The Starting Zone

Episode# 026: The Real story about Real ID!

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:49:00 -0700

Episode# 26 is now live and available for download. In this episode, we cover all you need to know about Real ID, how it affects you the player and how to control it to suit your security and privacy needs.

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Episode# 025: Cataclysmic Changes and Account Security Alerts is live!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:02:01 -0700

Episode# 25 is now live and available for download. In this episode, we cover the lastest round of earth-shattering announcements regarding Cataclysm and cover account security tips for the NEW player!

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Icecrown Chili Cheese Burger Lives!

Fri, 28 May 2010 23:00:22 -0700

Grats to all those who participated in the ICECROWN CHILI CHEESE BURGER challenge. As promised, the winner (or in this case winners) will take part in a random roll for a TCG Loot Card Code for ONE Landro’s Gift Box.

Episode# 024: Guilds and the Icecrown Chili Cheeseburger Challenge!

Fri, 21 May 2010 11:08:00 -0700

Episode# 24 is now live and available for download. In this episode, we cover all of the things you need to know about starting your own guild and include an Icecrown Chili Cheeseburger challenge!

SHOW NOTES:

THE BREAKING WIND

In our new NEWS FOR NOOBS segment, we cover Blizzard’s most recent announcements about the Cataclysm Alpha and Beta clients. We touch on the “controversy” surrounding the Celestial Steed and wrap things up with a discussion on battle.net’s new REAL ID system!

A HELPING HAND

In our tips and tricks segment, we break down all that you need to know about starting your own guild, including how to avoid the dreaded guild drama!!

For a great breakdown of guild systems in-game, check out this link:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Guild

And for those looking for a list of web hosts for World of Warcraft guilds, check out this list here:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Guild_website_utilities

WELCOME TO THE END GAME

This week, on our WELCOME TO THE END game segment, we discuss ways in which to maximize your DPS. The first is knowing AND memorizing your rotation which can be found here: Elitistjerks.com

Rather than bore our listeners to tears, I’ve linked the portion of our discussion on GCDs here for your reading…should you choose to read it:

GCDs mean your Global Cooldown. Every toon has a base global cooldown of one second. Which means, you can only use an ability once every second. However, there’s a HUGE difference between clicking on the ability when it lights up and learning to maximize your keyboard-spam to ensure that abilities are being used as quickly as possible.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say your rotations has five spells. The average DPS player will simply click on Spell# 1, wait for the little grey countdown of the one-second GCD to come off and click on Spell# 2, repeat the process and hit Spell# 3.

What’s wrong with that you ask? Lag. Yup, everyone has lag. If you have a clean connection and you’re close to a data center, your lag may be a small 50 milliseconds. Good for you. For the average player, you’ll normally see numbers around 100 – 150ms. That’s a tenth of a second. Now let’s imagine you’re a fast clicker…so you’re clicking on that spell as soon as you see the it blink. I’d say a half-second is a good reaction time.

Let’s add it up. In that five spell rotation, lag has account for 500 ms (or half a second). Across five spells, you’re average a half-second reaction time between each spell. 5 spells x ½ second reaction time each equals 2.5 seconds. Add in the half second from lag and you’re looking at 3 seconds of lost DPS time! Taking into account the GCDs, you’re missing out on two abilities to do damage!!

But wait, that can’t be that much, right? Let’s do the math again. Let’s say the average boss fight takes four minutes. In the above example of a five spell rotation, you are using five abilities across 8 seconds (five seconds for the GCDs and 3 seconds of wasted GCD time due to lag and clicking on spells). Across four minutes (or 240 seconds), you’ve used 30 rotations or 150 abilites.

Let’s say that each ability does 4000 damage each. Multiplied by 150 abilities and divided by 240 seconds, you get a DPS number of: 2500 DPS.

Now, let’s say you get rid of the lag and wasted GCDs, by minimizing the time between abilites to a tenth of a second. Now, you’re completed 5 abilities in 5.5 seconds instead of 8 seconds. Let’s round it up to 6 seconds to make the math easier. Cutting out the wasted time, you now are using 40 rotations or 200 abilities in the four minute boss fight. Do the math and you are now at a respectable: 3333 DPS. An increase of 33%!

