tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-902201620478658492023-06-20T07:49:33.624-05:00Out of RangeThe adventures of a melee-only Hunter in World of Warcraft.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-41047087185235847302009-11-09T13:44:00.001-05:002009-11-09T14:47:31.059-05:00Hello Hunters!My name is Mordaan, I'm a friend of Gweryc's and I've been under his Hunter/Tank tutelage for some time now. Unlike Gweryc, I use ranged weapons, but primarily use melee weapons during the actual tanking. My master tells me my gun makes me weak, but all I can hear in my head is “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side." This gives me some a slightly different perspective than his, because I can pull with a powerful shot, and use distracting shot and other shots to pull back those pesky mobs that notice other party members.<br /><br />At this point, I’ve only tanked a few heroics with my very patient guild-members and I’m currently waiting for the changes in 3.3 to more seriously pursue my tanking.<br />My tanking style at this point is likely not optimal, I use myself as the tank but I’m having a hard time holding enough aggro on pulls with over 3 mobs.<br />With the next patch I plan to utilize myself and my pet as pet=MT and myself=OT in a 5 man. This probably sounds a bit odd, but I believe I will be able to pull aggro back by standing near my pet and using distracting shot.<br /><br />I have found that survivability isn’t the problem I encounter, my healers have even said I’m ‘easy’ to heal, but when aggro starts getting spread around I can lose the mobs near me while I’m trying to ‘distract’ the one that got away. Hopefully with a trusty bear growling at my side this wont be as much of a problem in 3.3.<br />In 3.3, I’m most excited about resilience being transferred to pets so my pet too will be uncrittable.<br /><br />My plan going into 3.3 is to wear enough PvP gear to become uncrittable through resilience, and gem for stamina primarily. I also plan on changing from Blood elf to Tauren to get more health and thunderstomp for additional aggro. This should get me to about 30K health. I’m a flower child and Alchemist by profession, I like my tiny HoT and I'm always sipping off a flask.<br /><br />Gweryc has asked me to post some of my successes and pitfalls in Hunter/Tanking as we go into the new patch.<br />I look forward to this opportunity to share my experiences with you all.<br /><br />-MordaanMordaanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04892211746652277708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-68871155965645937502009-08-17T09:30:00.002-05:002009-08-17T10:05:18.275-05:00So I'm impatient. Sue me.I just couldn't resist getting started on my new orc melee hunter. Ghorrek and pet raptor Kavath, now level 20, have a familiar feel to them, but the experience is wildly different and much, much easier the second time around.<br /><br />I am not tanking as I level. I know that my best dps -- and thus, fastest leveling -- comes from letting my pet run rabid and dropping Raptor Strikes in his wake, not from unlocking Counterattack by having aggro. I know that I need to maintain a skill in Thrown weapons to keep my pet's dps optimal. Pet choice is dictated by type -- cunning, ferocity, tenacity -- rather than by species.<br /><br />This phase of Project: Melee Hunter, like Gweryc's youth, is being spent on a roleplaying server. Sentinels (US), this time, if any of you would like to drop in and say hello. The always faithful Auden has joined up, this time as an undead warlock, Gehirne. (You haven't lived until you've watched a warlock handily defeat three mobs while feeding a newborn baby and not watching the screen.)<br /><br />Ghorrek, like any good orc, loves a fight, the chance to test his mettle. In fact, he loves fighting so much that he looks down on anyone that fights at range, whether hunter or spellcaster. No maimed hands here, just the brash attitude of a youthful fighter.<br /><br />I gave a lot of thought to professions this time around, and concluded that, on the whole, it really doesn't matter what primary profession you take. Engineering aside, they all give about 64 AP at level 80. So I decided to forget about min/maxing for once and went with Blacksmithing for the roleplaying aspect. Ghorrek will be a master axesmith, as befits a pugilistic orc.<br /><br />I gave some thought to the idea that Ghorrek had been inspired by the sight of a crazy dwarf locked in melee combat with something, wolf baying at his side. In the end that seemed like too much of a stretch. The one nod to Gweryc that Ghorrek carries is a habit of flexing his hands in a way that's hard to tell if he's just restless, or if he's making sure his fingers are all still there.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-62902112501061854202009-07-02T08:38:00.004-05:002009-07-02T09:56:32.306-05:00For the Horde!In the Long Ago, when Gweryc was but a wee lad of 24 and preoccupied with transforming the crocolisks of the Wetlands into boots, I held that I had made a poor choice in race. Dwarves get bonuses to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=59224">maces</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20595">guns</a>; a dwarven melee hunter cannot use maces or guns. That was some real forward thinking, I tell you.<br /><br />Another of my early observations was that the most challenging aspect of playing a melee-only hunter was my status as a pariah. When assisted by an open-minded group, I could tank, dps, or even PvP with reasonable facility. His role-played mangled hand aside, Gweryc's biggest handicap has always been discrimination. I could play solo, but the real joy of the game is in the shared experiences and the friendships realized in Azeroth.<br /><br />When a group of friends extended to me (actually, to Gweryc specifically) an invitation to join them on the Lightning's Blade server, I was happy to again have the chance to play my pet project. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after I hit 80 that our guild hit the infamous summer slump, as guildmates turned from raiding and instancing to instead fritter their time away on such frivolous pursuits as "family" and so-called "real lives". Hmph. Our collective response was to reroll horde on the PvE-RP server Sentinels. And so Gweryc, with the smell of naphthalene not yet fully aired out of his ancient <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=859">Fine Cloth Shirt</a>, was put into storage once more.<br /><br />My newly-minted orc warrior boasted everything Gweryc could have wished for: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20572">Blood Fury</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=65222">Command</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20574">Axe Specialization</a>. It's too bad I couldn't just bring Gweryc over to the Horde to continue playing with my guild. It would be great to be on an RP server again, to have the chance to rectify my race selection, to not have to level to freaking 80 one more time just to stick with my friends.<br /><br /><a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031079410&sid=1">Enter Blizzard poster Nethaera</a>:<br /><blockquote>We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.</blockquote>That's it, then. The moment this becomes available, I will have no compelling reason to remain a member of the Alliance. If at all possible, Gweryc ...Gho'ric?... will literally shed his skin, revealing a healthy green sustained by the beating of an Orcish heart.<br /><br /><em>Lok'tar ogar! For the Horde!