L2Ptv has recently announced their official launch over at L2Ptv.com and so the timing is perfect to write up an RSS article discussing what the site has to offer.

L2Ptv is a site dedicated to helping every player in World of Warcraft operate to their fullest potential. There are well-produced and informative videos [...]]]>

L2Ptv has recently announced their official launch over at L2Ptv.com and so the timing is perfect to write up an RSS article discussing what the site has to offer.

L2Ptv is a site dedicated to helping every player in World of Warcraft operate to their fullest potential. There are well-produced and informative videos available for all classes and specs as well as boss strategies, and forums for the community. Their goal is to provide an environment where players do not need to fear public humiliation for asking “the wrong questions” which is, unfortunately, the case on some other information sites out there.

The basic video tutorials on class/spec feature discussion on talents, gearing, stat priority, gemming, and of course rotations. They will even show gameplay to go along with, particularly, the rotation portion.

L2Ptv also features premium content. It is a subscription based package that gives access to the entire site including boss fights, heroic and normal difficulty, from each of the different class/spec’s and also full access to the forum portion of the site. I highly recommend going to the premium section to see the sample videos posted to see what the subscription will get you.

I will say I am very interested in at least trying a month of the subscription plan, simply to see the videos of the Dragon Soul boss fights from my class/spec perspective.

Remember that the class/spec tutorials are free as well as the boss strategy videos, the premium subscription is the next tier of videos that go into the POV of each class/spec for each of the bosses on both heroic and normal difficulties.

Every raiding character in World of Warcraft should watch their class/spec video, because having information presented to you in a very well-produced video format can very often be more effective than reading text in a threaded forum post. The videos at L2Ptv are in-depth and well-made and watching the Combat Rogue video I learned I was missing a very key part of the synergy of one of my main cooldowns.

Check them out, you’ll be happy you did!

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am the host

Who doesn’t love spreadsheets, am I right? Deep down inside you know you love them. Reading them. Editing them. Pouring over them to eek out the last smidgen of dps from your gear set.

Are… are those crickets?

So not everyone is as enthralled by spending hours tweaking data fields in Excel [...]]]>

Who doesn’t love spreadsheets, am I right? Deep down inside you know you love them. Reading them. Editing them. Pouring over them to eek out the last smidgen of dps from your gear set.

Are… are those crickets?

So not everyone is as enthralled by spending hours tweaking data fields in Excel as I am. However we all need to optimize our gear. Even if you are a not a hardcore theorycrafter it’s great to know what pieces to reforge and what gems to socket to get the most out of your gear.

There is of course the ever present Ask Mr Robot. But sometimes you want more specific and focused information to your class. Playing a Rogue I use Shadowcraft, the site dedicated to Rogue gear and talent optimization.

Shadowcraft is clean, easy to use, intuitive, and feature packed. And best of all, it’s darned pretty.

You start by selecting your character from the opening page and your gear will appear as above. You will get your optimal dps output (note that this is based on party buffs and maximum time on boss, make certain to adjust what buffs you will be receiving in the settings tab). Make certain to refresh from armory to get the most accurate data. I forgot to do so here:

All of those gem slots are filled and all gear has been reforged. You can see how much of an increase proper gemming and reforging can be.

To get the most accurate information make certain, as I said, to go into settings and remove any buffs you’ll not be receiving, which is fairly easy to determine, if there is no Shaman in your group, you’ll not be getting Strength of Earth or Wrath of Air (mores the pity >.> ).

If you are of the Rogue-ish persusasion, and why the heck would you not be, really? head over to Shadowcraft and start using the site to optimize your gear and talent selections. You’ll not be disappointed by the results!

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am the host

Noxxic – World of Warcraft Cataclysm Guides is currently in Beta, but like most things currently residing in Beta status, namely every product Google has every pushed out, it is clean, concise, and appears to be working as intended.

What Noxxic provides are class guides, current to Cataclysm, and a very elegant [...]]]>

Noxxic – World of Warcraft Cataclysm Guides is currently in Beta, but like most things currently residing in Beta status, namely every product Google has every pushed out, it is clean, concise, and appears to be working as intended.

What Noxxic provides are class guides, current to Cataclysm, and a very elegant format. Traditionally one would need to go to sites like Elitist Jerks and then drill down through the forums to find information like this, or at the very least, find a central source for all of the classes. I have heard a few folks in the community of late mention that there are whispers of EJ losing some of its credibility. Perhaps this is simply in terms of being up-to-date, or perhaps their hard-edge nature and public humiliation component in terms of bannings has finally caught up to them. That is not a statement I am making, simply expounding on a possibility.

Well what is someone to do if they want a central source for all things class guides and either do not enjoy the EJ environment or simply do not trust the information? Noxxic is a wonderful alternative that I highly recommend trying.

I myself have found a use for it already. I have played, on my Rogue, the Assassination spec since very early ICC content and just recently picked up a Mace and started rolling as Combat. Obviously, I knew nothing about modern Combat spec mechanics, so I went to Noxxic and had a great time reading up on the new rotations and such.

That’s one of the greatest benefits of Noxxic, it’s just so pretty to look at. Head over there and see it for yourself!

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a host

How’s this for an opening line? – Raidbots is World of Logs on steroids?

Actually I do not much care for that one, too negative of a connotation. Lets try this -

Raidbots is World of Logs on Hypermode, with visual data’s!

That’s more like it.

Raidbots is a site that takes the [...]]]>

How’s this for an opening line? – Raidbots is World of Logs on steroids?

Actually I do not much care for that one, too negative of a connotation. Lets try this -

Raidbots is World of Logs on Hypermode, with visual data’s!

