Art by Zy!

SoundClick Widgets

2009-11-28T20:34:00.001-08:00

Kyouraku Shunsui

2009-06-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

From lulz

2009-06-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

From Art for web

Quick concept sketch, trying to optimize the process!

Concept art process "Dridant"

2009-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Showing process for concepting. starts in alchemy, ends in a mix of photoshop and painter. Its not detailed at all, and this is intentional. The goal of something like this is to get the basic shapes, colors and effects you'd want to achieve in a finalized image or render. I'll likely get around to sculpting this at some point.

2009-06-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Looks like a waterfall to me :)

2009-06-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick sketch. Not into religion, but it can make for good art.

2009-06-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Done for my buddy gideon! All al.chemy, no post work.

2008-08-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

WC3 Map Terrain Sketch by Zy

## Gorf ###

########
## ~Zy~ ###
###########

-Area map layout-
Two lanes that bottleneck to their respctive bases.
Wide open terrain (blight) In center battle field.
Hills/Trees/Obstacles that will provide concealment.

Map Center
There will be a circle of power there to activate the flags abilities for your team.
A goblin shop will be there as well, but charge "goblin tax". This is to discourage abuse and keep reasons for people to run back. Besides, goblins are greedy bitches.
There will be a Roshan-ish creep that is guarding the center. He is holding one of the flags, and is level 12. Respawn is 8 minutes. His level will match the highest level of creep wave that is active.

-Runes-

4 Rune spawn points.
Runes spawn randomly on shorter timers, varying durations for effects.
Runes are not identifiable. (Random spawn from list, will always show up as "Mysterious Rune"
Rune powers can be bad ( polymorph, banish, stinking cloud ect)
Good and bad runes will have uses, and counter balances within the mechanic (Double damage will cause 50% more damage to be taken, polymorph will regenerate you)

-Towers-

Tweaked to deal estimated strength characters damage.

Towers Progression:

Normal mode

Normal Mode	Level Equivalent	Damage type	Range/sight	Armor	Attack speed	Model	Hit Points
Tower 1	8	Piercing	700	10	1.0sec	Human/orc arrow tower	1600
Tower 2	16	Magic	700	15	0.8sec	Ancient/ziggurat	3200
Tower 3	24	Chaos	600	25	1.0sec	Human arcane	4600
*Base	32	Chaos*	800*	35	2.0sec	Castle/fortress	6000*
*base special		*Splash	*250 radius				*regenerates moderately

Easy Mode	Level =avent	Damage type	Range/sight	Armor	Attack speed	Model	Hit Points
Tower 1	5	Piercing	700	8	1.0sec	Human/orc arrow tower	1000
Tower 2	12	Magic	700	13	0.8sec	Ancient/ziggurat	1200
Tower 3	20	Chaos	600	20	1.0sec	Human arcane	2000
*Base	28	Chaos*	800*	30	2.0sec	Castle/fortress	5000*
*base special		*Splash	*250 radius				*regenerates slowly

-Creeps-

Faction:

Creep waves will become progressively more buff as their defending towers are destroyed. As in if your factions first tower got taken down, you will spawn stronger creeps.
Every 3 waves a siege creep will spawn.
Creep numbers in a wave are determined by the amount of players in game, and possibly on your side. (we need to tweak the game for "the one" mode)
Creep waves should consist of no less than:
2 ranged creeps that cause magic damage
4 melee grunts/soldiers

Neutral:

Neutral creeps will spawn in various locations, they will not be noted on the mini map.
Spawn timer will be 1 minute after a linked pack is slain.
Neutral creeps will patrol, and "raid' towers/other creeps
Neutral creep packs will always have an npc hero leading them, who will drop one type of *Red,*Blue, or *Green Rune *see items*
Neutral hero leaders will gain a level every 4 minutes.
No more than 3 packs can exist simultaneously.
Neutral creeps will increase in level and difficulty according to current level of creep wave (see below)
Strength, Intelligence, and Agility heros will be premade and armed with gear to live against players.

-Key Stats-
All stats will now increase armor at the following rates:
.030 armor - 1 str
.045 armor - 1 agi
.025 armor - 1 int

Hero key stats will incur the following traits depending on ranged or :

Melee Evasion
Attack Speed

Attack Damage
Movement Speed

Str

+10%

Agi
+5%

Int

+8%

~Ranged~	Attack Range	Attack Speed	Attack Damage	Movement Speed
Str	-50%
Agi		-15%
Int		-5%	-5%	+15%

-Starter hero Template-

Heroes will use a point Bi system (Use lumber slot for this calculation to prevent players from saving points for abilities.)
Default points will be 50. Host can set up to 75.

100 hp
75 mana

Starting stats:

Key Stat
Base Move Speed
Attack Speed
Bonus
Str
285
2.0 sec
+2 str
Agi
290
2.0 sec
+2 agi
Int
300
2.0 sec
+2 int

##########
########
######

## Perf ####

Damage meters and you.

2008-03-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

While browsing the cesspool of wow forums this morning I came across some blue responses in the general discussion that piqued my interest... Link to the thread

Drysc while not being my favorite CM (<3 Nethaera) Made some points that I generally embrace and often rant about.

"Aside from some of the inherent inaccuracies that exist with them, and the over obsession some have with the end result, I think some of them can be used to great effect for their statistical tracking and analysis. The end of the raid spam with the numbers of where everyone placed is inconsequential to me. If there's negative reinforcement needed, that isn't the way to go about it. If you want to see where you are, and let's face it it's kind of fun to see you're doing well, then go for it. I just don't personally see any benefit to putting up a spreadsheet of comparison. It only works to demean others in a situation where you're supposed to be working together. If you see a problem then offer some one-on-one help or advice, if there's a larger issue then your GL should be watching and be able to pick that out and deal with it appropriately. If you want to know how well you're doing, or how other members are performing, then use one yourself.

I've been known to post stats of course if someone asks or someone posts numbers that are far different than my own, but I think they're infinitely more valuable for analysis, breakdowns, and comparisons which can help lead to better and more efficient play. Just showing what "place" everyone came in at isn't helpful, and in most cases detrimental to the elements of group play. But that's just my opinion."

Q u o t e:
This opinion appears to be shared by every CM universally; actually remarkable. I wonder at the possibility that part of Blizzard's interview process involves the question: "Are you mortally terrified at the concept of competition?"

"If you want to be competitive that's great, I compete using meters all the time, but is it a competition when you're just calling out everyone in your raid and pointing out how well/bad they're doing without their consent? Does competition need to come at the price of possibly humiliating someone for your own goals? Maybe everyone in your raid is totally fine with it, or maybe they just say they are. You can have a competition by looking at your own meters though, and if someone is under performing there are better ways to let them know they need to step it up, or offer them some help.

Contrary to the actions of many of the guilds I've been in, most of the major aspects of the game are intended to actually be about co-operation, and not competition or selfish behavior.

Maybe the interview process takes into account maturity, selflessness, and compassion?"

Q u o t e:
Sometimes people need to know that they suck. Posting the meters in raid chat lets ppl know that they need to step it up or get gkicked.

"And that's not possible to relate to them in a personal manner, through a whisper perhaps? Something that may actually help them instead of just trying to force them to do better through negative reinforcement? If you're not able to speak with people on a personal level about their performance, and have to result to passive aggressive behavior, then you should not be a guild leader."

Don't be mistaken, I tend to be an elitist apathetic dick in most circumstances. Yet I fully agree with everything he offered on this subject. You can't meter teamwork and utility, only personal performance at best. I use meters because I like to play nuking classes and the output of meters helps me improve my tactics in various encounters. I mean, people that play dps classes have to feel important somehow right?

TL;DR:
Damage meters < Team Play

My take on WoW raiding-

2008-02-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

Personal the word "raid" left somewhat of a lackluster taste in my mouth for the longest time. It generally meant a scheduled day of many instanced npc's going balls deep on my character, costing me lots of money, taking at least 5-6 hours generally... oh yeah and the small glittering hope out there that faintly speaks of a reward (generally not obtained).

