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	<title>Kastang &#187; WoW</title>
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	<description>Ramblings of a Geek</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:17:26 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Installing and Configuring WoW on Linux</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/08/installing-and-configuring-wow-on-linux/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/08/installing-and-configuring-wow-on-linux/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:39:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Linux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A few months ago I wrote a blog post answering some frequently asked questions about playing World of Warcraft on Linux (more specifically, on Ubuntu). I am making a return to WoW after an extensive break. During my break I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04. I am in the process of reinstalling WoW [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A few months ago I wrote a <a href="http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/wow-on-linux/">blog post</a> answering some frequently asked questions about playing World of Warcraft on Linux (more specifically, on Ubuntu). I am making a return to WoW after an extensive break. During my break I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04. I am in the process of reinstalling WoW on my Ubuntu partition. While reinstalling and reconfiguring WoW for my system, I took a few screenshots and notes. Hopefully they will be helpful for anyone who wants to play WoW on Linux.</p>
<p>This guide is tailored to Ubuntu 10.04 users, but should be similar for any Debian based OS users. I like to think everything is fairly straight forward. I assume you have some sort of basic Linux knowledge before attempting this guide. For example, if you do not know how to navigate around in Terminal, you probably shouldn't try this.</p>
<h2>Prerequisites</h2>
<p>Before installing Wine or WoW a few things need to be done with your system.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Update your graphics drivers</strong>: Updating your graphic drivers is probably the most important thing to do to ensure stable performance in WoW. Both NVidia and ATI have made great improvement over the past few years in improving the quality of their Linux drivers. Each release seems to increase the stability and performance of their cards.</li>
<li><strong>Turn off special effects</strong>: If you are using Compiz (or an equivalent) turn it off before trying to play WoW. 9/10 times it will severely diminish performance and cause system lockups. If you use Gnome or KDE, I suggest switching to more lightweight option such as XFCE. This is not mandatory, XFCE my desktop environment of choice. If you want to give XFCE a try, in terminal type: <code>sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop</code></li>
</ul>
<h2>Install and Configuring Wine</h2>
<p>Make sure you have the newest version of Wine installed. If you are using Ubuntu, open terminal and type the following:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>ppa
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">apt-get</span> update
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">apt-get</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">install</span> wine</pre></div></div>

<p>The above commands will install the newest version of Wine on your system. At the time of this writing, the newest version is Wine 1.2. After issuing the above commands, type <code>wine --version</code> in Terminal to make sure you have the newest version available. To check the newest version, head over to <a href="http://www.winehq.org/" target="_blank">WineHQ</a> and check the latest Stable Release version.</p>
<p>Generally speaking the newest version of Wine is always the best. Occasionally a bug will occur in a build in which case you will have to manually install a previous version. World of Warcraft is a very well supported game in the Wine community so the chances of such a bug happening are slim.</p>
<p>For now, only one optional change needs to be made in the Wine Configuration. If you are only using a single monitor system, you can probably skip this. If you are using dual (or more) monitors, you should set an emulate desktop. Type <code>winecfg</code> in terminal. Click the Graphics tab, and check the "Emulate a virtual desktop" checkbox. Enter the screen resolution of the monitor you are going to play WoW on under Desktop Size. What this does is create a virtual desktop for Wine programs to run in. This is sometimes needed because certain games may appear distorted or overlap to a second monitor in full screen mode. If you are using Dual Monitors for example, you will need this activated so you can play correctly in full windowed mode and still be able to access your second monitor while playing WoW.</p>
<h2>Installing WoW from Scratch</h2>
<p><em>*If you have WoW installed on a seperate Windows partition you can use it rather then installing from scratch. If you do, ignore the installation instructions below and scroll down to Special Cases at the bottom of this post. </em></p>
<p>After Wine is installed and configured we can start the installation process. This process is pretty straight forward. I am using the WoW Online installer since I do not own the physical WoW discs. You can download the WoW Installer directly from Battle.net <a href="https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/download/clients/pc/InstallWoW.exe">here</a>. If this link does not work, login to your Battle.net account and download the Windows version of the WoW Installer.</p>
<p>After the file downloads, open terminal and navigate to the directory where InstallWoW.exe is located and run:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;">wine InstallWoW.exe</pre></div></div>

<p>If this is your first time using Wine, the process may take a few extra seconds while configuration files are created. Your screen may also flicker a few times, don't worry, its normal. If all goes well, a screen should pop up asking which version of WoW you want to install. Select WoLK. You should see the following screen shortly after:</p>
<div id="attachment_495" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 476px"><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoWDownloading.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-495 " title="WoWDownloading" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoWDownloading.png" alt="WoW Downloading" width="466" height="328" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">WoW Installer downloading the required files to continue. </p></div>
<p>After the required files are done downloading, you may receive an error about some system components failing the minimum requirements. This is most likely due to Ubuntu not reporting the proper system information.  Ignore any such warnings and click Install.</p>
<div id="attachment_498" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 434px"><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/FailMinimumReqs.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-498   " title="FailMinimumReqs" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/FailMinimumReqs.png" alt="" width="424" height="312" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Ignore any failing minimum requirements warnings. </p></div>
<p>Next you will be prompted to select an install location for WoW. I personally chose C:\Program Files inside of Wine. You can safely choose whichever directory you want. For future reference, the "C" drive Wine creates is mapped to <code>~/.wine/drive_c/</code>. In my example, my WoW folder will be: <code>~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/</code></p>
<div id="attachment_501" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 456px"><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/InstallDirectory.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-501 " title="InstallDirectory" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/InstallDirectory.png" alt="" width="446" height="350" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Choosing the WoW Install Directoy. </p></div>
<p>The longest part of the install when 7.5 GB of WoLK files are being downloaded and installed. I am receiving pretty constant speeds from Blizzards servers of around 800-900KB/s with spikes sometimes around 1.5MB/s. The install part will take a few hours to complete. I would recommend getting to this step before bed.</p>
<div id="attachment_503" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 485px"><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoLKInstalling.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-503" title="WoLKInstalling" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WoLKInstalling.png" alt="" width="475" height="355" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">WOLK Installing</p></div>
<p>After the base install of WOLK is done, the game will automatically launch the Blizzard updater and patch WoW to the newest version. If all goes well, this should be done automatically, without issue. In my case, Wine froze while updating to Patch 3.3.3. If the game freezes on you during updating, open terminal and type:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">killall</span> wineserver
wine ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Launcher.exe</pre></div></div>

