Recruit A Friend

So Happy!

In the World of Warcraft there's this great program called recruit-a-friend.It starts with Blizzard (the creators of WoW) allowing you to send out invites to your friends who don't play the game. Your friends are then given the chance to open up a trial account in which they can play online with you side by side, level up three times fatser, and see if they like the game. 

They should play WoW together!

I think this is a genius idea! First off you get to start playing an awesome game with someone you actually like, and not only that, but you're progressing so much faster than if you started on your own. At the same time, you or your friend are  not really losing anything. The trial account is free, and there's not really any risk or things to buy until he's found out that he'd actually like to play the game. You on the other hand get to play with someone that you know in real life, share something that you enjoy with them, and maybe even get a sweet mount in the process.

Member Missionary!

The recruit-a-friend program is a lot like member missionary work...

AoE French Toast

"We'll make it to Laurel... Someday!"

Every six weeks as a missionary, we have the opportunity to transfer from the area in which we serve. I love transfers and being able to travel through the state, and seeing all the other missionaries serving in their respected areas. Yesterday I got on a members van to travel from Missoula to Laurel, Montana and on the way we encountered a wild Elder Theodore Butler and his companion Elder Freeman. Lols ensued. 

French Toast-- Yummy Breakfast or AoE damage in Disguise

So we met up at this restaurant named The Hanging 5 or something like that in Butte, Montana (yes, there actually is a town named Butte) to have breakfast. We all ordered, and Elder Butler got some French toast with a fruit and whipped cream topping. (This is important-- listen up) The order came, and soon the French toast's topping was half on the table and a quarter on Elder Butler's pants and a quarter on the floor. I was sitting next to Elder Butler, so I of course absorbed some of the AoE French toast's damage. Those unfamiliar to WoW might want to note that AoE means Area of Effect. Although most of the RL (real life) French toast AoE hit the floor and table's edge, both Elder Butler and I received some damage to our pants...

Purpose to life (2) Where do I go when I die?

Today what I want to talk about is something that I feel a lot of people have asked me over the course of my mission. The question, "Where do I go when I die?" I have had that question asked to me a lot so today I am hopefully going to answer some of those questions for you. So we talked about in our previous post (Purpose to Life (Part1) What's my purpose in life? ) What we are supposed to be doing while we are alive.What I want to do is share with you a quick WoW story with you. When I was in a BG (Battleground) You tend to get hurt a lot in battle to the point to where you will die, now when we die in WoW we go to what is called the spirit healer, which you just kinda wait in the Graveyard until the time is up for you to get resurrected.  Just like in WoW all of us have to die, there is no way around it, but death is not the end! Let me share with you some more scriptures. In 1 Peter 3:18-20, Peter talks about what happened to Christ after he died...

Another Roflstomp: One Shotting Rogue

Any gamer reading this has been one shotted before... simply, being one shotted means that you just died in one one hit, or extremely quickly. Any Halo player has probably experienced the one shotting capabilities of a sniper head shot, spartan laser, or well-placed rocket. Similarly, if you've ever player Team Fortress 2, you may have been one shotted by a spy's backstab, soldiers critrocket, or walking into an intelligence room packed with level three sentries!

WoW players also experience the thrill of being one shotted. One day (back in my noobier days) I was peacefully strolling through the Barrens... then BAM!!! Out of nowhere I was ganked, roflstomped and successively tea bagged by Alliance scum! Fast-forwarding to 70...

Our Quest Hub

Patch days very well might be the best days to play and not to play WoW. On one hand, you have a bunch of new content that you would like to experience. Maybe some new quest lines that end up in epic gear, new battlegrounds and pvp gear, or especially new raid instances (firelands) that your guild wants to get server first kills on. Then on the other hand you have the lag. Then more lag. Then the server crashes in the middle of your boss fights, or you get ganked at the new quest hubs,  and so on and so forth. 

You'll see a lot of these at quest hubs

I have quite a bit of experience with the lag, quest hubs, new raids and battlegrounds, but out of the aforementioned things, probably what I have most experience in and has caused the most grief to me are new quest hubs. For one thing, new quest hubs always have a bunch of Alliance there. Then, when you actually go out of the neutral zone, you have to deal with the possibility of being ganked while questing...

We Wear Epics

Cataclysm Login Screen

So you've just booted up your computer and fired up some WoW. You type in your username and password and login to the World... of Warcraft. Being the good Horde player that you are, you appear to have last been in the Horde capital city Ogrimmar, probably trading in all the honor points you've racked up from ganking all the Alliance (scum). As you journey on your trusted Kodo through Ogrimmar you notice all of your comrades and start inspecting their gear. You of course wear all epics. It would be shameful to walk around otherwise in blues and greens! All of a sudden a belf paladin Gladiator walks by, wearing the guild tag of the number one raiding guild on the server, and most likely the best 3v3 team on the battlegroup. After you get over the initial shock and doubtful thoughts such as "this guy has absoulutely no life" you start to appreciate the man and his BiS (best in slot) gear. He wears epics!

