zircon

Ok.. a few things. 1. No Alienware. Build the computer yourself or get one from a company that specializes in audio. Preferably, build it yourself. Don't bother with the Xeon; a 3.4ghz P4 Prescott is just fine. The 2 250gb hard drives is OK but a better idea might be to have a 80-120gb drive that will house Windows and all music applications, and then use the bigger, and usually slower drives, to house your samples and recorded audio. You also don't need a good video card. Any $40 POS like an ATI Radeon 9200 will do the trick. Liquid cooling? Dual processors? Don't bother. Research quiet power supplies and quiet fans/cooling systems (or if you're getting a prefab computer from say Sweetwater it won't even matter). With a single powerful P4 processor you should be just fine for just about all applications, even running dozens of VSTs. This should reduce the cost of your computer by at LEAST $1000. Then, if you desperately want more power, you can put together 2 or 3 cheap computers with good processors, small HDs, 1gb RAM each, and then use those if you need to distribute processing power via MIDI Over Lan or FXTeleport. No need to go nuts all in one computer. 2. Pick up a pair of nice headphones too in the $100-$200 range. Sennheiser, Sony, AKG, whatever. Always good to have a secondary reference source. 3. Get a full length controller. If you are getting one of those ridiculously expensive desks, why not get a good controller too? 4. Acoustic treatment for the room. It might be worth it to have an expert come in and do this for you, but even the best monitors and the best rig is totally useless unless the room is properly treated. 5. Shure SM57s are great but you may want to look around if you're SERIOUS about recording, since these are technically "budget" misc. You might be able to find more instrument-specific ones that will do the job better. 6. Don't bother with Colossus. Komplete 3 has TONS of stuff. I would then look at a product like NI Bandstand or Sonic Reality Sampletank 2 XL if you want 'workstation' sounds. Between these things AND your two keyboards you should be fine. 7. Consider some mastering plugins. Waves Rennaisance is not a bad deal ($450 for the package) but don't get anything above that in the Waves line. PSP Audioware makes some great stuff as well, as does Sonalkis. Those are just some start points. Don't spend your money until you do THOROUGH research!!

Oops, my mistake. They do get a great selection of new talents though, no question about it.

I haven't heard about that. I do know that Paladins just received a bullshit talent that enhances their mounted AND running speed by I think 10-20% with no disadvantages.

Paladin DPS will never approach that of a Warrior, but it's still pretty good if you're properly equipped. I've seen Paladins with BWL shields and Deathbringers and they are frightening.

Sounds like a problem with your CPU usage. If your computer is older, you have bad drivers, you're using a lot of VST instruments, your audio buffer is very low, or a combination of any of the above, you might experience heightened CPU usage. Forcing your computer to switch tasks will then tax it even more, causing clicks and pops.

You can't record to an "automation channel". None exist. You have to record automation to a pattern. As far as I'm aware you cannot record to an automation clip. I don't see what the big deal is, though. Just designate a pattern or two for automation.

In 5 man groups it's even less of an issue. I've done plenty of instance runs (not on my Priest of course) where the only healer was a Shaman or a Druid and it was fine. At the Priest forums, people take this kind of stuff very seriously and have really analyzed Shaman v Priests v Druids v Paladins thoroughly. The results are depressing. Like I said, you guys aren't QUITE as good as us, but you're not very much worse considering all the extra support talents you get, reincarnation, mail + shields, shocks, various totems, etc.

honestly, the arguement that other healing classes are as good as priests is BS, because with the exception of druids, they aren't. I know from my experiences with my shaman that I could never come close to healing like a priest. -mana pool. yes, I know that mana pool is based on gear, but where is all of the best casting gear? that's right, cloth. a shaman COULD roll on some good cloth gear, then enjoy never doing an instance again -healing spells. the biggest arguements that priests make is that their flash heal and our lesser healing wave are identical, which is true. however, to say that the classes are equal based on a comparison of two spells is rediculus. its like saying that since earth shock is better than fire blast, shaman are better nukers than mages. priests have far more healing options than shaman could dream of, including, heals over time, good AOE heals (yes, I'm counting prayer of blessing, which has saved parties many times), and better large heals -PW:F. this isnt an issue in raids, but in terms of 5 man groups, the extra HP that priests give upfront is crucial -Fade. once again, not as big of an issue in raids, but essential in 5 man groups. when a priest gets aggro, they have this great tool to save themselves. shaman get nothing besides mail armor and shields, which may sound nice, but dont keep you alive for very long against multiple lvl60+ elites -PW:S. another common complaint is shaman and druid's Nature's Swiftness giving them an instant heal every 3 minutes. PW:S is essentially the same thing, as preventing damage is the same thing as healing it then having it be attacked away. the difference? ours is on a 3 minute cooldown, whereas yours is on a 30(15 with talents) second cooldown PER PERSON. I know that PW:S ignores armor, but the fact still remains that you get a far better *oops* button than we do, and you dont need to spec into healing to get it. sry for the long-windedness, but priests that complain about other classes as well as they do (minus the druid, which is a better healer in some situations if specced right) is just silly. PW:S is next to useless. When mobs hit for thousands of damage at a time to heavily-armored tanks w/ shields, what is -960 damage gonna do? I'll take an instacast, large heal any day of the weak. I'll also take the ability to get extra mana regeneration through totems. I realize you've played a Shaman but are you Resto-spec with lots of gear like Cauterizing Band, Shard of the Scale, Aurastone Hammer + Zulian Defender, Tooth of Gnarr, etc? The shamans in my guild were extremely good at healing.

