Another Invasion

A while ago I talked about an invasion in EVE Online. Well, I'm now dealing with an invasion of a totally different variety. It has nothing to do with World of Warcraft, EVE, Guild Wars, or any game I play. It has to do with these lovely little creatures.



Multiply that picture by a thousand and you will see what I mean by invasion! Unfortunately, they are in the walls and come out anytime and anywhere they've found something to eat. Cat food, ice cream left in a bowl, jelly encrusted knives left in the dishwasher (yes, the dishwasher). I have a bad feeling my freshly baked cookies may not make it through the night; even though they are locked into a cookie jar.

So, I have a new best friend.



Does anyone have any ideas, outside of using a bug bomb or calling the pest exterminators, that they care to share?

Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post.

My thoughts on World of Warcraft's proposed patch 1.12 PvP changes

I've finally gotten the time to sit down and write down my thoughts regarding these changes I posted a few days ago.

Cross-Realm Battlegrounds

It's no secret that battlegrounds just suck ass in World of Warcraft. They are required to gain PvP rank, but only if you grind them religiously for hours on end. Even then you have to be in an uber group that wins FAST. It's really not about "winning" as much as it's about "winning fast". A good team can win every match they go into, but if they take a long time to do it... well the fast uber teams will be several PvP ranks higher.

On top of this there is the constant problem of not being able to play in a battleground when you want. Whether waiting in a queue or simply hoping a battleground opens on your server there isn't much bright side to the current battlegrounds system.

So Blizzard is going to try and fix a lot of these problems in one full sweep. Battlegrounds are basically going to become a mini-Guild Wars built into World of Warcraft with the features of Blizzard's Battle.net service. It's actually a good fix because it solves more than just one issue.

First of all it fixes the queue issue. There should always be a battleground available for play within a few minutes of clicking join. Not only this, but no longer will low population servers have to worry about the lack of open battlegrounds to play in.

The second major change that this brings with it is COMPETITION! We're talking ladders and tournaments. Hopefully this will also mean that the more a team wins the harder teams they are sent to face. Instead of an uber team continually fighting much weaker pick up groups they will be sent to fight other teams that have won as many matches as them. This way those uber groups don't get to roll in free honor... they actually have to work for it.

It's unknown even if the battlegrounds will give honor any longer. I suspect that with these changes that honor may be only obtainable via open world PvP. The new battlegrounds may offer a much different ranking system. Instead of gaining honor for rank you gain points to compete in tournaments, play in ladder matches, and eventually work towards some kick-ass gear and of course there is always faction grinding. So if the world champion Warsong Gulch team plays on your server... they could be strutting some pretty impressive gear that showcases their achievement.

This also opens up battlegrounds to become a competitive sport. Blizzard is already at Lanwar and the CPL. With this system they could take it even a step farther. And the best part is the casual gamers can still enjoy the same battleground, but at an equal level!

World PvP

World PvP will be covered in part II...

UPDATE: 14 Nov, 2009 - Updated labels and corrected spelling.

World of Warcraft patch 1.12 plans!

World of Warcraft patch 1.11 just came out... and now we have some initial notes on patch 1.12.

Cross-Realm Battlegrounds
For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the Battlegrounds. Coming in patch 1.12 are cross-realm PvP Battlegrounds, linking Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch, and Arathi Basin so that players from several realms will be combined into one huge matchmaking pool. Replenish your mana, sharpen your blades, and get ready for the biggest battles yet!

World PvP
While the Battlegrounds are about to receive a major upgrade of their own, players interested in World PvP will be glad to hear that patch 1.12 will introduce a brand-new type of PvP content to the game. The stage is set for objective-based land battles of truly epic proportions as Horde and Alliance vie for control over important strategic positions and resources around Azeroth. Stay tuned for more news about these new world PvP enhancements coming to World of Warcraft.[/quote]These are the changes I've been waiting for... should hopefully be a good patch. Just have to wait 1 year before we see it!

Both of these are HUGE in my book, but I have to reserve my comments right now due to time constraints. Come back soon because I have a mouthful.

EA To Acquire Mythic Entertainment

From Lum the Mad's (Scott Jennings) blog, Broken Toys, news that EA is acquiring Mythic Entertainment!

Update: 2 May 2009, Added labels.

Alternate World of Warcraft patch 1.11 download links

Update: 6 May, 2009 - Removed post. This will be kept as a placeholder for historical value.

Originally, this post contained links to various World of Warcraft patch download websites.