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Here's a weird one. I'm asking for add on advice.

Anyone know any great Shaman add ons?

Depends on what you want to do (Elemental, Enhancement, or Resto), but one of my favorite for every spec is ShieldsUp. I also use TotemTimers, but that's more of a personal preference thing. Blizzard's new Totem bar is great, but I wanted something with slightly different functionality and that fit into my custom UI.

Past that, I use Power Auras?with some custom rules for Enhancement (lot of CDs and I'd rather keep my eyes on the middle of the screen). Clique is nice for Resto, but it's not necessary (I use it to bind Chain Heal to my right click only on Grid's frames for those CH spam fights like Blood Queen). Elemental is three or four buttons, so not much you need there. :p

Addon searching:

Looking for an addon that I had before, but can't remember the name. It was like Shared media but it had an interface that you could change everything in-game. I can't seem to fine it anywhere. Unless of course I dl'd an old version of shared media that doesn't do that, but new one does. Anyone have an idea I'm talking about? I thought it was here, I learned the name of it, but after a brief search nothing came up.

Addon searching:

Looking for an addon that I had before, but can't remember the name. It was like Shared media but it had an interface that you could change everything in-game. I can't seem to fine it anywhere. Unless of course I dl'd an old version of shared media that doesn't do that, but new one does. Anyone have an idea I'm talking about? I thought it was here, I learned the name of it, but after a brief search nothing came up.

I don't suppose you're thinking of 'skinner'?

I don't suppose you're thinking of 'skinner'?

No. This one had like font options in a drop-down menu for every aspect of the font. I could change the Character screen font, the quest window, the talent book, achievements, etc. all from the interface the add-on had in-game. I also could choose the bar for each and every add-on. So I could set it up and it would change all of 'em to 'Minimialist' or 'Banto Bar' etc.

Skinner kinda of does what I need but not quite.

unrelated: I checked my spam box and apparently I've had a beta invite for 3 weeks.

eh make sure its real haha. I've had a few "beta invites" too in my spam and upon inspection they were sent from "@hotmail.com" and the @blizzard.com/@battle.net were just spoofed. most spam systems are able to distinguish this and mark it correctly.

I just received a Cataclysm Beta invitation email. It looks pretty real and the links all lead to official blizzard sites, I even look up the email address and header and people claim it's real. In the Email it says;

"1. Get the Installer: Log in to your Battle.net account. In your list of games, click the “Manage Game” button under the Cataclysm beta image to download the installer; you’ll also be able to copy a character to the beta-test realms through the same page. Please note that your Battle.net account should be flagged for beta access within roughly 24 hours upon receipt of this email."

And people claim to have been granted Beta access later that day.

I'm still a bit unsure, it doesn't look too convincing ( Is a bit plain? ) but it wasn't caught by the spam filter like the 200.000 other Cataclysm invitations I get. It's pretty long, detailed and isn't filled with typos and none of the links are phishing URLs.

Can someone in the Beta or with more knowledge shed some light on this, show me how the real invitation email looks, what address it should be from etc. ?

I just received a Cataclysm Beta invitation email. It looks pretty real and the links all lead to official blizzard sites, I even look up the email address and header and people claim it's real. In the Email it says;

"1. Get the Installer: Log in to your Battle.net account. In your list of games, click the ?Manage Game? button under the Cataclysm beta image to download the installer; you?ll also be able to copy a character to the beta-test realms through the same page. Please note that your Battle.net account should be flagged for beta access within roughly 24 hours upon receipt of this email."

And people claim to have been granted Beta access later that day.

I'm still a bit unsure, it doesn't look too convincing ( Is a bit plain? ) but it wasn't caught by the spam filter like the 200.000 other Cataclysm invitations I get. It's pretty long, detailed and isn't filled with typos and none of the links are phishing URLs.

Can someone in the Beta or with more knowledge shed some light on this, show me how the real invitation email looks, what address it should be from etc. ?

No idea, just log into your battle.net account and see.

Still isn't there, as the email states, can take up to 24h - So I'm just trying to make sure I'm not getting excited about a scam mail.

The people on the WoW forums say they generally get the tag on the bnet account first then get the e-mail later... I wouldn't respond/click on anything - if you're invited it will be on your battle.net account.

The people on the WoW forums say they generally get the tag on the bnet account first then get the e-mail later... I wouldn't respond/click on anything - if you're invited it will be on your battle.net account.

Just an example;

http://www.mmowned.com/forums/world-of-warcraft/general/299376-europe-cataclysm-beta.html#post1910096

Everywhere else, they say the [email protected] address is the real one, plus many of the people who claim to have gotten in posted a

snippet of their Email and it reads exactly like mine.

So either it's a very good scam or I did in fact get an invite.

