The Unforgettable Fire

Online anger is not just a World of Warcraft phenomenon. Whatever Blizzard do there will be detractors, wanting to bitch about this or that. In some respect it could be considered that I write a blog full of negativity. From my perspective I try to balance what content puts in front of me, with my own experience. I like to think that I give credit when credit is due and criticise when I believe that something is wrong.

Not all my anger is aimed at Blizzard, and most of it is about the player experience when we rub shoulders with the wonderful and utter terrible. We get to see the best and worst of human nature on a daily basis amplified by anonymity.

This week in Real Life we have seen what happens when iTunes delivers a free album direct to 500 Million iTunes accounts around the Globe.

"My iPhone has a virus called U2. How do I uninstall it?"

"Waking up with the new U2 album automatically installed on your iTunes is like waking up with a pimple in the morning."

"#nothanks"

The general feeling was that it is invasion of privacy and why didn't they just offer the album as a gift. I am sensing a Guinness Book of Records reason, which will make it the fastest selling album of all time 500 Million copies in nanoseconds. Only 6.6% of recipients had listened to the album (33 million).

"But the inordinate amount of actual anger directed at Apple and U2 over this is so disproportional to the actual event, I've started to wonder about the mental state of some of those complaining. It's really been off the charts." Source

I have no complaint about receiving a gratis album of a band that I have most of their music already, but I do object to iTunes and the Apple way of doing things. I appreciate that Apple have a sleek design like quality to their products but too be honest I do not buy into the Apple lifestyle. I am not a fan of mullti-functioning devices and want my phone to make calls, my camera to take pictures and my mp3 player to play tunes. iTunes is a horrible piece of software that if Microsoft had written would be derided the world over. Apple have kudos and charisma and Microsoft are corporate and soulless. That was a good bit of marketing from the late Steve Jobs.

I don't really want to go into the issue over how U2 polarize opinion, or how people don't like free gifts that they didn't ask for, or my personal dislike of iTunes but it is a point that people will argue, or complain about anything, under the cloak of anonymity and with the spread of social media it is reaching fever pitch. It is where the Tweets have no name or in this case no shame.

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This week's reset has been very kind to me indeed, so kind that I am starting to doubt the RNG Gods and thinking that Blizzard have done some minor tweeks. What am I talking about? the Unforgettable Fire - Ordos himself (two U2 references in one post).

After many weeks of running up the mountain and waiting for the idiots to shout "123", "summons" "oi Lock get your arse in gear" and all the other abuse. By the way 123 does not mean "I am lazy git summon my worthless carcass to the top of the mountain now", it means "I agree", if you are going to be a lazy toad at least do it grammatically correct even if you are using Leet Speak.

Sorry slightly off topic, yes I have been doing 11 Ordos runs a week with 11 tokens equalling a ground breaking 22 chances of Warforged gear, very nice thank you very much you beast of fire. I was under the impression that the chances are 10% but with the sliding scale of the bonus roll, I anticipate around 3 drops for 22 chances which is not a terrible rate of 1:7 even then it will be common to go 4 weeks between drops for an individual character but for a team of 11 - I am more than happy with 3 chances of loot each week.

This was until my characters started to get decked out in warforged gear and then you are looking to fill only specific slots, and the chances of getting a drop and it being the right slot become astronomical. Ordos coughs up Head, Neck, Legs, Waist, Shoulders, Wrist and Chest (no gloves or boots). The 1:7 chance if you only need 1 particular slot becomes 1:49 and that could take up to half a year to achieve if you are lucky.

This week started off well with 2 slots missing on Bobflintston (Neck and Wrist) Bowflight Wristguards dropped. Shaman (Neck and Shoulder) received Penate's Perilous Pendant. Warlock (Head, Shoulders, Chest and Wrist) received Ulmaas' Robes of Crushing Magma. Druid (Shoulders, Chest, and Waist) received Flame Healer's Shoulderguards and Hamlet's Wind-Whipped Leggings.

I still have 2 characters to go and I have already amassed 6 items which I can use on all my characters. It might well be co-incidence and the RNG Gods are on my side for once, but personally I prefer to think that I just don't get that lucky and Blizzard have secretly adjusted the odds to give a more personalized gift. Maybe I am just getting soft in my old age.