Yay, I return.

ToGC 10 has been frustrating for me recently. When there isn’t low attendance, the people that come to the run are screwing up on stuff that’s mentioned time and time again. Most recently, one of our healers had unbelievable trouble with finding the fire projectiles and pre-moving on NRB phase 1 – as in, he died every time save one, where he wasn’t ever targeted.

What makes it more frustrating is that we’ve been through it before, killed the first three bosses as a guild and put in attempts in Twins, plus I got to see Anub as well in a different run – so I know that we should be able to get this content, but it just seems to elude us. Has anyone else been in this kind of situation, and what did you do when it came up?

Other news, other news…hmm. I hear 3.3’s coming out next week, so that’s pretty exciting. Probably the coolest fight that I’ve seen in there from videos so far has been Sindragosa – looks like a nice blend of awareness/positioning and DPS-check. Hopefully, I’ll see it one day.

Gonna keep this post short, there really isn’t much to say right now. I’ll probably have something more to say soon, but right now not so much.

I’m posting this here because the answer wasn’t easy to find — in fact, I got it by guessing.

The problem is: How to get the name of a class as a string — not the class name of an instance, but the name of class object itself.  The answer turns out to be simply the “magic” attribute __name__.  Unfortunately, you can’t see this attribute with dir(), and the Python tutorial section on classes (as of 2.6.4) makes no mention of it.  To be sure, this is not a common use case, but I happened to have one in hand.

>>> from mymodule import User
>>> u = User
>>> u.__class__.__name__
'type'
>>> u.__name__
'User'
>>> user = u('id')
>>> user.__class__.__name__
'User'

Background Processes allow access to the database and supports the instance.  Below is a list of the main processes in Oracle 11g.

The Database Writer Process (dbw0) (Previously dbwr)
Writes information contained within the database buffer to disk. The buffer is a segment of memory. Similar to the cash register buffer file.

The Log Writer Process (lgw0) (Previously Lgwr)
Manages information going to the online redo logs. There is a log buffer staging area where this information is staged until ready to transfer to disk by this process.

The Checkpoint Process (ckpt)
Update information within the database during checkpoint activity. Writes info from memory to specific locations. Restores system to a specific point and is similar to XP system restore point. The checkpoint activity may trigger the lgw0 and dbw0 processes.

The System Monitor Process (smon) – Consistency Manager
Continually enforces and re-establishes consistency within the database.

The Process Monitor (pmon)
Cleans up resources following aborted sessions within the database.

The Job Queue Coordination Process (cjq0)
Similar to printer queuing system. Users can submit jobs and this process handles the coordination of these jobs.

The archiever Process (arc0)
Manages the copying of log file between each other. There must be at least two log files for this process to occur.

The database is ready to use after the following processes occur:

• Startup
• Opened
• Started – Database ready for use

Instance
Processes running in computers memory
Provide access to database files

Background Processes
Supports access to the database

A server that runs an Oracle instance.

spotlight

“Back in this forsaken place,” Saelym muttered as she slumped to the ground, her back against the cold stone wall, jerking open the flap on her backpack. “Second time this week, can’t people get the -”

“Complaining again?” said a voice from in front of her. Saelym raised her eyes and for a moment, caught a glimpse of a face in the shadows before it vanished again. She huffed, blowing her bangs from her face.

“Stop skulking around,” she told the Rogue. A raspy laugh answered her.

“S’what I do best,” Fallapart replied, and brushed so closely by Saelym’s arm that she could feel the air ripple, yet still could not see her. “What’s the matter, scared of dragons?”

“No, that’s Vash’s deal,” Saelym replied, pointing to the quivering mass of Druid that huddled behind one of the dusty bookcases, as if the wood would protect him from the ghost-like, shimmering beast they called Netherspite that patrolled the outer edge of the room. “I’m just tired and frustrated.”

“Silly warm bloods,” Fallapart mused.

“Brave girl, to say that when I can’t see you,” Saelym muttered, and as she rummaged in her bag she felt her hand touched a warm orb. Curious, she cleared the clutter away until she could see it clearly, and while it took her a moment she eventually recognized it – she’d been given the orb by one of the elders she’d visited during the holiday. A cunning smile crept across her face as she looked around for the ripple of air that betrayed the Rogue’s movement. With a flick of her wrist, the glass orb sailed through the air and shattered on the floor, instantly bathing Fallapart in a beam of pure moonlight.

