Boss Givin You Problems?

An excerpt of interest.

Studies that accuse social networks of reducing productivity assume that time spent microblogging is time strictly wasted. But that betrays an ignorance of the creative process. Humans weren’t designed to maintain a constant focus on assigned tasks. We need periodic breaks to relieve our conscious minds of the pressure to perform - pressure that can lock us into a single mode of thinking.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/st_essay_distraction/

Take a Break Every Now and Then

Taking a break from the game every now and then can be mentally productive. Breaking from a task allows us to think more creatively, then trying to continously come of with new ideas, while submerged deep within our in game tasks.

I recently was gone from the game for nearly 3 weeks, due to personal, work, and financial issues. But awaiting me is a new shifted and refreshed auction house market to have fun with and crush the dreams of new players who only aspired in my absense. Mwahahahaha!

Engineers Rejoice

Good news for those of us that are engineers, PTR Patch notes were updated for the 3.3.3 PTR to make the non-combat Pet Bombling and Lil’ Smoky both Bind on Equip soon, instead of Bind on Pickup. So they will be in Huge demand just after the patch as people use these 2 to get closer to their pets achievements. These are also very cool looking when compared to a stupid deer or a frog, etc.

STOCKPILE FROZEN ORBS

NEW PATCH 3.3.3 NOTES:

Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods.

So start saving them up, or buying them up if you see them cheap.

WIZARD 101 : TUESDAY GAMING

JOIN HERE

Finally found a good FREE game to play on Tuesdays!

Check out this game I've been playing -- Wizard101! You learn cool spells, duel against monsters, explore lots of worlds, and decorate your house!

If you just sign up and download Wizard101, you get a special surprise!

See you in Wizard City!

Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot

Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot
by Julian Dibbell

My Thoughts
This book came out a few years ago. I would recommend it to any online gamer. Not only is is very interesting, but it is a great look into the world of gold sellers, chinese farmers, gamer widows, etc. This book was a super fast read as it is one of few books written by a gamer for gamers, without being non-fiction.


Review
Filled with genuine ethical dilemmas and questions about virtual sweatshops and economic justice, Play Money probes the ever more hazy line between gameworld and society, giving a fascinating insight into the peculiar promise of the technologies that increasingly shape the culture we are building, as production melts into play." The Guardian --The Guardian

Product Description
Play Money explores the remarkable new phenomenon of MMORPGs, or Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games, in which hundreds of thousands of players operate fantasy characters in virtual environments. With city-sized populations, these games generate their own cultures, governments, and social systems and, inevitably, their own economies, which spill over into the real world. The desire for virtual goods-magic swords, enchanted breastplates, and special, hard-to-get elixirs-has spawned a cottage industry of virtual loot farmers: people who play the games just to obtain fantasy goods that they can sell in the real world. The best loot farmers can make between six figures a year and six figures a month. Play Money is an extended walk on the weird side: a vivid snapshot of a subculture whose denizens were once the stuff of mere sociological spectacle but now-with computer gaming poised to eclipse all otherentertainments in dollar volume, and with the lines between play and work, virtual and real increasingly blurred-look more and more like the future.

More Frequent Postings Coming.

Been working around 65+ hours a week at work and they installed websense web blocker, so my posts have been minimal lately. Good news: Got a worhole and proxy set-up now to get around Websense. Take that! Ha! And will have a few more days off to be able to play and post as well. So get ready for some more good stuff soon.
Thanks for reading.

Random Queues and Resource Farming

Looking For Dungeon Queue
The best benefit of the new Random Looking For Dungeon Tool is the fact that you enter the queue directly to the dungeoun, but you also are returned to the exact spot of entry once you leave the dungeon. This has been working wonders for breaking up the monotany of farming golbin repair rep for me, as I queue up and grind rep while waiting on the random group to fill, then once the dungeon ends, it's back to farming rep again. Wonderful for breaking the monotany.


Herb and Ore Node Hopping
It also is excellent for anyone with mining or herbalism. Wintergrasp is an excellent place to farm herbs, ores, eternals, fish, etc. while awaiting your group to form. Whenever the queue pops as ready to go, I land at the closest vein or lotus spawn and gather it, then accept my queue.  When I finish the dungeon I end up right back at the node I parked at. This Random Dungeon Node Hopping is an easy way to gather some resources in between random dungeon group queues.

Try it:

1) Queue up for Random Dungeon
2) Start Farming
3) When Queue is Ready Land and farm at any node or herb.
4) Enter Dungeon, Finish, and Exit With Dungeon Exiter
5) Check for your node to have respawned.

As far as great spots, if you are an engineer the absolute best spot for this is to park at the Titanium Node in Wintergrasp near the SE Tower Cliffside, near the Fire Revenants. This way you can Grab the Titanium (which is almost always there - especially during Wintergrasp battles when it is hard to reach without a flying mount) then go and grab the 2 free sets of Crystallized Fires+ from the 2 spots in the Cauldren of Flames with the Mote Extractor. Then park back at the node once your group is ready to go.

Super Bowl = Super Opportunity

It's Super Bowl Sunday!

Server populations will drop to an epic low today once the Super Bowl starts, as this is the most highly watched event of the entire year, every year. And with the excellent match-up this year expect it to reach epic viewer records. How does this affect the WoW game day? Things to help you capitalize off of today:

1) Less Competition on the AH - Post your auctions right before kick off, or just after.
2) Check your posts and look for items to snatch during the game or at halftime.
3) If you are dps playing during game time, don't bother looking for a random queue, spend your wait time elsewhere.
4) Post a lot of cute pets on the auction house, as most players today will be women and children.
5) Move a TV right next to your computer. :)

Arena is Back

Patch 3.3.2 is now live, which brings back the new Arena Season. Be sure to have the PvP friendly sellables stocked up and in good supply as demand will be high this week. You may also see a rise in the materials required for these items over the next week or so. Some things to include are:


All +Res. Gems
Enchants
Snowfall Ink (for LW Wrists)
Titanium Weapon Chains
Titanium Shield Spikes
Eternal Belt Buckle