Honestly now, I enjoy seeing content as much as the next guy. I do like to get shiny lewts and it makes me giddy like a 4 year old sometimes.

But realistically, if you raid consistently and put in the out of raid time to go and farm to increase your potential to the group; you are looking at around 8-10 hours per instance generally. Don't plan on getting an item more than 16% of a time in any BC instance (this assumes you go every single time,aren't getting screwed over by randomness, and kill every boss every time.) So every 65ish hours of raiding you should be guaranteed an item right? Oh wait stop me now you "hardcore" people.

"Raiding is not about lewt"- I hate to break it to everyone, but hardly anyone raids for charity. Even if someone is... by extension they are there for helping someone else get loot. What reasons people want the loot differ of course, but this is one of those touchy issues that many dogmatic end-gamers will start vomiting out things that they consider facts of WoW -having done no actually research its almost always based entirely upon what they have heard from someone else. Its people like this who circulate urban legends and insist they are true, even in the face of evidence.

DADDY LONG LEGS ARE NOT FUCKING POISONOUS NOR DO THEY EVEN HAVE FANGS. THEY EAT CARRION AND PLANTS. >_>

Am I building up to a point here? Are you flasked and is everyone ready?

Casual raiding > Hardcore raiding

Go ahead and argue it. I've been to every raid instance in the game thus far aside Hyjal (fuck that attunement like dronens mom.) This includes all the "old school" Raids like MC,ZG,BWL,NAX,AQ20&40. Really I'd like to list Old scholo and strat which used to be endgame, but too few of us are around from those days and no one really cares. In any case...

The most fun and rewarding raids are those that don't feel like a second job. This is largely due to the aura of 'WE ARE SRYS RAIDERS" not being this looming cloud of lashes, just waiting for someone to strike down upon the unfortunate at the mildest of mistakes. No, this is much more like sitting in a room with people playing a party game and having Fun. Oh shnap, I said the F word in raiding.

Casual raids have slower progression sometimes, and may wipe a bit more. But as long as your among friends its a far more rewarding experience.

Hell, the most fun I have ever had in raiding was pugging Gruuls, SSC and BT on Tichondrius with only one guy I knew and the rest were just random people that wanted to go in for some quick loot. In grulls with 23 complete strangers we all outperformed most any guild I have ever seen set foot in there. No pots, flasks, or rigid class composition (this one priest was like half in greens) and we downed high king and grull within 20 mins, No deaths on high king or gruul. Few of us died on the pulls including a warlock who swore he could tank and was succeeding until he got charged twice lol.

Similar tales from SSC and BT except for the not dying. BT was partly cleared, so I don't know the first fight or two :/ but let me tell ya how much more relaxing it is to be among good players that don't really care about the politics so much as the fun. I can see this working for a guild as well, you just have to approach it the right way and snub people that start to take things to seriously. Let them go to "hardcore" guilds, don't worry they will probably be back ;).

PS. I didn't really get the frog :(

Omzg a post?

2008-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Who reads this cynical crap anyway? D:

How to understand... this game.

2007-10-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Basically I feel that many people have a narrow understanding of most things they do. Be it games, food, hobbies ect... most people are content in a rudimentary understanding of the specific rolls/functions they are comfortable doing.

It is my theory that the more you know about the entire realm of the specific domain of your focus, the better equipped you are to handle it.

"There is no knowledge that is not power" - You get a cookie if you know where that quote came from. No asking the internet. :P

There are much better things to tie this in with, but most of us play wow. Since it has a class system, understanding gives a lot more edge than it would in a more freestyle environment.

First thing I recommend doing is trying out your perceived "worst" talent tree. Go at least 41 once, and make a build that you think will work. Then play it for a few days. With any class, I think you will be surprised at how your perception of that tree will change. You will find many viable aspects that looked horrible at a glance. I would honestly recommend doing each tree once, then 2 hybrid builds. Test realms work best for this as you don't get taxed harshly for your golds T_T. Make sure you pvp, solo, and instance (raid if possible) with each build. This is one of, if not the best way to learn all the ins and outs of your class. Many people never go outside their preferable trees, have no idea how the other specs function. This generates a contagious ignorance among classes, and sets grounds for bias that make no sense.

"Sap that dragon" "Sheep that undead" "Shackle the demon" "Banish that beast"
We all hear something like that, and more often than we like. This strain of ignorance comes from no one doing research on other classes. Its easy to get a basic understanding of every class, via the forums or wowwiki. Most people however are put off at the thought of research, so I always advise them to roll new characters. This puts you in a whole new set of shoes and will definitely broaden your perspective. It is the best option for truely learning a classes roles and functions keenly. As you are forced to go slow via leveling. An alternative is again the test realms, get a premade and check out the different specs at 70. You won't learn as much this way unless you already have played the class quite a bit.

Investigating specs, playing different classes and doing a little bit of homework on game mechanics will make worlds of difference in any player.

We have all heard tanks screaming at healers, dpsers wtfing @ tanks and healers /wrists.

I ask most people that throw fits about or blame other classes if they have ever played, or know anything about the class they are whining about. Wanna guess what the answer is 99% of the time?

Funny thing is the most bitching I see is generally from an appointed raid leader. Some of them try to cover their ignorance with careful wordings.

"Im not a healer, but come on guys you really need to heal" <-- Clearly never played a healer. Because wtf else would a healer be doing in a raid?

" bandage." <--I don't disagree with this statement as it is. But every time I hear that line, there are either dots, aoes or something else that will make bandaging pretty pointless. Also I seldom hear the healers say it ;)

" you guys need to " <-- Few times have I heard a line like this make sense. It generally happens after a wipe or a failed tactic in a bg. Its also rarely stated from anyone of the said class.

"your spec is useless" <-- Unless you totally face roll your talents (even then I bet I could still play it :P) I strongly disagree with that statement. Yes, there are needs for specific specs for core rolls such as tanking and dedicated healing. But in every tree there is good stuff to be brought to the table.

As far as this game goes, do the following and your aptitude as a player will be much higher.

If you think its overpowered, play it.
If you think its easy, play it.
If you think you can do better, play it.
If you think it cant be beat, play it.
If you don't know it, play it.
If you you don't want to play it, research it.

2.3 unnoficial updates

2007-10-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Updates to stuff I missed in the other blog post. I bolded what I consider to be important and worth noting.

General
•The 33% spell damage bonus on +healing affects enchants, gems, and all the other items, however it doesn't include temporary buffs, some BC leveling greens with "of the..." stats, and some Zul'Gurub items. (UPDATED)
•The next flying mount (Cenarion Expedition) will be a Swift Hippogryph, which one will have the same speed as the Swift Gryphon and Wind Rider (280%). (UPDATED)
•Escape Artist has now a 1 min 45sec cooldown.
•All Disarm immunity effects in the game were changed to 50% disarm duration reduction (non stacking).
•Auction's duration have been changed to 12, 24 or 48 hours. Also deposit prices for all duration will be the same.
•Auction House will now sort server side. If multiple pages exist you will be able to sort across all pages.
•You will now be able to ctrl-click a recipe to preview the item the recipe will create in the dressing room.
•Ogri'la Faction Vendor: This vendor now sells potions useable anywhere for a large number of Apexis Shards. 50 shards, as good as super mana/heal pots.
•New Flying Mount added. Requires 2,000g and Exalted with Cenarion Expedition. 280% Speed.
•Healing Reduction effects now affect all Drain spells and abilities (i.e. Mortal Strike vs Drain Life)
•Level 20-60 Quest EXP has been increased, while EXP to Level has been decreased.
•Guild Banks added to the game.
•New Arena Relics have been added for more talent specs, and existing Relics have been renamed to create a more consistent naming convention.
•1/3rd of +Healing will count as +Dmg