</em>Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-77251870137516996612009-05-13T08:56:00.004-05:002009-05-13T10:11:15.648-05:00This is the end(game) -- Ding 80Eagle-eyed reader Treseck <a href="http://meleehunter.blogspot.com/2009/04/lfg-plz.html?showComment=1241799480000#c1854409248090718774">beat me to my own announcement</a> -- ding 80! (Und ja, ich verstehe -- dein Englisch ist viel besser als mein Deutsch.) <br /><br />Treseck also caught me doing something strange. Why am I currently specced for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=34484">Careful Aim</a> instead of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=34465">Catlike Reflexes</a>? Originally it was because I wanted more dps than my tank spec afforded me, so I could concentrate on leveling faster and just getting to 80. Careful Aim may not help me directly, but the RAP increase does help my pet, so it was worth it for the dps gain.<br /><br />Then there's the lesson I learned while attempting to tank Halls of Lightning. When I'm wearing a full set of tanking gear, my pet can soak up tons of damage, but doesn't generate nearly enough threat. To boost his Growls, I need a balance of tanking gear and regular RAP gear. So I've remained in a dps spec, farming money to buy some quick BoE dps epics to mix in with my tanking pieces.<br /><br />I have no idea if my dps is competitive for my gear level or not. At 77, I was doing around 1000 dps. I'm not sure where I am right now, since I just traded out dps pets for a devilsaur I have to level up to 80. The benchmarks my guild offered me for a dps role is 1500 for heroics, 2000 for Naxx. And it makes me wonder, if I level up the devilsaur, finish collecting some solid dps gear, work on my mana problems so I can stay in Aspect of the Beast instead of Viper... am I actually in a position to deal viable dps? If so, the dual-spec feature suddenly becomes attractive, as I could MT/OT <em>or</em> deal damage, depending on what the group needs. It's not all about damage meters, and if I can be of use in both roles, that's some serious group utility. I want to finish collecting a dps set of gear anyway, so I might as well see how far I can push it before I go back to tanking full-time.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-88624680357747798842009-04-27T11:24:00.001-05:002009-04-27T11:24:52.551-05:00LFG PLZ<img src="http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/gweryc/prejudiced_lfg.png" />Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-32176706483570216132009-04-17T11:27:00.002-05:002009-04-17T12:03:41.591-05:00Post 83, in which Gweryc grows up and gets a job.I asked guildmates to talk me out of it. Before then, I was talking <em>myself</em> out of it. Although I'm on a regular PvP server now, I even considered the roleplaying implications. But it's time to face reality: Engineering really is not a viable PvE profession.<br /><br />This <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15973347942&sid=1&pageNo=1">+300-page monster thread</a> on the official forums covers a gamut of opinions regarding Engineering. Some engineers doggedly persist in their profession, to cries of "Tinker Pride!" Others decry the whole profession as an unmitigated failure. Blue poster Bornakk insists that Blizzard feels Engineering "work[s] out compared to what other classes have for the time being." Meaning if you're not happy with engineering now, you should hold no hope of things improving for you.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/31/the-state-of-engineering-in-3-1/">WoW Insider wondered why</a>, if this profession is inferior to every other, so many engineers are specifically threatening to take up Jewelcrafting. I think the biggest reason is because many engineers are also miners, and would prefer to level up one new trade skill that pairs with mining instead of a new production skill in addition to a new gathering skill. Another part of it may be that Jewelcrafting, with its rich array of BoP trinkets, feels more like what Engineering should have been in the first place.<br /><br />For my part -- and especially as a tank -- I can no longer pretend that the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44063">myriad</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=36767">stamina</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42341">gains</a> from being a jewelcrafter begin to compare to being able to toss a frag bomb. Aside from Hyjal Summit, I can't remember the last time I'd have preferred a parachute cloak to a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47672">+225 armor enchant</a>. (And even then, the goal was not to suck with your Tears of the Goddess, not to have Engineering save you.) I can't even use the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=63770">Reticulated Armor Webbing</a>, because it's limited to plate.<br /><br />I loved Engineering, mostly because it was fun, and in part because it enabled me to do things I couldn't have done otherwise, like <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23736">ranged pulls</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23836">powerful misdirects</a>. But the hard truth is, the profitability and utility of jewelcrafting far exceed what I can presently eke out of Engineering. <br /><br />And so begins another grind. Sigh. 269 JC and rising...Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-69821438793306344422009-04-02T12:52:00.003-05:002009-04-02T13:47:24.166-05:00PvP happened. (And ding 73)It's rather peaceful in Howling Fjord compared to Borean Tundra. Fewer players around means fewer gankers. Even so, it's not uncommon to find a level 80 death knight ready to kill you for fun.<br /><br />Why is it always a death knight?<br /><br />At any rate, every death knight ganker seems to have the same boring strategy: find a lowbie that won't pose a threat, cast <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=49576">Death Grip</a> from max range, and faceroll the keyboard to victory. But predictability lends itself to exploitation. The instant I saw an 80 dk hovering where he should not have been I knew what was coming, and poised one finger over my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=14311">Freezing Trap</a> button. With my enemy temporarily immobilized, I hit Aspect of the Cheetah and sprinted into the middle of the Alliance NPC cannoneers outside Westguard Keep, who were more than happy to help me out. Last I saw of the valiant Ebon Knight "Iraqicrmpie", he was running half-dead towards a cliff. Thanks, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23770">Ely</a>, I owe you one.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />Even Auden has gone over to the dark side, rolling a DK on Gweryc's new server. Her death knight, however, likes squirrels and children and pretty flowers, so I agreed to help her out in Scholomance. Pet tanking is so very, very different from tanking in first-person. I actually did better when I stood back and watched the fight, treating my bear Artuir like a remote-controlled toy rather than trying to engage enemies concurrently. I came away from the experience with a short shopping list:<br /><ul><li>Patch 3.1. I need Thunderstomp on my bear. Now.</li><li>Level 80, so I have all my neat tanking talents.</li><li>Something to assign raid markers easily and quickly.</li><li>Something better than Omen to alert me when a raid member is stealing aggro, possibly...</li><li>Grid, configured for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53476">Intervene</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53477">Taunt</a> instead of healing.</li></ul>I'm seriously thinking about using a different hotbar for main tanking than soloing, with just my pet attacks macroed to it. I remain surprised by just how much easier it is to coordinate pet tanking when you're 30 yards away, versus all up in some boss crotch.<br /><br />I'm going to browse the tanking sections of a couple addon sites and see if there's anything I can abuse for my own ends. I'll let you know if I find anything indispensible.