But it got me wondering about Real ID in general. Sure, it won’t be required to post in the forums anymore, but it still exists. I have yet to friend anyone with it. If I do, I think I’m gonna limit it to my family. (I always like to remind you that my Mom, Dad, and brother play WoW. ) Have you guys been using Real ID to keep in touch with WoW friends? Do you like it? Does it ruin the immersion? Feel free to use the comments to talk about it, whether it’s touched on in the following poll or not.

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I first read the news on WoW.com. I’ll discuss my thoughts along with the poll results next week.

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*UPDATE* Blizz CEO Mike Morhaime just announced that, in thanks to feedback from people like you, they decided NOT to go forward with requiring our real names to be revealed when we post on the official forums. Woohoo! Feel free to continue discussing and voting in the poll.

So 49% aren’t interested in buying the pets. (The first answer plus the third answer.)

At least 30% bought some or all of the pets/mounts, and let’s make it 33% since a lot of the “Other” votes were for people who bought the mount, not the pets, as indicated in the comments.

5% got them as a gift.

13% don’t play WoW.

I own the Pandaren Monk and Lil’ K.T. My family got them for me over Christmas. (Thanks again, family! ) I collect pets, and wanted these for the novelty, to see what all the hullabaloo was about, and to get that much closer to the Lil’ Game Hunter achievement, which I now have. Blizzard was smart, releasing these over the holidays. I’d bet money that Lil’ XT has not sold nearly as well.

I don’t have a problem with Blizzard selling non-combat in-game items like this, and I have no problem with people buying them. But I understand why it could make some feel queasy. As paying subscribers, we want to know that Blizzard is hard at work on improving the actual game play, and not toiling away on profitable extras.

As for the mount, I don’t have any desire to buy it, or ask for it as a gift. I recently completed What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been, so I’m very happy with my 310% violet proto-drake I worked so hard to earn.

Oh, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see for yourself here.

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How DnD is better than WoW:

1) The Snacks.

I don’t have a snack ritual for WoW. I just, you know, eat stuff like normal to ensure I’m not a hungry gamer. But whether we order out or make food or a combination of the above, snacks are always an integral part of playing DnD. They determine the breaks, give us stuff to talk about and do between turns, and they are YUMMY. DnD is possibly the only game I associate food with.

2) The Unknown.

If I’m going into a raid or a 5-man I’ve never been to before in WoW, I better read up on how each boss fight is gonna go so I’m prepared. But DnD? Nope. None of that. No peaking at the Monster Manual! (Depending on your DM.) We walk into a new room and have no idea what will jump out at us. We figure out tactics on the fly, find and exploit weaknesses, and solve puzzles. And then we don’t repeat it, because there are always new adventures and lands and dungeons to go explore!

3) The Face Time. (Ugh, is that term trademarked by Apple now?)

This one probably goes without saying, but I just can’t leave it out. Getting together, face-to-face, with friends for the common goal of fun and conquest is awesome.

How WoW is better than DnD:

1) Math. Lack of.

Unless you’re so heavily into theorycrafting that you’re actually making spreadsheets instead of just plugging numbers into them, you don’t really need to do math in WoW. Not with the regularity of DnD math. Of course, math in DnD isn’t hard, and it’s probably helping us keep dementia from aging at bay. And there’s a certain charm to adding die rolls together and knowing how all the stats work to make you awesome. But there’s something to be said for not having to do math every time you make an attack.

2) It’s faster.

DnD can be slow. Sometimes too slow, especially in this age of short attention spans. WoW is fast and snappy. You’re in and out of a raid in a matter of hours. It took many 5-8 hour sessions to get through our DnD dungeon. And that leads into the last point…..

3) You don’t have to coordinate schedules to play WoW.

You can log in whenever you want. You don’t have to email back and forth with all 25 people you raid with to see what works best for them. The guild sets a raid time and people show up. Our DnD group didn’t meet in May at all because we couldn’t find a time all of us could get together for a 5-hour stretch.

I wish I could remember where I saw this first so I could credit them. I love that the fight is a drinking game instead of a fist fight.

worldofwarcraft.com

Whether it was forum puzzles or a new Matchmaking Service, a Battle.net Neural Interface costing $14,999, the new Equipment Potency Equivalent Number, or the new armory characters, Blizzard kept at least some of us entertained yesterday. And they weren’t the only ones. The Google logo was….different, Amazing Super Powers replaced their home page with audio renditions of their comics (screen-capped here since I knew it wouldn’t last, but the comedy gold is in those audio files), and Think Geek had their store stocked with fake but very inspired goodies. Felicia Day even got in on the action by announcing a new animation deal: Lil’ Guildies. WoW.com went all out for the day, announcing that their corporate overlords, AOL, was pushing them in a new direction. Every two hours in fact. They started the day as Mass Effect Insider (I missed that one!), then quickly underwent the following changes: Twilight Insider, Gaga Insider, Muscle March Insider, Farmville Insider, Plants vs Zombies Insider, and finally, Saturn Six Insider, the news site dedicated to bringing you the latest from Blizzard’s new MMO. I screen capped them so I could enshrine the hilarious photoshop work on the logos and and links, but you can still check out the individual posts on the site. Twilight Insider was my favorite, and included an announcement about the new Twilight graphic novel.

But alas, if Twitter is any indication, yesterday’s shenanigans were not for everyone. So I ask you dear readers, what did you think?

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*NPChloe will be back next week, hopefully – we’re having technical problems with the scanner. I doubt she has time to make a diary entry this week anyway. Looks like she’s been busy!

Warcraftpets.com

I didn’t get an authenticator until this winter. Up until December I played WoW exclusively on a Mac, so I was living in my “lalalala, I don’t have to worry about security (as much)” bubble. But then I got a Windows laptop and the Core Hound Pup was released as a promo available exclusively for authenticator users. I have an iPhone, and I’m a sucker for pets, so it was an easy decision. Why not?  I admit that the act of authenticating each time puts an extra step between me and my game. I always feel I have to rush to enter the current number before it disappears. But I have peace of mind, my guild doesn’t have to worry about me getting hacked and raiding their bank, and I have pretty sweet pet to add to my collection. If Blizzard is really concerned about security, I think they should put the USB dongle authenticators in every Cataclysm box.

Edit: A commenter pointed out that the Blizzard authenticators aren’t USB dongles, nor do they connect to your computer at all. They’re just small devices that you can attach to your key chain. Not sure why I was under the impression they were USB…still living in my “lalalala” iPhone/mac world I guess.

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