Mages
•New spell: Ritual of Refreshment, Soulwell like spell for mages that allows players to grab what they want, it gives Manabiscuits, which restore 7500 health and 7200 mana over 30 seconds. (UPDATED)

Druids
•A Feral-focused set will be available in season 3. This set have no plus to healing on it and will be focused on Feral statistics. (UPDATED)
•Items that grant attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms will get a boost in the amount of attack power they give. (UPDATED)
•/cancelform will be recognized instantly. It should work the same way as /dismount works currently.
•Tranquility now receives added benefits from +Damage and +Healing.
•Cure Poison and Abolish Poison may now be cast in Tree of Life form.
•Remove Curse may now be cast in Moonkin form.
•Rebirth cooldown reduced to 20 minutes
•Intensity increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration

Warriors
•Improved Berserker Stance provide threat reduction by 2/4/6/8/10% while in Berserker Stance. (UPDATED)
•Weapon Mastery has been changed to reduce the duration of Disarm effects by 25/50%.
•Mace Specialization proc has been reduced.
•Mace Specialization Rage increased to 7.
•Tactical Mastery now greatly increases threat from Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst while in Defensive Stance.
•Devastate now combines the effects of Sunder Armor into it's effect, and is affected by all talents and items that affect Sunder Armor.

Rogues
•Poisons will enchant your weapons for 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.
•Fleet Footed increased to 15% speed increase
•Deadly Throw travel speed is being significantly increased.
•Deadly Throw snare duration is being slightly increased by 1 second.
•Deadly Throw no longer triggers Ruthlessness.
•Ruthlessness now only affects melee Finishing Moves.
•Blind will no longer require a reagent. It will also be changed to a ranged physical attack, will share the same diminish category as Cyclone, and diminish in PvE as well as PvP. It will no longer be considered a poison.
•Shadowstep may now be used while not in stealth.
•Shadowstep reduces threat caused by your next Ambush, Garrote, or Backstab by 50%.
•Shadowstep cooldown increased to 40 seconds.
•Dirty Deeds increases the damage of special attacks by 10%/20% against targets that are below 35% health in addition to its current effect.
•Hemorrhage has an incoming buff.

Paladins
•Vindication (Retribution) frequency and duration increased and now reduces all attributes by 5/10/15%, not just Strength and Agility.
•Pursuit of Justice (Retribution) is now 3 ranks and increases movement speed by 5/10/15% and also reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1/2/3%.
•Exorcism's mana cost has been lowered.
•Holy Wrath's mana cost has been lowered.
•Hammer of Wrath's mana cost has been lowered.
•Vengeance has been increased to 30 seconds.
•Improved Seal of the Crusader effect added to base abilitiy.
•Improved Seal of the Crusader now gives the effects of Sanctified Crusader.
•New Talent - Sanctified Seals: Increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee by 1/2/3%, and reduces the chance your Seals can be dispelled by 33/66/100%.
•Crusader Strike cooldown is being reduced to 6 seconds.

unters
•Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) no longer costs mana to cast and will last until cancelled.
•Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap now all gain additional damage based on 10% of your ranged attack power.
•Wyvern Sting (Survival) is now instant cast and has a maximum duration of 10 seconds in PvP.
•New 20 and 24 slot ammo pouches and quivers will be added to the Game.
•Arcane Shot (Rank 6+) will now dispel 1 Magic effect in addition to damage.

Fishing
•Fish Tracking may be learned from a journal, fished from crates.
•New fish added near Karazhan and Zul'Aman.

Jewelcrafting
•A new meta gem will be added to the game, with similar stats to Relentless Earthstorm Diamond. (UPDATED)

Raids & Dungeons
• New daily quests are available in the Lower City for 5 man heroic and non-heroic dungeons (Once at a time, a bit like battlegroundw weekends, each day you will get quests for a different dungeons). The following non-heroic dungeons are concerned : Shattered Halls, Steamvault, Shadow Labyrinth, Black Morass, Botanica, Mechanar, and Arcatraz. All dungeons will get quests in Heroic mode. If you're getting the non-heroic and the heroic quest on the same day for the same dungeon, you can complete both by running it in heroic mode once. Non heroic quests will reward you with a Ethereum Prison Key (various reputation), gold, and reputation with the Consortium. Heroic quests will give you 2 Badges of Justice, gold, and reputation with the Consortium.
•Mobs inside Sethekk Halls will now continue to award Lower City reputation all the way into Exalted. Previously they stopped giving reputation in non-heroic mode just before players hit revered.
•The number of creatures that must be killed in the Karazhan Servants Quarters area before a miniboss spawns has been reduced.
•New Daily quests for heroic and select non-heroic instances.
•New 10-Man Raid - Zul'Aman, Zul'Aman is complete and now only needs time on the PTR.
•Heroic Badges drop from Zul'aman and Karazhan bosses
•New Title - Champion of the Naaru: Awarded to those who complete the Tempest Keep attunement quest at level 70.

Zul'Aman
•For more infos, check Zul'Aman Preview
•Zul'Aman will be a 10-person raid zone
•Zul'Aman will be on a quicker reset than 7 days (some might call this "casual")
•Zul'Aman will be MORE difficult than Karazhan and drop better loot (some might call this hardcore)
•Zul'Aman will feature 6 bosses and it's our goal that you can kill them all in one night -- perhaps 2-3 hour clear times (some might call this casual)
•Heroic Badges drop from Zul'aman bosses
•Zul'Aman will not have a key requirement. Nor will it have an attunement quest\ (some might call this casual)
•Zul'Aman will have a VERY challenging timed quest for those who choose to participate in it. This *will be* hardcore and will be very rewarding. Players do not have to engage in the timed run (very similar to the Baron run in Stratholme)
•We're tuning the first boss in Zul'Aman to require less raid coordination than some other raid bosses. He will still hit very hard so you'll need to be geared properly but it won't take 15 minutes to explain the fight. It will be a simple yet challenging fight. The other boss fights get more complex and challenging from there. If players want a basis of comparison, imagine the tuning of ZA started around Nightbane/Prince difficulty and ramped up from there.

Vote ron paul. Upcoming changes!

2007-10-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously just do it. Don't be like "I'm a democrat so... no" That makes you an ignoramus.

No irs ftw
Something to back our money ftw
No troups in out of the us for no reason ftw
NOT HILARY FTW (/fascist)

This guy cured my voting apathy.

Upcoming 2.3

Too much awesome. +heal will now add 1/3 of its total to your spell damage. (though it hasn't been decided whether this will be a stat added to gear, or a static bonus) Priest/shamman/mage buffs mainly. Engineering gets a flying mount :D (not even needing nether vortexes)

highlights-

PvP
•New healing wand for Season 3 Arena.
•New Melee PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 Stam, 20 Crit, 20 Resil, 46 AP, 112 Armor Penetration.
•New Caster PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 Stam, 15 Int, 16 Spell Crit, 23 Resil, +27 Spell Damage/Heal.
•New Healer PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 stam, 15 int, 6 mana/5sec, 23 resil, +51 healing / +17 spell dmg.
•Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe added to the game: 62 Stam, 46 Crit, 33 Resil, 15 Hit, 92 AP, 98 Armor Penetration. Waraxe Cost: 1000 arena points (no rating requirement).
•Players can now cast spells for free (no mana cost) before a Battleground starts.
•For 5 seconds after being ressurected by a Spirit Healer in a BG, players spells will be cast for free. (
•Upon terminating Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm - an additional honor bonus will be granted.
•New daily quests targeting a random battleground each day.
•Battlegrounds now have a buff period upon entering, and upon being resurrected at the Spirit Healer (similar to Arenas)
•New Battleground rewards: Boots, Belt, and Bracers
•Arena Weapons/Armor Ratings Requirements.

