Posts with tag LFG

There's so much more to joining a guild in World of Warcraft than clicking an uninvited newbie zone popup or replying to a random whisper while you're trying to quest. We wouldn't go so far as to say there's a science to getting it right; joining a guild is more of an art, an intersection of careful screening and social serendipity. While it's true that you can successfully fumble about in the relatively unpopulated leveling zones or run the dungeon and raid finders on your own, you'll enjoy a richer, more complete game experience if you play with other players as intended.

This guide is not about figuring out what type of guild might best suit you. (We've cover that in a future guide.) If you're unguilded or dissatisfied with your current guild but not quite sure how to describe the kind of group that would make your online gaming experience feel just right, consider this week's pointers as food for thought until we can analyze your own guild needs.

If you're ready to find a new guild right now, read on for the best ways to connect with a quality organization.

Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics.

We're back for another week of chuckles and intrigue and cliffhangers!

A special thanks to reader Moeru, who found the archives of the Equinox comics using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. I hope this helps you, Michael! But seriously, if any of you haven't read through these archives, they're worth it!

Now, for the trivia questions:

1. What's going on in the picture above?
2. Who is wearing a monocle?
3. Name a typical video game move (bonus points if it is a WoW move) that works like PPPP.

In a recent player-created thread about cross-realm raiding on the official forums, Community Manager Zarhym popped in with seven enigmatic words:

Zarhym

We have some plans. They're good plans.

source

If you missed your chance to purchase a ticket to BlizzCon 2011 last month, there's still a way to get yourself in the door if you're feeling charitable.

Looking For Group: BlizzCon, a networking site for organizing groups and meetups at BlizzCon 2011, is giving away one ticket to a random member of its website who makes a charitable donation to Child's Play. Child's Play, if you don't recall, is a charity created by the authors of Penny Arcade to give toys and games to kids in children's hospitals.

To enter, all you have to do is join LFG: BlizzCon (it's free) and make a donation to Child's Play by June 30, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. CST. The donation can be for any amount, small or large. To read the complete rules on how to donate for the contest, check out the official contest page.

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There's a new, never-before-seen feature on the patch 4.1 PTR right now: Looking for Guild.

The feature only appears when you aren't in a guild, taking the place of the usual "you aren't in a guild" message you get when you're guildless on live realms.

Overall, the feature looks a bit too simplified for serious raiding or PvP guilds, but for anyone looking for a casual, social, or leveling guild, this new feature seems like a great way to ease the guild search.

The current dungeon finder is of course a vast improvement over the old LFG channel, but it can always be made better. In response to a forum thread about the dungeon finder's ever becoming performance-based, Zarhym weighed in with some interesting news.

Zarhym - Dungeon queue should be performance-based

We would love to implement better ways for Dungeon Finder to detect if players know what they're doing in dungeons beyond just the gear they've accumulated. We have some long-term design goals in mind for this we're not quite prepared to share this early on though. ;)

source

What was more interesting was the idea that Blizzard wants to improve the educational aspect of the service, however. With the current vote kick system, often players who are forced out of a group may have no idea why they failed, especially when they are new to the game.

Anyone who's read the official forums lately has probably seen a raft of complaints directed at players abusing the dungeon finder and vote to kick features. It's a reminder that people will always figure out a way to twist a system to their own benefit. The most upsetting technique I've read about is two hybrid DPS in cahoots with a third DPS queuing as a tank/healer duo, getting an instant invite to dungeons, and then pressuring the two other members of the party to shoulder the tank or healer job. If they don't or can't fill these roles -- kick 'em after the 15 min grace period and requeue themselves as straight DPS. Voilà -- they are now at the head of the dungeon queue for the next tank or healer! Is it any wonder that players find this enraging?

Heartbourne of Lore Hound offers an analysis of some potential solutions to dungeon finder abuse. As he observes, a proposed rating system for players could be easily abused on its own, so maybe that's not the best way to go. However, I find his suggestion of a social networking angle to be pretty interesting. What if there were a priority system to be grouped with players you met and "liked" before? What if guilds across servers could "friend" each other and form pools of players from which to draw 5-man groups?