Epic Lewtz FTW!

A short time ago I wrote a blog entitled "If Everyone Wore Nametags" about how we as missionaries wear name tags and represent the Savior Jesus Christ. If you've left your house sometime since 1830 you have probably seen Mormon missionaries walking around...

"She Called Me A Troll..."

Its WoW (not gang signs!)

So believe it or not, there was once a time when Elder Butler and I were companions as missionaries (see having a friend=Missionary companionship). We had some pretty good experiences together, and I remember this one instance in which Elder Butler and I were trying to teach this guy in Billings (we'll just call him Joe). Suffice it to say that Joe was a pretty interesting guy... So we were talking to him, and he started to go a bit off topic and tell us about this girl. Yada, yada, yada, and he said something that really made us giggle inside due to the fact that we are WoW fanboys. Joe said "...She called me a troll man!"

You might be asking yourself, "Why would Elder Butler and Elder Cabral laugh at this poor man, who had just been called a troll?" The answer is quite simple, although there is more than one meaning to the word troll...

A WoW BoM Expansion Pack

Cataclysm Expansion Pack

Expansion packs just might be the thing a gamer looks forward to the most. For those of you out there that don't know what a expansion pack is, it is an addition or supplement to an existing game (also see Elder Butler's post Life is like an expansion pack). Expansion packs allow a gamer to play the same game that he loves, just with newer exciting content. 

I remember a while back when Wrath of the Lich King launched. I had started playing WoW during the later end of Burning Crusade expansion, so I was ready for more content, and being able to start off a new expansion instead of just starting in the middle. It seemed that once players got to 80 though, there was a lot of QQ (players complaining and crying about the game)...

"I Would Learn the Healer's Art..."

Tauren Warrior

The first character that I rolled in WoW was a Tauren warrior (I figured that being a big cow would help me to pwn more effectively). Quickly did I learn though that warriors were quite ineffective without a healer. Sure mace stun was fun, but it seemed like I was waiting for rezzes in the graveyard more than I was out getting hks.

Before patch 3.1 hit, (which introduced the Ulduar raid) I decided that I would re-roll a healing class. After careful consideration I decided on rolling a paladin. The paladin in the words of Athene was, "a holy character!" Going from level 1 to 80 leveling a retribution was quite similar to rolling a warrior, but at 80 things changed. The re-spec to holy and the new abilities proved very foreign (like Korean foreign) to me.

WoW Holy Paladin

A few weeks ago, this experience was brought back to my remembrance...

Blizzcon! and Gathering

"Blizzcon" Convention 

Well, today is that day when Blizzcon tickets go on sale (or the day the world ends)! For those of you out there that don't know what Blizzcon is exactly, it is a convention (hence con) held every year by the gaming company Blizzard (hence Blizz). Elder Butler and I talked briefly about  Blizzcon, and how cool it would be to actually go and attend one.

I think the draw of an event like Blizzcon would the aspect of gathering. A whole bunch of people that love the same thing gathered together to celebrate, dress up funny, and see what's in store for the new year sounds spectacular!

The End of the World

Cataclysm Expansion

The anticipation for Blizzard's patches and expansions can be nerve racking! I remember quite vividly leaving for my mission just after the Icecrown Citadel patch had launched, and thinking that the next expansion would be released in a couple three months tops. It had probably ended up being eight or nine months later, and the Cataclysm finally happened. The World of Warcraft as I had known it had known it had completely changed, and the old Azeroth had come to an end.

We can't say for certain when MoP will come out!

Blizzard seems to work in mysterious ways, and on their own time frame. If I were to ask you when the next WoW expansion were to come out, you might be able to give me a  reasonable guess. This would probably be based on how the expansion is doing at the moment, the length of other expansions, arena seasons, etc. There are of course going to be signs that the next expansion will be in the near future...

If Everyone Wore Nametags

Leeroy Jenkin's Name tag

Have you ever wondered how easy it would be to remember people if they all wore name tags? I was thinking about it a few days ago and it seemed like a pretty awesome idea to me. As missionaries we get to talk to a whole bunch of people (which is great), but a lot of the time I frankly don't remember their names. It might even take me a few times meeting them to actually remember. 

So in my thinking I took it a step further...

Yells and Whispers

RL Gnome and Tauren /Yell

I really enjoy the chat interface that is given in WoW. There are of course different channels that you can be in and read what players are saying. Probably the most packed and trolled channel is trade chat, but of course there are the guild, raid, bg, zone defense, and other general channels. Two of the "channels" that I wanted to focus a little more about would be whispers and yells.

A yell functions much like a yell IRL. It pops up as red text and everyone around you gets to see it. On the other hand a chat whisper is a lot quieter...

Having a friend= Missionary companionship.