Interface & Macros
•Auction House scanning will receive its own API letting you scan the whole AH every 15 minutes with any addon.
•Mailboxes are upgraded to handle up to 12 items per mail.
•Many new macro inputs as well as druid 'cancelform' becoming an instant like 'dismount'.
•Auction API Changes.
•Mail API Changes.
•New Macro Commands.
•IsCurrectCast -> IsSelectedSpell change.
•New Font/Button format skipping.
•Garbage Collection outside of combat to keep memory use low.
•'Form' added as a synonym to 'Stance'.
•No longer the need to call :UpdateScrollChildRect().

Mages
•Fire Ward and Frost Ward now gainadditional benefit from spell damage bonuses. Base absorb values ofranks 5 and 6 have been reduced.
•Detect Magic removed. All players may now see their target's beneficial effects at all times.
•10% coefficient tax removed from Improved Fireball and Improved Frostbolt.
•New Spell - Ritual of Refreshment: Allows players to pick up food/water.
•Evocation now restores 15% of your total mana each 2 seconds.
•Arcane Meditation increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration.
•Ice Barrier will receive additional benefit from +Dmg.
•Ice Barrier gains additional benefit from spell damage bonuses. However, the base absorb values of ranks 5 and 6 have been reduced.

Priests
•Power Word: Fortitude, Divine Spirit, Prayer of Fortitude and Prayer of Spirit will have their mana costs reduced.
•Elune's Grace (Night Elf Priest Racial)effect changed to reduce chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacksby 20% for 15 seconds. There is now only 1 rank of the spell.
•New Dwarf/Draenei ability - Chastise: Causes Holy damage and incapacitates target for 2 seconds.
•Fear Ward will now be available to all Priests at level 20.
•Fear Ward duration reduced to 3 minutes, and cooldown increased to 3 minutes.
•Power Word: Shield will gain additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses. Base absorb values for ranks 10, 11 and 12 have been reduced to compensate for this change.
•Pain Suppresion may target Friendly targets.
•Pain Suppresion reduces Friendly target's threat by 5%.
•Pain Suppresion reduces Friendly target's damage taken by 40%.
•Pain Suppresion cooldown reduced to 2 minutes.
•Meditation increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration.
•Prayer of Healing gains additional benefit from +Dmg and +Healing.
•Circle of Healing gains additional benefit from +Dmg and +Healing.
•Circle of Healing's base healing has been reduced.
•Holy Nova (Healing only) gains additional benefit from +Dmg and +Healing.

Shamans
•Tidefury Raiment: The additional mana granted to Water Shield by this set has been increased.
•Totem of the Thunderhead: The additional mana granted to Water Shield by this totem has been increased.
•Shamanistic Focus (New Enhancement Talent): After landing a melee critical strike, you enter a Focused state. The Focused state reduces the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60%. It will replace the "Two Handed Axes and Maces" talent.
•Lightning Overload now has a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to proc.
•Lightning Overload damage has been decreased by 50%.
•Lightning Overload now causes 0 threat.
•Mana Spring Totem now restores mana at a rate of 20 mana every 2 seconds.
•Water Shield now costs 0 mana to cast, and the mana per globe has been substantially increased.
•Water Shield's duration has been reduced to 1 minute, and grants mana for each globe left upon ending.
•Elemental Focus will now reduce the mana cost of your next two damage spells by 40%.
•Lightning Bolt casting time reduced to 2.5 seconds, and mana cost decreased.
•Chain Lightning casting time reduced to 2 seconds, and mana cost decreased.
•Lightning Mastery reduced to .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds.
•May equip 2-Handed Axes and 2-Handed Maces without spending talent points.
•Frost Shock no longer has Diminishing Returns.
•Shamanistic Rage will reduce damage taken by 30% in addition to it's current effects.
•Spirit Weapons will reduce melee threat by 30%.
•Mental Quickness adds 10/20/30% to spell damage and healing bonuses based on your total Attack Power in addition to it's current effects.

Personal Arena Ratings implemented in 2.3

Well to start we'll just let everyone know that the arena RATINGS (not the number of points they'll cost) required to purchase the season 3 items will be 1850 for the weapons, and 2000 for shoulders. The rating will not be required to continue using the item, only to initially purchase it.

Now, most people have expected the weapon rating since we announced it at BlizzCon, and it's a bit lower than we had initially said, but the shoulders are obviously going to raise some questions. The shoulders for any set are commonly the most visually representative, they're the most visible at any distance, and as they allow a lot of space compared to say a leg or bracer item, we commonly take them and really create something visually impressive. We want that visually impressive item to represent what a player has achieved, and so the achievement of being a contender in the arena at a higher level will be visually distinguished. The shoulders are also average in the benefit they provide, as compared to a chest or leg item for example, and without them the set bonuses can still be completed.

This raises the question of a player finding a team that is of a skill level higher than their own, and simply buying the item with points they've gained at a lower rating. To restrict this we're implementing a personal rating system in patch 2.3. This is an additional arena rating that is unique to each character for each team they belong to. This rating rises and declines using the same formula as the arena team rating, but only in games that character participates in. You'll also be able to track this rating through the PvP interface. The personal rating will be used for purchasing items that require a specific rating, and also be used to determine eligibility for the end of season rewards. So, a player will have to achieve a specific rating, and not just get into a team to see the rewards that are meant to visually distinguish the high-rated players.

Alterac Valley Changes for Patch 2.3

As a continuing part of our improvements, we will be implementing the following changes in the next patch.

Strategy can be an important element of any battleground. We want to emphasize this in Alterac Valley more and give players additional meaning to both defending and attacking. To push the strategic element of the battleground to the next level we have changed how players maintain their reinforcements or deprive the other team of theirs.

Each team will have a starting reinforcement count. Reinforcements can be lost in significant amounts if a tower is destroyed or if Captain Galvangar or Belinda Stonehearth is killed. For each team member death, an additional reinforcement will be lost. On the death of General Drek’Thar or Vanndar Stormpike, all reinforcements are lost and the team is defeated. At any point in time, if a team is reduced to zero reinforcements, the opposing team will win the battle. Defending your own teammates, towers, and key NPCs will be an important aspect of maintaining team resources and achieving victory in Alterac Valley.

Warmasters can be the boon or the bane of any team. They are an important element for the defense of your general or the defeat of the opposing general. Warlords and their general will be more closely linked in the next patch. Pulling one is a guarantee the other will come as well. Each team begins with four Warmasters. Destroying a tower will eliminate the associated Warmaster. Unlike the current game play, however, destroying the enemy tower will not add a Warmaster to your own side.

We will be changing the pace of the battle slightly with a reduction in the time needed to control a tower or graveyard. Where it currently takes five minutes to gain control, the time will be reduced to four minutes. The honor for capturing a tower will also be increased.

Graveyards can be an important resource for getting your teammates back into the battle more quickly. Currently, players can sometimes be sent to their starting tunnels far from the battlefront. This can often be an inconvenient location to respawn and more out of the way from the action than we would like, to correct this, players will instead respawn at a team-controlled graveyard. Should the team not have a graveyard under their control, they will respawn in the starting tunnel.

Players will only be awarded bonus honor during the battle for destroying enemy towers and slaying the enemy Captain. Once the battle is concluded, bonus honor will be awarded for intact towers, a surviving Captain, and for victory in battle. The bonus honor awarded should be similar to previous totals, but will reward players for taking more active roles in Alterac Valley toward defending or attacking key locations and NPCs.

Lastly, we are changing NPC interactions within Alterac Valley. We have reduced the number of elite NPCs in Stormpike and Frostwolf holds as well as sent all Commanders and Lieutenants out of Alterac Valley. They are currently in search of other battle opportunities. This should reduce the amount of NPCs that players will have to fight and place more focus on PvP combat over key locations on the map.

Strategy is the name of the game in Alterac Valley, and these changes will bring out the need for more teamwork and coordination from both the Horde and the Alliance as they vie for domination of this battleground.

