High Fives for all, I hit 75!!!
So, last night, right before I logged off and went to bed I hit level 75. I finished turning in my quests in Venomspite and the hearthed to Dalaran. Unloaded my bags, mailed AH items to my bank alt and then ported to Orgrimmar for training. After that I equiped a my Dark Frostscale pants, added the Jormunger Leg Reinforcement and took a quick look in the AH. There I found Helm of the Broken Ram, bought that. So what does this all mean?
Well, my AP went down a little, but about 20 pts, but I increased my hit by almost 40 points and increased my crit rating by about 2.5 percentage points. So the marginal loss in top end damage is covered by hitting more often for a little more base damage and an increase in the number of crits I will have. 1/6 chance to Crit is a lot better than the 1/7 or 1/8 chance that I did have. Morale of all of this is. As I get access to more and more blue and better gear I am learning how to balance my stats appropriately to hit as hard as I can and to allow my pets to shred their opponents.
This morning.... I'm looking at my bank and realize that to continue to craft my LW items for skill ups, that I am in desperate need of Elemental Air. So off to Borean Tundra, which is the only place that I am aware of so far to farm Crystalized Air. I hour of banging away, I am about 40g richer and have enough Crystalized air for 2 eternals. (Man there has to be a better place than this to get this stuff.) That done I craft 5 Swiftarrow Bracers and now all my LW recipes are yellow again. :( Man this sucks, I am now at 426 LW and out of mats so back to farming for a little while. This will be good for getting both of my pets leveled again so I'm not that upset but I really need to find a sweet spot to get enough leather for the Heavy Borean Leather I need for my recipes.
Ah well. I sent to of the bracers off to Genzdawn and Dawnzgen for their future use and will continue to send them stuff as I craft the items for the Swiftarrow set. Now I just have to figure out how I will get from 426 to 440 as quickly as possible. The amount of Heavy Borean Leather I need is almost staggering to think about when you consider the stuff sells for about 150g on my server. This means I won't be buying it if I have any thoughts of acquiring my flying mount any where near level 77.
I have noticed when reading around that a lot of the hunters on the blogs are starting to talk about pets. The conversatoins run the gamut of topics and most are very informative. But I'm still a bit perplexed by one pet ability. Cower. I have never understood this ability and from reading the tooltip, I can only see a use for it in instances. So maybe some one could enlighten me on this or maybe I'll go over to Larissa's Hunter Forum and ask there... that will depend upon how busy I am today.
Zulu
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Change and Groups
What is it about Change?
It hasn't even been a week since I joined Malice and now I have been invited to join Lords of Dishonor. (lol, another 'Lords of' guild which seem to be prolific on Gilneas) The invite comes through my connection to 2 BELF hunters named Genzdawn and Dawnzgen. I first met these two hunters on my Alliance main Dhargaul in the Ally guild LOST SLEEP. A while back they decided to roll BELF hunters and level them up, and now here they are running around with me in Dragonblight. This makes me laugh in that I'm so used to playing alone on Zulu that being grouped up is surreal in a good way, I think. This morning the three of us ran around Agmar killing every skinnable beast we could find. In the half hour or so we were doing this I cleared just over 3 full stacks of Borean leather. I used this to craft them the remaining pieces they needed to have a complete Frostscale armor set. This has set me to thinking about something that I have never considered much before.
Grouping....
Normally this isn't something I would do unless it was necessary, like opening the Blade's Edge Daily quests back in the times of BC. Beyond these kinds of groups I've never been a fan of grouping for the purpose of questing. What I have learned when I have done this in the past is that I really don't get anywhere any faster. The amount of XP that I lose from killing mobs does not make up for what ever time I get for things going faster. In all actuality, I've found that my questing actually slows down when I am in a group. So I actually lose more if I am in a group than I gain. Now the other side of this coin is, if I know the people I am with then it is actually a lot more fun because you have people you can talk to during this time. This does make it worthwhile, in most cases. The part of this that worked this morning was that I was able to farm at least twice as much leather as I would have been able to do on my own in the same amount of time. The benefit of this is huge. I'm almost totally replaced in leather what I spent for recipes in Dalaran and that in and of itself is awesome.
Otherwise I really have to look at why I need to group up. Group specific quests and intances are one thing, but outside of friendly banter (which can also be had in guild chat) what is the real benefit of grouping? I know that a lot of people prefer this method just because it saves on GY runs, but that is a poor excuse in my book. If a player is dying all the time then their approach to questing is all wrong. Pacing is the key word when it comes to questing, not aggressive speed. This way you keep up your momentum while ensuring you don't die as often and can keep your health and mana near max all the time. So my mantra is, unless your hanging with friends, don't group if your are in any kind of hurry to level or if you are trying to maximize your xp intake.
