Blizzard Authenticator - $7

Another Sad Story
This morning as I sit sipping coffee out of my new United Federation of Planets coffee mug, I am reading yet another story of how someone has had their character hacked.

This person has been playing WoW for a long time and is heavy into the end-game raid scene. Her guildies helplessly looked on as her character logged in, quit the guild, casually played the game for an hour, and then stripped and sold off all the character's belongings for gold.

That gold will presumably be sold by one of those @ss hats you see in the major cities announcing cheap blizzard gold, and the best prices for leveling a character.

Sure the guild members put in a ticket, but the GMs in game have very little power over this. Hopefully this person will have things set right, but that can take weeks and a full restoration of all that hard work is nearly impossible.

Blizzard Authenticator
To help combat the gold selling/account hacking situation Blizz announced the introduction of a supplemental authentication method. A key chain sized widget called the Blizzard Authenticator.

Here is how it works. Once you have received your authenticator you associate it with your account via a web page in the account management section of Blizzard's gaming web site by entering the unit's unique serial-number-like code.

Then each time you log into the game the Authenticator generates a unique, one-time use password which you use to log in with. The next time you play the password will be different, so keyloggers and trojans thus become obsolete.

But only if you have one of these.

Mine is on order as of this morning. The whole thing comes delivered to your house for $7.

I say go pro-active, protect yourself now.

I gots me a new toy!!!!

Christmas time all over again!

I arrived home from work last night and there was a mysterious box sitting on my front doorstep.
Was it my nutrisystems? Nope.
Could it be the Japanese De-tox Foot Pads I ordered? Huh-Uh.
Did the IRS decide to pay my tax return in Pennies? Pahleeze

It was in fact my brand spanking new Belkin SpeedPad n52!!
Holy Crap!!! Now I too can Crush the Competition; it says so right on the box!

So I take the box inside very casually; we can't be letting the new device know that it is in fact a little intimidating to us, the noobish gamer.
I know that this will take a little time to fully integrate into my playstyle, but shhhh!
The device is listening. They know I tell you! They do!
It is like that animals smelling fear thing.

An hour passes and I have the n52 up and running on my Mac. It was easy enough to install, just a quick download of the current driver and the interface appeared in my System Preferences window.

So to begin I thought it best to google the device for forum entries. Wouldn't you know it there is one right in my backyard on the BRK forums (fora?). You can read it here: BRK n52 discussion thread.

There is a particularly nice post by Vorian where he simply lists how he mapped his keys. I think I will follow suit by starting with my hunter alts and moving upwards level wise as I add skills.

If you are contemplating the purchase one of these the first thing you need to know is that the device will come completely unmapped. You will need to assign each individual keystroke, and that can be a big learning process which I will document here for two reasons, first I don't want to forget what I did; and second, I hope it might help others.

For me the best place to begin is basic movement. I have mapped my movement thusly:

Top Row Keys:
3 = walk forward (w)

Directional Pad (DPad)
Up = Auto Run (num lock)
Right = Turn Right (d)
Down = Move Backwards
Left = Turn Left (a)
Up Right = Strafe Right (e)
Up Left = Strafe Left (q)

To practice I logged onto my Belf bank character. The Bazaar in Silvermoon City is quiet with large open areas to practice movement in with no fear of Mobs attacking. I spent about a half hour running around the Bazaar, figure eight-ing around some poles, and pretending to strafe the NPCs. I even played peek-aboo with a few real live people, while pretending to be on a battleground.

So far so good. Next update will be adding shot rotations and traps.

Review: Kaliban's Loot Lists

Written for The City Watch

The goal for many people in WoW once they reach the level cap of 70 is to experience the Endgame Raiding content that culminates with ridding the universe of the demon Illidan.

This is a long drawn out process that includes finding keys, going into lower level dungeons to find the armor and weapons that will allow you to survive the battles with the Bosses of dungeons, and finding up to 25 other people that are also on their way toward The Black Temple, Illidan's home. The full process can be seen on Blizzard's BC Attunement Chart.

Knowing what gear you need and where to get it can be rather daunting at times. There is a lot of it out there, in several different instance dungeons. Where does one start to gather the information needed? One site I have found very useful is Kaliban's Class Loot Lists.

Kaliban's site lists much of the critical loot in the game, and is being updated on a regular basis. Included in the lists are quest rewards, reputation rewards, world drops, crafted items, and Boss drops in both normal and heroic modes. There are even some strategy guides for the Boss fights.

I have found that the most helpful thing about Kaliban's Lists are that they are first divided by player class, then the lists are organized by player level. There are sections for both Old World loots and for the new Burning Crusade items. These lists are very simple to follow and are linked to WoWHead so you can compare the stats on the listed loots to your own gear in the Armory to see if the item is actually and upgrade.

Currently there is a gear planning function that is in its beta form. This function allows you select your class, what stats you are looking for, what your weapons set up is, and where the item comes from. For example you may want to enter if you are looking for a crafted item, a world drop, a reputation reward, or a rare item that drops when your group kills one of the instance bosses.

This function will come in particularly handy since it is possible to gear yourself for Karazahn with crafted items, reputation rewards, and action house items, as well as Boss drops. This is a huge time saver for those beginning to run the same few instances over and over.

Remember, as Heros our focus is on getting into the Black Temple to kill Illidan; it really isn't a race to see who can get the most loot. Kaliban's site will help you to know when to give up on farming for a particular piece of armor or weapon if there is a comparable item that is easier to get your hands on via reputation reward or Auction House Purchase.

If you choose to pursue the endgame content of WoW I highly recommend having Kaliban's Loot Lists bookmarked for easy reference. Knowing what loot you want, and where to get it will save you some time and help you get into the Endgame faster.