Operation Re-Roll: All That Glitters is Gold

If there's one thing that WoW has taught us, it's time is money. Thankfully, unlike real life, WoW tosses gold at you out of every orifice. Dailies, Professions, Quests, even vendoring greys at level 80 are almost an assured 1-3 gold profit. However, if you're like me, then you make gold just about as fast as you spend it. Despite all the dailies I've done and all those quests for achievements, I am usually in the 2k range of gold. 2k doesn't buy you too much in Wrath and it's safe to assume that in Cataclysm prices will be drastically more. So what's a re-roller to do?

Save your money from you.

So here's a tip from the first hint of re-rolling for your future cataclysm Hunter (or other classes, but I'm just gonna cover Hunter). Everyday you can generally make money without trying. 400g a day isn't that hard to accomplish given just the bare minimum of dailies (and that's not counting what you vendor!) and let me share a little math with you.

Hey don't worry! I suck at math too, so I promise it's easy! ;)

Let's say that MMO-champion and other sites are right and Cataclysm releases in the Spring. Let's say March. That's 7 months from now. Now, since I never did memorize which month has 30 days and which has 31 days in the year, lets go with the 28 day (4 week) minimum. That's 196 days of saving up you can do! Now let's say you only want to save up 250g a day til Cataclysm comes out just for your re-rolled Hunter.

That's 49,000 gold you will have just for that re-rolled Hunter.

250g a day for 49k g?! That's insane, but it's also genius. Keep in mind when you re-roll, you'll need to pay for mount training all over again. Just training to epic flying alone costs a total of 5,844g (not counting the Cold Weather flying!). So by saving up now, you will have over 43k gold you can spend on your fresh new re-roll! Who doesn't like to roll around in style, right?

So start saving now! Even if you save 100g a day, that's 19k you'll have by that same date. Still a nice chunk of change to set to the side.

Quick List:
Total Mount Training Fee*: 6,844g
Total Mount Costs: 161g

Again, these are just rough numbers to show how much gold adds up if you set aside even a small amount everyday.

*Counting Cold Weather Flying at 1000g

Operation: Re-Roll Hunter

Wow...what an eventful 48 hours. It was so much stuff in that first day alone, I was almost too exhausted to even blog. Luckily for another browsers, there are many sites that did a great job blogging about Blizzcon and the announcement (of the year) Cataclysm. So what am I going to do? The same thing I always do, plot my next insane "Operation" as I call them.

If you're like me, coming Cataclysm, you're re-rolling a new race. Maybe you're like me and are switching from your Orc or Night Elf Hunter and trying out a Goblin, Worgen, Human, or Undead Hunter. Now, while we do have some time before the expansion even comes, there's lots you can do now to prepare for a smoother leveling experience in Cataclysm to get your new Hunter caught up and into those new Heroics to prepare you for the showdown with Deathwing.

So, I'm going to share my insane plan over the next few days with you guys so that way, perhaps you'll get some new ideas too or even decide to share your new ideas on it.

Now, I'm not doing this so I can get some Feat of Strength or something. Not at all. In fact, I like taking my time leveling. This is mainly to ensure a smooth leveling experience regardless of your actual "speed of leveling".

Preparing for Blizzcon and Ozzie

So today is the big "sendoff" day. Honestly, after that opening ceremony and preview panel, I don't know how Ozzie will close. Cataclysm is definitely the hot topic, and unlike what we've seen with other Blizzcon "trailers" of the past, there is alot of the game already done it seems. There was already a playable demo at Blizzcon!

Beta by winter? I wouldn't doubt it.

Well, at least we'll find out a bit more today about some changes incoming. I still got to find some sleep, but how can I re-watching that trailer of Cataclysm?

Cataclysm!: No Attack Power OR Mana?? Say Wha-!

In the most recent Q & A, it was announced the major changes to Warlocks & Hunters. I have a 42 lock, but she'll be becoming my new Worgen Hunter in the expansion; so here's what I am interested in: changes to Hunter. Most notably, no more Attack Power and no more Mana.

That's right, no more mana.

So that's a weird thought right? I don't know about you, but Mana has never been a real issue for me. Sure, I run out, but with Aspect of the Viper, it's just a few short shots before I'm back up. All in all, it's a refillable resource system that doesn't seem too broken. Yet it seems like we're losing mana and AotV in favor of a Focus system (ala Rogue and Kitty Druid). I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. Having played a feral druid, I know that focus can be a very fast paced and sometimes clunky (then again, I'm not pro-druid.). I'm not sure if I want that on my Hunter...