That’s more like it.

Raidbots is a site that takes the entirety of the World of Logs database, compiles it, and gives it to you with visual representation and allows you to set up custom parses to compare raids, classes, roles, etc. to your own specifications. And does it so effortlessly, it’s actually FUN!

Want to know how Marksmanship Hunters stack up with Balance Druids on heroic Shannox 25 man? Raidbots can show you that with exacting parameters to meet your needs/desires.

The site works so well in fact I was able to test it out on my mobile phone and it worked perfectly.

Even if you are not the hard core min/max type, or the exacting theorycrafter, Raidbots is still a very cool site to play with and check out some very shiny graphs. And who doesn’t like graphs, really?

I like to give credit where credit is due, but I honestly forget what podcast I was listening to that featured an interview with the sites creator (I listen to an obnoxious amount of podcasts) though I believe it was The Hunting Party Podcast. (Please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong).

As always I highly recommend going to the site to check it out, even if you think it’s not something you will use, because you never know until you try! At least that’s what I keep telling my 3 year old daughter with considerable food pickiness

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my less-than-often updated blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a host

The Visual Roleplay Gear List is a dream come true for every player in WoW wanting to partake [...]]]>

This RSS was a suggestion by Apple (aka Azeroth Apple) and Rades and I would like to thank both of them for such a wonderful pick! More suggestions for WoW resources are ALWAYS appreciated! =)

The Visual Roleplay Gear List is a dream come true for every player in WoW wanting to partake in Transmogrification coming out in patch 4.3 shortly.

This site so wonderfully compiles a vast array of gear sets, both tiers and just matching outfits, by armor class, and with links and instructions to acquire the pieces, that it will instill hope in the hearts of even the most pessimistic folks who feel they will never put together their own unique kit.

That was a long sentence. Sorry about that. Two short ones should make up for it.

I will not admit how much time I spent while at work looking through The Visual Roleplay Gear List deciding what the perfect look will be for my Holy Paladin, or my Assassination Rogue. It was a lot. Hours, likely.

Stop reading this, and go “dress shopping.” You will thank me. And Apple. And Rades.

Shiny.

Go there, go shopping, enjoy!

Cheers!

~Ril

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my less-than-often updated blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a host

Are you an Auction House junkie? Do you walk around your office mumbling to yourself about buying out the flask supply to create an artificial monopoly, or replace marketing tactics in a board meeting with specifics on doing “the Eternals shuffle?”

If this describes you… seek help. Immediately.

If you found [...]]]>

Are you an Auction House junkie? Do you walk around your office mumbling to yourself about buying out the flask supply to create an artificial monopoly, or replace marketing tactics in a board meeting with specifics on doing “the Eternals shuffle?”

If this describes you… seek help. Immediately.

If you found that line mildly amusing but you are in fact someone that plays the auction house often, even to the extent of having the mobile app in hand to move things on the Warcraft market while in between printing off cover sheets for your TPS reports, than AHSpy should be right up your proverbial alley.

The following is a direct copy/paste quote from the front page of AHSpy as to what this tool is:

“AHSpy is an awesome new tool that let’s you see World of Warcraft auctions and item pricing information in real time. Not only is AHSpy incredibly easy to use, it will also allow you to see the value of any actionable item in the last 30 days in any realm/faction. You will also be able to see the auction history of any seller. And because we get our data directly from Battle.Net and not from user uploads, we know that our stats are as exact as they can be.”

I am certain I could not describe it any better.

As you can see from the screen capture at the top of this article the site is in beta, but from all accounts is working as intended.

AHSpy has even gone as far as to open their API to web developers or any other Warcraft sites, so if you have your own site pertaining to the in game economy, or perhaps have a resource site yourself, contact the fine folks at AHSpy and arrange the use of this service.

One other cool feature, AHSpy is multilingual, as seen here:

Sprechen in der Deutschen klasse!

This RSS was found while listening to The Instance, and was a recent “Drop of the Week” on that podcast.

Cheers & Truly,
~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | check out my less-than-often updated blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a host

And that source is WoW Interface [...]]]>

Despite the fact that Curse gets a great deal of attention, and I point a finger at myself for this (see the Addonation segment at the close of each TNB show), there is a very viable alternative source for World of Warcraft addons out there on the internetherz…

And that source is WoW Interface (wowinterface.com)

My biggest pull to Curse over WoW Interface was always that I preferred the UI of Curse. However, WoW Interface has clearly and markedly increased the quality of their UI and to say the least, I think it’s beautiful! It’s simple, yet attention grabbing, great colors, and well laid out.

I certainly intend to feature WoW Interface in my Addonation segments for the podcast moving forward and I encourage all of you to head to WoW Interface to “shop” for your addons and UI mods as well. This is a site that is showing that they understand the community and our needs.

Cheers & Truly,
~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my recently reborn blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a host

You have never actually seen a female dwarf right? I know I haven’t, and I have spent years in Ironforge.

Well this weeks RSS features a female dwarf, so I would say that is scientific proof that they do indeed exist!

Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer (found at femaledwarf.com) is a site dedicated [...]]]>

You have never actually seen a female dwarf right? I know I haven’t, and I have spent years in Ironforge.

Well this weeks RSS features a female dwarf, so I would say that is scientific proof that they do indeed exist!

Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer (found at femaledwarf.com) is a site dedicated to the our gun totin’, arrow shootin’, pet lovin’ brethren and is designed with the explicit purpose of maximizing their damage output (afterall, they need all the help they can get) … (Just kidding)

I love DPS analyzers, always have, always will. While I do not yet play a hunter (I do indeed plan on rolling one, so I can honestly use the term yet) I can see that this is a well designed and easy to use resource for the hunter class.