In World of Warcraft my friend Jake and I always pvped together. (As stated in my Who are my friends?)
When ever we would pvp we would always stick together and fight alongside each other, I will admit there were times when the battles would get so intense that Jake and I thought we were gonners, but somehow we always managed to pull through...(Maybe it was because I would always heal him and he would always beat the enemy back.) Often times after the battles were over we would always ask the question, how did we get out alive when we were being attacked by 3 people? The answer is pretty simple...not only was I healing him as well as myself alive, but we always stuck together. Many times when we would rush our enemies we would make them run away from us by using our spells. In Elder Cabrals blog "He Made Me Do It", we can clearly see that if players do not have the medallion they would not be able to break out of fear and other Crowd Control effects. So naturally Jake and I would beat our enemies so easily that we would be able to rack up the Honor. Now maybe you are saying wow you can't beat them by yourself? or wow you guys are bad players? If this be the case let me tell you this much, its not that we couldn't beat our enemies alone, it made it easier to back up and support each other. In truth the Savior gives his Apostles the same advice.
      
We can read in Mark 6:7 something the Savior does.

7. ¶And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

Notice how the savior sends his Apostles by TWO instead of One. As missionaries we are told that we will be with another person or commonly called our "Companion." We go with our companion and we teach people about the restoration of the Lord's church,we also help people in their lives by teaching them the scriptures and that they can find happiness in them. Now there have been many times that if I had not of had a companion then I know that people would not have believed any of my words,because I am only one servant. But because I had a companion who knew something that I didn't know he was able to not only answer their questions,but he was also able to testify and back up my words that I taught. You may have noticed that Elder Cabral and I have been telling people to check out our blog post's, as well as each others. Well that is because Elder Cabral and I are coauthoring this blog or in other words "We are companions on this blog." My friends in closing to this blog I want to encourage each and everyone of you to meet with the missionaries and to put what they are teaching to the test, I can promise you that if you do this you will come to know for yourself that we speak the truth. You will also know that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God, and that Joseph Smith was His Prophet,Seer and Revelator in this the last days. I love y'all very much and hope that you take up the challenge I leave you.

Get Out of the Fire Noob!

In PvE there is a simple formula to winning. If you know the boss fight, do your job, and get out of the fire, you will ultimately get fat lewts. It sounds simple enough, but sadly there are many "bads" and "noobs" that decide that they want to exchange their lives for foot warmth. While the success of a raiding guild could be attributed to leadership, communication, and patience, the downfall of guilds and boss attempts might very well be that there are too many noobs standing in the fire.

There is a solution to this! The easiest way to avoid death by fire, void zones, poison, and otherwise treacherous things under foot is to get out of there as quickly as possible...

Life is like an exapansion pack

Life in the World of Warcraft can be really fun. There are a lot of things for us to do in game that can make the game very fun, but most of all there is one thing that can make the game even funner, as well as progressing to another level. When we reach the cap level we all want something more to the game to keep it interesting. One of the ways to keep the game interesting is to come out with the next expansion pack. Just what is an expansion pack you might be asking? Well I am about to share with you a link that I found on Wikipedia:

PvP Trinkets & "He Made Me Do It"

PvP Trinket

One item that a PvPer in WoW cannot live without (unless you're OP and rolled human) is the PvP trinket. Why you ask would this trinket be so important? It is because the trinket allows players to break CC (crowd control) abilities like fear, polymorphs, or stuns. Without this trinket you might find yourself at the mercy of warlock fears or mage sheeps!

I like the wording on the trinket's tooltip. It "...removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character..."

Who are my friends?

You're in an intense Warsong Gulch right now and your beating off a ton of Alliance, you are getting ganked by a bunch of these Alliance noobs, and you're about to die, All of a sudden your enemies fall around you! You look over and see a Tauren warrior standing next to you.  You thank the warrior and in return make a new friend. In many cases playing WoW I have had the chance to make many new friends in the game. One of my best friends that I met while playing in the game is Jake. Jake and I have done a lot of Battlegrounds together as well as questing,instances,raids and in all just hanging out and talking,many times when we were in Battlegrounds I would heal him and then there were other times I would sacrifice myself in order for him to stay alive long enough to cap the flag in Warsong Gulch. In the Holy Bible we can read something very similar to what I did in WoW...

WTB Rez!

I remember vividly the time that I spent re-rolling a paladin. You see, back in those days, paladins still had to do a quest to get the spell "Redemption," which allows the player to resurrect (bring back to life) a player that is dead. Normally a player who has died would have to "corpse run" back to their bodies. This would place the character at the nearest graveyard, after which they would have to run back to their dead bodies in order to resurrect.

The spirit seperating from the body at the time of death is in fact a true principle...

Rested XP IRL

Do you see that purple leveling bar at the bottom of your (WoW) screen? Do you wish that it would go faster, and you could level quicker than normal? This might blow your mind, but if you logout in an inn or a major city that purple bar becomes blue! The blue bar means you gain more xp from questing and killing mobs!

Rested xp makes a lot of sense to me...