There is more stuff that I don't really care about. But so far, so good.

Vacation halftime!

2007-09-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun visit so far, many unexpected and subtle culture differences for sure. Generally when I think of cities I get a bitter taste in my mouth (LA, hollywood ftl)but Cambridge and Boston have a distinctly different attitude than I am used to. People seem to be pretty friendly here (makes me kinda paranoid lol)

Have been doing a bit of wow here and there, but the Macintosh factor definitely takes some getting used too - no bongos action bars ftl D: and the mouse that doesn't have button separation... its painful to get that thing to right click.

Utha hit 40 on her shamman and now really wants to level up a holy priest as well, so I went ahead and... against my better judgement...

Rolled a Warlock.

And just to leave jago some room to poke fun at me, it is indeed a belf. Not like it really matters though. I mean wth. Warlocks are insane -_-

Unfortunately I knew what would happen if I ever rolled a warlock or hunter. Now I am going to eventually ignore all my other characters for this one. There is just so much that this class can do, and is the easiest to gear out imo. After spending a bunch of time on jagos many warlocky calculatory links I am way too interested in seeing this guy through.

My priest is resting in thunderbluff at 58 with a bunch of outlands greens "of the nightmare" patiently waiting for some one to catch up and level with. The shammy terror Zshock is the leet level of 26, and is my side project. So far it looks like I am gonna end up with 4 70s on this server. Hopefully all before deathnubs come out and I have to make one...

I still have high hopes for fail at the higher levels for endgame and pvp, it just seems that this time of year is busy busy busy for all involved.

Oh the name of my lock is Zylawk. I almost named him Eggoex, buy I am pretty sure I would feel lasting repercussions and possibly copyright wrath.

Ding 52.

2007-08-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

Well now.

I own the top 2 spots in the guild as far as levels go

Also nerf my gear.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Tichondrius&n=Zyphre

231 shadow damage? Pre 60? WTF burning crusade!? I remember back when that was only achievable by pvp gear or raids. Scary thing is if I wanted to, I could potentially push 350-400 before setting foot in outlands.

Spirit and +dmg = win for this class. People argue mana efficiency, saying rubbish like mana per 5 and intellect are core and bla bla bla.

With the awesome bonus spell damage coefficients that my core spells get:

Mind Blast 42.86%
Mind Flay 59.0%
Shadowfiend 65.0%
Shadow Word: Death 42.86%
Shadow Word: Pain 120.0%
Vampiric Touch 100.0%

I am positive that things dying that much faster costs me less mana ultimately. As well as giving me maximum return on mana gained from vampiric touch.

DR TRAN!

2007-08-10T19:04:00.001-07:00

Now you will all know.

BLeh.

2007-08-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

I lack material to post about.

More to come later.

WTF DEATHKNIGHTS!?

2007-08-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

TRAILER FOR SECOND EXPANSION PACK

Watch that. Now.

Tabard Colors

2007-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

As per request I made another pallet of tabards with various color combinations. I used some color theory and was actively comparing them to the pvp gear. I had them laid out in order of theoretical compatibility - but I decided to randomize them a bit so that your eyes aren't drawn into a gradient effect or something.

As for the background, I got bored and painted up something abstract. Hooray for caffine.
Click the picture for full view nubs!
BLINKY BLINKY BLINK

There is also a little something extra in this post. See if you can find the message.

Tabard Designs

2007-07-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

As per request I am posting a clean view of the tabard designs.

Click the picture for full view!

Shot at 2007-07-31

What numbers do you like?

EDIT: For jago

Shot at 2007-07-31

Iron man!

2007-07-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Robert Downey Jr. is to be playing Tony Stark. Some friends at comic con uploaded the sneak preview-

HERE
WITH
THE
CLICKING

END POST.

Okay, I found my new favorite addon.

2007-07-29T19:56:00.001-07:00

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6876-GrudgeBook.html

This is going to save me a lot of brain memory space.

The grudge book. Something I wish I had the first time around.

Idolize your hatred with a permanently visible reminder next to their portriat!

A most helpful addon indeed!It jots everything down on a list. This is great those of us that aren't women, and therefor lack the unparalleled ability to not forget how much something made you angry in the past.

All the while keeping in mind that the guys love multiple choice when it comes to stereotyping. Thank you Aule.

Name of the game

2007-07-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

This is a subject that my band members have always suddenly became about as creative as ben stien co-hosting with bob sagott on americas funniest home videos... Which is to say - indescribably bad.

I want a good guild and arena team name for once. I am sick of the bastardized "LAWL" trendy guild tags and arena names.

Words that give people an impression all on their own is what I am talking about. Heres a brief list to give you an idea.

laceration
excruciation
tribulation
anguish

All powerful words that get people thinking about pain.

However...

exertion and vigilance

give 2 different impressions due to mainstream pre-conceptions. Even though they both essentially mean "effort"

A common thing that I have seen done is some jock gets on google and starts looking for a word that he doesn't know, and slaps that up (omg funny font thingy!?). Sometimes this works, other times they end up with invictus ( one of the most common guild names... lol) The only problem I have with 3 dollar words as tags is this-

virulence
acrimoniousness
coprophagous

Now without looking it up, tell me what each of these means...

No? Got nothing? Okay... How about telling me which 2 mean the same thing? Hell I had to look up one of them to get a synonym for it... Yeah, I'm a geek with a vocabulary - the majority of the world isn't.

Oh and seriously post your answers to the question above, without using any books or search engines ;P I'll know.

And expect me to start flogging the name-tags issue damnit.

Shadow train a commin.

2007-07-28T04:48:00.000-07:00

With jagoex finally getting curious about a pvp server, I decided that I would make good on my promise from long long ago, and roll with him. It should be more of a casual setting now that he has his new job, and Ill be sure to parse my time out accordingly. Just something to throw up the monotony of the day you know ;)

Dewd?!!?!?!?!?!11

2007-07-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

I seriously make to many posts on my blog. So much creation so little social contact. Humbug I say.

2007-07-17T07:00:00.001-07:00

Dodge Squad by ~KloporToups on deviant ART

So cool. Seriously, I just wasted like 30 minutes playing this.

Nothing new

2007-07-11T03:13:00.002-07:00

There is nothing to read here. Been busy lately, just imagine that I posted some thought provoking post that makes you wonder why I thought of it and then get yourself some vodka.

Go watch the transformers movie.

2007-07-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

GO
WATCH
TRANSFORMERS

But, be sure to forget anything you know about the old show and comics. There is movie butchery, but at the same time plenty of gratuity.

MAKE SURE YOU PEE FIRST

Seriously, I had to go about halfway throught the movie and didn't once find a spot to jet out at. Action packed.

I the Cynical

2007-06-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

In my daily personal studies I decided to find some external insight that may help explain why my thought process stays hyper analytical even in situations where this is no need.

After going through several (what seem to be credible) articles on my favorite physch and behavior sites I found a correlation that fits perfectly. Let me quote an excerpt from a particular article that caught my eye.

"The danger is when the caution and analysis are not signs of a probing intellectual style but a manifestation of anxiety and depression. If every situation you both encounter elicits the same response from him, then it’s cause for concern. Such invariability suggests an underlying mood disorder."

I picked this one because its short, sweet and is quite similar to my situation with my wife. She is the type that hopes for the good of the world to shine and drown out the bad. Her preferred approach to tasks and decisions involves a generally Ill-proportioned view on the pros and cons. In many cases she decides her perceptions of the good make the bad irrelevant. It often leads to some ignorant moves that she in the end will usually admit were such. Nothing really difficult to put up with, I just feel that I have to put things in a more realistic proportion in order to prevent unnecessary hardship. Hehe at times she becomes quite manic about how something she wants to do "will" turn out. High expectations lead to many a disappointment's in my opinion.

