You'll notice the blinds are pristine above a certain point. This has everything to do with how tall my baby is.

At the beginning of November 2008, Big Bear Butt posted a picture of his workspace. A little later, Matticus asked Kestrel to show off his work/play area and then did the same himself. Since then, some others have done the same:

• Casual WoW
• Lady Jess
• The Stoppable Force
  

In an effort hop on the bandwagon, I will do the same. Without further ado (click to enlarge:)

Some details about the picture:

• Monitor: This is a Samsung 24" 245BW from Costco. The angle of the picture makes the monitor look like it's slanted, but I assure you, that's not it's normal state.
• Computer: Off to the right is my computer, a Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and an 8800GT resting in an Antec Nine Hundred. It's really quite a nice case, not over the top, yet still an attention getter with all the blue fans.
• Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Far and away the best keyboard money can buy, for half the price of those stupid G15s.(I'm a programmer, what can I say?)
• Mouse: Logitech MX 518 Gaming Mouse. I use the G5 at work, and I don't like the scroll wheel. This mouse actually has a really nice scroll wheel.
• Speakers: Altec Lansing VS 2420 2.0 Speakers. Altec Lansing always has great speaker quality, and these pump out decent bass even without a subwoofer.
• Microphone: This is really just a Rock Band mic with a microphone stand. Originally I bought the stand so I could play guitar and sing at the same time in Rock Band, but I pretty much immediately started using it as a Ventrilo mic. The quality is amazing considering it's a freebie with Rock Band.
• Whiteboard: Essential. I use this to organize guild info, write down quick notes whatever I need. The drawing was colored by my nephew. Current info on the board: Planning Recruit-a-Friend pairs with the wife.
• On the wall: There's a map for Zelda: Twilight Princess from the Collector's Edition Strategy Guide for the Wii. Right below that is a push pin holding three things: a badge from an anime convention from three years ago, my Blizzard Authenticator, and a Footsteps of Illidan card that I won from the Twisted Nether Blogcast.
• On the screen: I run WoW windowed, but covering most of the screen. I used to run full screen, but I like it better this way. I can see vent without having to alt-tab or have another screen, and I can adjust WoW to whatever size suits the situation. I run Spartan UI and in the photo, I am sitting in between trash pulls on my way to farm Anzu.

All in all, I think my overall setup is a little simpler than most. But it's easy to maintain. I invite any blogger who hasn't already to show off where they play, and please post a link in the comments!

Hunters need not apply (just kidding!)

Savant is looking to expand it's base to raid 25 man dungeons! For more information about Savant, check my "About Savant" page. We are currently seeking people who have a thick hide when it comes to ribbing and a serious attitude when it comes to raiding.

Currently I'd be willing to consider anything, but what we need most are:

Shamans of any kind.

A couple of shadow priests.

Balance Druids.

Mages.

Warlocks.

Healing and Protection paladins.

Warriors of any kind.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

The Prima Donna Tank and how he did us a favor.

When you have someone in guild that griefs other players it reflects badly on your guild. But sometimes the perception of grief is simple joking around, which, in sparing amounts can be a healthy way to relieve the stresses of raiding (or not raiding as the case may be.)

How do you know when this behavior goes too far? Well, for the people in your guild, it's often easier to read their reactions and so you know almost instantaneously when you have crossed a line with them. For people outside of the guild, it's harder to tell. Some people take certain things too seriously, or can't understand why someone would want to create a little chaos for others.

At first it's not too bad, but an hour later, he's still at it. The next day, he's at it again. Why? Surely he's gotten his stress out. Surely he's capable of doing something productive. You know for sure your guild member has crossed the line when other guild members are inundated with tells asking for the GM.

Unfortunately I was unavailable for comment at the time it was happening, or I would've put a stop to it right there. I even had a couple people in guild that said to kick our griefing guild member. However, the case did not seem so extreme, and so I talked to him about his unusual behavior. He agreed that he would stop and I let it go at that.

Flash forward to last night. I told this person that they were being benched for Malygos. Apparently he thinks that somehow he should be special and not ever have to sit out for a fight, but everyone else should. And he gquit.

Good riddance I say, but I think if he could have taken it in stride instead of being fussy about it, he would have seen that I was being as fair as I knew how, and it was simply his turn to sit out.

I think I did the right thing by allowing him a second chance. If he hadn't blown it for himself, we would still have a good tank, and he would still have a decent supply of loot. That said, if the behavior had continued, he would most certainly have been kicked out.

I don't cheat at DDR, by the way, just Heigan

So it seems that the guide I posted yesterday for Heigan may be obsolete now (and even when I published it.) According to WoWWiki, the safe spot is no longer functional. However, due to the nature of wikis (and the fact that I've seen this warning before,) I hesitate to change any information until I can confirm personally that the information is out of date. If it is, I will update the post to reflect that. Unfortunately I won't know until Friday at the earliest.

Heigan the Unclean isn't the only four-area dance game I'm good at.

As of Patch 3.0.8 (yes the day I posted this,) this strategy is invalid. I'm keeping it up here for reference. If you would like to find a working strategy for Heigan, try Rochelle's post at Tank Hard!

Heigan the Unclean is a simple fight. Incredibly simple. So much so that I have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that people die in it. Sure, lag could be to blame, but I think if people had just a little more awareness, they'd be able to get through it just fine. Savant had this problem the first time we fought Heigan. Our warrior tank, a priest, a hunter, and myself were living through the splash and showing off our dance moves while the rest of the raid lay dead on the floor. Fortunately, it was enough. Before our next encounter, a forum turned me on to different strategy. That strategy has since given us several clears of Heigan with no deaths in the raid. Here are the results from our last raid.

Entering the Room

Above is a picture of when you enter Heigan's room (click to enlarge.) You can see a spot on the left labeled "Safe Spot." Let's take a look at this spot from the front.

Here, you can see that the safe spot is a 135º corner on the right side of Heigan's platform. This is a spot where no splashes hit. So long as you are tightly in the corner, you will not take any damage from the splash. Let me say that once more. So long as you are in the corner, you will take no damage.

The Pull and Phase One


When everyone is ready, the main tank initiates the fight and moves Heigan to the spot where I am in the above picture (click to enlarge.) The ranged DPS and healers run past the tank to the safe spot, and ensure that they are as far in the corner as they can be. The ranged DPS then rotates to attack Heigan. Healers of course don't need to rotate at all. The positioning of the tank can be tricky to ensure that the healers have line of sight, and if there is a problem, the tank must move, rather than the healers. The same is for DPS, though they won't be taking direct damage, Heigan does have a disease that must be removed. Hunter pets remain on the platform with the other melee DPS.

Phase Two


When Heigan tires of uselessly beating on the tank, he will teleport about an inch away from where he was being tanked, put up an aura that does a 7.5k damage tick, and make the splash show go faster. Immediately when Heigan teleports (or a little before,) the melee and tanks retreat to the corner as shown above. Hunter pets stay in and fight. Why? Because pets with avoidance (should be all raid pets) will only take 1875 damage a tick. This is easily healed by the combined power of Mend Pet and one of your raid healers. The healers are going to be bored for this fight and full of mana, so you may as well give them something to do.

Note that it may be possible to keep some melee in during phase 2. I know last time, I was doing this fight, I was running in and out trying to squeeze out a little more damage. Check with your healers before doing so, though as they may be looking for a break before Loatheb.

When phase 2 is over, go back to phase 1 positions and restart the strategy. Good luck!