Whether or not you following the math doesn’t matter. What matters is…the more abilities you’re doing, the more damage you’re doing. So how can you use more abilities…simple: use key-bindings and spam them.

Instead of mouse-clicking those five spells, move them to your keyboard shortcuts of 1 – 5 (or whatever is convenient for you).

Then, learn to spam buttons. Instead of WAITING for a spell or ability to become available, know which one you are going to use next and start hitting that ability key repeatedly as your GCD is almost up. What does this do? It’s sending the command to the WoW server, so that despite lag, the command is being spammed to your character so that the MOMENT the GCD is available on the server, your ability is already being cast. For casters with cast time, you’ll literally be spamming your next ability while your previous cast is still going!

Also, for casters, I highly suggest downloading an addon that adjusts your castbar to show latency as this only help provide another reminder of when you should be spamming the next button.

Remember, the above is taking into account a “perfect scenario” for DPS. Think patchwork, where you don’t have to move your character at all. Every other boss fight in the game is going to cause you to move…as such you’ll have to be spamming abilities AND moving at the same time. For casters, this is even worse, since moving means no damage. However, even in those fights, you’ll have time to chain off multiple abilities in a row…and learning to use every bit of you GCDs will only make you a stronger and more effective DPS player.

THE RAZOR’S EDGE

This week, we cover a great tool for understanding your rotation on boss fights called FACEROLLER.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

We congratulate the most recent level 80 dingers.

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Episode# 023: Live One Year Anniversary Show is live!

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:47:16 -0700

Episode# 23 is now live and available for download. We celebrate one year of podcasting with our live anniversary show. We start off with a blooper reel and answer more than a dozen questions on air!

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Live recording less than one week away!

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:49:00 -0700

That’s right folks…next Monday night (April 12th), we’ll be embarking on our one-year anniversary show LIVE on ustream! Remember to send in your .mp3s and/or questions and comments to thestartingzone@gmail.com so you can be heard LIVE on the show!

As promised, here’s the link for the Ustream Page:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-starting-zone

Upcoming LIVE Show on April 12th at 8pm PST!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:04:11 -0700

Set your calendars, take a vacation-day, call in sick…because on April 12th, 2010, we’re doing our LIVE SHOW!

To celebrate our ONE-ANNIVERSARY of podcasting, we are proud to announce a LIVE SHOW on April 12th, at 8pm (PST) / 11pm (EST). In addition to a recap of the past year including some good ‘ole laughs, we’re asking for YOU to get involved. Here’s how:

Join us LIVE on ustream and chat with us and fellow listeners (more information soon including links)

Send us an email (thestartingzone@gmail.com) with your one-year anniversary question!

Send us an .mp3 of your RECORDED question to thestartingzone@gmail.com regarding one of the following:

A question that we can answer live on the show!
A correction to something we’ve said wrong on the show!
A quick story about how the show helped you become less of a noob!

Please keep your .mp3 files shorter than 30 seconds

We’ll be using ustream again, so stay tuned for more information and links!

Episode# 022: Shaman Class Series Show is live!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:53:00 -0700

Episode# 22 is now live and available for download. We pick up on our class series with the ever exciting Shaman class. Our guest this week is a Ministry of Truth staple who has taken not one, but TWO Shamans to level 80! Great information for any and all Shaman players out there!

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Episode# 021 - Don't Be A Party Pooper (the exciting conclusion)

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:15:07 -0800

Episode# 21 is now live and available for download. We conclude our series on party dynamics covering the Tank, Healer and DPS responsibilities DURING a pull and throughout a dungeon

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Episode# 21 is ALMOST ready...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:55:13 -0800

Recording wrapped up last night on the epic conclusion of our party series. Oh…and two minutes of bloopers as well. Look for it on Friday!

The Starting Zone - Episode# 20

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:16:00 -0800

Episode# 20 is now live and available for download. We continue our series on parties by covering everything that happens BEFORE the first pull including the all important buff stage. This may not be the exciting stuff, but it’s important nonetheless so give it a listen!

