Sunday (23 Jun) - Guessing The Future
Blizzard Entertainment's Blizzcon 2013 officially kicks off on 8-9 November. Tickets for the event sold out thirty minutes after they went on sale in April. The interesting thing is that there doesn't seem to be any concrete news about what announcements will be made. In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything exciting at all on the near horizon.
In the World of Warcraft there is talk of another expansion coming out on an 18 month cycle instead of the usual 24 month cycle. I have to point out, though, that Blizz has scheduled 18 month cycles before, and it always ends up around 24 months anyway. Despite that, hopes are high that the next expansion will hit the streets in the Apr/May 2014 timeframe, which I take to mean that it will "really" be released in it's usual Sep/Oct/Nov timeframe. All of that is pretty normal. So, what is the focus of the new expansion? Blizz is not saying. However, the rumor mill is that Mists of Pandaria is played out and they won't be expanding along that line. Instead, the "new" danger to Azeroth will be ... drum roll please ... a return of the Burning Legion. Again. Yawn.
My subscription to WoW runs out in August this year. I am not going to re-subscribe. I was not really considering NEVER coming back to WoW, but frankly, if it is going to be a year plus before I see a new expansion, and that new expansion is a rehash of the Burning Legion (which we already did in the Burning Crusade expansion), then I have nothing to look forward to, WoW-wise.
In the interim there are plans to release an expansion pack for Diablo. I'll probably play that. If it is on a similar scale to Diablo 3, I'll be done with that in a month. What else is on the horizon? There is the super secret Blizzard project called "Titan." It is supposed to be a brand new MMO they've been working on since 2007. There is even some information that says that developers have had a "playable" version since 2011. There is no information about the content at all, although we are told that the game will co-exist with WoW, not supplant it, because Titan will be very different from WoW. Last month Blizzard announced that the Titan project had been "rebooted." The release date is a moving target, now penciled in as 2016.
So. I installed a couple of my older single player games. I still have a computer that can play them. I remembered how much I loved those games. The bottom line is that while I still got some fun out of them, the graphics have so far surpassed those old games that they no longer felt real. Still, I like single player games. I may go that route for awhile. Maybe Blizz will surprise us with the next expansion. Maybe not. It's hard to tell if I will even care by that point.
Of course, as of now Happy is still working the Auction House and Fist is still farming. The Wild family won't forget our cousins, either. Happy is working on building a little nest egg to pass along to Sis and Sin when the time comes to turn in Happy's Auction House pass and close the doors. Maybe forever.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Wednesday (12 Jun) - Bragging Rights
Wednesday (12 Jun) - Bragging
Rights
Bragging often leads to a karma
boomerang, but I can't help myself. The San Diego Padres swept the National
League East leading Atlanta Braves this week, winning all three games in
thrilling fashion. The Padres record is now 32-34, only three wins away from a
winning record. The National League West division leaders, the Diamondbacks,
come to town this weekend, and I hope we kick some butt.
Here's the prior status as of 30
May.
>
|
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
|
>
Here's the latest status as of 13
June.
The team went 8-5 during this
period.
>
|
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
|
32 34
5.0
|
.251
|
279
|
4.30
|
|
Reality
Results
|
34 32
4.0
|
.239
|
272
|
3.85
|
|
Promise
Results
|
33 33
8.0
|
.243
|
285
|
3.61
|
>
Our best player, Chase Headley,
has continued to struggle. His struggles are mirrored in the Promise league (see
below).
Chase Actual: .227 BA, .332 OBP,
6 HRs, 20 RBIs
Chase Promise: .227 BA, .310 OBP,
8 HRs, 23 RBIs
Chase Reality: .298 BA, .389 OBP,
8 HRs, 34 RBIs
I wish Chase really was hitting
.298 as he is in the Reality league. The Padres would likely have a winning
record.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Tuesday (11 Jun) - The Enchanter's War
Tuesday (11 Jun) - The Enchanter's War
In Happy's long years as a purveyor of fine enchanting materials, pretenders to his throne have tried and failed to unseat him time and time again. There has been new blood stalking the Auction House for a few weeks now, and the battle for prominence (and it's reward in gold) has become pretty intense. Most, if not all, of Happy's opponents have the advantage of doing their own farming of materials. These false market prophets/farmers rarely consider the value of the time it takes to collect materials for sale, and so they under price their goods.
