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I got to like 75 arch and I couldn't do it anymore, too much flying, too much random, just got bored of it.

Not speaking to you directly or anything, but I'm seeing lots of posts about how many people really don't like Archaeology. Yet, they keep doing it as if they're forced to. I don't get it! :wacko:

Hit 85 last Friday, and loving heroics! Screw the haters, I'm more of a casual (work full time) and I'm having tons of fun with my guild! Did all the zones as they were tons of fun, minus Vashj'ir (I hate water levels, even with the seahorse) and Uldum (cat quests fun, Jones not so much). Twilight Highlands also felt pretty mediocre on the first half (Horde-side).

The dragon quests were fun, but the cutscenes were terrible considering it consisted of two aspects fighting it out. Looks like poor animating on their part, which really made me sad.

Bitching aside though, I'm enjoying this expansion very much, in just about every aspect. Hell, I can't say I've ever completed all the zones just because I was having fun! :happy:

did the best quest ever in uldum tonight. i knew it was going to be super awesome when i read what the quest objective is so i fired up fraps to get the quest on video.

if you don't want any spoilers then i suggest not watching. otherwise enjoy in 720p if you like.

in case you are wondering about the lag, yeah we were getting lag all night. never seen it like this from recording alone, though i was recording at 60fps so...

hit 84 the other night and then finished up in uldum last night.

i now have a new favourite zone, replacing nagrand, which replaced stv. the quests and cut scenes were just awesome, it felt like one part the scorpian king, one part indiana jones, with the awesome gnome sidequests thrown in for good measure.

the lead up quests to twilight were kind of annoying overall, but built up to something epic. the ride to twilight was pretty awesome, and the bit where you wait for the blimp was hilarious, but a let down when the blimp actually gets there.

i'm getting kind of annoyed that quest rewards i can use no longer give even small stat increases, but simply swap out some combination of haste, crit and mastery. i guess i could've stacked those stats if i had thought about it, but i don't tend to worry too much about gear stats until at least i start getting max level blues.

I Bolded the part you should really be paying attention to.


  • Deep Freeze (Magic)
    Stunned and Frozen.
    5 seconds remaining

Can you see what is awesome about that and why you should be using that damn near on cool down unless you have a good reason not to?

Have you ever considered making a video? You're claiming to dominate world+dog and you barely understand how the class plays. I'm not saying such a thing is impossible, but what you're saying could make for a good sequel to world of roguecraft.

Raiding is costing me about 1,000g per hour. Capping my professions cost me almost 70,000 gold.

1,000g an hour i doubt that

1,000g an hour i doubt that

Flask of spirit is 300g, flask of int is around 250g

Pots are ~ 20g each (2 per pull, one before combat, one during combat) 1 food at ~10g per.

5 minutes per pull is about 12 pulls per hour.

600g (pots + food x 12) + 300g (flask) + 100g (at least one full repair) = ~1000g.

Finally went to conclave of wind and killed the first boss: pretty fun once you get the tank swap thing sorted.

Went spent an hour working on twilight council making it to around 40% (second set of mobs) and then gave

up. It's just plane obnoxious and I don't look foward to it every week.

Never thought I'd say this but I'm actually kind of enjoying the levelling grind with my frost mage. He's now lvl 39 and currently working through the western plaguelands. I did a couple of runs through the scarlet monastary too, the dungeon finder is a very useful tool. :)

Most people in my guild changed mains for cata and we really wanted rusted drakes on the new toons (at least) so we decided to go in and do the hardmodes for 10 man with 5-6 people. I would suggest it if anyone ever fancied getting the drake and even starcaller, it's a walk in the park and you can steamroller it with very little trouble. Just be sure to use freya on yogg + 1 if you're pugging or people will go insane :laugh:

If you're going for no lights in the darkness, well I wouldn't suggest pugs :p

Trying to decide on my alt. I had a fun time with my DK pre-4.0 (he was around level 70), but now for some reason i find him plain boring to play. I'm trying to decide between mage, rogue, paladin, and warlock. Anyone have any suggestions?

Trying to decide on my alt. I had a fun time with my DK pre-4.0 (he was around level 70), but now for some reason i find him plain boring to play. I'm trying to decide between mage, rogue, paladin, and warlock. Anyone have any suggestions?

