trouble.
You may ask questions to the participants during the show, but we reserve the right to use them if and when we can. I will be monitoring the chat room and if I can I will use the comments during the show. We love that you are with us, but I will have to weave them in. Even if it isn’t asked, we all appreciate your questions

Outside of that, we will love to have you join us and partake in an enlightening discussion that is sure to follow!

Hope to see you there!

Double Your Hosts!

Breana — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:37:46 +0000

We have a special show coming this week. Taking a break from the interviews, we are happy to have Matt and Wyn from World of Matticus join the ramble and be with us THE WHOLE SHOW!

Much like WI, this is your chance to ask the “Beta” testers all those questions you want to know. Send them in and we will pass them on to Matt and Wyn. There is a promise of giggles, beer, healer jokes, beta talk, Canadian(s), and incoherent conversation, don’t miss it!

TNB Needs You!

Breana — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:23:43 +0000

Bloggers, your podcast needs you! TNB is in desperate need for audio clips to use during the show. If you would like to give us shout-outs to be aired on the show.

“Hi, This is from and this is the Twisted Nether Blogcast”
“Hi, This is from and you have been listening to the Twisted Nether Blogcast”
“This is from and now for the Twisted News of the Week”
“This is from and here are some Hot Topics from the Internether”
“This is from and This weeks Twisted Blog is….”

You are welcome to mix them up a bit and “make em your own”.. Include your name and blog anywhere you’d like. As many or few as you want to record.

The format:

MP3 is best, but we will take .wav files. Do you need an app to record? We use audacity.

Please preface your .wav files with your name or blogname (your choice). Please include at minimum your name so we can archive it.

Where to send your files:

You can send your clips to fimlys at gmail dot com. Need help? Don’t be shy and drop us a line, we will be happy to help!

TNB is LIVE!

Breana — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:08:02 +0000

EDIT: Well, it’s over! Thanks to everyone who participated. Hopefully I will have a recorded version of the show online on monday..

Come join us for this special event! That’s right! For one show, the Twisted Nether Blogcast will be recorded live and you can participate! Join us as several WoW bloggers come over to our virtual roundtable and discuss all things regarding WoW and blogging.

Who is going to be on the show?

We have Kestrel from Kestrel Aeire’s, Phae from Resto4Life, Matticus from World of Matticus, Auzara from Chick GM and Anna from Too Many Annas. Oh those hosts…what are their names…Bim and Fre?

That’s great Bre, stop selling the darn thing, and tell me when it is!

The show is scheduled for Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 12:30 am EST (yes I know that technically makes its Sunday, July 20, just go with me on this)

Okay that is a start, now where do I go?

To participate on the live show, you will need to go to the TNB Ustream show and use the password tnb73 (the password is caps sensitive. Only use lowercase)

See easy!

Some general ground rules:

Be nice. If you say very inappropriate things be aware you will be kicked from the room. We are doing this to have a great time, come with a beer, come during a raid, come how you wish, just don’t come to cause trouble.
You may ask questions to the participants during the show, but we reserve the right to use them if and when we can. I will be monitoring the chat room and if I can I will use the comments during the show. We love that you are with us, but I will have to weave them in. Even if it isn’t asked, we all appreciate your questions

Outside of that, we will love to have you join us and partake in an enlightening discussion that is sure to follow!

Hope to see you there!

Tick Tock!!! Time is Running Out!

Breana — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:19:18 +0000

The end of the TN Commercial contest is quickly approaching and will be all over in just 4 DAYS! If you want to submit, it isn’t too late to get into the action, just send your audio clips to us by next Monday, June 30th.

Remember the commercial has to be for a real in-game item, no more than a minute long (20-30 seconds preferably) and must be sent via email to Fimlys at gmail dot com.

Any questions regarding this, please feel free to email us or use the forums!

Get recording!

How to Submit Your Blog to TN Wiki

Breana — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:19:14 +0000

If you have heard Episode 5 or been to the Twisted Nether site, you may know about our new project. We haz WIKI! That’s right, thanks to the great efforts of Auzara, Kestrel, Phae, and Loronar, we have a wiki to call our own.

This wiki is open to all and needs you help to keep it as up-to-date as possible.

This means go to the wiki site, see if your blog or the blogs you read are there. If not, there are several things you can do to let us know!

Authors:

If you are an author of a blog and don’t see you site on the wiki, please let us know. Here are a couple of steps you will need to take:

Step 1:

Send us an email with your blog’s information. We would like the following format to make it easier for us to include:

Name of site:
Name of Author:
Focus of site: General, mage, hunter, etc (Please pick one focus) If you aren’t sure what you are, email me at bre@twistednether.net and we can talk about it.
URL of site:
RSS feed URL:

Email that information to wiki@twistednether.net and subject as “TNB Wiki”. We will get to it as soon as well can .

