The Championship Gaming Series has announced its second World of Warcraft Arena championship, to be held in June and July later this year. It'll be a 3v3 tourney, and CGS is taking its cues from Blizzard -- they've got their own Arena realm to hold it on, and all the options on the official tournament realm will be available on theirs, too.
In fact, it sounds like the tournament is actually starting on the live realms themselves -- CGS says that they're going to invite the top 1,000 Arena teams from North America and Europe, so if you're one of those buy wow gold, you can probably expect an email with an invite. The actual tournament takes place in June, with the finals in Los Angeles on July 19th, and the winner netting a $25,000 purse. The second place team gets half of that ($12,500), and the 3rd and 4th place teams will each take home $6,250.
Nice work if you can get it cheap wow gold. Good luck to everyone out there.
2008年5月20日星期二
Ready Check: The Twin Eredars
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau world of warcraft, everyone can get in on the action and get mad purpz. Today, we encounter Mary-Kate and Ashley. The fourth encounter in the Sunwell, the Eredar Twins is a really interesting fight -- a ballet of managing debuffs, of exact positioning, of not blowing up the raid. The Twins themselves are Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess, one 'shadow twin' who deals melee damage and one 'fire twin' who casts fire spells at the tank. Unlike some previous 'twin' encounters, their health is not linked; when one dies buy wow gold, the surviving twin gains some of her abilities, so you can choose which to kill first.
The encounter itself is very flexible and dozens of guilds have come up with different strategies, so we're not going to dictate the "must-follow" hard and fast rules here cheap wow gold. Instead, let's take a look at the bosses and their abilities and provide you with the tools to come up with your own plan of attack, along with some tips and tricks.
The encounter itself is very flexible and dozens of guilds have come up with different strategies, so we're not going to dictate the "must-follow" hard and fast rules here cheap wow gold. Instead, let's take a look at the bosses and their abilities and provide you with the tools to come up with your own plan of attack, along with some tips and tricks.
2008年5月19日星期一
Around Azeroth: Rules lawyer, rules
Okay, I'll level with you -- this is not an Around Azeroth. This is a picture I made for someone special.
You see, today's my dad's sixtieth birthday world of warcraft gold. He didn't want us to get him anything. But I wanted to do something for him, even though he's a thousand miles away. So I made him into a tauren. He's all dressed up to defend a client in court, but is also ready to go fishing afterwards. The club with a nail in it represents the fact that you can't get a fishing pole until level 5, so I figured he could use a more primitive form of fly-fishing until then.
My dad was born in a small town in eastern Wisconsin, and was the first person in his family to go to college. He served in the military before going to law school. He's spent most of his life defending people, rich, poor, guilty or innocent. Even if they were guilty, he would say, his job was important wow gold, because even guilty people need a good lawyer to keep the system fair and honest. He's been married for over thirty years, raised two daughters, and has traveled everywhere from Argentina to Italy. He also owns a bottle opener with the pope's head on top, which he refers to as the Popener and never fails to bring out at family gatherings.
But what does this have to do with WoW? Well, my dad is the whole reason I'm writing here today. When I was seven, he bought an original Nintendo, ostensibly for the kids but really for him. We used to play Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy together, with him doing the controller and me "advising" him on where to go next. We even played that horrible game Shadowgate that always ended with a description of your gory death cheap wow gold. My dad got me into gaming, and thus is responsible for every article I've written here for the past year and a half. Considering that, one paragraph of reading about his life isn't too much to ask.
