tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90646190933047054122024-03-05T04:15:59.802+00:00Dragon's DenDraiggoch: Hunting daysDragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-2784024934468288202009-04-21T10:41:00.002+01:002009-04-21T10:43:49.651+01:00Bar fights in GadgetzanWell I’m back from Malta – but it seems Draigg has not exactly had a brilliant time on his break.<br /><br />Tanaris Airways lost his bag on the flight out to Gadgetzan and he had to wait a couple of days in town for it to catch up with him. Of course, perched out there on the edge of the desert, this town is something of a melting pot as Alliance, Horde and various other hoodlums spend time there.<br /><br />I had the following postcard from himself:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#330099;">Hi Man: </span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#330099;">Well those muppets at the airline lost my bag and had to spend a couple of days in town. Sank several beers, had an interesting chat with a Hordie hunter on his hols as well and got into a bit of a scrap with some other folks.<br /><br />Not really the relaxing holiday I planned. Anyways I finally got out to the Tanaris beaches, but gonna be a couple of days late back.<br /><br />See ya around dude.<br /><br />Draigg<br /></span></em><br /><br />And here I am, arrived back and strike me the new Ulduar patch has crept in, so I've got some work to do around here.<br /><br />Meanwhile Misamane has tagged me in the Honest Scrap posts that have been doing the round. Thanks for that and will be responding shortly.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-59110484516060162862009-04-10T18:59:00.002+01:002009-04-10T19:06:10.678+01:00Life's a beach<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN1xawOD_cBTh0PBnLvIsZE7l62AzXwigD_8tgJkPx8mp9N9UatyXZia80KB7GGyFgMHAX9bhECZbcuShcJ8xzXu-XnXg0KKDg-XVSLGa6XLPcVa9LfGvPy_1ZsytOxmPIx1HtBFOvfZO/s1600-h/05+quiet+beach.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323125477398190690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN1xawOD_cBTh0PBnLvIsZE7l62AzXwigD_8tgJkPx8mp9N9UatyXZia80KB7GGyFgMHAX9bhECZbcuShcJ8xzXu-XnXg0KKDg-XVSLGa6XLPcVa9LfGvPy_1ZsytOxmPIx1HtBFOvfZO/s320/05+quiet+beach.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Well Larisa (Pink Pigtail Inn) has taken herself off to the sun and snow for a break. Me? I prefer something a little warmer to recharge the batteries so it's a Med island for me.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I asked Draigg if he fancied tagging along.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><em>'Not me man ... I fancy a something a little less busy.'</em></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So he and Bukowski are planning a camping trip along the wild sands of Tanaris and I guess they've earned it. After some intense days they're on the brink of 79.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So we'll all be back, refreshed and ready to hit the magical mark.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The thing is it'd be nice to ding 80 doing something really special. Must think that one over.</div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-43259850969213714722009-04-09T08:21:00.003+01:002009-04-09T08:35:42.687+01:00Why does a hunter need dual-spec?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljN3K0DlcYRj_Z7QPg4RexuIUmOvBtD-PeodDDDwu1xlNAEySmbHl1r1pNgePVOjzzraEU3QncjKdel_Hn6TL_haJ8av-HtAFdxmrHGZ8gBeXUBdOvHFJu8G8O8eNq4_OwLwUqtY45r8I/s1600-h/draigg+at+bar.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322590522530336914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljN3K0DlcYRj_Z7QPg4RexuIUmOvBtD-PeodDDDwu1xlNAEySmbHl1r1pNgePVOjzzraEU3QncjKdel_Hn6TL_haJ8av-HtAFdxmrHGZ8gBeXUBdOvHFJu8G8O8eNq4_OwLwUqtY45r8I/s320/draigg+at+bar.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>To dual-spec or not to dual-spec: that is the question. Well at least it’s the one I asked Draigg.<br /><br />I finally managed to catch up with him at the Legerdemain bar in Dalaran (great name for a bar btw – the word means ‘sleight of hand’) when he and Bukowski flew in for a break.<br /><br />They had spent many hours on the trail and Draigg looked tired, grubby but elated as he had dinged 78. After questing through Sholazar – magnificent territory for a hunter – he had taken off while still 77 for the dark and brooding land of Icecrown.<br /><br /><em>‘Wasn’t that a tad ambitious Draigg?’<br /></em><br /><em>‘I like to live on the edge man.’<br /></em><br />Over several jugs of beer I helped him catch up on the local gossip, particularly the rumours about the next expansion being either at Malestrom or beyond the Greymane Wall in Silverpine Forest where the Gilneas had locked themselves away from the Alliance.<br /><br />Then it was down to business. I needed to know what he wanted to do about dual-spec. To be honest we’ve only just sorted out his talent tree for the first time since he arrived in Northrend.<br /><br />It had degenerated into something of a mess after Outland. So we stripped out all his points, coughed up the 15 gold and gave him a <a href="http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Bronzebeard&n=Draiggoch">8/56/5</a> build (there’s more points to come of course).<br /><br />I told him that after glancing at the popular MM specs out there no-one bothered with silencing shot these days and he was amazed, but I knew it was a key one for him so factored it in.<br /><br /><em>‘Puts a lot of fun into life for me.’<br /></em><br /><em>'How come?'<br /></em><br /><em>'Artistry man, artistry.'<br /></em><br />He then went on to explain how pulling a caster from a mob without aggroing the rest was a thing of beauty.<br /><br /><em>‘You drop a freezing trap, fire off a silencing shot and let the pet grab the aggro as your target slows to a stroll through the white stuff. The caster’s mates haven’t a clue what’s going on and you finish him off.’<br /></em><br /><em>‘Nice.’<br /></em><br /><em>‘Yeh. MM is full of fun and tricks. The BM and SV guys just stand there and boom away at everything. No fun. No skill.'<br /></em><br /><em>‘Hmm that might upset a few people Draigg.’</em><br /><br />His yellow eyes glowed as he just looked at me<br /><br /><em>‘So what about this duel-spec then. You want a BM or an SV tree?'<br /></em><br /><em>‘You’re not listening dude. We don’t need em.’</em><br /><br />And with that he whistled Bukowski and they sauntered out.</div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-62001217799179593752009-04-06T09:07:00.003+01:002009-04-06T09:13:49.707+01:00'What d'you mean I got to pay to fly again?'<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhondq83cxPB2l2n_7dAA27gq6JNNMLdc4w5o1E7wLDB5Z-vHxb_Hl-rqmV5Mmkn4d_fyA_6ULoQ7V00QhsUygnvoGJL1HHpB7Muyq67VgD3B5CmDsRRySgqBPXKf14IGC8x1OO42hy1deC/s1600-h/draigg's+army.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321488301729342642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhondq83cxPB2l2n_7dAA27gq6JNNMLdc4w5o1E7wLDB5Z-vHxb_Hl-rqmV5Mmkn4d_fyA_6ULoQ7V00QhsUygnvoGJL1HHpB7Muyq67VgD3B5CmDsRRySgqBPXKf14IGC8x1OO42hy1deC/s320/draigg's+army.