In a thriving market, Happy encourages low pricing and buys up those goods for sale at higher prices later, after the farmer wearies of the chore of collecting all that material himself and the cheap source of goods dries up. Some farmers go after a wide range of goods, while others specialize in certain markets. Happy's forte is enchanting materials, of course, but he also does some limited secondary business in cloth, gems, herbs, and bags.
The market has not been thriving. It is in a boom and bust phase, where prices can fluctuate wildly, nervous buyers and sellers tend to drive down the prices, but where temporary shortages can yield great profit if tapped at the right moment. Happy reluctantly gives ground on pricing, using a number of tricks to prop up the market. However, there comes a time when the price of an item reaches a point so low it can't be maintained, and that means the price will tank completely. Happy then mercilessly enters the bidding war and sells what he can. When the item tanks, he then buys up the dregs at desperately low prices. Eventually the item will return at a more reasonable price, Happy's sales will resume, and the process starts anew.
Happy's primary competitor in the enchanting mat market is Griffpriest. He has a wide range of goods in significant quantities. He and Happy are in the bidding war phase on several items that Happy has been propping up for some time. Happy is maxed out on storing a lot of this stuff, so he is getting what he can get now. Ryujin is another heavy seller in the war who is even more aggressive in undercutting the competition. Mats such as large brilliant shards, arcane dust, and large prismatic shards are close to becoming un-sellable at any price.
A more dangerous prospect is that the demand for what has held up Happy's profits lately has appeared to evaporate. Heavenly shards and Greater Celestial Essences sold endlessly at 10g apiece. Now, the the price is down to under 6g each, but still few are buying. What is also ominous is that the mat that makes heavenly shards, Maelstrom Crystals, has dropped under 3g each. An enchanter can make two heavenly shards from one maelstrom crystal. Do the math. Heavenly shard prices are going to tank.
To make Happy's day completely bleak, even the newest materials, those mats needed for current gear, has suffered severely. There just do not seem to be enough buyers. Over the last weekend, for example, the price of the hard to get but essential Sha Crystals saw a price drop that began at over 400g each, and ended down to under 200g each. Some of that was panic underbidding by amateur sellers, although Griffpriest had a hand in that. Happy wisely sucked up many of those cheap sha crystals, knowing that the market had to come back up at least enough for Happy to make some profit. They are selling at around 250g now. Happy is betting they'll reach 275g, which is where Happy will start selling them. PS - a day after I wrote this, sha crystal prices fell to 175g. I'm beginning to wonder if Mists of Pandaria is an already dead expansion.
The gem market is still pretty new to Happy. He doesn't know the competitors, yet (although Jetstream seems to be a heavy player), and he's still working on the fringes. He still managed to sell almost a 1,000g in gems over the weekend, though. He's learning. Even in his short time in the gem market, Happy already sees prices sliding. Gems solidly selling in the 100g range dipped to as low as 70-80g. Happy can still make the gems (or, well, JB can) at a lower price, but it's an indicator of where the market might go.
Oddly enough, the one market that has done the most to sustain Happy is the volatiles market. Blizz did away with elemental materials in Panda land, known as volatiles, eternals, and primals in earlier expansions. So, the Wrath version, volatiles, still have quite a bit if value. Happy bought a ton of those when Pandaria grew close, and he is still making a profit on the sales. Happy's efforts have worked almost too well, though. Prices are high but Happy's stock is now dwindling. Happy is in a dangerous spiral, buying up ever higher priced volatiles and then raising his selling price again and again to compensate. There will come a time when the buyers will say, no more.