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-29422757438987546882009-03-26T13:10:00.004-05:002009-03-26T13:40:47.593-05:00Wrath of the Lusty Kodiak?Since I'm still leveling to 80, I'm focused more on how I'll be tanking endgame content in patch 3.1. As you've likely heard, gorillas will be losing their signature ability <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=55573">Thunderstomp</a>. Instead it will be merged into the Tenacity tree, where any tanking pet can pick it up. As bears already have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53533">Swipe</a>, it seems to me that bears are going to be the overall best choice for multi-target tanking, as well as being a nice tank pet in general. So that's what I've gone with, a brown bear named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_basis_for_King_Arthur#Artuir_mac_.C3.81ed.C3.A1in">Artuir</a>.<br /><br />Hm, says you. A tanking pet? Wasn't Gweryc the one tanking before? Yes, but sadly, that was before. The Lich King took the survival tree out back and beat it with the ugly stick to the point that there's no hope of looking to it for melee. There's entirely too many wasted points over there to get to the good stuff. All I'm left with is Beast Mastery. That's the point where I had to ask myself, what can I do as a beast master that still offers value? I can't dps competitively, I can't heal, I can't CC or decurse or anything niche. But hey, I can still tank. I just have to serve as an intermediary for the pet, I guess, as he fills the role of tank instead of Gweryc himself.<br /><br />That said, I've got to gear different and think different. (Yes, I own a Mac.) Where I was using TankPoints before to increase my personal survivability, I'm now looking at gear in terms of Effective Health. EH is calculated using armor and stamina, both of which -- unlike defense, parry, etc -- are stats that scale toward my pet. The greater my own EH, the more damage Artuir will be able to soak up.<br /><br />I'm a little worried about his threat generation, though. If I gear exclusively for survivability I won't raise my RAP, meaning I won't be contributing to Artuir's own AP, which in turn boosts the threat from his Growls. The TankPoints implementation of EH also includes Agility, so I may follow a rule of thumb that I itemize according to the gear with the highest level of EH that also includes Agility.<br /><br />As I set about my new life as beast master, I can at least say I'm in good company. <a href="http://bigredrhino.wordpress.com/">Big Red Rhino</a> has been covering tenacity pets as tanks for quite a while now. Hopefully I'll have a new accomplishment to add to their <a href="http://bigredrhino.wordpress.com/feats/">Feats page</a> one day.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-7497152568702101202009-03-24T08:40:00.002-05:002009-03-24T09:52:03.544-05:00Did you think... we had forgotten?Hail, fellow adventurers.<br /><br />My apologies for the months-long absence. As some of you may have deduced from my last (and now deleted) blog post -- the one with the emo German poetry -- real life got a little hairy for a while there. I do prefer that this space be about Gweryc the character more than Gweryc's player, but since I've gotten a number of emails and blog comments wondering if I had died, I'll fill you all in on some of the major highlights before finally getting back to business.<br /><br />Relationship Stuff:<br /><ul><li>I was in a very serious relationship for a while. Then I wasn't. Epic fail. Believe me, you don't want to know the details. Suffice to say, it was a lot weirder than playing a melee hunter.</li><li>However, I am now happily engaged to a different and superior woman. Epic win!</li><li>Some of you might know of my fiancee. She used to run a little webcomic called "Hammer of Grammar." I love you, Auden.</li><li>We are expecting our first child.</li><li>The child is anticipated to emerge a human female. Her character class is still unknown, but I'm hoping for a tank.</li><li>We are not naming her after anything in Warcraft. ...Probably.</li></ul>Personal Stuff:<br /><ul><li>I thought I was going to be fired. But I wasn't.</li><li>I thought I was going to be fired. But I wasn't.</li><li>I thought I was going to be fired. But I wasn't. (God, that's stressful.)</li><li>In other words, I had a major attack of crazy. After years of suffering depression and anxiety, I finally reached a breaking point where I was willing to take medication. I'm doing a lot better now, both personally and professionally.</li></ul>Warcraft Stuff:<br /><ul><li>My paladin friend Lochrann from my old raiding guild on Anvilmar -- the one where I tanked Kara, TK, etc -- no longer plays his paladin. This is in part because he no longer works with me at our old job, and instead bought a bar.</li><li>With Lochrann gone from our raiding guild, my "Friends and Family" rank wasn't really true anymore, so I resigned from the guild.</li><li>Lacking a guild to support Gweryc, I had little drive to play him. This was about the point where he went into deep storage.</li><li>Instead, because I can't resist Doin It Rong, I rolled a smite priest and power-leveled him to 80 in a mere couple of weeks. This was the point where I finally burned out on Warcraft.</li><li>Months went by, and unexpectedly, I -- specifically, Gweryc -- was invited to join a new guild as a Naxx tank. This guild is comprised largely of people I know in real-life, from where I work. A day or two ago, Gweryc made the transfer from Anvilmar to Lightning's Blade, beginning the long climb to 80. Why long? Well, in part because Lightning's Blade is a PvP server. Ouch.</li><li>Then it turns out that there's a Horde guild that frequents Lochrann's bar. No joke. Guess what server they play on? And guess where Lochrann's rerolled Horde? Yes, it's Lightning's Blade. So his old office is the Alliance and his bar is the Horde, packed onto the same PvP server. <em>Ultimate lulz.</em></li></ul><p>Random Stuff:</p><ul><li>I'm about to launch another blog, TradeQuarter, containing computer-generated daily stock tips, whose origins can be traced directly back to my love of the WoW auction house. I'd never have imagined a video game having that much of an impact on my life.</li></ul><p>Well, then! With all the drama out of the way, this blog is ready to get back on track. Gweryc is again alive and well, as am I. The landscape of hunter tanking has changed completely since I was in Karazhan, but I'm prepared. More on that in the next post.</p><p><3</p>Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-75252961655332416572008-10-26T09:00:00.001-05:002008-10-26T09:01:44.312-05:00From a distanceQuick note: Aspect of the Viper is being changed to work on melee in a coming patch, which is good since I have horrible mana problems right now. In the meantime, I found that AotV works with my Thrown weapon. Weird.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-84998618701270129872008-10-15T20:46:00.003-05:002008-10-15T21:10:12.463-05:003.0 NotesA few very quick notes:<br /><ul><li>My main server, Anvilmar, is probably my least functional server.</li><li>PvP is also so lagged it's impossible. No Battlemaster title for me in the near future.</li></ul><ul><li>Gweryc -- and pet wolf Cafall! -- are pushing about 745 - 800 single-target dps without any kind of raid buffs, and wearing straight out AP gear (instead of agi gems and enchants). </li><li>2204 melee AP / 19.47% crit chance / 885 pet melee AP</li></ul><ul><li>If I wear my Thrown weapon (350 skill), my ranged (pet's) crit chance is 19.47%. </li><li>If I wear no weapon in my ranged slot, my ranged crit is 18.75%. </li><li>If I wear my gun (1 skill), my ranged crit is 5.79%.