Here it is, 2009's Item of the Month for July:

Alright so a lot of people have been asking me what I think about this month's item. My initial reaction was posted on twitter which was:

And then later when I saw more detail on it:

As a crossbow owner, I felt robbed by seeing this. Then again with the way they caved in and redid the Doppelshifter back in April, it doesn't really shock me as much more as it is a slap in the face. Yet again, we have another scenario of "Hey, let's give the new people a second chance". Good news for them, bad news for veterans of the game. With that said, if you missed out on this the first time around with the BRC here's your opportunity to redeem yourself kinda. What it lacks as a weapon, makes up for in other areas. The spell damage is great as well as the regen to it. The adding of buff duration to active buffs should be on a percentage because when you're running a crapton of buffs, +3 turns to something like 8000 turns polka of plenty is jack shit. The other part is how this thing supposedly buffs you with buffs from the bag, but after reading from the wiki on how to get them it seems a lot more hassle than what it's worth. I don't see why you can't just reach in and pull out a buff yourself than to have to something as lame as a "charge" system instead. It's another obstacle to prolong farming it seems like.

When you get right down to it, yes it's worth the Mr. A. If you're more concern with real combat damage, maybe sticking with the crossbow is for you. If you like dumb bullshit to where you have to do a million things in combat to get the most out of your farming methods, this seems geared for you. I personally like it cause of the regen and spell damage. Those two enchantments alone will make nice friends with the navel ring. I think if the BRC didn't exist and we were seeing this for the first time, I'd be raving and praising it all over the place like I did with the BRC. Seeing how it's a knockoff for the new players, I'm not that excited nor happy with it. So with that said, I would pick one up and hold onto one for investing, but I wouldn't exactly rush to sell off that spare crossbow (says the guy who's currently hocking his off).

I think I had something else planned for this entry but I can't quite remember what it was. In a few minutes, I have a new poll at the bottom of the page for you fine folks to vote on and criticize about.