Fist actually did some questing for a few hours, a rarity for the Wild family these days. JB was acting as the central distribution point for all of the materials required to make things that Happy sold, and she was getting tired of clogged bags and an overloaded mailbox. Happy, not wanting JB to show up on his doorstep with wheelbarrows full stuff she no longer wanted to hold, Happy promised to fix things. EZ, Jocey, Shevils, and Mew were pressed into service handling the mess. Fist was asked to make the Trapper's bag, a 28 slot leatherworking bag. She had the mats, but needed to gain Revered status with the Kalu'ak faction in Northrend in order to buy the recipe. Off and on through the course of a day, Fist worked on the quests, and got her recipe. JB was happy, Fist was Happy, and Happy was Happy. EZ, Jocey, Shevils, and Mew weren't exactly thrilled at having to go to work, though.
In Happy's long years as a purveyor of fine enchanting materials, pretenders to his throne have tried and failed to unseat him time and time again. There has been new blood stalking the Auction House for a few weeks now, and the battle for prominence (and it's reward in gold) has become pretty intense. Most, if not all, of Happy's opponents have the advantage of doing their own farming of materials. These false market prophets/farmers rarely consider the value of the time it takes to collect materials for sale, and so they under price their goods.
In a thriving market, Happy encourages low pricing and buys up those goods for sale at higher prices later, after the farmer wearies of the chore of collecting all that material himself and the cheap source of goods dries up. Some farmers go after a wide range of goods, while others specialize in certain markets. Happy's forte is enchanting materials, of course, but he also does some limited secondary business in cloth, gems, herbs, and bags.
The market has not been thriving. It is in a boom and bust phase, where prices can fluctuate wildly, nervous buyers and sellers tend to drive down the prices, but where temporary shortages can yield great profit if tapped at the right moment. Happy reluctantly gives ground on pricing, using a number of tricks to prop up the market. However, there comes a time when the price of an item reaches a point so low it can't be maintained, and that means the price will tank completely. Happy then mercilessly enters the bidding war and sells what he can. When the item tanks, he then buys up the dregs at desperately low prices. Eventually the item will return at a more reasonable price, Happy's sales will resume, and the process starts anew.
Happy's primary competitor in the enchanting mat market is Griffpriest. He has a wide range of goods in significant quantities. He and Happy are in the bidding war phase on several items that Happy has been propping up for some time. Happy is maxed out on storing a lot of this stuff, so he is getting what he can get now. Ryujin is another heavy seller in the war who is even more aggressive in undercutting the competition. Mats such as large brilliant shards, arcane dust, and large prismatic shards are close to becoming un-sellable at any price.
A more dangerous prospect is that the demand for what has held up Happy's profits lately has appeared to evaporate. Heavenly shards and Greater Celestial Essences sold endlessly at 10g apiece. Now, the the price is down to under 6g each, but still few are buying. What is also ominous is that the mat that makes heavenly shards, Maelstrom Crystals, has dropped under 3g each. An enchanter can make two heavenly shards from one maelstrom crystal. Do the math. Heavenly shard prices are going to tank.
To make Happy's day completely bleak, even the newest materials, those mats needed for current gear, has suffered severely. There just do not seem to be enough buyers. Over the last weekend, for example, the price of the hard to get but essential Sha Crystals saw a price drop that began at over 400g each, and ended down to under 200g each. Some of that was panic underbidding by amateur sellers, although Griffpriest had a hand in that. Happy wisely sucked up many of those cheap sha crystals, knowing that the market had to come back up at least enough for Happy to make some profit. They are selling at around 250g now. Happy is betting they'll reach 275g, which is where Happy will start selling them. PS - a day after I wrote this, sha crystal prices fell to 175g. I'm beginning to wonder if Mists of Pandaria is an already dead expansion.
The gem market is still pretty new to Happy. He doesn't know the competitors, yet (although Jetstream seems to be a heavy player), and he's still working on the fringes. He still managed to sell almost a 1,000g in gems over the weekend, though. He's learning. Even in his short time in the gem market, Happy already sees prices sliding. Gems solidly selling in the 100g range dipped to as low as 70-80g. Happy can still make the gems (or, well, JB can) at a lower price, but it's an indicator of where the market might go.