</li><li>This completely validates the need to have raised my Thrown skill. It would be foolish not to put something in that slot for the stats, but if I have an item in the slot, my pet's crit rate decreases if the skill for the weapon type isn't leveled.</li></ul><ul><li>I adore the practice dummies in Ironforge. They are a godsend to theorycrafters.<br /></li><li>...but Engineers should get Track Mechanical. Srsly.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Gweryc looks <span style="font-style: italic;">really weird</span> to me with his new shave and haircut.<br /></li></ul>Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-61436964293472151592008-10-14T09:20:00.004-05:002008-10-14T10:26:33.702-05:00WoW 3: Revenge of the Beast MasterThe Survival tree looks pretty sorry these days, as far as melee hunting goes. Too many points have to be wasted to get to any of the good stuff. Compare a <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=cVbR0tgRVuzeotcZxb">level 70 beast master build</a> with a possible <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=cVbR0ttRVuZZxd0icbcho">level 70 hybrid</a>. Four points wasted on Surefooted and Deflection, no Focused Aim (for the hit chance), five points blown on Survivalist just to get Hunter vs. Wild. Beast Mastery is the future of melee hunting.<br /><br />There are a couple of unanswered questions:<br /><br />When Focused Aim says it increases "chance to hit by 3%", does that include melee hit, or just ranged? I'm assuming both, since it doesn't say otherwise. I suppose I'll find that out when I respec tonight.<br /><br />When <a href="http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/html/patch30/patch30faq_stats.php#scaling">Petopia claims</a> that "pets now inherit the hunter's hit rate and critical rate as well", does it mean my melee or ranged crit rate? Presumably ranged, especially since pet AP is derived from your RAP, but I won't know until I run some tests with Recount since the pet panel <a href="http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/html/patch30/patch30faq_stats.php#panel">doesn't yet display</a> your pet's hit and crit rate.<br /><br />But regarding that... your chance to crit is in part <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Weapon_skill#Effects_of_Weapon_Skill">determined by your weapon skill</a>. Now, since <a href="http://meleehunter.blogspot.com/2008/10/thrownd.html">Levixus boned my Thrown skill</a>, I went ahead and leveled my Thrown skill to 350. Since doing that, I see in <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Anvilmar&n=Gweryc">the Armory</a> that my ranged crit chance is now 19.47%, far ahead of the untalented 3-4% it was a couple days ago. While Thrown weapons don't count toward using ranged hunter attacks, apparently Thrown weapons <em>do</em> count toward your ranged crit chance, meaning that from here on out I'll want to always use a Thrown weapon and maintain its skill, for the sake of the ranged crit chance from it that my pet will inherit.<br /><br />Pre-patch, I spent a while regemming and reenchanting for raw AP, in anticipation of the Aspect of the Beast buff. If I'm to be a Beast Master, I want to beef up my pet as much as possible. But I chose raw AP before I saw from Petopia that pets are now supposed to inherit your crit chance. Now I'm rolling in Attack Power (2004 AP/1942 RAP/19.47% crit), but lacking in the notoriously scalable Agility. Again, some tests with Recount are called for. I'll go maul something tonight until I'm out of mana, record the numbers, and consider a retest once I'm back to a more balanced gear configuration.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-15303497189731394822008-10-12T22:54:00.004-05:002008-10-12T23:19:03.497-05:00Thrown'd.Did you know that <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=19847">Levixus</a> will mind control you? I did not.<br /><br />Did you also know that when you're mind controlled, you can get weapon skill points when the entity controlling you puts you on auto attack?<br /><br />Levixus, you see, decided it would be a neat trick to MC me and have me throw my Merciless Gladiator's War Edge at my pet. And I watched in horror as I picked up skill points.<br /><br /><img src="http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/gweryc/throwned.jpg" /><br /><br />Insert whatever profanity you feel like here. I'm sure I won't disagree.<br /><br />But all is not lost.<br /><br />Just to be sure, I logged onto my Troll hunter alt and equipped him with a Thrown weapon. His entire Marksmanship tree went red, as all the real Hunter goodies read, "<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Requires Ranged Weapon</span>." Praise Elune.<br /><br />So, I guess I have a decision to make. My status as melee hunter isn't broken, since even using a Thrown weapon does nothing to make the meat-and-potatoes hunter skills available to you. I can't Arcane Shot, I can't Scorpid Sting. As God intended. So, really, I guess I have to ask, do I live with this wart and maintain my Thrown skill at 4, or do I go ahead and train it up?<br /><br />On a happier note, congratulations to reader Wren on reaching 40 with his own melee hunter!Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-24882495146636213562008-09-21T05:46:00.003-05:002008-09-21T06:22:09.368-05:00TrackThat! addonCan't nobody say Gweryc never did nothing <a href="http://hrwiki.org/index.php/english_paper">for the peoples</a>.<br /><br />Improved Tracking's requirement of constantly swapping tracking types annoyed the ever-loving crap out of me, so I did what any good Engineer would do and fixed it. I sat down last night and created the <a href="http://wowui.worldofwar.net/?p=mod&m=6617">TrackThat! addon</a>, downloadable now from wowui.worldofwar.net.<br /><br />Here's the description I put up on the site:<br /><blockquote><br />TrackThat! was designed in response to the Improved Tracking talent, introduced in the WoW 3 patch. The increase of 5% damage to targets being tracked is nice, but the mechanic of switching tracking types in-game isn't nice at all, just annoying!<br /><br />This addon simplifies life by changing your tracking type to match the type of mob you have targeted, if you're capable of tracking it. Just add either of these slash commands to the top of your main attack macro:<br /><br />/tt<br />/trackthat<br /><br />Yes, this works in combat! No, it won't kill you by continually tripping the global cooldown! It's simple, it's functional, it might even be international.<br /><br />Enjoy!</blockquote><br />Good luck out there, fellow survival hunters. Let me know what you think!<br /><em></em>Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-12911830339226507442008-09-20T06:01:00.003-05:002008-09-20T06:57:31.056-05:00PTR NotesHere is I, on the PTR! It's still pretty buggy, and I could throttle whoever ruined my Survival Instincts talent, taking away the 4% melee boost and forcing me to take 1 point each in Trap Mastery and Survival Tactics instead. Otherwise, it's wonderful to have my pet wolf back at my side, and to get 300 more melee AP just through talent and spell changes.<br /><br />The now useless Wing Clip costs an insane 202 mana, compared to 135 for Raptor Strike, and 101 for the Mongoose Bite. Deterrence is a baseline talent. Furious Howl's effect is raid-wide, making it an inarguably valuable buff. (Welcome home, Cafall. I've missed you.)<br /><br />Oh, and Aspect of the Beast isn't removed -- it's just bugged. You can't cast it unless you have a pet out.<br /><br />With Wing Clip in the rubbish bin and Mongoose Bite its worthy successor, it's time to update my main attack macro:<br /><br />/castsequence [nopet] reset=5 Call Pet, Revive Pet<br />/cast [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet<br />/stopmacro [noexists][nocombat]<br />/petattack [target=pettarget,noexists]<br />/castrandom Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite<br />/cast Kill Command<br /><br />Ordinarily Kill Command has conditionals attached -- [target=pettarget,exists] -- but in this macro I don't need them. Between the stopmacro and petattack directives, I know my pet will have a hostile target by the time /cast Kill Command is reached. The /castrandom ensures that we'll hit the Kill Command, too, since Raptor Strike, as an "on next hit" spell, is a fall-through.