The Yankees have not forgotten about Phil Hughes, who started the season in the rotation but is now laboring for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. On Wednesday in Buffalo, Hughes worked 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and six hits, striking out seven with one walk. It followed two dismal starts that put into question whether Hughes would return in September.

Nardi Contreras, the organization’s pitching coordinator, traveled to Buffalo for the start. He showed Hughes video of his strong outings in 2007 and worked on mechanical adjustments.

“He threw the ball hard,” Contreras said. “Threw the fastball for strikes and had a real good curveball. Real good changeup, mixed in a slider. He attacked the strike zone. They had (Josh) Barfield, Victor Martinez and (Tony) Graffanino in the lineup. He did well.”

Contreras said Hughes topped out at 94 miles an hour and pitched regularly at 92. He would not say what adjustments he made to Hughes’ delivery, but he seemed to like the results.

“He did well, and he had some success,” Contreras said. “He’s on his way.”

Not literally, Contreras meant. That is a call for General Manager Brian Cashman and Manager Joe Girardi, who will start adding players from the minors when rosters expand on Monday.

I thought that Hughes' two bad starts were attributed to a bout of dead arm, but it seems like that may not be true (although that's what we heard from a few sources). Hughes has had a lot of problems performing his delivery, over and over again (this has happened throughout his career), and many of his injuries have been the direct result of mechanical problems. Mechanical issues have also hurt Hughes' control, whether its of his fastball or his curveball and we saw that earlier in the year (and then he was injured, which was probably the result of his mechanics, yet again). Hopefully everything is ironed out now and we'll see him pitching in the rotation next week (later Sidney), with his best stuff.

So I go to pick it up (thats short version. *long version; lots of unanswered calls after I found out that it had sat in the side street and hadn't moved for a week, eventually getting through for him to tell me it was ready and they'd found a minor fault that had been repaired but he'd forgot to tell me despite me having no transport. I arrange collection and make arrangement with bro to give me a lift, then salesman rings me back and says he'll bring it to me within the next hour, 5 hours later he hasn't and isn't answering phone, I get the spare set of keys and help myself to the car so that I dont spend yet another bank holiday with out my car.) Bro takes me, drops me off, see's me start it, asks if I'm ok and leaves. I pull out of side street and can't get the bloody thing in to third gear without the grinding as if I haven't quite engaged the clutch (the problem I've been telling them!). BF rings salesman -from Ireland incurring all the charges - and threatens to rip his legs off or other regional appendages.. Salesman promptly rings me to arrange for me and him to go to the people who installed the gearbox and clutch to see he is being open with me. Also arranged for me to return the car after the bank holiday for testing. It went back, they said it was ok. We never went to garage that supposedly installed it.  Disco went to another garage who also said it was fine (I found out today, they didn't test it but were asked to repair an oil leak) I drove over 100 miles away yesterday and within 8 miles of my return journey, the clutch failed whilst driving down the motorway!

To say I'm not impressed is putting it mildly. I've got tons to do. I need to take L back to Lancaster (long story - took him back, he decided he wanted to come home but will possibly return on monday for start of college course) next week if he does the course. I should have gone to EGSC tonight, I start the first lesson of my main training on friday, the kids start school next week! What a mess.

This garage is ridiculous. I've no idea why BF deals with him. Here's an example. We buy a car, I hate it, BF arranges with chap to surprise me with Disco I want. He trades in other car, (charges us £1000...) and sells us Disco. Doesnt pay off finance on other car and resells it. Then finance are hounding us for payments for original car that we no longer own. When we point out that we no longer own it, and we have finance from them on another vehicle AND! they have refinanaced the car to someone else which we're sure is not legal, they back off. Unfortunately he's done the same to a neighbour of ours (idiot BF recomended him...) who's car we think was scrapped but he's left with the payments.

Continued high gas prices and environmental awareness could impact greatly on the future of this mature industry. Consumers are not expected to abandon the automobile, however the miles traveled are expected to be fewer, translating into less maintenance.
This Industry Market Research report provides a detailed analysis of the Auto Mechanics in the US industry, including key growth trends, statistics, forecasts, the competitive environment including market shares and the key issues facing the industry.

 
Industry Definition

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing mechanical or electricalrepair and maintenance services for automotive vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks and vans, and all trailers. These establishments specialize in or may provide a wide range of these services.