<p>The launcher should re-launch and the game should continue to upload without any issues.</p>
<h2>Configuring WoW</h2>
<p>By now WoW should be installed and fully patched. Before running the game, I recommend editing the Config.wtf file before launching WoW for the first time.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#Copy your original Config file to a new location.</span>
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">cp</span> ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>WTF<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Config.wtf ~
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#Remove the original</span>
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">rm</span> ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>WTF<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Config.wtf
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#Create a new Config.wtf file and copy the below inside it</span>
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">vi</span> ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>WTF<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Config.wtf</pre></div></div>

<p>This config file sets all of the performance settings to the lowest possible setting(don't worry, you'll adjust these later. Just for the initial launch it makes life easier), sets OpenGL by default, accepts the TOS and EULA, and sets a low screen resolution.<br />
<code><br />
SET readTOS "1"<br />
SET readEULA "1"<br />
SET readScanning "-1"<br />
SET readContest "-1"<br />
SET readTerminationWithoutNotice "-1"<br />
SET installType "Retail"<br />
SET locale "enUS"<br />
SET movie "0"<br />
SET showToolsUI "1"<br />
SET portal "us"<br />
SET realmList "us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com"<br />
SET patchlist "us.version.worldofwarcraft.com"<br />
SET hwDetect "0"<br />
SET gxWindow "1"<br />
SET gxRefresh "60"<br />
SET gxMultisampleQuality "0.000000"<br />
SET gxFixLag "0"<br />
SET videoOptionsVersion "3"<br />
SET textureFilteringMode "0"<br />
SET Gamma "1.000000"<br />
SET Sound_OutputDriverName "System Default"<br />
SET Sound_MusicVolume "0.40000000596046"<br />
SET Sound_AmbienceVolume "0.60000002384186"<br />
SET farclip "177"<br />
SET particleDensity "0.10000000149012"<br />
SET baseMip "1"<br />
SET environmentDetail "0.5"<br />
SET weatherDensity "0"<br />
SET ffxGlow "0"<br />
SET ffxDeath "0"<br />
SET gxResolution "1024x760"<br />
SET gxApi "opengl"<br />
</code></p>
<p>Now you should be good to boot the game for the first time. You should have a WoW Icon on your Desktop. If you do, double click on it and it will launch the WoW screen. If you do not have a WoW Icon on your desktop, enter the following command in terminal:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;">wine ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Wow.exe</pre></div></div>

<p>If you did not have a WoW Icon on your Desktop, look at the bottom of this post to see how to create an Alias to launch WoW through terminal.</p>
<p>From here it is up to you to configure the settings to your liking. I recommend taking it slow, gradually update the settings until you are happy with the performance. Personally speaking, most of my settings are very similar to the settings I would play with in Windows. Both ATI and NVidia Linux drivers have come a long way in recent years. You should not see much a performance loss between playing on Windows or Linux. In some instances, you may even see a performance boost.</p>
<h2>AddOns</h2>
<p>Generally speaking, all AddOns will work fine under Linux. Rather then manually installing my AddOns, I prefer having a program do the manual work for me. One of my favorite programs for such a task is <a href="http://www.wowmatrix.com/" target="_blank">WoWMatrix</a>. As far as I know, WoWMatrix is the only AddOn updater I know that offers a native Linux client.</p>
<p>Download WoWMatrix Linux version from WoWMatrix and execute the following commands:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#Navigate to where wowmatrix.tar.gz file was downloaded</span>
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">tar</span> zxvf wowmatrix.tar.gz
.<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>wowmatrix</pre></div></div>

<p>If all goes well, WoWMatrix should launch and ask where your WoW folder is located. In the window, right click in the white space and click Show Hidden Files. Navigate to ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/ - After the folder is selected, accept the license agreement. The rest should be self explanatory.</p>
<p>As with configuring your video performance, I recommend gradually adding AddOns. Make sure none cause issues.</p>
<h2>Create a Terminal Alias for WoW</h2>
<p>If for some reason a Desktop icon was not created, or you do not use a windows manager, you can create an alias to launch WoW via Terminal. If you use bash, add this to your <code>~/.bash_aliases</code> file:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #7a0874; font-weight: bold;">alias</span> <span style="color: #007800;">wow</span>=<span style="color: #ff0000;">'wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/Wow.exe'</span></pre></div></div>

