#BFA Beta

[thaliagrayce]

beloved writer friends and mutuals of tumblr, do you have a beta? if so, how the fuck did you get a beta?

[wp100]

why do people on the wow forums hate solo players so much 😭 what did we do to you. we just want old content to not be so difficult? a raid that came out 3 expansions ago (Legion) shouldn't require a group to "solo" it. Come on, now

[capital9]

What seems to be beta Artemis and Anubis espers from

More (Speculative) beta designs from the artist of Luo Yan and Sander concepts

[tarysande]

i saw a post that you reblogged with a comment wherein you referenced working as an editor. i'm a college student looking to go into fiction editing, and i was wondering if you had any tips or suggestions?

I've written a few different posts about this in my "on editing" tag, but most of them are a bit old.

My path to editing wasn't a straight line. I have a BFA in theatre, film, and creative writing, and I took a lot of English courses. I've always been a voracious reader. I've been a writer since before I can remember. I basically started editing when friends came to me and said, "You're good at words. Can you help me with my words?"

I was also lucky enough to fall in with a group of excellent writers/betas/critiquers/editors when I was fandom baby back in ye olde X-Files days. I learned SO much from them. And most of what I learned, I learned either from being critiqued or from critiquing others. I cannot stress how much being an active member of fandom has helped me become the editor I am today.

Suggestions:

Get editing-specific training. You don't know what you don't know--and there's a surprising amount of stuff people don't know, even if they've studied English or writing. There are quite a few certificate programs out there now, but you don't need one of them to get work. You do need to prove that you know what you're doing, though. Usually by being able to pass editing tests or by providing excellent sample edits.

Read, read, read, READ. If you know you want to work with specific genres, read as much from within that genre as you can. Read books on craft, too, whether they're intended for writers or editors.

Find your people. There are some great Facebook groups for editors. There are also major editing associations where you can meet people, network, find possible job leads, etc. I, for example, am a member of Editors Canada and a Professional Member of the CIEP (UK). ACES and the EFA are a couple of major American associations. Australia's is the IPEd. You don't have to be from those countries to join their associations--but you'll probably find that the local ones have the most relevant content.

You DO need to find ways to hone your skills. If you don't want to do a whole editing certificate, you'll want to find courses or professional development related to the work you want to do.

Fiction editing (all editing, really) breaks down into different types of editing. You might like doing all aspects of this. You might find you only like SOME aspects of this. Generally, those types of editing are:

Developmental (sometimes called structural or substantive) editing: This is big picture editing. Are there plot holes? Do the character arcs make sense? Do scenes have a purpose? (Personally, this is my favorite type of editing. I just love getting into the guts of a story.) I do full developmental edits, but I also offer manuscript critiques (developmental editing lite; usually cheaper, but still very helpful for getting to the bottom of big picture issues).

Line/stylistic editing: This type of editing is often about the style and language at the sentence and paragraph level. It tends to be quite meaty. A line editor will offer suggestions for reducing redundancy or repetition, clarifying meaning, polishing dialogue, etc.

Copy editing: Sometimes copy editing and line editing get rolled up together, but if someone hires you JUST to copy edit, it means you're looking at the mechanical issues with grammar, punctuation, etc.

Proofreading: Literally reading the proofs before they go to print. The proofreader's eyes are the last ones on the document. These are the folks looking for the misplaced comma or the wrong page number. Have a crazy eye for detail? This may be your jam.

The various Englishes of the world have major differences. If you want to edit US, UK, Canadian, or other assorted varietals of the language, you have to know those differences--and they're more than just spelling and punctuation.

There's no one style guide for fiction. Publishers often have their own. That said, most of THOSE are based either on the Chicago Manual of Style (US/Canada) or the New Oxford Style Manual/New Hart's Rules (UK).

You also have to figure out if you want to pursue an in-house position or work freelance. Real talk: publishers outsource a ton of copy editing and proofreading to freelancers; some publishers even outsource the other styles of editing. Often, acquisitions editors at publishing houses (the editors who champion a work and try to get their publisher to buy it) do some of the developmental and line editing work.