It depends on the context. Prayer of Healing is great in theory, and it's essential for some fights in BWL, but I personally haven't found all that many uses for it. In most encounters you don't have a lot of people getting hit at the same time. In PVP it is not useful because typically you won't be in range of your entire group, making it more efficient to simply Flash heal them, not to mention you can see a PoH coming a mile away because it takes so long to cast. I suppose the main complaint that most Priests have is that for someone who is supposed to be the "master of healing", we really aren't. Thorough analyses have been done on our healing efficiency and power, as well as our ability to chain heal, and it has been proven that both Druids and Paladins properly specced can beat us in both those areas. Shamans can come close. Our primarily healing tree (Holy) has 4 offensive talents, a useless one (Holy Nova), 2 relating to Greater Heal (which is really not used often no matter what people want to tell you).. etc. It doesn't make any sense; other healing classes have more useful talents and get more "bang" per talent point.

His post was addressed to me, even though I wasn't 'whining'. Priests aren't broken, but they're not perfect.

Actually, in high end instances, it's more like: Frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, Evocate, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt. It's horrendous (yes, I've played one).

Russell; wow, shut the fuck up. No need for the personal insults. All of the problems I've explained are not only WIDELY accepted on the Priest forums, but the CMs have acknowledged them and agree they all need fixing. I'm glad you know more about my class then me, the entire Priest forum, the CMs, and Blizzard. Stop being such an asshole. Me quitting has nothing to do with my class, it has to do with wanting to pursue music and my schoolwork. As for Rag, our healing was never a problem. We just had a shitty strat. This was obvious because we went from wiping on phase 2 and losing 14 people in phase 1, to completely dominating him when we changed the strat with virtually no deaths.

NA is absolutely sick. If you get into them, you'll probably be in the best guild out of any of us, by far. Feel proud!

This is pretty much the style to expect from Shna. I think it's a lot more refined than earlier works I've heard from him, though the intense stereo panning can be a bit painful at times with headphones. I personally wouldn't go and do HARD right or left panning with that in mind, especially with something like a drumloop. My other complaint is that some of the synth sounds are piercing, particularly when they sustain on high notes. I had to turn down my volume to get around that, which was annoying. But these issues are not that major. The mix sounds well-structured and constructed to me, though I think the use of SFX was more on the tacky than the artistic side. Eh.. personal taste. I think this passes our bar. YES

The drumkit actually caught me really off guard. Seemed way out of place, especially given the atmosphere. I would have thought a non-acoustic kit would have made a lot more sense given the context of the song. The abrupt 1:34 change struck me as being really out of place, as well. The background harmony is of course pretty cool, but I would not call this really masterful as far as the atmosphere goes.. it's just a few simplistic synth instruments and the obnoxiously loud crashes. Finish it off with a really lackluster ending.. I gotta say, I really did not like this one at all. That said, does it TECHNICALLY meet our standards in terms of arrangement? Yeah, I suppose. But is it coherent, and does the production sound up to par? In my opinion, no. The mix was generally crowded and the soundscape completely unchanging. The same instruments are used over and over, despite interesting sequencing. The structure is essentially nonexistent. Skip to any part of the mix except the very beginning and it all sounds like one of two things; a random, messy, overly-reverberated break or a spastic drum section. That's all. We have consistently rejected mixes like this. NO

I wouldn't bother with the specific "all-in-one" mods. They are usually more trouble then they are worth. Here's what you want.. * CCWatch/Stunwatch - Shows progress bars for ALL of your stuns and CCs. Cheap Shot, Gouge, Kidney Shot, Blind, Sap. * EnergyWatch (I think that's what it's called) - Shows an energy bar that reflects your regeneration. When it fills up, that's when you gain +20 energy. Useful so you can open a fight with Cheap Shot and time it so that you can BS immediately after. * CooldownCount - Shows big yellow numbers over any of your abilities that are on cooldown showing how long you have until you can use them. Useful so you don't have to hover the mouse. Applies to trinkets, pots, and various other items too. * ScrollingCombatText - Simply useful. Shows when you get hit (FF-style), when you get special abilities, when you get in combat, if you get buffed. * SpellAlert - Lets you know when mobs/players are casting spells. Very useful for timing Gouges and Kicks. Essential for some boss fights too later on. Those are all the ones I can think of.

