Monday, December 25, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
4.0
I received my final grades for my first semester of college. I came out on top with a 4.0! Five classes and five A's. I received 100% in two of the classes, 98% in two, and a hair over 95% in the last class.
I guess going back to school after all these years wasn't as hard as I thought.
YFClinkexchange Directory by YFC
I guess going back to school after all these years wasn't as hard as I thought.
YFClinkexchange Directory by YFC
Monday, December 18, 2006
Gold Sellers Love this Blog!
It seems that my World of Warcraft TCG post yesterday has stirred a World of Warcraft MMORPG gold seller to offer to pay me for advertisement space on this blog. Maybe someone should inform this gold seller there is no gold in the WoW TCG? Anyways I have reposted the comment below for your enjoyment.
Dear Sir:Feel free to contact Nesta at any of the aforementioned contacts :)
After browsing so many websites, we are impressed by your site's enhanced design and navigation.
Brogame.com is a leading provider of virtual currency provided to the Massively Multiplayer online community with over 1 year of experience. Till now, we have served over 100,000 Happy game players. In the process, we have built good cooperation and friendship with customers while winning good reputation from the fellow traders. Owing to the large increase of my business, and the consequent additional strain which this put upon me, I have deemed it advisable to have assistance with your company. We hope very much to promote our site by advertising in your site.
You can reach us on any of the email addresses below. Please allow up to 24 hours for us to respond.
Email: nesta.brogame@gmail.com
MSN: nesta_brogame@hotmail.com
yahoo message: zhao_david2002
icq: 383220419
aol: nestabrogame
We look forward to receiving your favorable and prompt reply.
We hope that this letter is the first step to establishment of a long
and pleasant relationship.
Sincerely
Nesta
Brogame
Sunday, December 17, 2006
A View from the Bottom: Losing, Learning, and Loving the World of Warcraft TCG
Yesterday, I competed in my first World of Warcraft TCG tournament. It was Sealed Pack format with an entry fee of $30 which netted each player six boosters and a hero. There was a total of eight players with an additional two interested parties who had to be turned away due to a lack of card supplies which has been an issue for the WoW TCG. Hopefully starting early this week the promised shipments from Upper Deck will hit stores and product will be freely available. Until then there is a very limited supply.
Six Boosters
After opening my six boosters I quickly realized that my card pool was a bit weak. I had only a single protector which was the five cost Horde ally, Kulan Earthguard. Other key allies I pulled for the Horde were 2x Voss Treebender, 1x Vesh'ral, 1x Ya'mon, 1x Hur Shieldsmasher, and 1x Confessor Mildred. Key allies for the Alliance I received were 1x Parvink, 2x Maxum Ironbrew, and 1x Ryn Dreamstrider. As you can see I lacked many of the important 1-2 cost allies that are essential early game plays.
On the ability side of cards I pulled a scattershot of rares and uncommons. Unfortunately none of them provided much synergy for any deck builds I felt comfortable playing. Below are the abilities organized by class.
Druid: 1x Predatory Strikes, 2x Bear Form, 1x Mark of the Wild, 1x Natural Selection, and 1x Healing Touch.
Rogue: 1x Dismantle, 1x Gouge, 2x Coup de Grace, 2x Stealth, and 1x Eviscerate
Warrior: 1x Rend, 1x Mocking Blow, and 1x Demoralizing Shout
Paladin: 1x Cleanse, 1x Holy Light, and 1x Retribution Aura
The other class abilities I nabbed were too few to build any decks with and in the case of the Warlock and Priest I only received a single ability for each. Some useful neutral abilities I received were 2x Exhaustion, 1x Burn Away, 2x Interest You in a Pint?, 1x Call of the Spirit, and 1x Vanquish.
Looking at the lists above it seems as though I had a pretty good start for a Rogue deck, but when it came to weapons, items, and armor I received little to nothing. 1x Barov Peasant Caller, 1x Hide of the Wild, 1x Truesilver Breastplate and 1x Chromatic Cloak. The only weapon was a single Iceblade Hacker.
I drew an array of quests with 2x Blueleaf Tubers, 1x It's a Secret to Everybody, 1x Zapped Giants, 1x In Dreams, 2x Chasing A-me 01, 1x Into the Maw of Madness, and 2x Big Game Hunter.
My Deck
With the lack of protectors and the lack of a weapon I decided against playing a Rogue deck. My first instinct was to take the Truesilver Breastplate and play either a Paladin or Warrior. I felt that both of those choices were weak considering my only weapon being the Iceblade Hacker and the likely proliferation of protectors that ready themselves.
My final choice was to go with the Horde Druid, Thangal. Sadly it is one of the few classes I have no experience playing.
