I’ve been absent. Most people probably think I got hit by a bus or something, or that the blog is well and truly dead and I’ll never post to it again.

The latter is probably closer to the truth, but it’s hard to just close this thing down. Too much time has gone into it. Too much work. Too much money. Maybe I’m just being stubborn and denying the inevitable. Maybe not.

I started this blog many years ago, when I was so passionate about the World of Warcraft, when I was so passionate about Arms Warriors, that I felt that I had something to say, and that Arms needed a voice to speak on its behalf.

I’m still passionate about World of Warcraft, though not as much as I once was. To be fair, much of my passion in the game was because my life at the time was a wreck, and I needed an escape more than I thought I did. Denied that truth for a long time, too. I’m still passionate about Arms Warriors, and Lelissa remains my flagship sword-wielding warrior queen in Azeroth… and in Arborea, Skyrim, Amalur… anywhere a powerful fighter with a two-handed sword can be found.

The problem is that I feel that I’ve run out of things to say. I’ve tried to rekindle that theorycrafting spark; I’ve tried to force myself to write on the upcoming 5.2 changes and rage management and the loss (finally!) of Heroic Strike… and I just don’t have it in me.

I don’t know what the future will hold for this blog. I’m going to try my hand at returning to a little fanfic, but posts will likely be sporadic (as I’m sure anyone remaining has noticed). I have stories to write and stories to finish – believe me, Lelissa has been screaming at me from the corner of my mind that she calls home – and I’m going to tell those stories. Just bear with me.

If you’re still following me after all this silence, then thank you. Thank you for sticking around, just in case there was something to be said.

I leave you with this – wonderful, wonderful art provided by my most excellent friend, Lorelai:

Lelissa and Malyss, fighting the good fight, back to back as they should have from the very beginning before Arthas took that away from them.

I know a lot of us have had this problem in some form or another. You’re puttering around Stormwind or Orgrimmar going about your business when you happen to see something on your screen that makes you do a double take. Something someone said in General or Trade Chat made you wonder just what was going on, or maybe you spotted the name of a character or hunter pet that made you slow down and say, “Hold on a second, here. Did I just see what I thought I saw?” So you turn to check again, and sure enough, there sits a Worgen Hunter with a wolf pet named Jewbiter. Or a Dwarf Paladin named Mikehunt (if you’re confused about this one, say it out loud really fast). I’m not making these up – these are people I’ve actually reported before.

In days past, you would be able to click the trusty red question mark in your UI, open up a ticket, and file it with the GMs so that it would be looked at. You’d receive a nice little in-game message that showed that it was responded to and being investigated. In the case of Mikehunt, I added him to my friends list to make sure that the name was changed, and if not, I could report him again later (I had to report him several more times for other versions of the same name, until he finally received a final warning, I suspect, and changed his name to something more appropriate). With Jewbiter, however, you just had to make your report and hope that it would be resolved. Not the greatest option, but for me, it was enough. The in-game mail response at least indicated that it was being investigated, and in my experience, turnaround time on these issues was typically within a day or two.

The new system doesn’t work in the same way, and in some cases, it’s a little bit better and more user-friendly. The option for making a report on bad player names, bad pet names, bad guild names, or unacceptable language in chat is now reduced to a click-to-report option. Right-click the character portrait or character name in chat, choose “report player,” and the UI comes up. Now, the UI for this feature is great. You can choose one of four radio buttons: Bad Player Name, Bad Guild Name, Language, and Cheating ; add in a short description of the incident in the provided text box, and that’s that. Report finished.

On paper, it looks like the perfect way to manage these reports. No more having to remember what a character name is, or figuring out just what alt code you need to get that umlauted u. I don’t get updates from Blizzard anymore to say, “Hey, we got your report and we’re gonna look into it. In the meantime, have a Pudding Pop,” but when this feature was first released, I could live with it. They’ve done right by me in the past, so no big deal.

Then something went wrong.