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>What would be your reaction if the following happened:<br /><br />You learned to drive and in your moment of great joy went along to the local garage to buy your first car. Up until now you’ve just bought shoes for walking, but now travelling is taking on a whole new experience.<br /><br />You look at the cars, pick your favourite colour, pay out your hard-earned dosh and off you go. Now you can get around everywhere much quicker already thinking about the day you can upgrade to something that’s got a little more <em>woosh</em> under the bonnet.<br /><br />Then comes the moment you have to leave town, move on. Someone’s told you about some exciting places you’ve never been to before. But then when you arrive: disaster.<br /><br />The man at the barrier looks at you in your car and says:<br /><br /><em>‘Sorry buddy, you can’t drive that thing in here just yet.’<br /></em><br /><em>‘What? But I worked hard to buy this. What’s the deal?’</em><br /><br /><em>‘Rules buddy. You gotta wait seven years before you can drive again... and the real bad news is you also have to pay a grand to be allowed to drive it again.'<br /></em><br /><em>/facepull<br /></em><br />So what’s the deal with this Cold Weather Mount stuff?<br /><br />We has a flying mount, used it with great glee then arrive in Northrend and we’re grounded.<br /><br /><em>/pfft</em><br /><br />Still Draigg’s a happy bunny. He’s dinged 77 at great speed and is now gadding around the place on his flying carpet with glee.<br /><br /><em>‘Style man, you gotta have style’<br /></em><br />That was his parting shot as he floated away from Dalaran – heading for Sholazar basin.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>He later sent me a snap. Seems like he's building his own army now.</div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-72969035069555552592009-04-02T06:22:00.002+01:002009-04-02T06:29:18.717+01:00BRK and the unloved hunter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jzasLq94QGXY2WqSR6y4JG8bTKep3hoogUmDpkyjTbH3gE1nJvSrqfabm5OwugD91XiIod-Nk8_tMDmhTlnxfETIHzN9jUtgOIZyj6hRQv6g_ZA5zbk6Xb2kcQbeiuoSGYXIa-BcKRmA/s1600-h/dolanar+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319961840257957730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jzasLq94QGXY2WqSR6y4JG8bTKep3hoogUmDpkyjTbH3gE1nJvSrqfabm5OwugD91XiIod-Nk8_tMDmhTlnxfETIHzN9jUtgOIZyj6hRQv6g_ZA5zbk6Xb2kcQbeiuoSGYXIa-BcKRmA/s320/dolanar+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />Draigg has been getting a tad ticked off. He’s always been a laid-back sort of hunter. He and Bukowski lope along knocking off quests here and there, pop into the occasional battleground and spend some time ticking off the daily cooking quests in Dalaran.<br /><br />But now he’s upset. He dropped me this ingame note:<br /><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;">“Listen dude, we need to talk and talk urgently. Me and the cat are feeling deeply unloved just now and seeing how BRK has now bust the door off its hinges on relationship issues we feel its time to make a point. Meet me at the Dolanar inn where our relationship really began to kick off way back when I was a level 6 – Draigg.”</span><br /><br />The subsequent meeting was difficult and some of the home-truths one-shotted me.<br /><br /><em>Kk Draigg, what seems to be the problem here?<br /></em><br /><em>Check your box, top left of the screen, and tell me what level I am<br /></em><br /><em>Err ….76.</em><br /><br /><em>And how many bars am I off 77</em><br /><br /><em>Er …. Most of them</em><br /><br /><em>Right. What level is your drood Cadmus?</em><br /><br /><em>Um ….80</em><br /><br /><em>Good, good …. And what level is that short-arsed gnome mage Frazzle?<br /></em><br /><em>Um … he’s 80 as well<br /></em><br /><em>Excellent. You’re getting a hatful of right answers here buddy.<br /></em><br />Bukowski at that point stretched and yowled as frostsabers do and I realised what BIG teeth they have.<br /><br /><em>I hear Frazz is packing some good gear now, been running Naxx heroic, been respecced arcane, doin’ a ton of damage. In general getting a lot of love and attention out there.<br /></em><br /><em>Err, sort of</em><br /><br /><em>And hasn’t Caddy been tanking heroic instances after some nice gear upgrades?<br /></em><br /><em>Yup, yup – awesome 37HP, 34 armour, man he’s a big bad bear …..</em><br /><br /><em>And I’m supposed to feel great about that? Tell me this. Who was your first char when you entered the wonderful world of Wow? Who started off as a level 1 in Teldrassil when you didn’t even know Dolanar existed never mind Darnassus? Who led you through a magical world of adventures, quests, battles and lands that blew your mind away? Who first took you to the snowy wastes of Dun Morgh and up into Ironforge, a city that at the time boggled your brain?<br /></em><br /><em>Um.. I guess that was you Draigg?</em></div><br /><p>I had reached mumbling response at this point.</p><br /><div><em>So how do ya think I feel playing third string to a gnome that’d be nothing more than a snack for Bukowski and char who can’t make up his mind if he’s an elf, a cat or a bear?<br /></em><br /><em>Not great?</em><br /><br /><em>Not great is a start, but doesn’t quite cover it. We need some serious love, attention and action here cos right now we got none of that and we’re asking ourselves why we keep hanging round.</em><br /><br />Well the conversation went on long into the night. It moved from telling accusations to reminiscinces of some great fun over the years. At the end of it all I wondered how an earth I had been so easily seduced away from the hunter’s path.<br /><br />So me, Draigg and Bukowski are hitting the trail again – big time. We’re going to bust level 80 and start showing those BMs and SVs just what sort of a punch we MMs can pack in the instances and raids.<br /><br />He did agree, though, that I could still make time to blog ……</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><em>You've been neglecting your readers man</em></div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-89212495315214207952009-03-31T14:25:00.002+01:002009-03-31T14:26:34.392+01:00It's all been said<em><a href="http://www.bigredkitty.net/2009/03/30/farewell-and-thank-you/">http://www.bigredkitty.net/2009/03/30/farewell-and-thank-you/</a></em><br /><em></em><br /><em></em><br /><em>/saluteBRK</em>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-29740030234768541832009-02-22T14:45:00.002+00:002009-02-22T14:51:35.973+00:00Now that's flying in style<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKg4LAy5CZGJltlKVShD4cZuN6gYtWYeP1EDOayl4qF6Zfw-dWUh7EghqF7pvKdY8QqW-b36iy1sjUN9nIaGIaoq4jFKlScD_bJIYMmT19RfPxyZHhApS2NqlkRzK8wKz40MmZPZxdRCX/s1600-h/draigg+flying+carpet.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305634443455403202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKg4LAy5CZGJltlKVShD4cZuN6gYtWYeP1EDOayl4qF6Zfw-dWUh7EghqF7pvKdY8QqW-b36iy1sjUN9nIaGIaoq4jFKlScD_bJIYMmT19RfPxyZHhApS2NqlkRzK8wKz40MmZPZxdRCX/s320/draigg+flying+carpet.