I don't work in-house, so I can't give you a ton of info on how to break into the side of things. As I understand it, you usually have to be located in one of the big publishing centers (New York, London, Toronto, etc.). And you usually work your way in from the bottom up.

I've done all kinds of editing over the years. Nowadays, I mostly work in fiction, and I mostly work with independent authors or authors who are trying to polish their work before sending it out to agents. While it's true that a publishing house will edit your book (and foot the bill for it), the market is hard right now--especially for first-time authors. Publishers are less willing to take big risks or pour a lot of money into books if they're uncertain of a return on that investment. So, even if you're hoping to go the route of traditional publishing, it's in your best interests to get that first manuscript in the best shape before sending it out.

...this is already getting long! One of these days, I'm going to offer some training of my own, I think. Hopefully!

[strugglinguist]

I’m home! Got in last night. I’m still rather dead on my feet, but I figured it’s time to officially say hi! It’s been about a year off tumblr, and it’s been a big huge not-all-that-great year. 😅 Here are the highlights both good and bad:

Z and I are still going strong! We’ve been together 4.5 years now. Still poly, though it was just us most of the year ☺️

Big a heartbreak in January when my girlfriend of 6 months abruptly ended things and never spoke to me again. Took so long to get over, but I made it!

hEDS/hypermobility and the corresponding chronic pain has me using a cane full time now. Her name is Suzanne, and she’s decked out in sheer purple and blue ribbon ☺️ I’ll be back in PT very soon!

I had a big health scare in January where I almost passed out while teaching at the board. My heart rate shot up to 170 and I broke out in a sweat and got tunnel vision. Six months, many tests, and an ambulance trip in there in the middle, I was diagnosed with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia (IST). Basically my heart is very healthy and regular, but it likes to race at random. I say it gives me a medical license to be inappropriate 😂 With beta blockers, it’s under control, and I’m doing well.

In the middle of all that heart stuff, I was also diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease. So now I have thyroid meds, and it’s under control, too! Basically we fixed everything all at once, I finally can function well. The first half of the year was ROUGH, dude.

Had a stereotypically bad experience trying to get my Autism diagnosis. The person said since I can make eye contact and can teach, I can’t possibly be Autistic. I’m just “quirky.” Which like… wow. Found out I have to wait two years to try a second opinion, and I’m just living in that self diagnosis land 🤷‍♀️

Z went back to school and is finishing up his BFA next semester. It’s been quite the adventure, but he’s been kicking all the butts and even swung a 4.0 this past semester. 😃

I have a new girlfriend! She and I started dating in October, and she’s pretty great. ❤️ She’s a total boss and is changing the world. I’m pretty lucky I’m included in her world now ☺️☺️☺️

Oh! And the kittens are now full on cats who make my life hilarious and unpredictable in the best way. But they’ll always be “the babies.”

I think that’s the big stuff! I don’t intend this blog to be a fitblr blog. I’m a disabled person learning to live with mobility issues and hoping to be as healthy as possible. And I’m working on being more body neutral, rather than pursuing weight loss or breaking records. My weight is what it is and will change as it wishes with life changes!

[sekhithefops]

Ready for Dragonflight: Alliance

Welp! Its almost time isn't it? In just over two weeks we'll be heading to the Dragon Isles at last! I was fortunate enough to get into the beta and have already worked out what my main twelve characters (yes, twelve. I can sleep when I'm dead) will be doing spec-wise and profession-wise... and Imma shoot my mouth off about it now because why not?

Nelen Fullmoon, Master of the Arcane

Nelen is a character I've had since Cataclysm, and was infact my first Worgen character when they became playable.

In Shadowlands I alternated between all three specs as the mood took me, but I've rather fallen in love with Arcane magic for this round. I will have a frost and fire mage, but they'll be separate characters so I can use them in my story.

With Dragonflight comes the return of honest-to-gods Talent Trees, which lets you build your character however you see fit... and with Nelen's build I focused mostly on talents that enhance his clearcasting abilities.

