Xfire

Hey, I never thoguht to post this, but I finally got around to re-downloading Xfire.  If anyone is on there and wants to say say hi, my screen name is Firelump.

Tonight I’m supposed to be playing some Day of Defeat or Counterstrike, or possibly just some Warcrack.

Ok ok, I have been Slacking.

Ok ok, I have been Slacking.

Being an engineer I like patterns. I like routines.  I like plans.

Getting fired takes that happy routine that I have perfected down to the minute and smashes its head into a curb.  All routines are out the window.  All the little things that you take for granted are no longer there.

My old employer is fighting unemployment.  I’m fighting back.  They are saying that I was fired for dereliction of duty.  I say that I would like to see my most current numbers because as of the day before I got let go I was the #2 person by volume of work done, and had less errors than anyone else by a very long shot.  I am also fighting them on the grounds that they did not follow their own firing procedures.  I was not given a verbal warning.  I was not given a written warning.  I did not have a meeting where they discussed my performance with the two people above me.

Granted, Michigan is an “at will” state meaning that they can fire me without notice, but then why have a policy.  They violated their own policy when firing me, so by all rights, they should be fired too.

Anyway.

A week after getting let go I slipped and popped my knee out of joint, so I have been limping for the last couple weeks.

Then, as if I had somehow had a one night stand with Fate, then did not call her back, last week our roof started to leak.

So, on to the non-depressing news.

I just got a really good lead on a job I would be perfect for.

I hit 80. (as if that would take long when I don’t have a job).

I leveled my pally from 22 to 38, Started a Death Knight and got it to 65, leveled my rouge from 33-38, and am pushing 3000 Achievement points, and have not even started working on the PVP ones.

Since I’m unemployed, I get to play more.

Things I have learned in the past two weeks of playing WOW:

- You MUST get the addon Questhelper.
I am not a big fan of running a lot of addons, because I have seen too many people shut down when the addon they relied on breaks down.  I only use Omen, Deadly Boss Mods, and Ratings buster.  Quest Helper is AMAZING!  It shows all the quest items on the map and gives you a big red arrow to follow to get to the closest one.  I tried it a long time ago and it did not work well, now it is AMAZING.  Sometimes it gets things wrong with the new phased things, but otherwise it is very good.

- Hunter pets are SERIOUSLY OP.  They do decent damage, or can be amazing tanks.  I tanked a 5 man (don’t ask which one, it was one with some tall norse looking guys…I’m bad with names).

- Cooking food buffs are NICE.  Feast is stunning. 

-Blizzard has no idea how to gear hunters.  When I was done with Kara I was wearing 6 pieces of leather.  I had what Blizzard called hunter gear, and my DPS went down drastically when I used it.  Hunters: Don’t be afraid to snatch leather gear.  With the new Viper you don’t need that much mana, and you can pick up quite a but with gems and enchants. 

-Don’t be afraid to go back and do the level 70 dailies.  The SSO area has a lot of dailies that can be done VERY quickly, and pay nicely, and when you are higher level they are cake. 

- Those Saronite bullets are simply not worth the cost yet.  Stick to the vendor ammo.  I have a couple boxes to use for boss fights only.  They are simply insane. 

-Watch the AH.  There are a ton of BOE blues and even purples.  Watch the AH.  I have found a couple really good deals for huge upgrades.

- Use your bank alt to check the AH frequently.  Check for things that you know the price of.  There are always some people that don’t know what they have, or that just want quick cash, so they dump things on the AH for much less than they should. 

- Hunter Leather farmers: Make friends with the shoveltusk herds in the starting zone in the south east.  I say hunter, because they do this annoying headbutt that makes tanking them a pain.  With a gorilla, one thunderstomp and two volleys take them down.  Lots of leather, Arctic Fur, and frequent greens make this a Great farming area for serious profit.  In one hour exactly I filled my Gigantique bag full of AH stuff, many stacks of leather, 12 Arctic Fur, many greens, and one blue.  I also had a bag full of vendor trash that netted me 30G.