Oddly enough, the one market that has done the most to sustain Happy is the volatiles market. Blizz did away with elemental materials in Panda land, known as volatiles, eternals, and primals in earlier expansions. So, the Wrath version, volatiles, still have quite a bit if value. Happy bought a ton of those when Pandaria grew close, and he is still making a profit on the sales. Happy's efforts have worked almost too well, though. Prices are high but Happy's stock is now dwindling. Happy is in a dangerous spiral, buying up ever higher priced volatiles and then raising his selling price again and again to compensate. There will come a time when the buyers will say, no more.
Fist actually did some questing for a few hours, a rarity for the Wild family these days. JB was acting as the central distribution point for all of the materials required to make things that Happy sold, and she was getting tired of clogged bags and an overloaded mailbox. Happy, not wanting JB to show up on his doorstep with wheelbarrows full stuff she no longer wanted to hold, Happy promised to fix things. EZ, Jocey, Shevils, and Mew were pressed into service handling the mess. Fist was asked to make the Trapper's bag, a 28 slot leatherworking bag. She had the mats, but needed to gain Revered status with the Kalu'ak faction in Northrend in order to buy the recipe. Off and on through the course of a day, Fist worked on the quests, and got her recipe. JB was happy, Fist was Happy, and Happy was Happy. EZ, Jocey, Shevils, and Mew weren't exactly thrilled at having to go to work, though.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Weekend (2 Jun) - The Grand Plan
Weekend (2 Jun) - The Grand Plan
This is Hammer and Nails, Part Two. First of all, Judi was very happy with her newly organized room. I also made sure Judi's computer and Internet connection was functioning. That was accomplishment #1. For my office, I got my new computer rack in place, and got both of my computers up and running. In the process I cleaned up a lot snarled cabling. I also wound up with four cables I couldn't find a use for anymore. Hmm. Kind of like working on the car and having parts left over. Well, it's all working, so it's all good.
For the next phase I hit the Ikea store again. I put up a second rack just like the first to replace the section of shelving that went to Judi's room. I sent another cabinet to Judi and replaced it with IVAR shelving to hold more books and supplies. That was as far as I intended to take this makeover, until ...
... on Saturday morning, a vision came to me. I realized that my idea of turning my office room into a library, where I could display my favorite books, wasn't grand enough. All of the above work still fell short of what I "could" do. If I worked it right I might be able to build bookshelves along one entire wall of the room. I would have to convince a likely skeptical missus, though. Also, there is one more critical vote I need to get. One of our elder cats, Ellie (who is 13 years old), lives mostly in my office. She has her own litter box and not just one, but two beds to choose from, and her own cat tree. She is somewhat frail and suffers from neuropathy that has sadly weakened her legs, but she doesn't care a wit about any of that. She owns the room and any other cat fool enough to come near "her" stuff is in for trouble. Ellie's needs would have to clearly be the top priority in turning my grand plan into reality.
Well, I figured out a way to make it all work. I think. Then I pitched the idea. Ellie gave a thumbs up to her proposed new digs, pending her inspection once I'm done. I had to sweeten the deal with the missus by promising that ALL of my boxes of books would be removed from the walk-in closet, even if I couldn't get them all into bookshelves. I've culled a lot of books from that closet over the years, but I really have no idea how many are still in there. They'll either fit or they'll be donated.
Once that is done, Judi's plan to convert the closet into an office supplies closet and Avon holding area should be realized. I'm still holding out for one corner to keep my miscellaneous electronic stuff, but a lot of that will probably have to go as well.
I've been taking pictures as I go. Once it's all done, I'll do a picture blog of the before and after.
New Subject: The Auction House is Closed
What? How could that be? In all the time Happy has been plying the AH, it has never been "closed." Happy got a little popup window that said, "The Auction is closed at the moment. Please try again later." I had time to wonder how the AH could be down while the rest of the world was still working. A few minutes later the servers went down. All of them. Hard crash. On a Saturday. This could take a long time to fix. Actually, they got everything back up and running in under an hour. Nice job. Except that Blizzard has a warning up that there are "connection issues" that are affecting some customers that they are still trying to resolve. So far it hasn't affected our server.