<p>After changes are made to your aliases file, you will need to apply the changes by typing <code>source ~/.bash_aliases</code> in Terminal. From now on you will be able to type <code>wow</code> in Terminal and the game will execute.</p>
<h2>Special Cases</h2>
<p>Unless you were previously directed to read this section, skip it.</p>
<p><strong>Using an existing WoW Install:</strong></p>
<p>If you already have WoW installed on a Windows partition, you have two options to choose from:</p>
<ul>
<li>Running WoW directly from your Windows partition.</li>
<li>Copying your WoW directory from your Windows partition to your Ubuntu parition.</li>
</ul>
<p>I am assuming you do not have your Windows partition mounted. If this is the case you will first need to know the which partition your Windows is located:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;">$ <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> fdisk <span style="color: #660033;">-l</span>
&nbsp;
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda1   <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">*</span>           <span style="color: #000000;">1</span>          <span style="color: #000000;">13</span>      <span style="color: #000000;">102400</span>    <span style="color: #000000;">7</span>  HPFS<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>NTFS
Partition <span style="color: #000000;">1</span> does not end on cylinder boundary.
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda2              <span style="color: #000000;">13</span>       <span style="color: #000000;">31871</span>   <span style="color: #000000;">255897600</span>    <span style="color: #000000;">7</span>  HPFS<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>NTFS
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda3           <span style="color: #000000;">31871</span>       <span style="color: #000000;">44648</span>   <span style="color: #000000;">102631425</span>    <span style="color: #000000;">5</span>  Extended
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda5           <span style="color: #000000;">31871</span>       <span style="color: #000000;">44029</span>    <span style="color: #000000;">97654784</span>   <span style="color: #000000;">83</span>  Linux
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda6           <span style="color: #000000;">44029</span>       <span style="color: #000000;">44527</span>     <span style="color: #000000;">3998720</span>   <span style="color: #000000;">82</span>  Linux swap <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span> Solaris
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda7           <span style="color: #000000;">44527</span>       <span style="color: #000000;">44648</span>      <span style="color: #000000;">975872</span>   <span style="color: #000000;">83</span>  Linux</pre></div></div>

<p>Issue the above command. it will display a list off all partitions on your hard drives. Look for the largest NTFS filesystem, this will most likely be your Windows partition. In my case, my Windows partition is located on <code>/dev/sda2</code>.</p>
<p>Now that you know which partition Windows is installed on, execute the following commands:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">mkdir</span> <span style="color: #660033;">-p</span> <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>media<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Windows
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#REPLACE /dev/sda2 with your Windows partition.</span>
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">mount</span> <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>dev<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>sda2 <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>media<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Windows</pre></div></div>

<p>This will create a directory for your Windows partition to reside in then mount the partition to the newly created folder.  I recommend you copy your existing WoW install your Ubuntu partition. For consistency, we will move your WoW folder to Wine virtual directories. This is not necessary though, the WoW folder can be placed anywhere on your Ubuntu HD.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">cp</span> <span style="color: #660033;">-r</span> <span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>media<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Windows<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>path<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>to<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>World\ of\ Warcraft<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span> ~<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>.wine<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>drive_c<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span>Program\ Files<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">/</span></pre></div></div>

<p>This will take awhile to complete. I suggest starting the copy and walking away for an hour.</p>
<p>If you choose to use your Windows partition to run WoW instead of copying it to Ubuntu, you should automount your NTFS drive on boot. Look up how to by editing your fstab file. I will not cover this in my guide.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>If you are at this point, chances are you have a working WoW install. Congratulations!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/08/installing-and-configuring-wow-on-linux/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>World of Warcraft Account Security</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/world-of-warcraft-account-security/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/world-of-warcraft-account-security/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:28:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Linux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=286</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently there has been discussions in my Guild regarding World of Warcraft account security. I believe this is a perfect opportunity to give my opinion on measures that I believe must be taken to ensure increased general security of your computer along with your World of Warcraft account. One thing I must make clear is there is no [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Recently there has been discussions in my Guild regarding World of Warcraft account security. I believe this is a perfect opportunity to give my opinion on measures that I believe must be taken to ensure increased general security of your computer along with your World of Warcraft account.</p>
<p>One thing I must make clear is there is no such thing as a completely secure networked computer. The suggestions listed below are simply extra precautions that must be taken to minimize the chance of your computer being compromised.</p>
<p><em>* - Applies to World of Warcraft only.</em></p>
<p><strong>G</strong><strong>et an Authenticator*<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Having an Authenticator will virtually eliminate the chance of your account being compromised. The Blizzard Authenticator costs $6.50 from the <a href="http://us.blizzard.com/store/search.xml?rhtml=y&amp;q=authenticator">Blizzard Store</a>. If you are an iPhone/iTouch user, you can download the <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battle-net-mobile-authenticator/id306862897?mt=8">Mobile Authenticator</a> for free. Having an Authenticator is no excuse not to do the remaining suggestions.</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>Web Browser<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Use a secure browser. For the sake of speaking, that pretty much means anything besides Internet Explorer. My personal recommendation is <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a></span><a href="http://www.google.com/chrome"> </a><span style="font-weight: normal;">or <a href="http://getfirefox.com">Firefox</a>. For each, I highly recommend the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bhmmomiinigofkjcapegjjndpbikblnp">WOT</a> plugin.</span></strong></p>
<blockquote><p>WOT’s safe browsing tool warns you about risky sites that can’t be trusted: Online shops that cheat customers; download sites that deliver malware; sites that send spam; and those with inappropriate content for kids.</p></blockquote>
<p>Web of Trust provides an additional layer of security when visiting websites. WOT is community managed, meaning if someone spots a phishing website, they can report it. The report is upload to WOT servers, if you try to access the website that has received a poor rating, WOT will block you from going to the website without your express permission. If you use Firefox, in addition to <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456">WOT</a>, I also highly suggest <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722">NoScript</a>. Currently, Google Chrome does not have a  NoScript extension available.</p>
<p><strong>Passwords<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Your World of Warcraft password should be entirely different from any other service you use. Generally speaking, a password should be at least 8 characters long with upper/lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Your World of Warcraft password (along with other sensitive passwords) should be changed at least once a month. It takes 2 minutes to do, don't be lazy. An example of a good password would be 'I3n&amp;$VW49*'.</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Anti-Virus, etc.<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Windows users - Having AV software is not full proof. Consider it just another way to decrease the chances of having malicious software installed on your computer (for a long period of time). I personally recommend <a href="http://avira.com">Avira</a> or <a href="http://eset.com">NOD32</a>. Along with AV software, I also recommend <a href="http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html">Spybot</a> and <a href="http://www.malwarebytes.org/">Malwarebytes</a> (Free Edition is fine). Malwarebytes is specifically targeted to Malware, harmful software that is generally not picked up by AV software. AV software should be set to automatically update and run daily (Both NOD32 and Avira provide this option, as do many other AV's such as AVG and Avast).  I would recommend running anti-malware software at minimum once a week. </span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">For Mac(OSX)/Linux users, The options for security software is rather slim. I can recommend <a href="http://www.clamxav.com/">ClamXav</a>(Mac) and <a href="http://www.clamav.net/">Clamav</a>(Linux) for virus scanning. I also recommend <a href="http://rkhunter.sourceforge.net/">rkhunter</a> for OSX/Linux systems. Generally speaking, there is not much more that can be done for OSX systems in terms of AV software. Sadly, Apple has spread false information on commercials by suggesting OSX is immune to viruses, until OSX suffers a mass attack, it is unlikely much further production of AV software will occur. As for Linux systems, there are other precautions that can be taken, but I will assume if you use Linux, you should know how to properly secure your system.</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Note: Debian based distrobutions can run the follow command to download rkhunter and clamav:</span></strong></span></p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">apt-get</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">install</span> clamav rkhunter
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#rkhunter -c to run</span>
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">#clamscan -r in '/' directory to run</span></pre></div></div>

