There are always going to be times when, due to real life commitments, you can’t play your favourite MMO, whether it’s a month of exams or an important week at work…

The rest: The Daily Grind: How do you cope without your favourite MMO?

So the question is this: You’re not only cut off from WoW for a week (or month!) but you’re also cut off from the internet. No email, no twitter, no facebook, no illegal (or legal) torrent downloads, etc.

How would you cope?

So change it already. As I’m sure you’ve know (via the WoW Launcher) Bliz is offering a complete makeover of your character’s appearance.When I saw the blurb I had a (very) brief hope that Bliz was going to do something a little more like the City of Heroes character generator. No such luck, but they do once thing that the CoH system doesn’t…

Tired of being (fe)male? Get a sex change. Yep, you can change gender as well as looks. Class and race remain unchanged, so you can’t go from that ugly male Night Elf to that stunning female Dwarf. You can also get a name change while you’re at it. Great for those times when you really really need to get away from those vengeful guildmates…

Just hop over to the character changer device (you’ll have to log into your account) and make any necessary … adjustments.

Just one downside, well… two:

1. It costs $15, and
2. You can only do it once every 30 days. So try not to offend your new guild for at least a month.

Two bad we can’t get that kindof makeover in the real world for that price.

Oh, right…. gnaked gnome races.

Yeah, that’s right. 10/04/08 is the great gnome race from the hatching area to Booty Bay. Good thing it’s not on a PvP server. (Does gnaked = ganked?)

What’s that? You want details? Oh, those…

Ok, go here: This is Not a Drill!

edit: Now if it WAS a PvP server we could have the Naked Orc Gnome Hunters competing alongside the race…

You know you’ve been playing too much World of Warcraft when…

• You start another one of these discussions/threads
• you change your homepage to Thottbot/WOWHead/etc.
• You look at Democrats and Republicans as Horde and Alliance (and the Goblins are the Independent parties.)
• you get confused or upset because you can’t walk through people in real life.
• You refer to other people and make note of their faction, class, and probable level. Jack Bauer is a …
• You and your computer chair have become one
• You pass a cop and wonder if you just aggroed him.
• The rest of the family goes on vacation without you, since they know you’ll be lost in the real world.
• You wonder why all the hunters have the same pet when you walk through your local dog park.
• You end your blogging about WoW, because you turned around to see that your significant other was playing, and how can she possibly play when you, yourself, are blogging??????
• You run around the streets, wearing nothing but your underwear, shouting “GOLD PLS!”

Some of the above were swiped from the following sites:

• MosquitoPost
• You know you’re been…
• Richard’s Ramblings

And a few more YKYBPTOWOWWs from the WoW Forums:

• When asked where something is, you respond with “Look it up on thottbot, gosh….”
• When you and your RL friends start calling each other by their WoW character names.
• You tell your co-workers you’re going to go loot the vending machine because at least it’s 100% drop rate.
• When you open Firefox and start typing your account information into the Google search bar.
• When you say gold instead of money IRL (In Real Life) and don’t notice.
• when you try to gank garden gnomes
• When you confuse the date for a spec build. (Ok, it’s 9/24/08… that’s 9 pts in assassination, 24 in combat, and 8 in subtlety…)

Add your own in the comments and they may get added to the list!

And in the Apropos of Nothing department…

You’re on Notice!

Put ‘em On Notice here.

An excerpt:

Day 1 & 2 submissions have been posted on Problogger website: Killer Titles – Group Writing Project Submissions. As promised the latest titles run the gamut using tips from Darren Rowse’s How to Craft Post Titles that Draw Readers Into Your Blog. They include: communicate a benefit, create controversy, ask a question, personalize, use keywords, use power words, big claims and promises, and humor titles…

Some sample titles that have come up:

* Did you put your pants on this morning?
* In My Dojo, Cheaters And Failures Are Welcome
* DUH v. DOH – All You Need to Know
* Can I Get You A Slurpie with This Post?
* Sacrificing Goats and Eating Brains
* I’m Two Socksy for This Blog

Check it out, even if you only read blogs.

Hmm… How about Real Life and Age of Conan? Warhammer Online? What would happen?