If my good buddy Muzzleloader on the Earthen Ring realm is reading this, he is a new player in World of Warcraft and he is already crunching the BIS sheets for his hunter gear, so if he is not already using femaledwarf.com, he will be now, or I shall not allow him food or frosty beverage (beer) the next time his wife and he comes to have dinner at my families house. ^.^

So if you are one of those gun totin’, bow shootin’, pet lovin’ huntering folks, check out Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer (found at femaledwarf.com) and watch your place on the deeps meter escalate quickly.

Cheers & Truly,
~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my recently reborn blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

** The above image is not from our spotlight site, Ask Mr. Robot, but I thought it was just too durned cute not to add it ^.^ **

On the request of the big boss man, Fimlys, and by recommendation of my fellow OverLore host Nibuca, I am reviewing Ask Mr. Robot [...]]]>

** The above image is not from our spotlight site, Ask Mr. Robot, but I thought it was just too durned cute not to add it ^.^ **

On the request of the big boss man, Fimlys, and by recommendation of my fellow OverLore host Nibuca, I am reviewing Ask Mr. Robot this week for the RSS article.

I have said it before, throughout Wrath I was a hardcore min/maxer. I used a vast array of websites, spreadsheets, and even java script based gear and talent optimizers. In fact my extreme love of these tools lead me to be Murloc Rolled on GroupQuest, one of Medros‘ shows on Dawn Forge.

[If you haven't noticed, I'm in a bit of a pimp-a-licious mood today, but I'll keep the remaining pimpage to Ask Mr. Robot]

Ask Mr. Robot, or rather Mr. Robot’s World of Warcraft Gear Optimization and Theorycraft Website!, is one such site that I will assuredly be using in my Cataclysm min-maxing, and also for making choices in dungeons to run for gear acquisitions and reputation priorities as well. Like all gear optimization tools you cannot bank on these being 100% accurate. That’s impossible. There are very complicated soft caps and hard caps at play, as well as constantly changing mechanics that require a full time job just to keep with for one class and spec, let alone 30. However Ask Mr. Robot is a very well crafted site with an easy and intuitive UI that every player of World of Warcraft can find useful and should use to make their gearing and enchanting/gemming choices.

Once at askmrrobot.com start by selecting the “Gear Optimizer” and import your character by inputing your realm name and character name, then start plugging away at gear pieces and enchantments. There are some good advanced features, but even the most casual user will be able to use the site to great affect.

I found several adorable robots while searching for the header image, and I feel it would be a disservice to not include them, so I will close out the post with these adorable robot pictures. Whether you like it or not.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

This site was suggested to me by Fimlys and I must say thank you, because this is such a geekishly cool site to play with even if you are not at the point in your Cataclysm raid career yet to fully take advantage of the functionality.

What Boss Blueprint allows you to do [...]]]>

This site was suggested to me by Fimlys and I must say thank you, because this is such a geekishly cool site to play with even if you are not at the point in your Cataclysm raid career yet to fully take advantage of the functionality.

What Boss Blueprint allows you to do is create a boss strategy for any given Cataclysm raid boss by taking a top down screenshot of the bosses “room” and draw out a blueprint on the floor, marking movements, placements for every role, “bad” spots (don’t stand in the stupid!!), and all the icons are re-sizable and infinitely movable.

Once done, you can save your strategy blueprint and you will be given an HTML and BBCode embed code to put into an email or, better yet, post on your guilds website.

I have yet to set foot into a Cataclysm raid (an area of which I am not very pleased) and I still find myself geeking out over this site and the many ways to play with it! Shiny.

Please note, I have already specified I have not seen the inside of a single raid in Cata, but I am going to create a strategy to link here, I do not want to see any comments saying “YUR SUCH A NUB, that strat is worng, u’ll blow up yur raid w/ that…” If I do receive any of those comments, I will send an army of zombie rats to your house. You have been warned.

I mean it, I have an entire army of hungry zombie rats just itching to eat some WoW player brains. I very likely just drew a blueprint for certain doom and death, but I care not, it was just an example. Do not test me, these rats are hungry I tell you, hungry!

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

[insert class/spec here] is overpowered!

[insert class/spec here] needs to be buffed!

How many times have we heard this? For me, too many to count, and enough to induce nausea. Frankly I am of the opinion that a raid environment would function far better if meters were only visible to the raid [...]]]>

[insert class/spec here] is overpowered!

[insert class/spec here] needs to be buffed!

How many times have we heard this? For me, too many to count, and enough to induce nausea. Frankly I am of the opinion that a raid environment would function far better if meters were only visible to the raid leader. And this is quite hypocritical of someone who prided himself on min/maxing every last detail of his Rogue in an attempt to be at the top of the meters throughout ToGC and ICC, spending hours pouring over sims and spreadsheets to eek out the last drop of dps possible.

However, despite hanging up my daggers (for now at least) and taking up the mantle of a healer, I still know how much dps plays a role in Warcraft endgame raiding. And the discussion will never end of “what spec is the top dps”. State of DPS exists for one reason only. To parse out the data from World of Logs and take a weighted average of the top 200 DPS’ers in the world and chart their numbers, to show what is the overall top damage spec, and on specific fights.

It isn’t fancy. It isn’t flashy. It is simple, clean, and efficient in what it gives us. For me, it does bring a sad Ril tear to my eye to see that Subtlety Rogues are by far and away the lowest damage producing spec in the game. I miss the days of Burning Crusade Shadowstep Swords PvP more than I could ever explain… but alas…

So yes, State of DPS is simple. It gives us the current state of dps in World of Warcraft high end progression raiding. Should you feel bad that you are not producing the numbers listed here? NO. If you do, let me reach out through the inter-nether and smack you. However, this could give reasoning to why that Shadow Priest in your guild is creaming you on the meters, despite you having slightly better gear.

