It's been great time and fun to return after a long break. I did miss resurrected Ragnaross and some other bosses from 4.1 and 4.2 patches but I completely enjoyed 4.3 and it's nice LFR feature.

Heroics might be the goal for ambitious players but LFR gives very nice opportunity to see game content that was unavailable for casual players otherwise. As WoW became very much profit-oriented game it's a pity that epics are so easily obtainable but I can't blame Blizzard for that.

What makes me a little bit nervous about Panda is "simplified" talent tree. The intention is to make it simpler, Diablo III style, but as they say there is always room for... stupidity.

I'm looking forward to play MoP until it starts boring me (my guess is that it will be like 4-5 month) then I'll see what I will be playing. Aparently SWTOR didn't become a good alternative to WoW but kept me busy for some time.

OSG went thru some turbulence but came back to the solid state again, it is our, Dun's and myself guild, where we follow our strong rules (even Dun doesn't play WoW anymore but having fun in SWTOR).

Ha! I'm back to WoW :)

It's been almost full year w/o it, 6 month of SWTOR and then, all of a sudden, I understood that I want to play WoW again... Dunno if I stay long enough but I really want to see Pandaria. Also my old game friends coming back to it, so I want to show them all vanilla content and tell them stories how we did this and that. After all, I'm Elder :)

Forum is up and running but this site needs some redesign. Will do if time permits. See you in game :)

As promised - OSG is reborn for the new MMORPG "Star Wars The Old Republic" (aka SWTOR). There is new site for this promising game! See us there!

Long live OSG!

I just got an email from the hosting company that they will stop domains' extension for free. Meaning this name will exist until 16 of August as I'm not going to pay for it.

Nevertheless, OSG will be reborn (I hope) in the next MMO we are going to play. The content of the site has been moved here to keep good memories of the guild itself as well as about great times in WoW!

Long live OSG!

This is a kind of farewell note to all my virtual WoW friends.

As promised, let me write a story of my WoW "life".

It's been really long journey.

It started in 2001 when my elder son (aka Miker) got invitation to participate in closed beta test of WoW. He had Starcraft fansite, so Blizzard noticed that and that is how he got invited. I was watching it over his shoulder and that is how I felt in love with this game much before it went live.

That is why we started to play on US server (Dunemaul) - we simply can't wait until it comes to Europe. It happened that server we started to play WoW in 2003 was on West coast of US, so time difference was absolutely ridiculous - 11 hours. But who cared at that time - all men of our family, that is Miker (paladin), my junior (aka Dunmer, warlock) and myself (aka Mikerelder, another paly) were playing this outstanding game...

We followed Miker guild-wise, and finally landed at Shinigami. To be able to raid we had to wake up at 4am 2 times during weekdays and stay online until 2 am on weekends. That is what I call "dedication" :)

At certain point Dunmer left the game because he graduated from school and started his education in University. Somehow I've managed to keep his warlock alive for a long time.

Shini was the second guild on the server but soon after AQ40 opening the 1st guild broke apart, so we were the 1st who down C'Thun. I had 4/5 of that shiny AQ40 gearset and got 2H from Twin bros, so, yes, I was an elitist jerk :)

However my favorite part of the game was its social component - the way you talk to other players and do some funny things together (virtually).

Well, I saw all vanilla WoW content, had all possible epic gear, but after 2 years of non-stop raiding and sleepless nights I suddenly discovered that people I'm playing game with (and possibly myself) do less and less funny things in game but rather want more epics and only that. So when real challenging instance has been added to vanilla WoW at its end - Naxx - guild has changed too. This erosion was unavoidable as initial game design and implementation required more and more time to be dedicated to gameplay. Means only insane people could afford it ;)

Anyway, I saw everything in vanilla, loot, players' enthusiasm, guild progression and dramas. My playing time in 3 years was about 300 days, meaning I was playing about 8 hours every day. Was it worth it? Yes indeed. But, besides fun, I found that WoW became a kind of a shelter to me. The place where I've escaped from life's troubles. The place where I could enjoy myself and be different for a moment.