Zulu
It hasn't even been a week since I joined Malice and now I have been invited to join Lords of Dishonor. (lol, another 'Lords of' guild which seem to be prolific on Gilneas) The invite comes through my connection to 2 BELF hunters named Genzdawn and Dawnzgen. I first met these two hunters on my Alliance main Dhargaul in the Ally guild LOST SLEEP. A while back they decided to roll BELF hunters and level them up, and now here they are running around with me in Dragonblight. This makes me laugh in that I'm so used to playing alone on Zulu that being grouped up is surreal in a good way, I think. This morning the three of us ran around Agmar killing every skinnable beast we could find. In the half hour or so we were doing this I cleared just over 3 full stacks of Borean leather. I used this to craft them the remaining pieces they needed to have a complete Frostscale armor set. This has set me to thinking about something that I have never considered much before.
Grouping....
Normally this isn't something I would do unless it was necessary, like opening the Blade's Edge Daily quests back in the times of BC. Beyond these kinds of groups I've never been a fan of grouping for the purpose of questing. What I have learned when I have done this in the past is that I really don't get anywhere any faster. The amount of XP that I lose from killing mobs does not make up for what ever time I get for things going faster. In all actuality, I've found that my questing actually slows down when I am in a group. So I actually lose more if I am in a group than I gain. Now the other side of this coin is, if I know the people I am with then it is actually a lot more fun because you have people you can talk to during this time. This does make it worthwhile, in most cases. The part of this that worked this morning was that I was able to farm at least twice as much leather as I would have been able to do on my own in the same amount of time. The benefit of this is huge. I'm almost totally replaced in leather what I spent for recipes in Dalaran and that in and of itself is awesome.
Otherwise I really have to look at why I need to group up. Group specific quests and intances are one thing, but outside of friendly banter (which can also be had in guild chat) what is the real benefit of grouping? I know that a lot of people prefer this method just because it saves on GY runs, but that is a poor excuse in my book. If a player is dying all the time then their approach to questing is all wrong. Pacing is the key word when it comes to questing, not aggressive speed. This way you keep up your momentum while ensuring you don't die as often and can keep your health and mana near max all the time. So my mantra is, unless your hanging with friends, don't group if your are in any kind of hurry to level or if you are trying to maximize your xp intake.
Zulu
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Dragonblight
So, this morning I begin questing in Dragonblight and ran into a couple of other hunters that I know. They invite me to their group and off we go.... The nice thing was that neither of them are skinners so I got tons of leather from our quests and then we went after a couple of the Wanted: poster mobs. So off we went and found Gigantaur, first time we wipe. Second time he falls nice and easy. Then we took down Dreadtalon without a hitch as well. So why then am I writing of this?
Well, for one, I normally don't group with people for quests, even elite or group ones. The primary reason is that I've had really bad experiences doing this in the past so I tend to shy away from this style of play. What was nice here is that not only did things work out well, though it was kinda weird to see 3 hunters running around together. Both of these hunters are well geared from BC, and what I found was that I was easily on equal footing with them regarding damage and such. I didn't run a damage meter so I cannot say specifically how close we all were. I do know that I was holding my own just on the fact that I pulled aggro more often than they did. To an extent this surprises me as they are so much better geared and both are specced for MM. Either way it was nice to see that I could hold my own.
We are planning to do some instances now in the mornings depending upon who we can find to run with us. I'll keep you posted especially since if these groups make, they will be the first instances I've run on Zulu and I'm sure they will be interesting as well as a huge learning experience.
Zulu
Well, for one, I normally don't group with people for quests, even elite or group ones. The primary reason is that I've had really bad experiences doing this in the past so I tend to shy away from this style of play. What was nice here is that not only did things work out well, though it was kinda weird to see 3 hunters running around together. Both of these hunters are well geared from BC, and what I found was that I was easily on equal footing with them regarding damage and such. I didn't run a damage meter so I cannot say specifically how close we all were. I do know that I was holding my own just on the fact that I pulled aggro more often than they did. To an extent this surprises me as they are so much better geared and both are specced for MM. Either way it was nice to see that I could hold my own.
We are planning to do some instances now in the mornings depending upon who we can find to run with us. I'll keep you posted especially since if these groups make, they will be the first instances I've run on Zulu and I'm sure they will be interesting as well as a huge learning experience.
Zulu
Monday, January 12, 2009
Change
How in the heck does someone complete all the quests for the achievements for Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. In both places I need like 20 quests in each area to earn the achievement and I can only think of or find one or two that I haven't done yet in each area. So what am I missing?
