Hey everyone just checkin in to say hey! Was wondering how you all are doing in game and in real life.

I don't have much time to play anymore really. Ive just been working and on my free time leveling a blood elf rogue named Marthaastewr on Tichondrius. I'm going to start going to school again in the summer and maybe i'll have more time to play. I hope to start leveling Afton more asap. So, I hope to see you all soon!

Love, Aftonioooooo

I managed to out roll a 99 the other night (go me) on a Heroic Malygos Key. I'm posting this in the hopes maybe someone could point me towards a 25 Man Malygos Raid I could sneak into, snag the quest item, and sneak out without being noticed!

Doesn't necessarily need to be in guild, maybe a guildy knows of one on the weekend or something that might need a ok geared mage for a night or something.

Time for part 2 of my reading of the bailout bill!  I didn't get very far.  I skipped Title II and went right to Title III - Commerce, Justice, and Science.  I'll get back to Title II.  Title III just lasts a few pages, going from page 82 through page 89. Oh, before I get started - check out Part I to read my disclaimer and my thoughts on Title I.

Title III has 3 components.  I started with Commerce.  There is 1 billion for the 2010 census, which is good, because I’m looking for work and might be a Census taker.  This makes sense (no pun intended) in a bill trying to create jobs.

Then the bill goes on to want 3 billion (for those that are more visual $3,000,000,000) to get wireless and broadband access to all areas.  The media has toted this as being for wireless access in rural areas.  I'm a little biased against this.  I don't see how this will create jobs.  Sure, a few will be needed to set up the infrastructure... but then when it's there, there will not be such a need.  Granted, the same could be said about the Census Takers (or Enumerators, as they are called).  But then again, I want to be an enumerator and not a wireless broadband structure creator.

650 million for digital converter boxes.... wait... what?  Weren't we supposed to already be ready for the switch?  Apparently this is now getting pushed back until a future date.

            Provided, That these funds shall be available for coupons and related activities, including but
            not limited to education, consumer support and outreach, as deemed appropriate and
            necessary to ensure a timely conversion of analog to digital television. (pg 85)

I talked with a good friend in the TV biz.  She was furious (and rightly so in my mind).  Not switching will cost many companies millions of dollars... aren't we in a recession, and losing money in a company causes workers to be fired?  How can this help?

Onward to the NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration). This is a hard one for me.  I’m a scientist by nature, so I want to fund more scientific research… and I understand that while I do not necessarily agree with some of the habitat restoration, 400 million seems fair to keep things like polar bears from dying away.  But lets not forget that another 600 million (aka, 1 billion total) must go to developing a climate model.  We HAVE a climate model.  We HAVE data stations.  What we NEED are data stations in places like third world countries, where the data is slim to none, and some of the oceans.. I’ll find a picture eventually.  I don’t really believe in the hype that is global warming, but being a geologist, I’ll let this stand for me.  I’m biased, what can I say? Maybe my former roommates (both IT specialists) want the money for the rural wireless access because they work with computers….. who knows?

On to the justice area.  I like justice.

4 Billion for police, eh?  I’m okay with that.  My dad was a police officer for a long time, and I know the benefit that having a place with good police can do for you.  I do not believe that the police are bad, and I believe that a community without police very often suffers some dire consequences.  Even if there is no “official” police, someone steps up and does the work.  So 4 billion for police… I’m in.  PLUS this will create jobs.

Just in case you’re keeping count – 8.65 billion at this point, just for Title III.

Yay, the science section!  For some reason, I think I should be hearing that woman that use to be in front of all the SimCity games… you know, the one who in that RIDICULOUSLY sultry voice said “reticulating splines…”  I still don’t know what that means, but the Science part makes me wonder... makes me yearn...

400 million for science in the beginning, but 250 million MUST be for climate research?  What the heck?  Didn’t we already give climate research money earlier?  Aeronautics gets a paltry 150 million.  ONLY 150 millions?  My brothers fly planes.  According to them, there have been no major advances in airplane technology in decades.  We need research to continue to advance.   Does this cover anything for NASA?  Or is this the part of the bailout bill intended for major airline companies?  They already gouge out your eyes and require your left kidney to fly in this country - why give them more money?

50 million goes to cross-agencies to help with natural disaster and emergency costs – Katrina, anyone?  I’m not saying this is a bad idea, in fact, I think it’s a good idea, but this is supposed to CREATE JOBS.  How does giving more money to this area in THIS BILL create jobs?

