And now we are sixty. Sullivan has hit the once-epic milestone and is now technically ready for Outland. However, I’ve still got some Jame circuits to complete in Azeroth, and I’d be insane not to jump on it. The way I see it, the more quests I complete in the Old World the more quests I’ll have left in Outlands and the more gold I’ll get from completing them at 70. Also, padding of a few levels has never hurt quest difficulty, right? I’m of two minds with this character. Do I go for the Epic Flyer for speed and clout, or do I save my cash for more important things. I won’t be able to use the Flyer in Wrath anyway, so why not just hold off until 77 and have cash for leet BoEs?

I think I’ll just see where it ends up. I mean if I end up with enough for an epic flying mount after accomplishing most of my monetary goals, then I think I’ll splurge. If not, who cares? I’ll have seven levels without the use of it anyway. I’ll be back on my Orc War Dog (which I haven’t purchased yet anyway) so it isn’t like I’ll be without 100% land transport.

I’m sorely tempted to jump into Outland though for a little while and do some quests for the insane Oudland gear. That stuff is crazy awesome and would really make running around in Azeroth easier. I just don’t trust myself to go back to the Old World after I knocked out some of the well-designed Outland quests.

I’m enjoying running around in the Plaguelands though. I mean I’m a Paladin, right? Aside from that, I enjoy the epic feel of WPL and EPL. Less so Silithus. I’m really not sure what they were thinking when that came up. I enjoy Winterspring though. I just find the snow covered forest to be very relaxing. I’m looking forward to Wrath of the Lich King as it will probably feature lots of snowy forest land. But yeah, the Plaguelands are probably my favorite zones of old Azeroth. It just feels like I’m working for a big goal and helping to safeguard the peace of the world (for a while, anyway). I’m going to have to switch my original thought of “Leave Azeroth as quickly as possible” to “Complete as much as you can. The money is good, though the quest rewards are somewhat garbage.”

I’m also saving up cash for future Death Knight stuff. I figure I stock up on stuff on Horde an Alliance side so I can have a good head start when I make the guy. Of course, knowing Blizz they’ll have incredible starting questline stuff that will make almost anything obsolete. I should probably just save money.

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Wow. That’s just really wooden. I mean I’ve heard of phoning this shit in, but that is ridiculous.

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I’m at my wit’s end. I loved my Media Center Extender, but I was sadly running on a less-than-legal evaluation copy of Windows Media Center. So eventually the lack of security patches caught up to me and I had to stop using the thing. Now I’m stuck using Windows Vista DVD Maker to get my Bleach and Top Gear on the TV where they belong. This is a sad state of affairs. I need to come up with a plan to make DIVX watching on the TV less of a PITA.

There are a few options, as far as I see it. I can put XPMC on the Redserver, get an XBOX/XBOX360, or build a HTPC. All three of these options have their ups and downs.

Buying an XBOX is a bit of a poser. Firstly, if I was to pick up a first gen XBOX for media center purposes, I’d be wasting my money. Without a decent library of games, I’d just feel like a fool every time I started it up. Now a 360 is a bit of a more tenable idea. It has almost all of the games I want with the exception of Valkyrie of the Battlefield, Final Fantasy, and Disgaea. It does have Fallout 3 though and that is one of the big ones I want to get to playing. The Elite is pretty expensive though, but it isn’t the most expensive plan.

That honor goes to the HTPC plan. I’d have to build a new PC (fanless, natch) from scratch and get a legit copy of Vista/XPMC to get the thing working properly. I don’t know about you, but HDMI video cards are pretty expensive where I come from. And no, I’m not using Composite. The whole point of this thing is to do it right. It looks like a good Mini-ITX board is nearly $200, with a case and ram equaling that. We’re in the Elite price range without even looking at the video card, or the storage solution we’d need. Of course, We could always go with a NAS, which would confuse the issue even further. But it might look cool in my entertainment center so there is always that.

Then finally there is the upgrade-in-place plan. Where I swap XP for XPMC on the redserver and use the existing extender. That is what looks like the cheapest plan, and it appears that I have almost everything I’d need for the dang thing. The only real problem is that the Redserver is so dang loud that I’d love an excuse to turn the thing off. Also, it is far away from my TV. I’d have to run Ethernet all the way from upstairs where the server is to downstairs where the TV is. I wonder if powerline networking is really good enough for a consistant 10/100 connection.

I think that the clear “winner” is the HTPC plan, it is a dang shame that it is the most expensive of all the plans. Once lack of resources is factored in, then the big winner is XPMC on the redserver. Bah. So many choices.

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Here are a few Ret Paladin Links I’ve been using. I need to fill some space here:

• Jame’s Leveling Guide -> Don’t bother going anywhere else. This is the one, the only 1-70 guide you’ll ever need.
• The Retributor’s Path -> Here’s one of the finest set of ret guides on the official WoW forums. This one covers gear, and the other two tactics for specific encounters. Learn it live it love it.
• RETLOL -> Here’s your guide clearinghouse. This place has everything you’ll need to get to the bottom of this Retribution Paladin thing.
• RetPaladin.com -> Kind of our Maintankadin. Has some more esoteric tips (like Seal Twisting) that can raise your Ret play to the next level.

