The Pali Project - Follow up

It's ended up being harder than I thought it was going to be.  I am already getting flac from some of the Iron Hand cult members that are finding humor in my project.  I was asked if I had already "hit the wall?"  The short answer is yes I did.  Level 5 hit the wall.  It's really distressing.

I can't even begin to describe how much I hate dying.  A level 5 Pali is super squishy.  Seems like anything I get close to kills me.  I try to approach it from the idea that it's a learning process but I am proving to be super impatient.  This goes against the grain and defeats the purpose of the project in the first place.  That not withstanding, I got frustrated with it right out of the gate.  You get used to going where you want when your a level 80 and having the tools to stay alive when you get there.  I know it's dumb, its one of those "is what it is" things I guess.

Thanksgiving went well.  I posted some video on my FB page http://www.facebook/snakevudo.  Nef really out did herself.  I am not sure I could be much more impressed.  Today is going to be hang around the house and work on this Linux cluster I have been trying to get going.  That'll be while my little murlock is sleeping of course.  I may try and get some game time in as well.  I wouldnt go out today for all the money in the world if I didnt have to.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.  Thanks for your attention.

The Pali Project

Snakevudo was born from my body today.  I have had this idea to create a Paladin since I started playing WOW.  A pali-tank actually.  No mean feat.  Tanking being especially stressful and full of PITA moments.  This project is part of a larger media campaign that I have in the works to promote myself and somethings that I have invented.  You can laugh if you want, everyone has thus far.  I'm OK with it.

I haven't really been at the controls lately.  I have become bored with my toon and the game.  Even the breaking hasn't done much to peak my interest.  Everyone around here is really stoked by the expansion though I find myself indifferent.  Part of the trouble is the fact that I didn't understand the old game...ergo, I can't appreciate the new...this according to Wolfsvudo but what does he know right?

That being the case, I thought I would take my time building Snake.  Learning the lore, reading the tutorials, trying to learn the art of being a proper tank. There are those that say it can't be done.  So what, going to do it anyway.

In the fullness of time I will do a live show.  Webcam probably.  It'll be fun :)

Shout out to Nefertiti for her herculean Thanksgiving Day cooking. You rock!

WOW Patch/Jersey Shore

I gotta say right out of the gate the new WOW patch sucks much ass.  I hate it so much I'm thinking about finding something else to play.  There is no way I'd do a dungeon or a raid right now.  It's like driving a car with half a steering wheel.


The Jersey Shore is what is really on my mind.  I don't get it.  Maybe I have to be 21 and orange to see the value but I'm not so I don't.  It's not like TV is even trying anymore.  This show is not clever, amusing, or interesting.  The deeper issue is that it has a following at all.  The fact that whoever is producing the show still has a job is indicative of what's wrong with our culture.

I let Jersey Shore have a couple hours of my life last night.  Time that I will never get back and that would have been better spent chopping off one of my toes.  I tried to understand it.  I really did.  I figured there had to be something there.  Some reason why this show was on TV.  I kept asking myself what these orange skinned people did from day to day.  In the three episodes I saw, the common theme was yell, fight, party, and hook up.  Yes, first rate theater indeed.  I finally had to rely on Google to explain it too me.  It's the Real World set on the Jersey Shore.  OK, I get it now.  It made me feel even dumber for having spent any time watching in the first place. 

I would advise giving this show a wide berth but do what makes sense to you.  FLAME OFF.

Ice Crown Citadel

So I went on my first ICC run Saturday and I had a couple of thoughts:

King slayers are straight up assholes almost without exception.  I have only known of one personally that only partially fell into this category.  The group that Nefertiti put together was tough enough to pull out of the air but there were a couple of Shami's that were just really put off that my gear score was only 4800 and not socketed.  As a result, they left and we were forced to find a couple more players that weren’t going to piss themselves because everyone in the group didn’t have a 6K gear score.  It took a minute but we got it done.

I realize there is an army of 12 year olds out there that have nothing else to do with their time.  I realize there are 30 years out there in the same boat.  They spend their days trolling the forums and reading the lore; researching the best way to gear their toons so they can ridicule player that aren’t as knowledgeable.  Yes, these are the kind of people you would almost certainly punch in the throat if they popped off in real life.  Yes, the only pussy they get it is pretend or paid for (I don’t necessarily have an issue with the concept at least its real).  My problem is the attitude.  You are playing a game in a pretend world.  If my gear score is that much of a deal killer than you probably need to re-think your priorities and hit yourself in the head with something blunt in the hopes that you’ll somehow align your neurons in such a way to keep you from being a douche.