We didn't go to the baseball game on Friday night, although we had planned to. I was too exhausted from my project (hey, don't laugh, wait 'till you see the pictures of the mess I had to deal with; ok, the mess I created). This morning I learned that the game went 17 innings and well past midnight. I never, never leave a game before it's over. It would have been a grueling and boring night since neither team scored a run from the sixth inning until the bottom of the seventeenth. The Padres beat the Blue Jays 4-3. The Padres won, 4-3, again on Saturday. We'll be at the game today, Sunday. Wouldn't it be cool if we won that game, 4-3, as well?
This is Hammer and Nails, Part Two. First of all, Judi was very happy with her newly organized room. I also made sure Judi's computer and Internet connection was functioning. That was accomplishment #1. For my office, I got my new computer rack in place, and got both of my computers up and running. In the process I cleaned up a lot snarled cabling. I also wound up with four cables I couldn't find a use for anymore. Hmm. Kind of like working on the car and having parts left over. Well, it's all working, so it's all good.
For the next phase I hit the Ikea store again. I put up a second rack just like the first to replace the section of shelving that went to Judi's room. I sent another cabinet to Judi and replaced it with IVAR shelving to hold more books and supplies. That was as far as I intended to take this makeover, until ...
... on Saturday morning, a vision came to me. I realized that my idea of turning my office room into a library, where I could display my favorite books, wasn't grand enough. All of the above work still fell short of what I "could" do. If I worked it right I might be able to build bookshelves along one entire wall of the room. I would have to convince a likely skeptical missus, though. Also, there is one more critical vote I need to get. One of our elder cats, Ellie (who is 13 years old), lives mostly in my office. She has her own litter box and not just one, but two beds to choose from, and her own cat tree. She is somewhat frail and suffers from neuropathy that has sadly weakened her legs, but she doesn't care a wit about any of that. She owns the room and any other cat fool enough to come near "her" stuff is in for trouble. Ellie's needs would have to clearly be the top priority in turning my grand plan into reality.
Well, I figured out a way to make it all work. I think. Then I pitched the idea. Ellie gave a thumbs up to her proposed new digs, pending her inspection once I'm done. I had to sweeten the deal with the missus by promising that ALL of my boxes of books would be removed from the walk-in closet, even if I couldn't get them all into bookshelves. I've culled a lot of books from that closet over the years, but I really have no idea how many are still in there. They'll either fit or they'll be donated.
Once that is done, Judi's plan to convert the closet into an office supplies closet and Avon holding area should be realized. I'm still holding out for one corner to keep my miscellaneous electronic stuff, but a lot of that will probably have to go as well.
I've been taking pictures as I go. Once it's all done, I'll do a picture blog of the before and after.
New Subject: The Auction House is Closed
What? How could that be? In all the time Happy has been plying the AH, it has never been "closed." Happy got a little popup window that said, "The Auction is closed at the moment. Please try again later." I had time to wonder how the AH could be down while the rest of the world was still working. A few minutes later the servers went down. All of them. Hard crash. On a Saturday. This could take a long time to fix. Actually, they got everything back up and running in under an hour. Nice job. Except that Blizzard has a warning up that there are "connection issues" that are affecting some customers that they are still trying to resolve. So far it hasn't affected our server.
We didn't go to the baseball game on Friday night, although we had planned to. I was too exhausted from my project (hey, don't laugh, wait 'till you see the pictures of the mess I had to deal with; ok, the mess I created). This morning I learned that the game went 17 innings and well past midnight. I never, never leave a game before it's over. It would have been a grueling and boring night since neither team scored a run from the sixth inning until the bottom of the seventeenth. The Padres beat the Blue Jays 4-3. The Padres won, 4-3, again on Saturday. We'll be at the game today, Sunday. Wouldn't it be cool if we won that game, 4-3, as well?
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