SHOW NOTES:

THE BREAKING WIND

In our new NEWS FOR NOOBS segment, we cover Blizzard’s hints regarding changes in Patch 3.3.2, the New WoW Armory and very interesting data mining statistics of the highest played class/spec combination here.

For those who haven’t read it already, here are the patch notes for Patch 3.3.2 changes here.

A HELPING HAND

In our tips and tricks segment, we continue our Party Basics series, this time covering the all-important discussion of buffing your party members:

For a complete list of party buffs in the game, check out this link here.

And for all those who have buffing needs, check out this addon called SMART BUFF.

WELCOME TO THE END GAME

This week, on our WELCOME TO THE END game segment, we discuss the importance of reading up on your class. We recommend the following websites:

Elitistjerks.com - General Class Information
Tankspot.com - For Tanks
WorldofMatticus.com - For Healers

THE RAZOR’S EDGE

This week, we cover the great buffing tool (SMART BUFF). See above for the link.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

We congratulate the most recent level 80 dingers.

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Episode# 19: Don't be a Party Pooper (Part 2...kinda)

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:34:35 -0800

Episode# 19 is now live and available for download. We continue our series on parties by changing EVERYTHING we said last episode…thanks Blizz on the timing on that GAME-CHANGING function we now call the Dungeon Finder. Despite being a bit late, you can still find some helpful information on this great new toy for finding other parties in the game.

Enjoy!

The iTunes Link
The MP3 File
The RSS Feed

Back in the saddle again!

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:07:03 -0800

That’s right…AT&T came through on their fourth attempt. I’ve rejoined the land of the internet at my new place which means that we’ll finally get back to recording the podcast. Expect an episode by the end of the week!!!

Say it with me: AT&T stinks!

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:53:36 -0800

Alright, I know some of you may be employed by or support AT&T in some way, so I don’t want to offend you. However, AT&T messed up my internet installation three straight times…their fourth time is this upcoming Monday.

Unfortunately, without internet access, podcast recording is difficult, if not impossible…so our next recording had to be pushed to early next week.

Keep your fingers crossed that 4th times a charm!!

A word about our "advertisers"

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:14:08 -0800

Hey folks, just a quick heads up. To help offset the costs of hosting and recording costs, we decided (long ago) to use Google’s Adsense. Until the time that someone sees fit to support us financially, we have to use the internet’s tried and true method of ad marketing.

Unfortunately, Google’s adsense takes keywords from our website and links in advertisers automatically, without our consent. As you can imagine, one the largest ad supporters for WoW content is gold sellers.

To remove the ads, I have to manually add the website of each gold seller that advertises through google. As you can imagine, these grow and change every day. At present, I have over 30 blocked websites, but new ones come up every week and I simply don’t have enough time to police it on a daily or hourly basis.

I know that this can cause some confusion over our support (or LACK THEREOF) for gold buying and selling. In the case above, we’re asking you guys NOT to support us an to NOT click on the gold seller ads (confusing I know).

I’ll do my best to remove as many as possible. In the meantime, maybe they’ll start adding ads for things we can use.

Thanks.

The Snarl Chronicles: Issue 4

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:07:10 -0800

Okay, I posted this in our Guild Forums, and I thought you fans of THE STARTING ZONE might get a kick out of it.

We’ve all been there. The Event / RAID / Dungeon was scheduled a week in advance. You’re all signed up. You’ve watched videos, tweaked your gear, re-specced, posted on forums, bought stuff off AH. The day of the Event / Raid / Dungeon arrives, everyone is summoned, everyone is running inside the RAID. The RAID leader has blathered on for 10 minutes about encounter strategies! Ready Check hits and you see this run across chat….

“Gotta Hearth back to Dal, forgot to repair.” or “Gotta Hearth back to Dal, forgot my flask” or… you get the picture.