Especially if you are the poor fool still trying to raid as Subtlety spec.

I tip my hat to you, sir.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

It is always my intention to find resources each week that are useful to every reader. Or at the least, I try to convince you that it is indeed useful even if you do not collect pets, or participate in PvP. This week however, I care not for whether it is useful to [...]]]>

It is always my intention to find resources each week that are useful to every reader. Or at the least, I try to convince you that it is indeed useful even if you do not collect pets, or participate in PvP. This week however, I care not for whether it is useful to everyone, because this resource is so good you are a fool for not using it.

First off, I need to thank a friend of mine for turning me on to this site by linking it in her twitter feed. Liala (@DiscoPriest) who is the writer/creator of Disciplinary Action, posted a tweet about todays Resource Site Spotlight – The Undermine Journal, and I have been fascinated with this site ever since. (PS. I’m still waiting for that revenge you swore upon me in photoshop form ^.^ )

The Undermine Journal (still in beta though functioning brilliantly in my mind) is a newspaper written for the player of the Auction House in World of Warcraft. It features articles and stories pertaining to the WoW economy, but most of all it boasts a feature that will allow for the searching of the Auction House on each US realm for goods and buyers, giving amazing statistics on the search queries and generating GRAPHS! Now you tell me, what geek worth her salt does not smile at the site of a graph like these:

Now, I don’t know about you, but seeing items broken down with that degree of information makes me want to log in immediately onto my bank alt (pictured in last weeks article) and get down and dirty with the AH. The Undermine Journal can provide graphs like these, and more (I didn’t want to post every image or graph, but yes there is more) for apparently every item sold on your local Auction House. Again the site still is in beta, but it appears to be functioning, at least to me, as well as can be expected.

The amazing thing is how well polished it is. I am blown away at the detail every function has been given and the fit and finish the site shows. It’s formatted beautifully, and has a better online newspaper feel than most online newspapers. I cannot help but wonder at how much better the site will get when the developers peel off the beta label.

I cannot say enough how easily navigable The Undermine Journal is, and how streamlined the entire experience feels. Even if you are a casual tinkerer on the Auction House, you can benefit greatly from this site and the amazing information it puts at your fingertips, or mouse pointer, as it were.

Take it from me, you owe it to your bank alt to use this site for your AH research, in conjunction with the ever-popular auctioneer addon of course. If the realms were up currently, I would be on there hawking my goods right now.

Again the site is The Undermine Journal, and for an even greater look at the inner-workings of this fine site you can check out the developer blog here: http://blog.theunderminejournal.com/

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

This past week on TIPOAA (The Incredible Podcast of Amazing Awesomeness) Mike and Turpster had an email from a listener who said that since “Whats the Mats” closed down (Whats the Mats was a database site for warcraft craftables) he or she had been looking for a site to replace it’s functionality. They [...]]]>

This past week on TIPOAA (The Incredible Podcast of Amazing Awesomeness) Mike and Turpster had an email from a listener who said that since “Whats the Mats” closed down (Whats the Mats was a database site for warcraft craftables) he or she had been looking for a site to replace it’s functionality. They gave BankAlt.com a try, and said that it has been updated for Cataclysm, and though the site is in beta, it looks to be a nicely working database focusing specifically on craftables in World of Warcraft.

There isn’t a great deal one could write on a site like this. What it does is streamlines the gargantuan database of World of Warcraft items and quests and the like, and presents to you your search answers limited to the materials needed for crafting items in game.

If you were a fan of “Whats the Mats” than you should certainly enjoy BankAlt.com

It is in beta still, but looks to be functioning properly. I haven’t tested it fully, in truth because I do not have any crafting skills to Cataclysm levels yet.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the screenshot is my bank alt, there are very few graphics on BankAlt.com that would work well as a screenshot for the article

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

Like most of the articles I write for the RSS I like the attach a sufficient amount of personal experience to the resource. The personal experience I have with this site is unfortunately none, and that is unfortunate for me because in Wrath I began a quest to get exalted with every single [...]]]>

Like most of the articles I write for the RSS I like the attach a sufficient amount of personal experience to the resource. The personal experience I have with this site is unfortunately none, and that is unfortunate for me because in Wrath I began a quest to get exalted with every single Wrath faction, and I did, prior to the reputation gain buffs, with the only exception being The Explorers League, that I only had to Friendly prior to the buff, so that was the only reputation I was gaining in dungeon runs prior to entering ICC and working on Ashen Verdict.

What is unfortunate is that I did not know if this site prior to my rep grinds. Given this sites main focus being reputation and the gaining thereof, I am quite certain that any number of the guides here would have helped me tremendously.

At my current level of play in Cataclysm I am actually having a remarkably difficult time gaining reputation. The tabard system is still in effect, but I feel like I am struggling to make headway with the tabards alone, and I have not unlocked even a fraction of the daily quest lines because the VAST majority of my leveling was done in the LFD, and not in questing. I think the Vash’jir is the only zone in which I have completed more than 10 quests. Wowjuju is going to enable me to focus in on the reputation gains I need to make [emphasis need] in order to gear my Paladin properly to begin raiding.

Wowjuju is equipped with a feature that is seen in many resources, but with a new twist I have not seen prior. There is a character calculator, much like other sites, that pulls information from the armory; the difference is that Wowjuju focuses in only on reputations for the character. Not gearing, not item enhancements, not raid progression. It is so exquisitely simple that it necessitates appreciation.

