6 Random Gamerz Things (Got Tagged)

Got tagged by Taylor Kent
http://thesnarkyavenger.com

Here are the rules for those I’m tagging. Check the list after my 6 Random Gamerz Things to see if you’ve been tagged.
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six-ish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

6 random things about me, Mike Norton

1. I collect bald eagles, not the real thing, but anything with them on them.


2. I met Tanya in college.  The very same college Bethany will be going to this coming fall O.o


3. My first video game addiction was "Return to Castle Wolfenstien"


4. I can balance a spoon on my nose.


5. My game tag ManO comes from my first clan mates in Team Fortress Classic shorting my name MANorton to ManO. It sort of stuck.


6. I'm an ubber Geek.  No . . really.

Six tagged people

Scott Bridwell (http://blog.scottbridwell.com/)
Carey Norton (http://yarnpaperscissors.blogspot.com/)
Warren Kelly (http://pewview.mu.nu/)
Rick Presley (http://www.ill-legalism.com/)
BigRedKitty aka Daniel (http://www.bigredkitty.net/)
Phaelia (http://www.resto4life.com)

Things Id Like to See.

After my long post I wanted to jot some notes about what I would like to see a church be/do.

The most important thing is to be "relevant"

Random thoughts.

• Worship that fits the hearers


• Ways to communicate outside of a "weekly meeting"
  
  
  
  • Web
  
  
  • Podcast
  
  
  • Vidcast
  
  
  • Twitter
  
  
  • Forums
  
  
  • SMS messaging
  
  
  • Online groups
  
  
  • Games (You know i had to get WoW in here someplace right?  :)  )
  
  
  
  


• Non threatning leadership structure.
  
  
  
  • Co-leaders
  
  
  • Ownership (don't read to much into that, still needs some developing)
  
  
  
  


• Not confined to a "traditional" time frame.
  
  
  
  • Have meetings when those who come can attend, not necessarily based on a old tried and true time frame.  Although not tossing out the old Sunday morning schedule either.  Being flexible to meet the needs of families that are very busy
  
  
  • Use online as a way to meet for those who are unable to meet regularly in a physical time and place.  But keeping them involved as much as possible.
  
  
  
  

More to come as I think about it. PLEASE leave a comment with your idea!  I want your feedback.  What would you like to see in a church?

I get it God! (The short story that went long)

(This is long)

I woke up last Sunday with the realization that I had become that which I thought, or tried to never become.   A statistic.  Many who follow my twitter feed saw my remark about that before church.  I had spent many days in chapel service while attending Clear Creek Baptist Bible College where the speaker would share the depression information that a high percentage of men going into the pastorate would burn out, be forced out, or just plain lose interest in the first 2 to 4 years.  After a long hard battle against the powers of "tradition" I had become one of those numbers.  About ready to give up completely.  Not sure which end was up, and frankly, in a nice self induced pity party about it all.

We Hate Pugs is online

Welcome to my brain and my idea of social networking meets wow raiding/grouping



Because No one Should Have to Play with Noobs.

We Hate PUGS

We need your help.  Check it out. Try to break it. Tell me what you want.   Use it.  Share it.  Help run it.

Thanks all.  Now I can play some again.

Lady Sylvanas New uhm . body.

Click to Play

Lady Sylvanas got a new model for the beta and ptr patch of 8982. I think it looks great. What do you think?

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by paravel with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

Lady S Has a New Look!

Ok, I admit I'm a lore junky and it never sat well that Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, you know, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken?  Well anyway, in game she is portrayed by a Night Elf model.  Some hoped that when Blood Elfs, more in line with stature and looks of High Elves, where introduced in Burning Crusade that they would change her model since she is a High Elf.  But No. . Not until now.

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lady S in her 3 Faces"][/caption]

I first caught wind of the changes on the wowinsider post this morning. As you can see that in patch 8982 she looks more like a world boss than ever.  And boy does she still have attitude.  What do you think of the new look?
 


I think the new model looks more fitting from a lore stand and world boss point of view.

Casual Raiders Unite

Over the past couple of years I have had the great pleasure of being the GM of some awesome guilds, filled with some awesome people.  One thing that has become very clear however in the past year.  

