Token Female Gamer

…Finding them.

Once resigned to the fact that PUGs are necessary and need to be suffered, finding them becomes the challenge.

Sadly in World of Warcraft the Looking for Group function is horrible. It is incredibly limited and hardly anyone seems to use it.

On my server the big alternative is the trade channel. This channel is only available while inside a major city. Since it is literally the only channel that gets used with any frequency everyone joins it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Imagine every PUG experience rolled into one very overused channel. It’s awful and I avoid it as much as possible.

Overall finding PUGs is not that easy, especially if you are a damage (DPS) class, as they tend to be a dime a dozen. Either you sit in town reading through agonizing trade chat, or you join the severely limited in game Looking for Group feature.

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One of the suggestions that I got from my WoW raiding 101 write up was that I hadn’t mentioned anything about PUGs and how those should affect peoples class role choices.

PUG – Acronym for the phrase ‘pick up group’ – meaning to play as a team with random people.

Pick up groups are something most aspiring raiders will have to deal with, especially in World of Warcraft as it is today. Unless of course gifted with a very dedicated set of friends to play with, or part of a large guild that has enough daily active members to provide frequent group and raid buddies.

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External Additions

This is a huge topic. The meta-game for WoW is already incredibly complicated, but the meta-game for the WoW-software dwarfs it by leaps and bounds. From new interfaces to smaller addons; a vast array of options are available. Then of course we can’t forget Ventrilo and all the hardware that that spawns.

Oh you could play without all these fancy gadgets and gizmos but they really help in so many situations by increasing response time, easier access to all raid members, alerts, maps, shortcuts, and so many more wonderful ease inspiring additions that playing without almost seems archaic. Granted on a bit patch day you will be playing without them, until they are patched anyway.

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Taking the step from being a casual player, who runs a few heroic dungeons every now and then, into a player that is raiding effectively and with purpose (my definition of hardcore) is a massive undertaking. It requires far more focused knowledge and experience then just playing casually. Suddenly many aspects of your character, aspects that were easily ignorable before, become incredibly pertinent.

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Long have I been a hater of social networking sites. The idea of sharing personal information with the world is completely unappealing. Posting every single detail of ones life, like the need to defecate, or which restaurant is currently being eaten at, is incredibly strange and distasteful to me.

First of all, I don’t really want to know most of that stuff about other people. Second, I am much more interested in living my life then writing about it or reading about someone else living theirs (this is a very similar problem I have with games like The Sims.) And probably most important, I am an intensely private person, sharing is not something I do naturally.

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This review is long overdue and is now being rushed out in honor of the sequel (which I hope to go see in the theater soon!) It is also dedicated to my friend Pat, who is horrified by the fact that I love this movie (and will NOT let me forget it!)

I saw this both in the theater and on DVD (which I own and have watched multiple times). The full wall-to-wall screen is by far the more exciting experience, but watching it in the privacy of my own home is vastly more comfortable. =D

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A dear friend and geek pal of mine recently moved away. Like all true hardcore geek friends, we met online. We used to play EverQuest together (back in the day when role-playing was still cool).

Eventually it was discovered that we lived in the same general area. Not close enough to hang out all the time, but close enough to play some decent D&D every month or so.

And then he up and moved (and I haven’t played D&D since!!!! Damn j00!) Something about job relocation and buying a house, you know, extremely mature reasons. Of course I am supremely happy for him about all the positive stuff, but I’m sad I lost a geek friend. They are hard to come by, for me anyway, and for him apparently also.

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Like most things ‘online social’, I found out about this via email invitation. This sneaky invitational spam, propagated by well meaning friends and email contacts, is usually the first thing to be deleted; yet the avid reader in me just couldn’t ignore this. (That’s how they getcha!)

At first glance I though ‘oh no not another social obligation site’, but with not much digging it became apparent that Goodreads is indeed about books and not just a clever front for social networking. Oh sure people review books and everyone gets their two cents, people friend each other and even authors get a chance to promote their own books, but in the end the books stand for themselves.

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I have been called out! Challenged!! My World of Warcraft mettle questioned!

The task? Get my level 44 Warlock to reach level 80, by December.

The reward? $20, plus all mounts in between paid for.

I have been talking about leveling my warlock forever. Currently I play a hunter and though I love the class I find that there is an overabundance of hunters. Plus their utility in groups is rather limited. So I dream of having a warlock to take on raids and be useful.

December shouldn’t be too hard to manage. My goal (totally unlikely) is to get 50 this weekend, and possibly 60 by the next. Getting from 70-80 is going to be the slow part. At least this will give my hunter a chance to get all the dungeon achievements for old world, as I will just have my hunter run all the dungeons for my little warlock. Powerlevel for the win!

<3 Token Female Gamer

Sit up Music industry and listen, for your future has just been redefined, again. Interactive music is by far the most interesting and innovative direction music has taken since the record player. This it the time to get involved, help not hinder. Your industry needs this boost of fresh energy that this venue is providing. If handled in an intelligent manner it could be quite a boon.

Rock Band developers meet iTunes. This is a match made in heaven and would blow the socks off of everyone on the planet. Please make it happen.

Another thing, could you please have more song expansions that focus on different genres? I have so many friends that would kill for a best of 80s or best of 90s. Throw us ladies a bone please.

The Beatles expansion is a good start. =)

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