The other thing I learned is that ICC is hard.  The whole time I spent trying to get my gear score high enough to go, I dreamed of great gear drops and loads of fun.  It’s not fun, it’s stressful and I didn’t get shit for gear.  I was told that I got experience (and frost emblems) but I been around long enough to know a bullshit comment when I hear one.  I admit, I had no idea what was going on. Four of us were sitting at the table during the run.  Nef would yell at me any time I did or was about to do something stupid.  I told her you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet; apparently she knows bullshit when she hears it too.  I think in some ways they didn’t feel like I had earned the right to be there.  I have heard “no one helped me” more times that I can count.  I tell them it’s because they’re dipshits and they don’t know how to use their resources.   I guess there is a point buried under the puss that has to do with finding out how things work in game.  There are billions of articles out there that explain the fights and what to do.  There is plenty of data out there.  I’m just not sure how much I care.  I like to play after work or late at night sometimes.  Just to unwind.  I know there are deep places to go and things to know.  I just have a balanced life.  I have lots to do on both sides of the cyber fence.

Thanks to my guildies for their patience and help.  Fuck all the King slayers, stop being such cock biters. 

MIA

Well I haven't been blogging like I intended.  I have been trying to decide if I was going to stick with the WOW theme like I intended or expand my content to include....well everything else that's on my mind.  I am leaning toward the latter.

We had a really active summer in-game but since school has started, I haven't been playing nearly as much.  One thing that no one tells you about getting to level 80 is that it gets boring.  Not boring enough to level a alt full time but boring nonetheless.  So there have been lots of other things that I have been thinking about that I feel need my special brand of commentary but I have held back unsure how to proceed.  My life in RL has been way more intresting that my in-game life.  Yes, I do still drive my toon while intoxicated from time to time (I don't recommend it) but I have had a lot more thought and mused about things in the real world. 

I have pretty firmly recreated my on-line life hiding behind a vale of anonymity (though some of you know me on some level).  I exist on twitter again (snakevudo@gmail.com) so follow me or send me email.  I am unsure about FB though. I still find myself suspicious of the social networking giant.  Let's just call it paranoia.  I was worried about how my content would be received but since no one is following me or reading my blogs I'm not sure if it matters.

In The Beginning

Hello and welcome to Cult Of The Iron Hand.  I will start by saying that the purpose of this blog is to comment on the wheeling and dealings of my family and report on some of the hilarity revolving around The Iron Hand.

To the uninitiated, TIH is a guild ( here defined as: An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect the mutual interests and maintain standards) that exists in a MMORPG (Massively Mulitplayer online role-playing game) called World Of Warcraft or WOW for short.

So yes, we're gamers.  The bane of ISP"s and people of every creed and color.  I say that as I too have often times rolled my eyes when talking to a gamer or listening to them complain about their internet connection (I work in telco field, story for another time).  So I know first hand what a PITA they/we can be.  That notwithstanding, I have found the people that I interact with in-game are very real and full of interesting goo.

As with most games there is lore or legend that serves as the backdrop to the game and sets the stage for all the high drama.  Now I am not as informed in my guild lore as I probably should be but sometimes that's better because it will give me license to embellish.  The legend begins with two cousins.  We will call them Hendri and Palerider.  They both being of sound mind decided to create the greatest WOW guild of all time.  Consuming [Mead Basted Caribou] by the light of their campfire it was decided...  "We will kill one more [Dire Wolf], take our pleasure with one more harlot, and then form the mightiest collection of warriors the world has ever known!!" or something like that.  From there it gets murky and I am not sure any further embellishment is necessary.  I hear that the guild was on the verge of disbanding when my family became involved.  I guess it doesn't much matter at this point.  I will leave the door open for Hendri and the Palerider to tell their own story at a time they see fit.

As of this writing all of my children, my wife, and me are members of TIH.  We play everyday and for me, the time I spend online represents a great way to decompress from the time I spend in RL.  So welcome, I will do my best to keep you entertained though I would ask for your patience in the beginning until my writing gets back up to spec.  Feel free to comment, flame, or just ramble.  I'm open to just about anything.

For The Alliance (God that's gay)