2012
Breakfast Topic: Will you be finding Love in the Air? Sunday, 5 February 2012, 1:00 pm
There’s a ton of other reasons to do the holiday as well, for achievements and for tons of fun items from the holiday bosses. I’ll be faithfully killing the trio of Apothecaries in the hopes of getting fun prizes, provided the Apothecary Trio is still there, of course. I’m not much of a fan of Valentine’s Day, but I do love fun world events. And giant pink tallstriders to ride around on. Did I mention the pink tallstrider?
Are you planning on participating in Love is in the Air? Do you still have achievements to finish for the meta? And perhaps the most important question of them all: Will you be hunting down enough tokens for the Swift Lovebird as quickly as possible, too? Let us know — and while you’re at it, check out our Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 for tips on nabbing all those pesky achievements.
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Breakfast Topic: Will you be finding Love in the Air? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion Sunday, 5 February 2012, 1:00 am
Of all the fights in Dragon Soul, Ultraxion on heroic mode is the ultimate DPS check. Heroic Spine of Deathwing definitely tests your raid group’s ability to do a large amount of damage in a miniscule amount of time, but Ultraxion forces your group to maximize its sustained DPS. As a result, it’s very commonly the first real wall most heroic progression guilds hit, at least until they can get the gear to make it a cakewalk. If you’re working on heroic-mode Ultraxion or are having trouble killing him on normal, there are a few things you can do to maximize your elemental shaman’s DPS on this specific fight.
Gear, glyphs, and talents
First off, the easiest way to help your DPS on Ultraxion is to check your glyphs. Most elemental shaman nowadays run with Glyph of Unleashed Lightning as one of their prime glyphs. This makes sense for nearly every other fight in Dragon Soul, as they all require some amount of movement. Ultraxion, however, is a straight up stand-there-and-shoot-lightning-and-lava-until-your-fingers-fall-off-or-he-dies fight, and Glyph of Unleashed Lightning gives absolutely zero DPS if you’re not moving. Switching this out for Glyph of Lightning Bolt will give you a slight boost in numbers. Your three glyph choices should be Lightning Bolt, Flame Shock, and Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem; more on the FET glyph choice in a second.
Continue reading Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion
Filed under: Shaman, Raiding, (Shaman) Totem Talk, Cataclysm
Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior mistakes to avoid Saturday, 4 February 2012, 11:00 pm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.
One of the interesting things about my current astonishing obsession with transmogrification and all things related to it has been seeing older itemization. You know, strength and agility plate. Warrior tier 6 is lousy with agility. That’s a legacy of the past, of course, and as the design of the game moves ever onward, artifacts like that are left in its wake. After all, most level 70 warriors nowadays move straight to Northrend dungeons and are not likely to look at Black Temple until much later, when farming for transmog gear. The stats aren’t important enough to go back and redesign the set.
What I really find interesting about this is seeing where the class has been, not just visually but also in terms of design. It’s kind of like archaeology (the actual field of inquiry, not the in-game profession) or paleontology, reconstructing the class and its roots from the remainders of what it wore. Granted, I was there, so to a degree it’s like excavating Pompeii with an immortal who survived the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius and keeps grumping about how people in his day didn’t complain when they were buried in pyroclastic material. Which is a complete lie, by the way, we did nothing but complain about it. But I digress.
The warrior class has come a long way in seven years, and the artifacts of past design lie strewn about. New players and even old veterans can be forgiven for making a few mistakes based on the rubble. Let’s go over a few.
Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior mistakes to avoid
Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Cataclysm
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior mistakes to avoid originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Do mages really need 3 competitive PvE specs? Saturday, 4 February 2012, 9:00 pm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we’re talking about specs, and DPS, and possibly smurfs, though I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
Patch 4.3.2 has dropped, and for mages, the only item in the patch notes is a 6% damage nerf to Fireball and Pyroblast, ostensibly to bring fire mages back in line with arcane mages for top prize in the What Spec Will My Raid Leader Expect Me to be Raiding With This Week Sweepstakes. For good or ill, every patch brings changes like this, as the spec balance carousel continues its eternal round.
That’s been mage history, in a nutshell — fire and arcane take turns pushing each other from the top of the PvE heap, and frost just shakes its head and queues for an Arena match. It’s like a giant teeter-totter, with fire damage stacked on one end and arcane damage stacked on another. Blizzard goes back and forth between the ends, adding just a bit more of each type of damage or taking some away in an attempt to get the thing perfectly balanced, but try as it may, one end or the other is always sticking up in the air.
The number crunchers crunch the numbers after every damage pass and crown one spec king … until the next pass, when the cycle repeats. And frost mages just watch and wonder when it will be their turn to go raiding.
Continue reading Do mages really need 3 competitive PvE specs?
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance
Do mages really need 3 competitive PvE specs? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How to assemble a character history for your roleplaying character Saturday, 4 February 2012, 7:00 pm
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World’s a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.
Last week, we talked about roleplaying descriptions for characters and what should be considered a descriptor for your character. Along the way, I also mentioned that a lot of people make the common assumption that a character’s history should be a part of their description as well. After all, part of what makes up a person is everything that’s happened to them, right? Sure! But not when we’re using roleplaying addons that have a clearly defined spot for character history.
And that clarification is important, because there are still roleplay addons out there that don’t have a character history tab at all. Does this mean you should type up your character’s history as part of your description? Absolutely not. Descriptions are for descriptions, and history is for history. If your roleplay addon doesn’t allow for a character history tab but you’re really gung-ho about writing up that history for everyone to read, I’d suggest finding a roleplay addon that has a spot for all that backstory you’re dying to tell.
