Yep, it’s finally the time. Diaries of a Marksman Hunter has moved to http://www.mmnassira.com. So make sure you unsubscribe to this feed and sign up for the new one! Please change all your Blogroll or other links to the new site (http://www.mmnassira.com). This page will no longer be updated, as everything will be done through mmnassira.com. Thanks for sticking with me through this transition!
Much <3,
Nass
Sorry, guys. I’m in the process of transferring things to my new Dreamhost account, and for some reason, Internet Explorer wasn’t allowing me to change my primary domain. So I installed Firefox (on the work computer…oh well) and it worked beautifully. Just a note:
http://mmnassira.com WILL NOT WORK for a little while – the official site is https://mmnassira.wordpress.com, so if your feed is set up for mmnassira.com, it won’t work, most likely.
Thanks for your patience! Things will be better than ever very soon!
❤ Nass
We finally got Hodir. Granted, I didn’t get to dance on his dead body because he doesn’t die, but still. Much shouting with joy in Vent, and some very deserving people got some T8. It was a good night. =D
Thanks for all of your input on the Godbane Signet. I think I will not roll on it. It’s about the principle of the thing.
We also invited a new hunter to <Explicit> who performed very well, and I’m so glad to have another hunter on board, even if he is Survival. =P Welcome! Now we just need a rogue and we’ll be set.
It certainly helped having all 25 people in the raid last night, since we’ve been running short for a few weeks. Thanks for showing up, guys. Clearly we can get sh*t done if only we can get together.
On another note, the Podcast has been rescheduled to this upcoming Saturday, same time (12:00pm EST). Those of you who emailed me before will receive an email later today with the information. Sorry, but we’ll be using Ventrilo. I will be sure to spend some extra time setting up the sound, though, so everyone can be heard. Thanks for your patience. =)
❤ Nass
How do you feel about Godbane Signet?
Right now, it still looks good to me. Am I crazy? Sure, the expertise is useless, but the other stats are damn good. What are your thoughts?
❤ Nass
!#&^$%&*^%(*#^$&%*&#(*)%&*(#^Q&*^@&*$%^&#%*($^&^$#*$&*^%*^#*^$&@#^@&*%&*^#&*%^#&*%&*@$^&*@%*#%&^@$&*#^*&%^#&*@$^@#&*!#^@&*$^&%#(@*$&#*@#!^($#&*@$%#^&^#&$%!@&*^#$%@&#^!@$#^%&$#^!@&*$%#&&$*!^&*@#$%$@^#$&*%!&*#$%$!@#&*$%@#&*$^#&*@%^@#&*$%#@^$#&*&#%^*@#&%$^&@#!%^$*&@#%*$@#&*#%!&*(#$^*@($^@*(%^#&*!@%$@#*$#&*%^&#%$#&*%@#*$#&*!%^$#^%$#^%$^$%#^$%^#%^$%#^%$#^%!&^#$&$#^!@&^#@%!$^@%^$&@^#%&$#&%^#&*@&$!%*&@#$^*(#&!@%$^&#%&@%&$%#&%$&!%@^%$&@#%$%&^%@&
*breath*
$#*($^#%&*^#&*@$%!&*@#&*$^#&*%^&*#%!@$^#%^@$#@$%%##$&$&@&@%^$&$%&#^@%^@&&**$%*#$$#&%&^@#^&*^&*#%$#^@@$&!^$*&!@&$^&*#@!!!!!!!#&%*&$%^$&@%$#&*!^$&*#$%#&*%^$#^$#@#@$&#&%*&*($%&*(#&*(@$&@*!$%#$#%$#^@^$%#*&#$%#&@^$&#(*%&(*#$%@#*$^#&@*%$^#@%$^#@%^!@$#%^$@#^$%^!@^$#^$#^&!$@%$%$%$$^#$^##&&*$%***#&#&&%*#*$*#****$*$*#*#***#$**%**#*%**$*#%^$%#^$%^#%$^#%$^@%&#^@&&#%#$#****#$**#$#^$^%^^#^%^^^%^&@#$^&#%^&@*$^#&*^@&*$^*&^*&^&*^#^@$#%^%#&@$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111
❤ Nass
Many of you have read and continue to read Ferraro’s Paladin Schmaladin, who, until recently, was supposedly a young woman who worked for Blizzard. WoW.com did a 15 Minutes of Fame with her, thousands of people read her site every day, and the blog has been active for quite some time. Recently, it has been discovered that Ferraro doesn’t actually exist, and that the blog was actually written by several different people, some of them men. The pictures were stolen from another site, and the person that “her” blog created was created by several different people working together to keep things smooth.
So the question most people are asking is : WHY? Why use some made-up person to give free ideas to the WoW community? I will state the obvious, which, as far as I’ve read, no one has mentioned yet. Everyone is thinking it, so why not just say it?