“Oh hey, look, Fall’s here!” Vashfontane yelled, drawing the attention of the other raiders, all of which voiced their own surprise that the Rogue was among their ranks. Fallapart, startled by the sudden attention, turned a glowing-eyed glare on Saelym, who was too busy quickly stuffing her Super Snapper back into her pack.

ice cold

A raid leader by the name of Blades recruited me to do some photoshoots inside Naxxramas with him not long after I’d returned to Dalaran to begin working on my memoir. I hadn’t much intention to go back into the field after the years I’d spent out, but since Dragonblight wasn’t far away and I was once again in need of money, I ventured along.

Rather than a guild of seasoned raiders, they were a ragtag group of misfits, a collection of guildmates and unguided adventurers that had braved Naxxramas together. One of them, a quiet Hunter by the name of Saelym Sorrowstar, seemed rather irritated to be on the opposite end of the snapper and went out of her way to avoid me. I only managed one shot of her, a quick capture in Sapphiron’s Lair, standing at ready for the call of her raid leader.

poisoned tree

I received this photo from an Undead that goes by the name of Eternalash, a Death Knight raider-for-hire based out of Dalaran. A Super Snapper enthusiast like myself, his photos are typically those of whimsy and often come with strange stories.

Lately, it seems, he has taken up the habit of exploring the ancient city of Zul’Gurub with Akema, his Druid companion. I’ve no idea what, exactly, they’re looking for in there, but their escapades have provided me with a great many photos for my memoir.

This cheerfully green shot was accompanied by the following note:

Akema loves to tell me that I’m incapable of doing anything other than swinging around an axe. I argue she can’t even remember to cast a simple poison cleansing spell!

violet hold

“You know, I take it back, I’m not really in the mood to help these folks out anymore,” Vashfontane said, rubbing his thick hands through his mane with obvious nervousness. The Undead behind him chortled, his voice thick and raspy.

“What’s the problem, Beefy?” he asked nonchalantly. Vashfontane glared over his shoulder at the Death Knight.

“Well, nothing, I guess, I just…” He gulped and stared into the center of the room, where the Dalaran defenders were pulling their swords from a freshly killed, massive dragonkin. “Just don’t like dragons much, is all.”

Saelym stood a few steps ahead, watching the humans. They’d not yet been noticed, the three of them, and she was content to leave it that way for the moment, instead letting her eyes trail the damaged prison. Behind her, her pet Archaia let out a low growl and lowered to her belly on the cool stone floor, obviously agitated by the scent of blood and fear in the air.

“Eternal,” she called softly to the Death Knight. “Are you ready for this?”

“Nobody’s going to ask me?” Vashfontane whimpered.

“Always ready,” Eternalash replied with his trademark grin, scratching his taloned fingers across his bald skull, creating a noise oddly like fingernails on a chalkboard. Saelym looked up, through the massive hole in the ceiling through which the afternoon sunlight streamed, and nodded slightly to herself.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

1. Block, Parry, és Dodge feltétellel induló skillek már működnek.
2. Néhány insta kezdetlegesen, de bekerült a játékba.  A nagy közönség még nem juthat be.
3. Named mobok dropja ismételten javítva.
4. Flying teleport javítások
5. Dualbox védelem finomítása.
6. Tárgyak árai hozzáigazítva a kliensben tárolt adatokhoz.
7. Támogatás a spin és az aerial abnormálokhoz (aether’s megtartja az állapotát).  Szintén támogatás hozzáadva a konckdownhoz. (aki tudja értelmezni ezt a pontot, kérem jelezze hozzászólásokban, mert nekem nem tiszta, hogy mi is ez.)
8. Skill reuse számlálódik logout után is.
9. Azok a skillek amik előzetesen root-to, sleep-et vagy hasonlót igényelnek, már csak így használhatóak.
10. Knockdown effect hozzáadva critical esetén a két kezes fegyverekhez. Alacsony az esélye, nagyjából mint retail.
11. Már nem lehet ellenséget buffolni.
12. Stun, sleep esetén űgy tűnt, hogy még mindig támad az akin a debuff van. Ez csak vizuális hiba volt, de már ez is javítva.
13. A legtöbb skillhez már a megfelelő abnormalok kapcsolódnak.

zul’gurub

It wasn’t long after I’d picked up my first Super Snapper FX from Curgle that I was commissioned for a guild portrait. The catch? They wanted it snapped in the middle of Zul’Gurub, as the guild had recently begun their wild stampede of raids into the Troll city. While I was hesitant to go wandering about in the wilds of Stranglethorn, a starving student will go to great lengths for a bit of coin.