Step 2:

Just like Wikipeda, we would like have some information on your site, when you site is added to the wiki, please create a username and edit your blog info. We are in the works getting a template set up for bloggers. Meanwhile, Phae’s entry will give you an idea of what to write. If you aren’t sure, feel free to email me.

Reader:

Don’t see a blog on the wiki or a utility site? Let us know at wiki@twistednether.net, subject TNB Wiki. Please sent us the url and we will take care of the rest.

We are really hoping this will become a great resource that will make it easier for people to discover new blogs and sites they may have missed, but this is truly a community effort!

Internether Roundup 6/23/08

Breana — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:09:24 +0000

Is it that time again! That’s right boys and girls, it is roundup time! We are excited to have Auzara from Chick GM joining us as our Twisted Blog next episode. If there are any burning questions you would like to ask her, feel free to send them in! Also, summer is here…Midsummer, that is! That is right, the Midsummer festival is going on and if want all the 411 regarding flames, fashion and fun, you have reached the right place. Here are a few posts you may have missed!

Midsummer fun:

Grumble and Autumnn have a great article on what you are suppose to do with all the bonfires.
Leafy from Leafshine struts his stuff in this great video
Siha from Banana Shoulders offers some great links in her post The Fire Festival is here!. Some are:

Letters From Birdfall: Fire Festival, or “Pretty Clothes That Set You On Fire — Literally” – a good guide to the available quests, how to do them, and what you get out of them.

/hug: Things are heatin’ up on the test realm… Midsummer is here! (there?) – a summary from the PTR testing out the content, covering some stuff that Birdfall’s post doesn’t.

Update! A Dwarf Priest: Midsummer Fire Festival – a good, comprehensive guide to all the content.

Check out the post for the rest!

Know of an awesome post we should see, blogs that have moved, closed or are new to the party? Sent me an email at bre@twistednether.net or leave it in the comments!

Internether Roundup 6/19/08

Breana — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:48:55 +0000

Is it that time again! That’s right boys and girls, it is roundup time! We are excited to have Pike from Aspect of the Hare joining us as our Twisted Blog next episode. If there are any burning questions you would like to ask her, feel free to send them in! Also this week, wanted to extend a huge thank you to Epic Dolls for mentioning Twisted Nether in their last episode. Go listen, it is great. Here are a few posts you may have missed!

Hay to Munch on:

Runyarusco from Unbearably HoT offers sound blogging advice in: How I shot the web? Blogging with an Audience
Anna from Too Many Annas tries to keep the raid channel open in : Can you hear me now?
Auzara from ChickGM lets us know that even though things must come to an end, at least do it with grace in : Dying with Dignity
Larisa from Larisa’s Corner offers ways we can get ourselves back in the game in: Focus- where you find it?
Maerdred from Treebound Cat provides some assistance with mouseover macros in : Mouseover Macros for Druid Healers

Know of an awesome post we should see, blogs that have moved, closed or are new to the party? Sent me an email at bre@twistednether.net or leave it in the comments!

Just a reminder, our contest is still going on, be sure to send in your submission! Click here for da rules!

iArmory

Breana — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:09:38 +0000

How many times has this happened to you? You walk into a store with your WoW related t-shirt and you bump into someone who plays the game. The two of you get a-talking, and coincidentally, his main is the same class as yours. The conversation veers towards gear and he says, “I wish you could look at my stuff.”

Of course, being in the middle of Pottery Barn, you can’t find a computer to access the Armory. Thus your opportunity to enlighten Joe the is lost.

If you have an iphone, this never has to happen again!

This is all thanks to SaladFork of Omen of Clarity. Our boy Fork, decided, this travesty needed to rectified and has created iArmory! Now, when Sally the needs gear advice, all you have to do is whip out your trusty iphone!

Fork would love testers for this new app. So if you have an iphone and want this ASAP, I suggest you go to his site and check it out.

Wut’s this! Another WoW Podcast???

Breana — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:43:21 +0000

Hello Internet denizens! Welcome from whatever reaches of the void you hail from and thank you for visiting our little humble home. Many be wondering, what is “Twisted Nether?” Well, my friends, I will enlighten you. Twisted Nether is an upcoming podcast poised to feature news and topics inspired by World of Warcraft and the people who love to write about it: bloggers.

Many of the most controversial and intelligent conversations regarding World of Warcraft, the affects of MMOs and how they impact our real lives can be found on bloggers pages. They are you, me and anyone who loves WoW. Join us each week as we dive into the nether and highlight the topics and trends that are affecting this fascinating community!