Guides and articles abound for the achievements and gains of all the factions within World of Warcraft. Updates are frequent and with well written, concise articles.

Normally I would say here – “If you are interesting gaining reputation with any or all of the factions in World of Warcraft then head on over to Wowjuju” – but the thing is, everyone SHOULD be interesting in gaining reputation with at least the Cataclysm factions, because our gear and shoulder/head slot enchantments are directly tied into these factions, and even PvP’ers have a great deal to gain from faction reputation.

Therefore, go to Wowjuju. That’s it. Fairly simple right? (Or as our Canadian brethren would say – “Fairly simple, eh?”)

Cheers!

~Rilandune

You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune | read my (currently nuked but coming back soon) blog – Heroically Random | Listen to the other Twisted Nether podcast, The OverLores, of which I am a cohost

I know what you are thinking – “everyone knows about curse” – and while this may be true, this spotlight ties in directly with my Addon Junkie segment for tonight’s TNB broadcast. And also, there are still folks out there that do not know what addons are, or do not use them because [...]]]>

I know what you are thinking – “everyone knows about curse” – and while this may be true, this spotlight ties in directly with my Addon Junkie segment for tonight’s TNB broadcast. And also, there are still folks out there that do not know what addons are, or do not use them because they think they are unneeded or too much trouble. These are the people I must reach out to. I must show them the light. I must bring them to the dark side – that is actually a bad string of analogies… hmmmmmm

Curse.com is a World of Warcraft (among other games) addon and UI site where one can go to find nearly every addon and UI compilation available in WoW. There is one other major player in that market, perhaps I shall write a spotlight on that site soon as well. Curse has a feature, the Curse Client, that is both wonderful and slightly controversial at the same time. I myself resisted using the client for some time because of things I was told about other similar tools like WoW Matrix, and that the addon authors themselves did not like the client and its function. Since then I have come to find that the addon authors are indifferent to it’s uses and that the security issues that had been a concern with other tools seems to not be present with the Curse client.

I run my PC on ultra-paranoia mode. I am one of those individuals that believes someone is always watching – because lets face it, someone always is! I run daily virus scans, malware scans, registry scans, I wipe all cookies and cache data, I defrag at least thrice weekly. I stop short of running a TOR system, but only because I haven’t quite figured out how to yet, but thats coming.

All this is to say that I have never once found the Curse client to be in any way insecure, so in my opinion that is an unfounded claim.

What I do know is that my extreme addon addiction would not be nearly as manageable without the help of Curse.com and the Curse Client – which allows for one to have an alert when any of their addons have updates ready, and with a few simple clicks from a centralized desktop tool, update those addons without having to access the browser or drill down through a file structure with an unzip tool.

Also, the Curse Client allows for an almost shopping cart experience in searching for new addons, popular addons, etc.

If you have been one of those folks that have felt addons are unneccessary, please join us on the dark side and customize that UI of yours. Or, if you are a user of the other major player in the addon site market, I encourage you to check out Curse. Having some competition in the marketplace is always a good thing, and seeing a fresh site with a different layout is always refreshing as well.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

PS. Make sure to tune in for tonight’s Twisted Nether Blogcast as I will be speaking about the Curse Client and handing out some homework – don’t worry, it’s the fun kind.

*****Each week Rilandune can be heard on the Twisted Nether Blogcast with his segment contribution, the Addon Junkie Segment, wherein he discusses the UI and Addon aspects of WoW. The weekly Resource Site Spotlight is his contribution to the Twisted Nether Blog in written form. And last, but not least, you can hear Rilandune and the rest of the OverLore’s on the Twisted Nether Networks newest show, The OverLore’s, where five brave individuals level Worgen together and delve the depths of the forgotten bastions of antiquity and lore in World of Warcraft, recorded and sent to your ears in podcast form.*****
twitter.com/rilandune
heroicallyrandom.com

The World of Warcraft community has always found things they latch onto, from particular sites, to blogs, podcasts, and even E-RP hangouts (I have not set foot in Goldshire for 2 years and I turn off general chat, just in case, anytime I step foot in Elwynn Forest – I suggest you do [...]]]>

The World of Warcraft community has always found things they latch onto, from particular sites, to blogs, podcasts, and even E-RP hangouts (I have not set foot in Goldshire for 2 years and I turn off general chat, just in case, anytime I step foot in Elwynn Forest – I suggest you do the same).

Allakhazam was one of the two main sites used as the WoW database before the time of WoWHead and, to my knowledge WoWWiki Wowpedia; Thottbot being the second. I had a guildmate that insisted on pronouncing the name of that site as “Tee Hot Bot”, never could figure that one out. Anyway…

Recently I stumbled upon Allakhazam again, and I have to say I really like the new design and feel. It focuses very much on article posting, it even has a direct database tie in with WoWHead (there may be some connection there in terms of ownership perhaps, I was lazy and did not dig further, my apologies). The forums, which were always a big part of Allakhazam, the community aspect of the site, look to be very active. And it looks to be posting some good content.

I know it is difficult at times for Wrath babies to comprehend a time prior to WoWHead, but alas, there did exist other resource sites, and this is one that very much deserves a first, or second look for those of us that have been playing the game since launch.

The site also features portals for other, in-network sites for different MMO’s, such as Guild Wars 2.

The layout and design are very simple, it has a good clean look to it, and as I said, the content is good and I like the article writing. So give it a try, expand your information database collection.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

PS. The OverLores are coming!