<br /><br />Cafall's pet bar is stocked with Dash, Rabid, Furious Howl, and Bite -- no room at all for Growl or Cower. Who cares? Seriously. A dps pet has no business growling in a raid, and no tank in the world should lose aggro to my pet.<br /><br />As I write this, it looks like instances are down on the PTR, so I'm off to farm motes on the live server. I'll try to hit up an instance soon and test out my new dps capability.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-29748370850879133402008-09-17T11:15:00.002-05:002008-09-17T12:04:33.868-05:00WoW Heroes (and their pets)I stumbled on a neat little site, <a href="http://www.wow-heroes.com/">WoW Heroes</a>, which offers "World of Warcraft PvE character info & ratings". My <a href="http://www.wow-heroes.com/index.php?zone=us&server=Anvilmar&name=Gweryc">personal review</a> suggests I should be running in MH/BT, which I am, so I'm actually performing somewhat inline with what a regular hunter in my gear should be. That's kind of a neat affirmation.<br /><br />Besides inspecting your own character, WoW Heroes can rate your guild as a whole, giving you the chance to see where you rank relative to your guildmates. My score of 709 puts me behind one of our ret paladins, and ahead of one of our arms warriors. WWS shows that last night, on our Naj'entus kill, my dps and damage dealt fell between those two, as it should. The ret pally was 7th on damage out, I was 8th, and the arms warrior was 9th. The paladin out-dps'd me, and I out-dps'd the warrior. When you look at it that way, I'm actually doing reasonably well. Crisis of conscience averted.<br /><br />On review, I found that part of what hurt my dps before was an unnoticed pet death. I vowed never to let that happen again, and here's the tool I'm using to keep that vow:<br /><blockquote>/castsequence [nopet] reset=5 Call Pet, Revive Pet<br />/cast [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet</blockquote><br />I stuck these two lines at the top of my main attack macro. If you have no active pet and there's no pet corpse on the ground, the first line tries to call your pet. If that fails, it must mean that your pet is dead, so the second keypress will rez your pet. If your pet's corpse is on the ground, the first line is skipped entirely and your pet is immediately rezzed. If your pet is alive and well and at your side, neither line does anything. It's a really superior semi-automated way to keep your pet up.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-27666741573711184992008-09-13T14:53:00.003-05:002008-09-14T19:28:32.010-05:00Aspect of the ExpurgatedRather disappointed, I was, to read that the new <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=13161">Aspect of the Beast</a>, the one that buffs melee AP, was removed in the last WotLK beta release. Oh well. Guess I won't have to worry about mana after all, since that leaves me stuck with <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=34074">Viper</a>.<br /><br />Edit: ...or not, since Viper procs off ranged attacks. Thanks, Wren. Lrn2read, Gweryc. But according to an anonymous reader, contrary to what I read on WotLK Wiki, Beast is still in the game and still has the melee buff. Hopefully it'll stay that way.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-81190719599221300112008-09-10T10:44:00.004-05:002008-09-10T11:23:57.243-05:00The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.Went to Black Temple last night. My performance was abysmal! But hey, at least I'm still honest.<br /><br />For one thing, I thought I was being clever on Supremus by turning on Aspect of the Cheetah during the kite phases. Oops. Instead a volcano spawned directly on top of me, dazed me, and killed me. Lesson learned. I won't be doing that again.<br /><br />Also, my gear sucked! This one is my fault. I used my experimental HMAP system to change out some gear, and found that on Naj'entus and Supremus, there's no way I'm going to have mana problems, so yes, I was really overvaluing mana. In fact, I felt it was overvalued to the point that I went into Pawn and set int and mp5 both to zero. If a piece I'm looking at has mana on it, great, it's probably a hunter or enhancement shammy piece that is entirely appropriate for me to wear. But good gravy, did my dps ever take a hit from some of the gear swaps I did. I came in under some of the <em>tanks</em>, which wasn't a problem before.<br /><br />With all the mana values set to zero, I think HMAP is doing a lot better now. It suggested I re-equip my goggles and a couple other pieces my intuition told me were better, and I should be in good shape for kicking Shade of Akama's ghostly butt tonight. I'll continue to tweak the HMAP values as I go, but I'm not going to waste a lot of time on it with the hunter melee changes coming down the pike in WoW 3.0. I have a starting place for the system I want to build, and that's good enough for now.<br /><br />Also also, speaking of gear, tonight raiders are expected to bring gear that includes at least 100 shadow resist. With the pieces I selected, I have <em>exactly</em> 100 shadow resist, which is satisfies my mild <a href="http://www.ocfoundation.org/what-is-ocd.html">OCD</a> in exquisite ways. Two of my pieces are engineering trinkets, a pair of self-made <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18639">Ultra-Flash Shadow Reflectors</a>. They're old-world pieces, so the on-use effect is basically useless in level 70+ content, but they have 20 shadow resist each. (And wow, did it ever feel weird to be out in Arathi Highlands farming <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=7067">Elemental Earth</a> again!) With those trinkets, a couple rings, and a nice pair of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31164">Nethersteel Gauntlets of Shadow Protection</a> (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=25080">enchanted</a>, of course), I'm ready to rock Gorefiend's world. ...Well, not really. I'm scared to death of being The Guy Who Let Constructs in the Raid. We'll see what happens.<br /><br />Let's talk some more about how much I suck. You know how I said if I were a problem for the raid, I'd step down voluntarily? Well, I'm considering doing just that until the WoW 3.0 changes hit, and my melee abilites and group buffs get a huge boost. I'm really, really undergeared for T6. That's just a fact. I have on a mishmash of kara gear, pvp gear, craftables, and then a couple really nice pieces. I'm doing the best I can, working very hard. But I really ought to be in SSC/TK/ZA, gearing up. In the proper gear, I'd be doing... well, I'd probably be in the bottom of the "acceptable dps" category. But that, combined with competent play, is a strong offering.<br /><br />I'm being allowed to run with the big boys in Tier 6, but I don't feel like I'm pulling my weight. And I don't at all mean to seem ungrateful. It's actually out of a sense of loyalty that I'm considering bowing out. I badly need upgrades to stay competitive, and with my status as full-time melee hunter, I can't just go pug groups for gear. My guild <a href="http://www.nerglish.com/">Nerglish</a> is supportive of my project, but a group of outsiders would laugh me out of their raid. My best option seems to be to request temporary demotion, and join our T4/5 alts and gear-up guild, Nergles. I'm giving raiding my all, and I still believe that with the right gear, I'll be okay. But I can't wait for T6 drops to flesh out my equipment, when a normal hunter in the same crappy gear I'm wearing would already be in the "acceptable" range. I'm afraid I don't have room to just skip ahead as another player might. By virtue of my playstyle, I may not have an option as to whether I spend a time in that lower-end content.