The other exciting change (as viewed from the pic above) is the no more Attack Power change. Now, to all my fellow BM's, this is a very interesting change. We've heard for awhile now that the pets are going to be scaling better with Hunter's, and this could be a sign of it to come. On the plus side, finally! No longer will BM have to be the outcast of the Hunter specs and have to have a seperate gear plan. 2 AP for 1 AGI seems to bring all the specs under the Agility Umbrella. This is of course, assuming that our pets will follow our Agility better otherwise it's sort of a moot point.

Ok, with that part of the panel over, I'm gonna rest. It's been one squeal-filled day of Blizzcon.

WoW: Cataclysm! New Mounts

So I just got done with the opening ceremony, and finally managed to stop squealing "WORGEN!" enough to actually breathe and write. Now, I am still squealing, and still watching, so I will make this post short. However, during the panel I noticed some screenshots that caught my eye.

Now if you look at the small pic I posted, you'll see that there is definitely a Worgen on top of what is most likely the first sketch of the Worgen mount. Now, the face and body of this mount definitely looks canine and wolf-like at that; the build and ears especially. Now some of the paws though look somewhat lizard or boar like to me. Now I don't know why either boar or lizard would be part of the mount for Worgen, but this mounts "stance" definitely follows a boar-like stance. That tail is very lizardish. So just what are these things??? Well, guess the people of Gilneas aren't the only cursed/mutated creatures we're seeing.

Now Worgen aren't the only new mount. As I typed this, the Goblin mount was showcased. In true Goblin fashion, it is a go-kart-like vehicle. Now I just wonder, will they be crashin' and thrashin' into the walls just like they did in Thousand Needles? I sure hope not....I really don't want to be roadkill....

Edit: Yes, that picture is small. However, MMO-champion updated their site with almost all the same screenshots I took but much larger and better looking. So stop by there and take a gander. Here's their version of the same screenshot I have above, but again, it's theirs. Now we definitely can see, it's boarish.

Blizzcon 2: Return to Blizzcon

This year, I found myself ticketless once again for Blizzcon. Though, I had made it for Blizzcon 08, I was hoping to do it again long before the entire "Cataclysm" hype. But that doesn't mean I am completely out of the loop of Blizzcon this year. While sites like MMO-Champion will undoubtedly keep a great eye on Blizzcon, Mrgl (my talking murloc plush) and I will be watching from the live stream. So I will at least be able to see Ozzie! Which is odd cause admittedly I'm not a huge Ozzie fan (other than the whole Osbourne show a few years back), but I have to admit, you can't help but watch him right?

So what's my biggest excitement or expectation? Well, like most people, I'm hoping for an expansion announcement. I want Worgen like you wouldn't believe! But other than that, the machinima and costume contests will always be a delight. Last year I got to talk with the winner of the costume contest and that was awesome by itself (yes I'm that much of a Warcraft fangirl). Anyways, what're you excited for?

Best. Weeks. Ever.

Warning: The screenshots may contain some language. If you are easily offended, don't view. I'm not responsible for you learning a new word. Thank you.

The past few weeks have been the best ever. Being a casual player, my goals are quite varied from the norm of “OMG epics!” Ok so I still like the purples, but I love other “epic” things: Like taming pets, finding mounts, getting past 300 fishing, etc. etc. Well in the 2 weeks since 3.2 launch (I know, I’m late), I have had a wonderful time.

First of all, I found Skoll! Woohoo! I didn’t even have to end up hating Storm Peaks either. This time around, I told myself I wouldn’t get addicted to camping (like I did with Loque’nahak). I gave myself 2 hour limit and then said I’d play Druid or something. (Un)fortunately, I never listen to myself. I found myself camping like crazy on my home-realm looking for this electric wolf of awesome-ness.

32 hours in (no not straight, I did get out!), I decided to go see if I could find one of those adorable little raptor pets. I switched to Druid, flew to Barrens and went over to where Takk the Leaper spawns. Wow, I hadn’t seen a gathering like that in a long time. It was like Cher or Brad Pitt was going to walk out from underneath that tree. I decided to not bother camping Takk and switched back over to my Hunter. I flew back to Dalaran: while doing so, I hit my target macro.

“YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!”

