July 08, 2010 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Other
The WoW doldrums are upon us as the last raid content for Wrath of the Lich King has been released. One of the many things that I’ve been doing to pass the time until Cataclysm is to level up my Paladin alt. Plec is hanging around 73 and as I’ve invested the money to buy him another spec, he is currently a Ret/Holy Pally. Most of my time is spent questing but I’ve been healing more and more instances lately (any Paladin resources that you all refer to for info on the class are welcome!).
During one of my breaks from leveling this weekend, I picked up the re-launch issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (great to see you guys back) and came upon and interesting article that talked about the psychological factors that motivate gamers. They tapped a psychologist, Dr. Benjamin Donner, for his expert opinion on the matter. One pearl of wisdom stood out among others in the article. Donner stated, “In gaming, the skills acquired in earlier levels are honed and utilized in increasing combination’s as one progresses, and that in of itself is rewarding and growth promoting.” It was at this point that old man Plectical leaned back in his chair and scratched his head. Read more…
The issue is that if you have RealID enabled, it is possible for interface scripts, and therefore addons, to obtain the name associated with your Battle.net account (your “real name”). The script that was used as a proof of concept used the fact that all players with RealID are friends of themselves to query the list of your Battle.net friends and then send a Battle.net tell to yourself. The chatlog then contains “whisper from/to [your name]” and can be obtained. As an example, try this script by Katinka in the official WoW forums:
/run for i=1,100 do if BNIsSelf(i)then BNSendWhisper(i,”RealID whisper from yourself..”);break end end
The idea is that players could potentially install a bad addon that uses this method to obtain your name. Your name could then potentially be sent to other players. However, due to the sandboxing in WoW interface coding, there is no way your name could leave the game.
This sort of thing has always been possible. There is information you might not want other people to know that addons have access to, like your friends list. A bad addon could potentially tell everyone who your friends are, or how much you play, or when you last played, etc. The fact that your real name is now accessible to addons that you choose to install is a small addition. I bet that it is also possible to obtain the email addresses associated with your account. Some rogue addon could potentially get the email addresses of you and all your friends and attempt to contact gold spammers.
Here are three big reasons why this whole “security issue” is not a big deal:
July 07, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Other, Raiding
With all of this week’s talk about the Cataclysm Closed Beta, anticipation about the pending release is making our mouths water. This lax time as we are waiting for the release of Cataclysm is the perfect era to go back and snag up some of those memoriable retro items! Nothing says, “I’ve been playing WoW long enough to know which cool blogs know which items make a fashion statement,” like these retro drops! So grab your high-level main and spend some quality time in the old world.
Retro Raids
Warrior and Rogues should step back into Black Temple and snag up the Twin Blades of Azzinoth and the Curse Vision of Sargeras. Nothing screams Burning Crusade like these two distinguishable items that drop off Illidan Stormrage himself. On a personal note, I still remember how proud Hafrot (Loredrin back then) was when he finally finished Read more…
July 05, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Podcast
With the NDA released this week, the internet is a flutter with news from the Cataclysm Closed Beta. Though nothing is set in stone, this week we touch upon some of the more exciting points expected with the release of the third expansion. We also discuss listener e-mails regarding the release of Ruby Sanctum, and the Epic 10-Man Debate continues with one listener’s solution for helping Haf making 10-mans feel more epic!
Make sure to stop by next week as we welcome Euxlie to the guest spot to discuss the lore behind many of the story developments slated for Cataclysm!
EXCLUSIVE THIS WEEK
Discover the tainted origins of Darkshore and it’s relationship with Felwood and the rivers of Kalimdor in this week’s Lands of Lore with Eulixe
If you haven’t heard, we are looking for your support for our Blizzcon fund! With your support we will be producing Rawrcast t-shirts to giveaway in support of our promotional efforts at Blizzcon, and doing what we can to support our on-site and on-line Rawrcast/Blizzcon coverage! We are planning on taking YOU with us to Blizzcon with loads of available coverage, insight and opinions! To make a donation, please click on the “Chip In” widget on the front page of rawrcast.com!
