Well, I did a Kara raid for the first time last week. It was mostly pretty fun, I must admit. I was apprehensive at first, having been brainwashed after years of abuse to think that I completely suck. I did screw up many times, but Joe was adamant about that being the raid leaders fault for not explaining the bosses well enough.

I was convinced the raid leader was about 14 years old because he insisted on taking every drop "for fun". I was elated when Joe received the Arcanite Ripper from the WotLK limited time boss because the very generous and mature co-leader told him to go ahead and Need it since Joe was still a bit under geared.

After we did Kara, Joe made a bid for Zul'Aman. However, we fell in with a very elitist crowd who felt that because Joe had a couple of un-replaced greens that he was not worthy of running through ZA. I quickly left after that, being even worse off than Joe by a few pieces. It started me on my angry tirade about the elitist jerks in WoW and how it seems like everyone on that game is just itching to show off their e-penis and see who has the largest. It really speaks towards the gear (and the attitude) being everything for status.

Afterward, I had a brief discussion with a friend of mine who said he would have done the exact same thing because he is a self-proclaimed "elitist asshole". He said PUGs were notoriously bad and it bettered your chances if everyone more or less knew what they were doing.

Well, sorry we're not all born geared.

I can't wait until the expansion when all their work is rendered useless and green trash drops will be better than the epics they fought so hard to get. I shouldn't let my bias show but I can't really help it. I remember when I was part of a terribly elitist guild (by association and not my own merit) and they were all complaining during Burning Crusade because they had to replace all their hard earned epics with greens. The guild broke up shortly after due to other varying degrees of drama. I was quite pleased, however, with their strife during their struggle to get to 70. Their attitudes never impressed me much, so I felt they deserved their current state of affairs.

In any case, I'm having trouble connecting this sense of community thing with the fact that this is primarily a solo-based game (during the initial leveling stages) that produces the kind of hostility and reluctance to help that I am talking about. I suppose I'll have to re-define my sense of the Wow community.

Oh another note, this domain will expire in January and I will not re-new it. I will post the new blog address when I am finished with the renovations.

So, first interesting account for this entry is the in-game mini concert of the Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains - a metal band made up of Blizzard guys. Their in-game counter parts are, of course, Horde characters. The lead singer is a rather menacing-looking orc. Joe and I heard the announcement of their impromptu concert at the World's End Tavern in Shattrath and we raced there to see, since we had been a bit curious as to how it would play out. As soon as the clock struck 10:00 PM on the server, four flashes of light hit the stage on the tavern (that was already set up with a drum set). The Chieftains appeared and started playing their horde-themed song.

A female Blood Elf on scene immediately stripped down to her bikini and began dancing with the lead singer. No response from him since I am sure they are NPCs playing to a pre-recorded track. There was, however, a response from a male Undead audience member who continually emoted /sexy, /flirt and /dance. The Blood Elf took little notice of him and ran out of the tavern as soon as the concert had finished (approximately 4 minutes later). I have no evidence as to the gender of the actual player but something tells me it was probably a girl.

Now on to the next point. Joe and I also joined another guild recently. They are pretty chatty so it fits in with my motives to observe really well. Just the other day a girl in the guild claimed she was from Europe and that a man in America had bought her subscription because he "saw [her] Myspace and thought [she] was hot." She received a great deal of attention from the men in the guild, including the Guild Master. They began joking that this American man would stalk her and that, if they were in his place, they would expect some sort of compensation for having bought her a subscription. She merely replied with "hehe"'s and "lol"'s. When guild members began sexual advances towards her she remained amused and elaborated the story for more attention. She then hinted (then obviously stated) that she was engaging in drug use and that she had once "died 7 times in one night" from an OD. Its clearly a ridiculous over exaggeration, but the guild seemed to follow her lead. Others began recounting drug related stories and the night pressed on.

Earlier today the guild saw a good bit of drama when a level 51 guild member said he'd gotten tired of being killed. A level 36 by the name of "Authorized" then began taunting the 51. He told him to stop crying and learn to play his character. A verbal battle ensued, with both parties trying to prove they had the more superior characters. This of course was determined through a show of their 70s and a close inspection of the armory by Authorized, who claimed the 51 was not well-geared. The fight went to the 51, however, when he began making jokes at Authorized's expense, implying he was the stereotypical "fat basement nerd" of media fame. Below is a sample of one of his more colorful quips:

So, I've been noticing lately an unusually large number of people in the Trade channel advertising trading accounts. They'll create a level 1 on the server they want to move to and advertise that they are willing to trade (WTT) a geared 70 or what have you on another server.

Now, having been through an account crisis before, I know for a fact that the name on the account can never be changed and as long as the original owner can prove their identity they can always get their account back.

