Hi guys!

Letting you know about a new service specifically for WoW and Aion players!

What is it?

First of all, it’s called “Lower My Ping.” Ok, now back to the question: it’s a proxy/tunneling service for MMOs like WoW and Aion. There are similar services out there, some better than others… mainly the likes of smoothping, lowerping, etc. But we figured we could one up these guys and make it a bit more streamlined. The service could reduce your in-game ping by 70% or more!

Why do I need it?

Well, we can’t read your BRAINS but we’ll go through a few scenarios where it might be useful.

1. The Aussie/New Zealander

Our oceanic friends usually seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to IP infrastructure. As such, tunneling services may sometimes be required in order to have smooth and otherwise enjoyable gameplay in games like WoW. Right here I would probably make a lame joke about how kangaroos and sheep don’t make for good network admins (ha ha!).

2. The Hardcore PvP Player

PvP typically demands a certain amount of responsiveness to stay competitive. Our service would really improve this by minimizing the effects of lag.

3. The guy with the crappy ISP

We all know this guy. Because he lives in the middle of nowhere he has to settle for his local ISP monopoly with crappy pings, routing and download speeds. And not only does his lag effect him, but the rest of the guild too! While we may not be able to completely fix his problems, our service should lower his ping considerably to at least a playable level.

Wow, I amazed! Where and how do I get your service?!

You can learn more about our service at LowerMyPing.com (overview). We have a free 3 day trial for those who wish to give it a shot – if it didn’t live up to your expectations go ahead and cancel before those 3 days and we won’t charge you a cent. Otherwise, we’ll gladly take your money (about $5 USD every month) after the 3 day grace period.

We’ve worked really hard on this and hope to get a lot of feedback. We’re working on adding support for new games as I write this, but for now we support World of Warcraft and Aion. Thanks for your time!

If you have any questions, feedback, or hate mail please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

Update: You can just download the updated version now from WoWInterface or Curse.com.  GOGOGOGO Moonkins!

As everyone knows, Patch 3.3 launched this week, bringing with it cool things such as the new LFG system, Icecrown Citadel, and a cool new 5 man dungeon.  As most patches do, 3.3 broke some of my addons, most of which are fixed within 1-2 days of the patch being launched, with the exception of Squawk and Awe.

At any rate, it looks like the addon itself won’t be updated, and most other addons to track Eclipse & its cooldown are relatively subpar.  Raiding without SAA is painful; my DPS drops substantially, and I forget which Eclipse I’m on, and so forth.

A fix for Squawk and Awe was released somewhere on the EJ forums (not sure who to give props to on it), but either way, I don’t have the appropriate programs on my computer to edit .lua files.  So thanks to @tmayr on Twitter for shooting me over a link to download the file that will fix Squawk and Awe on your computer.

To Fix Squawk and Awe, Do the Following:

1. Download the edited LUA file by CLICKING HERE.  Alternatively, if you have the software to edit .lua files yourself, you can just copy/paste into your file called SquawkandAwe.lua from this file.
2. Open World of Warcraft > Interface > Addons > Squawk and Awe and replace the current file in there with this file.
3. VOILA! Your Squawk and Awe will work EXACTLY as before

I meant to blog about my first impressions on Patch 3.3 and Icecrown Citadel, but I don’t have time right now.  Keep chugging away, and by the way, I am loving the new LFG system.  Its AWESOME (even if I do have to go resto just to get into groups fast).

Laterz,

Ballerkin

Hey — I’ll take it. Early yesterday, Blizzard decided to make up for their previous nerfs (they nerfed 2pc T8 & WiseEclipse), by buffing Eclipse.

Eclipse now increases damage done by Wrath by 40% (up from 30%) and the critical chance of Starfire by 40% (up from 30%)

Like I said — I’ll take it.  This should balance out the DPS loss that most people were going to experience by switching out their 2pc T8.  I’ll wait for Graylo to do math, but I think the Eclipse buff + 4pc T9 > 2pc T8.  Sure, you lose 1% extra damage to Wrath, but 10% crit and 4% damage to Starfire are definitely better than 15% crit to Starfire.