Leveling in the World of Warcraft isn’t any different. Get to level 70 in 5 or 6 days (in game time)? Why? Who needs the stress?

So in the interests of slowing down and taking the time to sniff the Peacebloom, I offer you a few tips to level slowly:

• Every time you get a new quest, even if you’ve done it repeatedly, make sure to study every last detail. You might even want to look up some details online, you know, just to be sure.
• Make extensive use of Thottbot.com, and similar sites, when studying quests, lore, and items. While you’re there, make sure you read every comment.
• Go afk as much as possible, especially if you’re on a PvP server. The runs back to your body will give you time to slow down a bit and wash away the stress.
• Head over to the Auction House everytime you level, to look for the next upgrade for your gear, useful potions, etc.
• Don’t bother getting extra or larger bags. They’re just a waste of money. The bag you start with is good enough. When it fills up just head back to town to sell the junk.
• Always ask about your quests in general chat. The quest log is hard to read and is probably wrong, or broken, anyway. Using the WoW forums is even better. Edit: Aendi (see comment) suggests not using this techniques in the starting areas since the advice you’re likely to get will help you zip along faster.
• Play as many alts (alternate characters) as possible. It’s Ok to have 37 (or more) characters between level 1 and 13 across several servers. Really, it is.
• PvP whenever possible. Even PvE servers allows duels and have battlegrounds.
• When you’re grinding away always work on mobs a few levels higher or many levels lower than you. The corpse runs that the higher level mobs have you do will force you to slow down and relax. The low level mobs won’t give you any XP so you won’t have to see that annoying yellow flash when you level.
• When you enter a new area only grab one quest at a time. Take it to it’s conclusion, even if it’s 15 parts long and takes you all over the world. Don’t forget to use Thottbot.com (and read the comments!) as much as possible here. Only grab a new quest when done.
• Girnding is better than questing. You won’t have to worry about the extra XP or quest rewards.
• Enjoy the scenery. The WoW developers went through a lot of effort to build Azeroth and the Outlands, even detailing areas that aren’t normally accessible. Carefully examine every out of the way area, who knows when you’ll get another chance?
• Always practice your emotes, they’re there for a reason, after all.
• Develop your gathering skills, such as herbalism. Hunt down every last flower in an area and pick it (or every last piece of ore, etc.)
• Never ever pick up a WoW leveling guide. If you do you’ll find that the levels will fly by so fast that you won’t have time to enjoy anything. Blech.
• Make sure your in-game buddies are onboard with the above tips. They’ll be happy to help you out. if they’re not and if they’re getting too itchy to blast their way to 70, then you’ll either have to get them to chill, find new friends, or join them. Ugh.

Follow the above rules and your leveling in WoW should be very relaxing and leisurely. You should be guaranteed a leveling speed of at least a month or two of in-game time and a complete lack of stress.

I’m sure there must be many other suggestions that could be added to this list, so If you have any tips to level slowly then just leave a comment.

Edit: Visin makes a good remark in the comments. However, it does need to be improved to fit with this article. So…

• Never ask for advice about how to play your character. That would force you to play more efficiently, thereby leveling faster, and that’s bad. It’s best to stick with what you learned in the training area. Why bother with all those fancy new techniques and abilities anyway?

Edit #2: Matticus has a similar post that’s great fun. 10 Silly Timewasters

Having nothing whatsoever to do with the World of Warcraft, or anything else game related, comes this post which I thought was just plain funny.

Standing apart from the bog standard Vauxhall and Peugeot drivers of this world, there exists a special breed, a group who nary flinches when the word ‘insurance’ is mentioned. Such people insure tanks for the daily shopping run. Inspired by this, I decided to take on the ultimate car insurance challenge. I was going to quote me happy for the Batmobile.

I took as my example the Batmobile from The Dark Knight, or, as it’s officially known in movie lore, the ‘Tumbler’. A brief look over the specification reveals myriad possibilities for 3rd party fire and theft, including a jet burner in the rear, landing hooks for when the Batmobile jumps over rooftops, front-mounted machine guns…

It’s a fun read. So take a break from WoW and check it out, here:

Insuring the Batmobile