Editor’s Warning: This post is long. If you don’t like em long you can skip straight to the good stuff here.

I’ve been the acting guild and raid leader for <Specced for Awesome> since the mid-TBC era. We started out as an extremely casual guild and delved headfirst into Karazhan with our motley crew of 10 or so raiders. Most of us had never raided before (that one time where I lolcleansed a ZG pug in vanilla doesn’t count). We dabbled in 5-mans here and there but Kara was that first hit of the hard stuff. We were hooked.

Months later we were clearing the entirety of Kara in one night. So what next? We naturally attempted to jump right in to Zul’Aman where the Amani trolls proceeded to have their way with us. ZA was challenging to say the least. Kara was (and still is) a great instance but it wasn’t really giving us the fix we needed. We really had no choice but to head into Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon’s Keep if we wanted to progress. There was just one problem: we were a 10-man guild and these raids required 25.

So we did what we had to, we upped our recruitment efforts. We recruited pugs from heroics and Kara runs, we advertised in trade, solicited the unguilded and even braved the dreaded realm forums. It took a guild merger/acquisition but we finally got the numbers we needed.

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For those who missed out on BlizzCon ‘09, I’ve recently added a Death Knight to my character collection, fully decked out in Darkruned gear. I believe this means the only class I’m actually lacking is Troll. I love you guys. I promise. I’ll be adding more within the next few months as well, which brings me to a very important question.

Which of my characters would you like to see turned into a custom figure?
Think n00bz..and think about the children. I’m planning on custom painting some of my characters for Child’s Play Charity this year. As some of you know, our previous efforts with the Charity Raffle were pretty successful. This “doll” will come packaged with some other awesome goodies which are going to take some time to make, so I’m trying to get a head start. I’ll have more details about packages as we get closer to auction time.

Comments with class and itemset are appreciated.

BlizzCon was a blast. This was our second year to attend and I can say without hesitation that it was a much more epic experience than the last. We learned some valuable lessons and plan on going into BlizzCon 2010 a bit wiser.

Pro	Con
Delicios burrito and chimichanga at Blue Burrito Grille at Sky Harbor Airport.	Bland tacos from the taco hut outside the convention center.
Pro	Con
The sweet rooms at the Hilton.	Looking out our window and realizing that the Marriott across the street has rooms with balconies.
Pro	Con
Meeting and chatting up Chris Metzen outside the lobby of the Hilton.	Missing the WoW.com meetup because it was too damn crowded at the Tangerine.
Pro	Con
The opening keynote that announced the monk class and cataclysm.	Not being able to twitter from the main hall due to iPhone service being completely borked.
Pro	Con
The awesome cosplayers.	No one knowing who General Vezax is. “Oh is that a protoss?”
Pro	Con
The excellent pizza for breakfast at Sbarro at the Hilton.	The horrible food and service at Coco’s across the street from the Tangerine (I hear the one closer to the convention center doesn’t suffer from failitis).
Pro	Con
Playing Kings Cup in the hotel lobby.	Ending the game early due to Hilton Security Staff. (note: the staff was actually rather cool about stuff, just doing their job.)
Pro	Con
Acquiring many phat lewts.	Needing to purchase an additional piece of luggage just to get it all home.
Pro	Con
Being able to customize a n00bz figure on the con floor.	Needing a strength potion just to disassemble the n00b for painting, then smudging the crap out of it while reassembling.
Pro	Con
The Artist Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftan.	No new songs from TAFKAL80ETC.
Pro	Con
Ozzy Osbourne laying to rest any doubts about his abilities and totally killing the closing ceremony.	Being subjected to commentary by the dumb broad at DirectTV while we waited for Ozzy to take the stage.
Pro	Con
Epic afterparty at the Hilton.	Stupid camera was drunk so half the pictures turned out blurry. Ok so maybe it was operator error.
Pro	Con
Chilling with Damian and Jick in room 8430 at the afterafterparty.	Sleeping through our alarm and missing our 7:30 am flight the next day. Oops.

Despite the balanced list, the entire trip was mostly an enjoyable experience. It was awesome getting to meet everyone and sorry if we missed you.

*Disclaimer: a lot of these pics come from our BlizzCon Flickr, but I had to borrow some.

On the last day of BlizzCon, we headed to the store for a number of goodies, including a blank n00b. Designing my own n00b was one of the things I wanted to do most at BC. I sat down at a table at 11:00am and didn’t get up from that seat until 4:30pm. While it was my intention to spend a few hours there, I had no idea I’d be there for over five. However, I do have a habit of being overly obsessive about my work and I don’t like to stop until I’m finished. Check out the pics of my Rogue Tier 5 (Deathmantle) n00b, created with Sharpie markers and paint pens:

Check back for more pics and BlizzCon reports soon!

Update: Check out all this awesome swag we’ll be handing out. Temporary tattoos, stickers, and keychains. Find us at BlizzCon and ask us for loots. Now Including DeathKnights!

We’re going to be at BlizzCon again this year. It’ll be our second time to attend and we’re stoked.

We missed a ton of people last year due to poor planning but this time we’re going in prepared with epic gear and a bunch of loot to hand out. That’s right, Shelbi has been slaving over a hot oven making various charms and whatnot to handout to all of our endearing fans.

Here’s our rough itinerary:

• Thursday Night (08.20.09): The 3rd Annual Wow.com Meetup at the Annabella Hotel’s Tangerine Patio.
• Friday Night (08.21.09): We’re gonna hit up the Tangerine again for the Twisted Nether Meetup.
• Saturday Night (08.22.09): The 2nd Annual Blizzcon Afterparty at the Hilton.