 
Report Contents

The Key Statistics chapter provides the key indicators for the industry for at least the last three years. The statistics included are industry revenue, industry gross product, employment, establishments, exports, imports, domestic demand and total wages.
The Market Characteristics chapter covers the following: Market Size, Linkages, Demand Determinants, Domestic and International Markets, Basis of Competition and Life Cycle. The Market Size section gives the size of the domestic market as well as the size of the export market. The Linkages section lists the industry's major supplier and major customer industries. The Demand Determinants section lists the key factors which are likely to cause demand to rise or fall. The Domestic and International Markets section defines the market for the products and services of the industry. This section provides the size of the domestic market and the proportion accounted for by imports and exports and trends in the levels of imports and exports. The Basis of Competition section outlines the key types of competition between firms within the industry as well as highlighting competition from substitute products in alternative industries. The Life Cycle section provides an analysis of which stage of development the industry is at.
The Segmentation chapter covers the following: Products and Service Segmentation, Major Market Segments, Industry Concentration and Geographic Spread. The Products and Service Segmentation section details the key products and/or services provided by this industry, highlighting the most important where possible to demonstrate which have a more significant influence over industry results as a whole. The Major Market Segments section details the key client industries and/or groups as well as giving an indication as to which of these are the most important to the industry. The Industry Concentration section provides an indicator of how much industry revenue is accounted for by the top four players. The Geographic Spread section provides a guide to the regional share of industry revenue/gross product.
The Industry Conditions chapter covers the following: Barriers to Entry, Taxation, Industry Assistance, Regulation and Deregulation, Cost Structure, Capital and Labor Intensity, Technology and Systems, Industry Volatility and Globalization. The Barriers to Entry section outlines factors that can prevent a new company from entering this industry and also gives an indication of the extent to which this occurs. The Taxation section details all kinds of taxation that are specific or are particularly important to this industry, including taxation concessions. The Industry Assistance section refers to any government and/or other measures designed to improve the performance of this industry. The Regulation and Deregulation section details any applicable regulation and/or deregulation to this industry. The Cost Structure section details the average costs for a company operating in this industry as a percentage of total revenue. The Capital and Labor Intensity section provides a guide to the amount of capital used in production/providing a service compared to the amount of labor in the total mix of inputs. The Technology and Systems section acknowledges the latest technology and/or systems available to this industry within the country. Technology refers to machinery and equipment and systems refers to methods of production that enable better and more efficient production. The Industry Volatility section refers to the year on year fluctuations which occur in industry output. The Globalization section gives an indication of the extent to which the industry is global based on factors such as the level of foreign ownership, the proportion of demand accounted for by foreign operators and the volume of production conducted in other countries.
The Performance chapter provides an analysis of both the industry's Current Performance and Historical Performance. The Current Performance section provides the key analysis for the industry over the past five years with key performance indicators discussed. The Historical Performance section details previously important events in the development of the industry.
The Key Competitors chapter lists the major players in the industry as well as an analysis of each major player's activities in the industry. Market share information is included where possible.
The Key Factors chapter covers the industry's Key Sensitivities and Key Success Factors. The Key Sensitivities section outlines the key factors that are outside the control of an operator in the industry, but are likely to have significant impact on a business. The Key Success Factors section details the factors within the control of an industry operator and which should be followed in order to be successful in the industry. Often this will include behavior that will help to minimize the effects of the Key Sensitivities.
The Outlook chapter is a key analysis section of the report and outlines expectations for the key industry indicators over the next five year period, including forecasts.
  
 

Table of Contents

 
INDUSTRY DEFINITION
Activities (Products and Services)
Similar Industries
Other Related Industries

KEY STATISTICS
Current Prices
Constant Prices
Real Growth
Ratio Table

SEGMENTATION
Products and Service Segmentation
Major Market Segments
Industry Concentration
Geographic Spread

MARKET CHARACTERISTICS
Market Size
Linkages
Demand Determinants
Domestic and International Markets
Basis of Competition

Life Cycle

INDUSTRY CONDITIONS
Barriers to Entry
Taxation
Industry Assistance
Regulation and Deregulation
Cost Structure
Capital and Labor Intensity
Technology and Systems
Industry Volatility
Globalization

KEY FACTORS
Key Sensitivities
Key Success Factors

KEY COMPETITORS
Major Players
Player Performance
Other Players

INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE
Current Performance
Historical Performance

OUTLOOK
 
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The symptoms your car will have are; it frequently judders while you drive it (as if its low on power/ petrol). We put up with the problem for a while and eventually decided the soon due MOT may find and sort it out. However the car passed the MOT and the problem carried on.

One of the mechanics who previously worked for Volkswagen said that he always used to get Lupo's with this problem. He said it would be something to with the Spark Plugs (and that we would have to buy a spring kit to figure out which plug was faulty).

After testing the Spark Plugs, we found that none of them were faulty. In the end we took it to a garage for them to test it with a computer. It turns out that it was the HT (High Tension) cable that connect to the plugs that was to blame. After fixing that, it worked good as new!

So the conclusion is - if your precious little VW Lupo is Juddering, its probably the Spark Plugs (or something to do with them)! Good Luck!

• The mobs in question are "warrior" types, ie. not casters.
• The mobs don't fling mystical ranged shit at me.

When those conditions are met (see also, at least half of the time) I feel in complete control of a situation when I'm solo. Introducing Party Mechanics (dun-dun-dun!) to the equation tends to, as Einstein probably once stated, fuck things up. Now if you are reading this you probably like the Paladin class or stumbled upon this site while either high or googling some random porn. Or both. In which case I probably lost you at the first utterance of "the" and you are off with your hand in your pants and thus no longer interested in my take on Tanking Mechanics. If you are still with me, congrats on your restraint (or attention span).