Anyway, have fun playing the redheaded stepchild of WoW. I know I am.

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I’ve always had a problem with Holy Paladin equipment. The Sword-and-Board template never really worked for me. I’ve always seen Paladins as wielders of big two handed maces. So I’d enjoy equipping my Shockadin Calicity with a Holy Spec appropriate two hander. The only way I can see it working though, is if we make “Holy Spelldamage” the new Feral Attack Power. We can make it cheaper than Spelldamage as FAP is to regular attack power. Put it on Two Handed Hammers/Swords/Polearms and we won’t have to fight priests (the rare Holy Damage Priest) for them. If the ilevel was cheap enough then enough spelldamage would fit on one item to counterbalance the 1hander + Shield loadout that makes up 99% of Holy Paladins and preserve the image of the paladin with the huge hammer.

The only problem would be making up for the loss of durability that follows from losing the shield. It would have to boost damage a lot to make up for it is all I’m saying. Ah well, it is a beautiful dream.

I’m honestly a bit on the fence about FAP in the first place, as it is a big giant “This is only for Feral Druids” stamp. I’d still love to see Holy paladins swinging a 2-hander, and have no real idea how to do that. I mean you can get almost +45 int from enchants on a 1-hander and shield, you’d have to beat the stats on a 1 handed weapon by a big margin.

For the ret mana issues, I’d have to agree. My Belf Ret paladin has one heck of a drinking problem. Some kind of reverse spiritual attunement wouldn’t be too crazy, though it would kinda turn paladin tanking into Crazy Town if you got mana for all your conc ticks and for being healed. Demon Hunter supplicants would become an endangered species with all the prot paladins hanging out on the BT steps.

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If I had a time machine, I’d be all there. Seriously, if Doctor Who showed up and said “One trip” I’d say go do this concert.

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I’m trying out more random limited series stuff recently, and I have to say that I like comic series with a definite beginning middle and end. It makes for a bit of a change from the open-ended craziness of Bleach, but if you never read anything with a planned complete arc then the constant feature creep would get old after a while. That said:

Atomic Robo: I never “got” 8-bit Theater. I don’t know why. It just sat next to VG Cats in the “not really all that amazing” pile. This, on the other hand, is gold. I love the Robot-son-of-Tesla thing and the Fightin’ Scientists thing. Pretty much all of the book is great. This will be one of the ones I pick up in trade.

Umbrella Academy: Yes, it is by the guy from My Chemical Romance. Don’t let that turn you off. It is actually a good, pulpy little adventure story. The art is top-notch the writing is punchy, and the character design is great. Another keeper in the collected edition. Also, it seems that I’m missing issue 3. Rather like Robo… maybe I missed a week at the old comics store.

As always, Walking Dead and Powers seem to be falling behind. My two favorite comics have such a random release schedule that I can’t really count on Walking Dead week (or Powers week). It is dang annoying.

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Live action STALKER? See, there’s a reason I’ve never gotten into the whole Paintball/Airsoft scene. And it isn’t because of the high Redneck penetration of that particular hobby. I’ve banged on about my fascination with storyline based scenarios before. I just can’t get into the whole “take their flag” style of gaming that is so prevalent in real life and in video game death match gaming.

So in answer to my prayers, the russkies have stood up. They have a live action STALKER session that takes the best from the Live Dungeon thing they do at Dragon Con and actual war games. They have costuming, accurate firearms and tanks (for the love of God, TANKS). That just looks like fun and a half.

Sadly it is in Russia only… it is probably pretty cheap to get over there, but I don’t speak Russian. I may end up being dismembered by Japanese tourists in an Estonian hotel. So probably not then.

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So, Sullivan is still working on the 50s. I forgot how nice these zones all were, back in Azeroth. I’ve made it a goal to explore all of the Old World before I jump over to Outland, so it is going to be a trip. I’m especially looking forward to doing Teldrassil, as I’ll have to go through Darnassas. I don’t think that Blood Elves are well received in the Night Elf capitol.

I can’t say enough good about Jame’s Levelling guides. They take you all over the place, you do a good variety of quests, and it really feels like you see the world. I did one 70 by the old “Go into town, quest until there aren’t any !s left and move on” method and it felt so very compartmentalized. For some reason this second trip is feeling so much better flying all over the place.

People say that using a guide is cheating, but geez man, you use WoWHead right? Jame doesn’t do anything other than say “Get these three quests before going to the other end of Feralas, you’ll thank me for not making you walk there twice” or “For God’s sake, get out of STV for a while. It’ll save you burnout.” As I said, I honestly spent time in places I never went as Alliance. The extended sessions in Aszhara let me see part of the game that I really hope is the next target for a Dustwallow-esque makeover. The place is beautiful, and a source of some of the best views in the game.

All that said, I don’t spend the whole gaming session staring at a sheet of A4 so fun just kind of happens. With the quests more streamlined by the guide I get twice as much (probably more than that) done and spend less time wandering about. I’d hazard a guess to say that I actually have MORE fun with tighter levelling circles than I would either randomly questing until I clear a zone or *shudder* grinding.

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“They’re bustin’ their balls doin’ a lot of shit work that you take for granted.”

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