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?