However, for the rest of us, on to the whole "fucking things up" spiel.

As any tank will tell you we operate entirely on our ability to survive and maintain high threat margins, the former depending on the latter and vice versa. This especially holds true if you are a Paladin tank, as we lack the general toolbox of tanking skills associated with the Warrior. We are more like the Druid, in that we kind of cheat the system. Druids tend to up the armor quotient and rely on burst damage and taunts. We of the Light have it a little bit more difficult in that we rely solely on Holy-buffed spell damage while tickling away at the mob with the damage dealing equivalent of a wet tampon. Our damage output sucks in the same fashion that porn stars do.

While soloing this isn't a problem as discussed in my previous post about doing things The AFK Way. A solo Paladin has a lot of time on his hands during a battle and usually a couple websites open or some tunes playing in the background. In a group, the Paladin method changes drastically from solo, as with any other class in the game.

A Paladin in a group is a busy motherfucker, and here's why. In order to keep the attention of the mobs we have several tools, and the majority of them are not very mana efficient. Keeping Judgements refreshed while cycling Seals can be annoying enough for the AFK'ing Pally. If you throw Consecration, Blessings and Auras into the mix we can get pretty involved. Most of this is also happening while we are staring at our threat meters like a pair of gaping tits.

Threat is an issue with us more than a Warrior, because we rely on three separate factors.

• A constant pool of mana to compensate for the heavy amount of spell damage we are trying to put out.
• A major awareness of our surrounding teammates and the actions they are taking.
• A thorough understanding of how we manage hate, beginning with the initial aggro pull, and maintaining a steady amount of generation after that to compensate for our lack of damage output.

There is unfortunately a fourth factor, and that is human ignorance. Most people you PUG with and even many of those in your normal guild structure will be ignorant to how you play your class. Many of them see no problem with throwing out as much damage as possible against a low-damage class, mainly because they are just trying to top the damage meters like it's some kind of fucking carnival game and not a participatory, group engagement. All of you DPSers put down your Mongoose-infused Twin Blades of Some Random Animal and pick up a couple 9lb. Catfish and then maybe you will gain understanding of our true lack of damage.

The bottom line is that we are not DPSers, but we do excel at one thing and that is taking a beating. With the right mix of Judgement of Wisdom and Light on all of our targets and a good fast weapon to keep those refreshed, we can solo three and four times the amount of mobs that you feel comfortable with. That is wear Pallys shine. That is the cliche "Meat" of the class.

I hadn't intended this to become a big long rant. I guess I'm just jaded. My real purpose to this post was to kind of poll every one to see if we could discover the Happy Mob Medium of the Paladin tanking specifications. Maybe, after ignoring the wimpy DPSers, we can create some kind of manual. A compendium, perhaps?

Besides the obvious standard tools….wrench set (metric also!), ratchets, mallets, vice grips, etc…. there are a few tools and products I’ve found to be invaluable. Now, we’re not talking about breaking the bank here, just cheap everyday standard stuff that you may find yourself using all the time.

• T-handle allen wrench set
• Chain tool (quality combo breaker/riveter type) (motorcycle only item)
• Vise
• Cheater bar / pry bar (besides the fancy one that fits to sockets, I have a 16"-18” long axle from an old motorcycle I owned. ..it allows me to place over any tool for quick extra leverage)
• Dremel type rotary tool
• Digital multimeter / (or easier, just a 12volt test light)
• Blue painter’s (masking) tape.
• Ziploc snack bags (not for animal crackers, but for keeping hardware together that belongs together)
• Black Marker (to identify those bags, or write on the painters tape)
• Zip-ties!
• Rubber gloves
• Work gloves (Mechanix type)
• Respirator (even if it’s the cheap white cover type)
• Dielectric grease (grease EVERY wire connection/plug)
• Copper Anti-Seize
• LocTite, loctite, loctite, loctite (Blue is universal)
• Carb Cleaner (Spray and bucket)
• Brake Cleaner
• WD-40
• Liquid Wrench/PB blaster

These are just off the top of my head (or top of the bench) and there’s probably plenty I’m forgetting. Any you can add?

Here's an interesting read at Baseball-Intellect, where the author breaks down Joba's throwing mechanics and analyzes the probability of injury in relation to those mechanics. I would think that those adrenaline-induced fist pumps and celebratory spins are probably the biggest mechanical issues for Joba (...), although throwing 100 mph may, in fact, be worse for his body (...). For whatever reason, I read the article yesterday, sent it to my little brother (he's a pitcher), and then totally forgot about it (sorry guys). Either way, it's been floating around the internet, but I saw it first at WW.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250284012599

EVE-Online ISK-making guide, how to make 120 billion in 90 days!

About me, the seller

I've been playing Eve online for 5 years, constantly working on refining my ISKmaking techniques, I've made more than a trillion ISK during my time and the reason I'm making this guide is to make the game richer, too many people don't dare to fight or do what they wish within EVE just because they're too poor! I don't need more ISK, This allows me to help you!