“OMG ITS SKOLL!” There beneath me, just sitting in the snow was Skoll! I dropped off my drake (literally dropped, for some reason I can never land right….) and dropped trap and tamed. I was surprised but had no problem showing off my new pet to friends, telling them to turn up their sound to hear the lightning effects. I’m sure Heero (Loque’nahak) is pissed about being stabled for 2 weeks, but he’ll manage. As for Skoll, well, he was renamed Raiju. So what’s better than a new pet?

I FINALLY GOT MY RIVENDARE’S DEATHCHARGER!!!!

Auuuugh!!!

So happy. I’ve only done about 53 runs post patch 3.0, but did hundreds of runs (I’ve lost count) since I started farming it last June. I had decided to take Raiju with me and see how a run went that night. As I made it to the Baron’s room, I sat in front of Baron doing my verbal mantra of “Drop my mount asshat!”

And he did.

Upon looting I noticed a strange skeletal horse head in the loot table. I looted so fast and spazzed, I didn’t even get a screenshot of the achievement. I just screamed and spazzed, yelled “OMG!” to my guildies and “FU” to Baron. I swore to never return to Strat, but I think I’m still missing the live strat achievement (nooooo!)…
Hmm I know, sort of a pointless post right? Ah well. I enjoyed squealing the entire time I wrote this, and I’m sure there’s other players out there who have feats that are squeal-worthy too.

So, what’re your “epics”? ;)

Throwing a Monkey Wrench into the Plans

As a Hunter, we’ve all experienced taming a pet and eventually letting it go. We’ve faced the drama of which pet stays and which ones go quite often; despite the fact our stable slots jumped from 3 to 5. As a Beastmastery Hunter, I tend to get overly attached to most of my pets. I say most because I’ve let many a raptor, devilsaur, or generally non-wolf, non-spirit beast and non-cat pets go.

Currently I have a worgen filling up a slot and a cat I planned to let go come patch 3.2 for Skoll. However, given that it took me 5 weeks to get Heero, I doubt I will be lucky to get Skoll right off the bat. Which is a shame, I really liked Storm Peaks, but I’m sure I’ll grow to hate it too soon enough.

Anyways, back on topic.

My dilemmia is this. While running through Hinterlands, collecting Mithril, I found myself heading back to Aerie Peak after a bag full of the stuff. While passing through the pack of wolves and gryphons, I found myself having a jog down memory lane. I recalled one of my first pets, Kiba, also known as Old Cliff Jumper. I remembered spending many a night in Hinterlands, spamming my target macro as I ran to avoid wolves that seemed to always knock me off my Striped Frostsaber. Then, right as I was heading back after giving up, I finally found OCJ on the top of the last hill.

As with all things, I soon picked up Broken Tooth finally and really never looked back at my poor Kiba. Feeling bad I was just letting him sit there, I let him go. Years passed and it wasn’t til Wrath (3.1 to be exact) that I really looked at wolves again.

Anyways, back to mining mithril… as I came into sight of Aerie Peak, I thought to myself “Why not give OCJ one lap around for old time’s sake?” So, I did just that. I ran a quick circle around the small pack of wolves. As I suspected, there was nothing there. As I turned to head back and continue on my journey to the FP which would then take me to IF where I would train and sell ores and bars, something in the corner of my screen caught my attention.

The tell-tale dark black coloration of a worg that could only be OCJ. Surprised, I hovered my mouse over and sure enough, it was him; Old Cliff Jumper! I Call Stabled Pet, put my spirit beast away, grab my throw away cat, abandon said cat and begin taming OCJ.

So here’s my problem…

Instead of being in IF, smelting ores and selling bars and training my Mining, I’m sitting in Dalaran trying to think of a name for this wolf, figuring out what I should do (Keep him[but I’ll get attached!] and dump him when I see Skoll? Keep him and kick out Worgen?). Essentially, I’ve doomed myself to hours of leveling this wolf 5 levels just to try and take him into Ulduar tomorrow…

/sigh

Oh well, guess mining will just have to wait.

Fullmetal PTR: 3.2

So here we are at PTR 3.2. After much work and a long and slow download of a 1.15GB patch, I'm on the PTR. I spent much of the night taking screenshots for Druids (as I currently have one now, more on that in the future) who couldn't log onto the PTR but desired to see the new Druid skins. As you can see here, with my little raptor pal, there is much more to this patch than just the Argent Coliseum.