The raid leader was a wild, violet-haired Rogue by the name of Rainadraken, who was more than happy to drag me up and down the roadways trying to find the perfect spot for the photo.  They were a fun, vivid group of raiders, still full of vigor unlike some of the exhausted, battle-weary folks I’d seen coming out of Molten Core or Blackwing Lair.  After some difficulty wrangling mounts, we managed just one perfect shot before they raced on to their next challenge.

Last I heard, The Wanderers, as they were called, were still active under Raina’s steady hand, though I’ve been told they’ve wandered much further than Zul’Gurub these past years!

Clearly, strategic planning is no panacea. Strategic planning is simply a set of concepts, procedures, and tools designed to help leaders, managers, and planners think and act strategically. Used in wise and skillful ways by a “coalition of the willing,” strategic planning can help organizations focus on producing effective decisions and actions that further the organization’s mission, meet in mandates, and satisfy key stakeholders. But strategic planning is not a substitute for strategic thinking and acting. Only caring and committed people can do that. And when used thoughtlessly, strategic planning can actually drive out precisely the kind of strategic thought and action it is supposed to promote.

Furthermore, strategic planning is not a substitute for leadership. There is simply no substitute for leadership when it comes to using strategic planning to enhance organizational performance. At least some key decision makers and process champions must be committed to the strategic planning process, or any attempts to use it are bound to fail.

In addition, strategic planning is not synonymous with creating an organizational strategy. Organizational strategies have numerous sources, both planned and unplanned. Strategic planning is likely to result in statement of organizational intentions, but what is realized in practice will be some combination of what is intended and what emerges along the way. Strategic planning can help organizations develop and implement effective strategies, but they should also remain open to unforeseen opportunities. Too much attention to strategic planning and excessive reverence for strategic plans can build organizations to other unplanned and unexpected—yet incredibly useful—sources of information, insight, and action.

The discipline necessary for strategic planning can be of two sorts. The first harkens back to Latin root of the word “discipline,” emphasizing instruction, training, education, and learning. The second embodies later interpretations of the word, emphasizing order, control, and punishment. Emphasis should be placed on education and learning, although there clearly are occasions when imposing order, taking control, and enforcing appropriate sanctions are appropriate. Certainly, key leaders, managers, and planners can best use strategic planning as an educational and learning tool, to help them figure out what is really important and what should be done about it. Sometimes this means following a particular sequence of steps and preparing formal strategic plans, but not necessarily. The ultimate goal of strategic planning should not be a rigid adherence to a particular process or an instance on the production of plans. Instead, strategic planning should promote wise strategic thought and action on behalf of an organization and its key stakeholders. What steps to follow, in what sequence, and whether or not to prepare formal plans are subsidiary concerns.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

One of my guildies and I were brainstorming some ideas for a new Arcane spec taking advantage of the mechanics in the fights in ToC, and we came up with a nice spec that maximizes theoretical DPS while keeping all of the core talents of the build.

Here’s a link to my WoW Armory profile; I may have my active spec set incorrectly, but you can still look at the Arcane spec.

Some of the major differences you may note are the lack of any points in either Arcane Stability or Magic Attunement (I don’t really feel the lack of 6 yd of range), as well as not taking Arcane Barrage. This is because, as I have mentioned before, the ideal rotation for Arcane is Arcane Blast x4 (or more, if you have the gear – which I don’t anymore) -> Arcane Missiles. What I’ve done with the extra talent points I freed up was dump them into Student of the Mind for a small crit bonus (although I’m not really geared for Spirit; once I get some more gear, this talent will only get better), and also pick up 3/3 Incanter’s Absorption.

Yes, Incanter’s Absorption. I don’t know whether I’ve said this on my blog, but I held for a very long time that IA was a cool sounding talent with no practical application, as you’d burn too much mana with Mana Shield absorbing incidental damage. I ended up being proved very, very wrong in 3.2 – you still aren’t burning mana, GCD’s, or anything using Mana Shield, Frost Ward, or Fire Ward, but Blizzard gave us a really cool opportunity to have a LOT of spellpower on certain fights.

Think about the mechanics of Val’kyr Twins. You pick a color aura to have – and both twins are doing a 1500/x time global AoE. By picking up an aura from the portal, you…ABSORB the damage from that color aura. ABSORB. That means…a HUGE bonus to spellpower from IA. We’re talking a hundreds-of-DPS increase here – my spellpower literally went up by 800 or more.