<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Updates<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Windows users - Automatic Updates should be turned on. Keep your system updated at all times. Microsoft is constantly releasing security patches to fix potential vulnerabilities in your system. If you are still using XP (or anything older) update to Windows 7 as soon as possible. When updates for your system become available, do not postpone restarting your computer to take effect, do it immediately when it asks. </span></strong></span></span></p>
<p>OSX users - By Default, OSX will check for System Updates once a week (This setting can be changed in System Preferences -&gt; Software Update). Install updates whenever they are available.</p>
<p>Linux users - If you are using a Debian based system, the following commands can be executed from a Terminal:</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="bash" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">apt-get</span> update
<span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">sudo</span> <span style="color: #c20cb9; font-weight: bold;">apt-get</span> upgrade</pre></div></div>

<p>Other non-Debian based Distributions should consult the proper documentation.</p>
<p><strong>Common Sense<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Be smart when you use your computer. </span> </strong></p>
<p><strong></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">One precaution that should be taken is when reading email. Never click on links masked by anchor tags (HTML), especially World of Warcraft related emails. If you receive an email from Blizzard asking you to log in to your account, or a beta key, it is most likely a scam.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">When using your laptop on a public network, be very careful to use SSL connections while logging in/reading email or any other services. If you are on a public network, you should always assume that someone is watching and logging everything you do (this includes cleartext logins). For maximum security, I recommend always using hardwired connection wherever possible (this includes on a home network also). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">If at any point you find your computer acting strange, immediately stop what you are doing, update and run your protection software.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">If your World of Warcraft account is compromised, and virus scans show up nothing on your computer. Do not assume one is not there. Change the password for your email and WoW account on a different computer, then work on finding out what caused the security breach on your WoW computer. </span></li>
</ul>
<p></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Conclusion<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Everything above may seem like a lot to take in at first, especially if you have little to no protection on your computer to begin with. The hour or two it will take to setup will be well worth it if your World of Warcraft account becomes compromised. Not only will following my suggestions increase the overall security of your system, it will also save you from possible embarrassment if your account becomes compromised. Once you get everything setup, it should not take more then a half hour of manual work per week to keep your system up to date and secure. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">I will repeat again, having this security software in place will not make your computer full proof against attack. The above software will only minimize the chances of your system becoming compromised.</span></strong></span></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Wintergrasp Tokens &#8211; Possible to Have Over 100</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/wintergrasp-tokens/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/wintergrasp-tokens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:32:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wintergrasp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=278</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but today I found out it is possible to have more then 100 Wintergrasp Tokens. I assumed the limit was 100 just like all other battlegrounds. After tonights victory in Wintergrasp I noticed that I had 101 tokens. I looked on WowHead to verify, it appears [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but today I found out it is possible to have more then 100 Wintergrasp Tokens. I assumed the limit was 100 just like all other battlegrounds. After tonights victory in Wintergrasp I noticed that I had 101 tokens. I looked on WowHead to verify, it appears the limit for WG tokens is 1000. Makes me wonder if badges will be mailed if someone actually hits the 1000 badge cap.</p>
<p><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/WG_Tokens.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-277 alignnone" title="WG_Tokens" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/WG_Tokens-228x300.png" alt="" width="228" height="300" /></a></p>
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		<title>Parsing the WoW Armory – Part 2.1</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-%e2%80%93-part-2-1/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-%e2%80%93-part-2-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:16:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Armory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parsing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PHP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I forgot to post this information in Part 2 of Parsing the WoW Armory. When parsing the guild-info.xml file, some fields are represented by  numerical values. Below is conversion table from XML numerical representations to actual values. genderId: 0 - Male 1 - Female raceId: 1 - Human 2 - Orc 3 - Dwarf 4 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I forgot to post this information in Part 2 of Parsing the WoW Armory. When parsing the guild-info.xml file, some fields are represented by  numerical values. Below is conversion table from XML numerical representations to actual values.</p>
<p><strong>genderId:</strong><br />
0 - Male<br />
1 - Female</p>
<p><strong>raceId:</strong><br />
1 - Human<br />
2 -  Orc<br />
3 - Dwarf<br />
4 - Night Elf<br />
5 - Undead<br />
6 - Tauren<br />
7 - Gnome<br />
8 - Troll<br />
10 - Blood Elf<br />
11 - Draenei</p>
<p><strong>classId:</strong><br />
1 - Warrior<br />
2 - Paladin<br />
3 - Hunter<br />
4 - Rogue<br />
5 - Priest<br />
6 - Death Knight<br />
7 - Shaman<br />
8 - Mage<br />
9 - Warlock<br />
11 - Druid</p>
<p>For easy converting from numerical to actual values I would recommend using a PHP array(). Below is an example of the Sorted Guild list from Part 2 with the addition of the class of each character included.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="php" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #339933;">&lt;</span> ?php
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> sortedList<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$classArray</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #cc66cc;">1</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Warrior&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">2</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Paladin&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">3</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Hunter&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">4</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Rogue&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">5</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> 
          <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Priest&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">6</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Death Knight&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">7</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Shaman&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">8</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Mage&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">9</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Warlock&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">11</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=&gt;</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Druid&quot;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
    <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> getName<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot; - &quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span>getLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot; - &quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$classArray</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span>int<span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span>getClassId<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
    <span style="color: #990000;">sort</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">?&gt;</span></pre></div></div>

