Nowhere Left

So with less than two weeks to go before release, Blizz decides to email me a beta key.

This kinda makes me do a /sigh for being so late with an invite but I guess they’re sending mass invites out when the launch is very close. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to get a Beta Key for SC2 and I think it’s helped push me to buy a copy. Only the Multiplayer aspect is included in Beta but I’ve played enough now to know I’d at least like to do the Campaign bit with the actual game.

My previous experiences with games of this genre was pretty much limited to Microsoft’s Rise of Nations along with some Warcraft III play time. (Although I did not play Warcraft III until after being a part of World of Warcraft.) Starcraft (original) was before my time, you could say so playing StarCraft II is really new territory for me.

One of the very cool features released in World of Warcraft’s latest patch was the new Battle.net integration of RealID. A summary of this feature is that your RealID friend can talk to on whatever server, faction, or character you’re currently playing. It’s like a dynamically updated friends list populated with all the characters on your friend’s account, under one contact.

Where it gets really interesting is that this new Battle.net communication system is cross-games as well! (Very much similar to Valve’s Steam in that sense.) Thus I can talk to my friends who are playing WoW while I’m testing out my SC2 Beta and once the game is live/released July 27th then it will also still work in the same way.

Here’s what this looks like from the StarCraft II main screen (real names are fuzzed out):

My Guild is getting close, inching evermore closer towards the ICC 10 meta achievement.

With Professor Putricide down (7/15/10), we now need Sindragosa on Heroic and to clean up a few more achievements for the [Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10 player)]. Unfortuently I had to sign off the Warlock and onto my Warrior tank (Rackham) for our first Professor Putricide kill but all in due time I suppose. (I did the same thing for our first LK kill.)

My ultimate personal goal for the Expansion is to complete end game content which is currently obtaining the [Reins of the Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher] (Meta Reward) and at least working on Heroic LK 10. My previous guild was a good one (Divinity) but never progressed nearly as far as I would have liked in previous end game scenarios. So I really do not want a repeat of that this time around, you can attribute that to my guild quit after three years of membership with them last year.

The sad part about this whole thing is that for 70,000 Gold I could go and buy the entire Meta achievement from our Server/Realm’s #1 PvE Guild (Edge). I had hoped to actually get this done and overwith before people started selling meta/mount runs for ICC10 but we are kinda close. 70k Gold is not chump change for me but it is still a hefty chunk of money for something in-game.

Anyways, along with Heroic Sindragosa, the guild currently needs: [Full House], [All You Can Eat], & [Been Waiting a Long Time for This].

Ironforge Bank Laser Attack, totally not a corny title.

So my Mage friend and I are bored, thus we’re zapping unsuspecting folks in Ironforge with our Dark Jade Focusing Lens! Do you want to get ontop of the Bank like us? Check out Youtube videos about it like this one, need a mage though!
____________________

Music: Myndflame – Defias Mightiest (You can Download the MP3 Here)
http://myndflame.gameriot.com/videos/Defias-Mightiest

Just a heads up on my new ‘project’, I’m starting an informational site about WoW leveling.

The focus will be on the Recruit-a-Friend service at first but I’ll expand it once I cover that content. Many people do not realize how easy it is to make an army of level 60s with the RaF service so I’m here to educate you! Check back soon for more details and a link.

This is part of the reason for the lack of posts here but I’ll get on top of that!

Until then, my Warrior is going around for the Midsummer Fire Festival bonfires!

Normally I don’t post non-PC related things but this game is too addicting for me not to mention it.

“As its name aptly suggest, iDevUA’s Glass Tower 2 is a game app where a tower made of glass bricks presents itself as a puzzle – how do you get rid of the blue blocks without making the red blocks fall off? Simply tapping the blue blocks will obliterate them (with a satisfying shattering sound) and gain you points, but do this carelessly, and the red blocks will tumble off the platform and break, knocking points off your score as well as health points off your total lives.” (appSafari)

I’m not to sure what makes me want to sit and play this game until my iPhone Battery is about to die but it happens. This is the only the second game I’ve ever really got into since acquiring my iPhone. The other game I used to play often is called Earth Vs Moon.

In a nutshell, your goal is to destroy (touch) the blue blocks and keep the red ones from falling off. There is gravity pulling the blocks down and throughout the game certain modifiers and extra levels will float by that you can tap to powerup from them. One is the Freeze powerup which will freeze all blocks in place on the screen for a few seconds. Another is a Magnet like effect where blocks are pulled toward the center.

As far as cost, the game itself is free but the “Level Packs” cost $0.99 each, DLC like material. (There are 15 levels built into the core/free game.) Currently there are only 2 level packs and also an editor to make your own levels.

Wanna try it out? Download from iTunes below!

Tuesday was our first step into Heroic Modes with ICC10, three down so far!

I think Icecrown Citadel, at least on Heroic, presents an interesting challenge for Raid Leaders. With the ability to toggle Heroic on and off, you have to make your own plan of attack such as who to focus on first.

During our first week, we took out the first three bosses with relative ease but then the fourth, Saurfang, is a whole other ballgame. We ended up skipping him (killing him on normal mode) for this week so we could try other bosses on our way to Lich King such as Blood Queen and Dreamwalker.

Videos:

Well the we have finally downed Lich King! Unfortunately I had to use my warrior…

Due to the wondrous nature of 10man Raiding Guild Recruitment, I bit the bullet and just brought my alt Prot Warrior Rackham in for our first Lich King kill. Although having the Kingslayer title on my alt is amusing, I will be on my Warlock next time fulfilling my proper role in raid, to melt faces.

We actually downed him on our last go for the night as Raid End time passed as we were doing the encounter. Always nice to grab the kill even if it’s at the end of the raid night. Our MainTank Leopole actually passed the Tank Axe (Troggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King) to my warrior which I gladly took.

My latest level 80, the shaman named: Ansible. This makes my 6th level 80 character in WoW (or 5th maxed alt). However, Ansible is my first caster (DPS) alt so I’m really looking forward to what she can do with some gear. I do have my priest but I only ever plan to heal with him, normally as holy even though I’ll level to 85 as shadow spec.

Update: Been many weeks since the ding to 80 and now I have pretty much everything I’ll loot outside of doing some raids.

I still need my boots (and trinket) from that last guy in PoS Heroic… Scourgelord Tyrannus.

Hey homles, check out the new ride!

If you have not heard, or live under a rock, the new Recruit-a-Friend rewards mount is the X-53 Touring Rocket two person flying mount and it’s badass! It scales to what your maximum flight speed is such as if you have epic flying and/or a 310% mount!  You might be wondering who I recruited? Well I must admit it was just myself… I used my old second account (from back in December) for the Rewards portion.

How can you get this mount? If recruiting a friend is not an option then you’ll end up paying $50 basically. But you can do this completely online (with a credit card) via the Blizzard Store!

You’ll need a new copy of World of Warcraft (classic is all thats needed, $20).
Two months worth of ‘Game Time‘ (two purchases of 30 Day Game time, $30).
Also be sure to generate the ‘Trial Key‘ from your veteran WoW account for your new one.

Links: Blizzard Recruit-A-Friend FAQ / WoWWiki Info

You’ll end up with a Month free on your veteran account along with the mount reward for one of your veteran account players! And you’ll have your second account active for three months of gameplay which the first 90 days get the ‘linked account’ leveling bonuses if you want to play with dual boxing like I did.

I made a small video of my shiny X-53 Touring Rocket below:

Youtube Link

Lighting up Dalaran!  The latest small video from yours truly.

Item needed: Windle’s Lighter from Windle Sparkshine.