Being an attractive young woman gets you more views. *gasp*
Many people who read the site will claim “nah, I came because it had good advice!” and sure, maybe that’s why you kept coming back. Let’s just not mention the secret desire you had to see more photos of such a cute little girl. Let’s not mention the fact that most men, especially gamer men, tend to agree with a woman whom they believe is attractive (nod and smile and maybe she’ll let me hold her hand). Let’s not mention that posting images of a hot chick that were professionally taken by someone else to get more people to come to your site can be categorized as MARKETING.
Who holds up a cold can of Cocacola with a pretty smile? An attractive young woman. You may not realize that you were interested in the Coke commercial for anything more than the commercial itself, but in reality your mind sees the young woman, whether you yourself are a woman or not, and let’s face it : women are beautiful. And people are suckers for beauty. Whether or not there is actual sex appeal doesn’t matter. Coming from me, an artist who has seen many a nude, women themselves in their natural forms are works of art.
The bad part is not showing images of an attractive girl. The bad part is the fact that “Ferraro” was the gamer-man’s dream. A beautiful, intelligent gamer-girl who plays for a living, who is passionate and outspoken and spends her time with the geekiest of men. That is very clearly MANIPULATION of the male gamer community, and I find that to be disgusting.
If you say you did NOT notice her photos when you visited the site, I will straight up call you a liar. I sure noticed them. Then I clicked on them. Then I looked at them and thought : why are all these photos professionally taken? Where’s the fuzzy jpeg photo of her in dirty pj’s and slumping in her computer chair spamming Flash of Light? Sure, she’s beautiful, but clearly she is sharing photos for the purpose of appearances and ONLY appearances. Not to share who she is, and not to share what her life is like, but to stand there and look pretty.
So let’s get it out there : they did it because it brought more people in. It peaked interest. It made people come back. It was an ingenius marketing ploy, but a ploy nonetheless.
My question is, if you’ve got good content and a desire to share, why do you need to use a young woman to bring people in? Unless Paladin Schmaladin / “Ferraro” was making money in one way or another, I can see no good reason why such an intricate and long-lasting lie needed to be woven and kept up. It’s sad really, and it also brings me to another point.
This hurts bloggers everywhere. The REAL bloggers, who simply love to write and share and communicate with like minds. It raises suspicions, makes people uncomfortable, and makes the real female bloggers roll their eyes in disgust. Then there’s always the thought of “maybe more people would read my blog if I snapped a few photos of myself in full makeup”. I’m sure many of the readers of Paladin Schmaladin were taken aback. Most claim they don’t mind as long as the content keeps coming, but there are many people who actually believed they had a real relationship with this “girl”, either in Guilds or through online conversation.
If I had a guild mate who had an entire personality I enjoyed, and I spent a good majority of my time online with that person having conversations and such, and then one day I found out that the person DIDN’T ACTUALLY EXIST and that I’d been speaking to several different people who were all LYING TO ME, I’d be pretty upset.
Deceptive things are deceptive. Liars suck. Yes, I know they eventually came out and “told the truth”. I know they claim to be attempting to “right the wrongs”. I don’t care. They have been doing this for 5 years. They have kept up a fake personality for 5 years. They have lied to everyone for 5 years.
Shame on you.
❤ Nass
WoW.com recently posted a breakfast topic that I felt deserved some writing.
So what are my misunderstood WoW passions?
I think everyone knows the first one – being anal about finding every little detail of information I can regarding just about every aspect of my class. I know we’re all hunters, and a lot of us enjoy this, but those who don’t enjoy it look at me like I’m a Grade A Idiot. I spend so much time doing stupid math problems and discussing bits of information that most people scoff at as being unimportant. It’s certainly not unimportant to me! I’d say I spend at least an average of four hours a week working those kinds of things out, and it’s in my free time, not my game time.
The next one is tabards. I’m crazy about my tabards. I need to match. If I don’t match, I go crazy. Seeing my character on the log-in screen wearing a non-matching tabard makes me angry. This moves into…
Artwork. I’m an artsy person, and World of Warcraft can be so visually stunning. I spend hours just taking screenshots, drawing pictures of my character, and planning pictures of my character that I’ll probably never draw. The beautiful artwork in this game inspires me to create my own. In fact, on the epic side of things, it’s even inspiring me to write my own WoW-related story.
Another strange one: I watch the trailers for the game almost every time before I log in. I crank my sound up, turn off the lights, and go at them. It’s one of my favorite parts of the game, and I’m really hoping to see a full-length animated movie from Blizzard, hopefully with music just as glorious as they have in the trailers. Oh, and the first trailer is my favorite. The music is so perfect, and I love seeing all the different classes interacting with each other. Although the voice-acting in the trailer for Wrath gives me goosebumps every time. The best part : “And I know you will show restraint when exercising your great power.” Sometimes the Wrath trailer makes me tear up. Yup. You heard me.