Once, I was very poor, I made my ISK via PVP, luckily I was good enough to make a decent living out of it, but it's nothing compared to what I can do today. Having a wallet sitting at around 200 million while working your ass off and not taking risks just so you can be sure to live to see another day is not where the fun is at.

Nowadays I can buy a new mothership moments after losing it, and it doesn't matter.
I'm rich enough to cover it time and time again. So if you want to be like me, what are you waiting for? The detailed tips in this guide won't work forever, but right now it does, it's your shot at the riches!

I've studied economics on a high level and I'm well aware of the mechanics of EVE and how it differs from the real market.

About the guide

The guide contains detailed instructions on how to make the billions, from rags to riches. It doesn't require you to have billions or even hundreds of millions already. It will describe how you can achieve the most out of whatever you want to do, but it focuses on two fields that made me the most ISK and is the most profitable idea out there right now, this won't last forever!

It will not contain any suggestions to do something bannable, like macromining or anything automated of that kind.
It will not advice you to scam people, even though this is allowed.

It is a step by step guide on how you build up your wallet from scratch and how you minimize your time spent on making ISK and maxmimize you time spent having fun!

I will even personally guarantee will work for you, if not I'll give you a FULL REFUND, contact me within 2 weeks of buying the guide and you'll receive the full refund.
This means there is actually NO RISK in buying this, try it out, get rich and incase it doesn't work out for you, just let me know within 2 weeks of buying and you'll have your cash back!

Signed - Anton Fagerberg

Quoted from the ebay site.

All I could say after looking through was dayum. In my current setup on my shaman I get pretty ridiculous amounts of melee crits anyway, so I would imagine that getting to the point of insta-cast chain lightning isn't going to be hard at all. Then, all you need is a crit on a spell to add another 9% to your melee crit chance, which should keep the insta-casting of lightning bolts and chain lightning going pretty much until the mob is dead. I'm thinking most stuff isn't going to be lasting very long in one-on-one PvE, but as an Adrenalin Rush/Blade Flurry Rogue type of person, for me it's always about the one-vs-many situations.

So I'm thinking: I plop down Earth Elemental Totem, Magma Totem, pop out the spirit wolves, cast Chain Lightning, then go into melee while chain lightning refreshes. By the time the cooldown is up, I'm imagining a couple of crits have gone of at least, maybe more. With a little luck, it's only a few more seconds before I can insta-cast chain lightning. At this point I don't think there is going to be much of anything left alive. This is pretty similar to what I do in present WoW with my shaman, minus the second chain lightning and the spirit wolves. But then, I can only really do this 2 times every half an hour or so - once for the earth elemental, once for the fire elemental. Spirit wolves every 2 minutes is likely going to increase how often I can AoE (beyond what my rogue can do with Evasion + Adrenalin Rush + Blade Flury), since the Spirit Wolves cooldown is 2 minutes, compared to Adrenalin Rush's 5.

All of that adds to the doubts I'm having about playing my rogue, who has been my main since the game came out, pretty much. Murder Spree (the 51 point rogue Combat talent) looks interesting, but the fact that shaman AP is going to be weighted equally from Agility and Strength means that Rogues have another class that is likely to roll on DPS leather. While this might not be a problem to rogues who run with guilds, I don't usually get that luxury. Since most of my dungeoneering is with PUGs, I'm not looking forward to dreading grouping with yet another class because chances are they are going to roll on the only type of gear I can use.

More on this later.

American, like most carriers, is struggling; perhaps more so then competitors. Why? American is the largest operator of MD-82 series aircraft (242 currently active) and has 58 MD-83s. The MD-8X series of aircraft took off in 1979, selling hundreds of aircraft to customers across the globe. Another notable user in trouble is Alitalia, who has 73 of the series. Delta Air Lines also operates 117 of the series. A similarity between Delta and American is MD-8X, but they both seem to be replacing the series with the 737 series, which is great. 

In April, this blog was not running. Many of you may remember when American had to cancel hundreds of flights, daily for a few days, to inspect the MD-80s (wiring for the wheel wells). The inspections apparently were called for back in 2006, but were mandated by 2008 when the FAA saw that the amendments to the aircraft were never completed correctly. 

Let's go back to the FAA. American is based in Dallas / Fort Worth. Southwest Airlines is based in Dallas (love airport). There was a case where the FAA offices, in Dallas, were caught ignoring the $10.2 million dollars worth of fines for Southwest Airlines, following the events in April. Are the offices in Dallas that oversee the two separate? Were these rapid safety inspections / fines a result of someone LUVing Southwest too much? (not too hard to do these days). Maybe we need to see the two issues at hand separately. It's quite possible that one had nothing to do with the other. However there are no answers to support either. 