Back on Azgalor-US, I was running through Stormwind one day on my hunter. I happened to run by the blacksmith’s area and ran past a Worgen Warrior rocking the DS5 instance plate armor. That armor looked pretty good! So, like any fledgling transmogger (damn you Rades and Rhuan) wanting to check it out and see what it would look like on a Draenei, I clicked his name and did a double take.

Ibitanegar.

I was shocked. That’s not even skirting the line of racism, that’s taking the running long jump right into I-dare-you-to-ban-me-ville. So I brought it up in guild chat. Encouraged everyone to report him, and filed a player name report myself. Added him to the friends list to keep an eye on the name change, and went about my day. In my heart I knew it would get handled; Blizzard would bring down the hammer.

The next day, I logged in and saw no change. No big deal, I thought, it’s probably backed up in the system, but I filed another report anyway. The day after that, no change. No big deal, I thought again, it’s probably backed up in the system. I filed another report anyway. I was away from my computer for a few days after that, working on my D&D/novel project, so I wasn’t able to check in to see if there was a change. However, I’m sure you can imagine my surprise and confusion when, a week after my initial report, I logged in to find that Ibitanegar was still on my friends list. I reported him again. I encouraged others to do the same. I mentioned it in guild chat. Standard operating procedure, right?

A week later, after reporting daily, Ibitanegar was still on my friends list. Alright, follow standard operating procedure. Report, encourage. Report. Encourage. Report. Encourage. It was then that some people in my guild mentioned that they couldn’t report him without being able to click him or his name. So, after forming a group with everyone who wanted to report him but couldn’t because they weren’t in Stormwind, I used HGWT to bring them to his position (and I’m sure if he was at his computer, he was confused as to why half a dozen people just teleported in on him, but I digress). Reports were made, and I went on about my business.

On one occasion, I decided to see what would happen if I were to use the old way of reporting. Choosing the “report a player” option simply gave instructions on the click-to-report procedure, but what about another method? I sent in a complaint through the original system, indicating that my numerous reports on the new system had gone unanswered, and that this player name was something that should be addressed. I received a wonderfully copy-pasted response detailing that all player reports must use the new click-to-report procedure, and no escalation option. Glorious. (Note at this time that I didn’t use any of the reporting options on Battle.net. Why? Because until the time of this writing and discussions with Rades, I forgot they even existed.)

More than a month after my initial report, Ibitanegar was still unchanged. I was absolutely baffled. I could not understand why a racial slur of this magnitude was allowed or just glossed over.

Some time later on Twitter, Blizzard posted this:

And I responded:

A few hours went by without a response, and I logged off for the day. I got up the next morning to see an update in my twitter feed, a response from Blizzard:

My jaw dropped. Are you KIDDING me? “The atmosphere on a realm is determined by its population.” My problem with this response is two-fold. In the first place, it doesn’t explain WHY they would allow a name such as this to persist, and second, does this mean they’re okay with a racial slur as a name so long as everyone else on the server is fine with it? I responded to this utter ridiculousness, only partially addressing the requirement of having to click to report:

Now, I’ve seen @BlizzardCS respond to tweets they’ve received about people having problems and questions on tickets and so on. Not once did I ever receive a follow-up from them on this for more clarification, and I’ve been grinding my teeth about this whole event since it happened. It’s been almost two months since my initial reporting, and Ibitanegar is still playing his happy little racist heart out on Azgalor-US, but I’m no longer there to continue reporting him.

This ties in neatly with the post made by Stubborn  where their letter to Blizzard about votekicking says:

“I understand your secretive punitive measures that are to “protect customer’s privacy.”  Fine.  Those of us who are actually trying to maintain some semblance of civil community are constantly frustrated by it because one job of a justice system is deterrence, which can’t happen if justice takes place in secret, but fine.  Okay.  However, when the one tool we’re given where we can see swift and cold justice happen is gimped in such a way as to make it unusable, it calls into question your own stand on bad player behavior.”