New pets! Yes you can read more about that at WarcraftPets.com; currently I'm still trying to find all the hidden raptor pets. There's not many BM changes, but there's alot more to be excited over, like a new mount!

Of course many heard about the Paladins getting a new Argent Charger (seen at the left). But no one (other than Mania who I flood with e-mails sometimes, I apologize for that Mania XD) seemed to realize that there is another mount as well. The Argent Warhorse, and this my friends, we non-Paladins can also ride. That's right my fellow non-pallies, we get a Warhorse. Horde are having a good time with the new Ravasaur mount and that sweet Dragonhawk mount. If you're Horde, well in general you should check out Petopia's sister site, Warcraftmounts.com. Mania, being Horde-side, has alot more Horde-info than I can ever hope of knowing. But if you're a mount collector like me go check it out.

I've got so much more to say, but I'll probably add it later. The PTR beckons and I've got to find this new Blackmaw-skin tiger and see if it's a mini-pet and if so, where!? XD

Summer!

Finally, now with the busiest schedule of my life out of the way, I can finally get back to a more appropriate posting schedule. Soon the PTR will be up (that's going to be fun) and I'll be posting alot more this upcoming week.

Yay!

So stay tuned as I dust stuff off and get more prepared around here.

/cackle

Catering to Casuals?

Ok so I havent’ wrote much lately! I know, terrible. Been busy at the college, ugh so terrible. This quarter schedule sucks! Anyways, onto some of the more interesting things I’ve been thinking.

So how is everyone enjoying patch 3.1? I’d hope so but as for me, I’m…not. Sure okay, having a wolf top dps is kind of new (I mean, other than raptor and devilsaur), but it doesn’t make up for the crap lately. I guess I’m just burned out of WoW, or at least, some of the annoying people who trample through it.

For example, the DPS-gear checking fiends. Now sure, you’re running Naxx or Ulduar and you want to make sure that you’re bringing the dps you need. That’s totally necessary. But lately, I’ve been noticing a trend of players who seem to think the dps-check is necessary for everything, such as Heroic Nexus.

Now you can argue with me all you want about how you need a dps-check for it, but in reality, you don’t. You get to level 80, you get some blues, you run heroics til you can run Naxx, and then the same thing all over again until you can run Ulduar. That’s pretty much the entire gist of the game. The major problem with dps-checks is, is that if you only want people in full epics to run Heroics, then you’re not allowing the players who do need Heroic gear to gear up.

It’s a vicious circle.

But more annoyingly, such elitism is being spread rampantly and this sense of elitism is really killing my mood and I think the game. Hardcore raiders can complain all they want that the game is “catered to the casuals”, but, is it really? How is making Ulduar easier 'catering to casuals' if casuals can’t even gear up to Naxx because some guy won't let you heal H-Utgarde Pinnacle?

Just a random thought from me. Perhaps I shouldn’t write at 11:34 PM or maybe I’m just “too” casual. Hmmm… or maybe Resto Druid is getting to me... all plausible.

3.1 Dead Zone

So yes, I've been silent for a few days, my bad. I'm not slacking off I swear! Anyways, in case you didn't know, patch 3.1 is out. I'm not going to go over all the details and patch notes; if you wish to look up the patch notes, visit either WoWhead, MMO-champion, or for the more specific stuff, Petopia.

I'm busy still dusting off the chaos that ensued after the patch downloaded (more on that in the next post, just know it involves Vista, Battle.net accounts, and Firewalls). I'll also be providing my personal opinion of the patch soon.

College is an epic raid only this time I'm the tank....

What's it to Ya??

Unique. Such a dangerous word in WoW. Unique is something a great deal of players strive for in WoW. Just like in the real world, we all strive to stand out somehow (generally speaking). Some of us dream of being in the top raiding guild or top PvP guild. Many players obtain unique mounts, armor, tabards, shirts, mini-pets, titles- all to have something unique to them and their character After all, it would be rather lame if every Night Elf had white skin and blue hair right? Well, that's why we have the option to design our characters before their creation!

But Unique also has a dark-side. It can also sometimes make people assume your character is an elitist, "hard-core", or just someone who want's to be (and this is a phrase you see alot on the WoW forums) a 'unique little snowflake'*. I see this alot on forums and blogs, but sometimes I see it on WoW itself as well.

But despite all this, Hunters have one extra feature to make them "unique": Pets.

Which brings me to the question of today's blog:

What does your pet say about you? (If anything!)

