Category: Blogs

Getting Together a Guild Wars 2 Blog Roll

Hot on the heels of my Guild Wars 2 twitter list, I've started getting my Guild Wars 2 blogroll together as well.Here's what I have so far…

Official Sites

Individual Bloggers

Fansites

  • Crossing Tyria
    Substantial forums and a front page keeping you up-to-date on Guild Wars 2 fansites' news
  • Dragon Season
    This fansite has an international audience, featuring content in Greek as well as English
  • GuildMag
    This fansite supports a podcast and a magazine, and is hosting a blog carnival on the topic of 5 years of waiting for GW2
  • Guild Wars 2 Guru
    Solid GW2 fansite from curse.com
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub
    A nice community section, and a number of guides worth checking out
  • Guild Wars 2 Journal.
    Forums, general and class-specific guides and a healthy news page are primary draws
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies
    Fansite with news and video from the folks that also bring you Forcejunkies and Riftjunkies
  • Guild Wars 2 Life
    Part of the mmorpglife site, with a number of guides including locations for obtaining crafting materials
  • Guildwars2 Live
    Livestreaming is a focus here, with a busy public calendar of upcoming streaming events
  • Guild Wars 2 Skills Build Editor
    ALthough the bulk of this site is in Russian, the build editor tool is in English and is well wroth checking out.
  • Guild Wars 2 Wikia site
  • Guildwars Insider
    Not only do they support forums, a podcast and a good selection of posts on lore, they also have a turntable.fm station
  • GW2DB
    Guild Wars 2 database site created by curse.com with entries for recipes, items, achievements, maps, guild upgrades, and talent calculators
  • GWOnline.net
    In addition to news and forums, there is a significant video library fueld by community members' contributions
  • IGN's Guild Wars 2 Wiki
    A nice user-friendly and easy-to-browse framework for a community-sourced wiki, but still has a number of pages needing to be fleshed out.
  • Talk Tyria
    This community-focused fansite has a diverse group of contributors, covering everything from lore to professions
  • Team Legacy
    Focusing on PvP, strong content (and feeds) for video guides and PvP action
  • The Tyrian Order
    In addition to forums and live streaming, a professions codex and a visual encyclopedia in their "database hub" make this site worth a visit

Let me know other individual bloggers and fansites I should add!

Off-Topic: Anexxia’s SWTOR blog now open

This is the only time I’ve made an off-topic post here at Bible of Dreams. But it’s for a good reason.

As many of you know, I’m planning to add Star Wars: the Old Republic to my gaming life once it launches. And given that blogging has, for several years now, gone hand-in-hand with my enjoyment of my game play time, I’ve started a new blog to house those posts.

I briefly considered just melding in SWTOR content here in this comfy blog home, but it just didn’t feel quite write. Shadowpriests and Sith Inquisitors don’t really mix. And thus: Inquisitor’s Roadhouse was born. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to check out the new blog, and if you plan to play SWTOR, please take my poll on which class you’re going to try out first.

I have no plans to stop blogging here, though my play time — and thusly my blog posts– have decreased as of late due to RL being incredibly busy, as previously noted. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Anexxia exploring Tirisfal Glades

 

Friday Five: Recent Reads

What would be appropriate reading for this goblin lady, upon her throne?

Recent posts around the blogosphere that have caught my eye:

  1. Evaluating Holy Priests with World of Logs on Cannot Be Tamed.
    A long standing argument I had in a prior guild with my other raiding officer was around measuring performance and holding raiders accountable. As a healer, he felt only the DPS (my peeps) could be measured and held accountable for their performance via tools such as World of Logs. No matter how many times I wrote posts here around how to compare and evaluate players in all roles, he held on to that POV. And thus I am always thrilled to see folks taking up the accountability mantle and showing that yes, in fact, healers can be evaluated too.
  2. ilvl 365 Vicious Gear and the Phantom Tier on Cynwise’s Battlefield Manual.
    I haven’t PvP’d seriously in several expansions, but always love when Cyn takes a big PvP community dust up and writes one of his epic posts on it. Judging by the twitter response to this article, it seems to have really given folks some food for thought.
  3. Three-Legged Stools on Psynister’s Notebook.
    This post touches on subject matter I’ve been meaning to address head-on for some time: my mojo in WoW is off, as is that of a number of the folks I love to play with the most. Not sure how — or if we can– climb out of this funk, but calling it out is definitely a key first step.
  4. Making a Buck While Leveling alt No. 2349 on Jaded Alt.
    This post inspired me to start mentally drafting a post on how I make my alts financially self-sustaining through crafting. This post, however, gives tips that even the laziest non-crafter can follow so that they’re never that guy begging for Gs for repairs before raid (or worse yet, for epic flying.)
  5. No I Didn’t Start Playing WoW Again on The Stoppable Force.
    I absolutely love online gaming and my group of friends and co-conspirators I’ve met through the WoW blogging community. And like TSF, I fully intend to keep on blogging and chatting away on twitter, even if a time comes when my focus shifts to another MMO. Like TSF, I am definitely going to be giving SW:TOR a try when it comes out (despite being annoyed at the prospect of having to install Windows on my machine to do so.)