I also get nuts about sorting my bank. I have to have things be Feng Shui or it drives me insane. I’m very passionate about keeping things in order, and I’m the same way with my add-ons. My folder is immaculate. I make sure all the .zip files are deleted right after unzipping, and any add-ons I’ve stopped using get deleted ASAP. In-game, they all have to be perfectly aligned in an aesthetically pleasing way. If my screen is unbalanced, I’ll go so far as to download another add-on to even it out.
Of course, I’m very passionate about the game itself: about raiding, being with friends, storming battlegrounds, or just goofing around in Org…but that’s something everyone can understand.
❤ Nass
#^%$ Hodir.
This dude is really starting to make me angry.
I think my misdirect finger is broken, too. Stupid frost gear vs. damage buffs.
And who do those ice-blocked people think they are, anyway? I say they should pick up the slack a bit.
I will dance on Hodir’s dead body. Okay, so I won’t get to. But I will pretend to dance on a fake dead body of Hodir. And I will like it. It will happen very soon. Very soon.
Very soon.
/stare
❤ Nass
There can only be one Best in Slot. Sure, there’s “this is the best for me until” and plenty of “definitely helps me-s”, but there’s only one true Best in Slot. Of course, some of them are going to come from Hard Mode. But let’s go over what Best in Slot really means.
Best in Slot – Currently the BEST POSSIBLE PIECE for a particular gear or weapon slot.
If that piece happens to come from something you’re never going to run, it is still Best in Slot. Maybe it’s not your best available piece, but it will always be Best in Slot until a new bit of gear is put into the game.
In our guild, we have a system of loot in which there are several phrases we say when we ask for gear. Here are the rules:
1. Link the item you are upgrading from in raid.
2. In the same /ra message, give us short but pertinent information regarding what type of upgrade this will be, if any. You should be using keywords like, but not limited to, the ones below:
“Best in Slot” – This item is something that you will not be replacing until new content is released.
“2pc”, “4pc”, etc – For Tier gear. This item grants you a desired set bonus.
“Desired” or “Major Upgrade” – You really want this item. This item is a fairly major upgrade for you, though perhaps not best in slot.
“Interested” or “Minor – Fair Upgrade” – You are slightly to fairly interested in this item. This item may not be the best upgrade for you, but still considerable enough for interest. You may also consider passing if others put their names in for it.
“Lowball” – You only want this item if it would otherwise rot/no one else wants it.
“Offspec” – Obviously.
So if someone says, “Best in Slot until the real Best in Slot”, what is that?? Certainly not the real Best in Slot. I’d say it’s a Desired/Major upgrade, but don’t be throwing around “BiS” like it’s candy at a parade.
After doing the math on the difference between the Envoy of Morality and the Siren’s Cry, I’ve found that it’s approximately an 8 DPS difference on a 7:00 minute fight, perhaps a bit less, especially taking into account that you lose 16 Attack Power by switching to Siren’s Cry.
8 DPS? I’d call that a minor upgrade. An upgrade, and a small one, but still an upgrade, and therefore still desireable. So when someone claims that it’s “BEST IN SLOTOMG!! (until hard mode)”, it’s a little frustrating when you’ve done the math and can very honestly say that it’s a small upgrade.
But we’re hunters. Small upgrades are big upgrades, and every hunter wants a few extra DPS. Always.
So when that slight upgrade goes to the hunter who’s been out of raids for over 4 weeks while you’ve been struggling with progression the entire time to even get to that boss, it’s a little frustrating. All because the other hunter claims it was a better upgrade than what I claim. And I can’t fault the Loot Council for that – they did what they did because it seemed right at the time – but as I said:
There can only be ONE Best in Slot. And that wasn’t it.
❤ Nass
I return from my vacation very happy, healthy, and red. Yes, I now have a sexy Irish tan.
The polls have been up for a while and it looks like the majority of you would like to learn more about a hunter’s roles and trials in Ulduar. So we’ll talk about that!
I’m scheduling this discussion for this upcoming Saturday, May 30th at 12:00pm, noon EST. This is in the hopes that we can get some of our European listeners to participate again. =) If you would like to take part in the Hunter Discussions this Saturday, please send me an email (Dairina321@gmail.com) with your character name, server, and current Raiding progression. I would like at least three people not including myself to participate.
MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR EMAIL REGULARLY for updates and ventrilo information. I’ll be contacting you throughout the week to get things organized. Thank you in advance!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
❤ Nass
Diaries of a Marksman Hunter 
People Have Been Saying…