Deck List:
(will post deck list when I get some time)
I strongly felt that I could get ahead early with Bear Form and Predatory Strikes. Once ahead I hoped to be able to control the board with Voss Treebender, Kulan Earthguard, and Confessor Mildred. To finish games I felt that Mark of The Wild, Vesh'ral, Barov Peasant Caller, and Hur Shieldsmasher could serve very well.
Basically my deck was meant to suck up early game damage while removing early game weenies. The decks mid game was to focus on healing and getting the cards needed for a final push. To finish there was armor removal followed by ferocity attackers with Mark of the Wild. Once the dust settled Blueleaf Tubers could be used to cycle my graveyard back into my library which potentially gave me a chance at drawing both of my heals again.
How It Played
In reality I did not play the deck how I planned. I rushed allies and abilities out when I saw early game openings and found myself playing from the draw almost every game. Bear Form and Predatory Strikes never factored into play. Even with mulligans I never had more than one in my opening hand and only once did I manage to get both into play which was trumped by a Crippling Poison keeping Thangal exhausted. The whole idea of having six damage on the opposing hero by the end of turn three never developed.
I really blame myself for playing the deck poorly. I thought it out well, but executed it horribly. Every game I quickly went ahead, but never once did I finish the deal. My best game pushed a Gorebelly deck down to five life at which point I stalled out and started eating nine damage a turn. Even with both heals in hand I couldn't survive long enough to draw anything useful.
What I Learned
The biggest thing I learned about Sealed play in the WoW TCG is that you need to play the best cards you pull. Building a deck around those key cards will equal success. The top players at the tournament were finished with their builds quickly because they analyzed their best cards and grabbed the appropriate hero.
With a minimum deck size of 30 I found that playing exactly 30 works well, but certain card pools almost demand that you play every single card you can. If you get a ton of good allies you probably will play them all. A good weapon or armor piece can demand a certain hero or the inclusion of more cards.
As far as Quest selection goes I found that eight in a deck of 30 was efficient if you have eight that benefit your build. Otherwise it makes more sense to choose utility cards that could serve a purpose in certain situations or be dumped as a resource when they are just taking up space.
What disappointed me about the Sealed format was that it seemed whoever pulled the better equipment cards had the upper hand. Having key armor pieces such as Golem Skull Helm or Draconian Deflector played a far larger roll than any other single card. Getting a weapon such as Brain Hacker or Flame Wrath really unbalanced the field. With the current large number of rares and the fact they are restricted by class it feels as though you can easily get screwed in Sealed play.
As far as playing your deck in a Sealed tournament it felt as though everyone held onto cards instead of going for early game leads. I fell into the trap of seeing the early game openings and leaving myself wide open to late game stalls. Watching your board control disappear in a couple turns and realizing you have no backup is a sad lesson to learn. Knowing that I could and should have played better is a tough pill to swallow.
Even though I failed to win a single game during the tournament and finished in last place I still love the WoW TCG. I just have to suck it up and continue to practice. There will be plenty of chances to compete in the future.
Six Boosters
After opening my six boosters I quickly realized that my card pool was a bit weak. I had only a single protector which was the five cost Horde ally, Kulan Earthguard. Other key allies I pulled for the Horde were 2x Voss Treebender, 1x Vesh'ral, 1x Ya'mon, 1x Hur Shieldsmasher, and 1x Confessor Mildred. Key allies for the Alliance I received were 1x Parvink, 2x Maxum Ironbrew, and 1x Ryn Dreamstrider. As you can see I lacked many of the important 1-2 cost allies that are essential early game plays.
On the ability side of cards I pulled a scattershot of rares and uncommons. Unfortunately none of them provided much synergy for any deck builds I felt comfortable playing. Below are the abilities organized by class.
Druid: 1x Predatory Strikes, 2x Bear Form, 1x Mark of the Wild, 1x Natural Selection, and 1x Healing Touch.
Rogue: 1x Dismantle, 1x Gouge, 2x Coup de Grace, 2x Stealth, and 1x Eviscerate
Warrior: 1x Rend, 1x Mocking Blow, and 1x Demoralizing Shout
Paladin: 1x Cleanse, 1x Holy Light, and 1x Retribution Aura
The other class abilities I nabbed were too few to build any decks with and in the case of the Warlock and Priest I only received a single ability for each. Some useful neutral abilities I received were 2x Exhaustion, 1x Burn Away, 2x Interest You in a Pint?, 1x Call of the Spirit, and 1x Vanquish.
Looking at the lists above it seems as though I had a pretty good start for a Rogue deck, but when it came to weapons, items, and armor I received little to nothing. 1x Barov Peasant Caller, 1x Hide of the Wild, 1x Truesilver Breastplate and 1x Chromatic Cloak. The only weapon was a single Iceblade Hacker.
