Something that I’ve realised over the last 6 months, is that *drum roll* I play WoW to raid.  Shocker that. And I want to raid on all my toons – including my most recent one (that would be the DK).

Now 99% of the time the thing that stops getting a toon into raid is the dreaded, ‘link achiev pls’.

Side note – I mus say that I appreciate the constant upgrading of the badge system that Blizzard has done – I can now deck my DK out in T9 with relatively little effort, which at least gears me for the content I’m wishing to attempt.

Short of getting your guild mates to run you through content they often don’t want to do themselves (and honestly I don’t like asking people to do this) it usually presents a frustrating week or two of getting knocked back by PUG leaders until you can find someone who will take you without the achievments.

Usually my approach my approach now days is, “Hi, 4.9k GS Unholy DK, don’t have achiev on this toon, but I have x/x on 2 other toons I can send you if you wish”.  I’m yet to have anyone actually ask me for the achievement from my other toons.  It either instant invite (which frankly makes me nervous) and silence (which I have come to expect).  Thankfully I’ve managed to PUG him through TOC10, TOC25 and Ony10 so far so that most of the main achievements out of the way – but what I really want is to get him into  ICC10 group now – especially as it’s this weeks weekly raid on my server.

I suspect I will be starting my own group for that and see how many guild alts I can drag along.

Wish me luck

Deciding on which class to play can be tough, especially if you don’t know what the different classes do, or how they fit in a group. You can choose a class based on your play-style, like a strong melee where you get up close and personal with the enemy, or a ranged class that can do its damage without getting close to the enemy. There are certain classes that are great for solo leveling, while others perform much better in groups. I think the most important thing when choosing a class is to pick something that you are going to enjoy playing. If you are going to be grouping a lot and running instances or raids, then pick a class depending upon the kind of role do you wish to fulfill when working with other players in groups. In a typical party of 5 members,  there is one tank, one healer, and three damage dealers.

A Tank: A tank is someone who takes damage for the whole group. A tank does this by generating a lot of threat so that the NPC mobs attack the tank instead of other members of the party. During a fight, a tank needs to make sure that no one else in the group is being attacked by mobs. They get taunt abilities to do this. A tank focuses on gears with stats like defense rating and stamina. 

A Healer: A healer is someone who heals friendly players when they take damage, keeping the group alive through difficult fights. Being a healer does not mean you can not deal any damage. You get your set of damage spells too, but healing will be your primary role. Aside from healing, a healer can also buff fellow players to boost their stats, remove their debuffs, and resurrect friendly players. A healer uses mana to source their spells. Gears with stats like Intellect and Spell Power are very useful to healers.

A DPS: DPS stands for Damage Per Second. Damage dealers are commonly referred to as DPS. As a damage dealer, you main goal is maximum damage output. But, sometimes, dealing too much damage might cause you to steal aggro from the tank. The primary stats for gears depends entirely on the class and the talent tree that you choose.

With that said, lets get familiar with the different classes.

Warrior

Role: Tank, Damage.

Armor type: Heavy

Damage Type: Melee

Races Allowed:

Alliance: human, Dwarf, Night elf, Gnome, Draenei.

Horde: Orc, undead, Tauren, Troll.

Warriors are a strong and powerful class that can use a variety of weapons, unlike other classes. Warriors can dual wield, use shield, two-handed weapons, and even guns and bows. They can wear Mail armor at level 1 and upgrades to Plate armor at level 40. Warriors use rage for their special attacks and abilities which is generated as the warrior takes or deals damage.

PALADIN

Role: Tank, healer, Damage

Armor type: Heavy

Damage Type: Holy magic and Melee

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Draenei.

