limpid

Got my priest to level 8 and got bored. Great afternoon's play.

Anyone want anything from the chinese?

Playing an ally priest on Deathwing while I wait. Fefifofum.

Is tarren mill down?

You'll be "glad" to hear that after 8 ish weeks of me telling the networking people there are problems with internet connectivity from my hotel - they've found a problem with internet connectivity.

ffs.

Don't you only need the collector's edition if you don't own a copy already? Serious question - a mate wants to start playing, but is waiting until TBC comes out so he doesn't have several GB of patches to download.

Will play.com deliver on the 16th, or dispatch on the 16th?

I've mentioned this before on another thread, but anyone using digital cameras (especially professionally) should spend a few minutes to read this.

The Burning Crusade

[*:ae2280c859]Any date announced yet?
[*:ae2280c859]Any retailers offering release day shipping? (ie. to arrive on release day)

Get searching people...

They're selling trial dvd's of wow for £1.29 in my local mvc.

Erm, Clicky

by OutByEaster?

There shouldn't be any glory in a nil-nil draw at home, but something about the nature of our performance against Chelsea leads me to think that better times are ahead.

What's the collective noun for a group of young lions?

You see, sometimes it's more important that you regain some of the properties you had that had been slipping away than get three points.

I thought our young side played will real pride, heart and spirit tonight against an excellent Chelsea side.

It's not always something to celebrate when you set up for a draw a home and get it, regardless of who your opponents are, but the manner of our resistance was as much a cause for celebration as watching 4,000 unhappy cockneys and one Portuguese slope off back to the smoke in a pall of misery,

There were notable performances all over the pitch.

Our two young centre halves were excellent; they work really well as a pair and fear absolutely no one. Drogba has a habit of leaving defenders bruised, battered and unhappy. He limped off tonight a wounded man.

Bouma was a revelation, man-marking SWP out of the game so effectively that he'll be sleeping with the light on for a fortnight. A tour de force from our often-criticised Dutch pocket battleship.

Gardner, Petrov, Osbourne, and particularly Davis were industry personified and seemed to be all over the pitch, outnumbering Chelsea when it appeared they would be out gunned.

Angel performed his lonely task well; it can't be easy trying to hold up the ball with Carvalho behind you and Makalele in front. It never looked great, but he did an important job tonight.

Collectively, they had a force that seemed to take Chelsea by surprise. Chelsea are the archetypal playground bully, and when they don't get their own way, they start to look a little lost, a little confused and a little temperamental.

The moment that typified the game for me was Agbonlahor roaring back to take the ball from Drogba on one of the rare occasions that he'd out muscled Mellberg. It earned him a round of applause from his manager that spread around the ground; its echo can probably still be heard on Chelsea's team bus.

So, lets not focus on our own negativity, or lack of ambition, for the height of our ambitions must surely be to create a team full of spirit and belief, ready to work and battle for one another and for our cause. Rest assured that these qualities now reawakened will bring us points in the weeks to come.

The pride is back. Hope follows.

by kingrollo

kingrollo muses possible signings.

I think there is only Drogba & Ronaldo that we haven't been linked with! But what do we actually know.

Considered Options:

[*:61b967c34f]Martin O'Neill has heavily hinted that he wants players with experience of the premiership.
[*:61b967c34f]He wants players with pace.
[*:61b967c34f]He has previously shown a liking for a big man up front - even if this guy isn't a prolific goal scorer.
[*:61b967c34f]His liking for players he knows - suggests that he is interested in the character of players, or he hasn't yet got a good scouting network established after a while out of the game. I am bit undecided on this one.

Reading the forums there isn't a position that doesn't need strengthening; from Goalkeeper to centre forward - in every position it seems we have no position we are entirely happy with.

I think we are going to find out what sort of team O'Neill is going to build at Villa. In my opinion there are 3 routes to go down:

[*:61b967c34f]We go for big names, expensive players - not Chelsea style - but Say Craig Bellamy, Robbie Keane, Defoe. The problem is we aren’t in Europe and history has shown that it is difficult to attract players until we are in Europe even in the close season.
[*:61b967c34f]We assemble a squad a quality players regardless of position when quality becomes available. For example most people probably think Sorenson is an OK keeper - but if better goalie became available we should go for him.
[*:61b967c34f]Martin O'Neill does what does he knows and assembles a Leicester type side. Tough tackling with few stars, but very difficult to beat. Still lacking against the very big guns. This I feel is most likely option at least in the short term.