I can't say I'm impressed with American. I'll be flying them soon and I'll be writing a review of my trip on the airline. However, what's up with the FAA Dallas offices? Are they still investigating the office? I'm not trying to bash American or anyone else. The 1,300 mechanics getting furloughed seems excessive, but so do gas prices. With the decline of oil, hopefully American will keep more mechanics; that will help ensure safety. There are many unanswered questions, perhaps too many. Unless the full story is out there, I don't think it's right to call American an unsafe airline. Yet pilots flying with broken altimeters is nonsense, and the FAA should fine the carrier for silly things,  especially those that a pilot know not to do.

Image: flickr.com

In 2006, after we went to see the movie, “Who killed the Electric Car,” I was fired up and ready to do something about my gas consumption. I was ready to go electric. Screw the bastards who were trying to squash the best option we’ve ever had to limit our dependence on oil, foreign or otherwise! I was ready to pitch the SUV and buy myself a little electric car.

I turned to the Internet and began researching the options. Or the option. There was only one that I could find: a little thing called a “Sparrow.” It turned out the Sparrow wasn’t manufactured any longer, but you could find them out and about (I found out that someone at my company drove one to work and that we actually a charging station on site!). Maybe I could buy one from someone else!

I continued reading about the Sparrows and found a blog that a man was keeping about his experience with the car. While it was fantastic on saving energy, he spent a lot of time doing diagnostics and repairs (since the company who manufactured the Sparrow shut down, he was on his own!)  It seemed that there were just no viable options for true electric cars.

(Myers Motors  revived the Sparrow which is now called the NmG for “no more gas.”.) 

Fast forward to 2008. Again, I’m getting fired up. I feel like we are being screwed by ol’ Georgie boy and his friends both here and overseas who’ve been giving it to us you know where for the past 8 freaking years. They’re making money with all their little (or big) corporations and businesses…getting rich from war, and pretend oil crises. They’re getting richer from us! I don’t like being screwed by some weasel, especially one that should be impeached and jailed for war crimes.

I keep going back to the idea of a car that doesn’t use gasoline. Every couple of months or so, I say to the husband, “Hey, can’t we do something about our car. Retrofit it so we can use old french fry grease for gas or something? Can’t we do SOMETHING?” And he always says, “Oh, no, that’s really expensive.” And I say, “Well, can’t you do it?” “Oh no,” he says, “I don’t know how to do that kind of thing.”

Hmph.

Today I read this on CNN.com: Converting Gas Powered Cars to Electric. Here’s a quote from the article:           

            “Horsley and Kennington are fed up. They're among a growing number of Americans who are refusing to wait for big-car manufacturers to deliver mainstream electric vehicles, called EVs. Not only have they rebelled against the status quo by ripping out their gas-guzzling engines and replacing them with zero-emission electric motors, they say just about anyone can do it.”

Just about anyone can do it, eh?

Oh mechanically-inclined husband, where art thou? It’s time to turn Mama’s gas-hoggin’ SUV into an electric car!

I’ll let you know if I have any success in convincing the big guy to use his hands on this one!

PS If you haven’t see the movie “Who killed the Electric Car” please, see it. For me. For you. It’s information you should know! Knowledge is power!

That is simply wrong, and you might be rejoiced to know that I harbor a certain affection for that bulky primate. In fact, our bond is so strong that I have set my sights on a fabulous journey of RPG goodness that will take me through all the core books of its latest incarnation as I madly chop and cut to take D&D to its true unD&D potential (hint: that was sarcasm.)

Introduction

Dungeons and Dragons is, without a shadow of a doubt, the current expression of tabletop roleplaying. It is by no means the one and only (nor the best... in case such things can be measured) example of a roleplaying product, but it is the most structured one (both in content releases and as a commercial endeavor) and is what can be called the mainstream of tabletop RPGs.

Dungeons and Dragons (or just D&D) has also an incredible following, and that is quite simple to notice both on-line and off-line. However a relevant part of that community is not feeling like a happy panda lately. As an outsider to such dilemmas it would be hypocritical of me to try to fill you in on all the minutiae, but suffices to say that the latest incarnation of the game (which is 4th Edition) has been received with mixed reviews. The interesting bit is the sheer amount of passion that the gamers are showing towards this issue. I have seen cries of blind support and shouts of angry disappointment and frustration.

I have seen and played (although only about 4 times) the newest edition of D&D, and I just couldn't see what was the source of all this emotion. That does not mean that either position (and all the spectrum in the middle) is wrong or just doesn't know what is what... but it did show that I was completely cut off from this whole bag of gaming that was being thrown around. It is time for that to change.

The Plan

During the following weeks I will be digging deep into the core books of D&D 4th Ed. I'll read them front to back to get well acquainted with the game, the mechanics and the type of play. I will receive aid from the countless bloggers who are, right now, spilling their thoughts about D&D onto the Internets as I try to get a good grip on what's working, what's not and why is this big enough for people to be upset about.

By the end of the journey I hope to befriend the bulky gorilla and  run the game a few times. I'll be using the aid of the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator to play a few games by myself (and later with others) and I'll try to fill my geeky self with some good willed D&D funtimes.