Now during the day, we’ll most likely be at one of three places:

• At the actual convention
• At a nearby restaurant for some nomz.
• In our hotel room for a nap.

As for the convention,  we will definitely be attending the closing ceremonies for both nights, I may or may not be participating in the costume contest, and we’ll do our best to hit up the Dark Iron meet. I also want to get in some more Diablo 3 playtime and if they have a playable version of Cataclysm, I’ll be all over it.

Feel free to follow my twitter (@MrRoach) if you want to pinpoint our location.

Planning on going to BlizzCon but lack the skills or the free time to make an epic costume? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Follow the simple steps below to make your very own Flimsy Worgen or Goblin masks.

Supplies: White Cardstock, Color Printer, Acrylic Sealer, Xacto Knife, Scissors, Elastic Cord, Stapler and Electrical Tape

To start, I wanted to make sure the masks looked as good as possible, so I cleaned up the original image.

Disclaimer: The original images are Copyright Blizzard Inc. but they have been edited to facilitate better printability.

Step 1
Print out your mask on cardstock. You can choose from the following:

Step 2
Spray your print out with a sealer. Cons can be rough and you don’t want your mask falling apart on you. Give it some time to dry before the next step.

Step 3
Using an Xacto Knife, cut along the white dotted lines around the eyes.

Step 4
Cut out the rest of the mask with scissors.

Step 5
Mark two dots on the back for your elastic string. Hold the mask up to your face to determine the best location and size of the string.

Step 6
Staple the elastic string to the mask. Make sure you’ve given yourself enough string to tie a knot so it stays secure, then use electrical tape to help keep it in place and prevent it from scratching your face.

Editor’s Note: Not attending BlizzCon? Feel free to use your Flimsy Worgen mask to spice up the bedroom.

If you haven’t heard or seen the announcement yet…

Quote from: Zarhym (Source)
She has lurked in her lair and done battle with the many brave adventurers who travelled to that familiar location over the years. Now, in honor of the World of Warcraft 5-year anniversary, the dreaded brood mother Onyxia is being revamped to make a return to the forefront of Azeroth, as part of our big plans for the upcoming 3.2.2 content patch.

This permanent update to Onyxia will convert the dungeon into 10- and 25-player modes. We will be adding new items to Onyxia’s loot table that have the same model as some of the classic loot from this dungeon, like Tier 2 helms, with stats updated to match the current level of content. There will be a special new item too: a normal drake-sized 310% speed flying mount modeled after Onyxia herself called an Onyxia Broodling. We will also be updating the encounter mechanics to be more fitting for modern raiding, but we can guarantee players will get to experience the frightening horror of deep breaths once again.

Then for a limited time, after the 5-year anniversary event officially begins in November, anybody who logs in will receive an Onyxia Brood Whelpling pet.

We’re very excited to bring this classic encounter back to provide a fun new experience for both new and veteran players. Further details will be available in the near future, and we will be setting up the Public Test Realms soon to help test out this fight along with all the new content we have planned for the patch. Keep an eye on the forums for updates!

I never got to experience Onyxia until I was able to 5-man her at level 70 so this is awesome news! The new rewards (woot another Judgement Crown) and the Onyxia Broodling mount are just icing on the cake.

Now based on Zarhyms description and the fact that they’re revamping and retuning the encounter for level 80 leads me to believe that the entire dungeon as it exists in the game right now will cease to exist (a la Naxxramas) Unfortunate news for those old-school raiders that like to relive the glory days. I’m guessing the original achievement will be given the Feat of Strength treatment.

I know this is a special occasion with it being WoW’s 5-year anniversary (have I really been playing this game that long?), but I really hope that they take this approach with some of the other content.

Update: Looks like Bornakk confirmed that the old version will get nyxed.

Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimaerok Chops

Ingredients:
2 Pork Loin Chops (bone-in at least 1″ thick)
1 cup Orange Preserves
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 tblsp Ground Red Pepper
2 tspn Ground Ginger
2 tblsp Sriracha Chili Sauce
Crushed Sea Salt
Crushed Black Pepper

Directions:
Ready your chops by rinsing them in water and placing on a plate. Dust both sides with salt and pepper and let them hang out while you prepare the rocket fuel.

Start by adding the orange preserves to a (preferably flame-retardant) bowl. Follow up with 1/4 of soy sauce. Add a tablespoon (or more) of ground red pepper. Sprinkle in a teaspoon of ginger. Lastly, add not one, but two tablespoons of the Sriracha*. Mix it all up until you have a nice sinus-clearing concoction.

*I actually doubled this in my version but Shelbi promises that there’s enough heat in the original.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add the chops. Cook at high heat until they start to brown.

Drop the heat and pour about half of your sauce over the chops. Cook covered at medium-low heat for about 10 minutes then flip the chops over and drench them with sauce again. 10 more minutes of covered pan-frying and they should be ready to plate. Add more sauce for that extra kick.

Extra
Goes great with the Garlic Ginger Bok Choy recipe I found from Food Wishes (pictured).

Finally picked up the schematic last night from the robot trash on the way to Mimiron.

Jeeves is awesome, but they should’ve added a MOLL-E to the mats list and given him the ability to handle your mail. Seems like a butlerish thing to do, no? And why isn’t he sporting a tuxedo?