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Albino drake 'cos you've got 50 mounts? Wrymrest drake? Maybe there's even a flying elephant out there.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Forget 'em all. If you're going to fly do it in style - Business Class.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The carpet is the only way to go, complete with a fancy pattern, lamps and a bolster. The only drawback is I can't get Bukoswki on there. You know - a cat curled up on the mat.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>But still, the Flying Carpet is undoubtedly quality when it comes to whizzing round the skies</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-12722566295941392002009-02-19T09:30:00.002+00:002009-02-19T09:36:26.614+00:00Can you be too old to play Wow?Interesting question isn’t it? There comes that period in the day when you know the very young are online. School’s out. In General Chat, the facile comments start emerging, there’s the name calling, the swearing and immature sexual innuendo.<br /><br />There is a collective sigh and eventually someone chimes in:<br /><em>‘Isn’t it time the kids were in bed?’</em><br /><br />Dare I suggest that there is a perception abroad that Wow is a young man’s and woman’s arena. It’s not the place you expect to find mum and dad – or even granddad (!) invading.<br /><br />Of course Wow is the playground for youth – predominantly. And that’s as it should be.<br /><br />But I rather suspect most of us would be surprised at just how old some people are behind those chars.<br /><br />Just as its no guarantee that the female night elf before you is actually female in RL, so it’s no guarantee that the warrior is a 20-something (or 30).<br /><br />I raise the issue because a fascinating report emerged in the UK yesterday (that’s Britain, btw not Utgarde Keep) where the discussion about dementia and Alzheimers has been a rather hot topic in our national press for the past couple of weeks.<br /><br />It says that older people who indulge regularly in – and I quote – ‘hobbies such as quilting, pottery and playing computer games substantially cut the risk of dementia.’<br /><br />This is unlikely to see a sudden rush of ‘oldies’ on to Wow, but I suspect there are quite a few around already. And won’t they be glad to read about the benefits of raiding?<br /><br /><span style="color:#330099;"><strong>Old people?</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#330099;"><strong> Raiding?</strong></span><br /><br />Or do you pigeon-hole them into gentle questing, dodgy ability, unable to react and move fast in instances. Let them trundle around making things and leave the ‘real stuff’ to the youngsters.<br /><br />Is that your view? Well let me tell you it’s sadly misplaced. There’s some old folks online who can show you a thing or two. I know some of them.<br /><br />Indeed an interesting question would be: ‘Who’s the oldest person currently playing Wow?’<br /><br />How old am I., do I hear you ask?<br /><br />Well what do you think? I’m a GM and am leading our guild through Naxx, have a level 80 druid tank that comfortably handles heroics, an 80 frostfire mage that knows a trick or two and 73 MM hunter that whips out a ton of damage.<br /><br />Does that make me a 20 or 30 something?<br /><br />Well I’m not going to answer your question, but I have a daughter who plays – and gets married next weekend.<br /><br />;O)Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-85585234848403760612009-02-18T13:00:00.001+00:002009-02-18T13:12:33.271+00:00The druid that became a warriorA POST from Part Time Druid has struck an interesting chord. <a href="http://parttimedruid.com/">http://parttimedruid.com/</a><br /><br />He’s sort of ‘come out’ in Wow terms by owning up to the fact that the druid is no longer his main char.<br /><br />It seems his warrior has been elevated to that role, but, he says, his blog is established and he will continue to plough this new furrow. I suppose in a sense the name of his blog still stands!<br /><br />All power to him, but it does raise an interesting question. Can you jump ship mid-stream in the blog world and retain an audience?<br /><br />I ask it because the observant among you will notice that though this is vaguely a hunter’s blog – and Draigg was my first ever and still favourite char – he is not yet level 80 and, indeed, from my char list alongside you will notice that my druid, Cadmus, and mage, Frazzle are level 80s.<br /><br />That’s primarily down to guild needs – Cadmus is the GM of Cote (why isn’t Draigg, I hear you ask. It’s a complicated story – so don’t ask!) and I popped Frazz along to 80 because we didn’t at the time have another high-level mage.<br /><br />But then this never set out to be a pigeon-holed blog and since Day 1 has touched on a variety of issues, not all hunter-related. So that begs another question?<br /><br />Do such blogs have a viable audience?<br /><br />There are some great hunter blogs out there that will crunch numbers, serve up tactics and deal with raid issues far better than I ever will, but hopefully there is space in blogworld for a more scatter-gun approach to Wow issues. Pink Pigtail Inn is an ideal case in point. <a href="http://pinkpigtailinn.blogspot.com/">http://pinkpigtailinn.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />There is clearly a need for the theorycrafter and class-serious blogs, but the blogs, thankfully, also mirror RL by tapping into the wider in-game issues.<br /><br />Like running Wintergrasp for the first time and not having a clue what’s going on … but that’s a story for another day.<br /><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><strong>NOTE:</strong></span> Also we’re finally back on stream for some regular posts after the disruption of the past few weeks – that’s assuming anyone is left out there reading this stuff.<br /><br />If not, well it’s fun writing it.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-73622232058925807922009-02-09T10:42:00.001+00:002009-02-09T10:45:18.514+00:00Ghostcrawler and ghost islandSO…. we’ve just got used to playing our classes as everything settles down from the Lich King and subsequent patches and now it looks like a lot of it is getting kicked up in the air again.<br /><br />It seems that Blizz is in a current state of continually meddling with our specs, talents, spells and buffs – an unbroken round of nerfs and boosts.<br /><br />There is all sorts of stuff leaking out ahead of patch 3.1 even while people are digesting and adjusting to those from the last patch and subsequent hot fixes. While Ghostcrawler's blue posts give fodder to the Wow rumour mill it doesn’t create a lot of stability.<br /><br />Take mages for instance. Fire was king, then frostfire, then arcane and the frosties saw their hopes ebb and flow of dealing decent raid dps. So people keep switching specs only to learn that it’s all going to be tinkered with again.<br /><br />And of course we hunters have also seen the crown passed from spec to spec as the nerf bat is waved and the buff boosts given. (I will post a view on that particular aspect in my next piece).