***Each week you can hear Rilandune rambling on about his Addon and Mod addiction in the Twisted Nether Blogcast, usually at the end of the show where Fimlys and Hydra put him in hopes that everyone will stop listening by then. Just kidding. Well it’s kinda true. You can also read his ramblings at Heroically Random and follow him on twitter (Twitter.com/Rilandune)**

Admit it, you love non-combat pets.

I see you buddy, yeah you, in the second row, shaking your head. We all know that when no one is looking you summon your pet turtle Speedy and speak in a “baby voice” while feeding him Papa Hummel’s Pet Biscuits.

Who could possibly look upon the [...]]]>

Admit it, you love non-combat pets.

I see you buddy, yeah you, in the second row, shaking your head. We all know that when no one is looking you summon your pet turtle Speedy and speak in a “baby voice” while feeding him Papa Hummel’s Pet Biscuits.

Who could possibly look upon the face of Toothy and not squee with geekish delight?

For all of those rabid Warcraft pet collectors, and those who have simply begun to dabble in the art/passion/addiction (that would be me), the site for you is WarcraftPets

Breanni is the site creator, and her “real life” job is that of a web developer and graphic artist, among other things, and it clearly shows through in this sites quality, look, and layout. WarcraftPets is a fantastic database for all things vanity pets and companions in the World of Warcraft. Breanni keeps it well maintained with news and updates, there is a guide section, a pet tracker, a community functionality with pet ratings, comments, and links to site like WowTCGLoot to find details on pets that are purchased outside of game.

Even if you are that vanity-pet-curious type of player that has just begun acquiring a few pets here and there, this site can show you exactly where and how to get that pet you simply must have.

***Each week you can hear Rilandune rambling on about his Addon and Mod addiction in the Twisted Nether Blogcast, usually at the end of the show where Fimlys and Hydra put him in hopes that everyone will stop listening by then. Just kidding. Well it’s kinda true. You can also read his ramblings at Heroically Random and follow his frequent musings on twitter (Twitter.com/Rilandune)**

I weep [...]]]>

It may seem a bit lazy, unorthodox perhaps, to feature the same resource two weeks in a row. Truthfully, that is more than likely correct. However, I am featuring Wowpedia two weeks in a row for good reason, as this week spotlights a very particular article that is close to my heart.

I weep daily for the loss of Path of the Titans in Cataclysm. That feature above all others had me from the moment I heard the words. If all else went away -raiding, battlegrounds, amazing quests, all the features of this game we call WoW that I love dearly- if that all went away Path of the Titans would keep me logging in every minute of my allotted gaming time. Alas, we have ourselves a Warcraft dodo.

What has peaked my interest now, that is somewhat similar to my long-lost-titan-love? Archaeology!

That’s right, I am going to be Dr. Alan Grant! Diggin’ in the dirt, finding bones and ancient treasures, deducing that the reason the dinosaurs are able to mate in the wild is because their DNA was being spliced with that of a breed of frog that is able to change its own gender in times of gender-displacement among the frog population…

In truth, there is nothing about Cataclysm that does not cause me to get all geeked out and giddy. Archaeology just happens to be one that is truly something every player can, and should, participate in and master. Something that adds a great deal of depth to the game while not changing the balance in the least. I have long found it to be quite shameful that more players do not engage in the secondary professions. I absolutely love fishing and cooking, particularly the dailies, which in Wrath took on a fantastic mechanic. Archaeology is absolutely going to be something I recommend to everyone I speak to, in game and out.

Now, for the spotlight: Wowpedia has this fantastic article up on the Archaeology profession. I am quite certain that once the expansion launches next week there will be several sites dedicated to the profession, along the lines of the ever-famous El’s Anglin’. Until that day comes, and certainly after that, Wowpedia has created a great resource for the beginnings of this new profession -what is known at this point, pre-Cataclysm expansion- that is worth every players time to read.

In edition to that resource I would highly recommend watching this video by everyone’s favorite cynical brit, Totalbiscuit:

Cataclysm Beta – Archaeology

Cheers!

~Rilandune

***********Each week you can hear Rilandune rambling on about his Addon and Mod addiction in the Twisted Nether Blogcast, usually at the end of the show where Fimlys and Hydra put him in hopes that everyone will stop listening by then. Just kidding. Well it’s kinda true. You can also read his ramblings at Heroically Random and follow his frequent musings on twitter (Twitter.com/Rilandune) Make sure to follow him, he needs all the friends he can get. Poor guy.***********

Yep, badly botched William S. quote/joke there. Sorry, won’t let it happen again.

WoWWiki was a long-standing resource site that read similarly to, yet distinguishably different from, WoWHead, enough to be of equal value but with a [...]]]>

A World of Warcraft resource site by any other name… does it still pwn as sweet?

Yep, badly botched William S. quote/joke there. Sorry, won’t let it happen again.

WoWWiki was a long-standing resource site that read similarly to, yet distinguishably different from, WoWHead, enough to be of equal value but with a different feel and flavor. I personally went to WowWiki more for information on in-game characters, stories, lore, the backend and reasoning behind quests. WoWHead for me was always more of a raw data site on quests, items, locations, etc.

Recently WoWWiki switched their format to the “Wikia” style, because the site was part o the “Wikia” network. Nerd-rage ensued, the masses cried out, shouting from the rooftops of Booty Bay, “We want our WoWWiki site back to the way it was!!!” And behold, the fine folks at WoWWiki responded, and created Wowpedia. It is a mirror image of WoWWiki in terms of content, but the layout is purely old school WoWWiki without the “Wikia” styling and formating.

I know, this isn’t the most exciting spotlight, however it is certainly worth mentioning as WoWWiki has always been an invaluable asset to the community and the fact that they handled the nerd-rage incident with such grace and elegance was certainly newsworthy.