It's the last Sunday before Christmas, but whether you celebrate it or not, we'll have a treat for you next week on the 26th! Several comic artists are collaborating on a Secret Santa (or Greatfather Winter?) swap. They each have the name of another comic but do not necessarily know who all is participating and don't know who will be drawing their comic. This should be a blast!

Incidentally, if you emailed me and entered as a participant but did not receive my reply email, email me again or check your spam folders.

Enough business; here is the list! It even features several new comics:

• Jinylee. *New!
• WoW, eh?: A Hot Side of Beef
• Away From Reality: There's No Aggro Like Snow Aggro
• Penny-Arcade: A Priori. Also: Wolf of the Year
• Dork Tower. Also check out the one previous. *Never previously featured!
• Out of World: Beneath the Shadow part 4 and part 5
• Disciplinary Action: Episode 17
• Chainsawsuit: Wow What a Difference. Also: Wow This Is Great! *Not previously featured!
• Beyond the Tree: Quest Complete and Dear Edwin
• Teh Gladiators: Gun vs. Cannon: Round 1
• Complex Actions: A Moment with Silk's New Rogue and Or Your Azerothian Destination of Choice
• Tales from the Crossroads: Into the Fire
• Safe Passage
• Coffin Comics: Just a Bad Dream
• Coffin Minis: Buddum Chh
• What's Shakin': Page 15
• Torment of the Week: Long Story Short
• GU Comics: Whassat? and Shave and a Haircut and Intervention
• Dark Legacy Comics: Battle
• Fourth Wall: Simple Like That
• Lorgrokni's Travels: Goblin Loan 1 and Goblin Loan 2 and Lovable Oaf
• Blood and Thunder: On Procrastination
• The Daily Blink: Yes, I'm Aware, I'll Get Letters and Poster #3: Mekkatorque and A Flyer in the Auction House
• Arena-Inside: Indeed He Does! and Indeed He's Not... and THIS ... IS ... CHRISTMAS!
• Travels with Tenthunders: Neither an Alliance, nor a Horde. Discuss
• LFG #417 and #418
• The Warcraft Hero in: How to Fight Your Dragon
• NPC: The Future of Shopping Is Now and The Couple That Wows Together...
• Guilded Age

It's super secret Santa time! The suggestion was put forth by Azarizotza last week in the comments section, and there seems to be some support for the plan. So, if you run a comic that gets featured here from time to time and you would like to participate, shoot me an email by 8:00 p.m. EST December 18. I'll shuffle the names and email them back out. Edit: If you don't have my email from our gallery correspondence, you can always use the WoW Insider tipline.

Now, for the list:

• From the Thunder and the Storm's crossword is now playable online.
• Slash AFK: Not Prepared.
• Tales from the Crossroads: Out of the Frying Pan...
• Blood and Thunder: On New Class/Race Combinations.
• Safe Passage.
• Torment of the Week: Pray for Peace.
• Travels with Tenthunders: Stuff Green People Like.
• Teh Gladiators: That Tank Looks Familiar.
• Arena-Inside: Cry 'Havoc' and Let Slip the Dogs of War... craft. Also, ... undersized furbolgs?
• Lorgrokni's Travels: Girl Gamers and Little Flashing Buttons and On a Budget.
• Out of World: Beneath the Shadow part 3.
• DLC: Ashes to Ashes.
• The Daily Blink: Your Epic Fan Poster. Also: Take Two Potions Daily and The Maelstrom.
• NPC: Perfect. Also: Computed and A Whole Old World.
• Complex Actions: Offer May No Longer Be Valid. Also: The Morning After.
• Beyond the Tree: Excuse Me Mr. Equine Transport Officer, Would You Mind Stopping Pronto.
• Fourth Wall: Bad Idea and King of the Hill.
• Away From Reality: Midnight.
• The Warcraft Hero in: Super Guest Comic.
• Guilded Age.
• LFG #415 and #416.
• What's Shakin': Page 14.
• Coffin Minis: Fly Troll Air.
• Coffin Comics: Re-Zoned.
• Disciplinary Action: Episode 16.