I strive to be a good observer, attempting to have as little bias as possible in processing information. But lately I have noticed that I am tending to inverse my wifes take on life. In a sense feeding the cons of an argument to appear much greater than they actually are. I don't usually realize that I am doing it until hours later when I have a steady mind again. Also, I didn't feel it was so much of a problem until lately. She has been getting very irritable with me any time I offer "negativity" because "I DO consider the consequences! They just aren't going to stop me from doing what I want.".

-_-'

The emotional setback with this puts me into an odd state. Perhaps triggering some of my underlying adaptations. Truthfully I am uncertain, but I am pondering the proper course of action.

I suppose I could do what she wants and suppress my "cynicism". Yet... suppression yields its own set of problems that are often worse.

WTB cognitive behavior mods.... for my wife >_>

whom I love and adore and I am sure will be reading this at some point ;)

Why I don't play wow.

2007-06-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

I never really liked the game, was as purely a social thing. With many and far better choices for gaming I don't really see the point in marrying blizzard only to have them nerf you in the butt.

Instead I make more music, excersize, paint, and play REAL games. Ones with more boobies.

There ya go sixis.

Holy Dissociative Disorder...

2007-06-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

Warning
This is a very long and thorough post. This information is all true to the extent of my best knowledge. This WILL change your opinion and perception of me. Do not read further if you aren't going to take this seriously.

I have been wrestling with myself a lot lately. Reading vigorously, ripping information from professional brains in hopes of obtaining enough pieces to figure out what has been happening to me this last couple years. Lemme set a background and brief profile of myself...

Zy Entorf
Age: 21
Sex: Male
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 134lbs
Build: Athletic
Known physical problems/allergy's: None to speak of.

This first part is going to be hard for me to do and I may not be able to properly list all relevant info.

First off, EVERYONE thinks and possibly reacts to their 'childhood' as a bad one. From what I have seen people never truly understand their plight unless they have had a worse experience. I'm very sure that Paris Hilton feels her short time in prison is every bit as detrimental as an 8 year old starving Cambodian girl finding out she has hepatitis C. I understand this because of my exceptionally broad and varied life - I have been in more than a few situations that most people will never come to grasp with.

Lets talk about my childhood briefly. I will try to keep this organized.

Ages 0-4

I was born in Oregon, into a povert family that could barely keep shelter. Both my parents were the type of heavily drug addicted people that most of your parents wanted to pretend didn't actually exist outside of film. My father was dealing gangs constantly, forcing us to have to move (almost bi-monthly) to different locations all over the USA. My mother had a thing for infidelity, I learned what she did with the men she had home when my father was away in a harsh manner. Nothing like being screamed at,backhanded or shunted outside when your begging for some food. There are other early memories here, but I wont let myself think of them easily. Post traumatic I guess... I will likely have nightmares from typing what I have already.

Anyway I have a little brother, 2 years younger than me. (We were constantly trying to kill each other, I'll get into that later on. ) He wasn't old enough to remember any of this, and should be glad. He was born around the time my mother was trying to force speed overdoses on herself - with both of us in the same room. At this point I was in a state of disconnection. I wanted nothing to do with my family or friends. I had made an adaptation to be numb to the world that did little to inspire anything but hurt and rejection. At the time I didn't understand what happened, just remember that when the bad things started to happen I would retreat to the furthest corner of my mind until I felt it was safe to come out. Running on an autopilot that felt nearly nothing. Often in these occurrences I would run out into the woods and not come back until I was aching with hunger or thirst. My dad would occasionally come out and find me, my mother would scream at me when I was found.

Ages 5-8

Around the time of my 5th birthday my rich grandparents (fathers adopters) came to pick Ryan and me up for a "vacation". My father was nowhere to be found at the time - and my mother had already packed our bags. I don't know what happened with my mom at this point, just that she was with some strange guy and took off in his van. A short flight, disney world in CA and a few tourist traps later we are brought "home". Thats what we were told anyway... Turns out home is a new place now. My mothers side of grandparents came out to greet us and welcome my brother and I into our new home. I didn't speak with anyone for a few weeks, continuing my anti-social habits best that I could.

My mothers grandparents and their environment was a strange new world to me. They were both Mormons, or Latter Day Saints as they prefer. My grandfather was in the clergy and my grandmother was involved in many of the relief society activities. They had a very large house that they had built with their own hands in Arizona - along with 30 acres of property with some agriculture and livestock. The area was semi rural.

For the first time in my life I had regular meals, clothes and parents that seemed to care about what happened to me. They even taught me proper hygiene, something that was exotic to me at the age. The only complaints I have about the home environment were the Mormon prohibitions, made to attend church, and expected to participate in many of the Mormon events.I attribute the last 2 mostly because I was quite wary of people and had no idea how to forge relationships - led to many people not liking me in the least.

The different environmental pressures of this new life frustrated me to no end, I had no real idea how to function and meet expectations. I excelled in the academic parts of school, didn't have any friends to speak of for a long while. Constantly in trouble at school spent most my time standing on a wall or in a circle watching everyone enjoy their lives. My little brother and I at this point were brawling a lot at home, and I don't mean your typical brotherly love type. He began taunting me with how much other people liked him, pushing the buttons only he could see. With our violent track record, its amazing that we didn't kill each other.
Some examples -

Busted his head open with a metal baseball bat - big goose egg no stitches
He regularly threw knives and forks at me during breakfast. Barely missed my eye once.
We both have shoved each other down the stairway numerous times.
BIG Sticks, BIG stones and shovels. Hooray for mutual weapons of choice?
Shoved out second story window, him twice - me once.
Various arson attempts on eachother

Yeah that list deserves a post in itself. Tip of the iceberg.

Ages 8-11

When I was 8, I was for the first time invited by someone my age to an event; a birthday party for her uncle. I wasn't sold on the idea until I was guaranteed some pizza. We went to a local amusement place (kinda like a redneck chucky-cheese) I got handed 8 quarters and was shoved off to have 'fun'. Played a couple rounds of air hockey and found that I was quite the natural, so much so that after 4 games no one would play me. I didn't know what I had done wrong to upset the others, so I returned to the table and awaited food. Her uncle was there laughing it up a little ways down the table... his thunderous giggling suddenly halted. I glanced over just before he hit the ground. Went up to see what had happened and his face was extremely red, he was shaking and holding his arm with his eyes rolled back. He managed to grab my leg right as one of the girls started screaming. A few moments later he stopped moving and I was shoved aside. The medics were called and everyone was sent home. I had to sit in there and wait because he was my ride... It was strange. I knew what had just happened and was unable to really say anything to anyone about it. All I could think of was that he seemed very happy before he died, and how it must have felt.That set some gears spinning in my head for a long time, made me feel like dying young would mean that you were happier.

Moving on. Gotta keep this short as possible.

I started receiving phone calls from my mom and dad on a weekly basis, the kept filling my head with false hopes and lies about my new family. Although I knew everything was deceit, I still longed for it. The calls came to a sudden end after a couple years from both my mom and dad. Stopped getting mail from my dad, got a postcard now and then from mom. My grandfather had been raising me for the most part all this time. My grandmother cared for me with all the maternal aspects but favored my brother, can't say I blame her. 'Pops' as I had dubbed my grandfather had been forcing nutritional facts, workout routines and tried fervently to instill some morals and values to my mind. He would often take me skiing, hunting, hiking, camping ect. teaching me anything I wanted to know. I've always been a knowledge hungry type I guess.

Unfortunately I was developing some odd problems that I didn't share with anyone, night terrors, audio hallucinations (quite rare), and most dominantly severe festering anger. The rage is what started me into a process of self conquering.

Ages 12-14

My mother contacts my grandparents, she has moved to our town with her new boyfriend. He is associated and part of a couple different biker gangs. I will not list details of it here as I don't like looking over my shoulder, its a world that most people will not understand... and shouldn't have too. In a few words paranoia, greed, power lust.