Head on over to Wowpedia.org for all your lore and knowledge needs. Make sure to bring the kids, they have pony rides. Not really. *Insert requisite Ghostcrawler Pony joke here*

Cheers!

~Rilandune

***********Each week you can hear Rilandune rambling on about his Addon and Mod addiction in the Twisted Nether Blogcast, usually at the end of the show where Fimlys and Hydra put him in hopes that everyone will stop listening by then. Just kidding. Well it’s kinda true. You can also read his ramblings at Heroically Random and follow his frequent musings on twitter (Twitter.com/Rilandune) Make sure to follow him, he needs all the friends he can get. Poor guy.***********

Player versus player.

PvP.

I love it, you love it.

Don’t give me that QQ line that you hate PvP, you know you do. You know that you just crave that rush you get every time you engage in pseudo-mortal combat with another player, locked in a gladiatorial fight to the end, vying [...]]]>

Player versus player.

PvP.

I love it, you love it.

Don’t give me that QQ line that you hate PvP, you know you do. You know that you just crave that rush you get every time you engage in pseudo-mortal combat with another player, locked in a gladiatorial fight to the end, vying for field advantage, looking for every opportunity to unleash your deadliest onslaught of attacks to best your opponent.

Seriously, who doesn’t love all those times in Storm Peaks when you were killing Jormungar worms for the Sons of Hodir dailies and that same Shaman would drop out the sky, Earth Shock your unsuspecting bum and blast you to the Spirit Healer on the top of the mountain 3 miles away? (I’m looking at you Vegen, you dirty rat)

Ok, so maybe that was just me. But still, PvP is a big part of World of Warcraft, and for the longest time it was nearly unquantifiable how good a PvP player truly was. Reputation was the only means for a person to make a name of themselves. With the changes that have rolled out to the Wow Armory site, clever individuals have created sites to glean some amazing data and in the past that was held to the raiding environment for the most part.

In comes World of Wargraphs

It’s in beta now, but it looks to provide some very interesting statistics on PvP and the players that engage in this activity for every realm.

More so than anything, it is a competitors scoreboard. A ranking system.

It is very interesting to see how well a particular player is rated on your realm that just so happens to gank you daily outside of Ice Cream Citadel.

Read, enjoy, eat, be merry.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

EDIT: Trebonius contacted us to let us know that World of Wargraphs has been updated for Cataclysm, and even includes Rated Battlegrounds rankings. So make certain to check out the updated statistics and site rankings.

***Each week you can hear Rilandune rambling on about his Addon and Mod addiction in the Twisted Nether Blogcast, usually at the end of the show where Fimlys and Hydra put him in hopes that everyone will stop listening by then. Just kidding. Well it’s kinda true. You can also read his ramblings at Heroically Random and follow his frequent musings on twitter (Twitter.com/Rilandune)**

And what, pray tell, does the Cataclysm entail? The old world [...]]]>

The Cataclysm is quickly approaching, you know it, I know it. The earth (well Azeroth) is shaking, there are whispers in the corridors of Ironforge, and suddenly I am infused with Holy Power… up to a limit of three charges that is.

And what, pray tell, does the Cataclysm entail? The old world being torn asunder? Deathwing rising up to take hold of the land? Goblins and Worgen living among us? No. (Well yes, actually, but that’s not the point of this article).

What great disaster awaits us this December? True economic apocalypse! What you were selling on the Auction House for 5g a stack will now cost 80g!! Mayhem! Pandemonium! Fortunes won and lost! For any player of World of Warcraft who has been here throughout any expansion change, they know just how drastic the in-game economy is changed by an expansion. Cataclysm will be no different.

In this weeks Addon Junkie Segment on the Twisted Nether Blogcast I spoke briefly on Auctioneer, the legendary WoW AH addon. I promised that I would be providing a write-up here in the Resource Spotlight on the blog and community “Just My Two Coppers” and so I sat Marcko (the creator of JMTC) down to do a little interview. JMTC is a gold-making community for the World of Warcraft with guides, tutorials, daily blog posts, and forums dedicated to making money in the Auction House and doing it well. This will be a vital read for anyone wanting to capitalize on the chaos that will grip the Auction House in the coming months.

Read and enjoy and please visit Just My Two Coppers to get the latest in market trends and tools to ensure your in-game fortune will grow. When you are zipping around old Azeroth on your Mechano-Hog, you can thank me.

1) How long has Just My Two Coppers been active?

Just My Two Copper has been around since Nov 17th 2008 when I wrote an article about
Making Gold at Level 9. Little did I know it would be the start of a long and incredibly enjoyable journey where I’d meet so many diverse people and become the owner of a site many deem to be the #1 place for wow gold knowledge.

2) Would you describe Just My Two Coppers as a personal blog with a WoW economics focus, or a community of people with a common goal of playing the internal market within the game?

JMTC started off as a personal blog about how I made gold in world of warcraft, in particular my story of going from relative nub to millionaire gold guru. What it became over the years both shocked and amazed me. As I started getting commenters ineterested in what I thought and emails started to pour in with questions I decided that the site needed another outlet for communication to take place between readers. Thus the JMTC Forum was born and the community where players are focused on helping each other succeed at making in game gold took off. I focus most of my efforts now adays on bringing more and more people into the community and I see my blog, twitter, facebook, newsletter, podcasts, blogging carnival and IRC channel as a way to attract new members. Sure I try to give the best damn tip I can every day on my blog at 8:00 AM EST but the community is what defines JMTC, not me. I like to say that the wow gold making community could go anywhere they wanted to, but they chose JMTC as their primary home.

3) What are the main focuses of the community, if any?