<br /><br />Hopefully I'll see something inspiring on Akama tonight, and I can talk myself out of my raiding hiatus. If not, well, I'll do what's right.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-77286312688663391012008-09-08T12:59:00.018-05:002008-09-09T06:01:42.450-05:00HMAP: Hunter Melee AP equivalence Points system<div>So, I was reading up on item values. If you visit the <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Item_Values">Item Values</a> page on WoWWiki, you'll find some really interesting stuff about how Blizzard calculates item levels based on the stats attached to the items. And that's when it struck me -- I could abuse Blizzard's own numbers to create a Hunter Melee AP equivalence Points (HMAP) addon to compare items, much like <a href="http://files.wowace.com/HunterAEP/HunterAEP.zip">the one for ranged hunters</a>.</div><div></div><br /><div>There's a super-cool addon out there called <a href="http://pawnmod.trenchrats.com/index.php">Pawn</a>. (Download it on <a href="http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/8214/">Curse</a> or <a href="http://wowui.incgamers.com/?p=mod&m=3999">WoWUI.IncGamers</a>.) It does the same kind of job as <a href="http://www.wowace.com/wiki/TankPoints">TankPoints</a>, calculating and displaying a numerical score to gear based on certain item values. What makes Pawn special is that you can <em>feed it your own weights</em> for those item values. Pawn users themselves tell the addon how much a point of attack power is worth, how much mana-per-five is worth. It's the perfect framework for what I wanted to do.</div><br />I made a quick list of the stats relevant to being a melee hunter: STR, AGI, INT, STA. AP. Crit, hit, expertise, haste ratings. Armor pen. MP5. Next, I pulled base weights for each, directly from Blizzard's own item values as listed on WoWWiki.<br /><br /><div></div>Str=1, Agi=1, Int=1, Sta=1<br /><div>AP=0.5</div>Crit=Hit=Expertise=Haste=1<br /><div>Armor Pen=0.14</div>MP5=2.5<br /><br /><div></div>Looks good so far, and the weights seem to confirm a lot of things. If you're not hit capped, <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Critical#What.27s_better.2C_.2Bto_hit_or_.2Bcrit.3F">crit and hit have the same effect</a>. And expertise and hit have <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=898550DB83A7F36707902042D5BA1136?topicId=2649795430&sid=1#9">identical results for sustained dps</a>. It makes sense that those should all have the same weight. Agility, as it should be, is double the value of attack power. But then, so is strength. That's not right for hunters, but it is the right starting place. What we have to do is modify these base weights specifically for melee hunters. I chose to do that using Attack Power as my baseline stat.<br /><br /><div></div>1 str = 1 ap for me, so we reduce str to 0.5. Agi, however, is 1 AP + 0.552 crit, which is 0.5 + (0.552 * 1) = 1.052. Cool, we're back to having agi worth approximately twice what 1 AP is, and strength has been properly devalued. We'll leave int at 1 for now, since I need mana to melee. (More on this in a bit.) Stamina gets set to 0, because until <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=56341">Hunter vs. Wild</a> is released, it has no effect on my attack power. I'm also going to set Hit at a value of 0. I'm assuming that a given set of gear being evaluated will be at or above the hit cap. (And if it isn't, you need to fix your hit rating before you worry about anything else.)<br /><br /><div></div>So, yay, new weights!<br /><div></div><br /><div>Str=0.5, Agi=1.052, Int=1, Sta=0<br />AP=0.5<br />Crit=Expertise=Haste=1; Hit = 0<br />Armor Pen=0.14<br />MP5=2.5</div><br /><div>At this point, you have to alter the numbers based on your spec. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=34496">Survival Instincts</a> will increase the value of AP, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=24297">Lightning Reflexes</a> will up your agi weight. In my case, I need to set AP to 0.52 (0.5 * 1.04), since I have 2/2 Survival Instincts, for an additional 4% to AP. Your mileage may vary.</div><div></div><br /><div>Pawn also lets you assign values to gem sockets. Using the weights you've defined above, you can calculate an HMAP value for gems, and plug the highest of those values into the Pawn fields for red, yellow, and blue gems. It's up to you to choose which gems to evaluate. Maybe you're socketing epic gems, or you're willing to PvP for them. I'm not. I just did the weights for JC-created blue-quality gems.</div><div></div><br /><div>The actual highest values for gems, in my spec, were:</div><div></div><br /><div>Red: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24028">Delicate Living Ruby</a> (HMAP: 8.416)</div>Yellow: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24065">Dazzling Talasite</a> (HMAP: 9)<br /><div>Blue: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31865">Infused Nightseye</a> (HMAP: 9.16)</div><div></div><br /><div>...But I don't have big problems with mana, and I carry potions for when I need them. So I skipped out on the int/MP5 gems, and found new ones:</div><div></div><br /><div>Yellow: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31868">Wicked Noble Topaz</a> (HMAP: 8.16)</div>Blue: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24055">Shifting Nightseye</a> (HMAP: 4.208)<br /><div></div><br /><div>This still looks good. The 8 agi and 4 agi/6 sta gems are generally considered the staple red and blue gems for hunters and rogues, so my math still seems to line up with reality. </div><br /><div> </div>It's worth noting that without my points in Survival Instincts, the yellow gem would have been a toss-up between Wicked Noble Topaz, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24048">Smooth Dawnstone</a>, and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24047">Brilliant Dawnstone</a> (HMAP: 8), in which case I would likely have gone for the pure crit.<br /><div> </div><br /><div>Those HMAP values being equal (8 int = 8 crit rating), it probably seems like I'm overvaluing int. That should be discussed.<br /><br />The original <a href="http://forums.tkasomething.com/showthread.php?t=9542">Hunter AEP discussion</a> found that intellect is quite valuable for hunters. In fact, Marksmen are told to value int over agi, with an agi to int ratio of 0.8 : 1. The Survival ratio was 1.2 : 1, and Beast Master was 1.3 : 1. My weights set agi to int at 1.052 : 1. I may be slightly heavy on int for someone that's technically a Beast Master, but my numbers aren't grossly inaccurate, as that ratio falls between the values listed in the HAEP system. And soon enough, I won't be in Aspect of the Viper anymore, using the revamped <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=13161">Aspect of the Beast</a> instead.<br /><br />[[EDIT: To use the same ratios as the BM build from the HAEP system, set int to 0.789, and mp5 to 3.785.]]<br /></div><br /><div>Meta gems are harder to account for. I know I want the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32409">Relentless Earthstorm Diamond</a> (12 agi, 3% additional crit damage), but there's not really a good way to give a static weight to the crit damage modifier. I cheesed out on this one and just rendered it as 12 agi, or an HMAP value of 12.62.</div><br /><div>The cheese continued when I added weapon weights. That seemed useful, but it didn't align with the simple item values method I was using. I pretty much like the same weapons as ret paladins: big, heavy two-handers. So I found a <a href="http://pawnmod.trenchrats.com/viewtopic.php?t=574">ret pally's weapon numbers</a> and totally ripped them off. (I did re-enter the values as melee-only, because I don't care about evaluating the dps on thrown/ranged weapons, just the stats they provide.)