Situationally, you could probably gain some DPS in certain situations too – I’m thinking fires on some fights with a situational Flame Ward, or something to that effect – but largely you’re going to see the benefit coming from incidental, fight-based absorptions. Regardless, IA has shown itself as a decent utility talent, and I recommend grabbing it.

I took Alinys into Nochsana Training Camp for the first time on Sunday. I was really nervous, because I’ve only done NTC in a DD role before, and wasn’t sure how my healing would fare, and admittedly was a bit nervous about my role. I haven’t really discovered fully what my role is in a party as a Chanter, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Our party set-up was a Spiritmaster, Sorcerer, two Chanters (one of them being me), a Templar and a Cleric. The Cleric and I agreed that if a mace dropped it was his, and if a staff dropped it was mine, since the other Chanter had crafted gear that was better and she wasn’t interested. It went mostly smoothly, though I died three times. I found myself doing a lot of the healing and pulling a lot of aggro. I did manage to avoid pulling anything we hadn’t already pulled. I can’t say that much for the other party members though — as we entered the General’s room at the end we all stuck to the right wall and the other Chanter pulled three mobs from the middle, as well as our Templar intentionally pulling one to the right. We wiped, but the Cleric had Rebirth up and I used one of my res stones. We got the party up, the Sorcerer disconnected (after being yelled at by the Chanter to wake up) and then cleared the rest of the room quite easily.

The General fight went really quickly; I chose to sit back with the other Chanter just in case, rather than die again. So we kept the Templar alive, the Templar held aggro really well, and the rest of us just popped spells on the General every now and then. Sadly it dropped the Dagger, but hey, at least it was a drop! We just all rolled since there were no Scout classes in the party, and the Cleric got it.

Thanks to my first Chanter-run of NTC, I’m about to hit 26. I’ll take her to 30 and start doing Fire Temple, something that is entirely new to me! Any tips are appreciated.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21043890073&postId=212564836991&sid=1#0

I don’t really care that some balance druid ninja’d Sulfuras from her guild (*cough* Retrodruid *cough*) or that a Ret Paladin maybe used it once on some server. Who generally received the legendary weapon and used it as a viable weapon with the support of their guild as the developers intended?

ITEM – SPECS – HOW COMMON

Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros – Warrior, Enh Shaman(? – I did see some incredible shaman video…) – Fairly common on launch servers by the time BC rolled, though superseded by AQ/Naxx40 epics(?) and never much use in PVE raiding (?).

Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker – Warrior (esp. prot), Combat Rogues – Uncommon but still seen regularly, superb tank weapon that lasted for quite a while.

Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian – Warlock any spec, Mages any spec, Resto Druids (any ferals/balance druids get it?), Holy Priest (only?) – Extremely uncommon but when completed used for PVE into T4/T5 content due to the group buff (esp. druid version, +14mp5 to group) – also has very cool visual that I’d never heard of til now.

Warglaives of Azzinoth – Combat Rogues, Warrior (Fury pref?/Prot common?) – Uncommon but still seen regularly in BGs toward the close of BC era.

Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury – Hunters (that one Rogue notwithstanding) – Very uncommon and possibly not even Best-In-Slot by the end of BC with patch 3.0 changes, but used til 80 due to no-ammo-cost.

Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings – Any healer (priest, druid, shaman, paladin) – Uncommon but still achievable enough that some hardcore guilds had two by the time TOC rolled out.

Shadowmourne – still in development but generally accepted to be for DKs any spec, Warriors (Arms/Fury), Ret Paladins. – Could be approximately as common as Val’anyr and may last as a decent weapon up to level 85, though this is only speculation.

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I GOT WRONG.

Personal opinion:
I generally support the design intent behind these implementations, with the exception that Atiesh was a disaster and Thori’dal was a reflection of the whack raiding mechanics at the time (rotating shamans for constant Bloodlust/Heroism, extreme raid comp issues in SWP etc), thus definitely a legend among players, but unseen by the vast majority of the playerbase, and waaaay too quickly superseded by lvl 80 epics.

So that leaves – what?
Elemental shamans
Mages, Warlocks – …unless you count the not very reachable Atiesh.
Feral druids
Shadowpriest
Disc-priests
Balance druids
Prot paladins
Hunters to some extent – never really got a chance to use Thori’dal as a viable weapon much, except a bit after SWP and leveling to 80 with no ammo cost.