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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Parsing the WoW Armory – Part 2</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-%e2%80%93-part-2/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:50:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Armory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parsing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PHP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=256</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I chose to expand on Part 1 by providing a function file that provides access to all available character related information from the guild-info.xml file from the WoW Armory. The guild-info.xml file provides the following information for the entire guild: Achievement Points, Class ID, Gender ID, Level, Character Name, Race ID, Guild Rank, URL to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I chose to expand on Part 1 by providing a function file that provides access to all available character related information from the guild-info.xml file from the WoW Armory. The guild-info.xml file provides the following information for the entire guild: Achievement Points, Class ID, Gender ID, Level, Character Name, Race ID, Guild Rank, URL to Character Page. </p>
<p>Some neat things can be calculated by using the available resources. I provided three examples in the code below: Average achievement points, average level, and a sorted list of all characters in the guild (also provided in Part 1).</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="php" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #339933;">&lt;</span> ?php
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #990000;">ini_set</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;user_agent&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; pl-PL; rv:1.9.0.2) Gecko/20121223 Ubuntu/9.25 (jaunty) Firefox/3.8&quot;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> 
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Average guild achievement score. </span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> achAverage<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$total</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$p</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$total</span> <span style="color: #339933;">+=</span> getAchPoints<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$p</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span><span style="color: #339933;">++;</span>
    <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$total</span><span style="color: #339933;">/</span><span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Sorted Guild Characters Names/Levels in ABC Order. </span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> sortedList<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> getName<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot; - &quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span>getLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
    <span style="color: #990000;">sort</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Returns the average level of the entire guild. </span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> avgLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$total</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$p</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$total</span> <span style="color: #339933;">+=</span> getLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$p</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span><span style="color: #339933;">++;</span>
    <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$total</span><span style="color: #339933;">/</span><span style="color: #000088;">$counter</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #009933; font-style: italic;">/**
 * Other functions that can be used to pull information
 * from the XML sheet. Use these functions to expand
 * and create other functions. 
 **/</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getAchPoints<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'achPoints'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getClassId<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'classId'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getGenderId<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'genderId'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'level'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getName<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'name'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getRaceId<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'raceId'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getRank<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'rank'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">function</span> getURL<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">return</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$x</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'url'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">?&gt;</span></pre></div></div>

<p>New functions can be created by using the get functions at the bottom of the file. Using the get functions and sample functions, it should be easy enough to expand on what I have. </p>
<p>The below code is an example of how to use the function code from above.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="php" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #339933;">&lt;</span> ?php
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Functions file. </span>
<span style="color: #b1b100;">include</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'guild.php'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Set Server/Guild Here. </span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$server</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Eitrigg&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$guild</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;We+Know&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #339933;">=</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r='</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$server</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'&amp;gn='</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$guild</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">simplexml_load_file</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guildInfo</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guild</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">members</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">character</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//-------ABOVE THIS LINE IS REQUIRED----------</span>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Below are some possible ways to use the functions. </span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #009933; font-style: italic;">/** Prints Without Array Numbers **/</span>
<span style="color: #b1b100;">for</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #339933;">=</span><span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> sortedList<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span> <span style="color: #339933;">!=</span> <span style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">null</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #339933;">++</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">echo</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #009933; font-style: italic;">/** Alternative Implementation, Prints with Array Numbers
print_r(sortedList($xml));
**/</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Displays the average number of guild achievements. </span>
<span style="color: #b1b100;">echo</span> achAverage<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">//Displays the average level of the guild. </span>
<span style="color: #b1b100;">echo</span> avgLevel<span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">?&gt;</span></pre></div></div>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Parsing the WoW Armory &#8211; Part 1</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Armory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parsing PHP]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today I pulled a list of every character in We Know from the WoW Armory in 5 lines of code. &#60; ?PHP ini_set&#40;&#34;user_agent&#34;, &#34;Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; pl-PL; rv:1.9.0.2) Gecko/20121223 Ubuntu/9.25 (jaunty) Firefox/3.8&#34;&#41;; $url='http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r=Eitrigg&#38;gn=We+Know'; $xml = simplexml_load_file&#40;$url&#41;; &#160; foreach&#40;$xml-&#62;guildInfo-&#62;guild-&#62;members-&#62;character as $char&#41; echo $char&#91;'name'&#93;.&#34; - &#34;.$char&#91;'level'&#93;.&#34;&#60;br /&#62;&#34;; ?&#62; I never realized how easy is was [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today I pulled a list of every character in We Know from the WoW Armory in 5 lines of code.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="php" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #339933;">&lt;</span> ?PHP
<span style="color: #990000;">ini_set</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;user_agent&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; pl-PL; rv:1.9.0.2) Gecko/20121223 Ubuntu/9.25 (jaunty) Firefox/3.8&quot;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #339933;">=</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r=Eitrigg&amp;gn=We+Know'</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">simplexml_load_file</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guildInfo</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guild</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">members</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">character</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span>
        <span style="color: #b1b100;">echo</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'name'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot; - &quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'level'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">?&gt;</span></pre></div></div>