Happy birthday, Dad.2008年5月18日星期日
All The World's A Stage: RP on a non-RP server
No David this week, I'm sorry to report. No, you're stuck with me. Before we get rolling, I'll establish my 'cred' wow, so to speak. I started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1981, when I was ten years old. You can scroll down the page at the Acaeum till you hit the eight edition: that's the set my mom bought for me at a local department store. To this day I still remember the Erol Otus cover. From there, it's been a long, rambling flirtation with the genre, from AD&D to the Hero System (Champions mostly) to Steve Jackson's GURPS to the various FASA offerings (mostly Mechwarrior and Shadowrun world of warcraft, I liked Earthdawn but no one else wanted to play it) to Chaosium's Pendragon and Call of Cthulhu lines (and Stormbringer, the Elric RPG) to the present day, with d20 system games like Mutants and Masterminds and Arcana Evolved ans well asWhite Wolf's Exalted setting being in my current pile.
As a result, when I first got into World of Warcraft, I was under the impression that you were expected to role play your character. My poor human paladin (who I had decided had been sent to the order as a child because his parents didn't particularly care to feed yet another mouth after the war cheap wow gold, and who was frankly too slow to grasp book learning to make a good priest) quickly learned that any attempt to discuss epic adventure, make comments about how boring life at the Abbey had been, or even treat kobolds as anything other than copper shedding piñatas to be beaten until the glittering candy came out would be treated with extreme derision. I didn't know about things like roleplaying servers back then.
As a result, when I first got into World of Warcraft, I was under the impression that you were expected to role play your character. My poor human paladin (who I had decided had been sent to the order as a child because his parents didn't particularly care to feed yet another mouth after the war cheap wow gold, and who was frankly too slow to grasp book learning to make a good priest) quickly learned that any attempt to discuss epic adventure, make comments about how boring life at the Abbey had been, or even treat kobolds as anything other than copper shedding piñatas to be beaten until the glittering candy came out would be treated with extreme derision. I didn't know about things like roleplaying servers back then.
2008年5月17日星期六
China's quake calms Olympic controversies
BEIJING - China's deadliest earthquake in a generation has jarred Chinese who expected to be reveling in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics. In less dramatic ways, the disaster is shifting perceptions between China and the world of warcraft gold, deflating the contentiousness building around the games.
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Newspaper front pages and all-news television around the world have filled with sympathetic coverage since the quake battered a vast, mountainous area, killing tens of thousands. The authoritarian Chinese government's rapid, full-throttle rescue and the unprecedented flow of news it has allowed have enabled ordinary Chinese and foreigners to share in the immense tragedy.
More than just knocking bad press about the Beijing games out of the news, the disaster has given China and the world a chance to reassess.
Foreign audiences, especially in the West, are empathizing with the Chinese perhaps more than any at time since democracy demonstrators occupied Tiananmen Square 19 years ago. At the same time wow gold, the quake's devastation has diminished the importance for Chinese of Olympics in August and the accolades from abroad that a spectacular Games was supposed to bring.
"This is a turning point. We're seeing a reconciliation," said Wenran Jiang, a Chinese politics expert at the University of Alberta.
Foreign leaders are sending condolences and aid, instead of discussing boycotts of the Olympics.
The atmosphere is markedly less rancorous than a few weeks ago when an uprising by Tibetans against China's rule and rowdy protests overseas against the Olympic torch relay seemed to expose vast differences in the ways Chinese and foreigners viewed the world.
For Chinese, the Olympics was supposed to be a crowning moment, signifying China's full acceptance by the international community after decades of isolation and then decades of economic catch-up. The government gave it a grandiose buildup, running the torch to all corners of the globe and the top of Mount Everest.
For foreigners, China's suppression of the Tibet protests brought reminders of the military's crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, dashing hopes that awarding Beijing the Olympics had inspired tolerance and change.
The result: angry and violent protests for the torch and a furious backlash from Chinese. By early May, China's standing in the West plummeted. Online surveys in the U.S. and Europe found that Americans disapproved of Beijing hosting the Olympics cheap wow gold, while Europeans said China had overtaken the United States as the greatest threat to global stability. Chinese were issuing death threats against Western media and calling for boycotts of French goods.