Ah well.....
I'm well into 74 now and have finally completed the quest to get to Dalaran. Wow, this place is sharp. It's well laid out and very pretty. I also think that they provide a lot more in Dalaran to keep people busy there than they did with Shatt. I saw the bear mount and I was like... Awww... and almost bought it. I mean can't you see me now? Troll hunter, kitty or grolla pet, riding a bear? Woot... Well, later that is. First of all, I need my flying mount and I want to make sure that I can get my epic as soon after level 77 as I can. As it stands now I am about 1 10th of the way there. I am going to figure up what the cost will be and then I will make a determination from there as to the best way to raise the money.
On another note, things must truly be boring for players on my server. The number of raids and attacks on lower level horde areas has increased by a suprising amount. When I am on my undead rogue alt, Yrg, in the Barrens there has been some sort of attack somewhere in the Barrens constantly going on. Sadly this has slowed his progression in leveling some as he's had to wait for his quest givers to re-rez. I really find it suprising that so many people will spend their time this way on a PVE server, but then again, I have not seen a strong horde response to these kinds of activities. At one time around the release of BC, you'd see a whole slew of Horde show up to stomp the Alliance kiddies when they did this. Ah well. Everything changes.
A final note on 3.0.8 and Steady Shot. Like many out there I'm not looking forward to this shot getting nerfed. But after much review, I'm not sure if this will change my shot rotations much. While I don't like the overall loss of damage BM will have to deal with, I cannot at this time even think of playing another spec for this class. So, like everyone else, I will learn to adjust.
Meh, change!!
Zulu.
Ah well.....
I'm well into 74 now and have finally completed the quest to get to Dalaran. Wow, this place is sharp. It's well laid out and very pretty. I also think that they provide a lot more in Dalaran to keep people busy there than they did with Shatt. I saw the bear mount and I was like... Awww... and almost bought it. I mean can't you see me now? Troll hunter, kitty or grolla pet, riding a bear? Woot... Well, later that is. First of all, I need my flying mount and I want to make sure that I can get my epic as soon after level 77 as I can. As it stands now I am about 1 10th of the way there. I am going to figure up what the cost will be and then I will make a determination from there as to the best way to raise the money.
On another note, things must truly be boring for players on my server. The number of raids and attacks on lower level horde areas has increased by a suprising amount. When I am on my undead rogue alt, Yrg, in the Barrens there has been some sort of attack somewhere in the Barrens constantly going on. Sadly this has slowed his progression in leveling some as he's had to wait for his quest givers to re-rez. I really find it suprising that so many people will spend their time this way on a PVE server, but then again, I have not seen a strong horde response to these kinds of activities. At one time around the release of BC, you'd see a whole slew of Horde show up to stomp the Alliance kiddies when they did this. Ah well. Everything changes.
A final note on 3.0.8 and Steady Shot. Like many out there I'm not looking forward to this shot getting nerfed. But after much review, I'm not sure if this will change my shot rotations much. While I don't like the overall loss of damage BM will have to deal with, I cannot at this time even think of playing another spec for this class. So, like everyone else, I will learn to adjust.
Meh, change!!
Zulu.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
New Faces and New Friends
Well, if you take a close look at the new title picture, you'll see something different. Yes, that's right, I've changed guilds. I have been with Lords of Chaos since it's inception but the guild has become very quiet. In most cases I am the only one online and every so often I will see one other player. While I love LoC and my friends there, I yearn for company when I'm questing. So I changed. The change followed from me playing on an alt, this alt was invited to the guild Malice. I have spent some time in the guild on my alt and this group of people really seem to be right up my alley play wise.
Malice is a young guild but that's fine by me. I like seeing good things grow and I have a good feeling about this group. Hopefully with a little help from me as well as the efforts of others this guild will eventually become a good sized and active guild. Time will tell, but I've found a new home for a while.
Malice is a young guild but that's fine by me. I like seeing good things grow and I have a good feeling about this group. Hopefully with a little help from me as well as the efforts of others this guild will eventually become a good sized and active guild. Time will tell, but I've found a new home for a while.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Near Future
I finally hit 74 and have re-equipped some. I am now wearing most of the Frostscale armor and a few other blues. I also got a great drop on a blue ring (I'll link it later) to add to the mix and my numbers are really starting to climb. I had forgotten what it was like in BC when you begin to see that drastic curve stat wise and what it does to your DPS and such.
I have also decided to pause a little to see what is really going to happen with patch 3.0.8. If the nerf is as expected then I will have some thinking to do as this could be pretty detrimental to my current spec. I'm hoping for the best (and yes, expecting the worst) and that the nerf won't be so bad once it goes live. Until then I think I will slow down some and work on some of my other characters.