We left Shini because of guild drama when TBC came out. We landed at small guild of ex-shinigamians. The guild was experienced enough to conquer Karazhan and have fun in there. But at that point I found out that I got enough of raiding so I wanted more solo style play.

Miker focused on PvP since arena has been introduced but I really was not a fond of it. As TBC was very hard for soloplaying I didn't like it at all and I was really disappointed being on PvP server and instaganked :) I wrote in the other place my impression of how hard was vanilla WoW and all expansions. I had 4 chars lvl 70 (my paly, priest and warrior and Dun's lock) but I was really close to quit at TBC time because I had nothing to do in game. But I decided to wait until WotLK.

When WotLK came out we got invited back to Shinigami. However our PvP server became horde-based and game evolved into permanent PvP actions which I hate in general...

As a side note - initially Blizzard announced PvP servers as the ones where you could get better gear from PvP which will not be available on PvE servers. I have no idea was it a lie or their philosophy has changed. There were no resilience and arena in vanilla WoW and the best of the best PvP gear was available only for a few players on server (you had to be number 1 player on server to get Grand Marshal title and thus be able to buy it from a vendor). It was indeed time investment rather than your personal skills but gear was outstanding (and it gave substantial advantage in PvE as well) and visible to all players around :)

I leveled my warrior to 71 and then the decision came out - I have to move to PvE server and I want some raiding again, means I need more convenient time for it. That is how decision to play on EU servers came out.

WotLK was really good expansion, to me - the best one. I just made a mage on EU server for fast leveling. The idea was to make death knight and that is how Elderdeekey appeared. Soon after Dunmer decided to spend some time in WoW and made his shamy Dunmeriel.

As we together saw lots of guild dramas we decided to make our own with strict rules. They are still valid and posted on this site. That is how "Old Scholars" has been founded. As you might see, we are really old school players who saw practically everything in this game.

Speaking of OSG I should admit that it was practically impossible to find even 10 players who meet all these requirements, but we did our best and even with what we got we were able to have fun and complete "new" Naxx almost on time :) Too bad a few key players didn't stand a test of our absence due to vacation. So they left and that was the time when Dun and myself decided to leave the game. It was rather sad moment but the right decision at that time.

Dunmer has been working hard on his PhD thesis while I was seeking for WoW replacement as I found that I need this kind of shelter (and a drug :) ) to make my real life easier.

I tried Aion. Graphics were breathtaking but game approach was very much... oriental. Do that hundred times and you'll get one level up... Quit at lvl 25...

In 6 month I came back mostly to see how far I can go solo. "Battle reports" show that I went rather far :) This part of my WoW experience was real fun, really enjoyed it and all small rewards I've got out of it and out of solo playing a lot (like 100 mounts etc).

However there is nothing more boring than repeating even enjoyable things on daily basis. So I've started another char - my beloved paladin with my original name, Mikerelder.

(In closed beta my nickname was PhD, and yes, I'm PhD in medicine and immunology :), but somehow Blizzard monitored nicks in beta, so one day GM caught me and said I had to change it. Nothing interesting came to my mind but I had to do it quickly, so I used my elder son nick - Miker - and just added "elder" to it - that is how Mikerelder has been born.)

I should admit that paladin as a class has changed so much since original vanilla WoW that I had some hard times re-learning how to play it. But playing brought up the sweetest memories of 2003 when WoW was so exiting and brand new game! I leveled it up almost to 80 but...

But there was a gift from Dunmer to me when he said he wants to play WoW abit again when Cata comes out. We decided not to expand OSG but rather play some arena - the only area of WoW we were not experienced at all.

I'm still amazed how fast Dun leveled his Dunmerial paly. It was like 3 weeks after Cata release and he became lvl 80. I certainly helped him and that was when my WoW frustration started. As you can see, I've spend enormous amount of time in vanilla WoW. I wrote already that simplification of the game shouldn't change the zones that were a part of vanilla game. Imagine my frustration of BRD (still the best instance of WoW from my perspective) - in vanilla I had to travel to the bar to turn dark iron for reputation with Thorium Brotherhood to get epic plans from them. It was not possible even for paly in epic gear, so it was always a challenge... And now there is a teleport to the bar right from the instance entrance...