So who are the names then? I have no doubt in my mind that Craig Bellamy would Martin O'Neill's first choice up front but that seems highly unlikely. Defoe would be a major surprise, I even think Robbie Keane is highly unlikely.

Darren Bent would appear gettable, but Charlton would have little to gain by selling him now unless they can be convinced with a swap involving Baros (remember Pardew was keen on Baros before).

So availability seems to be key, which brings us to the likes of James Beattie at Everton. He's not for sale officially, but rumours of Everton eyeing Nugent from Preston could make him surplus to requirements. Of course Villa could go for Nugent, but he lacks the premiership experience that O'Neill seeks. One who would be available is Harewood at West Ham; he's not a great goalscorer and West Ham fans weren't convinced when he was playing in the Championship. But he fits the MON style of play and I feel would be an improvement on what we have.

My tip is that it will be one of Beattie, Harewood, Nugent in that order of probability.

For an outside punt; what about Andy Cole, or even Emille Heskey (with six premier goals this season).

The other position which I sense MON is ill at ease with is centre back. Ridgewell has recently been left out in favour of Cahill and I understand Ridgewell had one or two fraught moments against Chelsea tonight. Curtis Davies is my strong tip to join us, I believe that Mowbray at Albion wants to build his own team, and the sale of Davies would give him funds to do that.

Midfield: Barry Fergusson has been suggested, however there seems to be fog of politics up north and Fergusson and his family didn't settle south of the border. With the manager under scrutiny, I feel Fergusson may decide to tough it out at Rangers.

Steve Sidwell from reading fits the bill for me. I understand he doesn’t have long on his contract either. Hendrie may go the other way in a swap deal.

Others: Well Alan Smith on loan, he could do a job for us. Bardsley from Man Utd would appear to lack the required premiership experience. Craig Gordon from Hearts could be an outside bet to solve our goalkeeping crisis.

Either way I expect some positive news very soon!!

quick question about the transfer window, I know you cant give details but is it looking promising or are Randy and Martin having difficulty finding available players of the right quality?

At the risk of speaking for the general: It has been repeated many times in this thread that RL will not be involved in the day to day running of the club. He is not going to run the club like Ellis, he is putting in place a business team which will make these kind of decisions.

Isn't that a Firefox?

I'm not bored, although if they delay TBC at all, I'll have two 60s to level to 70.

In Booty Bay, got jumped by a ?? mage. With assistance from the guards I got the kill. :-D

I'm know lvl 48 - Does that mean no more players at level ??

TBH he must have been an incredibly poor player. I froze him and finished off the mob I was fighting first. Even had time for a /yawn before he unfroze.

Lots of nice hunter gear though! I mean, if any class needed upgrading it was huntards!

Too true. Ask the ?? rouge who jumped me last night. I laughed for ages when my pet solo'd him as I kited around :-)

by blandy

Slightly later than normal, due to the intervention of Christmas "trimmings" here's the match report from the game at Spurs yesterday.

London, you've got to love it, haven't you? I mean there it is bloomin miles away from the chilly north, at the end of a succession of motorways, complete with roadworks and associated queues, and the Police seem to want games there on boxing day to start far too early - certainly not at a convenient time like 3 pm.

Still, I got there in time. And London has got a ferris wheel by the stream, and I think the post office there has a new collection of commemorative stamps - probably celebrating the fact that the ground of a London team called "England" is now into it's second decade of being built, or something.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to Spurs - they've rebuilt the away end of the ground, so no more atmospheric but ancient wooden stand, instead they've done a good job of homogenising the ground into a 2 tiered enclosed affair. It's not bad at all, though no doubt they'd like it to be bigger. Then they could employ more stewards to tell people to sit down every 5 minutes.

The game? - Ah yes, the game. I didn't really fancy Villa to get anything from it, and that's how it turned out. Spurs are good at home, and Villa have found the effects of lack of numbers and quality catching up on us.

For the first half, certainly we matched Spurs. We were competitive in midfield, and neither set of forwards was getting much from their opposing defenders.

Villa despite the announcer initially claiming that Lee Hendrie would playing! had a similar side to the Man U game, except for Baros replacing Sutton.