GU Comics has a slew of WoW-related comics this week:

• Real Quick.
• Release Day.
• Crevasse Hole.
• Rotating the Buffet.
• He's Back. This one may only make sense if you follow the comic, but reading the short blurb at the bottom should help.

With Cataclysm descending on Tuesday, excitement is mounting. To help you cope with the anticipation, this week's list of comics is extra long! As always, post your tips in the comments section.

• Three Panel Soul: On Cataclysms
• Demolition Squad: WoW Cataclysm
• Blood and Thunder: On Bad Puns and Future Mums and On the Emergence of Deathwing
• NPC: Worgenation
• Travels with Tenthunders: Nuggets!
• Complex Actions: Artisan Worldbreaker Wanted. Also: Aspect of Noob and Light My Fire
• Fourth Wall: Masochist Healers
• Daily Quests: Stood in the Fire
• Safe Passage
• Nerf NOW!!: Preparations and Fiery Revenge
• Away from Reality: Minimum Settings
• Drunken Pirates Guild: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (a little NSFW)
• Disciplinary Action: I, Gerald
• The Daily Blink: Double Secret Reverse Psychology. Also: Role Reversal and For Unemployed Readers
• Beyond the Tree: Faster and More Intense
• LFG: #413 and #414
• GU Comics: Rwil Mluuglilwr!
• Torment of the Week: Happy Thoughts
• Ctrl+Alt+Del: Shattered Uponst
• Out of World: Beneath the Shadow and Beneath the Shadow part 2
• Cru the Dwarf: Cold as Ice (NSFW)
• The Warcraft Hero in: Deathwing Is Not Happy
• Coffin Comics: Gamon's Revenge
• What's Shakin': Page 13
• Coffin Minis: Game Time
• Lorgrokni's Travels: Grouping Up Also: Pet Selection
• Tales from the Crossroads: Filler! When Real Life Attacks! Then for the comic: There Goes the Neighbourhood
• Slash AFK: WTB Personal Space Also: Rrrgrl-stuffed
• Dark Legacy Comics: A Deal With Deathwing
• Guilded Age
  

I missed Arena-Inside last week (sorry!), so we have some catching up to do. In descending order:

1. Once a Hunter, Always a Hunter...
2. She Brought Her Paper of Pain
3. A Cataclysmas Carol
4. King's Orders
5. Expect the Unexpected!
6. Too Much?

Comic news Skoteinos wrote:

We started an opinion blog that we've introduced a World of Wordcraft Crossword into and thought it'd fit in with the Sunday Funnies theme nicely. Right now we're planning one a month and they need to be printed out to be played, but if people seem to like it and it's popular enough, we'll [do] our best to do them weekly or bi-weekly with associated word searches every other week. We'll also look into investing the money in a program to make them playable online if the demand is there.

Check it out!

The comics

• World of Warcraft, eh?: It's What's on the Inside, Right?
• Tales from the Crossroads: Have I Got a Deal for You!
• Disciplinary Action: Episode 14
• What's Shakin': Page 11
• Coffin Minis: Hard-Mode
• Coffin Comics: Holy Totem
• Torment of the Week: Mind the Gap
• Arena-Inside: They Better Taste of Bacon and Enough With the Biscuit Jokes
• Fourth Wall: Preparation Protocol
• Teh Gladiators: Death and Taxes... and Death
• DLC: A DLC Guide to Alignment
• Travels with Tenthunders: How to Wait Around for the End of the World
• Beyond the Tree: Our Pet Corpse
• Lorgrokni's Travels: Immersion and Grinding and Killing Quests
• The Warcraft Hero in: Early Holidays
• Slash AFK: No moar BlizzCon. /cry. Also: Belly-quakes and Cult Juice
• NPC: Exercise Regimen and Early Bird
• Daily Quests: All Bark and No Baubles
• Out of World: The 'Other' White Meat 3
• Complex Actions: Wake-up Call. Also: Mysteries of Complex Actions Presents: Kes's Type and May We Re-Roll That Stealth Check?
• LFG #409 and #410
• Safe Passage
• Guilded Age
• Away From Reality: Game Over

Disciplinary Action got a really spiffy redesign. Check out Episode 13 to see the new layout. Also check out The Seriously Boring Adventures of Aitrix!