Except for one thing — you don’t want to tell everyone everything.
Continue reading How to assemble a character history for your roleplaying character
Filed under: All the World’s a Stage (Roleplaying)
How to assemble a character history for your roleplaying character originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Queue: A giddy thing Saturday, 4 February 2012, 5:00 pm
This Queue is excellent. *throws the Queue on the ground; it shatters into a million pieces* Another!
Ellyon asked:
My main is a resto druid. Lifebloom triggers Replenishment and I keep a stack of Lifebloom on a tank for, ideally, the whole fight. Last night I was in Raid Finder and noticed that Replenishment kept falling off. I would refresh Lifebloom just to make sure, but Replenishment didn’t return until some other moment: a moment when I was not casting or refreshing Lifebloom. I’m wondering, is there a priority system that another character is the trigger for Replenishment? With my style of healing, Replenishment should be up the whole fight, but I regularly saw it fall off and was not refreshed at the moment I would have expected.
Commenter metafarm answered this one really well, so here it is for posterity:
“It gives 10 party or raid members (with the lowest mana left) 1% of their maximum mana every 10 second for 15 seconds, or 1.5% over the full duration. Each time it is triggered, the 10 most needy members are recalculated, and those people either receive the buff, or have it refreshed on them.”
Continue reading The Queue: A giddy thing
Filed under: The Queue
The Queue: A giddy thing originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Around Azeroth: Vacation land for blood elves in love Saturday, 4 February 2012, 3:00 pm
“As a lowly level 24, I literally died to get to the cliff overlooking Un’Goro Crater, but the view was worth it,” writes Ravinne of SaDiablo on Vashj (US-H). “Shortly afterwards, Laizhensil proposed with a Flawless Diamond Solitaire and a Red Rose. It was a good day in WoW.” Congratulations! At level 24, I probably would have asked him to return the ring and give me the gold instead, but I’m a bit mercenary like that.
Gallery: Around Azeroth 3
Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Please include “Azeroth” in the subject line so your email doesn’t get marked as spam, and include your name, guild and server if you want to be credited. Filed under: Around Azeroth
Around Azeroth: Vacation land for blood elves in love originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: (Elizabeth Wachowski) :
Breakfast Topic: What parts of gameplay do you consider a chore? Saturday, 4 February 2012, 1:00 pm
WoW is a funny game, really. I was chatting about it to a friend at university the other day and explaining to them that there’s a lot of grinding in WoW. They wondered what on earth I meant by that. I clarified that you have professions that you need to level up, for example, and in order to do that, you have to go and repeatedly kill baddies in order to get the materials or do something that allows you to get enough gold to buy the materials on the Auction House.
I added that it’s rather a chore. I also mentioned that in Rise of the Zandalari, there were only two dungeons that you had to run every week to get your points topped up in order to buy gear to raid. This, also, was rather a chore. He was baffled that a game — something that was meant to be fun — should have chores in it!
So that got me thinking (like everything else does) about my friends. I have a friend in WoW who mines constantly; it seems to be all he does sometimes. Mining (the profession I’ve never leveled because I hate it so much) clearly isn’t a chore to him — or he thinks he really needs all that ore and quietly hates it! Ugh, that clink, clink, clink …
What do you consider a chore in WoW? What are the not-that-fun-but-necessary parts of the game? What are things that you just won’t do because they’re too tiresome?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Breakfast Topic: What parts of gameplay do you consider a chore? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Johann Sebastian Joust Video Preview Saturday, 4 February 2012, 4:40 am
GameSpot’s Tom Mc Shea and the gang beat the crap out of each other while checking out the console-less Johann Sebastian Joust.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Five Kick-Ass Weapons in Tribes: Ascend Saturday, 4 February 2012, 1:43 am
Tribes: Ascend enters a new stage in its closed beta–and introduces new weapons in the process.
Get the full article at GameSpot
How’s my Hair? Gameplay Video – The Simpsons Arcade Game Saturday, 4 February 2012, 1:25 am
Marge battles ghosts with her vacuum all while keeping her hair looking good.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 37 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 38 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 48 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 39 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 41 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 44 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 42 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 46 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
Announcement: New Rangers Incoming! Friday, 3 February 2012, 7:28 pm
Welcome the New Guys
We’re going to start off this announcement by welcoming some of our newer Rangers to the team: 2ndWonder, Stevo_the_Gamer, and horgen123.
Who is already a GameSpot Ranger?
In addition to unveiling our newest Rangers, we’d like to give big shout-out to all of our GS Rangers, deershadow, dog64, ExoticAnimal, fabz_95, michaelP4, and RealKilla_789. These guys deserve a big round of applause.
What is a Ranger exactly?
What is a Ranger exactly?
*Teach users how to use the site.
* Report on existing issues directly to GameSpot members.
* Create activities and emblems for the community for various events.
*Act as “liaisons” to the community.
Do Rangers report to Moderators?
Nope
well, not exactly. Some moderators lend a hand in the Rangers board but Rangers do not "officially" report to Moderators; they report to Staff.
How do I become a Ranger?
The Ranger process is invite only, so it’s all about who you know.
What powers do Rangers have in the community?
The power of influence and persuasion! But seriously Rangers DO NOT have the same permissions as Moderators or Staff, meaning they cannot moderate, and they cannot sticky or un-sticky comments.
So there you have it. If you stumble upon Rangers on GameSpot, maybe they can help you out! If you find them in the How to GameSpot forum, our friendly Rangers would be happy to show you how to use the site.
Read and Post Comments (There are currently 40 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot
