QAR Raiding Standards

Prepare to sign in blood....Horde blood! Finally the suspense is over, questions will be answered; QAR has defined its raid standards:

QAR Raid Standards

Being Prepared

1. Pick a raiding main toon and spec, a viable offspec is a huge bonus.

2. Every Raider should have the minimum gear requirements before signing up to a scheduled raid. (Do research if you don’t understand this)

3. Gear can be attained the following ways: earn honor points to buy some of your items, run heroics for badge gear, crafted gear and PUGs.

4. Have in-depth knowledge of your toon; everyone should know what spec they need before trying to raid! Do the research, take the time and learn what you need to know. Ask for help if you need it.

5. Come to each raid FULLY prepared: potions, flasks, elixirs, food, enchants, gear & weapon buffs, reagents, and anything not listed here!

6. It is each raider’s responsibility to earn enough gold to be able to properly raid. QAR will help when possible.

7. When raiding please focus on raiding. Please take care of real life stuff before and after the raid. Emergencies are understandable and other unique circumstances as well. Breaks will be given periodically through raid for BIO and stretching.

8. BE ON TIME for invite!!!!! If you’re late you can forfeit your spot.

Raid Conduct

1. No excessive cursing during the raid; respect each other.

2. No arguing for any reason with any one; respect each other.

3. No immature or adolescent behavior at anytime; respect each other.

4. The Raid Leader will let you know when your input is needed or when it’s okay to BS.

5. What the Raid Leader says goes; all discussions should be taken care of during free time, when not raiding.

6. Drama will not be tolerated and can result in immediate removal from the raid group and possibly QAR.

7. Raiding requires a commitment of time and effort, our success depends on your input of that commitment. Thanks!

Exceptions

1. With all this being said, we are here for fun and are always open to change. Open discussion and criticism is encouraged but timing is key; keep it appropriate.

2. If you’re going to criticize or complain please have a positive solution to propose.

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BREAKING NEWS: Mountain Dew Battle Bot

The Mountain Dew Game Fuel Battle Bot mini-pet is available for a limited time, starting today.




So finally, after waiting and waiting and waiting by various drink machines and gas stations, I finally was able to get my hands on my Mountain Dew Game Fuel Battle Bot today.

To get yours, simply visit the Mountain Dew Game Fuel site, register, and click on the"BATTLE-BOT PET" button at the bottom right-hand of your screen. Once you've done this, you'll log into your WoW account, and the pet will be sent to you in-game via mail. The letter is quite clever, so no spoilers.

The Battle-Bot pet is only available for a limited time, so act fast!




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For the Alliance

We're cooking up plans for our first ever guild raid.
In the coming weeks we will be running our first ever guild raid, "For the Alliance". Now, while some of us have already completed this achievement, there are scads of others who have not. There will be prizes along the way, and if QAR history has shown us, we're not afraid to blow some coin on some really swell prizes.

Although this battle will be fierce, there will be no level requirement in order to participate. However, we do ask that if you DO have a level 80 character, that you use that character when participating.

Now is a great time to invite new members into the guild as we prepare for this epic battle. More details coming soon.

In the meanwhile, you can download this swanky new Alliance desktop wallpaper.




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Warcraft Update: 6.9.09

So as I continue to ignore my "Achievement of the Week" article, I'll go ahead and write up some important news from this past week.

• Blizzard makes a new addition to the World of Warcraft site called "The Bosstiary". It's a lore-driven engine that allows viewers to read more info about the bosses in their favorite raids/dungeons. The section still seems to be under development, as Ulduar seems to be the only map currently active.


• The new skins for Druid cat forms was released this week. They're pretty cool, althought I think the bear forms were far more appealing.

• The Mountain Dew Game Fuel promotion continues to lag on. I still have not seen any mention "officially" of the in-game mini-pet. From everything that I've read, you only have to register for the Mountain Dew promotion, and that you do NOT have to earn tokens. We shall see.

That's it for this week's major headlines.
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New Desktop Wallpapers

We've got a few more wallpapers to add to the set today.



I don't do enough screengrabs while I'm exploring, and I really should. Today's new batch of eye candy simply come from some screengrabs I took while exploring in-game. I'm sure you'll immediately recognize where I was from these shots, so it's time for me to get a bit more exploratory.





QAR Wallpaper #8






QAR Wallpaper #9






QAR Wallpaper #10



You can check the entire, on-going QAR Wallpaper series here.


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QAR NEWS For the week of 6/5/09

This was a fairly active week for new recruits aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge!



• This week we added loads of new alts into our ranks. We also managed to introduce three new members into our club! A warm welcome to Skidboom, Egret and Invivox. Glad to have you aboard.

• The raiding team continues to make good progress into Ulduar

• A few of the officers continue to hammer out the details of our website and the possibility of a forum.

• WoW Heros has our guild rank currently at 58 out of 159 (which only include guilds that are actually raiding).

That's it. We've got lots of new stuff spread out all over the table that we're working on, so stay tuned!





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Beefy's Beef #0002

Do not buy Mountain Dew's Game Fuel. Just don't. Here's why:





The Mountain Dew Game Fuel promotion is not geared towards World of Warcraft players. It's geared to non-players who have thought about playing, but have never tried it before. Typically, people interested in Warcraft can get a free, 10-day trial of the game, whereas with the Game Fuel promotion, you can actually get a 15 day free trial (although upon visiting the website, it then says "14-Day Trial"). Lame.