So, you wait another five minutes. Then someone else asks to go take a smoke or a bio… five turns into 10 minutes… then you have to take a BIO. Half hour later, after the RAID LEADER re-explains the fight, you’re running the instance. Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

So, I’ve devised something I like to call, The PRE-RAID / DUNGEON check list. Feel free, to cut and paste this and print it out and tape to your monitor or the back or tattoo it on the back of your hand. Seriously, I’m not kidding. Put this some place to make sure you cut down on the amount of “Oopsies, I forgot… XYZ”

PREPARATION: This isn’t the check list, it’s stuff you do leading up to the day of the RAID or INSTANCE.
1) Read about the Fight. Go to WoWWikki or WoWhead.com and read up on the bosses and what they do. Trust me, it helps everyone, and it saves you from the 15 minute Q&A with the Guild Leader prior to the first Fight.
2) Watch the VIDEOS. Especially if they are posted in the guild forums. WATCH Them not once, watch them 3 times. Seriously. I’m not kidding. We usually post TANK SPOT videos here, and they are about 2 - 3 minutes. Do it on your lunch break. Just Do it.
3) Determine your Schedule. Was the RAID scheduled for 10:30pm, but you have 12:00am Hard Out? Determine that and let your team know ahead of time, so ALTS can be lined up to replace you should the team want to go longer than an hour and a half.

GET THERE EARLY!
If you are going to run something at 8:30pm, don’t log on at 8:30pm (then get hit with a Patch download, like I did this week). Log on about 15 minutes prior, so you can get some stuff done before the RAID.

PRE-RAID CHECK LIST (out of Game): This is the stuff you do in RL before you show up at the scheduled time.
1) Do a BIO run: Remember when Dad, used to get mad on the Family Trip, when you would ask to pee, ten minutes after being on the road? Yeah, we all have that same face on when you ask to take a BIO when the READY CHECK hits.
2) Are you thirsty? If the answer is yes, get your beverage on hand early. For me, on a healthy, good day, this is water. On a good day but without much sleep, something with caffeine. On a bad day, it’s beer. On a really bad day… well, you don’t want to know.
3) Are you a Muncher? Then have your handy dandy snack food at the ready, your trail mix, cheetos, gummy worms, pita chips and hummus, brownies, severed monkey heads whatever they are, get them ready.

PRE-RAID CHECK LIST (in-game): This is the stuff you do in game before you show up at the scheduled time.
1) Do You have the right set of GEAR on?
2) Do you have your secondary spec Gear in your back?
3) Do you have your buff food? (just in case no one lays a Fish Feast)
4) Do you have your Flasks? (just in case no one brings any extra)
5) Do you have your Mana and Health Potions?
6) Do you have your Reagents? (Locks, Paladins, Priests, Mages, you all know what I’m talking about)

PRE-FIGHT CHECK LIST: This is the stuff you do before ready check hits!
1) Did you down your flask?
2) Did you eat the Food buff? (Fish Feast)
3) Are you in the RIGHT SPEC? You would be surprised.
4) Do you have the right Stance, Aura, Presence, Aspect (or whatever your Class does) on?
5) Did you Buff yourself?
6) Did you buff the party? (if there are multiple reps of your class in the party, then ask the other Paladin or whatever, what they’re going to use on the party as a buff ahead of time).
7) Did you Seal up, Paladins?
7a) Is the right Pet or Minion out, Locks and Hunters and Unholy DKs?
7b) Is the Pet or Minion buffed?
7d) Did you lay out healthstones (cooikes), Locks?
7e) Did you lay out Struddle, Mages?
7d) Do you know what Totems you are laying down, Shamans?
8) Is your health @ Max?
9) Is your mana @ Max?
10) For Tanks, is your Stam with buffs look about right?

If you have done all these click “Ready” on the Ready Check and fight on adventurere!

There are some addons that assist with this process. Some are class specific. Please, check them out and use them when appropriate.

Snarl Chronicles: Issue #4

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:07:04 -0800

Well, for old times sake, I lead a RAID through NAXX last night, and it was great to see some NEW PLAYERS tackle a 10 Man Raid for the first time. We forget that not many new players get a shot at a RAID leveling 1 - 60 and surprisingly it doesn’t happen very often either 60 - 80 despite the BC content available. So, some of us more experienced RAIDERS ventured in and did the Safety Dance and kited some slimes. A good time was had by all.