Then, and only then, I'll be putting D&D through my personal fitness routine. In the end, we will see what can be done to make the system that is on everyone's minds, our little bitch (no, I do not hate women.)

Final Words

I foresee a journey through perilous lands and fiendish places... I also think that this will be a good way to tackle the system and really see what are its best accomplishments and its clunky failures. I should also state (in case it's not obvious) that the 'reconstruction' that I have planned, will gear the gameplay away from the tactical game that you all know and love (or hate?) This is not a statement on what's better or on what is the "good and proper" way to play roleplaying games, this is just the experience of taking a well established product to see if it can be successfully used by people with different tastes.

The books are right next to me, oozing their malevolent charm to lure me into their grasp... today, I gladly accept such grim fate. Only time, and blog posts, can tell what will become of this traveler.

Join me while I pet the gorilla by Subscribing!

Fred.

The Episodes:

Episode 1: Sailors in the Sea of Fate

Episode 2: Good Vibrations!

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - II/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - III/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - IV/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - V/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - VI/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - VII/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - VIII/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - IX/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - X/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - XI/XII

USO, Deep Sea Unidentified Submerged Objects - XII/XII

Thanks to the increasing complexity of modern automobiles over the past few years, most professional auto shops and garages now require a selection of automotive scan tools with which to carry out day to day diagnostic work in order to pinpoint any problems with an engine or engine management system in order to discover what action is needed in order to effect a repair with the minimum of error and maximum efficiency.

There are a variety of different tools available to carry out diagnostics and scans on different types of car and to prepare to repair as effectively as possible. Knowing in detail what issues are causing a car engine to behave in a particular manner is the key to being able to correct the fault in a timely and effective manner.

Perhaps the best known manufacturer of automotive scan tools is OTC, who make a range of tools designed for the highest quality and best price. A comprehensive range is available to enable mechanics to be able to tackle any job they come across, and the range of OTC automotive scan tools is recognized as one of the top choices for the professional, as well as being affordable enough for domestic use under certain circumstances.

Different jobs require different tools, and some are more complex than others. Typically, any job to repair a modern car begins with plugging the scanner into the engine management computer and downloading a log of current performance date. This will include fuel consumption, and time since the last service. It will give the mechanic a complete overview of how the engine is operating, and where there might be errors occurring. The scan will show the mechanic examining the engine whether there are any problems with the fuel supply, the electronics, the air filters, and the running temperature, it will also provide plenty of insight into whether any problems are related to an issue within the engine itself, or indeed within the way the management system has been set up.

A complete diagnostic of a car’s engine management computer system will typically offer an almost immediate list of the performance details for the vehicle, and a good automotive scan tool will shave hours off an otherwise lengthy repair task, as the mechanic will be able to tell almost immediately what is wrong, and what needs to be done in order to repair the damage.

Of course, technology only works well in the hands of those who understand it, and are able to sift through the data provided through a scan and interpret it correctly. However, the latest OTC automotive scan tools have been designed to be almost fool proof, and are able to draw on the experience and insight of hundreds of different programmers and mechanic’s personal records in order to provide a more accurate overview of the data and even present possible solutions to many of the most common problems that a mechanic might encounter.

While some manufacturers release their own range of tools, that are aimed at main dealers, a commercial mechanic may deal with many different models and manufacturers in their day to day role, and this is why it is often an idea to purchase OTC automotive scan tools, as they will be compatible with a range of different vehicles from different international makers, and therefore offer greater flexibility without having to compromise on quality or pay repeatedly for scanners for every single car that is on the market.

While commercial level automotive scan tools are expensive to install and themselves require regular system updates that carry the latest settings for every new vehicle released, they pay for themselves almost immediately thanks to the time that they are able to save, and the fact that without them, even the most experienced mechanic would struggle to discover the inner workings of the latest car engines, which have been designed to be efficient, and robust, but are increasingly too complex for anyone but the experts to consider carrying out any work on.

Remember (circa TBC-release) how much panic was involved when downranked spells no longer got the full benefit of bonus healing or bonus damage?  People thought that the game would be unplayable!  Look how wrong they turned out to be...

Here is a short list of mechanics changes that will affect us priests:

Change #1: Hello spellpower!

Instead of items having bonus healing, bonus damage, or school-specific bonus damage (such as +shadow damage), we will have one stat to cover all those values: spellpower. Spellpower will increase the amount our spells heal for, and increase the amount of damage they do.  One stat covers both.

Just to be clear, +heal will be gone from all gear, not just the new gear in WotLK, but everything: including the gear you have now. The same thing will happen with spell damage.

Spellpower will not affect healing and damage spells equally. If you have 2,000 spellpower, your healing spells will get a much greater percent of it than your damage spells.  The actual percentage will vary from spell-to-spell, and the amounts are still being balanced (it's too early too list them).

About spellpower, from the WotLK beta patch notes:

Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells ... The amount healed will remain roughly the same.