You see alot of Hunters get put into categories just by their pet alone. Don't deny that you have. Perhaps you've been in a group with another Hunter who brought a Gorilla to your Heroic Nexus. You may have thought he was foolish for not bringing a Wolf. Maybe you thought that the Hunter who has a Spirit Beast is a fool for spending so many hours camping a pet that isn't better than a Devilsaur or a Cat. Heck, if you were Beastmastery after patch 3.0.8 and still in 3.0.9, you may have been on the receiving end of some taunts and overgeneralizations based purely on the fact you had an Exotic pet (which gave your spec away).

But does a pet say something about the Hunter? I'm sure some pets do, but not all. But the following over-generalizations are not fair to assume:

By owning a Boar or Bear from Elwynn Forest, are you automatically a Hunter who doesn't care at all about their companion?

By owning a cat like Rake and Echeyakee, are you just another "unoriginal" Hunter?

By owning a Devilsaur, are you just another damage-meter-watching Hunter?

By owning a rare-spawn pet like Loque'nahak and Old Cliff Jumper, are you just a showoff?

By owning retired pets like Gezzerak or Grimtotem Spirit Guide, are you just trying to be a unique little Hunter?


No, I think there's something much more to the choosing of a companion amongst Hunters. I know some Hunters who stuck with their first pet from level 10 and haven't glanced at other pets. Some people just love cats, others wolves. Maybe that blood elf hunter chose a raptor because he loves Jurassic Park.

Overgeneralization is something we don't like in real life, we call them stereotypes. So consider this my food for thought for today. Just what does your pet say about you?

But more importantly,
What does your pet mean to you?

Oldies but Goodies

Sometimes I wonder this. Am I old? Not physically, I mean I am only 21 after all; I'm one of the youngest members of my guild. I'm actually younger than most people I know on WoW, despite the stereotype that Horde/Alliance are 13 year olds (depending on your faction).

But I find myself often being the oldest character in most situations. I know about 6 other players who have been playing the same length (and 2 longer than me) of time on my realm. I'm sure they're are far more than that, but all considering, most of my realm are Burning Crusade Babies (as I like to call them). And now we have an even larger rush of Wrath of the Lich King Babies, and alot of these people are returnee's to WoW after TBC.

I've been playing my Hunter main, Rikaku, for 4 years. She's been the only toon of mine to actually hit the level cap, despite the fact I have over 20 alts of varying classes and levels. I don't consider myself a Hunter guru by any means (but ask me about the Lore of a quest, I dare you!), I'm just your regular Hunter casual who enjoys a good quest and loves mount-loot. But with this large influx of new players, I find myself often quoting things of the past that just go over newer players heads.

Does anybody remember Ragnaros? Those 3 days of Molten Core runs, hoping your Giantstalker peices would drop? Or maybe you'd finally get Tranquilizing Shot? It's funny how, now, when I mention it most Hunters don't believe me we had to get a drop to learn it. I also remember when Molten Core first came out how Hunter Pets and Warlock Demons could be "the bomb" and be dismissed; Only to be summoned in Ironforge and wreck havoc amongst the populace.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there isn't memorable stuff in Wrath of the Lich King. There is! Between fighting as Arthas against Illidan, to the Wrath Gate, to defeating Malygos; there's memorablia in it all. But sometimes, there's fond nostalgia. "Time makes the Heart grow fond", and I think that's true for the old dungeons. With the Achievement system implemented, there are daily Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraji & Zul'Gurub runs, you name it.

So, take it from me, if you haven't ran any of these dungeons before and you're a BC/WotLK Baby, run one of these dungeons. If you're a mount collector, achievement-collector, aspiring Loremaster, or even just a collector of neat looking weapons, there's something for you in the old dungeons; Just gotta dust them off and experience it.

The Balancing Act: 3.1's Pet Standardization

In an effort to just understand the new PTR patch which includes pet standization, I decided to write a feedback thread on the WoW PTR. It seemed innocent enough, until I did the math. Now, I'm out on a mission to inform the other hunters of just the possibility of ramifications of this and I want to see their ideas! So maybe if you're interested, after reading this arguement, you'll drop by the PTR Feedback thread and give your ideas!


"Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity pets now all have +5% damage, +5% armor and +5% health bonuses. This should make more pet families feel viable, while additional talents have been added to distinguish a pet’s abilities based on its specializations."