It’s amazing to think that with 3.3 upon us NAXX feels even less significant that it did as Ulduar and Trail of the Crusader were unleashed upon the WoW masses. However, despite the fact it’s not the prime END GAME RAID anymore, NAXX offers some excellent fights for players to learn more about their class and their play as a RAIDER.

I am beginning to understand the “It past me by” feeling the casual player or raider experiences with END GAME content. While, I’ve don a full 10 man clear of NAXX and made progress on Ulduar and TOC 10, I haven’t done a full clear, let alone much work in the world fo 25 Man Raids on any of the content outside Ony and VOA. Now with a whole new epic END GAME RAID in Citadel looming. I’m wondering if players will ever take on such a difficult fight like Yogg Saron. Makes you think. This game really does age fast. While it does a wonderful job staying fresh, that content just kind of sits there, once it isn’t new and shiny anymore. I guess that’s why their blowing it up for Cataclysm.

You Haz Forum Postings?

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:07:00 -0800

Do you post on forum? We all know the wonderful reputation that the official World of Warcraft forums have for demonstrating the ideals of collaborative discussion and personal etiquette. **Former Sentence Coated in Sacrasm**. Forum posts are a big part of the extended WOW community. Unfortunately, they tend to resemble trade chat more often than not. The intention of course is that you post a question or idea or thought, and a constructive dialogue begins were concept and the game is discussed. Then why does it devolve often into the lowest common denominator of knucklehead ville?

The player community in WoW could not be more diverse from the normal average aged gamers to kids barely out of their braces to old timers looking for something new. The viewpoints shared by the community reach beyond state, town, province and country. Not to mention varied degrees of education, class and wealth and political views.

Now, as a new player you may look to get some information from these forums to help you along. So, how, should you go about participating in the forums? Well, my esteemed colleague on the TSZ has a hard and fast rule, “Don’t Post”. The read only rule is a popular one. If it wasn’t then you’d see about 1000 more posts to every 1 post you currently see. Now, you may say to yourself, “But Snarl, it can’t be that bad.” Well, let me give you some hypothetical but painfully real examples of what you could see in the forums should you post something.

Say you start a question, like, “Hey, I’m a Mage, what’s the best rotation for someone between level 20 and 30.” You will usually get this response, “Noobs shouldn’t play Wow”. Now, you may get some other response in there, but the one you will remember is the one I just posted.

Say you just want to make an intelligent well thought out observation, like, “It appears that while the LFG tool introduced in Patch 3.3 does many things right, it has created less community chatter amongst the guild. I think that guilds will have to work harder to preserve the fellowship they have in-game.” This will be met by the following response, “Look at Mr. Fancy Pants Douche Nozzle, WoW Players no use Vocabulary.”

Or maybe you just want to make a witty comment, like, “Ellite Tauren Retribution Paladins will bring new meaning to the phrase, Holy Cow!” This will be met with the following post, one word, “FAIL”.

It seem sad, but WOW has a lot of TROLLS. It’s a problem, and it cannot be resolved. Ever since annonymous posting boards have been up on the internet, TROLLS have been a reality for all forms of public discourse on the internet.

However, not all forums are bad. I for one have had good luck on the elitistjerks.com forums. Despite the name, I don’t run into too many actual jerks. Have you had positive forum experiences or night mares? Let us know.

Contribute to a Segment: How do you Like 3.3?

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:06:55 -0800

Okay, it’s been out a whole week, we’ve seen some issues with the start up… that whole authenticator problem. We’ve seen some hotfix patches already. We’ve also seen the awesome new LFG tool. So, what do you think?

Happy New Year!

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:06:21 -0800

To all of our listeners, we just wanted to say Happy New Year and thanks for making this past year a wonderful experience for us. In our first year of existence, our listeners showed us that there is still a need for helpful advice out there in the World of Warcraft and we look forward to continuing along those lines in 2010 and beyond.

Thanks for your patience this Holiday season as family traveling, AT&T’s SLOW installation and this year’s flu-bug have played havoc with our recording schedule. Stay tuned for our first recording of the year NEXT WEEK!

Thanks again and have a safe and happy New Year!