<p>I never realized how easy is was to pull information from the WoW Armory until now. My method has its obvious flaws, such as the output is in no obvious order. I modified my original script to sort the list in ABC order and added a $server and $guild variable to allow for easy modification. Below is a more refined version, in under 15 lines of code the pulled list is sorted in ABC order and displayed.</p>

<div class="wp_syntax"><div class="code"><pre class="php" style="font-family:monospace;"><span style="color: #339933;">&lt;</span> ?PHP
<span style="color: #990000;">ini_set</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;user_agent&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">,</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; pl-PL; rv:1.9.0.2) Gecko/20121223 Ubuntu/9.25 (jaunty) Firefox/3.8&quot;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000088;">$server</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;Eitrigg&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$guild</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;We+Know&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #339933;">=</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r='</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$server</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'&amp;gn='</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$guild</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">simplexml_load_file</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$url</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000088;">$array</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #990000;">array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #b1b100;">foreach</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$xml</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guildInfo</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">guild</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">members</span><span style="color: #339933;">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #004000;">character</span> <span style="color: #b1b100;">as</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span>
        <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'name'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot; - &quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #000088;">$char</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">'level'</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">.</span><span style="color: #0000ff;">&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #990000;">sort</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000088;">$i</span> <span style="color: #339933;">=</span> <span style="color: #cc66cc;">0</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
<span style="color: #b1b100;">while</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#40;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span> <span style="color: #339933;">!=</span> <span style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">null</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#41;</span> <span style="color: #009900;">&#123;</span>
    <span style="color: #b1b100;">echo</span> <span style="color: #000088;">$array</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#91;</span><span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #009900;">&#93;</span><span style="color: #339933;">;</span>
    <span style="color: #000088;">$i</span><span style="color: #339933;">++;</span>
<span style="color: #009900;">&#125;</span>
&nbsp;
<span style="color: #000000; font-weight: bold;">?&gt;</span></pre></div></div>