And who got the proverbial hook-up?
Warriors – oh hell yeah. How many warrior legendaries are we up to now?  One every expansion, including the original game.
Rogues, esp. Combat Rogues.

So what’s the point of this post? QQ more about feral?

Nah, I won’t be getting a legendary and I’m ok with that, doubt I’ll be playing endgame 85. Just wanted to know if I was right in thinking that a few specs here and there kinda got the shaft along the way (not the shaft of Atiesh, the other shaft…). I’m also very happy that Ret Pallies are getting something, the days of Retlol were not fun for them – not that todays Ret isn’t a bit bursty.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary definition:
Main Entry: leg·end·ary
Pronunciation: \ˈle-jən-ˌder-ē, -ˌde-rē\
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1587
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of legend or a legend
2 : well-known, famous

What’s the dictionary definition have to do with what Blizzard puts in WoW? – Nothing, they do what they want or believe is in the best interest of the game, the company and the playerbase (witness the explosion and rampant inflation in easily-obtainable and very common so-called “epic” items).

My personal preference for legendaries would be:
Very rare, as in only 1-2 on a low-population server by the time the next content hits.
Long questline that involves a team of people overcoming obstacles.
Difficult to get, but not completely bloody random.
Rewards dedicated team play and groups of people sacrificing their personal interest for the team.
Gotta have a cool visual and/or proc – I wish the Shard of Azzinoth proc had been the legendary part of the twin blades. Stat sticks are meh. Go go cool stuff!
Lore connected. Please. Have a story or something.
I’m not opposed to 10-man raiders having a shot at it, but that would mean every decent 25p raiding guild would soon have 2 or 3 of the damn things. Kinda not so legendary anymore when they’re all over the place. Maybe make the drops for 10p raiders only happen when doing extreme hard modes using gear level less than ilvl X to combat the 25p raiders cheesing it?

The cool visual I’d never heard of til today:

Hey all,

Like I said earlier, Glory of the Empire will be released with a new Instance. This time you can enjoy battle in the Fete Palace!

As part of his evil plan to get his lover back and raise a mummy army, the Priest has captured the King and is preparing to exchange the King’s heart for his lover’s soul.
If you don’t kill all the Mummies and the Priest immediately, the King will die!

Required Level: 50
Required Number: 12
Time: 25 minutes
How to win: Defeat all the Mummies and the Priest.

Rewards

Earth – Dark Brown Suit	Earth Aurora Sword:LV: 50 Atk+50 Earth Aurora Staff:LV: 50 Matk+35 Def+15 Earth Aurora Clothes:LV: 50 Def+15 Spd+10 Earth Aurora Hat:LV: 50 Def+15 Spd+10 Earth Aurora Bracers:LV: 50 Def+15 Mdef+10 Earth Aurora Shoes:LV: 50 Def+15 Spd+10 Suit:Damages Water enemies;-50% damage to Wind enemies.
Water – Dark Blue Suit	Water Aurora Sword: LV: 50 Atk+40 Spd+10 Water Aurora Staff: LV: 50 Matk+30 Mdef+20 Water Aurora Clothes:LV: 50 Matk+30 Mdef+20 Water Aurora Hat:LV: 50 Def+15 Spd+10 Water Aurora Bracers: LV: 50 Def+15 Mdef+10 Water Aurora Shoes: LV: 50 Def+15 Mdef+10 Suit:Damages Fire enemies;-50% damage to Earth enemies.
Fire – Bright Red Suit	Fire Aurora Sword: LV: 50 Atk+50 Fire Aurora Staff:LV: 50 Matk+40 Atk+10 Fire Aurora Clothes:LV: 50 Matk+40 Atk+10 Fire Aurora Hat: LV: 50 Atk+15 Spd+10 Fire Aurora Bracers:LV: 50 Spd+15 Matk+10 Fire Aurora Shoes:LV: 50 Spd+20 Matk+5 Suit: Damages Wind enemies;-50% damage to Water enemies.
Wind – Bright Green Suit	Wind Aurora Sword:LV: 50 Atk+50 Wind Aurora Staff:LV: 50 Matk+40 Spd+10 Wind Aurora Clothes:LV: 50 Matk+40 Atk+10 Wind Aurora Hat:LV: 50 Spd+20 Atk+5 Wind Aurora Bracers:LV: 50 Spd+15 Def+10 Wind Aurora Shoes:LV: 50 Spd+20 Matk+5 Suit:Damages Earth enemies;-50% damage to Fire enemies.

Have fun defeating the priest and the mummy army!