*holds a candle and stands slowly to his feet*  "I am a casual raider"

That's right, you heard me.  For a long time it was enough to level and hang out with friends.  I came from an RP server and enjoyed RP and events as well, as much as they can burn you out at times. But it was not enough.  When Bricklethumb, my first 60 and then first ever to make it to 70 got there, well, I ran out of things to do alone with a small group of friends.  

So I did what most non-raider, or non-pvp addicts did.  I rolled an alt!  To cut to the chase . . at this point I have 4 70's, 1 64, 2 40 somethings. . .well. . you get the drift.  I would run into people that would say "wow you have 4 70?  That must be tons of fun?"  Well, yes and no.  What it does mean is I now have 4 toons to spread across my limited time and get stuff done.

I was bored.  Puging was for the birds, allthough Im not against it as much as some others are.  I find you can meet some really good people and players in a random pug.  I left wow for a while to try some new content in LotRO. You can read about that here on PastoPlayz.  It was great, it was fun. . But . . ran out of things to do at the time and sucked back into wow.  

Then it happen.  I got my paladin into Kara and I was like. . This is cool!  So I got bit by the raiding bug.  Working with new content, seeing new bosses, learning new tactics, and enjoying the game. . . oh and  . . loot!  Only problem was that most of the guilds that wanted to run Kara all the time a)  wanted to run it all the time, especially at times I could not go due to family, church, or what not, and b) did not want anyone from another guild in a run with them.

This went on for several months.  Untill I moved to Earthen Ring US.  There I discovered a raiding alliance that worked.  It is called SASU, and it is like most large groups of people. Some are cool, and some are jerks.  Thankfully due to the structure and history more cool than jerks *smile*

The Nerf Bat Falls!

The beta giveth and the beta taketh away.

Resto Druid Changes

8962 hit the beta servers today and some things changed.

First, all the going on and on about Flourish, now called Wild growth has been touched. You know that supper awesome aoe heal they gave us that would heal 2212 over 7 seconds! Well now it will only heal 469 over 7 seconds. Its not 2K heal but it is still usable.

Pha, over at Resto4Life seems to think that this may get turned down by most resto's come live time.  And she just might be right considering its overall output to mana cost is now not worth the effort for some situations.

Mounts, Mounts, Mounts!

So I log in and what do I find in Stormwind?  This!



A Woolly Mammoth Mount!  Apparently it cost like 15000 gold from some guy that was swamped by players in Dalaran.  I think Ill pass, but wow it looks cool!

If you thought the engineer  helicopters where a noise problem, wait until you hear all the motorcyles.  Yep, choper mounts.  And they are 2 seaters!  The best news is they are crafted by an engineer, BUT you do not need to be an engineer to use them.

Paravel in the NeXuS

Click to Play

I got a chance to FINALLY get into an instance on the WotLK Beta server and try out the new Resto Druid talents. I'm pleased to say I am VERY excited!

Come watch with me as we clear out NeXus, compared to BC's Blood Furnace in equivalent.

Resto Tree, I think I LOVE You!

I FINALY got a chance to get on the beta servers . . and play.  The lag had been so bad this weekend that it was impossible to do anything.  So when all the kids went back to school I took the opportunity to log in on Monday to check it out again.

>[LFG] Izak: Looking for a healer for Nexus.
>[LFG] Paravel: I'd love to come give it a try, although I have not been in there yet.
>[LFG] Izak: I take it your resto?
>[LGF] Paravel: Yep
> Izak /invite Paravel
> /accept invite

And that is how it began.  My first Northrend instance, and first chance to heal with my new spec.  At first I was a little frustrated at loosing some of the spells I used to have in the balance tree.  They made it possible for me to be resto and solo or PvP.  Now it looked like I was being left out in the cold only to heal.  At honestly at this point the jury is still out. . but as for healing.  OH WOW!  But I should start with some basics.

WotLK Release Announced - 11/13/08

It's official.  Apparently Blizz last night allowed WoWhead to post this new shiny front page.  More news has come down the pipe as the release of the Collectors Edition has also been released.  And there was much rejoicing in the streets!

What does all this mean?  It means that Warhammer has some competition.  I have to admit that the pre-expansion blues have set in, and set in hard.  Before Burning Crusade was released many players became disinterested in the game.  Their was not much of a point in pushing for gear or raiding because new content was coming out.  And in hind site we were right.  No one runs the old raid content anymore with the occasional "nostalgia" runs for old time sake.  During the wait for the expansion stage servers became ghost towns.