My problem with the reporting feature is the SAME THING, but on a much more potentially damaging scale. Blizzard has given us a tool in order to help “police the community,” as Stubborn indicates, but barring one tweet from @BlizzardCS which is removed from the original issue, I’ve seen no results. On top of that, it feels to me as though that the customer service department is suggesting that if I’m the only person who has reported it (I know that I’m not), then it’s not important enough for them to investigate. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to take away from “The atmosphere on a realm is determined by its population” other than a casual dismissal.

Clearly, this isn’t working. So how do we fix the system? Honestly, click-to-report is a great feature. What’s not great is that it is the ONLY way to report. You might be able to get around distance restrictions by doing some fancy target-of-target work, but if you’re reporting in Stormwind and your guildmates are in Felwood, that’s just not possible. This requires the person in Felwood to come all the way back to Stormwind to report cases like this, and why in the HELL are the ones who are following the rules the ones who have to be inconvenienced in order to police their own community? I know that Blizzard doesn’t make public how many people they have in their GM system, so I know that some of the issue has to be with the sheer ratio of reports to personnel, but there HAS to be a better way.

Changes that I think would make this system run a little better:

• More options than click-to-report, OR make it so that you can /who [name] and click to report from the /who window. Being half a world away unable to report something your friend or guildmate mentions automatically forces you into a silent majority. I know Blizzard wants us all to use their shiny system, but if part of the system is broken, responding to “it doesn’t work” with “use it anyway” is flawed.
• Reports about bad character/guild names must be treated with the same level of concern as you would over someone reporting a hate crime. It might be something that severe, anyway.
• Reports about language must be treated with a high level of concern, though honestly, I’m less worried about someone saying “fuck” where a kid might see it than I am about them being exposed to racist views. I’ve personally witnessed other players talking about the “gook delivery driver” that just brought them take-out in general chat, or that some “goddamned Jew” ripped them off in trade. Put the four-letter words (or others like them) on the back burner, and address the racism first. I’m not saying the language is any less valid a complaint, but as a personal opinion, I think racism is much more damaging to the community than a rampant swear word.
• Implement and maintain a zero tolerance policy for racism. I’m sorry, but if I were on Blizzard’s GM squad, I’d be pushing for automatic perma-bans on anyone spouting off racist remarks or offensive names. I know there’s a bottom line to consider here, but what would you prefer? Banning one racist and scaring another ten into line, or letting one racist run rampant and losing ten paying player accounts because you’re not heading this behavior off at the pass?
• More escalation options in-game. It’s too easy to forget that there are other reporting options outside of the game world (I have a pretty good memory, and *I* forgot). Also, getting an automated response from a filter-based servicebot with no way to actually talk to a human being doesn’t contribute to the betterment of the community.

In closing, I’d like to point out that I’m not some raving censor out to quell every little thing that people do wrong. If someone swears in a public channel, I’ll let it go. I swear to express frustration or disbelief, and I’m not about to tell someone they can’t get a word in for emphasis if they really need to. However, if they’re on a major rant-bender where every other word requires an eye-covering of any nearby child, then I warrant it necessary to report it.

But this isn’t the 1800s anymore. It’s not even the 1900s. Any racism, even casual racism, confuses and upsets me a great deal. I just can’t wrap my brain around a blanket hatred of a group of people because of the color of their skin or a stereotype. Beyond that, though, I think what I’m shocked at most was how this whole situation was handled. Not once was I contacted for further information; not from in-game chat, not from in-game mail, not from @BlizzardCS after a half-hearted “show some server solidarity – power to the people” response. After two months, it makes me feel like my concerns for keeping up a good community were just swept under the rug.

I should be asleep right about now, but I’m still fairly jazzed up about a secret project I’ve been working on for a while now, and just finished (no details yet, it was just shipped off to the responsible parties a couple hours ago), and I’ve also been pondering some turns of events.