<p>This script is just a quick and dirty way to accomplish the simple task of pulling names from the WoW Armory. I would recommend against using this in a production environment without some sort of cache/database option implemented.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/parsing-the-wow-armory-part-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WoW on Linux</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/wow-on-linux/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2010/01/wow-on-linux/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:01:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Linux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Several months ago I switched to Ubuntu as my primary OS. The main reason I continued to use Windows at all was World of Warcraft. After much trial and error I have World of Warcraft running at a very acceptable performance rate on my system. Well enough to delete my Windows partition entirely from my hard drive. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Several months ago I switched to Ubuntu as my primary OS. The main reason I continued to use Windows at all was World of Warcraft. After much trial and error I have World of Warcraft running at a very acceptable performance rate on my system. Well enough to delete my Windows partition entirely from my hard drive. I recently posted on <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/akuvh/i_play_wow_on_ubuntu_any_questions/">/r/wow</a> on Reddit about playing World of Warcraft. Quite a few questions were asked. I will cover some of the more common ones in greater detail.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Will my old AddOns work?<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Short Answer: Yes.<br />
<strong><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Long Answer: Yes. Wine runs World of Warcraft. Essentially AddOns add to the existing functionality of WoW. WoW AddOns cannot communicate outside of World of Warcraft. Therefore there should be no compatibility issues. The people over at <a href="http://wowmatrix.com">WoWMatrix</a> even have a native Linux client available. The WoWMatrix client makes updating AddOns as easy as clicking a button. Windows based WoW AddOn clients such as the Curse Client may also work using Wine, I have not tested though.</p>
<p></span></strong></span></strong></li>
<li><strong>Should I install WoW using CD, Installer, or Copy?<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">If you have an existing WoW install on another partition, hard drive, or computer I would highly recommend directly copying the entire WoW folder over to your Linux partition. It is by far the fastest way. My second recommendation would be to use the WoW universal installer. The universal installer downloaded the entire game over the internet, eliminating the need for CDs. Depending on your internet connection speed, expect this to take at least several hours. Installing from the CDs should be a final resort. WoW installation over CDs can sometimes be very tricky and time consuming. The extra effort is not worth the extra time the universal installer will take. If you must go this route, and if you have issues with installing from the disks, try copying all data from each disk to one folder on your hard drive and run the installer from that folder. This is a work around for a common problem while installing via the CD.</p>
<p></span></strong></li>
<li><strong>Hardware<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Hardware selection is very important, especially while using Linux to play WoW. Generally speaking 4GB of RAM and a dual core processor is a minimum. The graphics card is especially important. Currently a NVidia card will perform better then a comparable ATI card under Linux. This is because ATIs Linux drivers just aren't that good. There has <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">certainly been improvements in the past year, though they have not quite caught up to NVidias Linux drivers quite yet. Do not be scared away if you have an ATI card though. I personally use an ATI Radeon 4870 1GB card. I play on ultra settings and I get 60+FPS while questing/doing dailies. ~40FPS doing BGs other then WG. The biggest downfall of this card is when raiding in &gt;15 groups. Often in large groups I will get between 20-30FPS, sometimes lower. I usually lower my Video settings to medium while doing these activities. Often it is not noticeable, in such a large group it is difficult to determine FPS.</p>
<p>My Hardware: 4GB RAM, AMD Phenom II x4 940(4 x 3.0GHz), ATI Radeon 4870.</p>
<p>Something else worth mentioning is the lack of a hardware cursor with OpenGL. This means that the mouse will become sluggish if FPS drop below 30FPS. There is a patch for Wine available that will use the systems hardware cursor. Some functionality is lost though, such as hovering over tooltips. My primary character is a Warlock. I have most my keys bound, making the mouse issue trivial at best. The mouse issue should not be an issue for anyone besides healers or anyone who is a clicker.</p>
<p></span></strong></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Stablilty<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Stability is the same as would be expected using Windows. I rarely ever have WoW/Wine freeze while playing. If you have issues, I would recommend looking for other possibilities such as bad ram, or AddOns conflicting. I would also recommend running a repair on WoW. I have not run into a Wine specific bug for several months.</p>
<p></span></strong></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span>Tips?<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I have a few tips that hopefully will ease the tension of switching from Windows to Linux for World of Warcraft. Most importantly, make sure you have the latest GPU driver available for your card. Drivers are always improving, often fixing issues, and increasing performance. Also make sure all desktop effects are off while running WoW. If you are using Ubuntu/Gnome - Goto: System &gt; Preferences &gt; Appearance ---&gt; Click on Visual Effects, and select None to turn off all effects. This is important, more times then not, WoW/Wine will not run at all with any desktop effects enabled, if it does - expect less then desirable performance.</p>
<p></span></strong></span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">I would also suggest using another desktop manager other then GNOME or KDE. Both of these are heavy on resources, when playing WoW every resource is vital. My personal recommendation would either be to use just a Window Manager (OpenBox, FluxBox, etc) or a lightweight desktop environment such as XFCE.</span><br />
</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The journey to World of Warcraft on Linux will most likely be difficult in the beginning. Don't expect everything to work flawlessly the first time around. Don't give up, the effort will be well worth it. I hope the answered questions above will help to determine if WoW/Linux is right for your system. There are already many great installation guides floating around the internet, I would recommend the installation guide on <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warcraft_functionality_on_Wine">WoWWiki</a>.</p>
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		<title>My WoW UI</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/my-wow-ui/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/my-wow-ui/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:22:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcrft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here's my list of WoW AddOns. You may download, install and update these at any time using WowMatrix at http://www.wowmatrix.com/ !Swatter ag_Extras ag_Options ag_UnitFrames Auc-Advanced AutoBar Bagnon Bagnon_Forever Bagnon_Options Bagnon_Tooltips Bartender4 BigWigs BigWigs_Extras BigWigs_Naxxramas BigWigs_Northrend BigWigs_Plugins ButtonFacade ButtonFacade_Onyx Cartographer Cartographer_Battlegrounds Cartographer_Coordinates Cartographer_Foglight Cartographer_GroupColors Cartographer_GuildPositions Cartographer_InstanceMaps Cartographer_InstanceNotes Cartographer_LookNFeel Cartographer_Notes Cartographer_POI Cartographer_Professions Cartographer_ZoneInfo ChatMOD ClearFont2 ClearFont2_FontPack ClosetGnome [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/screenshot_011709_201045.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-148 alignnone" title="screenshot_011709_201045" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/screenshot_011709_201045-300x187.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="187" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Here's my list of WoW AddOns. You may download, install and update<br />
these at any time using WowMatrix at http://www.wowmatrix.com/</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">!Swatter<br />
ag_Extras<br />
ag_Options<br />
ag_UnitFrames<br />
Auc-Advanced<br />
AutoBar<br />
Bagnon<br />
Bagnon_Forever<br />
Bagnon_Options<br />
Bagnon_Tooltips<br />
Bartender4<br />
BigWigs<br />
BigWigs_Extras<br />
BigWigs_Naxxramas<br />
BigWigs_Northrend<br />
BigWigs_Plugins<br />
ButtonFacade<br />
ButtonFacade_Onyx<br />
Cartographer<br />
Cartographer_Battlegrounds<br />
Cartographer_Coordinates<br />
Cartographer_Foglight<br />
Cartographer_GroupColors<br />
Cartographer_GuildPositions<br />
Cartographer_InstanceMaps<br />
Cartographer_InstanceNotes<br />
Cartographer_LookNFeel<br />
Cartographer_Notes<br />
Cartographer_POI<br />
Cartographer_Professions<br />
Cartographer_ZoneInfo<br />
ChatMOD<br />
ClearFont2<br />