<br /><br />With Ulduar also ‘ready to go’ I can’t quite understand the thinking behind all these changes. After all people need to be on ‘top of their game’ for Ulduar and fiddling around with specs isn’t ideal.<br /><br />But then I have a view on people who keep switching around ….watch this space.<br /><br />In the meantime I decided to give my spider, Incywincy a run out to level her up some as Bukowski has been partnering me through WotLK to date.<br /><br />For old times sake I paid a visit to the Isle of Quel Danas ….. talk about a ghost town.<br /><br />There was NOBODY else there! I mean, no-one. Not a single char.<br /><br />Indeed there were so many cobwebs from under-use that Incy felt quite at home.<br /><br />I know the XP isn’t as good as Borean Tundra and I know the gold for quests is rubbish, but it’s a fun place.<br /><br />The question is what are Blizz going to do with it? If they’ve got itchy fingers why not quit tinkering with our chars and do something interesting with the Isle to entice people back there.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-19234237753481788642009-02-04T10:55:00.001+00:002009-02-04T10:56:58.833+00:00Snow, falling downstairs and nerfed huntersWhere have you been, you may ask? Well my mum fell downstairs and fractured her back so I’ve been chasing backwards and forwards to hospital over a hundred miles away.<br /><br />Then she came to stay at our place as part of her recovery before going home. I was then walloped by flu – not the ‘man stuff’, but the real McCoy and where’s a healer when you need one? – which put me off the planet for a week.<br /><br />So the blog has understandably taken a back seat. Still everything is virtually back to normal (if you call being snowed in at home for the first time in 20 years normal!).<br /><br />This is just to tip the hat and let you know I’m back in circulation for there’s much that has cracked off in the hunting community.<br /><br />The BMs have been nerfed and many evacuated to an SV build – and then Blizz has held up its hand and admitted it was a nerf to far.<br /><br />Meanwhile we MMs stand back - further than most cause of our ranged ability<br /><br /><em>/grin<br /></em><br />.. and just shake our heads at it all.<br /><br />Back with evaluation on this stuff soon.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-27114503840187399652009-01-07T09:10:00.003+00:002009-01-07T09:23:39.531+00:00Bathing parrots and eating cake<p>THERE are days when I’m extremely grateful for our happy little guild of which I have the privilege of being GM. Today is one of them.<br /><br />Commanders of the Earth poodles along, having fun, helping each other out and running heroics and raids. Dang it even on New Year’s Eve we had a mixed group of between level 70s and 80s clearing Kara.<br /><br />No big deal, you say.<br /><br />Did I forget to mention we did it wearing festive costumes? Ah well.<br /><br />So there you have it. We are a casual, have just started making inroads into 10-man Naxx but most of all we’re friendly and enjoy ourselves.<br /><br />No pressure.<br /><br />So why am I particularly grateful today?<br /><br />Well yet again another of those hardcore outfits has covered itself in cra@p for bad attitude. The player Evilgai - now formerly of Instability was running a random pug in a dungeon and when it looked like they might complete it other guild members came calling asking to be let into the team to grab the loot at the expense of the randoms.<br /><br />Needless to say they were told where to go, they then quit the guild and when the GM was next on line he reinstated them and kicked Evilgai!. You can read more at <a href="http://www.wowinsider.com/">http://www.wowinsider.com/</a></p><p><br />You want to join a guild like that?<br /><br />Me neither.<br /><br />So it makes you wonder how these types of guilds would cope with some of the interruptions we have during dungeons and raid runs as members apologise and hit the <em>/brb</em> key.<br /><br /></p><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><p>The following examples are absolutely true:<br /><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><strong><em></p><blockquote><span style="color:#6600cc;"><strong><em>Can we take a break I’ve got to take the dog for<br />a walk<br /><br />Sorry, I have to be away for a few minutes mum says I’ve got<br />to bath the parrot<br /><br />/brb – just got to put the bin<br />out<br /><br />I have to go, mum’s just baked a chocolate cake, back in a<br />minute</em></strong><br /></span></blockquote><p></em></strong></span><br />Then there was run of alts to Nexus. The lock had to drop out just as we were about to start. We replaced them.<br /><br />They came back online 15 minutes later and explained that they had needed to go to the loo, had run out of paper and had to rush out an buy some!<br /><br />Was there any chance he could drop back into the team?<br /><br />Fortunately his replacement was having to juggle with the run while helping his girlfriend who wasn’t well so he dropped out and the lock was back in.<br /><br />Oh – and did I mention the time last week when we wiped in a five-man cos the healer was having to urgently texting his girlfriend? He still hasn’t lived that one down.<br /><br />Guildies? Love ‘em!<br /><br />How could you not.<br /><br /></p>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-50471863125117765322009-01-05T08:56:00.001+00:002009-01-05T08:58:48.736+00:00Do we want it on a plate?I HAVE been reading of late some of the info spilling out about Nihilum – which has now merged with another guild and called itself Ensidia. In the middle of it all has been the inevitable stories of splits, rows, people flouncing off and others getting chucked out.<br /><br />All very entertaining.<br /><br />It’s sort of comforting to know that this elitist hierarchy is subject to the same frailties as we mere Wow mortals.<br /><br />In the stratosphere in which these guilds operate there is a striving that goes on. They want to be the first to clear game content – the instances, the raids et al.<br /><br />I was interested in a couple of articles, brought to us courtesy of Larisa, which gave a mere glimpse into the mindset of these guys - <a href="http://pinkpigtailinn.blogspot.com/2008/12/further-look-into-den-of-hardcore.html">pinkpigtailinn</a><br /><br />Part of it involved working out the bosses for themselves. Well I guess they had to if they were going to be first!<br /><br />I will never be a hardcore raider – I don’t have the time for a kick off, or the inclination, to be honest. But I could buy into this ethos of pioneering and being first.<br /><br />Being a competitive individual in RL (I have the sporting trophies and medals to prove this) it appeals to a side of my nature.<br /><br />At the launch of WotLK there was a huge rush to get videos out there of how to take down this boss and that boss. What nasty tricks they unleashed on you, where you had to stand, lie or run at certain stages.<br /><br />And the question that popped into my mind was this:<br /><br /><span style="color:#6600cc;"><strong> ‘Do we really want it all laid on a plate for us?’