So I’ve made some progress on my previous list of objectives. The blogroll has been updated (side note: it’s unfortunate to see how many wow bloggers haven’t kept up with their blogs). I’ve gone through quite a few of the comments but i’ll need to get Shelbi to answer most of them that were directed at her.

There were quite a few comments on the Wowhead powered ItemStats for WordPress article. Apparently the newer versions of Wordpress (which we are now sporting here at TBK) have broken the outdated ItemStats plugin so I went ahead and updated the original article with instructions to integrate with Wowhead (no plugin needed).

Updating Wordpress was easier than expected. There’s a few minor cosmetic wrinkles that need to be ironed out but other than that everything should be working. This includes the contact form which has been down for who-knows how long. Feel free to try it. It works, I swear.

There are a couple of posts I’m working on at the moment and Shelbi has been spending her free time on a not-so-secret project that will be made public shortly. Just hang in there, the wait will be worth it.

Oh yeah, also signed up for twitter (http://www.twitter.com/TheBronzeJon). Anyone know of a good twitter widget for WordPress?

So here goes the obligatory “Is this thing on?” post. We know it’s been a while and that we’re both a couple of slackers when it comes to updating our blog. We’ve actually been extremely busy over the past few months almost a year, both in and out of Azeroth, but we do plan to make a comeback. To get us started I’ve come up with a list of self-imposed quest objectives:

1. Moderate and respond to the large number of comments that have been collecting dust (I really feel like a jerk for this one).
2. General site cleanup, polish, etc. I know there’s probably some stuff that is out of date or just broken.
3. Update the blogroll and links section. This one would generally fall under number 2 but I consider it a massive undertaking worthy of its own number.
4. Jump on the twitter bandwagon. After much resistance I think I’m going to give it a shot. I’ve got personal twitter (neglected of course) but I think I might keep this one related to the wowverse.
5. Last but not least… write some effing posts. I might even convince Shelbi to do a recipe or two. =)

Oh btw, epic grats to TJ and Phil on their engagery!

Last year, I entered the Design-a-Rune contest on DeathKnight.info and won. Keeping up with the World of Warcrafts column, along with RL duties, meant I was on hiatus from WoW for a bit. It wasn’t until recently that I actually started my own Death Knight.. and of course, I installed a new addon for my character. Much to my surprise, the runes used in this addon were the same that I designed!

DKi Runes has a lot of great features, including several displays, ability to move/rotate/scale, configurable bars and a fade-out option. You can download the DKi Runes addon here.

Incoming nerfs to ret will actually punish prot and holy deeps as well. /facepalm

Rohan covers the details here.

I like to dabble in PVP here and there but lately it seems that Blizzard is having a much more difficult time balancing for both aspects of the game. What makes a class or spec viable in PVE makes them overpowered in PVP.

Ret mana regen is a good example of this: in an arena fight, their unending supply of mana definitely gives them the leg-up on the competition. So let’s take that away from them so they don’t seem quite so invincible. But now the poor raiding retadins (yes they do exist) lose their ability to output sustained amounts of high dps without OOMing.

I’m hoping that Ferraro is right and this latest change to JotW is revoked as sort of a “we’re giving you something by not taking it away”-move by Blizzard. I usually have a lot of faith in Blizzard’s dev team, they obviously have copious amounts of talent at their disposal, but I just can’t help but feel like we’ve been here before. Why is Blizzard so afraid to make such an iconic class powerful and fun to play–and leave it that way?

Well Ret had it’s fun for about a day. We’ve already been hotfixed.

-Judgment of light and seal of light reduced by around 50%
-Judgment of command dmg reduced by around 25%
-Divine storm does 100% physical dmg instead of 100% holy dmg

I agree that we might have been a bit overpowered in PVP but this nerf seems like a knee-jerk reaction to forum QQers who now have a formidable foe where there once stood just a minor annoyance. The problem is that this clearly affects PVE DPS and raid viability. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This is nothing new for the Holy Knight.

Update: Official Word from Ghostcrawler regarding the recent hotfix and ret’s future.

Despite any truly epic announcements I still feel that BlizzCon was a huge success. The lines were long and the odors were quite pungent at times but we still had a blast. We met up with a couple of rogues who also happen to be IRL friends and enjoyed most of what the con had to offer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so let me take that route.

The Entrance

Guy Crafting Voidwalker Action Figure

Dwarf Paladin and loldrood?

Draenei Shaman

Warlock

An Artist at Work

Upper Deck Guy Working on a Troll Mini-fig

Shelbi Reppin’ our Guild

Three Rogues and a Paladin

Epic Chair Fail (oh and The Aquabats!)

Pwning the competition in the Costume Contest

Curse you PF Chang’s for running out of warm sake!

These were a few pics from our personal collection but I also recommend DJWu’s BlizzCon 2008 flickr photostream.

As you all know, BlizzCon ‘08 starts tomorrow. Right now, it’s 1:35AM and I have to get up in two hours to get ready for our plane which leaves around 6AM. But first, I wanted to take time to thank everyone who keeps up with this blog, even though our posts are rare these days. Also to everyone who appreciates and encourages my art. Today and tomorrow I’ll be giving away free Starprints swag at BlizzCon. Charms, stickers, vinyl bumper stickers… even temporary tattoos! I have limited availability considering the amount of people that will be at BlizzCon, so first come first serve.

I’ve decided to post a few transmogrifications up for sale in order to help fund our trip to BlizzCon. CLICK HERE to buy!

After days of waiting, countless refreshing and what seemed like never-ending frustration..

We got our tickets to BlizzCon 2008! See you guys there!