ClearFont2_FontPack<br />
ClosetGnome<br />
CowTip<br />
DoTimer<br />
DoTimer_Options<br />
ElkBuffBars<br />
EnhTooltip<br />
FishingAce<br />
FuBar<br />
FuBar_BagFu<br />
FuBar_ClockFu<br />
FuBar_DPS<br />
FuBar_DurabilityFu<br />
FuBar_GuildFu<br />
FuBar_MoneyFu<br />
FuBar_PerformanceFu<br />
GatherMate<br />
GatherMate_Data<br />
Grid<br />
LightHeaded<br />
LittleWigs<br />
LittleWigs_Coldarra<br />
LittleWigs_Dalaran<br />
LittleWigs_Dragonblight<br />
LittleWigs_Howling_Fjord<br />
LittleWigs_Stratholme<br />
LittleWigs_Ulduar<br />
LittleWigs_Zul'Drak<br />
MrPlow<br />
Omen<br />
oRA2<br />
oRA2_Leader<br />
oRA2_Optional<br />
oRA2_Participant<br />
Parrot<br />
Quartz<br />
RatingBuster<br />
Recount<br />
RicoMiniMap<br />
Stubby<br />
TomTom
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Still a work in progress, I thought I would share my current setup though.</p>
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		<title>The Past Month&#8230;ish</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/the-past-monthish/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/the-past-monthish/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:07:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Twitter has ruined any form of blogging I used to do. I really have to work on that. Here is what has been going on the past month or so.... iPhone My LG enV started acting up a month ago, I brought it to Verizon and they gave me a bunch of crap that they [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Twitter has ruined any form of blogging I used to do. I really have to work on that. Here is what has been going on the past month or so....</p>
<p><strong>iPhone</strong></p>
<p>My LG enV started acting up a month ago, I brought it to Verizon and they gave me a bunch of crap that they would not replace it. I was not eligible for a discounted upgrade for another three months unless I wanted to extend my contract two years. Instead of selling my soul to Verizon again for another two years, I made the switch to AT&amp;T and the iPhone. AT&amp;T rocks in my area, I have yet to see "No Service" on my iPhone. <strong>So basically AT&amp;T + iPhone = WIN.<br />
</strong></p>
<p>I have been testing out many Applications on my iPhone. Top 5ish favorite apps:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Facebook </strong>- Feeds my Facebook addiction while on the road.</li>
<li><strong>BeejiveIM </strong>- Best IM client for the iPhone. Worth every penny.</li>
<li><strong>AroundMe|Yelp</strong> -  I like AroundMe more, but I keep both.</li>
<li><strong>Amazon App | Snaptell </strong>- Take pictures of books at amazon and upload to Amazon reminders, but later for cheaper. Same with Snaptell for books or DVDs.<strong><br />
</strong></li>
<li><strong>Remember The Milk</strong> - Still working with the free trial, but will be buying a year subscription when it runs out. Best GTD app for the iPhone with a nice web interface.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Other apps: Shovel(Digg App), EverNote, Last.fm, Now Playing, Shazam, Weather Bug, Google App, Urban Spoon, SnapTell, 1Password, WarcraftStat, Characters, Chest, WoWTalent, Stanza.</em></p>
<p><strong>College</strong></p>
<p>College went very well this semester. Classes I took: Comp 1, Introduction to Object Oriented Programming(Java I), Discrete Structures, Intro to Symbolic Logic, Intro to Sociology. Easiest classes were Intro to Sociology and IOOP. Finals were not nearly as bad as I expected them to be. <strong>Finished the semester with a 3.756 GPA</strong>.</p>
<p>Next semesters lineup is: Calc 1, Computer Organization, Foundations of Computer Science, C++, Java II. Hoping this semester will go as smoothly as the first.</p>
<p><strong>World of Warcraft</strong></p>
<p>Started playing WoW again the day after finals were done. Went from 70 - 80 in about 13 days. For those interested, I did 70-72 in Borean Tundra, 73-74 in Howling Fjord, 75-76 in Grizzly Hills, 77-78 in Zul Drak, and hit 80 in Sholazar Basin. Still haven't really touched Ice Crown or Storm Peaks yet. I am geared for Naxx according to <a href="http://be.imba.hu">be.imba.hu</a> Getting into a group will be the difficult part. I don't for see myself quitting WoW again anytime soon. I really enjoy the new WoLK content, BC content just got boring that is why I took my break.</p>
<p>I will have to start balancing WoW with College in a little over a week. I hope it won't be too difficult or I will have to force myself to quit WoW and only play in between semesters which I hope does not happen.</p>
<p><strong>Christmas</strong></p>
<p>I asked for books this year. I hated having nothing new to read when I wanted too. This collection should last me for a bit hopefully:</p>
<ul>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Grave-Peril-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451462343/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-7"> Grave Peril</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Knight-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451458923/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-3"> Summer Knight</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Death-Masks-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451459407/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-5"> Death Masks</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Rites-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451459873/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-6"> Blood Rites</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Beat-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/045146091X/ref=pd_bbs_9?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-9"> Dead Beat</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Proven-Guilty-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451461037/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642570&amp;sr=8-23"> Proven Guilty</a></li>
<li>Dresden Files - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/White-Night-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/045146155X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_11?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642419&amp;sr=8-11"> White Night</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642817&amp;sr=8-2"> Watchmen</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hope-They-Serve-Beer-Hell/dp/0806531061/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642835&amp;sr=8-1"> I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Z-History-Zombie/dp/0307346617/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1231642848&amp;sr=8-1"> World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Most of the books I received for christmas were from suggestions from friends. My friend <a href="http://snowchyld.org/">Snowchyld</a> currently has me hooked on the Dresden Files. I am currently on the 4th book of the Dresden Series. After completing Summer Knight, I am going to start World War Z based on suggestion from <a href="http://www.somebits.com/weblog/">Nelson Minar</a>.</p>
<p><strong>End</strong></p>
<p>Well, Thats about it.</p>
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		<title>Combining Twitter and World of Warcraft</title>
		<link>http://kastang.com/blog/2008/10/twitter_and_wow/</link>
		<comments>http://kastang.com/blog/2008/10/twitter_and_wow/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:09:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WoW]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kastang.com/?p=87</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently finished a project of incorporating Twitter into my World of Warcraft guilds website. The ultimate goal of this feature was to have an additional way of communicating with those outside of the game who do not have regular access to the guild forums. For those who don't know: Twitter is a service for [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/picture-51.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-88" title="picture-51" src="http://kastang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/picture-51.png" alt="" width="210" height="226" /></a>I recently finished a project of incorporating <a href="http://twitter.com">Twitter</a> into my World of Warcraft guilds website. The ultimate goal of this feature was to have an additional way of communicating with those outside of the game who do not have regular access to the guild forums.</p>
<blockquote><p>For those who don't know: Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: <strong>What are you doing? -Twitter. </strong></p></blockquote>
<p>Twitters limit of 140 characters gives the perfect amount of space to get the important details across while not giving too much room to stray off topic. One of the highlights of this project is that a Twitter account is NOT required to utilize this feature. The messages can be viewed by <a href="feed://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/16878278.rss">RSS feed</a>, Sidebar on the guilds website, and of course on Twitter.</p>
<p>All "tweets" posted on the guild forums are under the account <a href="http://twitter.com/wkto">@WKto</a> - The format of all posts are in the format of [Username] - Message. This seems to be working out great so far. Usernames are pulled the current Session the user is logged into on the forums. I chose to do it that way because usually forum names tend to match up with in game names.</p>
<p>The feature has been released less then 36 hours ago, but already seems to be catching on. I believe in the coming weeks it will become a great addition to the website!</p>
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