It would seem that other residents of the Skullcrusher server were aware of this flaw because after "Pennygirl" announced that she was WTT a 70 Gnome lock w/ epic mounts and kara gear for a PvP built character of similar modifications on that server, someone immediately replied with "Gtfo scammer".

Penny seemed resentful so she fired back with some badly written insults.

For once, I chimed in with my knowledge of accounts. I felt less like a noob than I usually do. Others quickly agreed and I felt even better about my quick venture out of obscurity.

I was then rewarded with a whisper from Penny that read, "bitch".

I smiled and quickly replied with something witty (at least I believed it to be witty) that again labeled her a scammer.

She decided to attack me in public again by saying that she believed I had been scammed before and lol'ed at me. My reply: "So you admit you're a scammer."

This really pissed her off because after a flurry of insults in Trade and a final decree of "all you guys suck" she departed.

Two hours later, when we returned to Stormwind, someone going by a name very similar to "Pennygirl" was spamming the same trade request, only she added a level 40 shaman to sweeten the deal I suppose.

Ever since then, I've noticed these types of trade requests more often. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with Blizzard now allowing PvE characters to be transferred to PvP servers. This little alteration has spawned several chat channel jokes about "pussies" from "carebear servers" ruining Skullcrusher.

I'm not even sure how these transactions take place. Either party can get their account back so it seems pointless to try and trade.

Joe and I got into a discussion the other day about why we don't usually get involved in the chat channel antics that take place almost everywhere on this game. The topic came up after a particularly brutal killing spree in which we, a lowly Night Elf Druid and Human Rogue, were repeatedly ganked by an Orc Warlock while trying to kill Marez Cowl in Stromgarde. Well, after all that ganking and getting so fed up, we finally rez after he seems to have moved on. And then what happens? A little Gnome and a Gnome-loving human (his name was Gnomeherder) come in and kill Marez without so much as a polite group invite.

I immediately exclaimed to Joe, "see, this is why I hate Alliance!"

Granted, we are playing Alliance. However, that whole interpretation of Alliance being childish and unreasonable is pervasive. Even if that's the side we're on, we share no love for our "comrades".

So, after finally getting Marez when she respawned, I was so incredibly annoyed and wishing to high heaven I could gank those two bastards that snaked her from us. If only their names weren't green to me. (Green means "go" in my book!) I went on a tirade on the way back to Refuge Point. I told Joe I was going to spit on every Gnome I saw and kill everyone I could. We did the latter. We killed every Horde we came across that wasn't a skull.

Later on, in town, whilst crafting and auction housing, Joe asked me if I was going to spit on Gnomes. I was so tempted. In fact, I'd passed those jerks that took Marez on the way out of Stromgarde and I didn't spit on the Gnome. Why? I was so furious and I asked Joe why, why couldn't I do this simple little thing? I was on-line, safe at home, on a character that was presumably free of social restraints. What stopped me from being "rude"?

Joe's deduction was that we were not rude people and, therefore, abstained from being rude in game. There are people in life that are calous and rude and their attitudes must translate in game, just as ours does. So were the Gnome and his Human friend assholes in their non-virtual life? Probably. Though I still cannot get past why I could not break that convention and why I still am reluctant to say what I want during particularly ridiculous conversations in chat.

I did feel much better yesterday though. I spit on a little Gnome warlock with pigtails who had stripped herself naked by the Stormwind Bank. I spit on her good!

So, we started a pair of shadow priests. Mine is a red-haired human girl, youthful features on her face. She gets more attention and more flirt emotes than any other character I've had.

Do male WoW players have a thing for redheads? I remember seeing something on the dating site for WoW, where all the top viewed females were redheads. Or do they just have a thing for human chicks above other characters? Or am I just over thinking this.

I get hit on by Dwarves more than anything too. To all you Dwarven men, no means no. :/

P.S. - Lay off the booze.

A player of undetermined gender yesterday stated in the Trade chat that s/he "want[ed] to suck a dick so badly, my God!" This was followed with a ">.>" emoticon.

Well, the trade chat exploded with positive responses from male players who assumed the above was female. One player with the apt character name of Bigpenis suggested that he was "right here."

After the slew of lols and rofls, the community then began arguing over the best way to say "suck my dick" in Spanish. Incidentally, all the translations that followed were incorrect.

I know this is a trite and petty blog entry but it certainly surprised/amused Joe and I. Joe usually ignores the chat window, but found himself unable to look away last night.

Two players were arguing over superiority. One claimed that the other one "sucked so bad" that he beat him on his girlfriends shaman. He then says, "dude, you got beat by a girl, how sad is that."

I cannot even begin to analyze what's going on behind that. The character was created by his girlfriend, therefore, irregardless of who is in control of the character it is still a "girl".