I also do not understand why so much time has been spent on changing original Azeroth cause at this time of the game development and its age practically noone will enjoy it. Yes, flying over required that but I'd rather see new and shiny land/continent as a part of expansion (instead of water underworld) the same way as it was in TBC or WotLK. Watching those many changes breaks good memories of old WoW players like me and many others who were still playing this game. But even with these changes I have a feeling that Blizzard sold me the same game twice. I have no idea why they decided to change old Azeroth instead of adding new continent but I do hope they will learn from their own mistakes...

Nevertheless, it took us some time to gear Dun's paly up, then we started arena. It was anger and disappointment for both of us but in a few weeks we managed to build some skills and started to go up in our rating.

We also started to do some randoms, they were much harder than in WotLK... all was good but...

Game is a part of real life. Sometimes in RL you do not understand that you think about something while you do. That is what happened with Dun and me and WoW. One day Dun came to me and said he doesn't want to invest any more time in WoW even we had great time there. I suddenly understood that he is right and the decision to stop playing WoW has been made in one minute. The reasons for that are written in the previous post but in one sentence it is - we just got enough of this wonderful game and we want something different.

Dun is very busy atm with his scientific career while I'm playing RIFT :) Already reached the point when could easily quit. This is a nice clone of WoW with much better graphic engine (but isn't WoW ones like 13 years old?) but the rest is mostly the same... and already boring :)

That is a short version of my WoW story that lasts over 8 years. I had great times, I have great memories and some collectibles like my FRAPS videos :) My future plans are to play next major MMO :)) I do expect "Star Wars: The Old Republic" to be next hit for several years. If you want to play it as well let's revival OSG - site is already here :)

Thanks for the reading. As usual, I'll be happy to read your feedback or answer questions if you have one, there is a feedback link at the bottom of this page. Have fun.

Sincerely yours, Elder.

Dun and myself both have reached the point where there is a need for the decision making.

We've leveled up our chars and geared (overgeared) them for anything which is possible (sometimes impossible) in Cataclysm as it is today. We didn't raid on purpose - we did it in the past so much that do not want to do the same things again. We did arena together in Cataclysm and agreed we could go on but there is no motivation - success is gear, not skills, dependent... We went into PuG heroic dungeons/daily BGs but it ended up with frustration - today players' base is... hm... hopeless. Not only most of players have no clue about their classes abilities, they simply do not understand English. The major reason for that is WoW age - game is old enough without anything really new so good players departed... and so do we.

We do not expand our guild/not joining the other on purpose - we both like quiet "solo" style gameplay that allows us to reach the edge and get most out of our skills and experience. And it seems like we achieved that so continue to play will be very boring and not fun anymore.

As of today it looks like our WoW game experience has ended - game doesn't bring anything new we do not know or anything exciting that could keep us in game. So we made the decision to cancel our subscription (which ends in a few days) and seek for new games. It is rather a sad moment as we've been almost "living" in game for many years, but we feel it is about time.

Let me express my deepest appreciation to many people I was playing WoW with. There were many during those long 8 years of playing this wonderful game.

P.S. I'm going to write a couple of articles about WoW. One is definitely my story in game, the other might be about my final assessment of Cataclysm and the future of WoW. Stay tuned if interested.

P.P.S. This site as the OSG home will stay for some time since its name is a part of my hosting plan. I want to keep some of my best memories (mostly FRAPS videos from Vanilla WoW) online.

I've spent some time, changing my gear and checking correlations between stats and ratings. I also use RatingBuster mod for the same purposes. Here is what I've got for Blood specc'd DK (the values are average but gives you a picture):

As you know today's rare "combo" gems are giving you 20 base stat (except stamina and spell penetration) and 20 rating, which gives you nothing, and I mean it. "Mono" gem could give you 40 stats which is also practically nothing. E.g. you want to increase you crit chance by 1% with gems. Then you need 182 crit rating or 5 Smooth Amberjewels (40 crit rating each). With today's number of gems on dungeons or craftable gear you will fill up almost all your slots ignoring proper gem color benefit. Even 60 stamina gem isn't that useful for tanks since ~5000 hp (I have 8 gem slots in total because I'm BS and adding gem slots to bracers and hands) is barely visible for fully buffed tank...