Horde: Blood Elf

Most people say paladin is an over-powered class. You be the judge of that. With plate armor, a  heavy weapon (and shield), and healing spells, they can be hard on an enemy. A Paladin can be a healer, a tank, or a damage dealer depending upon the talent tree you choose. Each talent tree  calls for a different set of gears. The Holy tree is for healing, Retribution tree is for damage dealing and Protection is for tanking. Paladins get a special ability that lets them bubble and become immune to any kind of damage for a certain time, which can be a great advantage if used correctly. Paladins use mana as their resource for spells and abilities. A Paladin can also buff or debuff friendly players and can resurrect too. At level 20 and 40, they get their own special mounts without having to train anything from the riding trainer, and are much cheaper. For first timers, the Seals and Judgements could be a bit confusing, but besides that, it is a fairly easy class to play.

HUNTER

Role: Damage

Armor type: Medium

Damage Type: Ranged shots, traps.

Important Stats: Attack Power, Agility

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Dwarf, Night Elf, Draenei.

Horde: Orc, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf.

Hunters are one of the best classes for solo questing and leveling, and PvP. They are a pure damage class, no matter which talent tree you pick. They specialize in ranged damage with Bows, Cross-bows, or Guns. Hunters wear Leather armor until level 40, then they can wear Mail armor. Hunters get to tame beasts, turning them into their pets that can deal damage to enemies or hold aggro while the hunter deals his damage. As a hunter you must learn to keep your pet under control, and use it correctly. Hunters can also track enemies like beasts, humanoids, elementals, undeads, etc. which is an advantage over other classes. Tracking enemies make them appear on the mini-map. Moreover, they can set traps to slow or damage the enemy when stepped on.

PRIEST

Role: Healer, Damage

Armor type: Light

Damage Type: Holy and Shadow Magic.

Important Stats: Spell Power, Intellect, and Spirit (if healing)

Weapon Type: One handed weapons, Wands, and Staves

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Draenei.

Horde: Undead, Troll, Blood Elf.

Priests are a primarily healing class, but their talent tree Shadow allows them to deal damage if desired. Priests have numerous buffs that can be very useful to people. They can also debuff and resurrect friendly players. Sadly, priests can only wear Cloth armor, but they get many defensive abilities to make up for the lack of armor. Priests use mana to source their spells and can heal multiple targets at once, not to forget their ability to fear multiple targets at once. Not the best class to level solo, especially if you choose the holy tree.

SHAMAN

Role: Healer, Damage

Armor type: Medium with shield

Damage Type: Melee / Spell

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Draenei

Horde: Orc, Tauren, Troll

A Shaman can be a healer or a dps, depending upon the talent tree and they can choose to deal melee damage or spell damage from the talent trees. They can be pretty strong with Mail armor and Shield. Shamans can call upon totems, one of each element: earth, air, fire, water that can give buffs to party members or damage the enemy and for various other purposes. Shamans can also temporarily enchant their weapons.

MAGE

Role: Damage

Armor type: Cloth

Damage Type: Spell Damage>> arcane, fire and frost.

Important Stats: Spell Power, Intellect

Weapon Type: Staves, Wands, Daggers

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Gnome, Draenei.

Horde: Undead, Troll, Blood Elf.

These cloth wearing casters are one of the best damage dealers in the game. Aside from that, Mages can conjure food and water for self and party members, make portals or Teleport oneself to all the major cities that belongs to their faction and buff friendly players with “Slowfall” to reduce their falling speed (this prevents you from falling and dying). Mages can also remove curses and polymorph an enemy or freeze them to ground to keep them from getting close. Mages are very much desired in groups for these abilities and is a fun class to play.

WARLOCK

Role: Damage

Armor type: Light

Damage Type: Spell Damage >> Shadow, Fire

Important Stats: Spell Power, Intellect

Weapon Type: Staves, Wands

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Gnome.

Horde: Orc, Undead,  Blood Elf.