I would go so far as to say that the best part about JMTC is how NICE the people are. They are focused on helping each other make gold and relishing in each others’ successes. I have never seen a kinder group of people towards noobs anywhere else in the wow community. There are people constantly chatting about new strategies, patch speculation, every profession, farming… you name it. Basically, if it has to deal with making gold, you’ll find it at JMTC. Another factor in what makes the community so great and helps to maintain the positive focus is the amazing group of admins who have all volunteered to help at JMTC. Most if not all are millioniares or close to it, addon writers, popular members of the wow community, etc. I couldn’t ask for a better crew.

4) Would you say that Just My Two Coppers is an easy environment for the new WoW player to become acclimated into and to read and understand?

The tutorials section is exactly what a new player needs to read at the JMTC blog. You’ll find everything from addon walkthroughs to major strategy guides. After that I would suggest heading over to the JMTC forums to ask more specific questions and flesh out their gold making strategies.

5) Is there any truth to the rumors that Warriors wear nothing beneath their plate pants?

I can neither confirm nor deny these rumors for all warriors. However, I can tell you that Prot Warrior Gladiators like myself do not. I hear arms warriors wear cups (sissies) and fury warriors prefer no pants btw.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

**As always if you’d like to contact me my email address is rilandune at gmail dot com. I can be found on twitter at twitter.com/rilandune and you can check out more of my rantings and rumblings at Heroically Random! my World of Warcraft blog.**

Just a quick note here to start, my name is Rilandune and I’ll be taking over the Resource Spotlight here on Twisted Nether.  I hope to fill the role well and keep the spotlight going to the excellent standards set by Arthemystia.  I also produce the Addon Junkie segments on the podcast, [...]]]>

Greetings folks!

Just a quick note here to start, my name is Rilandune and I’ll be taking over the Resource Spotlight here on Twisted Nether.  I hope to fill the role well and keep the spotlight going to the excellent standards set by Arthemystia.  I also produce the Addon Junkie segments on the podcast, so in either role if you want to contact me with any questions, ideas, or shouts of anger and dismay, you can do so by emailing me at rilandune at gmail dot com.

_______________________________

“A healer heals, always.”  Billy Crystal said that in “Throw Momma from the Train.”  Actually what he said was “a writer writes, always,” which is good advice indeed.  But if you want to heal always, and write always for that matter, than you’re idol must certainly be Matticus from such things as World of Matticus and Wow.com

This weeks spotlight is going to be covering Plus Heal (www.plusheal.com), a community for healers by healers, covering all aspects of healing in the World of Warcraft.

Matt was so kind as to answer a few questions about the community, so take a read at what the founder has to say about this weeks spotlight:

1) How long has Plus Heal been active?

Matticus:  Plus Heal opened its doors around August of 2008. The community has been growing for a little over 2 years now.

2) Would you describe Plus Heal as a resource site or a healing specific community, with more active discussion than graphs and documentation?

Matticus: Its more of a healing specific community than anything else. I’ve always wanted to expand into a website front end with organized content, but I simply don’t have the time nor the technical expertise to pull it off right now with the numerous projects I’m invested in. The people in the community contribute a wide variety of advice including numbers, graphs and practical applications. Some people excel at different things and the combined knowledge from the assorted viewpoints is huge.

3) What are the main focuses of the community, if any? 

Matticus:  I wouldn’t say there’s a main focus (other than healing). We’ve got class specific forums, theorycrafting, raid strategy and some PvP forums. If its healing related, its up for discussion.

4) Would you say Plus Heal is an easy environment for the new WoW player to become acclimated into?

Matticus:  The moderation team (a wonderful crew, thanks to them for their hard work) and the rest of the community on Plus Heal do try to make things as comfortable as possible. Especially with the special stress that comes with healing, the atmosphere is fairly easy going (until you get into the math threads, in which case bring advil).

5) What Canadian beer do you prefer and do you actually live in an igloo?

Matticus:  Sleeman’s for me, and indeed we do. I upgraded to a two bedroom igloo. In fact, we just got running water and power last week. ^^

Please take a trip over to Plus Heal, whether you are a healer yourself, healer curious, or even a raid leader looking for a greater understanding of one of the core roles in WoW.  Make sure to hug the healer in your next heroic random, I promise you, they could use it.

Cheers!

~Rilandune

http://wow-heroes.com/index.php

A quick search will bring up your character, complete with gems, enchants, your raid progression, achievements, etc. If your gems and chants are suboptimal, [...]]]>

WoW Heroes is a useful site that pulls a lot of quirky functionality into one location. It is not a cover-all site, but can be great for comparison purposes.

http://wow-heroes.com/index.php

A quick search will bring up your character, complete with gems, enchants, your raid progression, achievements, etc. If your gems and chants are suboptimal, the site will recommend better ones for you.

One tab over you’ll find the “Compare” tool, which lets you view your character side by side with another. This is great to check out guildies who might need help, compare yourself to well-known or accomplished players in your class, or just for bragging rights.

The guild tab can let you view gear scores for an entire guild (a la GearScore add-ons), and browse the guild for professions. And the Realm tab can be used in much the same way as sites like WoW Progress (featured quite a while ago here in a resource article). It tracks your boss kills and achievements, and ranks guilds within a given realm.  I found my own guild’s progress to be missing achievements from the last couple weeks, but it was otherwise up-to-date on my character and guild.

Other features such as a hit calculator and forums are also handy tools. The result is that WoW Heroes is an excellent site to compare yourself and your guild to a host of others, which can be informative or just fun.

The resource site spotlight is a “weekly” blog written by Arthemystia from warcrafthuntersunion.com, in his quest to find every useful WoW website on the internet.