Thursday (30 May) - Wow, Baseball and Book Updates

Thursday (30 May) - Wow, Baseball and Book Updates

My lone level 90 player, the monk Fist, sometimes gets to pining for more activity than her daily work on her farm. She got it in her head recently to see if she could upgrade the four pieces of gear that she still wears with despicable ilevels of i429. All of her other gear is at least i440. She could significantly raise her overall gear score of i450 if she could improve on those other four. Happy has kept watch on the Auction House and had some early success, but for many weeks now there has been nothing better available. The four pieces of gear are: cape, belt, boots, and trinket.

Fist plans to buy the i476 Darkmoon Tiger trinket once she has all of the pieces. Fist has six of the eight cards, and Happy is watching for a good deal on the Ace and Four cards which she still needs.

The other three pieces of gear present a challenge. Based on Wowhead, there are no Bind on Equip (BOE) gear that Happy could buy that is better than the i429 gear she already has. That means there isn't any better gear that Happy can buy for her.

If Fist was really desperate, she could check the Black Market Auction House each week to see if [Stalker's Cord of Eternal Autumn] shows up, but the i496 bracers would cost Fist at least 10k gold to bid on it, and the price would likely go much higher. I can find no other way to buy gear better than i429 for bracers, belt, or boots. Fist is "considering" looking at other avenues to get that improved gear.

There is also a bit of interest in, perhaps, leveling the three 85s (JB, Philly, and Wild) to level 90. I still plan to let my subscription expire in August. However, should the next expansion peak my interest, I would rather have my high level characters all at level 90 instead of having to go from 85-95 in the new expansion. I've mentioned before that leveling from 85-90 has been shortened by 30%. Don't hold your breath, though.

In the world of Major League Baseball, we are past the one-third mark for the season and the Padres still can't get above .500 and are barely staying out of the National League West basement - thanks to the over paid and under performing Dodgers.

Here's the prior status as of 15 May.

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Comparison	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	18 21 4.5	.244	154	4.13
Reality Results	21 18 3.0	.245	157	3.67
Promise Results	17 22 7.5	.239	166	3.75

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Here's the latest status as of 30 May.

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Comparison	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	24 29 6.0	.246	212	4.30
Reality Results	28 25 3.5	.237	217	3.75
Promise Results	28 25 7.5	.240	227	3.46

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The San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners squared off in a two and two series with two games each in Seattle and San Diego this week. The two teams went 1-1 in both cities. All I can say is that we are two peas in the pod.

In regard to the simulation results, the offensive numbers remain static, which, in a word, sucks, but at least it's pretty consistent with what the Padres are really doing. On the pitching side, the real Padres have been stinking up the mound big time, and that is what is really killing them. The simulations show the pitching being a whole lot better than they are, and because of that both the Reality and Promise leagues have the Padres with a winning record.

The real flesh and blood team added catcher Yasmani Grandal to the roster on Tuesday, Grandal having finished a 50 game suspension for using "performance enhancing substances." He should be better than slumping catcher Nick Hundley, but he'd better keep his nose clean. Cameron Maybin will also be back with the team in a few days. The "injuries" that sidelined him had more to do with poor play than real medical issues. His return will likely send a player I really like, Kyle Blanks, back to the minor leagues which, in a word, well, you know what.

I have a small bit of news on The Song of Chord. I've laid out the landscape for the main continent and am working on the names of the regions and the people that populate them. I'll be drawing the map soon, so you should already have a map when I release the first chapter. That should work better than with the first book. I think I was several chapters in before ya'll got a map of the Wilderness Continent. By the way, the land mass in Chord is called "Land of the Aquivira." It will be divided into five regions.