Now, the NSF.  I like them.  My married friends keep trying to apply to get money from them.  2.5 billion.  This is good… we need the NSF…. But, so little in such a big package?  Research grants DO provide jobs, just perhaps not as many as other items.  Still, at least this is better than nothing.

Title III wraps up with some basic comments about more money for education.  Science education, based on NSF documents, gets 100 million… I don’t LIKE saying this, but I don’t see how teaching children who are already in school science, without making more jobs available, helps stimulate the economy.  Maybe those research grants. 

That wraps up Title III of the HR 1.  Page 89!  I skipped rural construction, and Title IV is Defense – woo hoo!  But don't worry, I'll get back to Title III.

Now the real shit comes in:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910002204&pageNo...

We are planning a lot of exciting content for patch 3.1.0, and we are doing a three-part preview series on upcoming class changes. This is the first in the series: Priests, Rogues, and Shaman. Please keep in mind, that this list is not at all comprehensive, and subject to change.

PRIEST

• Divine Spirit – this spell is now a core ability available to all priests.
• Discipline has access to a new talent, Power Word: Barrier. (Think of it as Power Word: Shield for your whole group).
• Several area of effect (AOE) heal spells have been improved: Prayer of Healing can be cast on any groups in your raid party. Holy Nova’s mana cost has been reduced. Circle of Healing now heals for more.
• Shadow priest PvP survivability has been improved: Shadow Form now reduces magic as well as physical damage. Dispersion now removes snares.
• Penance – this spell can now be targeted on the priest.
• Serendipity – this talent now reduces the cast time of Greater Heal and Prayer of Healing when Binding Heal or Flash Heal are cast.
• We are also working to give Holy additional PvP utility.

  ROGUE

• Hunger for Blood – instead of a self-buff, this ability can only be used when there is a bleed effect on the target. However, it has no stacks and grants a 15% damage bonus.
• Adrenaline Rush – the cooldown on this ability has been lowered.
• Lightning Reflexes – reduced to 3 ranks. In addition to 2/4/6% dodge, this talent now also grants 4/7/10% passive melee haste.
• Killing Spree – while this ability is active, the rogue does 20% additional damage.
• Savage Combat – now causes 2/4% physical damage done.
• Mace Specialization – this talent now grants haste in addition to armor penetration.

  SHAMAN

• Chain Lightning – now jumps to 4 targets but does less damage. We wanted to make the distinction between Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning more clear.
• Storm, Earth and Fire – this talent now increases all damage done by Flame Shock, not just periodic damage.
• Spirit Weapons – now reduces all threat, not just melee threat.
• Unleashed Rage – reduced to 2 ranks, now also increases your critical strike chance with melee attacks by 1/2%.
• Totem streamlining: The Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems have been combined. The Disease Cleansing and Poison Cleansing Totems have been combined.
• We are also working on giving Enhancement and Elemental more PvP utility.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910422662&sid=1

We are planning a lot of exciting content for patch 3.1.0, and we are doing a three-part preview series on upcoming class changes. This is the second in the series: Warlocks, Druids, and Warriors. Please keep in mind, that this list is not at all comprehensive, and subject to change. To read the previous list in the series, check out Part 1 -

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910002204&sid=1

WARLOCK

• Improved Shadow Bolt – this talent now provides a 5% spell critical strike buff (similar to Improved Scorch).
• Improved Soul Leech – this talent now provides Replenishment (similar to shadow priests)
• Drain Soul now has a chance to produce Soul Shards even if the target doesn’t die.
• Siphon Life no longer as an active ability but the talent grants the old Siphon Life effect to Corruption.
• Curse of Recklessness and Curse of Weakness have been combined into one spell
• Consume Shadows – this Voidwalker ability is no longer channeled but has a cooldown.
• Several other warlock talents have had their ranks reduced, their effects changed or removed. This list includes but is not limited to Demonic Empathy, Shadow Embrace, Eradication, Suppression, and Pandemic.
• Additional new talents have been added.

  DRUID

• Savage Defense – this is a new passive ability. When a druid in Dire Bear form deals a melee critical strike, the druid gains a damage shield equal to 25% of their attack power. The next hit completely removes the shield regardless of how much damage was done.
• Survival of the Fittest has had its bonus armor reduced to compensate for the above increase in damage mitigation.
• Faerie Fire (and similar debuffs) now reduces armor by 5%. See Sunder Armor in the warrior update below for additional details.
• Thorns and Nature’s Grasp can be cast in Tree of Life form.
• Survival Instincts now works in Moonkin form.
• Replenish – to avoid confusion, this talent has been renamed “Revitalize.” It now also works with Wild Growth.
• We are also looking at increasing the sustained (not burst) damage of feral druids in cat form.