<br /></strong></span><br />If you go by the amount of info available ‘out there’ the answer would seem to be: ‘Yes we do.’ But I’m not so sure.<br /><br />Sure all bosses are hard, relatively speaking, depending on where your guild is at, but it doesn’t mean we want someone to hold our hand through the encounter.<br /><br />The temptation to run to Wowikki for the low down, or to charge off to Matticus or TankSpot to ‘watch the video’ is, dare I say, an easy option. But aren’t we missing something here?<br /><br />We may not be Nihilum – sorry Ensidia – but it doesn’t mean to say we don’t have a brain.<br /><br />Dare I suggest that if we’re prepared for the wipes and cost of repairs, there’s a lot of fun to be had going into raids and instances ‘blind’ and actually work out the fights for ourselves.<br /><br />Our guild actually did that the first time we went into Nexus and Utgarde Keep and it was absolutely fascinating to watch the initial fights and then work out what was going on and how to take down the bosses.<br /><br />The sense of satisfaction, let me tell you, was HUGE.<br /><br />Sadly it has been near impossible to maintain that, because as we’ve progressed, the faster-levelling guildies have invariably run stuff with pug groups and so they ‘have the knowledge’ or others have got bored with the wipes and the workings out and run to Wowikki.<br /><br />I sometimes wonder that if we engage our brain a little more, whether running instances and raids ‘blind’ would actually stir something deep within our being.<br /><br />Or maybe we do just want it all served up on a plate and ready to consume.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-44789291665790435862008-12-29T11:53:00.002+00:002008-12-29T11:59:24.903+00:00Still more partying to be doneMy admiration goes out to all those Wow bloggers who have gamely continued filing stuff through the Christmas holiday season.<br /><br />Do I feel suitably ashamed? Well not really.<br /><br />After all I spent three Wow-free days through Christmas in a 12th century Welsh castle having the time of my life and eating at banquets of epic proportions plus spending Boxing Day on a crisp, sunny day out in my beloved Welsh mountains.<br /><br /><em>/grin</em><br /><br />Last night our guild had our first serious crack at 10-man Naxx and took the first two bosses down in the spider wing. There was much celebration and joy, but of course there is more partying to come – in Real Life – as new year looms.<br /><br />Got to keep things in proportion, what.<br /><br />Meanwhile I trust 2009 will bring you all that you hope for both in Wowland and further afield or, to put it another way ....<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Blwyddyn Newydd Dda</span></strong>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-8890315994645457652008-12-19T10:03:00.002+00:002008-12-19T10:07:35.874+00:00On the 12th Day of Christmas Blizzard gave to me ...I know Blizz call it Winter Veil, but it doesn't mean to say Christmas isn't happening and we're all waiting to see what the Jolly Fatman leaves under our tree.<br /><br />So let's join the festive cheer with a seasonal song, slightly adjusted for wow fans.<br /><br /><em>/grin</em><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">On the first day of Christmas Blizzard gave to me<br /></span>a Death Knight as a char for free<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">On the second day of Christmas Blizzard gave to me<br /></span>2 purple gloves and a death knight as a char for free<br /><br /><br />To escape the tedium of reptition we will now move swiftly on to the last verse.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">On the 12th day of Christmas Blizzard gave to me</span><br />12 draeni drumming<br />11 mages sheeping<br />10 raiders wiping<br />9 rogues a-stealthing<br />8 noobs a-noobing<br />7 horde a-humming<br />6 gnomes a dancing<br /><br />5 epic rings….<br /><br />4 proto drakes<br />3 minor glyphs<br />2 purple gloves<br />and a Death Knight char for free<br /><br /><em>/swigs a glass of mulled wine<br /></em>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-57414751307992468552008-12-15T10:36:00.004+00:002008-12-15T10:42:35.535+00:00Fashion disasterThe bloggers of WowLand have been asked what they think about the fashions that have emerged from the French house of <em>La Lich King</em>.<br /><br />Some players probably aren’t fussed what the gear looks like as long as it delivers the stats, but I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us preen and posture in our clothes.<br /><br />I have to say that the clothies stuff looks a tad on the dowdy side, but you’ll find Larisa gives a view on that one at <a href="http://pinkpigtailinn.blogspot.com/2008/12/fashion-for-clothies-doesnt-make-sense.html">pinkpigtailinn</a><br /><br />That apart, most of it seems to be brown with the odd walrus tooth stuck in various places. I know a fashion conscious warrior who was very was upset when the Ruby Vest she got had no red in it whatsoever. Not even a bit of rust. Just a sort of greyish black colour.<br /><br />Anyways where I do have an issue on the clothing front is with the Death Knights.<br /><br />This dark, brooding races emerges into Outlands in fantastic gear after completing the starter quests.<br /><br />Its black with hues of blue humming through it all set off wonderfully by the runic spell on your sword.<br /><br />Then you start questing in BC, gear drops and what happens – a fashion disaster!<br /><br />Blizz have seriously screwed up. Suddenly at level 64 my DK Eiger is running around in off-gold boots and green shoulders.<br /><br />He’s gone from mean and moody to Disney-world cartoon character. Massively disappointing.<br /><br /><em>/sulk</em><br /><br />Meanwhile our guild took five DK’s ranging from 60 to 63 and a variety of specs (though one had to nip off and respec to tank for the final boss) on a Ramparts run. It was a hoot.<br /><br />We had a couple of wipes, but sporadic deaths were a problem. No-one to rez. Someone’s going to have to learn engineering so we get goblin jumper cables. We ended up taking one boss down when we all died, but two of us rezzed as ghouls and bit him to death.<br /><br /><em>/cheer</em><br /><br />Our plan is to have a DK 10-man and run Kara.<br /><br />Now that should be a barrel load of fun – and that’s what we’re here for I believe.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-15835887183818547282008-12-12T16:27:00.001+00:002008-12-12T16:28:37.576+00:00I didn't mean to kill a penguin<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZ0LTPwiMs-vRG8LJ435ded5Qigxao75w_LZ0CafRUV9AdPZro9ftjhRoN7xVmlOnuvk89Ii16fx9GDY0mR0OUi9zXY_8TC-h_rxKHXWhapwKr9rDxqXtnpPPaOovKpH3GWsMKJLQsup-/s1600-h/caddy+penguins.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278941324725394306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZ0LTPwiMs-vRG8LJ435ded5Qigxao75w_LZ0CafRUV9AdPZro9ftjhRoN7xVmlOnuvk89Ii16fx9GDY0mR0OUi9zXY_8TC-h_rxKHXWhapwKr9rDxqXtnpPPaOovKpH3GWsMKJLQsup-/s320/caddy+penguins.