After a few visits everyone decides its time for me to move in with my mom. I didn't object, the visits seemed fine. If I could time travel I would whisper into my ear at that moment "lol nub". Life lesson here, trust no one.

So began my journey into a 3rd new world... My new families masks came soon as school was about to hit. My little brother opted to stay with the grandparents, he had developed around them mostly so I can see why. I had 3 step sisters that shared a room upstairs across the hall from me. All were from more city oriented places and all were into typical street drugs. When I learned of that I immediately was disgusted with them and avoided contact as much as possible. (Due to my experiences I am completely uninterested and usually detest any illegal drugs or smoking of any kind.)

It was in this new neighborhood that I would find my first few real friends. Brently became my best friend and I spent a whole bunch of my time at his place and hanging around the lake we lived on, Fools Hollow ( many a fucked up event there ) . Gamed a bunch otherwise. In school there was a lot of dating going on, I was constantly approached by all kinds of different girls and 'asked out' only to be dumped a few weeks down the line. Never was really interested in any of the students or girls at the school. Spent most my time playing sports, working out and reading. Had been doing martial arts since I was younger, helped me with my anger issues.

I am going to try to avoid posting anything here that could land these people in jail, thats not my goal. Just make educated assumptions where I leave it open.

Now despite what you may think I didn't really get into much trouble in the beginning of this phase of life. Kept to myself and my very small circle of friends, wasn't interested in parties or anything like that. My sisters were constantly causing turmoil at home, making all kinds of problems for everyone. My stepfather and mother both came from drug heavy backgrounds and claimed they were done with it all (heh. nope.) and had a very distinct sense of paranoia. They assumed that I was just outsmarting them and that I was doing absurd things like sneaking out at night, stealing cars, pawning things of theirs, and selling information to the police/mafia/whatthefuckever. Anything they thought I was doing, I was punished for. They didn't trust me because I didn't do drugs like everyone else in the house I guess. Everyone got drunk every damn night, then did their drugs of choice. I was confined to my room, at this point I wasn't grounded - just unable to talk to my friends or leave my room except to use the bathroom or for meals. Their paranoia got worse as time went on. I had a relationship with a girl that lasted over 6 months one time. Her mother tried to help me spend time with her daughter and away from my family, she had a basic understanding of my situation. There was a time I was up at brentlys house and the girl showed up, my mom came peeling up and got in a screaming fight with her mom. That ended in some physical re-education at home for me. 9 months I was grounded and get this - literally accused of practicing witchcraft. Being grounded there is similar to being thrown in 'the hole' in prison. Confined to my room, they cut the power to my room. Replaced my books with what they thought was proper reading material ( heh books on logic, military tactics, field survival, bunch of paranoid oriented crap) and that was my only means of passing the time. This happened near winter, so when I got out of school I was confined to my room with maybe 30 minutes of dim light before it was pitch black. A lot of time I spent there by myself silently. After a while I adjusted to constantly living in low light and became photosensitive, still that way today. That 9months turned out to be much longer, but I had no real way of perceiving it. Even along that time I was constantly accused of sneaking out and all that other shit. I felt myself slipping a lot back then... I decided that I needed to adopt aspects in order to cope with the crap that was happening to me for no reason. "We are in control of our selfs, our minds" I would often whisper to myself while doing push ups in the dark. Ended up having a lot of dialog with myself; at the time I thought nothing of it. I made myself enjoy being in the dark and isolation, and when being confronted by my delusional parents in their screaming fits - i would become numb, unable to feel or care about anything that was happening. It took time but I didn't allow myself to experience fear, I perceived it as a flaw and a weakness. Things like that wouldn't serve my cause.

After the excessive paranoia, accusation, punishment cycle that had gone on for about a year I had honed my emotional filters to precise triggers. About halfway through 14 I decided that I may as well do whatever I want... since I'm gonna get punished for it even if i don't.

Ages 14-16

Sick of it all, I wanted to slaughter everyone I lived with. Thoughts like that brightened up my day. A newer mechanism I created to help myself through the compiling torture I was being forced through... One that was easy to feed. The pent up rage was hard to control at first, or maybe it still is, really no way to tell. I got very serious about my martial arts after my first blackbelt. Went to mui thai, then to ninjitsu for a brief time. I was excessively violent during class and was expelled from the ninjitsu one; so I went looking for something that fit my taste. Found an ex-cage fighter who had a brutal jeet kon do class a short drive away. My parents were none the wiser since it fit the same schedule as my other class. It was addictive and he was indeed a badass. High turnover rate for students, only a couple of us were regulars. Full contact sparring and pain suppression training were our instructors favorites. Every first wednesday of the month the local swat team would come and train under him in a special session - the regular students were there as well. After about a year or so I had progressed passed his expectations, his english wasn't very good and he didn't know about my home life so he had no idea how obsessive I was about it. My adaptation was working great, putting all that hatred to become stronger; a power lust cycle that fed itself. Eventually my success in his class led to him taking me to illegal pit/cage fights, and that led to me being in a few. I am not a big guy, I am skinny and tendony so I was only given exhibition style fights - big guys vs me. People pay a lot to see that sort of thing. I won the first 3 fights without taking much damage, taking advantage of my specialized training and constantly being underestimated ( I even pretended to be left handed at every event up until I got in the cage/pit. I am ambidextrous). To set up for these matches it takes a certain mindset, one that is generally idle in modern humans. I would center my hatred on them, they were the ones doing all that fucked up shit to me, they had raped my mom, they had killed my father, they were going to kill me. Thoughts like that... I would then explode and not stop until the ring watchers pulled me off the other guy. My 4th fight was my last, and it lasted about 6 seconds. My opponent was 6'6" and well over 200lbs, a body builder... not really a fighter, just glamor muscle. He came and tried to tackle me, all I did was do a spinning back kick... I felt his ribs crack and cave in around my heel. This time I stopped, did nothing else after being drug to the ground with him holding my foot which I yanked out of his hands and chest. I remember everyone cheering then falling silent as the house docters rushed him on a stretcher outside to wait for an ambulance. Never read up on him, might have died then and there for all I know. Just demanded my money and made my instructor take me home. I never went to another fight, and left the class.

About a week or so later I was at sonic getting my favorite milkshake. I got my shake and turned to head back toward campus, noticing that I was going to be late. Traffic was too heavy for jaywalking so I ended up waiting at the crosswalk. I glanced down the street, then back to the intersection just in time to see a jeep run the red light full throttle... and not miss a semi truck the was turning. I was a good 50 feet away, but I saw the bodies in the jeep get mangled vividly. The cop station was just around the corner and firefighters were there in minutes. The driver was decapitated and there was a lot of blood seeping from the vehicle. I left shortly after they pried the jeep apart to check for survivors. Second person that I had seen die... it was different this time somehow.

There is so much more I could put up here... but this is a post not a fucking novel.

That winter also, at another girls birthday party... (yeah, wtf.) I stopped by because it was close to the public pool I swam at, and there was supposed to be a bunch of free food (no I wasn't invited - it was just a big house party). The birthday girls parents were walking around belligerent and drunk telling all kinds of embarrassing stories about her, generally humiliating her in front of all her friends for no reason. At least that was my perception of it. She started crying and ran to the bathroom. Came out a few moments later, started screaming at her parents holding an empty thing of Tylenol. Couldn't hear what she said over the music but she kept crying and held her stomach, eventually ending up on her back on the floor. Her parents ignored her, trying to calm everyone down saying that you she would be fine and she just did it for attention. "Oh Besides you can't die from Tylenol". I then left for open swim at the pool, realized I had left my towel up at the house and made note to go retrieve it. Got done swimming and dried myself off best i could with the hand blower thingy and set off to the house. I don't know excactly how long it was but when I got there an ambulance was just leaving. From what I know she died a few hours later.