Amplification to increase the number of arcane missiles he fires when he gets clearcasting, Improved Clearcasting to gain the ability to stack clearcasting up to three times, Slipstream so he can move while channeling arcane missiles, and Nether Precision so that clearcasting makes his Arcane Blasts have more OOMPH!

Top this all off with the mages new Spell, Arcane Surge, which consumes all your mana at once to deal a frankly absurd amount of damage to an enemy but then gives you 425% mana regeneration and 35% more spell damage for fifteen seconds and Nelen is taking the term "glass cannon" to its most literal sense. He can't take a beating, but if he's fast with the incantations he won't need to because all that'll be infront of him is a pile of glowing purple ashes!

Jaie Swiftpaw, Monk of Many Talents

Its been a loooooooooong time since I did anything but Brewmaster as Jaie, pre-BfA really. In Legion I did all three specs, but that whole Azerite Armor mess and how it cost gold to redo your abilities on armor really killed a lot of the fun for me (seriously Ion, you knew that was a bad idea dammit.)

Welp, come Dragonflight my panda gal is multi-spec once more!

As a brewmaster I focus mostly on attacks that let her do a lot of AoE stuff for keeping aggro. Rushing Jade Wind (constant physical damage to all enemies within 8 yards,) Shadowboxing Treads (Blackout Kick does more damage and hits up to 3 targets,) Sal'salabim's Strength (Keg Smash resets Breath of Fire's cooldown,) and Dragonfire Brew (when you use Breath of Fire you breathe flames three times instead of once) along with some abilities like Light Brewing and Gift of the Ox for self healing and damage mitigation. I'm going to take Weapons of Order most likely for the ability to empower myself and summon Niuzao as well.

As a windwalker she's very combo focused and does a lot of single target damage, but has some decent multi-target abilities as well such as Whirling Dragon Punch (attack all nearby enemies for solid damage, but can only be used when both Fists of Fury and Rising Sun Kick are on cooldown,) Strike of the Windlord (strike with both fists at all enemies infront of you, dealing quite a bit of damage and reducing their movement speed by half,) and good ol' Faeline Stomp (deal nature damage in a line to up to five enemies and restore health to up to five allies, enemies who stand on it take additional damage as well and standing in it while attacking can reset it's cooldown.)

For mistweaving I'm more of a traditionalist. I tried "fistweaving" but it just wasn't for me. Jaie can summon Yu'lon for backup healing, has Upwelling to enhance Essence Font's power, Bonedust Brew for some extra healing AoE for her allies (and the bountiful brew upgrade so she sometimes just randomly tosses it to her target because thats REALLY useful in tight spots,) and of course the almighty Revival spell to heal everyone an dpurge all Magic, Poison, and Disease effects (saved a few raids with that baby!)

I really can't stress how happy I am about the talent trees letting us have this versatility again.

Samantha Montebank, Voidblade

I was rather surprised by this after how meh I was on it by the end of Shadowlands, but I've fallen in love with Subtlety. I was all set to focus on Assassination, especially with the 'four poisons at once' trick we get for it... but dammit I'm having fun with this!

It helps that Subtlety gets some REALLY nasty tricks this time around. Flagellation is back from our time with the Venthyr so yay for that, but also the fact that they went all in on making Subtlety void/shadow themed which character-wise fits her to a T.

... this is very important to me you see.

One of the best parts of this for me is the Secret Technique finishing move. She creates shadow clones of herself and they attack all enemies near her target, dealing quite a bit of damage at max combo points (which can be SEVEN if you take the right talents!)

See, in my story she's a void elf because of a void entity living in her mind... and in the story that void entity can manifest for brief moments as a shadowy copy of Sam herself.

Thats right! In my headcannon Secret Technique is actually her letting her spoopy friend out to play! I love it when stuff in game synchs up so well with my character ideas.

Also quite possibly my new favorite talent. It seems simple, but listen closely: "Dark Brew, your attacks that deal nature or bleed damage deal shadow damage instead, all shadow damage increased by 10%."

Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but when most of your attacks already did Shadow damage this becomes a real killer. Like I said, its about as perfectly fittingly thematic for her as I could have asked, so Imma use it. :D

Dareley Steelhammer, Paladin of the Silver Hand

Imma stick with retribution for soloing most likely... but when it comes to almost any group content I say Holy Holy Holy. I just really love being a healadin!

It helps that my build for Dareley means that he's constantly healing multiple allies throughout fights. With stuff like Resplendent Light (Holy Light heals up to 5 targets within 12 yards for 8% of it's healing,) Light's Hammer (Hurl a light-infused hammer to the ground, damaging enemies and healing allies every 2 seconds for 14 seconds,) Divine Toll (cast holy shock on up to 5 targets within 30 yards and instantly cast holy shock every 5 seconds for 15 seconds,) Second Sunrise (Light of Dawn has a 20% chance to cast twice,) and Breaking Dawn (Light of Dawn now has a range of 40 yards) I can carry half a raid through a boss fight just by spamming Holy Light and using Light of Dawn as needed, saving the hammer and Divine Toll for emergencies.

I'm also going to take Blessing of the Seasons once I have the talent points. Yes I know its not a hugely popular one, but remember how I said theme matters to me? Well in my story he's close friends with my druid, and gee... "Blessing of Seasons" sounds rather... druid-y doesn't it?

Yeah, he may have learned a few tricks from her.

SPEAKING OF...

Shalandrae Deeproots, Druid of Many Roles

If I listed everything I was doing with Shalandrae we'd be here all night, so here's the shortened version:

Guardian Druid: Focusing on mainly stuff like thrash, brambles, blood frenzy, after the wildfire, twin moonfire, and such for constant AoE aggro generation. In her bear form she looks like a mountain and thats how I intend to do things. Keep the enemies wailing on the stone grizzly while my allies wail on them!

Feral Druid: Good gods Feral feels good right now doesn't it? I went with Feral Frenzy just because hot damn and I'm going to take Adaptive Swarm once I get the talent points again. Yes I could take Convoke the Spirits and I may yet, but I never did anything with druids and Maldraxxis and the concept intrigues me.

Balance Druid: FAERIE DRAGONS FAERIE DRAGONS DENEIZEN OF THE DREAAAAAAAAAAM! Ah gods thats such a cool idea, Also taking Wrath of Elune, Syzygy, and Sundered Firmament so I can get Three (COUNT 'EM, THREE) death star lasers whenever I dman well please! ... also Force of Nature because I missed my treants.

Restoration Druid: Adaptive swarm is a very useful spell for healers. I'm still experimenting but Verdant Infusion VERY much has my attention as it makes it so Swiftmend not only doesn't consume heal over time effects but extends them instead, along with Natural Wisdom which makes it so my Innervate spell, when cast on another, gets cast on me too (and automatic +5% mana regen bonus!) but overall... still feeling it out. Druids have a lot of options this time.

Zhan-min Irontummy, the Shamanbrewer

Even after the recent nerfs, Zhan-min is a freakin' MONSTER of an enhancement shaman! Molten Assault allows Lava Lash to spread Flame Shock around to up to four enemies, Improved Maelstrom Weapon empowers the damage or healing of his spells by up to 20% per stack, Overflowing Maelstrom lets him consume TEN stacks at once for +200% effect at the full ten, Hot Hand lets him get reduced cooldown and increased damage for Lava Lash on successful attacks with Flametongue, Ashen Catalyst gives Lava Lash +12% damage and reduces the cooldown by 0.5 seconds each time Flame Shock deals damage (and remember how I said that Molten Assault spreads Flame Shock around?) and the like.

Ontop of that Ice Strike and Hailstorm. Ice Strike makes Frost Shock deal 100% increased Damage, but Hailstorm increases Frost Shock damage and allows it to hit up to one additional target per stack of maelstrom consumed, up to five times. And yes, these stack!

So yeah, fire and ice in one big kablooey for my pudgy panda man. They may have nerfed him a bit, but he's still a freakin' powerhouse!

But yes, thats all my Alliance mains. I'll do my Horde roster tomorrow as its 4:00 AM here and my eyes are starting to do the leak-y thing again which usually means I should sleep.