</div><br /><div>MeleeDps=2.1, MeleeSpeed=54.1</div><br /><div></div>So... I guess we're done. Since Pawn lets you import and export scales, I'll post the import data for untalented melee hunters (lol) here. Remember, if you want to use this, you'll need to edit the values to reflect your actual spec. You might even want to go the extra mile and add in additional math to reflect your stats when raid buffed (BoK, etc).<br /><blockquote>( Pawn: v1: "HMAP": ArmorPenetration=0.14, MeleeDps=2.1, MeleeSpeed=54.1, CritRating=1, Intellect=1, Strength=0.5, MetaSocket=12.624, RedSocket=8.416, Agility=1.052, HasteRating=1, BlueSocket=4.208, YellowSocket=8, ExpertiseRating=1, Mp5=2.5, Ap=0.5 )</blockquote><div></div>I know this is a very simple system I've created, and I'm sure it's flawed in many, many ways. For example, I'm not calculating the value of armor penetration dynamically. But using Pawn, I have to assign armor pen some static value, and Blizzard's own numbers strike me as good as any I might have invented on my own. As a system for baseline comparison, what I've come up with seems to work really well. I don't know how many other melee hunters are out there to make use of this, but... there you go! And as always, I'm open to constructive feedback.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-15919426489509914042008-09-04T09:34:00.003-05:002008-09-04T09:52:30.913-05:00You are going to DPS slowly!Well. Turns out I didn't wipe the raid a single time on our Archimonde attempt! Because I was standing in the auction house the whole time. Our raid composition at start lacked decursers, and I was one of the people subbed out. Disappointing, but completely understandable.<br /><br />However, I did learn a bit just from practice before the fight. One of Archie's abilities is "Air Burst," something that tosses you into the air high enough to kill you if you don't break your fall somehow. Some classes can naturally counter it, like mages' Slow Fall. For the rest of us, Tyrande Whisperwind gives you an item, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24494">Tears of the Goddess</a>, that works in the same way, slowing your fall for two seconds. Because of the very short duration on the Tears's slowfall effect, you've got to be pretty dead-on, using the item just before you hit the ground.<br /><br />So, we all spent a while before the raid started, practicing with the Tears by jumping off a cliff inside the instance. I was really good with mine, but I did die once when a hill stuck out farther than I expected. That's when I realized I could be doing something a lot smarter.<br /><blockquote>/use Tears of the Goddess<br />/use Parachute Cloak<br /></blockquote>My lovely <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10518">Parachute Cloak</a>, on a fairly short thirty second cooldown, gives me ten seconds of slowfall, versus the two seconds from the Tears. The Tears are on a shorter, 10 second cooldown, so they go first in the macro. But generally speaking, it's the Parachute Cloak that's going to save my butt, as it gives me much more lead time to break my fall. And since Archimonde is a survival fight, not a dps race, I don't miss the dps from swapping my cloak at all.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-46127246115896127402008-09-03T13:59:00.002-05:002008-09-03T14:30:17.307-05:00I can resist anything but temptation.Turns out it wasn't as hard as I expected to assemble a shadow resist set. Through a multifarious collection of vile AH greens, I've got 235 shadow resist -- which includes an offhand, so no big two-handed axe for me in that set. Instead, I took my old mongoose-enchanted <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31332">Blinkstrike</a> out of the bank, and put the whole ensemble to use against Kaz'rogal last night. <br /><br />It worked pretty well. I survived the fight through a combination of shadow resistance and by using no mana-based abilities at all. I found that with my new resist set, I have plenty of mana to spare now. With a better sense of my new limits, I'll be able to dps a lot harder next time. I did 523 dps on him this round, which I think is not bad at all, given the conditions I was working with. I didn't do as well on Anatheron, which I'm still learning, but I again popped up over the 1k mark on DPS, doing 1022 on Rage Winterchill.<br /><br />Plus fat loots were had! A <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32591">Choker of Serrated Blades</a> and the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30919">Valestalker Girdle</a>. Mmm, delicious haste. <br /><br />One of my guild mates gave me a friendly ribbing over my new gear, teasing me about being a (the?) Tier 6 Melee Hunter. That brief whisper reminded me of what a privilege it is to participate in our guild raids. I don't want to be carried through. I want to contribute, through skill, ability, attentiveness. If at any point I'm a hindrance to the raid, I will step down without hesitation. But I, this oddball theorycrafter with a toon most people would call broken, have been swept along to face off against some of the most exclusive and lore-steeped content Blizzard has to offer. And I am deeply grateful.<br /><br />All of last night's Hyjal run was a success, really. It was a very smooth experience marked by positive attitudes. Only Archimonde remains, and, Elune willing, we'll take him down tonight...Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-77090258690147801562008-09-02T11:47:00.003-05:002008-09-02T13:43:37.108-05:00You ain't got to tell me 'bout them epicsLast week I was promoted within the guild to a full raider rank. <em>Wow.</em> I'm still a little awestruck. (How many of you thought this blog was going to focus on the xpac until it was released? *raises his own hand*)<br /><br />Last week we did Hyjal and SSC. I picked up a couple of much-needed pieces of new gear, the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30091">True-Aim Stalker Bands</a> (who ever said I can't aim? They're not the True-<em>Shot</em> bands...) and my tier 5 gloves, the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30140">Rift Stalker Gauntlets</a>.<br /><br />And what a learning experience all that was. I've got a lot of catching up to do.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Rage_Winterchill_%28tactics%29">Rage Winterchill</a> and <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Archimonde_%28tactics%29">Archimonde</a> demand players have their PvP trinket, to break fear. I'm collecting honor to buy one now. On Rage Winterchill, it's my repair bill and mine alone if I die as a result of not having the trinket. That, I can live with, although of course I'd rather stay alive to help dps. Archimonde, though... if I get feared into fire and he gains a soul charge from killing me, that could start a chain reaction that wipes the raid. That makes me a heavy liability, and places my PvP trinket at the very top of my shopping list.<br /><br />I do not like <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Kaz%27rogal">Kaz'rogal</a>. He has a debuff that drains 3000 mana from you, and once you're out of mana you explode like a bomb. As a melee hunter, I've never really had to worry about mana before, so my mana pool is rather shallow. Which means on this fight I basically get to dish out white damage and drink potions on this fight while I wait for my inevitable end. Awesome. I'm going to need some more gear with intellect on it for this one.