Happy Hunting
Zulu
I have also decided to pause a little to see what is really going to happen with patch 3.0.8. If the nerf is as expected then I will have some thinking to do as this could be pretty detrimental to my current spec. I'm hoping for the best (and yes, expecting the worst) and that the nerf won't be so bad once it goes live. Until then I think I will slow down some and work on some of my other characters.
Happy Hunting
Zulu
Saturday, January 3, 2009
A New Year, New Directions?
Well here we are in 2009. RL is hopefully going to abate a little and allow for some more game time soon. Currently with my limited time I try to do a coule of quests per day and then farm for leather. I really want to be at 450 before I hit 80. The nice thing about this that I still have only just scratched the surface in the Grizzly Hills and Dragonblight. At my current level, this should mean that I will be somewhere around 67 or 68 before I leave these areas.
I find it somewhat ironic that hunters everywhere are starting the year on a low note. We are awaiting the hit coming on the next patch. All of us wonder if this will be as big of a nerf as it 'could' be, or water it down a little so it's not a huge hit. As I've talked to other players over the holidays an interesting thought came up. Does Blizz ever adjust something back up if they nerf it? The short answer on this is, "No, not really."
Ghostcrawler seems to think that if steady shot is nerfed down too far that Blizz will go back and adjust things back up. I have not seen this happen very much in the time that I have been playing. In fact it seems that after a major nerf, Blizz seems to forget about what they were doing on that class and spec. Hopefully I'm wrong and what Ghostcrawler says is right, but I am really doubting it. As I troll around the net reading it really seems that Ghostcrawler has lost a lot of respect amongst the players. And I have to say, when GC made the comment that the Blizz tester were more professoinal and better players than the community, I was more than a little disappointed in his comment. Looking at the most prolific posters on sites like Elitist Jerks, and the fact that there are players in the community that the Dev's will go to to talk about things leads me to believe that Ghostcrawler takes his postion 'way too serioiusly' and now seems to think he has a license to show the community how much 'better' he is than us. Sadly this has back fired on him and I think that the best of the best in the live community really are not paying much heed to his rhetoric any more.
We'll see when the patch hits and we can evaluate the overall numbers live. If it happens that this proposed 20% Steady Shot nerf does equate into an overall 25% or more overall DPS nerf when added to the other pet and talent nerf we are getting then I think our community will have some hard decisions to make, and I think the number of hunters live on the servers will be reduced fairly significantly. I personally would hate to see this, but it may be the end result. Either way, I think we are at an interesting juncture where Blizz is seeminly favoring the Plate wearing classes over all the others. If what I read is any indication then this may continue to happen for a while leaving everyone else out in the cold so to say.
Happy Hunting
Zulu
I find it somewhat ironic that hunters everywhere are starting the year on a low note. We are awaiting the hit coming on the next patch. All of us wonder if this will be as big of a nerf as it 'could' be, or water it down a little so it's not a huge hit. As I've talked to other players over the holidays an interesting thought came up. Does Blizz ever adjust something back up if they nerf it? The short answer on this is, "No, not really."
Ghostcrawler seems to think that if steady shot is nerfed down too far that Blizz will go back and adjust things back up. I have not seen this happen very much in the time that I have been playing. In fact it seems that after a major nerf, Blizz seems to forget about what they were doing on that class and spec. Hopefully I'm wrong and what Ghostcrawler says is right, but I am really doubting it. As I troll around the net reading it really seems that Ghostcrawler has lost a lot of respect amongst the players. And I have to say, when GC made the comment that the Blizz tester were more professoinal and better players than the community, I was more than a little disappointed in his comment. Looking at the most prolific posters on sites like Elitist Jerks, and the fact that there are players in the community that the Dev's will go to to talk about things leads me to believe that Ghostcrawler takes his postion 'way too serioiusly' and now seems to think he has a license to show the community how much 'better' he is than us. Sadly this has back fired on him and I think that the best of the best in the live community really are not paying much heed to his rhetoric any more.
We'll see when the patch hits and we can evaluate the overall numbers live. If it happens that this proposed 20% Steady Shot nerf does equate into an overall 25% or more overall DPS nerf when added to the other pet and talent nerf we are getting then I think our community will have some hard decisions to make, and I think the number of hunters live on the servers will be reduced fairly significantly. I personally would hate to see this, but it may be the end result. Either way, I think we are at an interesting juncture where Blizz is seeminly favoring the Plate wearing classes over all the others. If what I read is any indication then this may continue to happen for a while leaving everyone else out in the cold so to say.
Happy Hunting
Zulu
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