None of the URLs are phishing URLs either, they are all legit.

This is confusing :rofl:

EDIT: Now I need to use US Battle.net instead of the EU portal to check my WoW account management, odd.

EDIT2: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816847763&postId=138154960340&sid=1 <-- A Green added that to the official FAQ and that's what my Email looks like, exactly http://dl.dropbox.com/u/473845/Cataclysm.png - So I guess I'm in?

Relying on the content of a mail posted to a forum seems like a bad choice given that hackers could just as easily imitate it.

I had a warcraft beta icon in my battlenet settings, but the invitation was sent weeks ago so there could have been some delay that I didn't notice.

Just check tomorrow and see if anything worthwhile is in there.

I need a screenshot for this later but:

[R][Culligan] 5000g buy-in winner takes all. PST me.
...
[some tells happen]
...
[R][Culligan] me, samara, ryan, erik, chef, jesse, liana, jenn,  Renegado , Yowowza , manada, plur,  Beanothedark, Excade, Malgah 
[R][Culligan] okay - go
Culligan rolls 100 (1-100)

Started making up for last weeks epic losses in drunken-alt ICC25.

(edit: in case it's not clear: culligan is my crumby alt mage).

I need a screenshot for this later but:

[R][Culligan] 5000g buy-in winner takes all. PST me.
...
[some tells happen]
...
[R][Culligan] me, samara, ryan, erik, chef, jesse, liana, jenn,  Renegado , Yowowza , manada, plur,  Beanothedark, Excade, Malgah 
[R][Culligan] okay - go
Culligan rolls 100 (1-100)

Started making up for last weeks epic losses in drunken-alt ICC25.

(edit: in case it's not clear: culligan is my crumby alt mage).

Holy ****, that's a cool 70,000g for nothing. :laugh: Good work. (Y)

Hi guys, I used to play WoW, and I sucked at it... But now, I'm thirstin' for another MMORPG, figured this was the way to go. A friend of mine seems to have a stockpile of free weeks, twenty free weeks, to be exact, and he offered them all to me. I was wondering if I'd have to make a new account each time, or what. If you guys know of any problems with my plan to use all 20 weeks on a single account, please tell me. Thanks.

I need a screenshot for this later but:

[R][Culligan] 5000g buy-in winner takes all. PST me.
...
[some tells happen]
...
[R][Culligan] me, samara, ryan, erik, chef, jesse, liana, jenn,  Renegado , Yowowza , manada, plur,  Beanothedark, Excade, Malgah 
[R][Culligan] okay - go
Culligan rolls 100 (1-100)

Started making up for last weeks epic losses in drunken-alt ICC25.

(edit: in case it's not clear: culligan is my crumby alt mage).

Aside from the magic you pull off at accumulating gold, I have a slight rant at you:

Why are you saying "PST me" ? It translates as "please send tell me", which sounds incredibly bad, and from the little I know about you, is the exact opposite of you.

What happened to "whisper me" ?

I realize that this is pretty stupid of me but I just wanted to get it out of me :p

Why are you saying "PST me" ? It translates as "please send tell me", which sounds incredibly bad, and from the little I know about you, is the exact opposite of you.

I think that's fairly standard nomenclature in the game in the same way that "jimmy taunt x" doesn't necessary mean you want jimmy to actually cast taunt; Hand of Righteousness or Dark Command are valid actions too. PST is the general form of the action "message this person".

I suppose you could make a reasonable argument that PST is similar to USA being an an acronym for "United States of America" where the minor word "of" is dropped. In that case PST could stand for "Please Send a Tell to" where the minor words "a" and "to" have been dropped.

What happened to "whisper me" ?

A bottle of jager and half a bottle of gin happened. It's not called drunken alt icc for nothing.

Apparently, the Beta invites sent out yesterday didn't update the accounts they were sent to - Several people still haven't received Beta access despite getting the invite, including me.

So now we had to go through community reps and gamemasters, they should be looking into it now. Had hoped my Sunday would be used for gaming Cataclysm :( Hopefully it'll be sorted

by tonight but I won't get my hopes up.

Apparently, the Beta invites sent out yesterday didn't update the accounts they were sent to - Several people still haven't received Beta access despite getting the invite, including me.

So now we had to go through community reps and gamemasters, they should be looking into it now. Had hoped my Sunday would be used for gaming Cataclysm :( Hopefully it'll be sorted

by tonight but I won't get my hopes up.

Transfer to the PVE server - we can make a guild and such.

The mechanics in the new 5-mans are about as difficult as karazhan which means that most pugs are incapable of doing them after 2 years of being handed free loot.

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  • Posts

    • Nope. That lack of surround sound capability (analog) won't fly with me. Sure, I use headphones most of the time, but still.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
    • Thanks
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