The action in the frst half mostly centred around midfield. Gav was excellent, accompanid by Craig Gardner in the middle the two of them were winning a lot of ball, and Steve Davis was right on form - energetic, good feet and despite again being played on the left, he looked a classy player. Gareth Barry at Left Back was equally excellent, and the game to and fro'ed with neither keeper being particularly troubled. Gabby got through (almost) a couple of times, but Robinson dashed out and smothered. Kiraly for us had a couple of shots to save from Spurs lively looking forwards. They both impressedme - Berbatov hasa fantastic touch and Defoe was all twists and turns and runs off.

Unfortunatly as H-T approached, Mellberg and Hughes collided in throwing themselves in front of a Berbatov shot, and both were doomed to go off injured - Hughes on a stretcher straight away, and Mellberg at H-T, limping badly. From my view in the lower corner it looked like Olly got hughes studs in his thigh, and Hughes got clattered on his knee. Ridge came on for Hughes, with Olly doing 10 minutes at Right Back, till half time.

So the second half started with Gardner moved to Right Back, Bouma on at Left back, Barry moved to Left mid, Davis to right mid, Petrov (who had played poorly) off, and Baros and Gabby still up front. Oh and Ozzy on (for Stan).

It took maybe 12 minutes for Spurs to score. We lost the ball in midfield, it was knocked back through and Defoe was clean through and scored. Can't blame Kiraly, but the initial pass lost was careless and the defence napping a tad.

Unfortunately Spurs started to create a bit more, with their forwards certainly enlivened. They duly scored a second - another good goal from Defoe, beating Cahill and lashing in.

But Villa didn't give up, despte the 2 goal deficit, despite the injuries and re-organisation.

Gareth Barry wriggled past about 3 defenders, shimmied Robinson and rolled the ball into the bottom corner in front of me.

So the game heated up a notch, Martin O'Neill was waving Villa to get forwards at every opportunity, but the pressure came to nought.

So what to make of it all?

Well, positives and negatives. In no particular order.

Spurs are a decent side, and will do well. Their forwards are good, Ledley King was excellent and they deserved to win, just about.

The ref, Uriah Rennie, had a very good game. When he first started in the Prem, I liked him - he was up with play, explained what was going on, and seemed in control. Then he went pants - I'd fear getting him in a game, because he seemed to make random, "look at me" decisions, and to never make it clear why. Yesterday though, he was very good.

But that's enough about the scenery, what about the Villa picture? - Gareth Barry continues to look a class above, whatever position he's in. Though he does have a habit of making one error a game at L-B that could cost us - a loose header on Saturday, a blocked pass yesterday. He's worth his weight in gold, mind.

I was impressed too by Craig Gardner, he loves a tackle, slotted in well at Right Back and well in midfield. He's beginning to learn from Gav, in terms of passing.

Steven Davis is another huge plus. He's had his rest, and is now back to his best.

Olly, of course, is Olly and Gary Cahill, though still learning, is quality.

But then we get to the problem areas. Everywhere else. Gabby has pace in abundance, but doesn't make the runs. Baros is mostly eager, but runs down blind alleys. Petrov has faded alarmingly - is he carrying an injury?

Ozzy is perhaps in a bit early, and needs to cotton on to passing the ball quickly and accurately. He's got some promise though.

Villa keep going, now. They don't give up, heads don't drop and the effort is exactly what it should be. With luck and with Mr Lerner's money, the quality of the Squad, and depth can be improved. There's a lot to do though.

I'm still a happy Villan, because there's hope things will be improved.

Oh and a word of thanks to the ticket office - we took a bigger allocation of tickets - apparently (so a Spurs steward said) 2900 Villa fans were there, rather than the 1500 minimum allocation. We didn't sell all the seats, but around 1400 more people got to go, than could otherwise have done.

Happy Holidays.

Can't connect :-(

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Looks like another really poorly planned change. And not needed.

but mages didn't need that talent. The mage is a well defined class with a well defined role. If Blizzard want to nerf the whole game into crappy pvp I will be going elsewhere. I don't like pvp!

Hmm, so you see invisibility as an equivalent to Backstab? This is actually worse than I thought. My mage is turning into a rogue.

Unless it's changed, the mage talent is not "stealth", it's "invisibility". I'll predict now that you can't use it when in combat, or to enter combat from this state (unless attacked). I don't know why you think that blink+stealth would be good unless it broke combat. I'd give up both for a healing talent.

I already have no ability to move faster than normal, but that will help me move slower.

Mages could go invisible in the beta. Now it's back it'll be nerfed.