If you visit the Game Fuel site you will notice that they are giving away prizes every day, based upon a token system within the site. The way it works, is that you have to log on every day to earn tokens (there are varying "tasks" you must do in order to earn tokens) which you can then put towards a prize that you want. However, it's not a system where 100,000 tokens earns a hat, it's a lottery system, where the more tokens you put towards a prize, the better your chances will be that you'll be selected as the winner.

Now, some of the prizes are pretty sweet, like a trip to Blizzcon and a sweet new Alienware system, but I personally found the majority of the prizes to be boring and completely forgettable. Not worth the effort to gather tokens.

My biggest complaint towards this campaign is that there are no "in-game" rewards whatsoever. I thought that maybe, just maybe there would be a secret code under the bottle cap, or behind the label, to earn an in-game mini-pet, or a sweet tabard or heck... how about a Mountain Dew Drink Machine that you could lay out during raids?

Alas, there was nothing.

I bought both the Alliance soda and the Horde soda thinking that there may be some cool, hidden detail that would allow special content within the game, but it's really just a drinkable advertisement to get people to start playing World of Warcraft.

Lame. Next time Blizzard decides to do a cross-promotion with another company, I'd better be able to get to have a chance to score some sweet in-game loot.

I now hate Mountain Dew and will never drink it again.
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Achievement of the Week: The Salty Chronicles: Part 2

Today we will continue our series "The Salty Chronicles" as we work towards the meta-achievement "Salty"! Today's achievement is "The Scavenger"!



The Scavenger is a fairly easy achievement, but you will want to be at least a level 60 (as you'll have to travel to Zangamarsh) in order to complete this achievement. It's also my recommendation that you know how to find fish, otherwise this achievement will require an infinite amount of patience.

So, assuming you are above level 60 and you can find fish, this article will help you to know exactly where to fish.

Now, while exploring the world, I'm sure you've come across floating junk in the water. If you've never paid attention to this, for shame, because us expert fishermen know that thar be treasure floating in that junk!

The Scavenger achievement requires you to fish from 5 specific nodes;

• Steam Pump Flotsam

• Schooner Wreckage

• Floating Wreckage

• Bloodsail Wreckage

• Waterlogged Wreckage

I'd recommend doubling this achievement up with Deadliest Catch (which we'll review next week) as they cover a lot of the same ground.

I started my "Scavenger" achievement quest in Shat, which allowed a quick flight over to the Zangamarsh area.

Once in Zangamarsh, I found the Steam Pump Flotsam here:



It didn't take too long, and found it after 5 minutes or so. TIP: If you're having trouble finding the right node, remember that fishing schools spawn in finite numbers, meaning that if you remove one, another one will show up somewhere else... if you don't remove a node, another one will not respawn... so if you can't find it, keep fishing!

After Zangamarsh and a quick flight back to Shat, I ported to Darnassus and took a LONG flight down to Ferelas to fish up the Floating Wreckage. Again, with the ability to find fish, this took me a matter of seconds to complete. You can see here exactly where I found the node:



After swimming back to the flight master, I hopped on a flight to Stonetalon Peak and traveled directly south to fish up the Schooner Wreckage. You can check out exactly where I found the Schooner Wreckage right here:



Luckily, the final two nodes can be found in Stranglethorn Vale.

Once you've finally flown & floated to STV, you'll find the Bloodsail Wreckage here:



and the "Water Logged" wreckage here:



That's it! It's a pretty simple achievement, and you have a chance to fish out some some-what rare loot. Plus, if you work towards multiple "Salty" achievements at the same time, it makes it that much more rewarding.

Next week's episode: Deadliest Catch! Good luck and happy fishing!
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Warcraft Update: 5.28.09

Once again we've had quite an exciting week in the World of Warcraft! From new Argent mounts to something about new bears and kitties, it certainly pays to play Warcraft!



• So most if not all of you have heard about the new druid forms coming in the 3.2 patch. If you've been living under a rock, you can check here, here, and here to see the new forms. Makes me want to continue to level my secret druid that is now no longer a secret. Blizzard has gone on to say that the cat forms will be unveiled next week.

• There have been several updates to the Argent Mounts this week.

• More patch 3.2 details were released (leaked) this week including a new Argent Tournament raid AND and new battleground called Isle of Conquest. You can check out more details here.

• QAR's favorite WoW website got a major overhaul this past week. WoW Insider has now become simply WoW.com. They've done a really great job, and the news site has lots of great features. You can even add your own profile!

• Mountain Dew Game Fuel prizes begin dropping tomorrow. So far they've given away fanny packs. What the hell. I want an in-game drink machine that we can use during raids. They are giving away a trip to Blizzcon, so it's worth it to enter.

That's about it for this week. If you have any WoW news you want to share just send to The Editor n 'Beef.
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Cory Fights Giants

Hey gang, I'd like to take a time out from Warcraft for just a second and tell you about something I need your help on.


I've spent the past few weeks working on a fun little project for the Muscular Dystrophy Association called "Cory Fights Giants". The idea is based on an old family friend of mine who lost his life to MD several years ago. I have a personal goal to raise $3000 in just one month to help MDA with their ongoing fight. It would truly be an honor to me if you would take a few minutes and check out the site.

Cory Fights Giants

Thanks!


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