Perhaps it's only me, but this doesn't seem to make any pet more viable. The numbers and dps are what make pets "viable" to raid, solo, and pvp with.

Just because your Gorilla now does +5% damage more than it did before, and you increase it's damage with talents does not mean it's a viable choice to bring to a heroic and/or raid. A Ferocity pet will still out-damage it because the Cat or Wolf or Raptor talents just make it stronger than any "dps-specced" Tenacity pet.

This change isn't helping anyone. In fact it does more harm then good. It almost nullifies the bonus damage of the new talent "Shark Attack" (which was added as a 'perk' to taking the 51 point BM talent). Shark Attack increases damage by 6%, and by losing the extra 5% damage Ferocity pets used to get pre-standardization, you're really only getting a 1% damage increase compared to pre-standardization stats. That doesn't justify taking a 51 point talent at all.

Now it is only a 1% buff pre-standardization, along with the nerf to Wild Hunt (from 40% to 20%), I don't see how any of this is making the pet families more viable. It's the exact opposite. If anything this makes it almost mandatory to bring a Ferocity pet just to make up the loss of damage and dps.

If you were going to implement an idea where all pet families are viable, you should change the system to where players can choose the spec of their pet's talent rather than it be based on the family. Tenacity wolves, ferocity crabs (way better than thunderstomping crabs!), and so on and so forth. This sort of Pet Talent Spec system would work far better with a standardization. However, the system should be to where once you put a talent in a certain spec , you cannot change your pet's spec until you re-train it.

Such an example of this would be, once I put 1 point (In say, Cobra Reflexes) in the Ferocity tree, my Warp Stalker cannot put any points in Cunning or Tenacity. I would have to go to the Pet Trainer and re-train him in order to re-spec him.

In theory, pet standardization is a great idea, but as previous stated, it's not going to work with the status quo. There either needs to be all pets are standard, you choose your pets spec & thus have all pets theoretically viable OR no pet standardization, pet talent spec system is decided by the pets family & thus the viable pets are a select few for specific purposes. It can't be both ways or the entire idea is lackluster and falls apart.

From WoW PTR forums:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15443420948&postId=154420134243&sid=1#0

The Battle for Dominance: Part 1

No other class seems so angry as the Hunters of World of Warcraft. Beastmastery Hunters are upset at the nerf, Survivalists are basking in the glory, and Marksman Hunters are feeling like they're lost in translation. The feeling of vindication fills many, while a few keep a level head. Of course, this is the cold hard truth. Never before have I seen a class with specs ready to jump at each other's throats. Sure, Ret Pallies get pretty darned close, but Hunters are a special bunch. As a lover of Hunter and one of it's greatest followers, I feel I have to post the following.

Too often are the specs looked at with vindication; quite frankly I'm annoyed by it. So many hunters who have only been around post-TBC launch have been spouting "Well BM was the top dps spec in TBC, it's time for another spec to have a chance." One, I do not agree with this style of thinking, and not because of my main spec being BM. Obviously most of these players were not around in "Vanilla" WoW.

Back when LFG DM didn't mean LFG Deadmines, back in the original days of WoW, there was only one spec; Marksman. Sure, you could level as BM, but endgame? Not happening. Back in my day (wow that makes me feel old O_o) our guild leaders told us "Dismiss pet!", if we didn't, we got kicked. You want to talk about cookie cutter specs? Try cookie cutter class. It wasn't until the pre-TBC patch 2.0 that everything changed.

But should this really be how Hunter specs work?
Survivalists are an interesting lot though. Beastmastery has always been a favorite, and I think that's something that won't change among MANY of players. Hunter is about the pet, it really is what makes us different. You don't see Warlocks with "pets"; you see warlocks with "minions". Sure, according to game tactics and playstyle there is no different between "pets" and "minions"; however to some players there is a difference. Many BM hunters treat their pets like another person. Honestly, who hasn't heard a BM hunter on vent say (or in party chat) "dammit they killed !" Many players who play Hunter get attached to their pet, and irregardless of a nerf, many players will stand by their pets side.

BM have been the "All-Stars" for awhile of Hunter specs. But now, we're looking at SV. SV was the oddchild of Hunter specs. I can honestly say that if someone told me a year ago that SV would be the current DPS king of Hunter specs, I would've died laughing. I'm all for equal specs, but even I know that in Vanilla WoW there was NO SV hunters, and even in TBC they were but a whisper.