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Honestly. It’s true, I didn’t mean to – but I sort of did.<br /><br />I was on a fishing expedition which meant flying out to the Frozen Sea because I was after a school of Monster Belly Fish to close in on the Northrend fishing achievement.<br /><br />So I landed on this iceberg way off the coast of the Borean Tundra where I’d spotted a school. Surrounded by raffish looking penguins, I duly caught my fish and then the ‘thinks’ alert came on.<br /><br /><em>Are penguins part of the Love a Pet achievement?<br /></em><br /><em>Maybe there are, so let’s do it.<br /></em><br />Unfortunately I sort of hit wrong buttons and it died with a squeak..<br /><br />I swear those other penguins suddenly looked at me in a mournful fashion, as if I wasn’t feeling guilty already.<br /><br /><em>/remorse</em></div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-74435642847494827732008-12-10T12:36:00.004+00:002008-12-10T13:01:19.358+00:00Hunters' nerf comingBeware hunters! Nerfs are coming – and most other classes will no doubt toss their hats in the air in celebration. Hunters have been stealing the DPS Mantle from mages, locks and rogues in a mighty big way since Lich King launched.<br /><br />This is just a heads-up post for you as I’ve yet to fully digest the info.<br /><br />There is little doubt that BM hunters in particular have been doing some insane damage. Eyes have bulged as the dps meters have been spinning themselves into a frenzy in the raids and instances.<br /><br />Now, it seems, the party is over. The following proclamation has emerged from the Blizz development team yesterday:<br /><br /><em>“Hunters of all specs, and particularly Beastmaster, are doing too much damage in PvE. We tested this a lot internally in beta and knew hunters were high but we hoped other classes would be able to catch up in a way they have as yet been unable to do.”<br /></em><br />Now a whole raft of changes are being rolled out in the test realms. These include:<br /><br /><span style="color:#000066;">1: Steady Shot – now only gains 10% of attack power as damage (down from 20%).</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000066;">2: Volley – reduced the damage by about 30% for all ranks. Note that AE damage from many classes is very high right now and we are looking at all of them. Volley in particular had reached the point where some hunters were using it to the exclusion of most other attacks.</span><br /><br />On top of that a number of changes are proposed that winds in some of the high damage pets are doing, again in particular through the BM spec.<br /><br />Is there any solace. Well, yes there is. We MM hunters will be hit hard by the steady shot nerf and followers will know that I’ve not been impressed with the aggro problems we’ve had to cope with. So there’s half a cheer for the following:<br /><br /><span style="color:#000066;">1: Growl— threat generation increased by 20%<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#330099;"><span style="color:#000066;">2: Deterrence – has been completely overhauled. It now allows you to deflect 100% of incoming melee or spell damage for 5 seconds, but prevents you from attacking while active. You still must be facing the attacker to deflect the damage (this is a limitation we are trying and might end up removing).</span><br /></span><br />Well at least that means my pet should hold aggro longer and when he does drop it I have a better ‘run away’ option to resume firing.<br /><br />You can read more here: <a href="http://www.worldofraids.com/news/399.html">Bluepost</a>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-50926048070068274512008-12-09T09:44:00.004+00:002008-12-09T09:51:32.656+00:00Skill's the name of the gameTHE early five-man instances have been ludicrously easy. Our Kara-geared guild teams have been sweeping through the likes of Nexus and Utgarde Keep, barely pausing for breath as the bosses came and went.<br /><br />So last night we ran a team of alts in Utgarde, most of them wearing greens with a smattering of blues and a handful of epics amongst the gear. We had a warrior tank, priest, two mages (I took Frazzle) and a rogue.<br /><br />I mention this because there are some interesting debates boiling around at the moment following further blue posts from Ghostcrawler about Blizz’s moves to make skill more important than spec/buffs.<br /><br />Oh and by the way he also said the following: “If you're 80 already, you are a relatively hardcore player. Most WoW players are not 80 yet. If it's easy for you, it's not easy for everybody.”<br /><br />That was on December 3 - and that’ll make all you level 80s stop and think eh?<br /><br />So back to Utgarde. It was a challenging run which actually made it a lot more fun and when things went pear-shaped, as they frequently did, everyone had to think fast on their feet.<br /><br />And that’s where the skill came in. It wasn’t about spec, it wasn’t about buffs, it wasn't about gear. It was about players reacting quickly as situations got out of control or didn’t go exactly as planned and/or marked. They took decisions and did things which saved our butts because they were smart enough to do it.<br /><br />And as I understand it, that’s what Blizz wants to be the determining factor as it as been tweaking classes, their buffs and talents.<br /><br /><strong>So as we run the instances and raids in Lich King we no longer have to choose a particular class for buffs and abilities, but we choose the tank/healer/dps because of the player’s skill.<br /></strong><br />For me that makes far more sense. Of course gear will still be important, but when everyone’s on a level playing field I’m going to choose the guy for my team who pulled us out of a hole last time over the dummy who stood there and did nothing.<br /><br />Let me give you an example. I tanked one instance with my druid in a pug group recently. We had two mages and I gave them their marks for sheeping (penguining, pigging or even black catting if you bought the option for 2.3k gold).<br /><br />One continually kept failing to sheep and the other didn’t resheep without instruction . It was painful and the lack of skill means these guys wouldn’t be your choice for a run.<br /><br />Of course the thing with skill or lack of is this. Whereas you can do nothing about class abilities (as in the old life) you can do something about lack of skill.<br /><br />That’s where as a GM I come into play with our members. You or one of your class leaders, can give people advice, help them improve and hopefully become more skilful.<br /><br />In a sense these changes have put the onus on us to help people get the best out of their game – and surely that’s no bad thing.<br /><br />It also means if my MM hunter kicks BM ass in the skill stakes – he’ll get the slot in the run.<br /><br /><br /><em>/grin</em>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-22170328062529597932008-12-04T08:11:00.001+00:002008-12-04T08:14:32.981+00:00Pets that don't do fightingI love the companion pets that are randomly sprinkled through Wow. My favourite is still Egbert, though. The manic little hatchling with bits of the egg still attached to him.