What’ve you read recently that’s truly struck a chord?

Friday Five: Five of My Favorite WoW Websites

WoWScrnShot_022711_092445

You know how some folks seem to always have the answers to every WoW question that comes up? And are always recommending a blog post to you to read? It’s probably not just because they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. I’d bet they have a well-worn list of WoW bookmarks, like I do. The following are the five resources I can’t get by without:

  1. Wowhead.
    I used to be a thottbot fan. But eventually, I became a WoWhead believer and fangirl. They have a frequently updated item database, great comments that inevitably address whatever annoyance sent you there. And they have some timely and informative blog posts too.
  2. MMO Champion.
    I remember WoW life before MMO Champion, but just barely. It’s truly become the Gawker and CNN rolled together of Azeroth. I go here to keep up on what the blues have to say, keep track of patch note changes, and to get a sneak peek at the bling future raids and instances will provide us.
  3. WoWpedia/WoWiki.
    This is where I go whenever I have a burning question about an NPC or bit of lore, or want to read a profession guide. And if I have extra time, I go on a bit of a click safari here, moving through related topics, learning more about Azeroth and its inhabitants.
  4. Tankspot.
    Despite its name and original purpose, Tankspot has become the defacto boss strategy resource for most folks I know, not ust for tanks. If I had a quarter for every time I’ve heard someone say “Did you watch the tankspot video” or “Go watch the tank spot video” I’d have laundry money for months!
  5. The Daily Quest.
    This occasional column on WoW Insider rocks for drawing attention to thought provoking (or just plain fun) posts throughout the greater blogosphere. There are days when I really need a good WoW read. And this is where I always look first.

What are your favorite WoW resources?

Friday Five: Five Posts You Should Read if You’re About to Start Raiding

this is a good place for a shadow priest to hide

It’s about that time again. Time to start thinking about putting together successful raid teams, or plotting how to get into your guild’s raids. That’s why this week’s five are five of my favorite raiding advice posts that you can read and share with your raiding team to get things off on the right foot.

In addition to the above bits of advice from moi, there have been some pretty helpful and thoughtful posts in my feedreader that pertained to raiding, as my favorite bloggers get back into raiding. Here are a few of the highlights:

Autoblogography

I snuck in just under the wire for this week’s Blog Azeroth Shared topic: writing your blog’s autobiography. The results can be seen in the shiny new About Me page now part of the site header. Thanks to Ophelie at Bossy Pally for suggesting the topic!

It’s pretty funny that it took me over two years to finally get that written. I blame all the vanity pets in need of acquiring and profession lists that needed to be created for waylaying me. Wouldn’t you?

Nothing more to see here. Logging back in to WoW to earn some more fabulously cheap and easy cooking achievements on my alts thanks to the Pilgrim’s Bounty holiday.

My Week in WoW

Last week’s WoW time was somewhat curtailed by the livestream of Blizzcon taking up most of my attention (and it rocked to share thoughts and reactions to the panels real-time via twitter; not as good as being there but still pretty darn fun.). But I made up for it this week:

  • My Alliance warlock, seen here watching the circling bats at Telredor, dinged 66 today. I am a terribly slow leveler, so her progress over the past 2 weeks has been phenomenal.
  • My bank alt gave in and bought her 4th guild bank slot. Now, I have to do a sweep and make sure I am not hanging on to much in the way of pre-Cata Azeroth quest items. Somehow I don’t think I am going to need those red, green, yellow and blue Un’Goro crystals again…
  • The purchase of the slot was due in part to the mass creation of Jewelcrafting items for the lock as she moves towards 450 JC (she’s presently at 328 jewelcrafting.)
  • I’ve not managed to obtain the Headless Horseman’s Mount on my Horde Shadow Priest, despite her daily attempt at it. This is fair and all, since my 3 Alliance ladies got it, mind you. I am also awash in hallowed helms and sinsiter squashlings on some toons. WTB BOA hoiday pets!
  • I didn’t follow-up on trying to attain my goal of guesting on a podcast, but I did do some audience-sitting for a few post-Blizzcon podcast recordings.
  • I was thoroughly charmed by the Blood Elf Druid song,  (from the Plants vs. Zombies composer who brought us the new sunflower pet’s voice.)

Blogs You Should Read

Although it wasn’t an incredibly busy week around the blogosphere, there were some good reads:

  • Twisted Faith wrote a post that debunks the offhand Blizzcon comment that so riled me up: “Shadow priests have been known to be bursty” (hint: no we haven’t and no we’re not.)
  • Cynwise posted a A Pre-Cataclysm Warlock Guide, but hurry as this manual will self-destruct in 5 weeks.
  • Twitter was abuzz with Blizzcon pickup lines, and Tastes Like Battle Chicken compiled some of her favorites.
  • This is a bit more than a week old but it’s so handy I had to share it: Windsoar’s list of buffs and debuffs by class.