You will either love them or hate them. I’ve had more fun leveling my warlock than any other class. Warlocks wear Cloth armor and specialize in DoT (Damage Over Time). With abilities and ‘Fear’ and ‘Howl of Terror’ to keep enemies at bay, and multiple abilities that lets you transform your mana, or your opponent’s health into your health, they can be very powerful. Most importantly, Warlocks get pets, minions rather. Minions are acquired through a series of chain quests that are available from the trainer at various levels. The play-style of the three talent trees are very different, even though they all focus on dealing damage. Warlocks can do rituals to summon demons or party members, create Health Stones and create Soul Stones. At level 20 and 40, Warlock can get their special class specific mount from their class trainer without having to visit the riding trainer.

DRUID

Role: Damage, Tank, Healer

Armor type: Medium

Damage Type: Melee, Spell >> Nature and arcane.

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Night Elf.

Horde: Tauren

Druids are a very versatile class. They can wear Leather armor only. Depending on their talent tree, they can tank, heal or dps. Druids can shape-shift into different forms to fit the needs of the situation. They can tank in bear form, that makes them just as powerful as any plate-wearing class. They can DPS in cat form, sneaking like a rogue or in Moonkin form, dealing spell damage. Or they can heal in tree form. Druid are awesome at which ever role they choose and can put up a tough fight.

ROGUE

Role: Damage

Armor type: Medium

Damage Type: Melee, Poison

Important Stats: Attack Power, Agility

Weapon Type: Dual Wield, Sword, Daggers.

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome.

Horde: Orc, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf.

A Rogue can stealth and attack their enemies, catching them off-guard and eventually killing them with their heavy damage. Most of the time in PvP, if you’re sapped by a rogue, chances are you will be killed by it. Their abilities to immobilize the target and sneak up to them makes them very powerful. Rogues use energy to source their abilities. Rogues stack ‘Combo points’ when they deal damage. When enough points are stacked, they can use a finishing move to deal a heavy amount of damage. Rogues can also Pick-Pocket and Lock-pick. They can be a very fun class to play.

DEATH KNIGHT

Role: Damage, Tank

Armor type: Heavy

Damage Type: Melee, Spells  >> shadow and frost, diseases.

Weapon Type: Two handed or Dual Wield.

Races Allowed:

Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei.

Horde: Orc, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf.

Death Knights are a hero class, which means they start at level 55. All Death Knights start out in Ebon Hold, regardless of the race or faction. Death Knights are powerful Plate wearing fighters that can also tank if talents for tanking are chosen. They can summon minion to help them in combat.

Finally, Nintendo has released the original Super Smash Brothers for the Virtual Console!  For those unfamiliar with the game, the player chooses from a host of Nintendo characters and fights their way through a series of skirmishes.  Players can also fight against their friends, as the game can be 1-4 players.  The game that started the Smash series is a must have for any Nintendo fan.

Price: 1,000 Wii Points

As mentioned in the previous entry, I was in Copenhagen for the climate change demostration on Saturday. But the short stop in the city also gave me a little time to re-discover the place where I was living last year.

My (very enjoyable) Sunday morning in Copenhagen looked like… a croissant and cafe latte on the metro, a walk along Amager Strand (with view on the Oresund and the Swedish coastline just miles away), and coffee in Christianshavn Beboerhuset (a community center with alternative christmasmarket). The good life!

Last weekend, I joined the Climate Justice Train to the climate change demonstration in Copenhagen. The 14 hours of travel dividing Brussels from Copenhagen were filled with meeting activists and journalists, discussing, singing and shouting and watching the landscape pass by.

Arriving in Copenhagen (3am), getting to a school (kindly provided by the local government) to get some sleep, and then, the demonstration. Some impressions:

Recently, the Marketing & PR team spent the day running around like crazy people putting together and publicising an event for the launch of The Children’s Book of Art.

The Children’s Book of Art Treasure Trail, was a special one-day event where we led 350 kids and their parents on a treasure trail around 4 of London’s leading art galleries – The National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, the Hayward Gallery and The Dali Universe. Armed with maps and quiz sheets each family visited the galleries to answer a series of art-related questions and unravell an anagram to reveal a secret word.