[abwwia]

source HERE

Nayda Collazo-Llorens, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a visual artist engaged in an interdisciplinary practice incorporating multiple mediums and strategies. She earned an MFA degree from New York University and a BFA degree from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and Beta-Local's El Serrucho, among others, and is a former Visiting Fellow at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Her work has been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio in New York City, The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Richmond Center for Visual Arts in Kalamazoo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in San Juan, Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City, and The Dowse Art Museum in New Zealand, among other institutions. Her work is featured in the book Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, published by Duke University Press; A to Z of Caribbean Art, published by Robert & Christopher in Trinidad and Tobago; and The Dark Would: Language Art Anthology, published by Apple Pie in the UK. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art News, Art Net, Art US, Art Nexus, Arte al Día International, BOMB, and Newcity.

Nayda Collazo-Llorens, nacida en San Juan, Puerto Rico, es una artista visual interdisciplinaria que incorpora diversos medios y estrategias. Obtuvo un MFA de New York University y un BFA del Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Ha recibido becas de la Fundación Pollock-Krasner, El Serrucho de Beta-Local, y el Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, entre otras.  Su obra se ha exhibido en El Museo del Barrio en la ciudad de Nueva York, The Mattress Factory en Pittsburgh, Museum of Latin American Art en Long Beach, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum en Miami, Bass Museum of Art en Miami Beach, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts en Grand Rapids, Richmond Center for Visual Arts en Kalamazoo, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico y el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo en San Juan, Museo Universitario del Chopo en la Ciudad de Mexico, y The Dowse Art Museum in New Zealand, entre otras galerías e instituciones. Su obra ha sido publicada en los siguientes libros: Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago por Duke University Press, A to Z of Caribbean Art, por Robert & Christopher en Trinidad y Tobago; y The Dark Would: Language Art Anthology, por Apple Pie en el Reino Unido. Su obra ha sido reseñada en The New York Times, Art Net, Art US, Art Nexus, Art News, Arte al Día International, BOMB, y Newcity.

[consequencesofargentdawn]

Today has been an absolute joy to observe. The varied, panicked, confused rage squealing posts by PCU members on here is delightful. Long may they remain the rightly shunned home of ERP'ers, Neo-Nazi's and Hypocricy that they are. Almost a shame Dragonflight is going to kill them off. Almost. that said, does COAD have any GOOD server news?

The dying cries of a fallen empire! But yes we do actually have good news to share. As you correctly stated Dragonflight will be to the benefit of lore-abiding, decent players. From what our editors who have tried the DF beta have explained to us, the whole expansion has a very Mists of Pandaria aesthetic, not in so much the actual Pandaren but the sense of exploration and lack of either world-ending threat or genocidal fashy bait faction war.

We have heard on the grapevine that a number of guilds which had gone into sleep mode over Shadowlands and BFA (who can blame them!) are also hedging bets on Dragonflight being conducive to more roleplay. Once we have more information coming through we will of course be promoting them.

Speaking of, if any guild wishes to be publicised here, we have on average a common viewership of 150 members per day (a good portion of the Argent Dawn RP community), we will gladly promote you here as well. There are positive consequences after all.

[warcraft-shenanigans]

Your blood will feed the forest *evil laugh*

[mypigscantfly]

basically the state of that whole scenario at the moment

[ramavatarama]

I DREAMED A DREAM OF SKIMPY ARMOR FOR NELF DUDES

AND NOW IT’S HERE

PLEASE PLEASE LET THESE BE PLAYABLE SOMEDAY AHHH

[fat-moonkin]

10/10 beta experience 

[shiro-from-cafeberry]

I ran around Nazmir a little and died a few times at different places to see where I could find Bwonsamdi.. He is a very busy Loa... and my personal favorite: The Fishing Loa of the dead

[motherazeroth]

Every time I engage in discussion on the World of Warcraft forums I am reminded that a sane person should never, under any circumstances, engage in discussion on the World of Warcraft forums.

[wereallalittlewaywardnowandthen]

Sylvanas: Omg this is so sad Saurfang play through the fire and the flames 

[mymistymornings]

Nazmir