<br /><br />He once famously wiped a Kara raid when suddenly charging off on one of his pattering runs and pulling the whole stable.<br /><br /><em>/sigh</em><br /><br />Then there’s the netherwing fry you can pick up when attaining exalted with the Sha’tari Skyguard, though it was the cross I was particularly after for my drood – the pet was a bonus buy.<br /><br />However, I’m not that into these pets that I’m chasing the achievement of stacking 50 away just to pick up a skunk. A lot of folk are, though, which has been a nice little earner for my mage, Frazzle, who is an engineer.<br /><br />Mechanical squirrels which once went for 50 silver – if at all – have been fetching 18g and the mechanical yetis around 200g. At last, profit from nuts and bolts.<br /><br />So what is there in Northrend? Yup, the penguin when you get exalted with the walrus folk. The reason I’m chasing that rep though is to pick up the epic fishing rod, again on my drood.<br /><br />He once famously tanked the first couple of mobs in Kara with his fishing rod. The guild have never let me forget it so if my absent mindedness is going to see me fall into that trap again I might as well have an epic rod.<br /><br />/scowl<br /><br />Part of the daily rep chase is in Dragonblight, but one guildy last night pointed out exactly what this quest involved.<br /><br />Killing a mum in front of her kids, nicking the kids and flogging them to some strange bloke in a fishing village.<br /><br />When put like that, it raised a few eyebrows!<br /><br />After a moments hesitation I realised we were saving the cubs from a fate worse than death, so carried on with my plundering.<br /><br />After all there’s a penguin – er, fishing rod – at the end of this rainbow.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-42268596084172829282008-12-01T11:59:00.001+00:002008-12-01T12:01:45.104+00:00Imba Death Knight hunterI know, I know. This is supposed to be a hunter blog, but every man and his murloc has rolled a Death Knight, right?<br /><br />Of course I’m right ‘cos I saw some figures bouncing around somewhere that said there were already more DKs in the whole of Wow than any other class. Well it doesn’t take rocket science to work that out.<br /><br /><em>Pfft</em><br /><br />So are we enjoying ourselves? Well the DK makes a nice side dish to our main-char course. The entrée quests are great fun apart from my one noobish moment.<br /><br />You want to know about it? Hmm.<br /><br />Well there’s that bit where you have to fly on a dragon over a battlefield and kill 150 scarlet wotsists (who just happened to be elites). Guess which muppet didn’t read the quest properly and went galloping into the field on his bright new shiny charger to engage them in hand-to-hand combat.<br /><br />Very messy.<br /><br />Anyway these guys are imba. He’s running around in Hellfire and taking on the boars three at a time when he’s level 59. It’s insane. Remember going there with your main char for the first time and cursing the boars because they kept ganking you big style?<br /><br />I forgot to visit the trainer. I forgot a handful of talent points and still he was pounding the mobs. Maybe there’s a nerf in the air once Blizz is happy we’ve satisfied our appetite and finished running around like headless chickens without a clue about proper talent tree structures.<br /><br />By then those serious DK players will have filtered through to the ‘proper’ part of the game, running instances, raids et al.<br /><br />Meanwhile I think I might spec mine unholy. I want one of those ghouls with flailing arms running around with me.<br /><br />Bit like a hunter with a pet really.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-28766059248567962362008-11-28T09:53:00.002+00:002008-11-28T09:57:45.990+00:00Signing your own death warrent<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvtiEuJniIGRc5JbFJKu-FHx-9aqMA2KGDLzTtEM7Ne3-QhoNS0oQyIQxn4SacQyZdY41K_AzqR76o6AfE8ggGya2nhvwjZaqGYeHLhPNo4d6c6-79ovaIlFmQy65mNWsxxfgW_dHjSp2/s1600-h/bertie+bear.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273645409895190114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvtiEuJniIGRc5JbFJKu-FHx-9aqMA2KGDLzTtEM7Ne3-QhoNS0oQyIQxn4SacQyZdY41K_AzqR76o6AfE8ggGya2nhvwjZaqGYeHLhPNo4d6c6-79ovaIlFmQy65mNWsxxfgW_dHjSp2/s320/bertie+bear.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>That’s what nuking does for an MM hunter. It’s something you learn very early on, way back. Before Burning Crusade. Before running Black Rock – way before then.<br /><br />Remember? In those early days running around outside Auberdine with your first pet and a whole new armoury of shiny gifts from the trainer.<br /><br />You couldn’t wait to unload them. Well I couldn’t – and I did. That’s when your pet came loping back to you to help out when tallstriders, moonstalkers and rabid bears were beating in your face.<br /><br />It took a while to suss out what the hell was going on, but then that was part of the learning curve. You learned, in fact, when and when not to unload your big shots. So you run to level 60 and then to 70 - when BC arrives - armed with increasing experience.<br /><br />Aggro management is king if you’re MM spec. Only a muppet doesn’t learn that lesson and after getting continually beaten up they give up and switch to BM.<br /><br /><strong>Am I a quitter?</strong><br /><br /><em>Absolutely not.<br /></em><br /><strong>Am I going to crack this Lich King aggro problem?</strong><br /><br /><em>You bet – at least we’re going to give it a good run for its money.<br /></em><br /><strong>Why dumbo? You know BM is king and a fast-leveller</strong><br /><br /><em>Why? I actually like MM and I’m not in a race to get anywhere.<br /></em><br /><strong>But your pulling aggro more easily than you use to</strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><em>Your point is?</em></div><br /><div><em></em></div><br /><div>You see, it’s just a question of learning some new lessons, like in the Auberdine days.<br /><br />So my faithful cat Bukowski has been stabled for the time being and I’ve got myself a shiny white bear from Dragonblight.<br /><br />He’s called Bertie, he’s tenacity and we’re going to see how he holds aggro while we damage the mobs from a zillion miles away using our arsenal wisely so we don’t rip the aggro away from him.<br /><br />It’s all about timing. The nuking comes at a certain point when you know the bear will drop aggro, the mobs will go for your grill but you’ve judged it right to drop ‘em dead before you can smell their breath. (chimera and kill shot ftw).<br /><br />That’s the new learning curve and for me that’s part of the fun of MM – using your skills to keep everything under control knowing that it could go horribly wrong if you don’t. </div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-48756005569537105302008-11-24T09:28:00.005+00:002008-11-24T09:39:22.717+00:00Is this the end of the line for MM hunters?I HAVE not rushed into this blog, because I wanted to make sure I hadn’t got things wrong. Now I post and it seems that Blizz has finally achieved an apparent goal: to kill off MM hunters as a viable PVE spec.