<br /><br />I ran into another mana issue in SSC. On Hydross, I was in the tank group, using my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=27045">nature resist aspect</a> to help the tank. Without Viper up, I actually had to resort to potions. Again, this is an encouragement to start favoring actual hunter or enhancement shaman gear over rogue stuff with no intellect on it. I wonder what my mana concerns will be like when the new talent changes hit, and I'm not spamming Wing Clip anymore.<br /><br />So, in addition to general gear upgrades and the pvp trinket, I have to assemble a shadow resist set -- 200 unbuffed -- by September 10th for <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Mother_Shahraz">Mother Shahraz</a> (and it would help on Kaz'rogal, too). Shadowmoon Valley, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=17407">here I come</a>.<br /><br />And I've got homework -- twenty boss strategies to memorize. "SSC, TK, Hyjal and first 4 in BT," sayeth our raid forums. I need some kind of CliffsNotes of WoW.<br /><br />Add to that the general upgrades I'm after: my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31964">season 2 shoulders</a>, the craftable <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24259">Vengeance Wrap</a>.<br /><br />One of my friends says raiding, from his outside perspective, looks like a job you don't get paid for. I see his point, and in a way, he's right. It's a lot of work with no real-world reward. But so far, I'm having fun with it, and as I've always insisted, that's what counts.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-47398282018462049242008-08-22T09:51:00.002-05:002008-08-22T10:41:56.181-05:00One last drive through the suburbsGweryc's once again packed his things away in boxes, moving along with his <a href="http://www.nerglish.com/">guild Nerglish</a> to the PvE server Anvilmar. I'll let our guild master <a href="http://www.nerglish.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1394072&gid=14884">speak on behalf of the guild</a> regarding the reasons for the guild's move, but I was personally motivated to follow them for no other reason than to continue playing with the group of friends I had made in the guild.<br /><br />I've played on RP servers for years. It's a truly discomfiting experience to play on a non-RP realm again. I'm essentially suffering culture shock. In a way, it's a lot like moving to the Big City after being a farm boy your whole life. There are people everywhere -- loud people, all vying for attention. Trade chat spins by at a ridiculous clip, a street filled with hucksters ready to sell me one of the many fine watches secreted away in their trenchcoats. The auction house is filled to bursting, a veritable mega-mall that puts The Scryers's humble general store to shame. PvP queue times are thick, a congestion of traffic. People have strange names; elves carry monikers less Darnassian than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun">Shadowrun</a>. I'm constantly preening my ruffled feathers, reminding myself that the flood of out-of-character names, chat, guild tags, aren't reportable offenses. <br /><br />I entered into several AVs my first night, helping the Alliance to win a majority of victories. In the end, I had accumulated enough honor from AV to buy a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32054">new Thrown weapon</a>, in addition to finding a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31326">Truestrike Ring</a> for sale at a good price, and trading some badges in for the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29383">Bloodlust Brooch</a>. Three epics in one night isn't a bad haul, not at all. Hopefully this is the start of a trend for the guild as a whole, an omen of good fortune for our new home.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-65639162458463411382008-08-22T09:33:00.002-05:002008-08-22T09:51:10.856-05:00WotLK Forecast: Inscription, misc. changesMore fun! The previously mentioned improvement to Aspect of the Beast, the buff to melee AP, now increases pet AP as well. Kill Command, however, has been changed from a 5 sec cooldown to a <em>full minute</em>. Ouch.<br /><br />There are finally some known hunter glyphs worth talking about. No decreased cooldown on my melee attacks as I'd hoped, but still some worth noting:<br /><br /><strong>Aspect Glyphs</strong><br /><ul><li>Glyph of Aspect of the Beast: Increases the attack power bonus of Aspect of the Beast for you and your pet by an additional 2%. </li><li>Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey: While Aspect of the Monkey is active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec. This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. </li><li>Glyph of Aspect of the Viper: You regenerate mana from Aspect of the Viper as if you had 15% less mana in your current mana pool. </li></ul><strong>Attack Glyphs</strong><br /><ul><li>Glyph of Bestial Wrath: Decreases the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 sec. </li><li>Glyph of Deterrence: Decreases the cooldown of Deterrence by 20 sec. </li></ul><strong>Trap Glyphs</strong><br /><ul><li>Glyph of Immolation Trap: Decreases the duration of the effect from your Immolation Trap by 6 sec., but damage while active is increased by 100%. </li><li>Glyph of Snake Trap: Your Snake Trap creates 2 additional snakes. </li></ul>There are others, of course, but I found these the most relevant. There are interesting options for both tanking and dps roles, though I'm really looking at dps as my fixed role in Lich King. With the addition of a fourth tanking class, the death knight (of which there will be 23857628 per guild, come the expansion), and the improved ability of hunters' Tenacity pets to tank, I don't think there's any need to try to fill a tanking role, especially with the wonderful melee dps buffs I'll be getting.<br /><br />I can't say what glyphs I'll want to run with yet, especially since it's not known which of the glyphs are greater, lesser, or minor. And I still have hope that there might be a Glyph of Raptor Strike. For sheer dps, looking at what's available, I can say I'll at least want the Glyph of Aspect of the Beast. I wouldn't say no to the Bestial Wrath and Glyph of Immolation Trap options, either.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90220162047865849.post-78031041826138239012008-08-18T12:38:00.004-05:002008-08-18T12:55:46.779-05:00WotLK Forecast: Pet specDaniel Whitcomb of <a href="http://www.wowinsider.com/">WoW Insider</a> recently covered the <a href="http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/14/scattered-shots-pet-talent-trees-in-the-wrath-beta/">pet talent trees in the Wrath beta</a>. He proposed a <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?petcalc=chd00fc0zho">build for Ferocity pets</a> that I largely found palatable, but I disagree with his choice of using the pet-rezzing talent <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=55709">Heart of the Phoenix</a>. Blizzard seems <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=8557300088&postId=85561922059&sid=1#4">undecided on how to implement the spell</a> at this time, with a number of players <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=8557300088&postId=85561922059&sid=1#0">expressing</a> <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=55709#comments">concerns</a> over its mechanics. In any event, the talent seems somewhat superfluous to me for a hunter already specced into <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=19575">Improved Revive Pet</a>. It seems far better to me to invest that point in the group utility talent <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=53434">Call of the Wild</a>, leaving us with <a href="http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?petcalc=0Md00fc00hoo">this build</a>.Gwerychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343002044642471353noreply@blogger.com0