I would say go with a Pally, Im rolling one atm and Im absolutely loving it :)

Tank, Spank and Heal? Yes please! :D

Let the camping begin, i was not able to get a Time lost protodrake during LK However, now there is a new mount to camp. Aeonaxx in Deepholme will drop Reins of the Phosphorescent Stone Drake.

Just a quick question for anyone that might know... what is the usually accepted order of attack when we are using markers?

i.e. Yesterday the tank was marking Cross, Skull and Blue Square (with the blue square being hunter's trap). I guessed Skull would be first... but both cross and skull seemed to be taking equal damage (i.e. no mob went down quicker than the other).

However, I am guessing the point of marking is obviously for order... so yeah what marker is which? (As in first mob to attack, second etc etc).

Cheers guys!

Depends on the guild and group. For pugs I always make SURE we agree on an order. Our Guild's standard is:

Skull

Cross

Square

Circle

Diamond

Triangle

Star

Moon

Hunter #1 always traps square, and the rest get trapped, sheeped, ect. depending on who else is in the group. Tank always tanks skull and cross for us

Just a quick question for anyone that might know... what is the usually accepted order of attack when we are using markers?

In 5-man content its generally accepted that "skull = kill", "x = kill second", "moon = sheep", "square = 'other cc' (killed before sheep)"

We went back to Elemental council in Bastion of Twilight, it felt way less annoying this time around. Maybe we were just better at phase 2

and it didn't last as long, or maybe we were just more organized about making sure we stood in tornado/void zone but it just sucked less.

We had a few wipes (half a dozen or so) due to disconnects. That lead to a lot of downtime as people would take some time to get back

on, and when they did they'd be in another instance and have to zone out, zone back in and run to us (summoning didn't work either).

Went over to BWD and killed Artramedes. The RP before the event made Maloriak the coolest boss in the zone because he sounds like

Starcream. You don't really get that during his encounter (or maybe I just play with game sounds too low) but he was awesome during

his chat with Deathwing.

Our first pull of Artramedes went really well: 30% until we wiped due to two healers and a tank getting disconnected. Pretty good considering

we were just feeling out the fight mechanics before we went to bed. Our second was a messy kill: lost three people in the first half of the fight

to 're-re' stuff, most of us played like face-rollers, but we still got him. He's a pretty fun fight even if it's trivially easy. If the make they took away

half the gongs and tripled the damage he does then he'd be one of the best in the game.

i'm thinking of hopping guilds yet again.

so far i do like that there are people actively talking in guild chat but...

out of like a 200 man roster there's only handful that are regularly active.

no one gets in vent except for a few during raids, not even for heroics even though they always complain about wiping.

the motd is "get ready for raiding next week" and all i can think is, who are these raiders? there are like 10 regular people online each night and half of them are less than 80, and it seems everyone int eh guild is constantly wiping in heroics.

there seems to be better social guild who are more focused on pvp than this guild advertising in /2 nightly. they also claim to have active vents which is a big plus for me. and they're all teh same guild level as my current one.

planned events are set for 9pm server time, so around 10pm my time, which is fairly late even for my bro who is on mst(near west coast). so far the participation from teh guild has been low, and the start up time seems to take a really long time instead of being prepared in advance to get actually started at the planned time.

there seems to be only a single member that seems interested in pvp progression at all. and he doesn't have a mic.

in all honesty it's a little too slack even for a slack player like me. i mean i go afk for 5 minutes between 5mans runs and bg's for a smoke and take my time doing stuff, but at least i try to be prepared for stuff i do and get in vent when ever i'm playing to hang out.

Depends on the guild and group. For pugs I always make SURE we agree on an order. Our Guild's standard is:

Skull

Cross

Square

Circle

Diamond

Triangle

Star

Moon

Hunter #1 always traps square, and the rest get trapped, sheeped, ect. depending on who else is in the group. Tank always tanks skull and cross for us

This is True for our Guild except for the exception that Circle gets Banished Generally unless stated otherwise before pull.

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  • Posts

    • You literally have to do it on a desktop, which is incredibly annoying in our mobile-first world. What???
    • What part of "you can’t really depend on service providers to maintain features forever" is not clear enough?
    • 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.
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