<br /><br />Since day one, which would be about three years ago, I have run Draigg as MM spec. It’s the one I have enjoyed and I have levelled him from the early days in Teldresil up to 60, run the instances and then when the Burning Crusade expansion came out I took him to 70.<br /><br />On the way he had acquitted himself admirably in instances, both normal and heroic, and been a King in Kara. He has the gear to prove it.<br /><br />So along comes Lich King. Don’t get me wrong, I love the content, the quests, the graphics, but for MM it is an absolute pain in the butt. It would seem that if you’re going to enjoy the content as a hunter, Blizz is driving them all into BM spec.<br /><br />The aggro levels have clearly been ramped up. You only have to compare how we dealt with the level 70 mobs on the Isle of Quel Denas with, say, the rampaging level 68 pseudo Vikings in the Borean Tundra and Howlin Fjord. The latter are hitting harder and are harder to kill.<br /><br />That’s fine too. After all we don’t want to cream through the game content. That would be no fun, but the maths for MM hunters has gone down the toilet.<br /><br />Me and my cat Bukowski are now having a hard - and to be frank - not very enjoyable time. Before I even use any heavyweight shots – arcane, steady or chimera – the cat is dropping aggro as early as the second auto shot in some cases.<br /><br />The situation has been exacerbated because Blizz took away my ‘get out of jail’ card, the scatter shot, which was moved deep into the survival tree when the talents were rearranged.<br /><br />So I’m constantly ending up with mobs in my grill. Yes you can try and back off with wing clip – but in many cases such is the mobs set-up that you finding yourself backing into another one behind you.<br /><br />The level of skill required to manipulate your aggro, shot rotation, pet and avoidance tactics has gone completely out of the window. The mobs are just in your face, all the time. It’s just no fun. It’s exasperating.<br /><br /><strong>Go BM you say? Well I don’t fancy it. I’m going to upset some folk here, but frankly I don’t think you need much skill to be BM. Your pet glues the mob to itself and you just stand there pew-pewing away without any problems. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><em>/Yawn<br /></em><br />MM was always a much more skilful class to use ‘in the field’, but now it is just ridiculous. Oh and yes, I do know what I’m talking about. I have a BM char, Scrumpy, who I’ve taken to level 40. It’s a walk in the park.<br /><br />So what to do? Well I’m going to have to suck in hard, stable the much-loved cat and pick up a tanky animal – probably an arctic bear to go with the cub Blizz so kindly gave us all a the weekend – and see if there’s any improvement.<br /><br />It's not a perfect answer, I love my dps pets. So watch this space.Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-41562240376667514092008-11-17T14:26:00.001+00:002008-11-17T14:27:58.198+00:00The coolest Wow ride and ninja mania<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0aS_9LszUBWdLFAeetSbxSuTals6_oC9my365YKBxboi28Cy4G-E4wmSnb6R7hYURel8hkcHM29qbF7CvKo4dVeEVWbGQuiRKlzbSZl3U_nasUVsOuY9aoBfzeUe9uFzw4juhCQk2d2V/s1600-h/harpoon+man.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269633063127821042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 217px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0aS_9LszUBWdLFAeetSbxSuTals6_oC9my365YKBxboi28Cy4G-E4wmSnb6R7hYURel8hkcHM29qbF7CvKo4dVeEVWbGQuiRKlzbSZl3U_nasUVsOuY9aoBfzeUe9uFzw4juhCQk2d2V/s320/harpoon+man.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>This has just got to be the coolest ride in the whole of Wow – surfing across Howling Fjord on the shaft of a blazing harpoon. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So how have you found Lich King so far? I confess to degrees of both sheer joy and huge frustration. Guild needs means my druid Cadmus really has to be the first I level, but I’m still having a run with Draigg. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>And I confess that even though having been MM spec since I first started with my elf hunter I’m having some serious doubts about his levelling ability for the first time ever, which is massively disappointing – but more of that in a subsequent post. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The game and quest content of LK is streets ahead of anything that TBC delivered, but …. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>..the ninja rate has been staggering and deeply frustrating. Here's two of many occasions: </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#cc0000;">1:</span> Standing on a box needed for a quest fighting the two mobs and someone loots the box from under you. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#990000;">2:</span> You start picking a herb, someone is watching, you get attacked by a mob, fight and they dart in and pick it. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>In recent days I have seen the greed, selfishness and avarice of the human race plummet the depths and I confess at one stage I just logged off out of pure frustration. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Sure it’ll all settle down as the game and chars begin to spread out, but frankly it wasn’t nice to see such mean-spiritedness invade the virtual world. </div>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9064619093304705412.post-6831112623875837262008-11-13T08:43:00.003+00:002008-11-13T08:54:25.894+00:00Aspect of the WaitSo there I am in the queue - well a sort of late-night gaggle of Wowheads really - waiting for the clock to chime midnight when we all turn into Lich Kings.<br /><br />Then the man in the store who's mildly amused at this sudden gathering says:<br /><br />"Your here for the game?"<br /><br /><em>/nodsallround</em><br /><br />"Hmm, well we've only got 16 copies."<br /><br />16? 16?!!<br /><br />"You gotta be kidding."<br /><br />"Nope."<br /><br />I count 20 in the queue and there's still 15 minutes to midnight (sounds like a good song title to me) and people still joining.<br /><br /><em>/worry</em><br /><br />I try and count those in front of me. It looks like 13 maybe 14. Good grief form an orderly line here.<br /><br /><em>/sweat</em><br /><br />If I came as my druid I could root one just to make sure, maybe even try and sleep the guy that looks halfway there already.<br /><br />But I'm a hunter so do I use frost trap or freezing trap? Depends if I just need to snare one or slow a whole bunch of em down.<br /><br />Eventually, with much ceremony, a guy arrives with a red plastic box and starts handing out the games.<br /><br /><em>/snaffle</em><br /><br /><br />Whew, close call. There's some upset-looking guys at the back there.<br /><br />Hope they're not shammies otherwise there's some chain lightning going round.<br /><br /><em>/escape</em>Dragon's Denhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532866113887301721noreply@blogger.com0