May 20, 2010

Rest in peace, video card

I jump on yesterday and have no problems. I come back from my son's testing (Grats on the blue belt, Son!) and my PC crashes...a lot.  I think it's the video card.  So it looks like it will be out of commission for a while.

Now I just have to decide if I want to just try another video card or bite the bullet and see if the Geek Squad at Best Buy can fix it.

It's kind of a shame. I used to be so much more computer savy.  Now I have to pay someone to fix it.  Probably for the best though. Even in my tech savy best, I still only knew enough to be really dangerous tinkering around in there.

Oh well.  Wish me luck.

May 14, 2010

So you wanna be a Crusader?

I’ve got a little project I’m working on that hopefully I’ll have completed soon. I’m trying to create a calculator that will tell you what it’s going to take to go from your current state and reputation levels to earn the Crusader title and all of the glory that comes with it.

My vision is that it will tell you:

  • Which quest lines you need to complete
  • Which dailies you need to complete
  • How many days will you have to spend doing dailies
  • How many Champion Writs you will need to earn and spend
  • How much gold you would earn in working toward crusader.
Right now I’m working in Excel, but if I could figure out a way to get it online that would be even better. The “pie in the sky” vision would be to have it pull in data from the armory somehow, but that’s much beyond my expertise.

It's something I would have loved to have had before working on my five Crusaders and I realize it may be a bit dated.  Nonetheless it's a been an interesting excerise.

More to come. Let me know if you are interested or have any input.

May 6, 2010

Wipes happen

Bad is never good until worse happens. ~Danish Proverb

Inevitably it’s going to happen. At some point down the road you are going to wipe on a five-man instance that you’ve run multitudes of times before sans incident. It could happen due to a number of factors: some controllable, some not. As in most things in life, it’s how you react to such adversity that often determines the outcome.

Last night I ran into a situation that I’m sure we’ll all find familiar. PuG run and the tank pulls a big group, gets spotty heals, and dies. The substantial remaining mobs then run rampant over the group and full wipe ensues. Again, I think we’ll all find familiarity in this sequence.

The Example:

Trollgore room in DTK.  Mass pull leads to wipe.
• Tank: “So heals just stopped.”
• Healer:"I lagged."

So far so good. What happened + explanation = solved? Time to move on? Not so much.

• Healer: “ I also wasn’t in the room before you pulled. It’s called situational awareness.”
• (Insert simultaneous DPS "uh-ohs" here)
• Tank : (insert derogatory, accusatory “fail” comment here)
• Healer: (insert derogatory, accusatory “no-u-fail” comment here)
• Jarr: “Let’s just regroup and move on.”
• Tank has left the group.
• Healer: “What a fail tank baby.”
• Requeued to find a Tank

Let’s pick this apart and get into the Jarr zen mentality. Let’s avoid the FPB and do the right thing.

Keep your mouth shut!
In most wipe cases it’s evident what caused it. Tank pulls too much. Healer didn’t keep up. DPS pulled agro. Disconnects. Lag. You name it. There is no need to point it out. Sit quietly take your rez or walk-back and move on.

However if you’re one of those folks that must open your pie hole (though I’d strongly advise against it), then …

Consider how you say what you need to say
In our example, Mr. Tank set the completely negative tone with the opening salvo. Automatically the healer is in a defensive position. Keep your comments positive or at least neutral. Here are some examples.

“Why didn’t you heal me?” vs “Ouch! What happened?”

“Didn’t know you were pulling the whole damn room!” vs “Sorry, I wasn’t prepared for that. If you’re going to pull big, just let me know.”

Suck it up and fess up
We’re human (despite someone’s accusations of cyborg infiltration). We make mistakes sometimes. If you mess up, then say so. Apologize if something went awry, even if it wasn’t entirely your fault. Again some examples for roles:

• Tank: “Sorry guys. I lost that dude somehow.”
• Healer: “Whoops! Sorry ‘bout that. Rez incoming.”
• DPS: “You guys suck! Scrape me up!”
Whoa! Get outta here you dime a dozen deeps! /kick

• DPS: “Ouchie! That hurt. Sorry ‘bout that. Can I get a rez please.”
Much better.

Intent & Tone
Again, before you open your mouth. Think!  Then perhaps think again.  What are you trying to accomplish or gain by speaking? Are you after knowledge to prevent or remedy problems going forward or simply trying to assign blame? If it’s the later then follow my advice and just STFU. If it’s the former, then move on to your tone.

Consider what you say and perhaps even to whom (party vs. whisper) before you say it. Think about how you would react if your question/statement/accusation were tossed at you.

I’m again focusing on five-man content here (because it’s largely all I do currently), but these same attitudes, mentalities, and approaches can be applied to larger raids or even (GASP!) real life.

Seewhutididthere? Sensei Jarr has just taken you down the path of enlightment without you realizing it. You’re welcome, Grasshopper. /bow

May 4, 2010

The tank said what?!?!?

"I picked Tank for the faster queues." 

* Cue the FPB *



Keys you should not be tanking:
  • You don't know what Defense is
  • You don't know what your defense cap for heroics is (535)
  • You have less health than your healer
  • You think that PvP gear is tanking gear
Gotta love the LFG tool. It truly brings out the tools.  It's great that it's pushing interest in tanking.  It just sucks when it brings tanks that don't know how to tank and only selected that role in order to insta-queue.