I drew an array of quests with 2x Blueleaf Tubers, 1x It's a Secret to Everybody, 1x Zapped Giants, 1x In Dreams, 2x Chasing A-me 01, 1x Into the Maw of Madness, and 2x Big Game Hunter.
My Deck
With the lack of protectors and the lack of a weapon I decided against playing a Rogue deck. My first instinct was to take the Truesilver Breastplate and play either a Paladin or Warrior. I felt that both of those choices were weak considering my only weapon being the Iceblade Hacker and the likely proliferation of protectors that ready themselves.
My final choice was to go with the Horde Druid, Thangal. Sadly it is one of the few classes I have no experience playing.
Deck List:
(will post deck list when I get some time)
I strongly felt that I could get ahead early with Bear Form and Predatory Strikes. Once ahead I hoped to be able to control the board with Voss Treebender, Kulan Earthguard, and Confessor Mildred. To finish games I felt that Mark of The Wild, Vesh'ral, Barov Peasant Caller, and Hur Shieldsmasher could serve very well.
Basically my deck was meant to suck up early game damage while removing early game weenies. The decks mid game was to focus on healing and getting the cards needed for a final push. To finish there was armor removal followed by ferocity attackers with Mark of the Wild. Once the dust settled Blueleaf Tubers could be used to cycle my graveyard back into my library which potentially gave me a chance at drawing both of my heals again.
How It Played
In reality I did not play the deck how I planned. I rushed allies and abilities out when I saw early game openings and found myself playing from the draw almost every game. Bear Form and Predatory Strikes never factored into play. Even with mulligans I never had more than one in my opening hand and only once did I manage to get both into play which was trumped by a Crippling Poison keeping Thangal exhausted. The whole idea of having six damage on the opposing hero by the end of turn three never developed.
I really blame myself for playing the deck poorly. I thought it out well, but executed it horribly. Every game I quickly went ahead, but never once did I finish the deal. My best game pushed a Gorebelly deck down to five life at which point I stalled out and started eating nine damage a turn. Even with both heals in hand I couldn't survive long enough to draw anything useful.
What I Learned
The biggest thing I learned about Sealed play in the WoW TCG is that you need to play the best cards you pull. Building a deck around those key cards will equal success. The top players at the tournament were finished with their builds quickly because they analyzed their best cards and grabbed the appropriate hero.
With a minimum deck size of 30 I found that playing exactly 30 works well, but certain card pools almost demand that you play every single card you can. If you get a ton of good allies you probably will play them all. A good weapon or armor piece can demand a certain hero or the inclusion of more cards.
As far as Quest selection goes I found that eight in a deck of 30 was efficient if you have eight that benefit your build. Otherwise it makes more sense to choose utility cards that could serve a purpose in certain situations or be dumped as a resource when they are just taking up space.
What disappointed me about the Sealed format was that it seemed whoever pulled the better equipment cards had the upper hand. Having key armor pieces such as Golem Skull Helm or Draconian Deflector played a far larger roll than any other single card. Getting a weapon such as Brain Hacker or Flame Wrath really unbalanced the field. With the current large number of rares and the fact they are restricted by class it feels as though you can easily get screwed in Sealed play.
As far as playing your deck in a Sealed tournament it felt as though everyone held onto cards instead of going for early game leads. I fell into the trap of seeing the early game openings and leaving myself wide open to late game stalls. Watching your board control disappear in a couple turns and realizing you have no backup is a sad lesson to learn. Knowing that I could and should have played better is a tough pill to swallow.
Even though I failed to win a single game during the tournament and finished in last place I still love the WoW TCG. I just have to suck it up and continue to practice. There will be plenty of chances to compete in the future.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Blizzard says: "Hope you played last week!"
Blizzard is making a "hotfix" to the rate at which honor is gained in World of Warcraft 2.0.1's new PvP honor system! From the official forums.
Now that the Before the Storm content patch has been live for the past week, we’ve had a better opportunity to track the rate at which players are accumulating honor, and subsequently how easy it's been to obtain honor rewards. In gauging these elements, we've determined that the effort required to obtain honor rewards is more trivial than we had intended. As a result, during today's maintenance we’ve applied a hotfix that reduced the amount of honor gained by approximately 30%. This change allows the honor rewards to be obtained at rate that better reflects the item’s in-game value.So I hope you played last week when epic PvP gear was on EZ mode. If not they are offering you another week at only a 30% decrease! Get in while it's cheap!
The reason that we decided to reduce the rate of honor gain rather than simply raise the honor cost of each item, is to ensure that everyone’s time and effort participating in PvP since the patch is not diminished. As this change will only affect future honor accumulation. - Nethaera
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