While the earthquake has dispelled those tensions, they could still resurface in the 81 days until the Aug. 8 start of the games. Foreign pressure groups have not announced any scale-back in plans to use the Olympic spotlight to induce Beijing to change policies on human rights, press freedom, Sudan's Darfur region and other issues. Pro-Tibet groups reported fresh rounds of detentions and protests in Tibetan areas early this month.
But China has done much right in the wake of the earthquake. Responding to public grief, the government reversed course, toning down what had been a boisterous, triumphal torch relay through China to include a moment of silence.
Its decision to allow a freer flow of information on the quake has been rewarded with an outpouring of support. Donations have flooded in — $860 million as of Saturday, according to the government news agency Xinhua.
Aside from money, ordinary Chinese have bought medicines, food, blankets, loaded up their private cars and driven to the disaster areas buy wow gold, where they have helped in the rescue.
For the first time, Beijing accepted not just foreign aid but allowed specialized rescue teams from Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan to operate in China. And state media have widely publicized their efforts.
The overall effect is an unheard of degree of participation by Chinese and foreigners in a matter — disaster relief — that the communist leadership has long preferred to manage alone as proof it is capable of handling China's affairs and providing for its people.
"The earthquake has brought the best out of the Chinese government and Chinese people and demonstrated the regime and the Chinese are capable of working together to build up a better future," said Xu Guoqi, a historian at Kalamazoo College in Michigan and author of the recently published book "Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008."
The comparison that some Chinese make is to Sept. 11, 2001, when a spirit of volunteerism and patriotism buoyed Americans after the terror attacks.
Many overseas in the West may not be ready to accept the communist leadership as a force for good; it still persecutes people for political activism or religious beliefs. But in the wake of earthquake, it is being recognized for doing some good.
ADVERTISEMENT
Newspaper front pages and all-news television around the world have filled with sympathetic coverage since the quake battered a vast, mountainous area, killing tens of thousands. The authoritarian Chinese government's rapid, full-throttle rescue and the unprecedented flow of news it has allowed have enabled ordinary Chinese and foreigners to share in the immense tragedy.
More than just knocking bad press about the Beijing games out of the news, the disaster has given China and the world a chance to reassess.
Foreign audiences, especially in the West, are empathizing with the Chinese perhaps more than any at time since democracy demonstrators occupied Tiananmen Square 19 years ago. At the same time wow gold, the quake's devastation has diminished the importance for Chinese of Olympics in August and the accolades from abroad that a spectacular Games was supposed to bring.
"This is a turning point. We're seeing a reconciliation," said Wenran Jiang, a Chinese politics expert at the University of Alberta.
Foreign leaders are sending condolences and aid, instead of discussing boycotts of the Olympics.
The atmosphere is markedly less rancorous than a few weeks ago when an uprising by Tibetans against China's rule and rowdy protests overseas against the Olympic torch relay seemed to expose vast differences in the ways Chinese and foreigners viewed the world.
For Chinese, the Olympics was supposed to be a crowning moment, signifying China's full acceptance by the international community after decades of isolation and then decades of economic catch-up. The government gave it a grandiose buildup, running the torch to all corners of the globe and the top of Mount Everest.
For foreigners, China's suppression of the Tibet protests brought reminders of the military's crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, dashing hopes that awarding Beijing the Olympics had inspired tolerance and change.
The result: angry and violent protests for the torch and a furious backlash from Chinese. By early May, China's standing in the West plummeted. Online surveys in the U.S. and Europe found that Americans disapproved of Beijing hosting the Olympics cheap wow gold, while Europeans said China had overtaken the United States as the greatest threat to global stability. Chinese were issuing death threats against Western media and calling for boycotts of French goods.
While the earthquake has dispelled those tensions, they could still resurface in the 81 days until the Aug. 8 start of the games. Foreign pressure groups have not announced any scale-back in plans to use the Olympic spotlight to induce Beijing to change policies on human rights, press freedom, Sudan's Darfur region and other issues. Pro-Tibet groups reported fresh rounds of detentions and protests in Tibetan areas early this month.