Some of these SV hunters are now upset they are being nerfed and even more upset that BM is getting buffed. Even though this has the possibility of making all specs viable, there are still several hunters very upset about this change. Yet, I don't see many BM hunters cheering at the nerf of SV. I'm sure they're out there, but I haven't seen them yet.

Perhaps I'm just ranting aimlessly, but this is my blog and I can do that. But, here's some food for thought. Shouldn't we have a class that allows you to choose your spec purely based on playstyle and your skill with that spec? And still be competitive? Shouldn't we, as the Hunter community, work together to make all our specs viable and not just burn the spec we don't want to be, who is the top dps, at the stake?

5 Weeks in a Jungle

5 and a half weeks ago, I began to camp Loque’nahak. Ever since I first saw him in the beta, I knew that Loque’nahak was the pet I wanted by my side when I went to face the Lich King. For all that time, I spent roughly 4-6 hours on average in the Basin camping every day. People began to notice me in the Basin, and soon, I had all but memorized the Basin’s soundtrack so well I whistled it as I drove. I also noticed parts of it sound an awful lot like Disney’s Jungle Book…

However, I never saw Loque’nahak. I spent 5 weeks before I even saw one of the rare spawns, King Krush. That sub sequentially led me to be eaten by said Devilsaur until a Death Knight/Hunter team killed him for timers. As the weeks went by, I talked to several other hunters who were camping the zone. To my dismay, I’d see them 3 or 4 days later with a Spirit Beast by their side. Saddened but not deterred I continued my hunt for this cat I had yet to see dead or alive untamed.

Thursday morning, New Years Day. I decided that my New Years resolution would be to get the Spirit Beast (and on a lesser note, stop being late to morning classes at the college; but I’m on Winter break, that can wait)! I went to the Basin and offered my usual reward for any help capturing this beast; A Blizzcon Mount or 1000g. Yes, I know, frown upon bribery. But I was going mad! And it didn’t seem to help that every Hunter aside from me (on my realm) managed to snag it in hours as opposed to weeks of trying.

Then I got it. A purple-colored whisper from a Paladin. He found Loque’nahak! He was watching him! I hopped on my drake and flew as fast as I could over to the location. I cursed as Blizzard decided to make my Riding Crop useless. I could taste victory in my mouth as I neared the Goretalon perch.

I tasted it until a Forsaken Mage decided to Pyroblast Loque’nahak into oblivion. I stared at the fallen corpse with a literal broken heart. The first time I saw Loque’nahak, and now, I was seeing red. I felt numb and decided “You know what, forget it. It’s just a cat.” And with that, I logged off.

But Hunters never give up really. I found myself in the Basin later that night, talking with friends and receiving their condolences for my loss. I listened as some of the people in the Basin who knew of my endeavors gave me words of encouragement and whispered me they’d be happy to help. Little by little, I gave into my dirty glee and renounced “giving up”. In the next 24 hours, I would log into seeing Loque’nahak be killed by more players as I logged in. But I didn’t dwell on it. I couldn’t I picked up the timer and moved on.

Fast forward to early morning Saturday. My 120lb German Sheppard, Heero, decided to wake me up by jumping on me. Once awake, I was awake. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to log on to WoW and see what my friends were doing. I logged in at the gorilla spot and looked around. Not much to be seen. I stuck around for 30 minutes patrolling, deciding I would leave and go do my cooking dailies in Dalaran. I flew over the Maker’s Perch, heading Northeast, when suddenly Illidan began yelling through my speakers.

“YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!”

I looked. I was prepared. My macro had just targeted a freshly spawned Loque’nahak under my drake, just past the river. I dismounted in air (in such a rush I took fall damage), threw down a freezing trap and hit tame. I watched in pure shaky bliss as Loque leapt at me, stuck in mid air in the trap. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….Mine.

I ran around the house! I squealed to myself in a child-like glee. My dog watched me looking at me as if I had lost my mind, and I had!! I hugged him, it was all his doing I got Loque’nahak. I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he didn’t jump on me as I slept.

And with that thought, I renamed my Spirit Beast “Heero”.

To those camping alongside me, Good Luck! Don’t give up! Even when it seems its worse, just remember it can only get better! To Mythdragon, Reikao, and the many many other “citizens” of Scholazar Basin, I thank you for the conversations! To my great friends, Kinzen, Hallock, and my guild, thank you for putting up with my Loque-obessesion the past near 6 weeks. I can finally raid now! Yanno, once I level him up.