The expected changes in craftables (adding a single gem slot) doesn't change a thing since developers are removing 2x20 points of base stats from that gear.

As an advice always use basic stats "mono" gems, you might see some tiny difference if you use large magnifying glass...

Also, if we compare Cataclysm average player in the best blue Cataclysm gear with LK epic geared player, his or her stamina/DPS grew up 3 times while gems' stats (blue CT ones vs. epic LK once) grew up only 2 times. Do not forget about depreciation of basic stats at lvl 85 as well (larger rating numbers have less influence on stats). All in all, that makes the entire JC profession a joke...

Jewelcrafting was a good moneycow until CT. You may see it in AH on daily basis - gems are about a cost of a single daily reward (with some exception of mono gems, see my note above). Even with epic gem introduction later on in a few content patches (I guess they will be 2,5 times more powerful) you won't be able to adjust your gear the way you like and make it at least a bit different from other player's ones.

Same concern goes for enchanting, just check how much you could get from it - 50 rating on a single item?!

I guess developers simply forgot to adjust these 2 professions accordingly. Reforging was done much more properly, you could get up to 91 rating change for a single item. That could be visible if done properly on all your gear.

Perhaps, this is the way developers see all "modifying" professions - they are simply become less and less useful. Like glyph system change that left inscriptors in vain...

All in all, this is another brick in the wall of my disappointment of Cataclysm. Simplicity is a sign of stupidity...

Seems like I should repeat - I'm very much disappointed...

Frustration came from the different aspects of this expansion. First of all, the size of the 80-85 leveling zones. It is much smaller than, say, Nothrend. Don't argue that this is just for 5 levels... because this is the second negative fact about Cataclysm. 5 levels are too few. By the way, looking at the number of quests and the speed I brought my DK to lvl 85 tells me that the intital Blizzard's plan was for 10 levels, not 5. My guess is that (due to the design limitation probably) max level of a player could be only 2 digits, means 99, while Blizzard definitely wants to keep this business running (see the previous post). They already have plans for 2 more expansions which woudn't be possible if Cataclysm would've been 10 lvl expansion.

Indeed there are some nice findings in game and funny quests, but archaeology is absolutely and insanely boring...

Last but not least - there are many bugs in game (e.g. cinematics in Harrison Jones chain) and unpolished PvP like new BG (Tol Barad). Dungeons, especially on heroic, require much more coordinations that is not possible in PuGs (explaining the encounters via typing can't be done with easy while game's voice chat is a s&#t... :) It might be done on purpose to force people to play with guildies but how about those who like more solo playstyle?!

I do like the challenge but when appropriate tools are available. We'll see how it develops.

I've been impatiently waiting for patch 4.0.3a to see the new world. As you might know I'm playing WoW since closed beta test days (mid 2003) and the old world became a part of me for some extend ;)

My first impression (short version) - I'm very disappointed.

(Long version) - I feel cheated, I feel like Blizzard sold me the same game I've bought in 2004...

Indeed, there are tons of changes in zones' landscapes (some are real cool, like flooded Southshore), NPCs and quests but that is still the same old game... Certainly there will be new 81-85 lvl zones I haven't seen yet but that is not brand new environment like Outlands and Northrend were.

With Cataclysm WoW evolved into even more simplified gameplay with much less options for players. Just to name a few: less choices in talent tree, less efforts to get better gear (new token system doesn't make your "old" tokens obsolete), questing in dungeons simplified, etc. etc. etc.

I've started a paly right after the patch 4.0.3 on purpose. I wanted to see myself how gameplay changed for starters. I should admit my paly has all possible heirlooms (4 in total). But still, just in 2 days I brought him to lvl 20 without any trouble and a single death (even solo-ed Hogger at lvl 12 :)). It was NOT possible in vanilla WoW.

Bottom line:
WoW became a purely business project that needs to bring profit to game developers. That led to simplicity in gameplay and is killing diversity in player's base and the way people play WoW. I'm afraid today's game is targeted not to casual players but to the stupid ones (no offense here) cause game is pretty much linear and tunnelled now with all hints on quests (you will see even the items you need to find in a zone, e.g. pirate treasure in Westfall)...