But China has done much right in the wake of the earthquake. Responding to public grief, the government reversed course, toning down what had been a boisterous, triumphal torch relay through China to include a moment of silence.
Its decision to allow a freer flow of information on the quake has been rewarded with an outpouring of support. Donations have flooded in — $860 million as of Saturday, according to the government news agency Xinhua.
Aside from money, ordinary Chinese have bought medicines, food, blankets, loaded up their private cars and driven to the disaster areas buy wow gold, where they have helped in the rescue.
For the first time, Beijing accepted not just foreign aid but allowed specialized rescue teams from Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan to operate in China. And state media have widely publicized their efforts.
The overall effect is an unheard of degree of participation by Chinese and foreigners in a matter — disaster relief — that the communist leadership has long preferred to manage alone as proof it is capable of handling China's affairs and providing for its people.
"The earthquake has brought the best out of the Chinese government and Chinese people and demonstrated the regime and the Chinese are capable of working together to build up a better future," said Xu Guoqi, a historian at Kalamazoo College in Michigan and author of the recently published book "Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008."
The comparison that some Chinese make is to Sept. 11, 2001, when a spirit of volunteerism and patriotism buoyed Americans after the terror attacks.
Many overseas in the West may not be ready to accept the communist leadership as a force for good; it still persecutes people for political activism or religious beliefs. But in the wake of earthquake, it is being recognized for doing some good.
Thousands flee China quake area over flood fears
DONGHEKOU, China - Two rivers blocked by landslides threatened to flood towns shattered by China's massive earthquake, sending thousands of survivors fleeing Saturday in a region still staggering from the country's worst disaster in 30 years.
A mountain sheared off by the mighty tremor cut the Qingzhu river and swallowed the riverside village of Donghekou whole, entombing an unknown number of people inside a huge mound of brown earth.
Compounding the horror for survivors wow gold, a lake rising behind the wall of debris threatens to break its banks and send torrents cascading into villages downstream.
Pannicky residents streamed out of the entire county on the northern edge of the quake zone, spurred on by mobile phone text messages sent en masse by local government officials warning that the water level was rising and people downstream were being evacuated.
In the town of Beichuan, 60 miles to the south, thousands fled as the reports circulated.
Rescue work resumed later in the day and experts were monitoring the river above Beichuan, the People's Daily newspaper said on its web site. The swift exodus underscored the jitters running through the disaster zone. A strong aftershock — the second in two days and measured by the U.S. Geological Survey at magnitude 5.7 — shook the area early Sunday for 45 seconds, causing people to run into the streets.
In all the devastation wrought by the quake, little looks as bleak as Donghekou.
The road to the village ends in a tangled twist of metal and tar. In the small valley below, the village itself has disappeared when the mountain collapsed. Locals said two other villages further upstream, Ciban and Kangle cheap wow gold, had suffered the same fate. The three villages were home to about 300 families, locals said.
Eerie and still, the remaining landscape has few signs of human life — a soiled green floral scarf, a rubber pipe, a log.
"Oh God! I have lost everything," said Wen Xiaoying, 32, whose voice shook as she surveyed the valley below for the first time since returning from far-off Guangdong province where she worked.
She held up one hand as she ticked off the family members that died — her father, her mother, her sister and her brother-in-law — all of them buried somewhere in the muck before her.
"When I saw them the last time, we celebrated together," said Wen, a glimmer of a smile showing through as she remembered happier days buy wow gold. "I didn't expect it would be the last time I saw them."
Su Ciyao trudged over the bend in plastic slippers, carrying a plastic rice bag stuffed with salvaged clothes.
"My village is over there," the 44-year-old said, gesturing to the swollen earth behind him. Asked where his family was, he could only shake his head.
"Only me," he said, and then set off without a backward glance.