Check out our Bound Recruitment Promotional Video! If you are in a place where you are looking for a guild home before the release of Cataclysm, we hope that you will consider joining the Rawrcast-formed guild, Bound on the US Staghelm server! Please visit our website for more information regarding or guild structure and raiding guidelines.
July 04, 2010 :: Posted by - Greatjohn :: Category - PVE, Raiding
I’ve lately become very obsessed with trying to optimize my gear. The problem is, I was an English Major so math only works when I use my fingers and toes. So I had to find some tools to help me determine if a drop is actually an upgrade and I had to change my way of thinking about gear.
First, the Best-In-Slot lists aren’t that useful while you’re still gearing up. It’s nice to know where you want to end up, but you don’t want to hurt yourself on your way there. For example, a lot of classes need to use their T-9 sets until they obtain two or four pieces of T-10 because the set bonuses of the “lesser” gear are that good. You want to be as strong in your raid role as possible now as well as in the future. Read more…
July 03, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - BlizzCon
We are tits-deep in plans for Blizzcon! One of the issues that popped up today is: What are we going to do for our Blizzcon t-shirts? Lucky for us, we are leaving that up to you guys!
What would you like to see on your Rawrcast Blizzcon t-shirts? We are planning to create as many t-shirts as possible to give out in October. If you haven’t donated to the Blizzcon fund, please click on the “Chip In” widget on the front page of the website and donate some dough! The more funds we secure, the more t-shirts we are able to produce, and the more beer we have to drink with you guys!
Memorable quotes… Icecrown references… whatever puts a smile on your face, and sums up the attitude and insight that is Rawrcast. Leave your suggestions here, or e-mail them to hugesack@rawrcast.com! The person whose quote is selected will have the first shirt delivered to them, hot off the press!
The winner will be selected 8/31/10, so respond today!
July 02, 2010 :: Posted by - Greatjohn :: Category - Other
The last few articles I wrote were all about trying to maintain your mood, finding a balance in your WoW time and really how to keep an even keel. That was how I was spending my WoW-time for the last few months. I would fill-in raids, I would do a lot of dailies, I would beat the hell out of the LFD tool. But then I got the raiding bug again.
I was keeping up with the guild’s progress through ICC and watching the live streams and videos that they put out. I would listen to them discuss boss strats in vent and on our forums. I saw the pretty shiny purples (not that I’m all that gear-driven). But most of all, I saw that the raid team was really pulling together into a cohesive unit and that they were having a lot of fun.
I knew my chances of raiding consistently on my current level 80s weren’t that great since we have a 100 hunters and paladins and I still couldn’t stand to log into my boomkin. But, they were looking for a demo lock and I had just happened to transfer a level 71 lock to Staghelm because I wanted her professions in my personal economy.
Republic’s
Geek Culture Happy
Rawrcast Ep 158:
With all of this week’s talk about the Cataclysm Closed Beta, anticipation about the pending release is making our mouths water. This lax time as we are waiting for the release of Cataclysm is the perfect era to go back and snag up some of those memoriable retro items! Nothing says, “I’ve been playing WoW long enough to know which cool blogs know which items make a fashion statement,” like these retro drops! So grab your high-level main and spend some quality time in the old world.
I’ve lately become very obsessed with trying to optimize my gear. The problem is, I was an English Major so math only works when I use my fingers and toes. So I had to find some tools to help me determine if a drop is actually an upgrade and I had to change my way of thinking about gear.
The last few articles I wrote were all about trying to maintain your mood, finding a balance in your WoW time and really how to keep an even keel. That was how I was spending my WoW-time for the last few months. I would fill-in raids, I would do a lot of dailies, I would beat the hell out of the LFD tool. But then I got the raiding bug again.
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