And for a long list of the rest of this week's comics:

• Torment of the Week: Hints and Allocations.
• DLC: Recruitment.
• Slash AFK: For Teh Cosplays. Also: Sheep Mohawk, and Tank Pain, and <3 Alice, and Magically True, and Bul Smells, and Thralled Metzen. /whew!
• The Warcraft Hero in: Prelude to Ruin and Druid Confusion.
• Travels with Tenthunders: We Love the Leader!
• Lorgrokni's Travels: Spirit Guide.
• NPC: Hardware Check and Good Question.
• Fourth Wall: Masters of the Light.
• Beyond the Tree: Like Rare Minerals.
• Tales from the Crossroads: Meet the New Boss.
• Arena-Inside: Life of a Worgen. Also: Those Bedtime Stories Will Give You Nightmares.
• Daily Quests: *Crickets*.
• Out of World: The 'Other' White Meat 2.
• Kuo: Level 0.
• Complex Actions: No, You Can't Rub Her Belly. Also: The Sad Tale of Deathy the Unfortunate Murloc.
• LFG #407 and #408.
• World of Warcraft, eh?: Prelude to Cataclysm.
• Safe Passage.
• The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf: The Jawbreaker. Totally worth the wait.
• Guilded Age.
• Teh Gladiators: A Sticky Situation.
• Away From Reality: Everything New is Old Again.
• What's Shakin' Page 10.
• Coffin Minis: Shovel Face. You should definitely check out what's written beneath this.
• Coffin Comics: Use The Holy.

Comic news: Slash AFK posted the following on last week's list:

Slash AFK will be updating (starting this Monday, Nov. 1) seven days per week for two weeks with a BlizzCon comic series I'm doing based off our trip.

So that's ... /does hard math ... 14 days straight of one comic per day, plus a HUGE special comic on the 14th?

What have I gotten myself into? o_o

We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

In an effort to connect more players through the dungeon finder tool and battlegrounds matchmaking, Blizzard is slowly rolling out a region-wide battlegroup matching system. This enormous undertaking will eventually link all of the North American realms to one another, allowing for faster queues, a more diversified opponent pool and much more. Since this is a huge step for Blizzard, both in terms of hardware and software, it will take some time. Thankfully, this is all rolling out slowly. Hit the jump for the official announcement.

Comic news brief:
Looking for Group made #400! Congrats!

I accidentally got behind on Complex Actions, so there are a few extras for those of you who hadn't checked on your own.

• The Warcraft Hero in: Hearths on Fire
• Fourth Wall: Measured Disregard
• The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf: Reinforced for Your Pleasure Also: Patch 4.0.1 Gave Me Crabs
• Daily Quests: 101 Mounts
• Tales from the Crossroads: No Love Lost
• Complex Actions: Romantic Interlude, Part 1 and Part 2 Also: A Death Knight Walks into a Bar ... and Happy Patch Day! and Feminine Problem
• Beyond the Tree: Emergence
• Disciplinary Action: Episode 8
• Slash AFK: Water Levels Also: Sick Days
• Arena-Inside: A Choice of Fate Also: #688
• What's Shakin': Part 6
• Coffin Minis: In Soviet Gilneas
• Coffin Comics: Ark-aeology
• LFG #399 and #400
• Away From Reality: He's Lost that Lovin' Healing
• DLC: Work
• Teh Gladiators: Ze Elevator Ride
• Torment of the Week: Drafty
• Safe Passage
• World of Warcraft, eh?: It's the New Spring Colour Scheme
• Out of World: At the Ball part 16. Also: Part 17 and The Morning After the Night Before
• Guilded Age