Troubleshooting the MoP Beta

Pandaren Concept Art

I just got the MoP Beta a day ago and with much joy started to download it.  However I was running into a few problems getting it to download.  So In case you are having problems, here’s a few things you might want to try:

1) Make sure you are running the beta launcher as an administrator and the agent.exe program as well.  If you can’t find it bring up your task manager, right click on the process to bring up properties, set it to run as administrator and then terminate the process and relaunch the beta downloader.

2) If that fails, it might be due to a corrupted download.  So delete the c:\programdata\battlenet folder and the setup files and launcher will be re-downloaded the next time you start the beta download.

3) Another strange error occurs when your agent.exe is tricked by old unused internet connections.  Open your networking properties in your control panel and check to see that there aren’t any up-used dial-up connections or vLan connections listed.

4) If all else fails try downloading the setup file again in case it was corrupted.

5) Blizzard also advised keeping your graphics drivers up to date as the set up will complain about it.

6) Lastly, make sure you don’t have a firewall program blocking the downloader.

Hopefully one of the tips helped if you are having problems getting the beta up and running.  There are also lots of useful posts on the official techinical support forums so don’t give up.

What’s New?

What’s New?  More like WTH Right?  I know I haven’t posted in months and there is a simple explanation for that;  I got burnt out, it was pretty sudden and I quit cold turkey.  I didn’t even log in to clear my unread mails or tell in-game friends I was going to leave.  To be honest I had no idea that I wasn’t going to log in the next day.  I just got burdened by real life and turned away from the game.

So why am I back?  I couldn’t really stay away from WoW forever.  I have been back for about a month, starting with just doing dailies and learning the new class mechanics the 4.01 brought.  I think that was what really brought me back.  I tried coming back earlier and I felt like I couldn’t really get a hang of the characters again.  But with 4.01,  It’s all new for everyone (that was not in the Beta) and it seemed like equal footing.

I think there is a classic fear with MMOs.  It feels like you can’t really step away from them.  Its like trying to come home again.  All the cool stats you once craved are gone, and the rotations you committed to muscle memory no longer work and you find yourself squinting over skill descriptions trying to figure out how they work and interact with other skills.

I am back, who knows for how long, but if you still check this blog, I’ll be posting again.  Probably not as often as I did, I am much too busy playing 🙂   But I will be writing about WoW into Cataclysm.

What’s New – The Lull Before the Storm

If you’ve been following the site you’ll notice a distinct slowdown in posts over the last two weeks.  In a way it kind of mirrors my WoW playing habits as well.  Summer is here and while it doesn’t change much for me, it has really changed the make-up of players on the servers.  There is an infusion of students, home for summer break flooding the servers.  Lots of new faces and at the same time lots of the regular folks are on vacation.  My guild is fragmented at the moment with a good number of serious raiders on vacation, which means that progression on downing the Lich King is stalled indefinitely and raids seem to be more of alt runs.  So with less geared raiders and the need to PUG spots, it seems like we are going no where fast.  Which in turn influences my desire to raid.  The same problem has hit the other two regular PUGs I attend and its hit or miss if they happen.

So for the most part I have been taking the time to get out a bit more and just log in daily to run the daily heroics on the alts that still need gear or are building a second set.  Atropos has taken up tanking for quicker queues in the last few weeks and its an odd situation, I am still not totally comfortable tanking with her.  Out of my three tanks and given comparing it to Antagonist when she tanked sometime back, it is the hardest tank for me to get used to.  I think I’ll be writing an post on that this week so look for that.

While I am slowing down in the game, I will still be posting here and hopefully the beta will be starting soon with more interesting news coming down the pipe.  As I am sure some readers are tired of WOTLK after a year, like I am, I’ll also be adding some off-topic posts on fun stuff I am trying out, hopefully it will be interesting as well.

P.S.  I am going on vacation next week so expect less content, but I will be bringing a notebook (if it arrives in time) and will post a bit if I can get a decent Wi-fi connection.

What’s New?

Cataclysm Alpha Installation Screen

Didn’t we just have one of these updates?  Yes but changes are coming to this site, again, so I thought this would be the best place to announce them.  I been doing a second pass on the way I’ve organized this site and it could do with some refinements so here are some changes that are coming up.