There is plenty more significant things that happened during this time. I only listed things that won't come back and bite me in the ass, are relevant to typical trauma and that will supplement the point of this post. If you have read this far I applaud your patience. As now I am nearing the heart of the matter.

Here is a handy chart for you to look at. Sigmund Freud would likely frown at me for it, but he isn't alive to bitch at me. This ones for you jago.

These adaptations I created in my younger life in an attempt to prevent sanity damage are now causing it. I have found myself doing random erratic things not remembering how or when I got there. I have already destroyed you with text, If you want to know specific instances ill be happy to comment on them.

These things that were once functions were growing into something more while I was pretending they no longer existed. Minds aren't so good at deletion it seems. I have noticed differences in my speech patterns, art, music and many other things that reflect major inconstancies and differences. I am not to the point of constantly hearing voices or anything like that yet. Just strong urges, and occasional sensory take over as far as I am aware. These fragments have not yet gained identities aside the names I have given them, I am however able to fundamentally communicate with them. In the state I am in now, I can cope with the occasional mental hiccup.

My true concern is halting the progression into DID, it has taken a lot of time and discussion with others that know me well to validate these experiences. It is difficult for me to even talk about it. This post has been 3 days in the making because I keep finding myself in the other room and forget about what I was writing. At this point there is no reason for anyone to really be alarmed, though I am concerned about my old violence addictions randomly coming out on some jackass in the mall : /

I am not sure what steps to take here. I will not take any medication for this, all that exists is glorified tranquilizers and emotional suppressants. Therapy is far too expensive an endeavor and I have already laid out the hard part :P

Oh and jago feel free to use this as teaching material or something. I need someone to have a copy of it in case it magically disappears from my blog and memory :)

Logo v2

2007-06-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

The other one didn't really fit in my opinion. Also took me like 2 minutes to do. Actually sat down and digi-painted this one. That is all. :)

My music is uploaded.

2007-06-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to creating an account, and uploading a few songs I have made to myspace.

Go check it out now! jeeze. Not like theres a wave of text here.

Well...

There is this thing at the bottom here. A little something I made to get some giggles out of people ;)

Ego?

2007-06-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

Random thought I had. Wondered what science had to say about ego, so naturally I ask google. It tells me that wikipedia might know... both relevant articles site no source and are polluted with a good amount of various theories involving ego-id-superego. Interesting to read, but theories on how a car works wouldn't necessarily correlate to its effect on society..

Quite frustrating. Makes me wonder if people actually know what they are saying when calling someone "egotistical" and the like. Even after reading a few articles ( I wont vouch for their credibility) its apparent that very few people would know the literal meaning of what they are saying. Most often using it where self-esteem should be.

But what else is new?

I don't feel like explaining what I read or even summarizing it. If you really want to know look it up yourself. If you know a thing or three about it, feel free to share. So far the agreed conclusion is 'The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.'

This is disheartening to my hobby of pseudo-psychiatry :(

Free Time?

2007-06-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

For most time is anything but free. When looking at it from a financial point of view - time spent not making money is time lost. When trying to justify it by the length of free vs not it becomes hazy as to how free that time is...

My justification is value. I value the time I spend doing whatever I chose, and therefor don't feel like I am doing anything with a poor reason. I figure that 2 weeks a month of time to spend as one desires, is worth more than the combination of stress and work to produce a generally unsatisfactory amount of potential tangible goods.

Taking into account the various expenses involved in working, you will come to realize that society in the united states hates the majority. Middle class ftl. In this country - we believe the rich should be richer, and poor should be poorer.

I will site myself as an example.

California graciously decided that my wife and I are poor bastards. So they gave us $280 for food every month. Wicked! But wait... If I get to a point where I don't need as much and ease back onto my own feet they are just going to yank it away? Its like the rolled up newspaper of "stay poor!" Give us a bonus for scraping along, but if we almost can hop to the tax paying bracket you are gonna slap us back down to not being able to afford anything? -_- How is this helping me?

Similar situation with my living space. We share a room with our 2 close friends (tim and ruby - getting married in october :D ) in a low income housing division. The amount we pay is based on the total income of everyone living here. Here is the catch, if we break the "gross money made" ceiling they set for us, that is grounds for eviction...

Meh. Time is important, and I just can't help but bitch about things.

How to word Hypocrisy

2007-05-31T03:17:00.001-07:00

In case someone reads this that hasn't the slightest idea of anything regarding me - I was a very prominent, obsessive and hardcore World of Warcraft player. Since launch I have spent nearly a complete year logged into the game (280 days +). I halted the rest of my life for this enthralling fascination of a game... my art suddenly became unimportant... my music (link coming soon :P ) and my small circle of social life was also severed somewhere along the way. But hey, I made up for all that with the new friends and fellow addicts of the WoW cult... right? I mean 10-15 hour days grinding honor in battlegrounds to gain rank 14 (grand marshal/high warlord = respect, gear, sense of accomplishment) surely justifies it... Hmm.

Well, yes I made some good friends (most of which started as pvp enemies hehe) and learned to exist in an alternate world! Governed by the players and ruled by the God Of Incompetence *war drum-roll* BLizZard Entertainment...

Its been a few months since I stopped playing the game completely. Kept up efforts to remain in contact with the friends I had left in game and will continue to do so.

Alright, introduction over. Onto the main subject.

My wife has been doing the cheezy chat room "role playing" chat since she had access to the internet. While I am sure she felt neglected during my rigorous WoW'ing, she never pushed much to get me to stop. I am still baffled why she didn't, but I have an idea that fits in. Instant messenger anyone?

If I was in her shoes I can honestly say I would have had some serious conversations about moderation and addiction. Funny right? Laugh if you want. I am a very analytical type and not scared to share my observations when I see something amiss. The problem is that from what I have seen - people that are addicted to something are generally in denial, blind to the consequences and/or wont admit it. I am no exception. I realized eventually (through the other parts and people of my life I had left for dead ) that I needed to stop.

"Here I am!" I proclaim internally. Most of everyone is glad to have me back. Though I am not so happy as I should be... (as jago inadvertently ((or intentionally :P)) made me realize.)

Even though I have freed up a vast amount of my time, the time I spend with my wife is around the same. Not counting sleeping- I took an average these past couple weeks:
6-11 hours in an entire week (and I am being generous with those numbers, since the better part of it is sexual activities.) Granted, she works full time 4 days a week, 10 hour shifts that leaves 3 days off for her. I am pretending to be a mechanic for about 20-30 hours a week and have my schedule to match all her days off. Any guesses as to how this is possible?

Basically the situation is inverted (or maybe it has been for quite some time... hard to notice things like this when your life is in a game) and its growing worse. Up to this point I have subtly asked for a bit of moderation so that she is a bit more available to me and our roommate-friends we live with- nothing more. I mean how could I? I feel quite guilty for the neglect I showed everyone, especially her...

As much as I don't want to have this confrontation, I have no idea how to get through to her. Literally she gets off work- sometimes makes some food and says hi then its straight to the laptop and chatchatchat until 4 am when her role playing group logs off. I don't want to ask her to stop doing something she loves to do. Yet lately I can only hope to even force her out of her IM zombie-zone "between posts". Can't tell you how many times she has set the timer for her food and realized it was done after our appartments 5 smoke alarms start throwing a fit. She is in that deep of a trance constantly.

How do you approach someone about something your quite guilty of yourself? How can my argument hold even the slightest clout? Worse than that, the only time I could arrange to have a conversation with her - is that transition from her computer to bed. Meaning bringing this up instead of having sex. Ugh. -_-

All and all... I am at a loss of the best tactic here.

Melee	Evasion	Attack Speed	Attack Damage	Movement Speed
Str			+10%
Agi	+5%
Int				+8%

Key Stat	Base Move Speed	Attack Speed	Bonus
Str	285	2.0 sec	+2 str
Agi	290	2.0 sec	+2 agi
Int	300	2.0 sec	+2 int