 

Friday Five: Five Blog Posts You Should be Reading This Week

In no particular order, here are five blogs I read each week (or however often they update) that you should have on your blog roll too:

  • An Interesting Thing Happened in the UC Sewers
    Tessy over at Reflections from the Pond did Wrathgate again recently, and had a run in with a perfect stranger who jumped down her throat for not assisting Varian with his assault on the Undercity. And yes a big motivator for linking this post was 1) I want more frequent posts from Tessy! and 2) the video link is a must watch. Mwahaha.
  • The Walls of Wintergrasp and Terrain Exploits
    It’s been a while since I’ve seen Cyn this worked up, or writing this much on a hot PvP topic. A must read. After all it kept him from our ZA fun run, so you know he was consumed with writerly inspiration.
  • Why the BETA will be Better Than the Release
    Larisa at Pink Pigtail Inn makes a good case for why playing the BETA might in fact be more personally rewarding for some players than playing the live release.
  • Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: A Call to Blizzard for a Better UI
    I liked Jaded Alt’s article (at her new digs!) on her UI wishlist. Given the many changes to UI that Blizz has implemented over the past  5 years, we just may see some of them eventually.
  • Mages Making Money
    Mana Obscura’s post got me motivated to clean out my banks and work on acquiring some more Gs in my bank to fund the inevitable expansion gold sinks.
  • Sticks and Orcs and Mary Sues
    I’ve really been enjoying Oddcraft’s warchief election posts. Here’s the latest — Thrall vs. Basic Campfire vs. Richard Knaak.

This week was too much work and too little warcraft and reading these posts on my BBerry as I traveled too and from work gave me a nice Warcraft fix. And for that, bloggers, I thank you.

xo

Weekend Reading List

Lots of good WoW blog reading around the Interwebs this past week or so…

  • Your first stop should be the Blog Azeroth Shared Topics "What Should Give Guild Rep" post. Some great ideas in the participating blogs. Especially around what, in a perfect world, would *cost* folks some of that hard earned rep.
  • Restokin has the first article I've seen so far from anyone in BETA actually using the reforging mechanic.
  • Flash of Moonfire has a nice article on a few Vanilla quest chains to do before Cataclysm potentially renders them obsolete.
  • Pugnacious Priest has a nice long piece on why whom you are playing with matters. I've been a raid healer in serious raiding guilds, and a DPS in more casual guilds, and swapped between one of each in a raiding 10 setting. And how I felt about my role and whom I was playing definitely fluctuated depending upon with whom I was spending my play time.
  • I keep meaning to write a post on what players want from their guilds and what guilds expect from their members, but now that Alas has written one, I can continue to slack off and not do so.
  • Jaded Alt's post on add-ons for kitten herders introduced me to a mod I'll definitely try out soon. Because who wouldn't want to run a mod called Angry RaidInviter? Ditto for Synergy. Oh to have had these when we ran the 25Naxx scrubraids!

Anything you read this week that I should go check out? Let me know.

 

Weekend Reading List

Blogs I’ve visited and interesting posts I’ve read that you should check out this weekend…

  • Righteous Orbs
    I think the first Righteous Orbs post I read was the How to Lose Friends and Alienate people post earlier this month. I’m consistently drawn into read the spots here. Definitely a blog to follow. How am I so late to the party on this?? 🙂
  • Tastes Like Battlechicken
    I’ve bookmarked Tastes Like Battlechicken to spend some serious time with when I decide to pick up my boomkin again. My Boomkin will never see the Lich King, but if yours will, she has a phase–by–phase guide you should go read now.
  • Oddcraft
    In the throes of our darkest nights in Icecrown Citadel, as we worked tirelessly towards Arthas’ overthrow, our conversation naturally turned towards whom should be our next warchief. Our 10-man team was almost unanimous in our decision: BASIC CAMPFIRE FOR WARCHIEF! Although, as a Forsaken, the COOK message didn’t resonate with me on a personal level, I do enjoy watching my comrades enjoy the food I make with such love and attention. And standing next to the campfire, near Arthas’ frozen throne, did raise my spirit a bit. Major kudos to Vrykerion at Oddcraft for giving the warchief candidates a platform, and for those quirky city tours.
  • Cynwise’s Battlefield Manual
    As he points out, one of the primary barriers to success in the BGs is a lack of 1) familiarity with the battlefield amp and 2) a lack of knowing what the strategy is once you get inside the BG. Which is why he created some awesome battleground strategy maps. Pop over there and check them out before your next BG queue.
  • Psynister’s Notebook
    His article on dealing with lowbie LFG primadonnas is excellent. But I would be lying by omission if I didn’t tell you it was spewing out coffee from laughing at the I haz shuvel! stickfigure drawing that really sealed the deal for me.