Now with WotLK on its way you can see the same effect on the live servers.  I have stoped raiding, partialy due to moving realms and other issues but largely because I do not want to get deeper into SSC or BT right now with so much new on the horizon.  I have started to make plans for new things like new professions, instances, specs.  I cant WAIT to take Paravel into an instance or raid and heal.  The new healing tools druids have look amazing!!!  But the beta servers are so laggy I cant test them :(  Soon!

So now we have just a around two months to get ready.  And I'm glad.  With the next content patch on the PTR's we will get a jump start on some of the new features of the game.

Its time to play ladies and gentleman! (it's also time for me to finish development on a new drupal based guild/casual raiding site *smile*)

Oh, and did I mention Collectors Edition? *smile*

Stormwind Harbor - WotLK Beta

Click to Play

SPOILER WARNING!So I took Digory on a little tour. The new harbor looks amazing! Im also blowing out the cobwebs from the creative part of my mind. Im trying Blip.tv for hosting video that I shoot while in the beta. And I hope to have a little more

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by paravel with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

Resto Druid Talent Build Test No. 1. 16/0/55

Well, my brain hurts a little after taking Paravel's spec from the live server. 19/0/42 and some new things in Lich with a 16/0/55

I'm a little worried about loosing from the balance tree.  This is where I got my ability to solo from.  But with some of the new survivability things added to the resto tree we might be able to hold our own.  We shall see.  Ill load Paravel up and give it a test.

Improved Tree of Life adds a nice bonus to our armor.

Death Knight Story = Lore Giggle Fit!

Ok, I have to admit I was one of the guys who had little to no interest in a Death Knight, the new hero class in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft.  To me I have enough on my plate to worry about my 4 70's getting to 80 and seeing new content.  AND I was not to keen on the idea of being this "evil" guy who got his kicks out of running around killing things without mercy. . .

BUT was I surprised!

You start as a level 55 Death Knight in the starter zone. .er . . instance.  The first thing that made me fall over in a lore moment was as soon as I finished my intro camera swoop animation that WoW is known for to explain the story, I found myself face to face with the Lich King himself!  Can you say Teh Awesome?

You then begin your quests to learn how to be a Death Knight.  To make a long story short.  (to late) You will be 58 when done and ready to hit outland, or Eastern Plauge Land when done.

(SPOILER ALLERT PAST THIS POINT)

Paravel's Tree Respec

Starting with the beta we will see a lot of new things moved around in the talent trees.  While patching my game I spent some time looking at Paravel's Resto Spec of 19/0/42 and translating it over for Wrath.  What I have seen so far is some pretty cool things.

First Improved Mark of the Wild
Improved Mark of the Wild

WotLK - I'm IN! W00t!

Thanks to a friend I got a beta key!  w00t!  Paravel is on the server and im downloading.  Get ready for some Resto Druid info!  YES!!!

Paravel Communications is Up.

Well, after several months of trying to get bearing after resigning at First Baptist I have begun to take to heart the comments my friends have been telling me for years.  I have been developing web sites for guilds, churches, personal use for a long time.  Every time I finish a job someone would comment how they liked it, or how cool something was on it.  Soon the conversation would turn to "You should do this for a living."

Well, it is now time to see if they are right.  My deepest desire is to help others use the internet to reach out to the masses.  Weather it is a church or ministry, a local company, or someones private blog, they deserve to have a great web presence.

All I ask of my readers and friends is you pray for us as we try to get the company off the ground.  If you know of someone or you are in need of a custom site, give me a call.  *smile*

http://paravelcomm.com

Frost Build

Been toying with the WotLK talent calc on wowhead.  Here is what im looking at for my mage.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=oZZiAcIsfz0ddgcst

Ding 30!

Bethany and I have been playing with the Refer a Friend program.  We set up an account just for Bethany, err, rather she purchased her own account.  We are getting 3 times the XP.  So far we have flown through levels. Only issue is we out level a zone and have to figure out where to go.  

I'm going to do a write up on the pros and cons later. But for now, some Screen Shots.

 

 

 

 More to come!