I understand people’s complaints about this buff, and how it even furthers our dependance on Eclipse and makes movement flat out kill our DPS.  However, I don’t think its going to affect us that much.  As I read elsewhere, I’m sure that Blizzard will not ‘fix’ Eclipse or change anything significant about moonkin DPS till Cataclysm, so let’s just stick with what we got and be content

In other news – I have finals and final papers next week and the week after.  I haven’t taken a final in like 2 years!! x.x

Updates to the 3.3 Patch notes came out yesterday via MMO-Champion.  Is it just me, or does it seem Blizzard’s reaction time when it comes to nerfing us so much quicker than what it takes to buff us?  Whatever, I still have faith that we will be balanced in some other way, although it seems that 4pc T10 buff is not going to balance out the loss of WiseEclipse.

Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cool-down for each type of Eclipse.

We all knew this NERF was coming.  Everyone using WiseEclipse, at least, knew this day was going to come eventually.  Still, it hurts.  Chain proc’ing a Solar Eclipse almost always after a Lunar Eclipse was awesome, and honestly, was usually a guaranteed thing (especially if you were using 2pc T8).

Whatever.  My DPS will live and continue to be competitive, for the most part.  GC confirmed that the only reason Eclipse was changed was to make sure that no add-on was mandatory for raiding moonkin — which WiseEclipse definitely was.  Still, if their intent really is for no add-on to be mandatory, then what Blizzard really needs are in-game DoT timer counters as well as cool-down timers.  I don’t believe that any raiding moonkin can perform at his best with Squawk and Awe or a similar addon.

Druid T8 Balance 2P Bonus – Increases the bonus granted by Eclipse for Starfire and Wrath by 7%. (Down from 15%)

Funny enough, we all knew this was happening too, and honestly, I’m surprised this nerf didn’t happen as soon as they changed Eclipse back in patch 3.2, but whatever.  I actually swapped to 4pc T9.245 although I didn’t blog about it.  To be honest, even if they hadn’t nerfed 2pc T8, I probably would still use 4pc T9 by now, which is funny, because I had previously blogged about keeping 2pc T8 over 4pc T9.  However, things change, and as I am rather ADD I got tired with 2pc T8, and the increased dependence on Eclipse.

So, while this is also another NERF, it is one we were all expecting, and one that won’t really affect me.  In fact, it helps us out in the long run in terms of making sure we upgrade to T9 and eventually, T10.  Which leads me to the next item of importance – 4pc T10 was BUFFED!

Druid T10 Balance 4P Bonus – Your critical strikes from Starfire and Wrath cause the target languish for an additional 7% of your spell’s damage over 4 sec. (Up from 5%)

Without even looking at math or numbers, its safe to say that I was looking forward to upgrade to T10 anyways.  Interesting set bonuses are always fun – I love it when they steer away from the generic, “5% extra crit, 4% extra damage” or whatever regular set bonuses that are around.  I already covered the moonkin 2pc T10 set bonus, and the 4pc sounds cool too.  Since I doubt I’m going to spend any DKP on T9.258, T10.251 seems like its going to be what I’ll be upgrading to as soon as possible.  Check with Graylo for math, but I’m positive that the T9 to T10 transition will be an easy one.  I will miss critting Moonfires, however, maybe they will add it to our talent tree in Cataclysm.

Conclusion

At any rate, sorry for being backed up on posting – I started writing this the other day, but I keep finding less and less time each time to do anything else other than work/school (and I’m still skipping tons of classes).  PLUS – they just moved my desk from my nice isolated corner to RIGHT IN FRONT of my boss’s office.  Good times.

On another side note – Warpath got A Tribute to Insantiy (25 player) last week.  Pretty awesome.  Can’t wait for ICC now.