For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording. (Emphasis mine)

For those of you who are wondering how this new, singular "spellpower" stat compares to the +heal or +dmg you have now, it mostly follows this conversion:

(Spell damage) ~= (Spellpower)
(Healing) / 1.88 = (Spellpower)

The only major exception to this rule are items that are primarily healing items (higher bonus healing than bonus spell damage), but have both healing and spell damage listed on them.  The spell damage on those items is not equal to the spellpower in WotLK.  They are converted according to their bonus healing, not bonus damage.

Example:

Shard of the Virtuous

• Currently: 348 Healing/116 Spell Damage
• In WotLK: 185 Spell Power

If you are a DPS caster with about 1,000 bonus damage now, in WotLK you will have close to the same amount (provided you are not wearing healing gear!).  If you are a healer with 2,500 bonus healing, in WotLK you should find yourself with about 1,330 spellpower (almost 1337!).  Your healing spells will heal for about the same.  Your damage spells will hit about as hard.  This isn't intended to buff or nerf anything.  It is just to simply gearing choices in WotLK, especially for hybrid healing/caster classes.

The conversion of school-specific spell damage to spellpower is still being worked on.  We do not yet know what will happen with things like Ritssyn's Lost Pendant.

Still confused about spellpower?  Siha @ bananashoulders.com has you covered. Check out her post on it for a more in depth explanation.

Change #2: Goodbye downranking!

This change is still being evaluated, but as things stand now, all spells will cost a set percentage of your base mana, regardless of which rank you use.  For example: Greater Heal rank 7 will cost the same as Greater Heal rank 1.  Greater Heal 7 will just heal for a lot more.

Thus sayeth Blizzard: downranking was never an intended mechanic:

In the latest WotLK beta push, we made a large change to the mana cost of spells. All player spells now cost a percentage of base mana rather than a fixed cost ... This change was made primarily to prevent downranking, as it's a technique that was never quite intended. Rather than continue to find ways to penalize players for casting low-rank spells, we decided to essentially make doing so obsolete.

So, each spell line (eg. Frostbolt, Shadowbolt, Greater Heal, Rejuvenation, etc.) has a fixed percentage of base mana that it costs for most of its ranks. That means each time a player gains a level the cost will go up some. The percentages were picked to attempt to keep the costs relatively similar to what they are currently in World of Warcraft ... Level 70 characters will see most of their maximum rank spells change in cost slightly up or down, but not by significant amounts.

We anticipate there being some balance concerns due to this change, and our development staff will be ready to implement new spells, abilities, or talents to resolve those issues as the testing process continues.

Yes, this is a significant change, specifically for healing.  Fortunately for priests, the majority of our regen comes from cheating the 5-second rule, not from downranking. However, encounters where constant heal-spam is necessary (such as Brutallus) will be severely impacted by this change.

In WotLK, even before the removal of downranking was made, we knew that we would be spending more mana healing (it makes sense; the higher in level we are the costlier the spells).  We also know that our mana regen and mana pool would go up accordingly.  The burden is now placed on Blizzard to ensure that our mana regen will be increased enough to compensate for the removal of downranking.

In some ways, this change makes healing a little more brainless.  Part of the challenge (and, hence, fun) of healing for me was to tailor my spell ranks to the situations.  So, instead of GHeal7, GHeal5, GHeal1, etc., I will be pressing one button.  GHeal, GHeal, GHeal.... Bueller, Bueller, Bueller..... *zzzzzz*  Sure, I'll still use Renew, PoM, etc., but a lot of the "challenge" will be removed.

Let us just take a minute to mourn the impending loss of downranked Holy Nova to unstealth enemy players or to kill those damn snake trap critters.  *Sniff* My warlock alt would also like to take a minute to mourn the loss of downranked Life Tap. May it rest in peace.

Change #3: Talent spec flexibility

Talent trees have become a lot more top heavy than they were in the past.  There are more good choices, and we are now able to exercise a wee bit of creativity when placing our talent points. Gone are the days of feeling pidgeonholed into certain talent choices for lack of better options.

The good news is that Blizzard is (still) planning on allowing us to have two different talent specs that we can switch between as desired (without respec costs!).

It was announced at the Worldwide Invitational and confirmed on the forums:

We talked about this recently at the Worldwide Invitational actually. We are looking into allowing players to basically have two talent specs that they can switch between but we are still working out the exact details so we will have to wait and see exactly how it will function in-game.

Now, this feature hasn't been implemented into the beta yet, but I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Multiple talent specs can benefit everyone.  You can have a PvE spec and a PvP spec, or one for healing, one for DPS.

There have been no announced plans of talent respec costs being increased in WotLK, though it wouldn't surprise me if it happened.

Change #4: The last broken mechanic ... now less broken

In my opinion, spell pushback is the last broken game mechanic in WoW.  What is spell pushback? Whenever a damaging spell or ability hits you while you are casting, the casting time of your spell will be delayed by a given amount, lengthening the casting time. There is no melee equivalent, and it is imposed unequally amongst the casting classes (some have talents to reduce it, others do not). What if every time a melee character dodged or parried something their swing timer was delayed?  Imagine the outcry!