I have no problem with that though, I just missed the original taste of the game... Money kills everything?

P.S. Must read on how you should play Cataclysm. I do hope that endgame playing in Cataclysm will be much harder than low level one... See you in game.

4.0.1 patch introduced Flying Mastery, a skill you could buy for 5000 gold to bring all your flying mounts to 310% speed IF you haven't got any 310% speed mounts before. If you got it earlier you automatically acquired that skill.

Also game developers informed players via different channels, including official forums, that after this patch all in-game mounts (even those that were 310% before) will be 280% speed.

OK, I didn't get any mount with 310% speed, so I paid 5k gold and got this skill.

In 2 days after patch "blue post" appeared explaining that Violet Drake you could get for meta achievement is, in fact, 310% speed mount, thus when you get it you also are getting Flying Mastery skills for free.

Official forum search has shown that I'm not alone who trusted game developers but now, after this "correction" wants to get their game currency back.

I've opened a ticket but all in-game GMs were repeating the same sentence - "we cannot refund money spent on skills". One of them provided me an e-mail for escalation though.

I want you to read it in full. From my point of view there is no need even to comment it.

Read it here. As usual, if you have any comments to this feel free to send me e-mail via Feedback.

P.S. Just recently Blizzard corrected their mistake via blue post, saying that Violet Drake (reward for meta achievement) grants Flying Mastery for free...

I've finished my Battle Reports with some notes on my attempts to solo MC and other 40-man instances of vanilla WoW. I also shared my view on the game evolution.

I'm still online on daily basis but pugging ICC or RS doesn't interest me anymore. I do some reputation grind (not going for "Insane" title though :) ) and still want to get that rarest mount from Attumen the Huntsman...

I'm waiting for Cataclysm where all today's gear will be obsolete. It happened 2 times already with new expansions, it will happen again when Cata comes out.

Dunmer and myself have some plans in Cata. If Dun has some spare time he will level up a paly. It should be really exciting since it will be brand new world. If he succeeds we may start to duo instances that were undoable solo. Perhaps I'll add some more reports then.

As a positive end let me appreciate Blizzard for such a wonderful game that keeps me busy for such a long time!

Just published new Battle Report, Karazhan solo-ed. There are 4 high-resolution FRAPS video in Adobe Flash video format about defeating mandatory bosses there and my comments. Enjoy! ;)

I do not like to post anything that might be considered as my bragging. E-peen'ish behavior is the major trouble of Wow now and I really do not want to add even a bit to it. However this achievement, "Mountain o' Mounts", was, so far, my longest journey over time...

A short movie is about getting it... finally:

As promised, I've opened a new section at our site - Battle Reports, just follow the link in the left upper box. The purpose of this section is to share with you my thoughts about the game and also write a few words about relatively unusual things I'm doing in the game illustrated with video (FRAPS recording).

It's been a long time since I've updated this site. There are reasons to do it now though. The major reason for this is that Dunmeriel has achieved his major goal - he's got his PhD title which is more than legendary (in WoW terms). :)

My own break from the game ended up in January 2010. It took me about 2 months to gear up to the level of 3.3.3 patch and I found myself doing some crazy things solo now. The things that were not even dreamed off like 2 years ago. Will write more about it in my battle reports - stay tuned!

Thank you for visiting OSG website!

Founders of the OSG decided to take a break from the game. It has been extremely long run for us, more than 5 years of playing WoW non-stop. Closed beta-testing, 3 years on US server and 2 - on EU is a lot of time. Our cumulative average playing time per person exceeded 450 days - you've got the idea! It has been fun by all means and we do appreciate Blizzard for developing such a wonderful game, but it looks like we've got much-too-much out of it.

We might return to see what is in the next WoW expansion but most probably we will be waiting for the new MMORPG from Blizzard to join and revival OSG there... In the meantime we are looking for Startcraft II and Diablo III just to refresh ourselves and get a bit different feelings out of the computer gaming. Stay tuned and see you in game again!