Farmers and Botters and Gnomes

I’ve been up to the devil’s business lately in World of Warcraft — nothing illegal, sploitish or untoward, I assure you. The whole thing hasn’t played out yet so I can’t write out the unseemly details until I get everything that’s coming to me. (That’s a little teaser.)

Fortunately for me, the WoW forums has provided some entertainment.

First, amusing and innovative, a gold farming outfit took to the skies to advertise their gold site across several servers: “Gold Spam: Going to new heights. Literally” and “Emerald Dream server just got hacked it seems“. Mods and the original posters pulled the screenshots before I could capture (damn them!), but basically, gnomes fell from the skies to their deaths to form the words and web addy for a gold farming site.

From the first post:

Server: Skywall
Time: 1 am server
Gold Spam of the Month…

Level 1 gnome warriors are falling from the sky in Ironforge to their deaths, and instantly releasing leaving their bodies on the ground in Ironforge.

“Nothing new” you say? Well, so far the bodies have spelled out < < The Name Of A Site That Will Not Be Mentioned >> and keep falling to form more letters as I type this.

I’m currently at the noob starting zone for the gnomes, in Dun Morogh, and have been watching lvl 1 gnome warriors being created, “flying” 20 feet into the air, then walking towards ironforge. STILL IN THE AIR.

Oh the gnomity!

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WoWHead

WoWHead, the pretty, shiny World of Warcraft item database, has been sold to the ZAM Network for over (an estimated, rumored) $1 million. WoWHead’s announcement is here, along with the now-typical rationalization for selling to former/current/speculated/who-knows-what associates of IGE, gold sellers to the stars.

Here’s what I say: why rationalize? It’s none of our business, frankly.

An interesting history lesson about this and prior fan site sales, including Thottbot and Allaka-adver-popups, by Ahmed Farooq, former acquisitions dude at IGE: “Hot off the Presses: Wowhead sold for over $1 million”.

Goddammit, when is somebody going to go on the record with these stories? The truth is, I can’t figure out WHAT we’ve got and until then, I have to use lots of slashed up phrases for all the “either-or’s” like estimated/rumored/speculated and current/former/not-yet-denied.

The Rich, The Noobs, and The Ego

A humorous game mail I received recently in Lord of the Rings Online:

Not My Fault That I'm Game-Poor

I could be misreading this but that sounds like a call to REVOLUTION! Hang the rich.

Here’s a screenshot from a recent, wretched Fornost PUGgie to whack the hilt mobs. As gaming vets, it’s always our responsibility to get the new-to-gaming noobs up to speed on how all this works. I realize that, I accept that, but after giving my short-speech about the do’s and don’ts of crowd control to the same 5 people again and again, I get a little irritated.

Crowd Control is for Noobs

They never did get it, but fortunately for me, we one-shot the last hilt mob — a BAMF nemesis mob — and thank you, Jesus, I never have to go to that pisspool again.

If you’re thirsty for more arrogance and Napoleon-esque posturing, Psycho E-Bitch’s Fraxx was granted an IM audience with me last week to chat about gaming, books and cyber music: A Visit with AFKGamer’s Blogging Bad Boy.

Some highlights: the “Mithaniel Marr story”, the rest of you suck, the liberal manifestos I’m reading, and, gaming’s last dirty little secret.