The day ended with a series of art parties at The Dali Universe, where the kids took turns creating a masterpiece on the wall, had their faces painted and enjoyed a theatre performance, while the parents refreshed themselves with plenty of tea and coffee!

The day was the culmination of months of planning and preparation from the whole team. From making up 400 goody bags to designing posters and writing the quiz questions to building the website, a lot of work goes into an event like this to make sure that everyone has a good experience on the day.

We worked hard on publicising the event in the London newspapers and magazines to make sure people knew it was happening and happily our gallery partners were fantastic, generously allowing the hordes into their galleries free of charge and providing the contents of our goody bags and prizes for the quiz winners. As frantic as the final days of preparation for events like this are, it is one of my favourite parts of my job in marketing. Seeing the families having a good day and the positive reaction for the books makes all the running around worthwhile!

And if you missed it this year, watch this space for next year’s treasure trail…

By Gemma Stevens, DK Marketing

Our new recruit -- Nisse is Elf in Charge of Christmas Cheer!

Just in time for the silly season, Nisse has arrived at the Biggan Design office!

In all the craziness of preparing for Christmas, it’s easy to get so stressed that we forget that this is supposed to be a time of joy. So Nisse’s job is to remind us of that here at Biggan Design.

And just look at him — who could fail to smile when confronted with this colourful little person?

Alan Dart’s patterns look so impressively complex when finished, but they are not terribly hard to knit … although they can be a bit fiddly. All in all, Nisse took less than 15 hours of knitting time! Working circularly certainly cut down the amount of finishing required too, although there were still quite a few pieces to sew together at the end.

To convert the pattern to circular knitting, I kept the stitch counts the same and simply joined the end of the first row to the beginning. I worked on four DPNs for the larger diameter sections (the head and body), and on two for the smaller diameter pieces (hat, legs, arms and neck). The more fiddly pieces, such as the shoes, hands and cuffs, I worked flat and seamed. Blocking all of the pieces lightly helped to ensure the cast-on edges didn’t roll, and made sewing Nisse together much easier.

Working on such small circular knitting pieces has given me a much greater appreciation for the elasticity of Biggan yarn; even when working on only two needles, I had no ladders to contend with at the point where I changed DPNs. And when my elf legs turned out vastly different sizes — goodness only knows what I was thinking of to change my tension that drastically! — I was easily able to block them to a more consistent length and width.

Encore et toujours le design nordique qui fait mal, aye aye aye, c’était facile, c’est beau, et je l’ai vu avant eux ; )

I haven’t been riding lately. My Sarcoidosis might be flaring up because Im very fatigued and whenever cold air hits my lungs I cough and hack. I probably should go see my Dr. I really don’t want to take Prednisone again.

Although I haven’t been riding I did pick up a vintage Klein Rascal off eBay. I have always wanted a Klein ever since I first saw a Klein Pinnacle in a magazine back in 1987. The Rascal has a 1″ headtube unlike the more popular Attitude and Adroit. The bike is in beautiful shape for it’s age. It has Deore XT derailleurs and XT thumbshifters. The XT cranks are newer relatively and it has Shimano LX cantilevers. The fork is a Marzocchi Atom Bomb that is identical to the fork that I picked up a few months ago for my Yo Eddy. It does have a cool Interloc Racing Design seatpost but the stem, handlebars, headset, and bar ends are pretty junky. They’re all functional but no glamour!

The original plan was to convert the Rascal into a single-speed and use the parts for my Homegrown frame but now I’m not sure. Meanwhile my Globe Haul 1 has arrived and I need to go pay off the balance and pick that up. Snow is in the forecast tomorrow unfortunately.

A fresh face to the rap scene. DK and his new album “Music is My High” is straight. With lupe like lyrics and cudi acoustic beats this album is def having you bob your head and tapping your feet. He was even nice enough to give out his album drop for free so get it now.

Check his MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/dkthatsme

Download:

http://www.zshare.net/download/58838006668e13ef/