What’s New?

Its the Tuesday maintenance update.  Last week was a strange one, with the announced maintance that was at the last minute changed into a limited maintenance for some realms at the last minute.  I was planning to get more done on the Blog but that derailed my plans.  On the plus side I got most of my weeklies and VOA done early.  My characters took it easy for the most part, just doing dailies and a little questing.  A nice surprise was Strand Crawler showing up for three of my alts (including Paia) in the daily fishing rewards.  By doing less raids there was still a lot of content pumped out with several addon reviews and and a good look at the profession changes coming in Cataclysm.

I spent this maintenance doing some real life stuff so not as much content as I would like, but never fear, more is in the cooker.  The big news openning this week is the annoucement of the Beta Test for the Iphone/Web Remote Auction House App.  Blurring the line between offline and online WoW life, you can now stay a competitive auctioneer even in a board meeting and sell off your crap while taking one.  I’ll have a post up on that shortly.

What’s New? – My UI Page Launched

I am in a spot of PVP burnout after Children’s Week.  It was a painful and stressful week trying to get the achievements done.  More on that soon when I do my Achievement Hunter follow-up post.  Between getting, stabbed, incinerated, frozen, blinded and stunned, I have been working on a new page for the blog.  I am happy to say its in a state in which I can release it.  It’s called My UI and focuses on the addons I use and how they were used to customize my user interface and make playing wow more efficient for me.  It has a general philosophy, and a full list of addons I currently use.  I plan to review all my addons and any new ones I am trying.  These reviews will be in a new column called Pimp My UI and will be linked to the addons.

So with the launch of this new page, I am going to focus a bit more on addons this week so expect to see reviews of addons and addon sites in the coming week.  There was also alot of Alpha news this week with the leaked client, check out this post for more info.  Another big tidbit released by Blizzard this week was the introduction of Real ID, a unified ID you can share with friends to track and chat with them over Blizzard games.  Cool concept, questionable implementation.  Read about that in this post.

Look forward to more good stuff this week and as always, thank you for reading.

What’s New? – Remaking the World

Its Tuesday maintenance again which means time for furious blogging.  Major changes are in the works to the blog’s design.  I am switching from the Freshly Theme I have been using to the Twenty Ten Theme. The new theme is also the new default theme for WordPress 3.0 blogs.  Its a big change from the last theme with its dark layout, so why the switch?  Find out after the break.

What’s New?

Man I am pooped, i have been furiously updating this blog since the servers went down at 5am and even with the server back up I have just finished writing a few more articles.  I added character pictures for the rest of the missing character pages, so check them out.  I also fixed the missing link for Kaysa’s armory profile.  I like pictures with my my posts so I went back and added some for the older posts.  Still getting a hang of this blogging thing so I don’t always have everything organized.

There are also two new posts will little updates on Gaia and Alyx.  My next step to add updates for the other characters and tell you a little more about each of them.  I have also worked on a few more articles that are scheduled to be posted in the next few days.  You’ll see a new column called /Trade Chat where I do quick reviews of fan sites and blogs I visit on a regular basis.  I have new articles for the Turning a Profit and Macro Workbench in the pipeline.  Thanks for reading and check back soon.

What’s New?

So I have been working on the blog over the last few days and added some new items.  A few new blog entries and revamped and added pages for all my primary characters I play on the Kargath server.  With all this updating, I have taken a little break from leveling Maruk and he is still, 21.  In the game I have been trying to catch a few more ICC runs but PUGs never seem to get past the first wing, regardless of how geared they are.  I was also really disappointed when the new guild I had joined on my main character Nemain was told there was no raiding spot available for a Fury Warrior as I didn’t bring any utility, and only alts that heal or tank get to go on the second raid nights.  I don’t think they understand that my Shadow Priest is really my alt and in fact the last one to hit 80.  It just seems hard to raid as a melee.  Just stay in the back with the animals and other disposable pets I guess.  Considering leaving the guild on my warrior and trying to find another guild that wants to do progression and has a regular raid spot for a Fury Warrior.  No easy feat this late in an expansion.

I have added links to the wow armory for my alts and am in the process of adding pictures.  More to come soon.