Drizzling rain in the valley added to the gloom, and to the fear of carloads of people who clogged the twisting mountain roads as they streamed out of the region.
The government's daily update added another few thousand bodies to the death toll as it continued climbing toward an expected final tally of at least 50,000. Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said 28,881 deaths have been confirmed so far.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing regional officials, said more than 10,600 people were known to be still buried almost one week after the 7.9 magnitude quake hit, shattering thousands of buildings in dozens of towns and cities in Sichuan province.
More than 200 rescuers from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore are searching alongside Chinese soldiers.
More international aid was arriving, with a U.S. Air Force cargo plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing Sunday in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.
The number of security forces helping victims rose to almost 150,000, and the government added cash payments to victims to its response.
The government would give $715 in compensation to each family that lost a member in the earthquake, China National Radio reported Saturday on its web site world of warcraft gold. At a State Council meeting hosted by Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing, the government also decided it would also hand out a daily ration of food and $1.40 to survivors, the report said.
Almost a week after the quake struck, rescues were still occurring.
Rescuers pulled at least seven more survivors from collapsed buildings, the last a man saved after 128 hours. Both of his legs had to be amputated. Another, 20-year-old highway worker Jiang Yuhang was pulled free shortly after his mother arrived from a neighboring province.
"I was expecting to see my son's body. I never expected to see him alive," his mother, Long Jinyu, said on state television.
Experts say buried earthquake survivors can last a week or more, depending on factors including the temperature and whether they have water to drink, but that the chances of survival diminish rapidly after the first 24 hours.
Nearly a week after the quake, soldiers who first arrived with little but shovels were better supplied. In the town of Yinghua, rescuers worked through the day, using saws, drills, torches and hands, to free 31-year-old Bian Gengfeng from the wreckage of a six-story chemical factory.
A man rescued from the same site Friday told rescuers that he had been talking with a woman still trapped, setting off Saturday's effort.
"Uncle called me yesterday and said 'mom was alive' and I should come and wait here," said 10-year-old Luo Ting, who watched her mother being rescued.
Xinhua said Russian rescuers had found a 61-year-old woman alive late Saturday after being buried for 127 hours, the first survivor found by foreign workers.
"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends that have contributed to our quake relief work," Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying by Xinhua Sunday.
2008年5月13日星期二
Racism in arena names
I think there are few things more disturbing in the modern world than ill-conceived notions of racial, religious, and sexual divisions. For some reason parts of humanity continue to believe that just because one group or another looks and/or acts differently, they are bad. One of the reasons I enjoy cheap wow gold and just games in general is because it allows us to escape the problems this world gives to us, even if only for a few hours a week.
Unfortunately, some people find it necessary to bring their attitudes in game. We've covered some of this before, from border-line inappropriate arena names to sexism in WoW. However while playing an arena game recently fellow writer Amanda Dean came up against a team named "Rosa Parks Stole My Seat," and this name is possibly the most offensive one I've seen wow gold. Rosa Parks (for those of you who need a history lesson) refused to go to the back of a bus because of her skin color and continued to sit in the white only section of the bus, despite being told to do otherwise. She represented a key moment in the history of civil rights.
There are 65 arena teams with this racist name.
When Amanda buy wow gold ran into one of the teams she reported it via a GM ticket.
Unfortunately, some people find it necessary to bring their attitudes in game. We've covered some of this before, from border-line inappropriate arena names to sexism in WoW. However while playing an arena game recently fellow writer Amanda Dean came up against a team named "Rosa Parks Stole My Seat," and this name is possibly the most offensive one I've seen wow gold. Rosa Parks (for those of you who need a history lesson) refused to go to the back of a bus because of her skin color and continued to sit in the white only section of the bus, despite being told to do otherwise. She represented a key moment in the history of civil rights.
There are 65 arena teams with this racist name.
When Amanda buy wow gold ran into one of the teams she reported it via a GM ticket.
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