The D&D group has undergone a transformation. Some playstyle conflicts arose, and two of the players left to make way for others who fit in a little better. To that end, I devised a bit of an interviewing process (that I’m still fairly convinced that only I took remotely seriously), with the intention of bringing on two or three new players. The end result was a bit of a surprise, where I suddenly found myself actually willing to take on FOUR new players, bringing the total up to eight, making this only the second-largest game I’ve ever run, and the largest I’ve ever run with an online-only audience. Who are the new players? Well…

Those of you who have been reading some of the older blogs will recognize Llanion, formerly of the Mad Cow Chronicles, which is no longer available on the web. Others may be more familiar with a blogger fairly new to the scene, but gaining in popularity: Kialesse, of The Sisterhood of Kia. This won’t be the first time I’ve been a DM for a couple (she and Achloryn are quite the interesting pair), and it won’t be the first time that I’ve DM’ed with my own significant other in the game as well, who is the third addition to the team. The fourth and final addition, which is also the one that terrifies me simply because of his ability to pick out a story like nobody’s business, is Rades. Yes, that Rades. I have to admit, I’m more than a little intimidated at the thought of being the DM and storyteller for someone who has dissected Blizzard’s lore with the skill of a surgeon, and writes his own established fiction with the flair of a professional writer. I know I’m my own worst critic, but comparing my work to Rades’ is not unlike comparing a Hyundai with a Ferrari. They’ve both got four wheels and an engine, but the Ferrari is going to turn a lot more heads.

I have so much to do, and so much I have been doing. I still haven’t been able to put as much time into the beta as I would have liked in order to test Arms, and I gave up a while back thanks to the bug with CS that forced a client crash every time you used it. I have somewhere between 4 and 8 game sessions to post. I have been dabbling with TERA, and greatly enjoying the combat system. The new players have revitalized my creative process with regards to my D&D world, and I have been scribbling notes like mad whenever I’ve had a spare minute (if I can sort it all out when I’m done having ideas, it’ll be a bloody miracle). Diablo 3 is being released in 6 days. I’ve finished gearing Lelissa for Mists, but Malyss and Velyth are still picking up some late pieces. I’m working out again. I’m still employed at a company I like with a job that I despise. It’s stressful.

Anyway, enough whining. Just look forward to some new character updates soon, and the new D&D session posts. My goal is to get as much caught up as I can before the next game on the 20th, where the new and the old combine and move forward following the death of a hero.

You’ll see. I don’t want to ruin it.

But!

Have no fear. I have plenty more D&D posts coming (we’ve had quite a few sessions since the last), as well as some updates on how the Arms guides will work going forward into Mists of Pandaria. I’ll still update a basic guide for recommendations on spec and rotations as well as gemming options, but the game is changing dramatically once again, and those of you starting Arms warriors anew will find that what I can impart to you now will only have value for a short time.

Stay tuned!

I didn’t realize how much I needed this.

So, I won’t be updating daily. I will update once a week, for sure, even if it’s just something simple. Twice, if I have enough to talk about.

Not only that, but (and this should make some folks very happy) there were enough cries of distress and encouragement about the need for the Arms Warrior series that I will let it continue. The number of private tweets, emails, and other comments gave me a clear idea of just how much it is needed, and I think I can definitely accommodate it in the new “no pressure” environment.

In other news, the first D&D game was (well, technically *is* – we’re still playing as I type) today, and will become a new series as I chronicle the adventures in a world that I’ve been designing off and on for about a decade now.

It should be great fun.

Moving this week, so I apologize for lack of posts. Between trying to get everything set up for a seamless move, still maintain my raid schedule, bringing home projects for work, working on projects for the D&D game I’m getting ready to run in a week, making plans for The Great Blog Transition of ’09, and a whole mess of other things, I have officially:

• Missed out on NaNoWriMo this month.
• Missed starting the Uldu-Arms series of posts.
• Missed Friday Fiction.
• Found a hundred other things to do before my mother comes to visit this weekend IN THE MIDDLE OF MY MOVE.
• Realized that there is no way to get my couch out of my apartment without killing myself and at least two good friends.
• Lost (what was left of) my sanity.

So, another hiatus, close on the heels of the other one. I promise it won’t last as long.

On the bright side, I bought the Lil’ KT and Pandaren Monk. They gave me something to smile about for a bit.