The bad news is that spell pushback isn't going away.  The good news is that it is being capped.

Added to the WotLK beta patch notes:

Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following:

• When casting a spell:
  • The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
  • All hits after the second will have no effect.

• When channeling a spell:
  • The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
  • All hits after the second will have no effect.

This change isn't very intuitive.  If you have talents or other abilities that reduce the chance that you experience spell pushback while casting (such as Improved Shadowform), then you could still have up to 2 "pushback hits." So, even if your talent prevents one, there is still a chance it could happen later in the spell. There never will be more than 2.

According to Blizzard:

If you avoid pushback from the first two hits there is still a chance pushback will occur. This change is simply a guarantee that you will not get pushback more than twice during any cast or channeled spell.

With this being said, the existing talents (such as fel concentration for Warlocks) that increase the chances a player will resist pushback are in the process of being reworked in light of this change. We'll provide more information on this as development progresses.

The way spell pushback currently functions on the live servers, the first hit adds 1 second to the casting time of your spell. The second attack adds another 0.8 seconds.  Third is 0.6 seconds.  Fourth: 0.4 seconds.  Fifth, and any others, are 0.2 seconds each.

This WotLK change to the mechanic would give us just a 0.5 second addition for the first hit, and 0.5 for the second, and nothing for any hits beyond that.  Comparatively, this is a huge improvement!

Channeled spells are a bit of a different story.  Currently, pushback time is simply deducted from the channel time, eating up precious damage ticks from Mind Flay (so if you have been hit twice and have 1.8 seconds of pushback on your Mind Flay, the channel will only last 1.2 seconds, and will only do one tick of damage).  In WotLK, channeled spells will never lose more than 50% of their channel time.

Us priests will see more channeled spells in WotLK, including a level 80 shadow AoE spell (called "Mind Sear").  Having a guarantee that a channeled spell will have some effect is better than nothing.  There have been times when I have seen Mind Flay do nothing from too much spell pushback (three hits in its first second of channeling and Mind Flay will have zero effect, as it stands now).  In WotLK, Mind Flay is guaranteed at least one tick due to the new spell pushback mechanics.

There is no word yet as to how talents like Improved Shadowform may change in light of the new workings of spell pushback.

Change #5: Drinking problem, be gone!

If anyone knows drinking, it's us dwarves.  There have been some raids where I have been chain-chugging mana potions like there is no tomorrow.  Would I say that I have a problem with drinking?  Well, no.  Maybe with raiding...

In WotLK, you will only be able to drink one potion per encounter or attempt.  After chugging one, you get a debuff called "Potion Sickness," which reads:

Unable to consume potions until you rest out of combat for a short duration.

So, until you leave combat, the debuff will not go away and you cannot have another potion.  You get one potion and one potion only!

To mana abusers, this may seem like too little, but in WotLK there have been some significant changes to where we get our mana.  Most classes have been given better regen talents or have had pre-existing talents reworked for increased benefits (like Spirit Tap).  There is a much greater ability for each class to regen a significant portion of their own mana.

As an added bonus in raids, many buffs are being changed to affect the whole raid, and not just a given group.  There has been some discussion about whether or not Vampiric Touch will become raid-wide or stay as a group buff:

Making VT raidwide is a possibility, but yes it would mean the value of multiple Shadow Priests in a raid is somewhat diminished. In a lot of ways we're okay with that (you shouldn't *have* to have multiple specs of one class in a raid), but there are a lot of other side effects we're not sure about right now.

Other classes have been given nice mana regen tools for groups/raids as well, such as frost mages.  Fortunately, we have many options in this regard.

Imagine yourself an automobile mechanic. You have started your own small shop and are looking to increase your business. The standard answers would be to invest in print, radio and TV advertising or maybe a direct mail campaign. All of these are useful, but all cost money.

Here is a zero cost solution:

1. Develop a great 20 minute presentation on Auto Maintenance, Safety or How to Buy a Used Car. This presentation is all about giving people free and useful information.
2. Contact every service organization in your city. All of these organizations like Rotary, The Lions Club and Kiwanis have weekly meetings that include a speaker. They are ALL dying to hear a quality speaker. Ask them to allow you to present your FREE and USEFUL information at one of their meetings.
3. Wear your pristinely clean and starched mechanic shirt and trousers to the event. Bring along business cards, calendars and other free material that happen to advertise your company.
4. Knock them dead with the quality of your presentation and the usefulness of your material.
5. Offer them, in exchange for their email address or contact information, a document entitled How to Find a Good Mechanic or something like that.
6. Be nice, remember names and thank the club for allowing you to present to them.

Giving this simple presentation to four organizations on your lunch break will have put your name, company and face in front of a few hundred people for free! All of this is accomplished while helping others and it's free! Who will they think of the next time they need a mechanic?

Regardless of your profession, this concept will work. Contact me and I will be happy to help show you how.

Truly,
Mr. Echo