Just cancelled my subscription tonight, after playing some kickass WSG games and leading our "A-team" through ALL of ZG, completing it. We have now done all of the ZG content available. When I first decided to lead the runs we were wiping on the bat boss. We now have beaten not only the aspects, but Hexxer (first shot), Hakkar, the fishing boss, and mojo madness. All of it is on farm status. But this game simply takes up too much time for me.. I couldn't raid every single night. I gotta focus on school + music. I may reactivate sometime, but not for awhile. I'll miss it.

Well, you need to find a new raid leader then. Or simply do it yourself. I led my guild in ZG from start to finish.. I'm not the GM either. No one else was stepping up, so I did it. Lots of positive reinforcement, staying calm, but being firm when I had to be. It's not too hard.

My guild is laid back also. But shit simply does not get done unless people take control and kick people into gear. Once you get through those initial tense points, then it's fine. If you're not willing to help with that.. well, that's pretty lame, if you ask me, and I'd wonder why you're in the guild to begin with.

You need tough raid leaders to get things done. You can relax once you've killed the bosses. If this isn't the case, get a better raid leader. BTW, spider boss strat; Start Positioning: Whole raid stands about 25 yards from the Speaker and her. Strat: MT rushes in and tanks her where she initially stands. Offtank takes the speaker and DPS focuses on him first. Be warned that the boss will randomly spawn several spiders that get stronger every second they go without dying. For the first wave, all DPS should go on them. For subsequent waves, mages/hunters alone should be able to, though if one is really out of control, rogues can help. Once the Speaker is killed, the offtank must return to the group. All other melee goes in, DPS begins, etc. She has no significant attacks in this phase. Spider Form: She randomly changes into a large spider. When this occurs, she nets AND silences everyone within melee range of her and drops their aggro. This means she will rush 20-25 yards to the caster group. This is why we keep a tank here, to pick her up the second this happens. DPS must stop here because the aggro list is clear. When the second tank has aggro, the whole caster group runs back to where the original MT is netted - in other words, the whole raid just switches positions. DPS needs to be careful in spider form as she can drop aggro at any second - she may do the net and charge thing several more times before she returns to caster form. Simply keep switching between the two tanks and holding DPS whenever this occurs. Caster form (2nd time): Same as the first part of the fight, except she does a powerful drain life that heals her quickly. Priests, SPAM decursive. All other classes try to interrupt it as well. With lots of DPS piled on her as soon as the tank holds aggro, this boss goes down quick. One other thing to note is that there is a lot of poisoning going on. Shamans should be distributed throughout the four groups, using Poison Cleansing totems. Anyone else that can cure poison should as this is a healing-intensive fight as wel.

Heh.. you don't need anything but a good tank and 8 healers (w/ consuambles) to beat Hakkar. You have have 11 other guys with green gear and still do it.

Yeah. Onyxia is just a boss fight and that's basically it. MC is a dungeon.

warcraftmovies.com Learn2Click on the proper link mecca; don't worry. It's so easy to level that you'll be 60 in no time, and then stormshroud will be garbage. Even shadowcraft ain't that great.

Great production values. No surprise there. The groove is nice too, as is the overall mastering. However, I think the problem as noted by my fellow judges would be the structure. There's clearly some rearrangement, but there is no changeup in the overall soundscape or the dynamics. There are no breaks to speak of, no climaxes or buildsup.. it's static throughout. It sounds less like a standalone piece and more like a background track. Cool for what it is, but I think you can do better, and unfortunately as is I don't think this quite passes our bar. NO

1) First Aid and Fishing are secondary skills. Anyone can take them. Primary skills are things like Blacksmithing and Engineering. First Aid is useful for ANYONE no matter what class or level. Fishing.. not so much. It helps with Cooking (a secondary) and Alchemy, but otherwise not a whole lot. 2) Tigers are excellent all-around pets. 3) With Hunters it is totally up to you, really. A combination of Marksmanship and Survival would be a good bet.