  WARRIOR

• Changing stances now has a much reduced cost: you lose a maximum of 20 rage (10 with Tactical Mastery). For example, if you have 100 rage and change stances, you will have 80 rage remaining. If you have 10 rage and change stances, all of your rage is lost. In addition, we may change the penalties associated with some stances.
• You now gain rage when damage done to you is absorbed, such as through a Power Word: Shield.
• Blood Frenzy now causes 2/4% physical damage done.
• Sunder Armor (and similar debuffs) now reduces armor by 4% per application, and is now a single rank. Creature armor has been globally reduced so that debuffed targets should take about the same damage from physical attacks that they did before this change. The net effect should be that this debuff is slightly less mandatory in PvE and is not disproportionately more powerful against cloth targets in PvP.
• We are also adding increased damage to Arms, possibly through Overpower or Slam.
• We are also looking at granting rage when the warrior blocks, dodges or parries.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910003268&sid=1

We are planning a lot of exciting content for patch 3.1.0, and we are doing a three-part preview series on upcoming class changes. This is the third in the series: Mages, Paladins, Hunters, and Death Knights. Please keep in mind, that this list is not at all comprehensive, and subject to change.

MAGE

• Improved Water Elemental – this talent has been removed and replaced with a new talent that grants Replenishment (similar to Shadow priests).
• We are also working on a way to give frost mages Ice Lance “Shatter combos” in PvE.
• We are also working on more survivability for Fire spec in PvP.
• We are also working on making Spirit a more useful and interesting stat for all mages.

  PALADIN

• Blessing of Kings – this spell is now a base ability trainable by all paladins.
• Exorcism – this spell now causes damage to all types of enemy targets. However, it always critical strikes undead or demon targets. This change should make sure paladin damage doesn’t drop when going from Naxxramas to later tiers of content.
• Shield of the Templar now causes your Avenger’s Shield and Shield of the Righteousness to silence targets for 3 sec. The old damage bonus of this talent has been folded into Holy Shield, Avenger’s Shield, and Shield of the Righteousness.
• Ardent Defender, Improved Hammer of Justice, One-Handed Weapon Specialization and more have had their ranks reduced.
• Guarded by the Light – no longer reduces the mana cost of shield spells, but now has a 50/100% chance to refresh Divine Plea duration.
• Judgements of the Just – now also reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 10/20 seconds and increases the duration of the Seal of Justice stun effect by 0.5/1 second.

  HUNTER

• Consumable ammunition has been removed from the game. Arrows and bullets no longer stack, but are not consumed. Ranged attack speed bonus gained from quivers and ammo bags will be preserved in a different capacity.
• A new tier of hunter pet talents have been added. In particular, this allows Beastmaster hunters to improve their damage per second (DPS) with their 51 point talent.
• Hunting Party – this talent has been reduced to 3 ranks and also grants a passive bonus to the hunter.
• Piercing Shots – this talent has been changed. Your Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of damage dealt for 8 sec.
• Sniper Training – this talent has been changed. After standing still for 6 sec, you gain a 2/4/6% damage bonus to Steady, Aimed and Explosive Shot.
• We are also looking to add additional trap functionality to Survival.

  DEATH KNIGHT

• Gargoyle and Unholy Blight have swapped talent positions. Gargoyle’s damage has increased and runic power cost per time has decreased.
• Pestilence – this spell no longer causes damage but just spreads diseases. Blood Boil is intended to be the general area attack, and has been changed to be castable on targets with no diseases on them, but does extra damage if diseases are present.
• Unbreakable Armor now absorbs a flat amount of damage that increases as your armor increases. It no longer boosts armor.
• The Frost tree has been shuffled. Among other things, PvP talents such as Endless Winter are closer to the top of the tree where Blood and Unholy death knights can access them.
• Sudden Doom – this talent now procs a Death Coil rather than requiring an additional button click. It works similarly to shamans’ Lightning Overload.
• Magic Suppression and Blood of the North have been reduced to 3 ranks for the same benefit.
• Blood Gorged now grants armor penetration instead of expertise.