With how slow things are getting in the game right now while everyone is impatiently awaiting the Cataclysm, it’s the perfect time to bolster your guild’s cohesiveness with some fun guild events!  You can check out the list of fun guild events I wrote last year, or try this new one I’m adding to it: 

Themed Screenshot Contests

 This contest is perfect for this time of the season, because even your guildies who have temporarily suspended their accounts could participate if they’ve saved up some decent screenshots, and it can keep your guild forums active during downtime.

 What you need to do is come up with some sort of theme appropriate to your guild.  Some ideas are:

• Best guild moment (maybe an important achievement or boss kill)
• Best guildie mistell (because we all SS them for blackmail purposes, right?)
• Screenshot of a suggested “guild headquarters/hideout” (good opportunity to explore all the cool hidden places that might be gone soon!)
• Screenshot of “Guildiewhodiesalot” dead in some awkward/funny position or situation

 If you get some solid interest, I suggest turning this into a monthly contest!  Schedule the first 3 weeks of the month for submitting screenshots and allow the last week for voting.  Of course, prizes are great motivators.  Depending on your situation I might suggest a game timecard, a pet/mount from the Blizzard Pet Store or the right to redesign the guild tabard for the next month.

It’s that time again!  That time when the current content starts to feel a bit stale, and all anyone can think about is the new expansion that is just barely over the horizon.  Also, summer.  I hear there’s sunshine and fun to be had outside, or something.  *shrug*   

So what’s a blogger to do?  I could write about all the breaking news from the Cataclysm Beta that’s been coming out, but I am actually trying to avoid spoilers and wait to see it all myself when the time comes.  I could rehash all my random dungeon adventures, but after a while they seem to all become the same story.

The blogging desire is still within me.  Quite often I’ll sit down with a blank text box open and just try to type something.  But there is very little inspiring to write about right now!  I’m determined not to give up, and I don’t consider my blog abandoned, but I am just waiting for that divine intervention to start flowing through my fingertips.

Until then, I will try to post at least once a week.  It might not be particularly inspired or helpful, but maybe it’ll give me a chance to keep my writing muscles in shape, and even give you a nice break from all the “ZOMG LOOK AT THIS STUFF IN THE BETA!”

Today, I will post Twitter-sized updates on various aspects of my life:

Raiding: Got to 10/12 in H ICC before our 10-man guild dwindled to a 3-man. Other games and activities have put us on a summer/pre-Cata hiatus.

Brajana: With no one to conquer raids with, my hunter is taking her own personal hiatus. Probably won’t see Ruby Sanctum at all!

Kaeira: My Prot Paly hit 80! Geared up and making it through Heroics. I make a fine tank, if I do say so myself! Still scared of raids though…

New Alts: Finally got a rogue past level 12! Hoppi the gnome (20) has been my new focus, in a friend’s guild where people actually still play.

Other games: Got a bit carried away with Steam’s sales. I’ve got a list of games to keep me busy such as Mass Effect 1&2, Torchlight, World of Goo!

Real life: Started a new job a few weeks ago. Adjusting to the un-unemployed life slowly… less recreation time, but the paycheque makes up for it.

The WoW Armory iPhone app has proven quite useful for me – allowing me to update my raid event status on the fly, mostly.  But what I’ve found especially interesting is the ability to look at a list of all my characters – even the ones on my old, inactive account and the ones below level 10.  As you might know, I am quite an alt-o-holic.  I love playing around on the character creation screen and running through those quick first few levels.  I got curious to see if my attitude about favourite class/race panned out with my actual playing statistics, so I looked into the details.

I’ve removed all bank alts and counted Death Knight levels as if 55 is level 1, and compiled some fun facts:

• Total characters: 28
• Total levels: 684
• Average level: 24.4
• Most played class (by total levels): Paladin (3 characters, 166 levels)
• Most played class (by total characters): Hunter (5 characters, 141 levels)
• Least played class (both): Rogue (1 character, level 11)
• Most played race (by total levels): Gnome (5 characters, 131 levels)
• Most played race (by total characters): Draenei (7 characters, 41 levels)
• Least played race (both): Human (0 characters)

• The highest Draenei I’ve ever played made it to level 13.
• Although I’ve got 4 Shaman, the highest one is level 7.
• I’ve never gotten a Death Knight out of the starting area, although I’ve rolled 3 of them.
• I have 6 characters that are level 11.  That is the “make-it-or-break-it” level for my alts.
• Despite my race preferences, I have the same number of Night Elves as Trolls: 1 each.
• I have more Alliance characters than Horde characters! *GASP*

See, wasn’t that fun?  Have you noticed any interesting patterns in your alts?

With over 1500 screenshots saved to my WoW/Screenshots folder over the last 5 years, I decided to go back and pick out a few I haven’t yet shared on Mend Pet.  I’ve narrowed it down to 1% of my most interesting shots and posted them in chronological order!

Since it’s such a giant list of images, I’m adding a click-through for once.  So click and enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry �

In the aftermath of a giant drama explosion, my young guild (Razorblade Arcade) has been forced to reform (minus our now former guild leaders.)  It sucks, but that’s what it’s come to.  Which left us once again with the horrible task of picking a name.

We spent a good amount of time throwing around suggestions, both serious and not-so-serious ones.  And it seems that everyone has a different favoured style when it comes to names.  I’ve managed to narrow down a few types, and I’ve realized which are personally preferred for me.

1. Serious, meaningful names: These names are generally one or two words and say something about the members of the guild or how they came to be together.  Examples: <Unemployed>, <Kalimdors Legion>, <Avoiding Reality>.
2. Serious, meaningless names: These generally get picked for their dramatic effect, but don’t really have any importance to the players. Examples: <Evolve>, <Malice>, <Nothing Personal>, or often anything latin.
3. Funny, meaningful names: These occur when someone tries to fit an entire joke into 24 characters.  Usually a crude one, at that.  They’re also popular in Arena Team names.  Examples: <Sapped Girls Cant Say No>, <STDs are BoP>.
4. Funny, meaningless names: Usually of a silly nature, things that make you giggle or curious about the origin of the name. Examples: <Squid Squad>, <Razorblade Arcade>, <Seal Cub Clubbing Club>.

So it turns out I’m not a fan at all of categories 2 and 3.  The jokes are generally immature, and the drama names just don’t inspire any sort of interest in me.

We ended up going with <Evolve>.  I am so indifferent to that name that I already forgot what it was at least once.  To be honest, if I were searching for a guild to join, I would probably not even consider a guild with this name unless there was something really appealing about it (like the fact that all my friends are in it.)  While name doesn’t mean everything, it does present an image of who you are and what type of people are within the group.  Am I stereotyping?  Possibly.  But I am almost certain I would not want to be associated with anyone in <Sapped Girls Cant Say No>.

How does guild name effect you?  Would you join or avoid a guild based purely on the name, or does it not concern you at all as long as the guild is what you’re looking for?

I proposed the question on Twitter, and got quite an array of responses, including:

Rilgon: As long as it’s not anything that blatantly violates naming conventions, no consideration. (#)

Krizzlybear: Ideally, all things equal, I will join the guild with the most hilarious name. (#)

wowcynwise: It’s important that it be correctly spelled and either innocuous or authentically funny. There are a lot I look at and go “no.” (#)